Part 4

(_c_) The first verse of the Shropshire version is also sung at Metheringham, near Lincoln (C. C. Bell), and Cowes, I. W. (Miss E. Smith). The Staffordshire version of the words is sung in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire (Miss Matthews), West Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 58), Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (H. Hardy), Hexham, Northumberland (Miss Barker), Leicester (Miss Ellis). Miss Peacock says, "A version is known in Lincolnshire." Tunes have also been sent from Tean, North Staffs. (Miss Keary), and Epworth, Doncaster (Mr. C. C. Bell), which are nearly identical with the Leicester tune; from Market Drayton (Miss Burne), similar to the Derbyshire tune; from Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy), which appears to be only the latter part of the tune, and is similar to those given above. The tune given by Rimbault is not the same as those collected above, though there is a certain similarity.

The editor of _Northamptonshire Notes and Queries_, vol. i. p. 214, says, "Some readers will remember that Byngo is the name of the 'Franklyn's dogge' that Ingoldsby introduces into a few lines described as a portion of a primitive ballad, which has escaped the researches of Ritson and Ellis, but is yet replete with beauties of no common order." In the _Nursery Songs_ collected by Ed. Rimbault from oral tradition is "Little Bingo." The words of this are very similar to the Lancashire version of the game sent by Miss Dendy. There is an additional verse in the nursery song.

Bird-apprentice

A row of boys or girls stands parallel with another row opposite. Each of the first row chooses the name of some bird, and a member of the other row then calls out all the names of birds he can think of. If the middle member of the first row has chosen either of them, he calls out "Yes," and all the guessers immediately run to take the place of the first row, the members of which attempt to catch them. If any succeed, they have the privilege of riding in on their captives' backs.--Ogbourne, Wilts (H. S. May).

Birds, Beasts, and Fishes

B × × × × × × × h = Bullfinch

E × × × × × × t = Elephant

S × × × × × × × h = Swordfish

This is a slate game, and two or more children play. One writes the initial and final letters of a bird's, beast's, or fish's name, making crosses (×) instead of the intermediate letters of the word, stating whether the name is that of bird, beast, or fish. The other players must guess in turn what the name is. The first one who succeeds takes for himself the same number of marks as there are crosses in the word, and then writes the name of anything he chooses in the same manner. If the players are unsuccessful in guessing the name, the writer takes the number to his own score and writes another. The game is won when one player gains a certain number of marks previously decided upon as "game."--Barnes (A. B. Gomme).

Bittle-battle

The Sussex game of "Stoolball." There is a tradition that this game was originally played by the milkmaids with their milking-stools, which they used for bats; but this word makes it more probable that the stool was the wicket, and that it was defended with the bittle, which would be called the bittle-bat.--Parish's _Sussex Dialect_.

See "Stoolball."

Bitty-base

Bishop Kennet (in _MS. Lansd._ 1033) gives this name as a term for "Prisoner's Base."--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Black Man's Tig

A long rope is tied to a gate or pole, and one of the players holds the end of the rope, and tries to catch another player. When he succeeds in doing so the one captured joins him (by holding hands) and helps to catch the other players. The game is finished when all are caught.--Cork (Miss Keane).

Black Thorn

[Music]

--Earls Heaton, Yorks.

I. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? As many as you can catch and carry away.

--Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy).

II. Blackthorn! Blackthorn! Blue milk and barley-corn; How many geese have you to-day? More than you can catch and carry away.

--Harland and Wilkinson's _Lancashire Folk-lore_, p. 150.

III. Blackthorn! New milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to sell? More nor yo can catch and fly away wi'.

--Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_.

IV. Blackthorn! Butter-milk and barley-corn; How many sheep have you to-day? As many as you catch and carry away.

--Earls Heaton, Yorkshire (Herbert Hardy).

