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ISABELLA |
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The child who was first in the centre then joins the ring, and the game proceeds in the same way with the second child, who chooses in his turn. All the other versions follow the same rules, suiting their actions to the words, except Ogbourne, Wilts, in which the two children in the centre sing the verse, "roast beef and plum pudding." They stand face to face, take hold of each other's hands, and sway their arms from side to side. The ring then sing the concluding verse. In those versions where " say your prayers " and M kneel down " occur, the two centre children kneel, and hold their open hands together in front of them to imitate a book. In the London version (A. B. Gomme) a handkerchief was laid on the ground, and the two children stood on each side of it and clasped hands across it. In the Fernham and Longcot version the one child leads the other out of the ring at "go to church," with a graceful half-dancing motion, and back again in the same way. The first child joins the ring while the refrain is sung. In the Hanbury version the centre child pretends to be weeping; another child stands outside the ring and goes into it; when the two meet they kiss. In the North Derbyshire version (Mr. S. O. Addy) a ring is formed of young men and women, a young man being in the centre. He chooses a young woman at the singing of the fifth line, and then joins the ring, the girl remaining in the centre.
(c) The tunes of all versions are very similar. The tune of the Newbury game (Miss Kimber) is the same as the first part of the Ogbourne tune printed (Mr. H. S. May); that from Nottingham (Miss Youngman) is the same as the first part of the London version. This is also the case with the Hanbury, Staffs. (Miss E. Hollis) and Fernham and Longcot game. What difference there is is very slight. The Piatt, Kent, game (Miss Burne), is sung to the same tune as " Green Gravel," given ante, p. 170. The first portion only of the tune is repeated for all verses sung after the first verse. The Barnes game is sung to the same tune as the Earls Heaton (Mr. Hardy), which is printed ante. A version played at Barnes is almost identical with the Southampton version, and another collected by Miss Thoyts in Berkshire (Antiquary, vol. xxvii. p. 193) is similar |
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