A game played with a certain number of pins and a ball, resembling half a cricket ball. One pin is placed in the centre, the rest (with the exception of one called the Jack) are placed in a circle round it; the Jack is placed about a foot or so from the circle, in a line with the one in the circle and the one in the centre. The centre one is called the King, the one between that and the Jack, the Queen. The King counts for three, the Queen two, and each of the other pins for one each, except Jack. The art of the game lies in bowling down all the pins except Jack, for if Jack is bowled down, the player has just so many deducted from his former score as would have been added if he had not struck the Jack (Holloway’s Dict. Provincialisms). This game was formerly called “Half-bowl,” and was prohibited by a statute of Edward IV. (Halliwell’s Dictionary). Brockett (North Country Words and Phrases) says it is a game played at fairs and races. It is, under the name of “Kayles,” well described and illustrated by Strutt (Sports and Pastimes, p. 270, 271), which is reproduced here. It will be seen that Jamieson describes it as played with a pole or cudgel. He says this game no doubt gave origin to the modern one of “Nine-pins;” though primitively the Kayle-pins do not appear to have been confined to any certain number nor shape. . . . The Kayle-pins appear to have been placed in one row only. He also says that “Half-bowl,” played in Hertfordshire, was called “Roly-poly.”

Jamieson (Dictionary) gives this as “Rollie-poly,” a game of nine-pins, called also Kayles. The name “Rollie-poly” was given to it because it was played with a pole, or cudgel, by which the pins were knocked over. In the West of Scotland, where this game was in great repute in olden times, it formed one of the chief sports of Fastern’s-e’en, and was a favourite amusement at fairs and races. The awards for successful throwing were generally in the form of small cakes of gingerbread, which were powerful incentives to the game, and never failed to attract players in response to the cry, “Wha’ll try the lucky Kayles?”

Ronin the Bee

See “Carrying the Queen a Letter,” “Ezzeka.”

Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear

[Play]

I.

II.

III.

—Maxey, Northants. (Rev. W. D. Sweeting).

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

—Cowes, I. of Wight (Miss E. Smith).

VIII.

IX.

X.

—Fraserburgh (Rev. W. Gregor).

XI.

XII.

(c) The players form a ring, one child stands in the centre, who chooses a sweetheart from the ring when the fifth line is sung; the two kiss, the first child takes her place in the ring, the second child remains in the centre, and the game begins again. This is the method adopted in most of the versions. The Symondsbury game is slightly different; the first part is the same, but when the last line is sung the child who was first in the middle must run away and take a place in the ring as soon as she can. The second one remains in the centre. The Maxey (Northants.) version is altogether different. All the children but one stand in a row. The one stands in front of them and sings the lines by herself; at the last line she selects one from the line by naming her. These two then sing the lines, “swinging round,” so described by Mr. Sweeting’s informant. They then select a third when singing the last line, and the three then swing round. This is repeated till all the children from the line come into the ring.

In the Scotch versions the players all stand in a line, with one in front, and sing. At the end of the fourth line the one in front chooses one from the line, and all again sing, mentioning the name of the one chosen (Fraserburgh). At Cullen, one child stands out of the line and goes backwards and forwards singing, then chooses her partner, and the two go round the line singing.

(d) A version which I collected in Barnes is not so perfect as those given here, only the four first lines being sung. A Kentish version sent me by Miss Broadwood is almost identical with the Deptford game. Miss Broadwood’s version commences—

An Ipswich version is almost identical with that of Hersham, Surrey (Lady C. Gurdon’s Suffolk County Folk-lore, p. 64), except that it begins “Golden apple” and ends with the marriage formula—

(e) This game is probably derived from the mode of dressing the bride in the marriage ceremony, and is not very ancient. The line “Lead her to the altar” probably indicates the earliest version, corrupted later into “Lead her across the water,” and this would prove a comparatively modern origin. If, however, the “altar” version is a corruption of the “water” version, the game may go back to the pre-Christian marriage ceremony, but of this there is little evidence.

Roundabout, or Cheshire Round

Round and Round the Village

[Play]

[Play]

I.

—Barnes, Surrey (taken down from children of village school—A. B. Gomme).

II.

III.

—Wakefield, Yorks. (Miss Fowler).

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

—Stevenage, Herts. (Mrs. Lloyd, taught to a friend’s children by a nurse from Stevenage).

X.

XI.

—Tean, North Staffs, (from a Monitor in the School).

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

—Sporle, Norfolk (Miss Matthews).

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

(c) The children join hands and form a ring with one child standing outside. The ring stands perfectly still throughout this game and sings the verses, the action being confined to at first one child, and then to two together. During the singing of the first verse the outside child dances round the ring on the outside. When the ring commences to sing the second verse the children hold up their arms to form arches, and the child who has been running round outside runs into the ring under one pair of joined hands, and out again under the next pair of arms, continuing this “in and out” movement until the third verse is commenced. The child should try and run in and out under all the joined hands. At the third verse the child stops in the ring and stands facing one, whom she chooses for her lover, until the end of the verse; the chosen child then leaves the ring, followed by the first child, and they walk round the ring, or they walk away a little distance, returning at the commencement of next verse. In the first three versions the second child is chased back and caught by the first child. In the Clapham version the two shake hands in the last verse. The Barnes version has kissing for its finale. The Hanbury also has kissing, but it precedes the following to London. In the Brigg, Lincolnshire (Miss Barker), a child stands in the middle and points with her finger to each one she passes; finally selects one, who leaves the ring and kneels in front of the girl in the middle. At the end of the second verse the kneeling child gets up and the first child goes in and out under the arms of the players, followed by the other. At the fourth they reverse and go back under the arms in the opposite direction, finally stopping in the middle of the ring, when another child is chosen and the first one in goes out. In the Winterton and Bottesford versions (Miss Peacock), at the words “Stand and face your lover,” the child who has been going “in and out” stands before the one she chooses, beckons to her, and sings the next verse. Then the chosen one chases her until she can catch her. In the Crockham Hill version (Miss Chase) the love is measured out with a handkerchief three times, and after kneeling in the road, the chosen partner follows round the ring and reverses for the return.

(d) The analysis of the game-rhymes is on pp. 134-39. This shows that we are dealing with a game which represents a village, and also the houses in it. The village only disappears in six out of the twenty versions. In three of these (Hanbury, Fraserburgh, and West Grinstead) the line has gone altogether. In the fourth (Lincolnshire) it becomes “Round and round and round,” no mention being made of the village. In the fifth (Belfast) the line has become “Marching round the ladies.” In the sixth (Settle) it has become “Up and down the valley,” which also occurs in another imperfect version, of which a note was sent me by Miss Matthews from the Forest of Dean, where the line has become “Round and round the valley.” The substitution of “ladies” for “village” is very significant as evidence that the game, like all its compeers, is in a declining stage, and is, therefore, not the invention of modern times. The idea of a circle of children representing a village would necessarily be the first to die out if the game was no longer supported by the influence of any custom it might represent. The line of decadence becomes in this way an important argument for the discovery of the original form.

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