  To charm away the hiccup one must repeat these four lines thrice in one breath, and a cure will be certain— "When a twister twisting twists him a twist, For twisting a twist three twists he must twist; But if one of the twists untwists from the twist, The twist untwisting untwists all the twist." AN ESSEX CHARM FOR A CHURN, 1650 A.D."Come, butter, come; come, butter, come, Peter stands at the gate Waiting for his buttered cake; Come, butter, come." The late Sir Humphry Davy is said to "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, ease us, I beg! The devil has tied a knot in my leg; Crosses three † † † we make to ease us, Two for the robbers and one for Jesus." A CHARM AGAINST GHOSTS."There are four corners at my bed, There are four angels there. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, God bless the bed that I lay on." The Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John rhymes were well known in Essex in Elizabeth's time. Ady, in his "Candle after dark," 1655, mentions an old woman he knew, who had lived from Queen Mary's time, and who had been taught by the priests in those days many Popish charms. The old woman, amongst other rhymes, repeated "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, The bed be blest that I lay on." This was to be repeated yearly, thrice on Twelfth Night, and it would act as a charm until the following year against evil spirits. In 1601 a charm in general esteem against lightning was a laurel leaf. "Reach the bays" (or laurel leaves), "and wear one." "I'll tie a garland here about his head, 'Twill keep my boy from lightning." Even Tiberius CÆsar wore a chaplet of laurel leaves about his neck. Pliny reported that "laurel leaves were never blasted by lightning." MONEY RHYMES."How a lass gave her lover three slips for a tester, And married another a week before Easter." Eating curds and whey; There came a big spider, and sat down beside her, And frightened little Mary Esther away!" "Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye; Four-and-twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie. "When the pie was opened The birds began to sing, Was not that a dainty dish To set before the king? "The king was in his counting-house, Counting out his money, The queen was in the parlour Eating bread and honey. "The maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes, Then came a little blackbird And snapped off her nose." In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Sir Toby alludes to the "Sing a Song a Sixpence," Act II., Sc. 3:— "Come on, there is a sixpence for you; let's have a song." In Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca it is also quoted. "There was an old man in a velvet coat, He kiss'd a maid and gave her a groat; The groat was cracked and would not go, Ah, old man, d'ye serve me so?" "See-saw a penny a day, Tommy must have a new master. Why must he have but a penny a day? Because he can work no faster." "One a penny, two a penny, hot-cross buns, If your daughters do not like them give them to your sons; But if you should have none of these pretty little elves You cannot do much better if you eat them all yourselves." Written about 1608:— "There's never a maiden in the town but she knows that malt's come down; Malt's come down, malt's come down from an old angel to a French crown. The greatest drunkards in the town are very, very glad that malt's come down." In New York the children have a common saying when making a swop or change of one toy for another, and no bargain is supposed to be concluded between boys and girls unless they interlock fingers—the little finger on the right hand—and repeat the following doggerel:— "Pinky, pinky bow-bell, Whoever tells a lie Will sink down to the bad place, And never rise up again." NUMERICAL NURSERY RHYME."One, two, buckle my shoe; Three, four, shut the door; Seven, eight, lay them straight; Nine, ten, a good fat hen; Eleven, twelve, who will delve? Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting; Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen; Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting; Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty." BAKER'S MAN."Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man. Yes, I will, master, as fast as I can. Prick it and prick it, and mark it with B, And toss it in the oven for baby and me." |
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