(_b_) One set of children stand against a wall, another set stand opposite, facing them. The first set sing the first line, the others replying with the second line, and so with the third and fourth lines. The two sides then rush over to each other, and the second set are caught. The child who is caught last becomes one of the first set for another game. This is the Earls Heaton version. The Lancashire game, as described by Miss Dendy, is: One child stands opposite a row of children, and the row run over to the opposite side, when the one child tries to catch them. The prisoners made, join the one child, and assist her in the process of catching the others. The rhyme is repeated in each case until all are caught, the last one out becoming "Blackthorn" for a new game. Harland and Wilkinson describe the game somewhat differently. Each player has a mark, and after the dialogue the players run over to each other's marks, and if any can be caught before getting home to the opposite mark, he has to carry his captor to the mark, when he takes his place as an additional catcher.

(_c_) Miss Burne's version (_Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 521) is practically the same as the Earls Heaton game, and Easther in his _Almondbury Glossary_ gives a version practically like the Sheffield. Mr. Hardy says it is sometimes called "Black-butt," when the opposite side cry "Away we cut." Miss Dendy quotes an old Lancashire rhyme, which curiously refers to the different subjects in the Lancashire game rhyme. It is as follows:--

Little boy, little boy, where were you born? Way up in Lancashire, under a thorn, Where they sup butter-milk in a ram's horn.

Another version is given in _Notes and Queries_, 3rd Series, vii. 285.

(_d_) This is a dramatic game, in which the children seem to personate animals, and to depict events belonging to the history of the flock. Miss Burne groups it under her "dramatic games."

Blind Bell

A game formerly common in Berwickshire, in which all the players were hoodwinked except the person who was called the Bell. He carried a bell, which he rung, still endeavouring to keep out of the way of his hoodwinked partners in the game. When he was taken, the person who seized him was released from the bandage, and got possession of the bell, the bandage being transferred to him who was laid hold of.--Jamieson.

(_b_) In "The Modern Playmate," edited by Rev. J. G. Wood, this game is described under the name of "Jingling." Mr. Wood says there is a rougher game played at country feasts and fairs in which a pig takes the place of the boy with the bell, but he does not give the locality (p. 7). Strutt also describes it (_Sports_, p. 317).

Blind Bucky-Davy

In Somersetshire the game of "Blind Man's Buff." Also in Cornwall (see Couch's _Polperro_, p. 173). Pulman says this means "Blind buck and have ye" (Elworthy's _Dialect_).

Blind Harie

A name for "Blind Man's Buff."--Jamieson.

Blind Hob

The Suffolk name for "Blind Man's Buff."--Halliwell's _Dictionary_; Moor's _Suffolk Glossary_.

Blind Man's Buff

I. Come, shepherd, come, shepherd, and count your sheep. I canna come now, for I'm fast asleep. If you don't come now they'll all be gone. What's in my way? A bottle of hay. Am I over it?

--Shrewsbury (Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 525).

II. How many fingers do I hold up? Four, three, &c. [at random in reply]. How many horses has your father? Three [fixed reply]. What colour? White, red, and grey. Turn you about three times; Catch whom you may!

--Deptford (Miss Chase).

III. How many horses has your father got in his stables? Three. What colour are they? Red, white, and grey. Then turn about, and twist about, and catch whom you may.

--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 57, 58).

IV. Antony Blindman kens ta me Sen I bought butter and cheese o' thee? I ga' tha my pot, I ga' tha my pan, I ga' tha a' I hed but a rap ho'penny I gave a poor oald man.

--Cumberland (Dickinson's _Glossary_).

(_b_) In the Deptford version one of the players is blindfolded. The one who blindfolds ascertains that the player cannot see by putting the first question. When the players are satisfied that the blindfolding is complete, the dialogue follows, and the blind man is turned round three times. The game is for him to catch one of the players, who is blindfolded in turn if the blind man succeeds in guessing who he is. Players are allowed to pull, pinch, and buffet the blind man.

[Illustration]

(_c_) This sport is found among the illuminations of an old missal formerly in the possession of John Ives, cited by Strutt in his _Manners and Customs_. The two illustrations are facsimiles from drawings in one of the Bodleian MSS., and they indicate the complete covering of the head, and also the fact that the game was played by adults. Gay says concerning it--

As once I play'd at _blindman's-buff_, it hap't, _About my eyes the towel thick was wrapt._ _I miss'd the swains, and seiz'd on Blouzelind._

And another reference is quoted by Brand (ii. 398)--

Sometyme the one would goe, sometyme the other, Sometymes all thre at once, and sometyme neither; Thus they with him play at boyes blynde-man-bluffe.

