LITTLE Tommy Tacket,

CCXCII.

Sits upon his cracket ;*

Half a yard of cloth will make him coat and jacket; Make him coat and jacket,

Breeches to the knee.

will not have him, you may let him be.

* A little three-legged stool seen by the ingle of every cottage in the north of England.

Fourteenth Class.-Fragments.

ССХСІІІ.

LITTLE boy, pretty boy, where was you born?
In Lincolnshire, master: come blow the cow's horn.
A half-penny pudding, a penny pie,

A shoulder of mutton, and that love I.

CCXCIV.

WHEN I was a little boy, I had but little wit,

It is some time ago and I've no more yet;

Nor ever ever shall, until that I die,

For the longer I live, the more fool am I.

CCXCV.

CROSS patch,

Draw the latch,

Sit by the fire and spin;

Take a cup,

And drink it up,

And call your neighbours in.

CCXCVI

ROCK-A-BYE, baby, the cradle is green;
Father's a nobleman, mother's a queen;
And Betty's a lady, and wears a gold ring;
And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the king.

CCXCVII.

SHAKE a leg, wag a leg, when will you gang? At midsummer, mother, when the days are lang.

CCXCVIII.

How many miles is it to Babylon?

Threescore miles and ten.

Can I get there by candle-light?

Yes, and back again,

If

your heels are nimble and light,

You may get there by candle-light.

CCXCIX.

[The following stanza is of very considerable antiquity, and is common in Yorkshire. See Hunter's Hallamshire Glossary, p. 56.]

LADY-COW, lady-cow, fly thy way home,
Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone,
All but one that ligs under a stone,

Fly thee home, lady-cow, ere it be gone.

CCC.

SING jigmijole, the pudding-bowl,

The table and the frame;
My master he did cudgel me,

For kissing of my dame.

NOTES.

P. 1, 1. 1. When Good King Arthur. There is a similar song on king Stephen, which is introduced in an old play; but this is the genuine one recorded in the nursery.

P. 2, 1. 16. The house that Jack built. The Hebrew tale which I have given, may possibly be the original of all accumulative stories of the same kind. The tale of the old woman and the crooked sixpence is one of this class, and I here insert two versions of it:

"An old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked sixpence. What, said she, shall I do with this little sixpence? I will go to market, and buy a little pig. As she was coming home, she came to a style: but piggy would not go over the stile.

"She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to the dog, Dog! bite pig; piggy won't go over the stile; and I shan't get home to night. But the dog would not.

"She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said, Stick ! stick! beat dog; dog won't bite pig; piggy won't get over the stile; and I shan't get home to night. But the stick would

not.

"She went a little further, and she met a fire. So she said, Fire! fire burn stick; stick won't beat dog; dog won't bite pig; (and so forth, always repeating the foregoing words.) But the fire would not.

So she

"She went a little further; and she met some water. said, Water! water! quench fire: fire, won't burn stick. But the water would not.

"She went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said, Ox! ox! drink water, water won't quench fire, &c. But the ox would not.