107

GAFFERS AND GAMMERS.

She went to the sempstress,

To buy him some linen;
But when she came back,
The dog was spinning.

She went to the hosier's,
To buy him some hose;
But when she came back,

He was dress'd in his clothes.

The dame made a curtsey,
The dog made a bow;
The dame said, your servant,
The dog said, bow, wow.

184.

THERE was an old woman called Nothing-at-all,
Who rejoiced in a dwelling exceedingly small:
A man stretched his mouth to its utmost extent,
And down at one gulp house and old woman

went.

185.

THERE was an old woman of Norwich,
Who lived upon nothing but porridge;
Parading the town,

She turned cloak into gown,

This thrifty old woman of Norwich.

186.

OLD Betty Blue
Lost a holiday shoe,
What can old Betty do?
Give her another

To match the other,

And then she may swagger in two.

187.

[The following is part of a comic song called "Success to the Whistle and Wig," intended to be sung in rotation by the members of a club.]

THERE was an old woman had three sons, Jerry, and James, and John:

Jerry was hung, James was drowned,

John was lost and never was found;

And there was an end of the three sons,
Jerry, and James, and John!

188.

[The first two lines of the following are the same with those of a song in D'Urfey's "Pills to Purge Melancholy," vol. v., p. 13.] THERE was an old woman

Lived under a hill,
She put a mouse in a bag,

And sent it to mill;

The miller did swear,

By the point of his knife,

He never took toll

Of a mouse in his life!

189.

[The tale on which the following story is founded is found in a MS. of the fifteenth century, in the Chetham Library, at Manchester, and printed in the Reliq. Antiq. vol. ii., p. 196.]

THERE was an old man, who lived in a wood,
As you may plainly see;

He said he could do as much work in a day,
As his wife could do in three.

With all my heart, the old woman said,
If that you will allow;

To-morrow you'll stay at home in my stead,
And I'll go drive the plough:

But you must milk the. Tidy cow,
For fear that she go dry;
And you must feed the little pigs,

That are within the sty;

And you must mind the speckled hen,
For fear she lay away;

And you must reel the spool of yarn
That I spun yesterday.

The old woman took a staff in her hand,
And went to drive the plough:

The old man took a pail in his hand,

And went to milk the cow;

But Tidy hinched, and Tidy flinched,

And Tidy broke his nose;

And Tidy gave him such a blow,

That the blood ran down to his toes.

K

1

High! Tidy! ho! Tidy! high!
Tidy! do stand still;

If ever I milk you, Tidy, again,
'T will be sore against my will!
He went to feed the little pigs,
That were within the sty;

He hit his head against the beam,
And he made the blood to fly.

He went to mind the speckled hen,
For fear she'd lay astray;
And he forgot the spool of yarn
His wife spun yesterday.

So he swore by the sun, the moon, and the stars,
And the green leaves on the tree,

If his wife didn't do a day's work in her life, She should ne'er be ruled by he.

190.

Он, dear, what can the matter be?
Two old women got up in an apple tree;
One came down,

And the other staid till Saturday.

[Rhymes used by children to decide who is to begin a game.]

Hollow bone, crack a bone,

Ninery, ten:

Spittery spot,

It must be done;

Twiddleum twaddleum,

Twenty-one.