Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales Part 13

Thanne wowede Wrong Wisdom ful yerne, To maken pees with his pens, Handy-dandy played.

Florio, in his World of Worlds, ed. 1611, p. 57, translates _bazziciure_, "to shake between two hands, to play handie-dandie."

Miege, in his Great French Dictionary, 1688, says, "Handy-dandy, a kind of play with the hands, _sorte de jeu de main_;" and Douce, ii. 167, quotes an early MS., which thus curiously mentions the game: "They hould safe your children's patrymony, and play with your majestie, as men play with little children at _handye-dandye, which hand will you have_, when they are disposed to keep anythinge from them." Some of the commentators on Shakespeare have mistaken the character of the game, from having adopted Coles's erroneous interpretation of _micare digitis_. Sometimes the game is played by a sort of sleight of hand, changing the article rapidly from one hand into the other, so that the looker-on is often deceived, and induced to name the hand into which it is apparently thrown. This is what Shakespeare alludes to by changing places.

Pope, in his Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus, says that the game of handy-dandy is mentioned by Plato; but if, as I suppose, he refers to a well-known pa.s.sage in the Lysis, the allusion appears somewhat too indistinct to warrant such an a.s.sertion,-ast?a ?a?????ta? te d?

?a? ?e??s?e???? apa?ta?. ?? e? ??? p????? e? t? a??? epa???? e??.

?? de t??e? t?? ap?d?t????? e? ????a ??t?a??? ast?a?a???? pap??????, e? f???s??? t???? p??a????e???. A pa.s.sage, however, in Julius Pollux, ix. 101, referring to this, is rather more distinct, and may allude to one form of the game.-?a? ?? ?a? a?t?a?e??, ast?a?a???? e? f???s??? ?a?a???e???? e? t? ap?d?t???? t??? pa?da?, ???at?? ef?. t? de a?t?a?e?? e? ast?a?a??? p???e? ?e???e??? ?p?

ta?? ?e????, a?te?a? e??e t?? a?t??? ? ?a? pe??tt??. ta?t? de t??t?

?a? ??a???, ? ?a????? te ?a? a??da?a??, ?? de ?a? a?????? p?atte??

??????, a pa.s.sage which Meursius, de Ludis Graecorum, ed. 1625, p. 5, thus partially translates, "nempe ludentes sumptis in manu talis, fabis, nucibus, amygdalis, interdum etiam nummis, interrogantes alterum divinare jubebant." Here we have the exact game of handy-dandy, which is, after all, the simple form of the odd and even of children.

Browne has a curious allusion to this game in Britannia's Pastorals, i. 5,-

Who so hath sene yong lads, to sport themselves, Run in a low ebbe to the sandy shelves, Where seriously they worke in digging wels, Or building childish sorts of c.o.c.kle-shels; Or liquid water each to other bandy, Or with the pibbles play at handy-dandy.

BARLEY-BRIDGE.

A string of boys and girls, each holding by his predecessor's skirts, approaches two others, who, with joined and elevated hands, form a double arch. After the dialogue is concluded, the line pa.s.ses through the arch, and the last is caught, if possible, by the sudden lowering of the arms.

"How many miles to Barley-bridge?"

"Three score and ten."

"Can I get there by candle-light?"

"Yes, if your legs be long."

"A courtesy to you, and a courtesy to you, If you please will you let the king's horses through?"

Through and through shall they go, For the king's sake; But the one that is hindmost Will meet with a great mistake.

THE TOWN LOVERS.

A game played by boys and girls. A girl is placed in the middle of a ring, and says the following lines, the names being altered to suit the party. She points to each one named, and at the last line, the party selected immediately runs away, and if the girl catches him, he pays a forfeit, or the game is commenced again, the boy being placed in the middle, and the lines, _mutatis mutandis_, serve for a reversed amus.e.m.e.nt:

There is a girl of our town, She often wears a flowered gown: Tommy loves her night and day, And Richard when he may, And Johnny when he can: I think Sam will be the man!

MARY BROWN. FAIR GUNDELA.

A slightly dramatic character may be observed in this game, which was obtained from Ess.e.x. Children form a ring, one girl kneeling in the centre, and sorrowfully hiding her face with her hands. One in the ring then says,-

Here we all stand round the ring, And now we shut poor Mary in; Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, And see your poor mother go through the town.

To this she answers,-

I will not stand up upon my feet, To see my poor mother go through the street.

The children then cry,-

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, And see your poor father go through the town.

_Mary._

I will not stand up upon my feet, To see my poor father go through the street.

_Children._

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, To see your poor brother go through the town.

_Mary._

I will not stand up upon my feet, To see my poor brother go through the street.

_Children._

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, To see your poor sister go through the town.

_Mary._

I will not stand up upon my feet, To see my poor sister go through the street.

_Children._

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, To see the poor beggars go through the town.

_Mary._

I will not stand up upon my feet, To see the poor beggars go through the street.

One would have thought that this tiresome repet.i.tion had been continued quite long enough, but two other verses are sometimes added, introducing _gentlemen_ and _ladies_ with the same questions, to both of which it is unnecessary to say that the callous and hardhearted Mary Brown replies with perfect indifference and want of curiosity. All versions, however, conclude with the girls saying,-

Rise up, rise up, poor Mary Brown, And see your poor sweetheart go through the town.

The chord is at last touched, and Mary, frantically replying,-

I will get up upon my feet, To see my sweetheart go through the street,

rushes with impetuosity to break the ring, and generally succeeds in escaping the bonds that detain her from her imaginary love.

The Swedish ballad of the "Maiden that was sold into Slavery," has a similar dramatic character. (See an article by Mr. Stephens, on the Popular Ballads and Songs of Sweden, in the Foreign Quarterly Review for 1840.) Another Swedish ballad, or ring-dance song, ent.i.tled, "Fair Gundela," is, however, more a.n.a.logous to the above. A girl sits on a stool or chair within a ring of dancers; and, with something in her hands, imitates the action of rowing. She should have a veil on her head, and at the news of her sweetheart's death, let it fall over her face, and sink down, overwhelmed with sorrow. The ring of girls dance round her, singing and pausing, and she sings in reply. The dialogue is conducted in the following manner:

_The Ring._

Why row ye so, why row ye so?

Fair Gundela!

_Gundela._

Sure I may row, ay sure may I row, While groweth the gra.s.s, All summer through.