Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/257

 10"- s. iv. SEPT. 9, iocs.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 211 Did you ever catch a weasel asleep ? Did you ever fora sprat catch a whale? Did you ever, in a word, catch a knowing old bird With a little bit of salt upon his tail! S. J. ADAIE FITZ-GERALD. As in the case of your correspondent H. K. ST. J. S., my knowledge of any verse of this song, save the lines referring to the City Road_ and " The Eagle," is derived from the teaching of a nursemaid to my children : and to that regarding the twopenny rice and the treacle the girl in my employ used to add, about 1884 :— Black Sal and Dusty Bob, Lord and Lady Teazle; That's the sort of folks we meet, Pop goes the weasel. This verse, I would suggest, tends to •' date" the song, for Black Sal and Dusty Bob were popular characters in Pierce Egan's ' Tom and Jerry,' which was dramatized in various versions, and often played at London theatres between 1820 and 1840. ALFRED F. BOBBINS. There is a version of this song in the British Museum (press-mark 11621, b. 20) printed by "E. Hodges, Printer [sic], etc. 26, Grafton St., Soho," and commencing Some time ago the people said that English sports were dying- It is clear from the whole context that in this case " Pop goes the weasel" was the name of a dance which was no doubt per- formed to the words and tune of a song, as explained by one of your correspondents. Some short extracts will prove this :— i'"ji goes the weasel! This dance is very popular, it is without deception. Pop goes the weasel has been to Court and met a good reception. Our Queen she patronized the dance, no music could l>e riper. Says Albert, let them dance away, John Bull must pay the piper, This dance will cure you of the blues, &c. Its headquarters was evidently the Eagle. In this song, too, we are told that A country lad came all the way from Berkshire He read the playbills up and down and then went to the Eagle: Says he, I am blowed if I don't sport a bob to see the Weasel! According to the song the " weasel dance" was also on the programme at the Surrey, the "Vic.," the Pavilion, the Standard, Britannia, and other playhouses. There is also a reference in it to '• Madame Taglioni's tricks.11 With regard to dates, this sheet and others in the same volume were acquired by the Museum on 11 June, 1862; Queen Victoria was married in February, 1840, Madame Taglioni retired in 1845, and in the Library Catalogue the date of publication is guessed at as "[1855?]." L. L. K. The phrase has, in spite of all that has been adduced, not yet been satisfactorily explained. That explanation which takes " weasel" as a popular corruption of " vessel," in the collective sense of French vaisselle, plate, seems to me the best. That " vessel" once had this meaning is proved by the Hue in Chaucer's ' Monke's Tale,' 3338 (see Prof. Skeat's edition in the Clarendon Press Series): The vessel of the temple he with him ladde, with the editor's note ; furthermore, line 3494 :— Her riche array ne myghte nat be told. As wel in vessel as in hir clothing. But it must be shown either that the phrase c-s back to the time when it still had its old French signification, or that the word has preserved it somewhere down to a modern age. G. KRUEGER. Berlin. The following version of this song may be of interest to the querist, although, perhaps, shedding no light on the etymology or mean- ing of the word weasel. It was quite popular among the children in a country village in Western Ontario, Canada, twenty or more years ago. I have not heard it recently. There were only the two lines :— I went around the tailor's shop to buy a tailor's needle, That's the way the money goes, and " Poppy goes the weasel. W. J. WlNTEMBERG. Toronto, Canada. [T. G. sends the music as he recollects it. We have forwarded it to MEDicnms.] SIR ROBERT HOWARD, THE DRAMATIST, AND HIS FAMILY (10th S. iv. 141).—MR. BRENAN'S interesting and valuable article, while casting considerable light upon some of the obscure points in the life of this Howard worthy, yet leaves in my mind one or two minor matters of doubt, to which I venture to ask his attention. First as to his honours. His knighthood seems to have been conferred some eighteen months earlier than alleged by MR. BRENAN. According to 'Symonds's Diary' he was "knighted in the field" near Banbury, 29 June, 1644. In another page the diarist states that the event took place at Cropredy Bridge, near Banbury, "for taking Wemes, the Scots general of Sir William Waller's artillery." The statement that Sir Robert received