--_The Newe Metamorphosis_, 1600, MS.

Other names for this game are "Belly Mantie," "Billy Blind," "Blind Bucky Davy," "Blind Harie," "Blind Hob," "Blind Nerry Mopsey," "Blind Palmie," "Blind Sim," "Buck Hid," "Chacke Blynd Man," "Hoodle-cum-blind," "Hoodman Blind," "Hooper's Hide," "Jockie Blind Man."

(_d_) There is some reason for believing that this game can be traced up to very ancient rites connected with prehistoric worship. The name "Billy Blind" denoted the person who was blindfolded in the game, as may be seen by an old poem by Lyndsay, quoted by Jamieson:

War I ane King I sould richt sone mak reformatioun Farlyeand thairof your grace sould richt sone finde That Preistis sall leid yow lyke are bellye blinde.

And also in Clerk's _Advice to Luvaris_:

Sum festnit is and ma not flé, Sum led is lyk the belly blynd With luve, war bettir lat it be.

[Illustration]

"It is probable," says Jamieson, "that the term is the same as Billy Blynde, said to be the name of a familiar spirit or good genius somewhat similar to the brownie." Professor Child identifies it with Odin, the blind deity. Another name in Scotland is also "Blind Harie," which is not the common Christian name "Harry," because this was not a name familiar in Scotland. Blind Harie may therefore, Jamieson thinks, arise from the rough or hairy attire worn by the principal actor. Auld Harie is one of the names given to the devil, and also to the spirit Brownie, who is represented as a hairy being. Under "Coolin," a curious Highland custom is described by Jamieson, which is singularly like the game of "Belly Blind," and assists in the conclusion that the game has descended from a rite where animal gods were represented. Sporting with animals before sacrificing them was a general feature at these rites. It is known that the Church opposed the people imitating beasts, and in this connection it is curious to note that in South Germany the game is called _blind bock_, i. e., "blind goat," and in German _blinde kuhe_, or "blind cow." In Scotland, one of the names for the game, according to A. Scott's poems, was "Blind Buk":

Blind buk! but at the bound thou schutes, And them forbeirs that the rebutes.

It may therefore be conjectured that the person who was hoodwinked assumed the appearance of a goat, stag, or cow by putting on the skin of one of those animals.

He who is twice crowned or touched on the head by the taker or him who is hoodwinked, instead of once only, according to the law of the game, is said to be _brunt_ (burned), and regains his liberty.--Jamieson.

Blind Man's Stan

A boys' game, played with the eggs of small birds. The eggs are placed on the ground, and the player who is blindfolded takes a certain number of steps in the direction of the eggs; he then slaps the ground with a stick thrice in the hope of breaking the eggs; then the next player, and so on.--Patterson's _Antrim and Down Glossary_.

Blind Nerry-Mopsey

The Whitby name for "Blind Man's Buff."--Robinson's _Glossary_.

Blind Palmie or Pawmie

One of the names given to the game of "Blindman's Buff."--Jamieson.

Blind Sim

Suffolk name for "Blind Man's Buff."--Forby's _Vocabulary of East Anglia_.

Block, Haimmer (Hammer), and Nail

This is a boys' game, and requires seven players. One boy, the Block, goes down on all fours; another, the Nail, does the same behind the Block, with his head close to his _a posteriori_ part. A third boy, the Hammer, lies down on his back behind the two. Of the remaining four boys one stations himself at each leg and one at each arm of the Hammer, and he is thus lifted. He is swung backwards and forwards three times in this position by the four, who keep repeating "Once, twice, thrice." When the word "Thrice" is repeated, the _a posteriori_ part of the Hammer is knocked against the same part of the Nail. Any number of knocks may be given, according to the humour of the players.--Keith (Rev. W. Gregor).

A fellow lies on all fours--this is the Block; one steadies him before--this is the Study; a third is made a Hammer of, and swung by boys against the Block (Mactaggart's _Gallovidian Encyclopædia_). Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions a game, "Hammer, Block, and Bible," which is probably the same game.

