The Traditional Children's Games of England Scotland
& Ireland In Dictionary Form - Volume 1

With Tunes(sheet music), Singing-rhymes(lyrics), Methods Of Playing with diagrams and illustrations.

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	BARLEY-BREAK	21
	The soldiers do not surround the fortress. In the Suffolk version the soldiers try to break through the girls' hands. If they do they have the tower. The Cornwall version is not so completely an illustration of the capture of a fortress. Barley-break Barley-break, or the Last Couple in Hell, was a game played by six people, three of each sex, who were coupled by lot. A piece of ground was then chosen, and divided into three com­partments, of which the middle one was called Hell. It was the object of the couple condemned to this division to catch the others who advanced from the two extremities (figs. I, 2), in which case a change of situation took place, and Hell was filled by the couple who were excluded by pre-occupation from
	Fig 2                               Fig 3 Fig 1                              the other place (fig. 3). In this catching, however, there was some difficulty, as by the regulations of the game the middle couple were not to separate before they had succeeded, while the others might break hands whenever they found themselves hard pressed. When all had been taken in turn, the last couple was said to be "in Hell," and the game ended.— Dekker's Works, iv. 434.