Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 10.djvu/598

 496

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. DEC. 19,

folk-lore (see my * Popular Religion and Folk-lore of N. India,' 2nd ed., ii. 202 ; ' Katha Sarit Sagara,' trans. C. H. Tawney, i. 37, 341 f. ; ii. 135 f., 157, 168).

Eastern India particularly Assam and the hill country occupied by savage tribes on the eastern frontier is the home of magic. I venture to suggest, but it is only a guess, that the Assam magician is supposed to acquire his powers in the land of " Gora," that is to say, Gauda or Gaura, " the land of sugar," or Central Bengal. The reference to the country of women is interesting. Marco Polo fixed it in the island of Socotra, and his editor, Sir H. Yule ( ' Marco Polo,' 1st ed., ii. 338 ff.), shows that the same legend is found on the banks of the Ganges. It is a curious fact that an actual village inhabited by women alone exists in the Burmese Shan States (see Sir J. G. Scott. ' Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States,' 1901, Part II. vol. ii. 201).

W. CROOKE.

Langton House, Charlton Kings.

' THE OLD-TIME PARSON ' : MAGEE AND THE TOMTIT (10 S. x. 425). See Bishop Wilberforce's ' Life,' vol. iii. p. 261. The Bishop of Cork (Gregg) made the joke about the Dean of Cork (Magee). See also Arch- bishop Magee's ' Life,' vol. ii. p. 183.

G. W. E. R.

[CoL. F. E. R. POLLARD-URQUHART also refers to Wilberforce's ' Life.']

THE FIFTH or NOVEMBER : GUY FAWKES CELEBRATIONS (10 S. x. 384, 434). I was brought up in Bedfordshire, about forty miles from London. Circa 1865, these words were sung by the perambulating boys : Remember, remember The fifth of November,

With Gunpowder Treason and Plot ; I know no reason Why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy ! A stick and a stake For Queen Victoria's sake !

Ho loa, boys ! holloa, boys ! make the bells rin" ! Holloa, boys ! holloa, boys ! God save the Queen !

Hip, hip, hip, Hurrah !

It will be noted that rhythm had been sacrificed in order to bring in " Victoria " and rime to bring in " Queen."

G. W. E. R.

D. J. asks if it is known when Guy Fawkes

lebrations began, and seems to suspect

that they are more recent than 1606. I

thought it was generally accepted that they

are infinitely older, dating, like May DaJ

celebrations, from the prehistoric time when he beginnings of May and November were For survivals of this May-November year see numerous contributions to Nature by Sir Norman Lockyer and the Rev. John rifnth during the last three or four years. A. MORLEY DAVIES.
 * aken as the dividing points of the year.

In the days when bonfires were lighted and fireworks were let off on Tower Hill,, say before 1858, the rimes sung by the- London boys were : Please to remember the fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot ; I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot.

A stick and a stake For King James's sake, A stick and a stump For old Oliver's rump.

Hip ! Hip ! Hip ! Hooray ! Guy ! Guy ! Guy ! stick him up on high, Stick him on a lamp-post and there let him die ?" A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope, A penn'orth of cheese to choke him, A pint of beer to wash it down. And a jolly good fire to roast him. Holloa, boys ! holloa, boys ! let the bells ring ! Holloa, boys ! holloa, boys ! God save the Queen f With a hip, hip, hip, hooray !

S. S. McDowALL.

The doggerel quoted by GYPSY is much the same as, in the forties, we lads used to* chant it in London. The seventh and eighth lines, however, were rather different. The concluding verse is indelibly fixed upon. my mind. It was as follows :

A rope ! a rope ! to hang the Pope, A pound of cheese to choke him, A pint of beer to wash it down, And a jolly good fire to burn him.

But what was known as " The Speech " came first of all. It went to the same tune,, and ran :

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

Kind masters and mistresses all,

W r hen we ? re sure to prepare, with Guy Fawkes in:

a chair, To give you an annual call.

Guy Fawkes, you all know, tried to overthrow All who our religion did share, To establish his hope, the rule of the Pope, And blow King and the Commons in air.

But he failed in his plan, for King James was the?

man

Who discovered the plot ere applied, And determined to trace through every place Where the villainous plotters might hide. On discovery bent, for Suffolk he sent, To search 'neath the Parliament House, W 7 ho gunpowder found hid snug underground, And Guy Fawkes creeping out like a mouse.