B

ARBER, barber, shave a pig; How many hairs will make a wig? "Four-and-twenty, that's enough: " Give the barber a pinch of snuff.

T

O market, to market, to buy a plum-cake;

Back again, back again, baby is late

To market, to market, to buy a plum-bun,
Back again, back again, market is done.

LOW, wind, blow! and go, mill, go!

BLO

That the miller may grind his corn;

That the baker may take it,

And into rolls make it,

And send us some hot in the morn.

A

Copyright 1897 by F. Warne & Co.

MAN went a hunting at Reigate,

And wished to leap over a high gate;

Says the owner, "Go round,

With your gun and your hound,

For you never shall leap over my gate."

'HERE was a little nobby colt,
His name was Nobby Gray;
His head was made of pouce straw,
His tail was made of hay.

He could ramble, he could trot,
He could carry a mustard -pot,
Round the town of Woodstock,
Hey, Jenny, hey!

WE'RE all in the dumps,

WE

W For diamonds are trumps;

The kittens are gone to St. Paul's!

The babies are bit,

The moon's in a fit,

And the houses are built without walls.

THE

like the origin of ballads, tales (Märchen), riddles, proverbs, and, indeed, of literature in general. They are probably, in England, of no great antiquity, except in certain cases, where they supply the words to some child's ballet, some dance game. A game may be of prehistoric antiquity, as appears in the rudimentary forms of backgammon, Pachist and Patullo, common to Asia, and to the Aztecs, as Dr. Tylor has demonstrated. The child's game

"Buck, buck,

How many fingers do I hold up?"

was known in ancient Rome as bucca, though it would be audacious to infer that it survived in Britain since the Norman Conquest. Hop-scotch is also exceedingly ancient, and the curious will find the theories of its origin in Mr. Gomme's learned work on Children's Dances and Songs, published by the Folk