The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume Ii Part 102

We are the Rovers.

[Vol. ii. pp. 343-360].

In a version sent me by Dr. Haddon, there is a slight variation. The first lines of each verse are-

Have you any bread and wine?

We are the Romans.

Have you, &c.

Yes, we have some bread and wine, We are the English.

Yes, we have, &c.

Will you give us some of it, &c.

No; we'll give you none of it, &c.

We will tell our magistrates, &c.

We don't care for your magistrates, &c.

We will tell our new-born prince, &c.

We don't care for your new-born prince, &c.

Are you ready for a fight?

Yes, we're ready for a fight.

Tuck up sleeves and have a fight.

General scrimmage follows.-Girton Village, Cambridgeshire (Dr. A. C.

Haddon).

When I was a Young Girl.

[Vol. ii. pp. 362-374.]

The first lines are-

When I was a naughty girl, &c., and this way went I (shrugging shoulders), When I was a good girl, &c. (folding arms, walking soberly), When I was a teacher (beating time or whacking, optional), When I went a-courting (walking arm in arm), When I had a baby (nursing ap.r.o.n as baby), When my baby died (crying), When my father beat me (hitting one another), When my father died, How I did laugh! (laughing).

-Girton Village, Cambridgeshire (Dr. A. C. Haddon).

MEMOIR ON THE STUDY OF CHILDREN'S GAMES

Children's games have not hitherto been studied in the same way as customs and superst.i.tions and folk-tales have been studied, namely, as a definite branch of folk-lore. It is well however, to bear in mind that they form a branch by themselves, and that, as such, they contribute to the results which folk-lore is daily producing towards elucidating many unrecorded facts in the early history of civilised man.

Although games have been used by Dr. Tylor and others as anthropological evidence, these authorities have mostly confined themselves to those games of skill or chance which happen to have parallels in savage life; and the particular point of their conclusions rests rather upon the parallels, than upon the substantive evidence of the games themselves.

I will first point out the nature of the material for the study. It will be seen that the greater number of games printed in these two volumes have been collected by myself and many kind correspondents, from children in the present day-games that these children have learned from other children or from their parents, and in no case, so far as I am aware, have they been learned from a printed source. To this collection I have added all printed versions of the traditional game, that is, versions of games written down by the collector of folk-lore and dialect-in some cases unconscious collectors of folk custom-from any available source. A distinctive feature of the collection is, therefore, that I have printed all versions of each game known to me which show differences of words or methods of play. The importance of having all the princ.i.p.al variants from different parts of the country will be obvious when definite conclusions as to the origin and significance of traditional games are being considered.

Strutt mentions many games played by boys in his day, but his remarks are confined princ.i.p.ally to games of skill with marbles, tops, &c., and games like "Prisoner's Base," "Scots and English," "Hot c.o.c.kles," &c. He records none of those interesting dialogue games which we know now as singing games. It may be that these games were in his day, as now, the property more of girls than of boys, and he may not have looked for or thought of recording them, for it can hardly be imagined that he was unaware of their existence. He records swinging and ball and shuttlec.o.c.k playing as girls' amus.e.m.e.nts, but very little else, and it cannot even be suggested that the singing game and dialogue game have arisen since his time. Indeed, an examination of the games will, I hope, prove for them a very remote origin, showing traces of early beliefs and customs which children could not have invented, and would not have made the subjects of their play unless those beliefs and customs were as familiar to them as cabs, omnibuses, motor cars, and railways, are to the children of to-day, who use these things as factors in games which they make up.

I do not pretend to have made a complete collection of all versions of games to be found in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It will be seen from my list that some counties are entirely unrepresented; but I think examples enough have been brought together from a sufficient number of different places to show that, even could I obtain the games of every county, I could not reasonably hope to obtain any that would be completely different from those appearing here. Versions differing, more or less, in words from these would, doubtless, appear, but I do not think an entirely different game, or any variants that would materially alter my conclusions, will now be found. All those sent me during the progress of the volumes through the press-and these are a considerable number-show no appreciable differences.

A detailed examination of each game has led me to draw certain conclusions as to the origin of many of the games. These conclusions differ materially from those advanced by Halliwell, Strutt, or the earlier writers, when they have attempted to suggest the origin of a game. I also differ from Mr. Newell in many of the conclusions advanced in his admirable collection of American children's games, although I fully recognise the importance of his method of research. I believe, too, that hitherto no attention has been paid to the manner or method in which the game is played. It is to the "method" or "form" of play, when taken together with the words, that I wish to draw particular attention, believing it to be most important to the history of the games.

I do not, of course, claim that all the games recorded in these two volumes are traditional in their present form, or have had independent origins; many of these now known under different names have a common origin. There is, probably, not one game in the same condition, especially as regards words, as it was fifty or a hundred years ago; but I consider the "form" or "method" would remain practically the same even if the words get materially altered.

All games seem primarily to fall into one of two sections: the first, dramatic games; the second, games of skill and chance. Now the game proper, according to the general idea, must contain the element of winning or losing. Thus, the games of skill and chance are played either for the express purpose of winning property of some sort from a less fortunate or skilful player, or to attain individual distinction. Games of this kind are usually called boys' games, and are played princ.i.p.ally by them; but beyond these generally recognised games is the important section of dramatic games, which are regarded as the property of the girls, and played princ.i.p.ally by them.

These two sections are generally considered as the peculiar

and particular property of each s.e.x. Although this idea is borne out by a study of the traditional game, it will be found that the boys have dramatic games of their own, and the girls have special games of skill and chance. It has so happened, however, that the development in the case of the boys' dramatic games has been in the direction of increasing the rules or laws of a game, introducing thereby so much variety that it is difficult to recognise them as descendants of the dramatic originals. This has probably been the result of their use in school playgrounds, while the girls' dramatic games, not being utilised as a means of exercise, have been left alone, and are dying a natural death.

It will be convenient if, at this point, the games are cla.s.sified as I shall use them in discussing the question of origin. The first necessary cla.s.sification will relate to the incidents which show the customs and rites from which the games have descended; the second cla.s.sification will relate to the dramatic force of the games, as it is from this that I hope to construct the ladder by which the game can be shown to have descended from a long past stage of culture.

The cla.s.sification, according to incident, is as follows, the name of each game referring to the t.i.tle-name in the dictionary:-

MARRIAGE GAMES.

All the Boys.

Babbity Bowster.

Cushion Dance.

Down in the Valley.

Galley, Galley, Ship.

Glasgow Ships.

Hear all! let me at her.

Here comes a Virgin.

Here's a Soldier left alone.

Here stands a Young Man.

Isabella.

Jolly Miller.

King William.

Kiss in the Ring.

Mary mixed a Pudding.

Merry-ma-tanza.

Nuts in May.

Oats and Beans.

Oliver, Oliver, follow the King.

Pretty little Girl of Mine.

Queen Anne.

Rosy Apple.

Round and round the Village.

Sally Water.

Silly Old Man, he walks alone.

Three Dukes.

Three Knights.

Three Sailors.