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Quoth Jack, now let me live or die,
I'll fight this swinging boar;
Though I'm but thirteen inches high,
and he ten yards and more.

A sword he got five inches long,
a little cap of steel.

A breast-plate too both stout and strong,

quoth Jack, I'll make him reel.

Upon a badgers back he got,

in order to proceed;

Thus being mounted cap-a-pee,

away he rode full speed.

With double courage stout and bralle,

he did his valour keep:

Then coming to the giant's cave, he found him fast asleep.

His mouth it was not open wide,

but stood it seems half-cock,

Jack down his throat with speed did ride, he never stood to knock,

Jack cut and slash'd his swinging tripes, this griev'd the giant sore;

Then did he play upon his pipes,
which made him dance and roar.

He cry'd, I dance, yet I'm not well,
there's no man minds my moan:
At length he died and down he fell,
Then gave a hideous groan.

With that he soon with speed did run,
and did in brief declare,

What by his valour he had done, and gain'd the lady fair.

He marry'd this fair beauty bright, her charms he did admire :

And since her father was a knight,

young Jack became a 'squire.

N

P. 39. 1. 11.

P. 39, 1. 19.

A couplet is wanting after this line.

She whipped them all, &c. Sometimes this line is thus given :

"She borrow'd a beetle, and she knock'd 'em all o' th' head."

P. 40, 1. 18. Taffy was a Welshman. Sung on the first of March on the Welsh borders, and other parts of England. This is probably

P. 41, 1.9. Mary had a pretty bird. modern.

P. 43, 1. 5.

Three blind mice. The following version is

from "Deuteromelia, or the second part of Musicks Melodie,

1609," where the music is also given :

"Three blinde mice, three blinde mice,

Dame Julian, the miller, and his merry old wife,
Shee scrapte her tripe, take thou the knife."

P. 46, 1. 7. Sing a song of sixpence. It is probable that Sir Toby alludes to this nursery song in "Twelfth Night," act ii. scene 3, when he says, there is sixpence

66 Come on;

for you: let's have a song." The following additional stanza was obtained from the Isle of Man :

P. 48, 1. 1.

given at p. 57,

"Jenny was so mad,

She didn't know what to do;
She put her finger in her ear,

And crackt it right in two."

Little Jenny Wren. This is part of the tale and is taken from a farthing merriment.

P. 60, 1. 19. Laughing. Probably loffin, to complete the rhyme. So in "Midsummer Night's Dream," act ii. scene 1 :

"And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe."

P. 61, 1. 1.

She took a clean dish. Sometimes thus:

"She went to the triper's."

P. 63, 1.1. Old King Cole. This ought to have been placed in the first class. It is a singular fact that King Cole was one of the ancient British kings. The following two versions differ from that which I have printed in the text:

"Old King Coel

I.

Was a merry old soul,

And a merry old soul was he;

Old King Coel,

He sat in his hole,

And he call'd for his fiddlers three, &c.

"The first, he was an Irishman;

The second, he was a Scot;
The third, he was a Welshman ;
And all were rogues, I wot.

"The Irishman lov'd usquebaugh ;

The Scot was drown'd in ale;

The Welshman had like to be chok'd by a mouse,
But he pull'd her out by the tail."

"Old King Coel

II.

Was a merry old soul,

And a merry old soul was he;

Old King Coel,

He sat in his hole,

And he call'd for his pipers three.

"The first, he was a miller;
The second, he was a weaver;
The third, he was a tailor;

And all were rogues together.

"The miller, he stole corn;
The weaver, he stole yarn;
The little tailor stole broad-cloth,

To keep these three rogues warm.

"The miller was drown'd in his dam;
The weaver was hung in his loom;

And the devil ran away with the little tailor,
With the broad-cloth under his arm."

P. 64, 1.17. There was a lady all skin and bone. The following version was obtained from Yorkshire, where it is used in a nursery game:

"There was an old woman she went to church to pray;
And when she got to the church-yard stile,

She sat her down to think a little while;
And when she got to the church-yard door,
She sat her down, to think a little more;
And when she got the church within,
She knelt her down to pray for sin;

She look'd above, she look'd below,

She saw a dead man lying low;

The worms crept in, and the worms crept out;
She ask'd the parson, may I go out?'

Yes, you may," &c.

P. 70, 1.7. There was a frog liv'd in a well. The tune to this is given in a scarce work, called “The Merry Musician, or a Cure for the Spleen," 12mo., and also in "An Antidote to Melancholy," 1719. The well-known song, “A frog he would a wooing go," appears to have been borrowed from this. See Dauney's “ Ancient Scottish Melodies,” p. 53.

P. 72, 1. 12. There was an old woman. Sung to the air of Liliburlero. See "Musick's Handmaid," 1673, where the air is called, "Liliburlero, or Old Woman whither so high.”

P. 79, 1. 10. Ding, dong, bell. The burden to a song in the "Tempest," act i. scene 2; and also to one in the "Merchant of Venice."

P. 80, 1.2. Dog with long snout. Sometimes,

Johnny Grout."

P. 84, 1.5.

Another version runs thus:

"Little

"Give a thing,

Take a thing,

That's the devil's golden ring.”

P. 86, No. 124. A game.

P. 87, 1. 9. Tommy Tibule. A game on a child's toes.

P. 90, 1. 5. Ride to the market. A game on the nurse's knee.

P. 100, 1. 1. Bisiter. That is, Bicester, in Oxfordshire. P. 103, 1. 19.

Was. Probably "wasn't."

P. 104, 1.3. This is said to have been written by Dr. Wallis.

P. 105, 1. 14. The charm in the Townley Mysteries, to which I refer, is as follows:

"For ferde we be fryght a crosse let us kest,
Cryst crosse, benedyght, eest and west,

For dreede.

Jesus o' Nazorus,

Crucyefixus,

Marcus, Andreas,

God be our spede."

P. 106, 1. 5. The two last lines of this charm are perhaps imitated from the following in Bishop Ken's Evening Hymn: "Let my blest guardian, while I sleep,

His watchful station near me keep."

P. 107, 1.1. We are three brethren. Sometimes "knights." The versions of this game vary considerably from each other.

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