No. 58 Three Jolly Sailors
Here comes a set of jolly sailor-boys,
Who lately came on shore;
They spend their time in drinking of the wine,
As they have done before.
As we go round, and around and around,
As we go round once more.
New York streets.
At the second verse, the little girls by whom this round is danced turn so as to follow each other in an endless chain, each grasping the skirts of the child in front, while they move faster and faster to the lively tune.
Some of our readers may think this song not a very creditable specimen of modern invention; but it is no doubt a relic of antiquity. A similar round, given in “Deuteromelia,” 1609 (as cited by Chappell), begins:
We be three poor mariners, newly come from the seas;
We spend our lives in jeopardy, while others live at ease.
The children of the poorer class, therefore, who still keep up in the streets of our cities the present ring-dance, are only maintaining the customs which belonged to courtiers and noble ladies in the time of Shakespeare.