Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/256

 210 iv. SEPT. 9. isxs. NOTES AND QUERIES, Quite sharp it hit me in the eye, When a waiter cried, " Sir, be still, 1 didn't mean to let it fly, But' Pop went the weasel.' " Disgusted with the horrid sound, 1 rushed from forth the place, sirs, And sought a lonelier spot of ground, There thinking to find peace, sirs: When clarionets and loud trombones My very blood did freeze all. By squeaking, braying, bursting out— With " Pop goes the weasel." I fled the spot—I left Cremorne, And jumped into a bus quick. And tired and fevered, sad and worn, Found myself at Charing Cross quick. I dreamt that night, quite in a fright, That I was ill with measels, And all the spots were just the shape And had the eyes of weasels. Since then I 've asked what it doth mean, Of folks in every station ; Some grin and laugh, some jeer and scoff- All B bother and vexation. For, I 'm still as wise as e'er I was, As full's an empty ]KM-shell, In aa far as the true history goes Of " Pop goes the weasel." Yet popping here, and popping there, And popping all about, sirs, 'Mong Poplar trees, in .Pop'lar airs, It still keeps popping out, sirs. Pop north and south, pop east and west. Pop right and left, i see still, Pop up and down, thro' all the town 'Tis " Pop goes the weasel." In regard to the history of this song, I may state that I gave much information in 1900. Many writers have drawn upon the particulars supplied. My friend Mr. Charles Coote, who has recently retired from the directorship of Hopwood & Crew, wrote me the following letter, 2 April, 1900 :— " I forward you copies of ' Pop goes the Weasel' and 'All Round my Hat.' Yon will see the verse: Up and down the City Road, In and out the Eagle, That's the way the money goes- Pop goes the weazel, is not in this version. This verse was sung in a burlesque at the Haymarket by a comedian named Clark. Of this I feel pretty sure; but, it is a great many years ago, quite fifty I should say." ] Before I go further I should like to say to the gentleman who suggests in ' N. & Q.' that the weasel is the " weevil,'1 an insect "of the family Curculionidse," common in America, that the "weasel" is a well-known little quadruped, of the genus Mustela, about six inches in length, with a tail about two inches long: "It is remarkable for its slender form and agile movements. It preys upon small animals, as moles, rata, mice, and the like." I have seen lainea 111 «• t* ^-, •*• •-'«•"»-—• — -- of a " pop-able" nature, watches, plate, torks and spoons—anything that uncle would take. Variations of the song were sung in all tne burlesques of the day, and in particular James Robinson Planche introduced several in his extravaganzas; as in' Once upon a lime there lived Two Kings,' produced at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, 2G December,^ 1853, but notably in ' The New Haymarket bprmg Meeting,' an Easter extravaganza, done at the Haymarket Theatre, 9 April, 1855, by John Baldwin Buckstone. This was the last remtf that J. R. Planche wrote for the Haymarket, and deserves remembrance on account of its connexion with ' Pop goes the Weasel.' It was a purely topical piece, and amongst the characters introduced were genii of the various London theatres, includ- ing the City of London, with song ' Oh, sach a Town ': the Standard, to the tune of I he Standard-Bearer,' and a special reference to Mr. Douglass, the lessee; the Royal Itali&p Opera, Foreign Opera, Strand, Adelpni, Hayraarket, Princess's, the Britannia, ana the Eagle or Grecian. Mr. Clark (referred to by Mr. Coote) was the genius of the bagle. The lines are:— The drama then one consolation sees, Her audience sup porter, if they please. (An eagle appear* over the portico of the Eagle. Song, Eagle, ' Pop goes the Weasel.' I 'm the Bird of Conquest, made First by Romans famous, Though Grecian my Saloon was called By some ignoramus. Up and down the City Road. In and out the Eagle, That's the way the money comes, Pop goes the weasel. The Conquest referred to was, of course, B. O. Conquest, father of George. Planche says " comes "; consequently, the song must have been popular, or rather the lines, before he made use of the verse. Apart from the slang, my own impression is that it was originally a dance-melody, with words sung to a hopping game. I was guilty of the practice myself as a child m the late sixties. The now famous quatrain decidedly dates from the forties. By the way, at the Globe Theatre. 16 June, 1878, was produced a burlesque on 'The Lyons Mail,' then running at the Lyceum Theatre, called ' The Lion's Tail, and why he wagged it.' In this Miss Rachel Sanger sang a song, the refrain of which I recall:—