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games, rhymes,
a n d w o r d p l ay
of london
children

N. G. N. Kelsey
e d i t e d b y

Janet E. Alton
J. D. A. Widdowson
 Games, Rhymes, and Wordplay of London
Children

“Children’s lore is a fascinating mixture of the old and new, and of continuity
and change. They will draw readily on the up-to-date mass media of the day, and
in the next minute sing a tune hundreds of years old. They will play a game that
is known the world over, but make a small change and claim it as their own.
They can be sticklers for the rules, but willing to change them at a moment’s
notice, if circumstances dictate. And all the time they are picking up, and pass-
ing on, the language and lore of their little community. Nigel Kelsey’s is without
doubt the most comprehensive collection made in London in the later twentieth
century, and it is especially valuable because he succeeded in capturing the chil-
dren’s traditional world in all its wonderful chaos, colour, and irreverence. And
he was experienced enough to provide an insightful commentary on the material
he found. The editors of this book have done an excellent job organising the
material and providing notes and references to other collections. The result is
both a scholarly reference work for generations to come, and a joy to read in the
present. I defy anyone who was a child between the 1960s and 1980s to read it
without being transported back in time, and without exclaiming ‘We did that!’,
or ‘That’s not how it goes, our version was ...’”
—Steve Roud, author of Folk Song in England (2016), The Lore of the
Playground (2011), and co-author of A Dictionary of English Folklore (2000)
amongst other works. He is the creator of the Folk Song Index and served as
Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society, UK

“It is really exciting that Nigel Kelsey’s collection of more than 2000 games, songs,
wordplay, beliefs and practices, and other kinds of folklore from children in inner-
city London is about to be published. Between 1966 and 1984, as a primary
school teacher, Kelsey gathered this material from preadolescents. The quality of
his scholarship is outstanding; there are many significant analyses of the historical,
cultural, developmental, and social dimensions of children’s folklore. With metic-
ulous annotations, this collection constitutes a treasure trove of information and
insights for scholars. It will also be of great interest to general readers who are
interested in the dynamic transmission of children’s traditions.”
—Elizabeth Tucker, Distinguished Service Professor of English, Binghamton
University, USA
“This book coheres with a long and honourable tradition of folkloric research
and analysis. Its focus is the folklore of children – still a neglected field of aca-
demic study. The authors have built on the fieldwork of an earlier scholar to
produce a learned historical, sociological and linguistic study of the playlore of
children in inner London in the latter part of the twentieth century. They have
connected their source material with relevant research undertaken in other
countries, particularly English-speaking societies. It will interest all who seek to
remember and explore the lore and language of children at play.”
—June Factor, Honorary Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne, Australia
 N. G. N. Kelsey
Author
Janet E. Alton • J. D. A. Widdowson
Editors and Annotators

Games, Rhymes, and

Wordplay of London
Children
Editors
Janet E. Alton J. D. A. Widdowson
Centre for English Traditional Heritage Centre for English Traditional Heritage
Edale, Hope Valley, UK Edale, Hope Valley, UK

ISBN 978-3-030-02909-8    ISBN 978-3-030-02910-4 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02910-4

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018963550

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 FOREWORD

Nigel Kelsey’s opening line of the Introduction should stick with you. Or
at least it has with me. He calls children’s lore “the most real and vigorous”
of London’s contemporary oral traditions, and the ideas in the deceiv-
ingly simple phrase are worth thinking about. He likely meant to pin this
tag on any contemporary city, raising a question about preconceptions
concerning the vitality of traditional knowledge and practice, not only in
the workaday city, but in the modern age always accelerating into the
future. Because adults are wont to be embarrassed about acting “childish”
and probably forgetting use of folklore in their own human development,
Kelsey invites them to listen more closely to children’s voices and watch
their actions so as to appreciate what a lively, “vigorous” world they create
for themselves, and often hide from adults. Grownups might presume
that media and urban centrality of society have displaced passing down
traditions, and Kelsey further reminds them of children’s needs for social
and psychological connection through folk expression. “Vigorous” is one
of his favourite adjectives to describe children’s activities, probably to
draw out a distinction often made between the rapidity of kids compared
with the “settling down” process that comes with maturity and often is
accompanied by a certain fatalistic longing for a past freedom of move-
ment. Observers often describe the playground as chaotic, even danger-
ous, but Kelsey discerns a reassuring cultural order from a child’s eye view.
What he saw, as well as heard, was not a rote r­eproduction of games,
v
vi FOREWORD

