known American folklorist points out, that many were not composed by children. "They were formerly played, as in many countries they are still played, by persons of marriageable age, or even by mature men and women. The truth is that in past centuries all the world, judged by our present standard, seems to have been a little childish. The maids of honour of Queen Elizabeth's day, if we may credit the poets, were devoted to the game of tag, and conceived it a waste of time to pass in idleness hours which might be employed in that pleasure, with which Diana and her nymphs were supposed to amuse themselves." Court dames and cottage damsels alike played these singing games in the breezy days of Good Queen Bess. How the puritanical glacier of a later time swept away the richness of life and left bare the naked rock-bed of stern reality, we of the present generation know only too well. Those unconscious keepers of archaic archives-our village children-have retained some of the romping games of the grown ups" of "Merrie England"; but also in some of the singing games, played by the roadside, can we trace degenerate and fragmentary survivals of the social life, ceremonies, and religious practices of our savage ancestors. // This is not the place to enter into a disquisition on dancing, much as I should like to, for the subject is one of peculiar interest and of deep significance. Many valuable contributions to the subject have been made by Mrs. J. G. Frazer, Herbert Spencer,' and others, amongst whom I would specially mention Grosse, who has eloquently argued that dancing has been no mere pastime, "La joie de vivre, 1 W. W. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, New York, 1884, p. 5. Mrs. Lilly Grove, The Badminton Library: Dancing, 1895. 3 Herbert Spencer, “Professional Institutions: iii., Dancer and Musician,” The Contemporary Review, lxviii., 1895, p. 114. ohé, ohé," not even solely a magical pantomime, but that it has had a civilising effect by making numbers of people meet in amity and move rhythmically in accord. On this co-ordinating effect of the tribal dance Grosse lays great stress, and believes that it has been one of the chief factors in the elevation of man. With Herbert Spencer, he delves yet deeper and sees in the vigorous rhythmical movements the rationale of dancing. I do not intend making an analysis or a classification of the singing games of children, but will content myself with taking a few that have interested me. The first two," The Farmer's Den" and "When I was a Naughty Girl," appear to be simple amusements with nothing special at the back of them. In a few instances I have given, or merely alluded to, games which in some cases are evidently versions of the same game, while in others they are similar games which have apparently had an independent origin. We are here brought face to face with a crucial question in folk-lore. Broadly speaking, students of folk-lore range themselves into two camps: the adherents of one school seek to explain all similarities of custom or tale by borrowing or transmission; the followers of what is sometimes called the anthropological school are impressed with the essential solidarity of mankind, and argue that under similar conditions men of a given plane of culture will do, think, and say very much alike. There is no need to take either extreme. Every instance must be studied independently, and all the available evidence must be collected and weighed impartially from both points of view before a reliable conclusion can be arrived at. The similarity in two or more widely separated districts of a complex custom or tale, is very good evidence in favour of borrowing, but in a simple case the matter is by no means easy to decide. As an example of the distribution of two singing games which are so similar that they must have had a common origin, I will take the following. The first version was collected by my elder daughter at Auchencairn in Kirkcudbrightshire; the second was given to me as coming from Basel. It is a far cry from South-west Scotland to Switzerland, and the explanation appears to be that it is an ancient Teutonic game. THE FARMER'S DEN The players dance in a ring, singing, round one child, who stands in the centre of the circle. "The farmer's in his den, the farmer 's in his den, For it's oh! my dearie, the farmer's in his den. For the farmer takes a wife, for the farmer takes a wife, [The child then chooses a "wife" from the circle, who then goes into the ring along with the "farmer." again dance round, singing:] The remainder For the wife takes a child, for the wife takes a child, [The "wife" then chooses a on, as before.] child" from the circle, and so "For the child takes a nurse, for the child takes a nurse, For it's oh! my dearie, the child takes a nurse." [Selection as before.] "For the nurse takes a dog, for the nurse takes a dog, For it's oh my dearie, the nurse takes a dog." [Then they all join in singing :] "For we all clap the dog, for we all clap the dog, For it's oh! my dearie, we all clap the dog." [And while they are singing they pat the "dog's" back.] The Swiss game is as follows: The children are divided into two parties and stand opposite one another. One party, advancing, sings: "Once a peasant drove into the forest, Hurrah Viktoria! Once a peasant drove into the forest." [And retreat when singing the last line.] [The other side advances singing :] "The peasant took a wife, Hurrah Viktoria! The peasant took a wife. "The woman took a child, Hurrah Viktoria ! The woman took a child. "The child took a nurse, Hurrah Viktoria ! The child took a nurse. "The nurse took a man-servant, Hurrah Viktoria! The nurse took a man-servant. "The man-servant took a dog, Hurrah Viktoria ! The man-servant took a dog. "The dog took a sausage, Hurrah Viktoria! The dog took a sausage. "The peasant separated from his wife, Hurrah Viktoria! The woman separated from the child, The child separated from the nurse." And so on; when saying the word separated" the second party chooses a child for the first one, until only one child is left, who is the "sausage." They all form a circle round her, dancing and clapping their hands, and singing: 64 The sausage is left alone, Hurrah Viktoria!" The Scottish version is evidently an abbreviated one. It looks, too, as if the Swiss game should commence with one child (the " peasant "), facing a row, and that at each stanza a child should pass from the latter to the former, until the break comes in the song when the action is reversed; finally the "sausage" alone remains. What appears to be merely an imitative child's singing game is the one known as " When I was a Naughty Girl." The following is a version I have collected near Cambridge, and as the ring of children marched round, following one another in a circle, they imitated the actions suggested by the words. It was a pretty little comedy to see them walking demurely when they were good girls, or shrugging their shoulders and wriggling their bodies when they were naughty, walking arm in arm when they were courting, and later dangling an imaginary baby. "When I was a naughty girl, a naughty girl, a naughty girl, When I was a naughty girl, and this way went I." [Pantomime shrugging shoulders.] "When I was a good girl, a good girl, a good girl, "When I was a teacher, a teacher, a teacher, |