The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland Volume I Part 28

Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.

Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to, And she must come whether she will or no.

Then the following words are sung as in the first example:-

Man: Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.

Both: Prink.u.m-prank.u.m is a fine dance, And shall we go dance it once again, And once again, And shall we go dance it once again?

Woman: This dance it will no further go.

Musician: I pray you, madam, why say you so?

Woman: Because John Sanderson will not come to.

Musician: He must come to, and he shall come to, And he must come whether he will or no.

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing-

Welcome, John Sanderson, &c.

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round singing as before; and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, "This dance," &c., as before, only instead of "come to," they sing "go fro," and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," &c., they sing "Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell," &c., and so they go out one by one as they came in.-Charminster (_Notes and Queries_, ii. 517, 518).

This description is almost the same as a seventeenth century version.

The dance is begun by a single person (either man or woman), who, taking a cushion in his hand, dances about the room, and at the end of the tune he stops and sings:-

This dance it will no further go.

The Musician answers:

I pray you, good sir, why say you so?

Man: Because Joan Sanderson will not come to.

Musician: She must come to, and she shall come to, And she must come whether she will or no.

Then he lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing-

Welcom, Joan Sanderson, welcom, welcom.

Then he rises, takes up the cushion, and both dance, singing-

Prink.u.m-prank.u.m is a fine dance, And shall we go dance it once again, Once again, and once again, And shall we go dance it once again.

Then, making a stop, the wo(man) sings as before-

This dance, &c.

Musician: I pray you, madam, &c.

Woman: Because John Sanderson, &c.

Musician: He must, &c.

And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling upon it, salutes her, she singing-

Welcom, John Sanderson, &c.

Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands and dance round, singing as before. And thus they do till the whole company are taken into the ring. And then the cushion is laid before the first man, the woman singing, "This dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "come to," they sing "go fro," and instead of "Welcom, John Sanderson," &c., they sing "Farewel, John Sanderson, farewel, farewel;" and so they go out one by one as they came in. _Note_, that the woman is kiss'd by all the men in the ring at her coming in and going out, and the like of the man by the woman.-_The Dancing Master_: London, printed by J. P., and sold by John Playford at his shop near the Temple Church, 1686, 7th edition.

Another version gives the words as follows:-

We've got a new sister in our degree, And she's welcome into our companee, companee.

Mrs. Sargesson says she weant come to, We'll make her whether she will or no, Will or no, will or no, We'll maake her whether she will or no.

Children form a ring with one in the middle, who lays a cushion on the ground. They sing the first two lines, and the child in the centre points at one, and the others dance round singing the other lines, the centre child dragging the imaginary Mrs. Sargesson on to the cushion by force, kissing her, and leaving her in the centre. Then Mrs. Sargesson points at one in the ring, and the game begins again.-East Kirkby, Lincolnshire (Miss Maughan). The tune sung is the same as the "Mulberry Bush."

Miss Baker (_Northamptonshire Glossary_) says the Cushion Dance is still continued, with some variations, and generally closes the evening's amus.e.m.e.nts. One of the young men endeavours secretly to bring in a cushion, and locks the doors, to prevent the escape of the young maidens; then all the party unite hands and dance round three times to the left and three times to the right, after which the company all seat themselves, except the young man who holds the cushion. He advances to the fiddler, and says-

This dance it will no further go.

Fiddler: Why say you so? why say you so?

Cushion-holder: Because the young women will not come to.

Fiddler: They must come to, they shall come to, And tell them I say so.

The cushion-holder then goes to the girl he fancies most, and drops the cushion at her feet. She kneels down with him on the cushion, and he salutes her, and they then rise and dance round and round to the fiddler. The girls then go through the same thing, saying, "young men,"

and then "a young man," &c., until the whole company have gone through the same ceremony, which concludes with all dancing round three times, as at the commencement.

The Norfolk and London versions are reduced to a simple "Kiss in the Ring" game, with the following verse:-

Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Round the cushion we dance with glee, Singing songs so merrily; Yet the punishment you must bear If you touch the cushion there.

-Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

(_c_) Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to this game:-"The Court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing first you have the grave measures, then the Cervantoes and the Golliards, and this is kept up with ceremony. At length to Trenchmore and the _Cushion Dance_; and then all the company dance, lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but Trenchmore and the Cushion Dance," &c. The "Whishin Dance" (an old-fashioned dance, in which a cushion is used to kneel upon), mentioned by d.i.c.kinson (_c.u.mberland Glossary_), is probably the same game or dance, "whishin" meaning cushion. Brockett (_North Country Words_) mentions "Peas Straw," the final dance at a rustic party; something similar to the ancient "Cushion Dance" at weddings. It is also recorded in Evans' _Leicestershire Glossary_, and by Burton in the following pa.s.sage from the _Anatomy of Melancholy_: "A friend of his reprehended him for dancing beside his dignity, belike at some cushen dance." In the version from East Kirkby, Lincolnshire, the expression "in our degree" in the first line of the verse is apparently meaningless, and it is probably a corruption of "highdigees, highdegrees," a dialect word for roystering, high spirits, merriment, dancing, romping. Elworthy (_Somerset Words_) gives this word, and quotes the following line from Drayton:-

Dance many a merry round and many a highdegy.

-_Polyolbion_, Bk. xxv., l. 1162.

(_d_) The transition from a dance to a pure game is well ill.u.s.trated by the different versions, and the connection of the dance with the ceremony of marriage is obvious. A curious account of the merry-makings at marriages is given in Coverdale's _Christen State of Matrimony_, 1543: "After the banket and feast there beginneth a mad and unmannerly fashion; for the bride must be brought into an open dauncing-place. Then is there such a running, leaping, and flinging among them that a man might think all these dauncers had cast all shame behinde them, and were become starke mad, and out of their wits, and that they were sworne to the devil's daunce. Then must the bride keep foote with all dauncers, and refuse none, how scabbed, foule, drunken, rude, and shameless soever he be... . After supper must they begin to pipe and daunce again of anew. And though the young persons come once towards their rest, yet can they have no quietness."-1575 edit., fol. 59, rev. 60. Edward L.

Rimbault, writing in _Notes and Queries_, vi. 586, says it was formerly the custom at weddings, both of the rich as well as the poor, to dance after dinner and supper. In an old Court masque of James I.'s time, performed at the marriage ceremony of Philip Herbert and Lady Susan (MS.

in the writer's possession), it is directed that, at the conclusion of the performance, "after supper" the company "dance a round dance." This was "dancing the bride to bed." William Chappell (_Notes and Queries_, ii. 442) says, "I have a tune called 'A round dance to dance the bride to bed.' It dates from about 1630, or earlier, and resembles that of 'The Hunt is up.'" Dancing was considered so essential at weddings (according to Grose) that if in a family the youngest daughter should chance to be married before her elder sisters, they must dance at her wedding without shoes. May not the custom of throwing of old and worn-out shoes after the bride have arisen from the practice of dancing?

The danced-out shoes may have been the ones used. It is curious that the cushion is used in the marriage ceremonies of the Brahmins. Mr. Kearns, in his _Marriage Ceremonies of the Hindoos of the South of India_, p. 6, says that a stool or cushion is one of the preparations for the reception of the bridegroom, who on entering the apartment sits down on the stool which is presented to him. He says, "I step on this for the sake of food and other benefits, on this variously splendid footstool."

The bride's father then presents to him a cushion made of twenty leaves of cusa gra.s.s, holding it up with both hands and exclaiming, "The cushion! the cushion! the cushion!" The bridegroom replies, "I accept the cushion," and taking it, places it on the ground under his feet, while he recites a prayer. It is probable that we may have in the "Cushion Dance" the last relics of a very ancient ceremony, as well as evidence of the origin of a game from custom.

Cutch-a-Cutchoo

Children clasp their hands under their knees in a sitting posture, and jump thus about the room. The one who keeps up longest wins the game.-Dublin (Mrs. Lincoln).

(_b_) In _Notes and Queries_, x. 17, "E. D." says this amus.e.m.e.nt was fashionable sixty years ago, and from the low dresses worn then by ladies he mentions its indecency. He gives extracts from a satire called _Cutchacutchoo, or the Jostling of the Innocents_, 2nd ed., Dublin, in which the game and position are mentioned-

Now she with tone tremendous cries Cutchacutchoo.

Let each squat down upon her ham, Jump like a goat, puck like a ram.

"Uneda," at same reference (x. 17), speaks of it as a known game in Philadelphia. The a.n.a.logy which this game has to some savage dances is curious; a correspondent in _Notes and Queries_, ix. 304, draws attention to the ill.u.s.tration, in Richardson's _Expedition to Arctic Sh.o.r.es_ (vol. i. p. 397), of a dance by the "Kutchin-Kutcha" Indians, a parallel to the name as well as the dance which needs some research in America.

See "Curcuddie," "Hop-frog."