Nov. 4. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



369 



printed in it ; and that Shalsispeare is the author 

 of the former. 



The habits and language of the age in which 

 Shakspeare lived were much less restricted than 

 they are now : of this we have plentiful proof in 

 his Plays, as well as the writings of his cotempo- 

 raries ; and it is obvious that he delighted much in 

 the amorous stories of mythology and fabulous 

 history. The myth of Venus and Adonis he ap- 

 pears to have especially fancied, for we see that in 

 1593 his poem on that subject was in a publisher's 

 hands ; and a germane subject, the Rape of Lu- 

 crece, in 1594. 



The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, and the sonnets 

 in 1609, both contain the sonnet in question ; and 

 both contain three other sonnets upon the same 

 subject, which, in the poems republished in 1640, 

 appears under the titles " A Sweete Provocation," 

 " Cruel Deceit," " Inhumanitie," the disputed son- 

 net being entitled " Foolish Disdaine." 



These four sonnets, the same in subject, the 

 same in construction, equally impure in idea and 

 indecent in expression, would never have been 

 worth contending for in support either of Shak- 

 speare's talent or morality ; but, identified as they 

 are with the versatile and sometimes erratic 

 genius of the greatest of poets, they must all be 

 ascribed to him or none. If we begin to tamper 

 with these poems, and cut out one because some 

 one else happened to pirate it, and another be- 

 cause some one else plagiarised It, and half-a- 

 dozen others because scores of witlings have 

 travestied them, we shall have none of his minor 

 works left, and may even become reconciled to 

 Maister Izaac Walton's title to TTie Milkmaid's 

 Song, and The Milkmaids Mothers Song, which, 

 passing through numerous editions without a re- 

 mark to the contrary, might yet have remained in 

 the undisputed possession of the dear innocent old 

 fisherman, if Sir John Hawkins, in his edition of 

 The Angler, had not given us this note : 



" Dr. Warburton, in his Notes on the Merry Wives of 

 Windsor, ascribes this song to Shakspeare; it is true 

 that Sir Hugh Evans, in the third act of that play, sings 

 four lines of it ; and it appears in a collection of poems 

 Baid to be Shakspeare's, printed by Thomas Cotes for 

 Jno. Benson, 12mo. 1640, with some variations." 



Apropos of dates, this is rather cool of Sir John, 

 seeing that Walton first published the The Angler 

 in 1652, The worthy knight is as little disposed 

 as J. M. G. to render Shakspeare his due. 



KiCHARD Gb£EN£. 



Lichfield. 



THE SCHOOL-BOY FORMULA. 



(Vol. X., pp. 124. 210.) 



I can add the following versions of " counting- 

 out rhymes " to those already given, but cannot 



tell to what parts of the country they respectively 

 belong; but I believe the first is used in the 

 western and southern counties. 



" Hickery, hoary, hairy Ann, 

 Busy body over span ; 

 Pare, pare, virgin mare ; 

 Pit, pout, oat, one." 



" Eena, deena, dina, duss, 

 Catalaweena wina wus ; 

 Tittle tattle, what a rattle. 

 O — U — T spells out" 



" One-ery, two-ery, dickery, Davy, 

 Alibo, cracker}', tenery, navy ; 

 Wishcome dandj% merrycome tine, 

 Humberj^ bumbery, twenty-nine. 

 — U — T out, pit, pout, 

 Stand you quite out." 



" Hinks, spinks, 



The devil winks, 

 The fat 's beginning to fry ; 



Nobody 's home 



But jumping Joan, 

 Father, mother, and I. 



O— U— T out. 

 With a long black snout ; 



Out, pout, out." 



HONOKB DE MaBEYILI-B. 



Guernsey. 



I have often in my childhood played at the 

 game described by X. in " N. & Q.," but with a 

 slight difference in the rhymes, which we used to 

 chant as follows : 



" One-ery, two-ery, dickerj', deven, 

 Arrahbone, crackabone, ten or eleven ; 

 Spin, spon, must go on. 

 Twiddle 'em, twaddle 'em, twenty-one ; 

 Hawk 'em, baulk 'em, boney Crawkam, 

 Hiddecome, biddycome, bustard. 



0— U— T out. 

 Our purpose to bring your matches about ; 

 Bring them about as fast as you can. 

 So get you gone, you little old man." 



The last word falling upon the person selected. 



I never considered the first part as any other 

 than gibberish ; the latter end seems to point at a 

 meaning, from the allusion to the " matches," or 

 trials of skill. Having learnt the rhymes orally, I 

 can only guess at the orthography, and would 

 suggest, as a conjectural emendation of the line 

 before " O— U— T," 



" Hither come, Biddy come, basta," 



it is enough ; let us proceed to call out the next 

 person chosen. Z. 



In Norfolk two used are — 



" One-ery, two-ery, ickery am, 

 Bobtail, vinegar, tittle, and tam, 



Harum, scarum, 



Madgerum, marum. 

 Get you out, you little old man." 



