Thirteenth Class — Jingles
Ccccvi
[The first line of the following is the burden of a song in the ‘Tempest,’ act i, sc. 2. and also of one in the ‘Merchant of Venice, act iii, sc. 2.]
Ding dong bell,
Pussy’s in the well!
Who put her in?—
Little Tommy Lin.
Who pulled her out?—
Dog with long snout.
What a naughty boy was that
To drown poor pussy-cat,
Who never did any harm,
But kill’d the mice in his father’s barn.
Ccccvii
Hey ding a ding, what shall I sing?
How many holes in a skimmer?
Four and twenty,—my stomach is empty;
Pray, mamma, give me some dinner.
Ccccviii
Cock a doodle doo!
My dame has lost her shoe;
My master’s lost his fiddling stick,
And don’t know what to do.
Cock a doodle doo!
What is my dame to do?
Till master finds his fiddling stick,
She’ll dance without her shoe.
Cock a doodle doo!
My dame has lost her shoe,
And master’s found his fiddling stick,
Sing doodle doodle doo!
Cock a doodle doo!
My dame will dance with you,
While master fiddles his fiddling stick.
For dame and doodle doo.
Cock a doodle doo!
Dame has lost her shoe;
Gone to bed and scratch’d her head,
And can’t tell what to do.
Ccccix
Diddledy, diddledy, dumpty;
The cat ran up the plum-tree.
I’ll lay you a crown
I’ll fetch you down;
So diddledy, diddledy, dumpty.
Ccccx
Little Tee Wee,
He went to sea
In an open boat;
And while afloat
The little boat bended,
And my story’s ended.
Ccccxi
Sing, sing, what shall I sing?
The cat has eat the pudding-string;
Do, do, what shall I do?
The cat has bit it quite in two.
Ccccxii
[I do not know whether the following may have reference to the game of handy-dandy, mentioned in ‘King Lear,’ act iv, sc. 6, and in Florio’s ‘New World of Words,’ 1611, p. 57.]
Handy Spandy, Jack-a-dandy,
Loved plum-cake and sugar-candy;
He bought some at a grocer’s shop,
And out he came, hop, hop, hop.
Ccccxiii
Tiddle liddle lightum,
Pitch and tar;
Tiddle liddle lightum,
What’s that for?
Ccccxiv
Sing jigmijole, the pudding-bowl,
The table and the frame;
My master he did cudgel me
For speaking of my dame.
Ccccxv
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his trowsers on;
One shoe off, the other shoe on,
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John.
Ccccxvi
Dibbity, dibbity, dibbity, doe.
Give me a pancake
And I’ll go.
Dibbity, dibbity, dibbity, ditter,
Please to give me
A bit of a fritter.
Ccccxvii
Feedum, fiddledum fee,
The cat’s got into the tree.
Pussy, come down,
Or I’ll crack your crown,
And toss you into the sea.
Ccccxviii
Little Jack a Dandy
Wanted sugar-candy,
And fairly for it cried;
But little Billy Cook
Who always reads his book,
Shall have a horse to ride.
Ccccxix
Hyder iddle diddle dell,
A yard of pudding’s not an ell;
Not forgetting tweedle-dye,
A tailor’s goose will never fly.
Ccccxx
Gilly Silly Jarter,
Who has lost a garter?
In a shower of rain,
The miller found it,
The miller ground it,
And the miller gave it to Silly again.
Ccccxxi
Hub a dub dub,
Three men in a tub;
And who do you think they be?
The butcher, the baker,
The candlestick-maker;
Turn ’em out, knaves all three!
Ccccxxii
Hey diddle, dinketty, poppety, pet,
The merchants of London they wear scarlet;
Silk in the collar, and gold in the hem,
So merrily march the merchantmen.
Ccccxxiii
Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee,
The fly shall marry the humble-bee.
They went to the church, and married was she,
The fly has married the humble-bee.
Ccccxxiv
Hey, dorolot, dorolot!
Hey, dorolay, dorolay!
Hey, my bonny boat, bonny boat,
Hey, drag away, drag away!
Ccccxxv
A cat came fiddling out of a barn,
With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm;
She could sing nothing but fiddle cum fee,
The mouse has married the humble-bee;
Pipe, cat,—dance, mouse,
We’ll have a wedding at our good house.
Ccccxxvi
Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laugh’d
To see the sport,
While the dish ran after the spoon.
Ccccxxvii
Doodledy, doodledy, doodledy, dan,
I’ll have a piper to be my good man;
And if I get less meat, I shall get game,
Doodledy, doodledy, doodledy, dan.
Ccccxxviii
Tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee
Resolved to have a battle,
For tweedle-dum said tweedle-dee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
Just then flew by a monstrous crow,
As big as a tar-barrel,
Which frightened both the heroes so,
They quite forgot their quarrel.
Ccccxxix
Come dance a jig
To my Granny’s pig,
With a raudy, rowdy, dowdy;
Come dance a jig
To my Granny’s pig,
And pussy-cat shall crowdy.
Ccccxxx
Pussicat, wussicat, with a white foot,
When is your wedding? for I’ll come to’t.
The beer’s to brew, the bread’s to bake,
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, don’t be too late.
Ccccxxxi
Ding, dong, darrow,
The cat and the sparrow;
The little dog has burnt his tail,
And he shall be hang’d to-morrow.
Ccccxxxii
Little Dicky Dilver
Had a wife of silver,
He took a stick and broke her back,
And sold her to the miller;
The miller would’nt have her,
So he threw her in the river.
Ccccxxxiii
To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, dancing a jig;
Ride to the market to buy a fat hog,
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.
Ccccxxxiv
Doodle, doodle, doo,
The princess lost her shoe;
Her highness hopp’d,
The fidler stopped,
Not knowing what to do.
Ccccxxxv
Rompty-iddity, row, row, row,
If I had a good supper, I could eat it now.
Ccccxxxvi
[Magotty-pie is given in MS. Lands. 1033, fol. 2, as a Wiltshire word for a magpie. See also ‘Macbeth,’ act iii, sc. 4. The same term occurs in the dictionaries of Hollyband, Cotgrave, and Minsheu.]
Round about, round about,
Magotty-pie,
My father loves good ale,
And so do I.
Ccccxxxvii
High, ding, cockatoo-moody,
Make a bed in a barn, I will come to thee;
High, ding, straps of leather,
Two little puppy-dogs tied together;
One by the head, and one by the tail,
And over the water these puppy-dogs sail.
Ccccxxxviii
[Our collection of nursery songs may appropriately be concluded with the Quaker’s commentary on one of the greatest favourites—Hey! diddle, diddle. We have endeavoured, as far as practicable, to remove every line from the present edition that could offend the most fastidious ear; but the following annotations on a song we cannot be induced to omit, would appear to suggest that our endeavours are scarcely likely to be attended with success.]
“Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle”—
Yes, thee may say that, for that is nonsense.
“The cow jumped over the moon”—
Oh no! Mary, thee musn’t say that, for that is a falsehood; thee knows a cow could never jump over the moon; but a cow may jump under it; so thee ought to say—“The cow jumped under the moon.” Yes,—
“The cow jumped under the moon;
The little dog laughed”—
Oh Mary, stop. How can a little dog laugh? thee knows a little dog can’t laugh. Thee ought to say—“The little dog barked—to see the sport,”
“And the dish ran after the spoon”—
Stop, Mary, stop. A dish could never run after a spoon; thee ought to know that. Thee had better say—“And the cat ran after the spoon.” So,—
“Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jump’d under the moon;
The little dog bark’d,
To see the sport,
And the cat ran after the spoon!”