Blow-point

Strutt considers this to have been a children's game, played by blowing an arrow through a trunk at certain numbers by way of lottery (_Sports_, p. 403). Nares says the game was blowing small pins or points against each other, and probably not unlike "Push-pin." Marmion in his _Antiquary_, 1641, says: "I have heard of a nobleman that has been drunk with a tinker, and of a magnifico that has played at blow-point." In the _Comedy of Lingua_, 1607, act iii., sc. 2, Anamnestes introduces Memory as telling "how he played at blowe-point with Jupiter when he was in his side-coats." References to this game are also made in _Apollo Shroving_, 1627, p. 49; and see Hawkins' _English Drama_, iii. 243.

See "Dust-Point."

Bob Cherry

A children's game, consisting in jumping at cherries above their heads and trying to catch them with their mouths (Halliwell's _Dictionary_). It is alluded to in Herrick's _Hesperides_ as "Chop Cherry." Major Lowsley describes the game as taking the end of a cherry-stalk between the teeth, and holding the head perfectly level, trying to get the cherry into the mouth without using the hands or moving the head (_Berkshire Glossary_). It is also mentioned in Peacock's _Manley and Corringham Glossary_. Strutt gives a curious illustration of the game in his _Sports and Pastimes_, which is here reproduced from the original MS. in the British Museum.

[Illustration]

The Staffordshire St. Clement Day custom (Poole's _Staffordshire Customs, &c._, p. 36) and the northern Hallowe'en custom (Brockett's _North-Country Words_) probably indicate the origin of this game from an ancient rite.

Boggle about the Stacks

A favourite play among young people in the villages, in which one hunts several others (Brockett's _North-Country Words_). The game is alluded to in one of the songs given by Ritson (ii. 3), and Jamieson describes it as a Scottish game.

See "Barley-break."

Boggle-bush

The child's play of finding the hidden person in the company.--Robinson's _Whitby Glossary_. See "Hide and Seek."

Bonnety

This is a boys' game. The players place their bonnets or caps in a pile. They then join hands and stand in a circle round it. They then pull each other, and twist and wriggle round and round and over it, till one overturns it or knocks a bonnet off it. The player who does so is hoisted on the back of another, and pelted by all the others with their bonnets.--Keith, Nairn (Rev. W. Gregor).

Booman

[Music]

--Norfolk.

Dill doule for Booman, Booman is dead and gone, Left his wife all alone, and all his children.

Where shall we bury him? Carry him to London; By his grandfather's grave grows a green onion.

Dig his grave wide and deep, strow it with flowers; Toll the bell, toll the bell, twenty-four hours.

--Norfolk, 1825-30 (J. Doe).

(_b_) One boy lies down and personates Booman. Other boys form a ring round him, joining hands and alternately raising and lowering them, to imitate bell-pulling, while the girls who play sit down and weep. The boys sing the first verse. The girls seek for daisies or any wild flowers, and join in the singing of the second verse, while the boys raise the prostrate Booman and carry him about. When singing the third verse the boys act digging a grave, and the dead boy is lowered. The girls strew flowers over the body. When finished another boy becomes Booman.

(_c_) This game is clearly dramatic, to imitate a funeral. Mr. Doe writes, "I have seen somewhere [in Norfolk] a tomb with a crest on it--a leek--and the name Beaumont," but it does not seem necessary to thus account for the game.

Boss-out

A game at marbles. Strutt describes it as follows:--"One bowls a marble to any distance that he pleases, which serves as a mark for his antagonist to bowl at, whose business it is to hit the marble first bowled, or lay his own near enough to it for him to span the space between them and touch both the marbles. In either case he wins. If not, his marble remains where it lay, and becomes a mark for the first player, and so alternately until the game be won."--_Sports_, p. 384.

Boss and Span

The same as "Boss-out." It is mentioned, but not described, in Baker's _Northamptonshire Glossary_.

Boys and Girls

[Music]

--_The Dancing Master_, 1728, vol. ii., p. 138.

Boys, boys, come out to play, The moon doth shine as bright as day; Come with a whoop, come with a call, Come with a goodwill or don't come at all; Lose your supper and lose your sleep, So come to your playmates in the street.

