Nursery Rhyme. CCXLVI. Charms.

        [The following, with a very slight variation, is found in Ben    Jonson's 'Masque of Queen's,' and it is singular to account for its introduction into the modern nursery.]

    I went to the toad that lies under the wall,
    I charmed him out, and he came at my call;
    I scratch'd out the eyes of the owl before,
    I tore the bat's wing, what would you have more.

Three crooked cripples went through Cripplegate, and through
Cripplegate went three crooked cripples.

My grandmother sent me a new-fashioned three cornered cambric country cut handkerchief. Not an old-fashioned three cornered cambric country cut handkerchief, but a new-fashioned three cornered cambric country cut handkerchief.

    Swan swam over the sea -
        Swim, swan, swim;
    Swan swam back again,
        Well swam swan,

        [A charm somewhat similar to the following may be seen in the 'Townley Mysteries,' p. 91. See a paper in the 'Archæologia,' vol. xxvii, p. 253, by the Rev. Lancelot Sharpe, M.A. See also MS. Lansd. 231, fol. 114, and Ady's 'Candle in the Dark,' 4to, London, 1650, p. 58.]

    Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
    Guard the bed that I lay on!
        Four corners to my bed,
        Four angels round my head;
    One to watch, one to pray,
    And two to bear my soul away!

    Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk,
    And I will give thee a gown of silk;
    A gown of silk and a silver tee,
    If thou wilt let down thy milk to me.