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Wha learned you to dance, You to dance, you to dance, Wha learned you to dance A country bumpkin brawly ?
My mither learned me when I was young, When I was young, when I was young, My mither learned me when I was young, The country bumpkin brawly."
The tune of this song is always played to the dance, says Mactaggart, but he does not record the tune. To bab, in Lowland Scottish, is defined by Jamieson to mean "to play backward and forward loosely; to dance." Hence he adds, " Bab at the bowster, or Bab wi' the bowster, a very old Scottish dance, now almost out of use; formerly the last dance at weddings and merry-makings." Mr. Ballantyne says that a bolster or pillow was at one time always used. One correspondent of N. and Q.f ii. 518, says it is now (1850) danced with a handkerchief instead of a cushion as formerly, and no words are used, but later correspondents contradict this. See also N. and Q.f iii. 282.
(d) Two important suggestions occur as to this game. First, that the dance was originally the indication at a marriage ceremony for the bride and bridegroom to retire with "the bowster " to the nuptial couch. Secondly, that it has degenerated in Southern Britain to the ordinary "Drop Handkerchief" games of kiss in the ring. The preservation of this " Bab at the Bowster " example gives the clue both to the origin of the present game in an obsolete marriage custom, and to the descent of the game to its latest form. See " Cushion Dance."
Bad
A rude kind of "Cricket," played with a bat and a ball, usually with wall toppings for wickets. " Bad " seems to be the pronunciation or variation of " Bat." Halliwell says it was a rude game, formerly common in Yorkshire, and probably resembling the game of " Cat." There is such a game played now, but it is called " Pig."—Easther's Almondbury Glossary. |
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