Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/265

 10 s. x. SEPT. 12, i9os.j NOTES AND QUERIES.

217

is appended, it was written by the Rev. George Huddesford, editor of the ' Wic- camical Chaplet,' published in 1804. The first descriptive verse is appended :

In Liquorpond Street, as is well known to many, An artist resided who shav'd for a penny, Cut hair for three halfpence, for threepence he bled, And would draw for a groat ev'ry tooth in your

head.

Where Liquorpond Street was situated I cannot say. JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

[Liquorpond Street was between Leather Lane and Gray's Inn Road, but has now disappeared.]

ATTORNEY-GENERAL TO THE QUEEN (10 S. x. 110, 170). To MR. BEAVEN'S list of those who held this office may be added the name of Sir Edward Herbert, afterwards Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who was appointed Attorney-General to Mary (of Modena), Queen Consort of James II., in 1685. CHARLES HERBERT THOMPSON.

J. W. Croker makes the following note, under date 22 April, 1821, on the appoint- ment of Henry Brougham as Attorney- General to the unfortunate Caroline of Brunswick :

" Brougham and Denman sworn in the day before yesterday as Attorney and Solicitor-General to the Queen. Brougham, I hear, wished to secure the profits without the inconveniences of the appoint- ment, and offered not to assume it if Government would give him a patent of precedence, but the Chancellor (Eldon) refused." 'Croker Papers,' i. 172.

LEONARD J. HODSON. Robertsbridge, Sussex.

RTJTHWELL CROSS {10 S. x. 168). MR. CANN HUGHES will find full particulars of this celebrated cross in the late Mr. J. Komilly Allen's colossal work ' The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland,' pub- lished by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1903, HENRY TAYLOR.

There is an article on the Ruthwell cross, with an illustration, in The Reliquary, vol. ii. New Series, 1888. It is not stated who wrote it, but the author in a note refers to " a charming little book, ' The Ruthwell Cross,' by the Rev. J. McFarlan (Blackwood, <fe Sons, 1885)." A. H. ARKLE.

" AS THE FARMER SOWS HIS SEED " (10 S.

x. 169). This is the " Oats and Beans and Barley " game described in Mrs. Gomme's Many variants are there given, as well as three tunes to which the words are sung in different parts of England. The verses
 * Traditional Games,' vol. ii. pp. 1-13.

attributed to Nottingham by Miss Winfield run :

Oats and beans and barley-corns, you or I or any one else,

You or I or any one else, oats or beans or barley- corns ;

Thus the farmer sows his seed,

Thus he stands and takes his ease,

Stamps his foot, and claps his hands,

And turns him round to view the land.

Waiting for a partner, waiting for a partner ;

Open the ring and take one in,

Waiting for a partner.

Now you are married you must obey, You must be true to all you say, You must be kind, you must be good, And help your wife to chop the wood !

The narrow escapes from riming in the first stanza, are amusing to contemplate.

I cannot believe that this play is suddenly extinct, though there is no denying the fact that better things than it have vanished between 1898, when Mrs. Gomme's work was published, and 1908, when a corre- spondent of ' N. & Q.' comes with an inquiry touching the sport he knew sub Planco.

ST. SWITHIN.

A variant of this is a common Kinder- garten game. The children sing :

Shall we show you how the farmer, Shall we show you how the farmer, Shall we show you how the farmer Sows his barley and wheat ?

Then they chant the reply, the first line being again given thrice

Look, 'tis thus the busy farmer (thrice)

Sows his barley and wheat.

Other verses follow, in which " reaps," " threshes," and " sifts " are respectively substituted for " sows " iri both question and answer. Lastly comes the question :

Shall we show you how the farmer (thrice) Rests when day's work is done ?

To this comes the response :

Look, 'tis thus the busy farmer (thrice) Rests when day's work is done. Suitable actions accompany all the verses the children sow the seed, reap, thresh, and sift the barley and wheat. Then they fall on one knee and cover their eyes while they sing very quietly the response to the last question.

Some versions have the formula " Would you know how doth the farmer," and so on.

MARY H. APPERSON. 87, Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, S.W.

" THE PROTECTOR'S HEAD," INN SIGN (10 S. x. 30, 156). The novel to which your correspondent refers in the first communica- tion on this subject is ' Brambletye House,'