Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes

RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES

MANY true nursery rhymes go back to traditional dancing and singing games which are now relegated to the playground, but which were danced by rustics within the memory of man, and which are heirs to the choral dances of our heathen forefathers. For dancing in its origin was no idle and unmeaning pastime. Dances were undertaken for serious purposes, such as warding off evil and promoting agricultural growth, conceptions which hang closely together. These dances formed part of festivities that took place at certain times of the year. They were accompanied by expressive words, and by actions which were suited to the words, and which gave the dance a dramatic character. Our carol is related to the caraula that was prohibited among heathen customs by Bishop Eligius of Noyon (d. 659), in the north of France in the seventh century, and has the same origin as the Choreia of the Greeks, the reihe or reigen of Germany, the karol of Brittany, and the caraula of eastern Switzerland. In course of time the religious significance of the choral dance was lost and its practice survived as a sport. At a later stage still, it became a pastime of children and a diversion of the ballroom.

Among the dances that can be traced back through several stages, is the one which in its latest survival is known as the Cotillon. This is mentioned in England as far back as the year 1766. Burns in Tam o' Shanter speaks of it as "brand new from France." The peculiar features of the Cotillon as it is danced nowadays, include free choice of partners, the women being at liberty in one figure to choose the men, the drawing into the dance of the assembled company, and the presence of a cushion which is put to a variety of uses. The Cotillon usually concludes the ball.

In an earlier form the Cotillon is represented by the dance which was known in the seventeenth century as Joan Saunderson or the Cushion Dance. The way of dancing Joan Saunderson is described in The Dauncing Master, a collection of dances with tunes for young people, published by H. Playford. Of this the first volume was issued in 1650, which was enlarged in subsequent editions, when further volumes were added. The Dauncing Master of Playford shows how traditional country dances were appropriated to the ballroom, for many of these dance tunes, such as Mulberry Bush, and Green Sleeves, correspond with the names of traditional dancing and singing games.

In Joan Saunderson or the Cushion Dance as described by Playford,[29 - Playford, The Dauncing Master, 1686, p. 206.] a cushion and a drinking-horn were brought in by two dancers to the sound of a fiddle. The cushion-bearer locked the door and pocketed the key, and danced round the room alone. Then he exchanged words with the fiddler as to the need of finding a maid and pressing her into the dance. The name Joan Saunderson being proposed, the cushion-bearer placed the cushion before the woman of his choice, and knelt upon it. She did the same, and drank from the horn. They kissed and danced together. The same ceremony was then gone through by the girl, who, when the name John Saunderson was proposed, approached the man of her choice bearing the cushion, the first dancer accompanying her. The ceremony was repeated again and again, alternately by man and woman, and as each dancer chose a partner, the number of those following the cushion-bearer increased. Finally the whole assembled company were drawn into the ring.

A scene in Joan Saunderson is said to be represented in a Dutch engraving of the year 1624 (1876, p. 254). Joan Saunderson is still danced in different parts of the country under the same or some similar name. In Derbyshire it is known as the Cushion Dance, and those who are drawn into the ring are addressed as John Sanders and Jane Sanders. In the Lowlands the dance is known as Babbity Bowster, bowster standing for bolster; in the north it is the Whishin Dance, whishin standing for cushion (1894, I, pp. 9, 87). The Cushion Dance was the last dance that was danced at a wedding,[30 - Murray's Dictionary: Cushion Dance.] and at Northampton it came at the conclusion of the May-Day festival (1876, p. 253).

In the Cotillon of the ballroom, the ring finally breaks up and the company dances in couples; the Cushion Dance leads up to the withdrawal of the married pair, and concludes with a romp. A later edition of The Dauncing Master (1698, p. 7), perhaps with a view to forestalling this, adds a sequel to the dance, according to which the game, after it had been wound, was unwound, that is, each dancer in turn bade farewell to his partner, and after doing so left the room.

The points of likeness between the Cotillon and the Cushion Dance are such as to favour the belief that they are connected. The free choice of partners, the presence of the cushion, the drawing in of the whole assembled company, and the fact that the dance terminates the ball, are peculiar to them both. The Cushion Dance being the older sport, preserves the association with weddings and with the May-Day festival, which at one time was the occasion for mating and marriage.

The associations with mating and marriage are preserved also in a traditional game that is still played throughout the greater part of England, which is generally known as Sally Waters. The verses recited in playing it render it probable that the Cushion Dance is a later development of the game known as Sally Waters.

