Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/331

 9* 8. VII. APRIL 27, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

323

Will [We'll?] boldly face the enemy

And do the best we can, And if they dont prove civil

We will slay them every one. I am a Foreign traveller,

I have travelled land and sea, And nothing do I want but a wife To please me the rest part of my life.

Lady, 4th. 1 am a lady bright and gay,

The fortune of my charm, And scornfully I am thrown away

Into my lover arms.

3rd (i.e., the Foreign Traveller). I have meet my dearest jewel ;

She is the comforts of my life, And if she proves true to me I entend her been my wife.

Farmer, 5th. Madam, it is my desire,

If I should be the man All for to gain your fancy, love,

I will do the best I can. I have got both corn and cattle,

And everything you know, Besides a team of horses

To draw along the plough.

Lady. Young man, you are deceitful,

As any of the rest ; So for for [sic] that reason I will have

Them I love best.

Soilder [sic]. Come, me lads, who is bound for listing,

And gan along with me : You shall have all kinds of liquor

While you are in our company.

Indian King, No. 6.

War out ! me lads, and let me come in ! For I am the old chap called Indian King. They all have been trying me to slay ; But you see I am alive to this very day.

Hoby Horse, No. 7. In comes a four year old cout, A fine as ever was bought : He can hotch and he can trot 14 miles in 15 hours just like nought.

Lady Jane, N. 8. In comes Jane with a long leg crayn,

Rambling over the midow ; Once I was a blouming young girl,

But now I am a down old widow.

N. 2 (i.e., the Soldier). Gentlemen, and ladies,

You seen our fool is gone ; We make it in our business

To follow him along ; We thank you for civility

That you have shown us here ; We wish you a merry Christmas

And a happy new year.

The introductory speech of the clown given below differs from that in the above dialogue. It was copied by Miss Mina Fowler from the version of a village boy at Winterton, but

the rest of the "ditties" have still to be collected.

In comes I, ohs [I 've ?1 never been before,

With my big head and my little wit.

If my head be big and my wit be small

I '1 act Tomfool among you all.

Ah, Ah, Ah, you and me,

Little brown juden [jug ?], I love thee.

If I had a cow that gave such milk

I '11 clothe her in the richest silk.

I '11 feed her on the best of hay,

And milk her forty times a day.

In comes I, hungry and dry,

Please will you give us a bit of pork-pie.

The request which concludes this speech smacks of the soil, for pork -pie is a favourite dish among high and low in the county of Tennyson and Newton, where " pig-meat " is held in great esteem.

The next dialogue was repeated to Miss Fowler at Winterton by Mrs. I., who gave it as used on " the hillside " (the western slope of the wolds in North Lincolnshire) some twenty-five years ago. It is to be noticed that in this version, as in the one from Hibaldstow, the hobby-horse can " hotch "- whatever pace that word may mean while a long-legged crane is again referred to in " Jane's " speech. It may be that the heron, not the true crane, has suggested the line. The latter bird is now only a chance visitor, while the former is, or was till lately, some- times called the crane, its more common name being heronsew. The " Doctor's " part includes an allusion to bagpipes (here pos- sibly a comic name for the lungs), which were once well-known instruments of music in the county. An old man who could play the Lincolnshire pipes was still living in the neighbourhood of Kirton-in-Lindsey in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, but both the player and his pipes have now vanished.

PLOUGH-JAGS' DITTIES.

The Hobby-Horse.

Here comes a four-year-old colt [cowt], As fine a filly as ever was bought [bowt]. He can 'otch, an' he can trot, An' he can carry a butter-pot Nine miles high wi'out touching the sky.

Jane, or Besom Betty. In comes Jane with a long-legg'd crane,

Creeping over the meaoTow ; Once I was a blooming maid, But now a down owd widow.

[She sweeps about with her broom.

The Soldier. I 'm a recruiting serjeant

Arrived 'ere just now ; My orders are to 'list all

That follow cart and plough, Likewise fiddlers, tinkers,