--_Useful Transactions in Philosophy_, p. 44.

This rhyme is repeated when it is decided to begin any game, as a general call to the players. The above writer says it occurs in a very ancient MS., but does not give any reference to it. Halliwell quotes the four first lines, the first line reading "Boys and girls," instead of "Boys, boys," from a curious ballad written about the year 1720, formerly in the possession of Mr. Crofton Croker (_Nursery Rhymes_). Chambers also gives this rhyme (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 152).

Branks

A game formerly common at fairs, called also "Hit my Legs and miss my Pegs."--Dickinson's _Cumberland Glossary_.

Bridgeboard

[Illustration]

A game at marbles. The boys have a board a foot long, four inches in depth, and an inch (or so) thick, with squares as in the diagram; any number of holes at the ground edge, numbered irregularly. The board is placed firmly on the ground, and each player bowls at it. He wins the number of marbles denoted by the figure above the opening through which his marble passes. If he misses a hole, his marble is lost to the owner of the Bridgeboard.--Earls Heaton (Herbert Hardy). [The owner or keeper of the Bridgeboard presumably pays those boys who succeed in winning marbles.]

See "Nine Holes."

Broken-down Tradesmen

A boys' game, undescribed.--Patterson's _Antrim and Down Glossary_.

Brother Ebenezer

Ebenezer is sent out of the room, and the remainder choose one of themselves. Two children act in concert, it being understood that the last person speaking when Ebenezer goes out of the room is the person to be chosen. The medium left in the room causes the others to think of this person without letting them know that they are not choosing of their own free will. The medium then says, "Brother Ebenezer, come in," and asks him in succession, "Was it William, or Jane," &c., mentioning several names before saying the right one, Ebenezer saying "No!" to all until the one is mentioned who last spoke.--Bitterne, Hants (Mrs. Byford).

Bubble-hole

A child's game, undescribed.--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Bubble-justice

The name of a game probably the same as "Nine Holes."--Halliwell's _Dictionary_.

Buck, Buck

A boy stoops so that his arms rest on a table; another boy sits on him as he would on a horse. He then holds up (say) three fingers, and says--

Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?

The stooping boy guesses, and if he says a wrong number the other says--

[Two] you say and three there be; Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?

When the stooping boy guesses rightly the other says--

[Four] you say and [four] there be; Buck, buck, rise up.

The boy then gets off and stoops for the other one to mount, and the game is played again.--London (J. P. Emslie).

Similar action accompanies the following rhyme:--

Inkum, jinkum, Jeremy buck, Yamdy horns do au cock up? Two thà sès, and three there is, Au'll lea'n thee to la'ke at Inkum.

--Almondbury (Easther's _Glossary_).

A different action occurs in other places. It is played by three boys in the following way:--One stands with his back to a wall; the second stoops down with his head against the stomach of the first boy, "forming a back;" the third jumps on it, and holds up his hand with the fingers distended, saying--

Buck shee, buck shee buck, How many fingers do I hold up?

Should the stooper guess correctly, they all change places, and the jumper forms the back. Another and not such a rough way of playing this game is for the guesser to stand with his face towards a wall, keeping his eyes shut.--Cornwall (_Folk-lore Journal_, v. 59).

In Nairn, Scotland, the game is called Post and Rider. One boy, the Post, takes his stand beside a wall. Another boy stoops down with his head touching the Post's breast. Several other boys stoop down in the same way behind the first boy, all in line. The Rider then leaps on the back of the boy at the end of the row of stooping boys, and from his back to that of the one in front, and so on from back to back till he reaches the boy next the Post. He then holds up so many fingers, and says--

Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up?

The boy makes a guess. If the number guessed is wrong, the Rider gives the number guessed as well as the correct number, and again holds up so many, saying--

[Four] you say, but [two] it is; Buck, buck, how many fingers do I hold up?

This goes on till the correct number is guessed, when the guesser becomes the Rider. The game was called "Buck, Buck" at Keith. Three players only took part in the game--the Post, the Buck, and the Rider. The words used by the Rider were--

Buck, buck, how many horns do I hold up?