In playing Sally Waters the players stand in a ring, a boy and a girl alternately choose a partner and seal the bond by joining hands, or by kneeling, or by a kiss. The verses recited in playing the game were first recorded by Halliwell (1849, p. 133). Forty-nine further variations, used in different parts of the kingdom in playing the game, have been printed by Mrs. Gomme, who classed this among marriage games, (1894, II, 461). In the book of Playford the Cushion Dance is called also Joan Saunderson, and those who are pressed into the dance are designated as Joan Saunderson and John Saunderson, or as Jane Sanders and John Sanders. In playing the game of Sally Waters similar names are used. Thus the children in Penzance stand in a ring and sing the following verse: —

Little Sally Sander sitting in the Sander,
Weeping and crying for her young man.

    (1894, No. 26.)
In playing the game in Liverpool they begin: —

Little Polly Sanders sits on the sand, etc.

    (Ibid., No. 42.)
The verses used in Yorkshire begin: —

Little Alice Sander sat upon a cinder, etc.

    (Ibid., No. 31.)
These names Sally Sander, Polly Sanders, etc., must be derived from the same source as Saunderson and Sanders of the Cushion Dance. A host of other rhymes current in the nursery deal with the same theme, and are formed on the same model. There is one step only from little Sally Sander of Penzance, little Polly Sanders of Liverpool, and little Alice Sander who sat upon a cinder, to the following rhymes which are included in different nursery collections. All these rhymes describe a person sitting and waiting, and most of them dwell on the idea of a seat or a cushion, while the allusion to matters matrimonial, being unsuitable to children, is altogether dropped.

Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty toes;
Her mother came and caught her, and scolded her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes.

    (1846, p. 212.)
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey,
There came a great spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.[31 - Songs for the Nursery, published by Darton & Co., 1812. The verses included in this collection were altered with a view to rendering them more suitable for children.]

Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a little spider and sat down beside her,
And frightened Mary Ester away.

    (1842, p. 61.)
Tuffet and tester are words for a footstool.

Little Miss Mopsey sat in the shopsey,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a great spider who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Mopsey away.

    (1842, p. 37.)
Little Tom Tacket sits upon his cracket,
Half a yard of cloth will make him a jacket,
Make him a jacket and breeches to the knee,
And if you will not have him, you may let him be.

    (1842, p. 199.)
Little Tom Tucker sings for his supper,
What shall he eat, but white bread and butter;
How will he cut it, without e're a knife
And how will he be married without e're a wife.

    (1744, p. 10; c. 1783, p. 56.)
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating a [of] Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb, and he took [pulled] out a plum,
And said [cried] "What a good boy am I!"

Chorus: And what a good boy am I!

    (c. 1783, p. 55.)
These verses as they here stand arranged, show an increasing deviation from the words used in playing the game of Sally Waters.

Tom Tucker and Jack Horner are names that go some way back in history. For Brand states that at the revels kept at St. John's College, 1 November, 1607, a Christmas Lord of the Revels was chosen as Thomas Tucker.[32 - Brand, Popular Antiquities, I, 219.] A dance tune of the Dauncing Master was called Tom Tucker also.[33 - The Dauncing Master, 1686, p. 130.]

The name of Jacky Horner was familiar to Carey about the year 1720, as mentioned above. Little Jack Horner was a well-known tune, and there is a direction in the Grub Street opera that the chorus shall be sung to this melody.[34 - Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 27.] A chapbook of the latter half of the eighteenth century bears the title, The Pleasant History of Jack Horner, containing his Witty Tricks, etc. It cites the familiar rhyme, and further describes the pranks that the hero played upon women. This association and the name recall the expressions hornified, that is a cuckold;[35 - Murray's Dictionary: Horning.]horning, a mock serenade "without which no wedding would be complete"; and Horn Fair, a time of unusual licence, kept up in Kent: "all was fair at Horn Fair" (1876, p. 387).

CHAPTER VII

THE GAME OF SALLY WATERS

THE game of Sally Waters calls for further comment. In this game, as already mentioned, the players stand in a circle, boy and girl alternately choose a partner, while the friends stand around and chant the verses. In these lies the interest of the game. For these words in the fifty variations collected by Mrs. Gomme, all give expression to the same sequence of ideas. There is the call to Sally to go through the ceremony of sprinkling the pan or watering the can. This is followed by a chorus that urges that a choice be made. When this is made and sealed by joining hands, or by kneeling, or by a kiss, the chorus utters wishes for a prosperous union. Similar traits appear in the games known as Pretty Little Girl of Mine, The Lady of the Mountain, and Kiss in the Ring, which, in a less pronounced form, give expression to the same ideas.

The verses used in playing Sally Waters in Dorsetshire are among the most meaningful, and stand as follows: —

Sally, Sally Waters, sprinkle in the pan,
Rise, Sally; rise, Sally, and choose a young man;
Choose [or bow] to the east, choose [or bow] to the west
[Or choose for the best one, choose for the worst one],