The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 10

Then but he ran wi' hasty breish.e.l.l, And laid on Hab a badger-reishill.

-_MS. Poem._

Mr. Emslie says he knows it under the name of "Baste the Bear" in London, and Patterson (_Antrim and Down Glossary_) mentions a game similarly named. It is played at Marlborough under the name of "Tom Tuff."-H. S. May.

See "Doncaster Cherries."

Bag o' Malt

A bag o' malt, a bag o' salt, Ten tens a hundred.

-Northall's _English Folk Rhymes_, p. 394.

Two children stand back to back, linked near the armpits, and weigh each other as they repeat these lines.

See "Weigh the b.u.t.ter."

Ball

I. Stottie ba', hinnie ba, tell to me How mony bairns am I to hae?

Ane to live, and ane to dee, And ane to sit on the nurse's knee!

-Chambers' _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, p. 115.

II. Toss-a-ball, toss-a-ball, tell me true, How many years I've got to go through!

-Burne's _Shropshire Folk-lore_, p. 530.

(_b_) Children throw a ball in the air, repeating the rhyme, and divine the length of their lives by the number of times they can catch it again. In some places this game is played with a cowslip ball, thence called a "tissy-ball."

(_c_) I have heard other rhymes added to this, to determine whether the players shall marry or not, the future husband's calling, dress to be worn, method of going to church, &c. (A. B. Gomme). Strutt describes a handball game played during the Easter holidays for Tansy cakes (_Sports_, p. 94). Halliwell gives rhymes for ball divination (_Popular Rhymes_, p. 298) to determine the number of years before marriage will arrive. Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) says, "The May garland is suspended by ropes from the school-house to an opposite tree, and the Mayers amuse themselves by throwing b.a.l.l.s over it. A native of Fotheringay, Mr. C. W. Peach," says Miss Baker, "has supplied me with the reminiscences of his own youth. He says the May garland was hung in the centre of the street, on a rope stretched from house to house. Then was made the trial of skill in tossing b.a.l.l.s (small white leather ones) through the framework of the garland, to effect which was a triumph."

See "Cuck Ball," "Keppy Ball," "Monday."

Ball and Bonnets

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 2.]

This is a boys' game. The players may be of any number. They place their caps or bonnets in a row. One of the boys takes a ball, and from a fixed point, at a few yards' distance from the bonnets, tries to throw it into one of the caps (fig. 1). If the ball falls into the cap, all the boys, except the one into whose cap the ball has fallen, run off. The boy into whose cap the ball has been thrown goes up to it, lifts the ball from it, and calls out "Stop!" The other boys stop. The boy with the ball tries to strike one of the other boys (fig. 2). If he does so, a small stone is put into the cap of the boy struck. If he misses, a stone is put into his own cap. If the boy who is to pitch the ball into the cap misses, a stone is put into his own cap, and he makes another trial. The game goes on till six stones are put into one cap. The boy in whose cap are the six stones has to place his hand against a wall, when he receives a certain number of blows with the ball thrown with force by one of the players. The blows go by the name of "buns." The game may go on in the same way till each player gets his "buns."-Nairn (Rev. W.

Gregor).

See "Hats in Holes."

Ball in the Decker

A row of boys' caps is set by a wall. One boy throws a ball into one of the caps. The owner of the cap runs away, and is chased by all the others till caught. He then throws the ball.-Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).

Ball of Primrose

[Music]

We'll wear yellow ribbons, yellow ribbons, yellow ribbons, We'll wear yellow ribbons at the Ball of Primrose; We'll all go a-waltzing, a-waltzing, a-waltzing, We'll all go a-waltzing at the Ball of Primrose.

-Epworth, Doncaster; and Lossiemouth, Yorkshire (Charles C. Bell).

(_b_) The children form a ring, joining hands, and dance round singing the two first lines. Then loosing hands, they waltz in couples, singing as a refrain the last line. The game is continued, different coloured ribbons being named each time.

(_c_) This game was played in 1869, so cannot have arisen from the political movement.

Baloon

A game played with an inflated ball of strong leather, the ball being struck by the arm, which was defended by a bracer of wood.-Brand's _Pop.

Antiq._, ii. 394.

(_b_) It is spelt "balloo" in Ben Jonson, iii. 216, and "baloome" in Randolph's _Poems_, 1643, p. 105. It is also mentioned in Middleton's _Works_, iv. 342, and by Donne.

"'Tis ten a clock and past; all whom the mues, _Baloun_, tennis, diet, or the stews Had all the morning held."

-Donne's _Poems_, p. 133.

Toone (_Etymological Dict._) says it is a game rather for exercise than contention; it was well known and practised in England in the fourteenth century, and is mentioned as one of the sports of Prince Henry, son of James I., in 1610. Strutt (_Sports and Pastimes_, p. 96) gives two ill.u.s.trations of what he considers to be baloon ball play, from fourteenth century MSS.

Bandy-ball

A game played with sticks called "bandies," bent and round at one end, and a small wooden ball, which each party endeavours to drive to opposite fixed points. Northbrooke in 1577 mentions it as a favourite game in Devonshire (Halliwell's _Dict. of Provincialisms_). Strutt says the bat-stick was called a "bandy" on account of its being bent, and gives a drawing from a fourteenth century MS. book of prayers belonging to Mr. Francis Douce (_Sports_, p. 102). The bats in this drawing are nearly identical with modern golf-sticks, and "Golf" seems to be derived from this game. Peac.o.c.k mentions it in his _Glossary of Manley and Corringham Words_. Forby has an interesting note in his _Vocabulary of East Anglia_, i. 14. He says, "The bandy was made of very tough wood, or shod with metal, or with the point of the horn or the hoof of some animal. The ball is a k.n.o.b or gnarl from the trunk of a tree, carefully formed into a globular shape. The adverse parties strive to beat it with their bandies through one or other of the goals."

Bandy Cad or Gad

A game played with a nurr and crooked stick, also called "Shinty," and much the same as the "Hockey" of the South of England. "Cad" is the same as "cat" in the game of "Tip-cat;" it simply means a cut piece of wood.-Nodal and Milner's _Lancashire Glossary_.

Bandy-hoshoe

A game at ball common in Norfolk, and played in a similar manner to "Bandy" (Halliwell's _Dictionary_). Toone (_Etymological Dictionary_) says it is also played in Suffolk, and in West Suss.e.x is called "Hawky."

Bandy-wicket