334.

LITTLE Tom Dandy
Was my first suitor,
He had a spoon and dish,
And a little pewter.

335.

LITTLE John Jiggy Jag,

He rode a penny nag,

And went to Wigan to woo:
When he came to a beck,
He fell and broke his neck,-
Johnny, how dost thou now?

I made him a hat,
Of my coat-lap,

And stockings of pearly blue:

A hat and a feather,

To keep out cold weather;

So, Johnny, how dost thou now?

336.

JACK and Jill went up the hill,

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling a'ter.

337.

[The following version is taken from Douce's MS. additions to Ritson, but the more common one commences "When I was a bachelor I lived by myself."]

THERE was a little pretty lad,
And he lived by himself,
And all the meat he got
He put upon a shelf.

The rats and the mice

Did lead him such a life,

That he went to Ireland
To get himself a wife.

The lanes they were so broad,
And the fields they were so narrow,
He couldn't get his wife home

Without a wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow broke,

My wife she got a kick,
The deuce take the wheelbarrow,
That spared my wife's neck.

He sucks little birds' eggs,
To make his voice clear;

And when he sings "cuckoo!"
The summer is near.

P

(169)

339.

THE cat sat asleep by the side of the fire,
The mistress snored loud as a pig:
Jack took up his fiddle, by Jenny's desire,
And struck up a bit of a jig.

340.

I HAD a little hobby-horse, and it was well shod,
It carried me to the mill-door, trod, trod, trod;
When I got there I gave a great shout,

Down came the hobby-horse, and I cried out.
Fie upon the miller, he was a great beast,

He would not come to my house, I made a little feast,

I had but little, but I would give him some, For playing of his bag-pipes and beating his drum.

341

I HAD a little dog, and his name was Blue Bell,
I gave him some work, and he did it very well;
I sent him up-stairs to pick up a pin,

He stepped in the coal-scuttle up to the chin;
I sent him to the garden to pick some sake,
He tumbled down and fell in a rage ;

I sent him to the cellar, to draw a pot of beer,
He came up again and said there was none there.

342.

[The snail scoops out hollows, little rotund chambers, in limestone, for its residence. This habit of the animal is so important in its effects. as to have attracted the attention of geologists, and Dr. Buckland alluded to it at the meeting of the British Association in 1841. See Chambers' "Popular Rhymes," p. 43. The following rhyme is a boy's invocation to the snail to come out of such holes.]

SNAIL, snail, come out of your hole,

Or else I will beat you as black as a coal.

343.

SNEEL, snaul,

Robbers are coming to pull down your wall; Sneel, snaul,

Put out your horn,

Robbers are coming to steal your corn,

Coming at four o'clock in the morn.

344.

SOME little mice sat in a barn to spin; Pussy came by, and she popped her head in; "Shall I come in, and cut your threads off?" "Oh! no, kind sir, you will

345.

snap our heads off."

BURNIE bee, burnie bee,

Tell me when your wedding be?
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away.