rhymes, and stories that elders once experienced as children, but rather
imaginative variations on old themes and vibrant new expressions using
familiar formulas to comment on the world of the here and now as well
as in their life journeys ahead. In light of some current debates about
institutional restrictions, and even banishment, of recess (Beresin 2010),
he finds a predictable commotion that instead of being condemned
should be lauded for representing the exciting bloom of youth and stud-
ied for what children can teach adults rather than the other way around.
Using the metaphor from physics of colliding particles, writers might call
the sights and sounds of childhood “dynamic” and note the paradoxical
fidelity to tradition at the same time that there is an urge to create anew.
Looking from the vantage of the twenty-first century, we realise that the
dynamic process he described is hardly a relic of the twentieth century; it
continues with ever new trajectories into the digital age.
Why is this news? At least the part about the expressive culture of
youth undoubtedly was hardly novel to the students he recorded. I
know from my own collecting experience that they might have been
guarded about spilling the beans on their cultural world with its dis-
tinctive, even secret, language, conduct, and codes, but at the same
time appreciative that adults cared to listen rather than telling them
what to do, and more often than not, what not to do (Bronner 1988).
They are typically unaware of the vintage of their lore or the signifi-
cance of their invented traditions. Yet they do often know that this
lore matters, and can comment on its meaning and function. Indeed
a newsworthy aspect of Kelsey’s collection is that he recorded what
has been called “oral literary criticism” as well as the texts and con-
texts of the lore (Dundes 1966). These comments allow not just folk-
lorists to dig deeper into the workings of tradition, but also parents,
teachers, neighbours, counsellors—and adults who were once chil-
dren—to grasp what kids are trying to tell about themselves, and us.
Adults probably forgot the use of lore in childhood to organise and
legislate themselves. They might recall with hurt the taunts, teases,
and threats that separated as well as united them. They possibly
remember the anxieties about the future expressed in divinations, rit-
uals, and inscriptions, but lest they appear to affect their present, they
might dismiss the lore too readily. Kelsey’s collection is a chance to
 FOREWORD vii

identify continuities, and discrepancies, of memory and an opportu-

nity to conduct a life review or prepare to guide the next generation
culturally and psychologically.
Kelsey is fairly transparent about his thinking behind “vigorous” in his
opening line, but what about the “real”? Is he implying the existence of a
“fake” folk culture in London and elsewhere? Kelsey certainly was not
looking for children untouched by popular culture and he was not likely
to find them even if he had. He did not shy away from lore informed by
television and other media, and indeed his documentation of parodies
and responses to popular shows is significant. He should be credited, too,
with folk expressions among children generated by commercial sports.
He was not, in other words, erecting a wall between folklore and moder-
nity, but rather viewing folklore as part and parcel of contemporary soci-
ety. He did not limit folklore to oral tradition, either, as his delineation of
“pen and pencil games” and written inscriptions indicates. He was acutely
aware, especially in the 1960s during a “folk revival”, that folklore was
open to exploitation in tourist and sentimental literature, and Kelsey
contrasted what he heard generated by children with literary productions
imposed upon children. He garnered trust among his informants to give
him risqué material, although he apparently buried some items he con-
sidered too offensive, which probably meant he was worried that since his
informants were minors he could potentially have been in hot water with
their parents. Sure, many collectors, including the famous husband-wife
team of Iona and Peter Opie (1959, 1969), gave attention to indelicate
games and rhymes, but what I find especially valuable is genres such as
jokes, pranks, and parodies that are part of everyday discourse among
youth, but are often overlooked or underestimated. I might nonetheless
hold Kelsey to task for labelling some of them “just for fun” when in their
use of humour and a “play frame”, they often broach a serious message.
In sum, by “real” Kelsey asks us to look at the integration of folklore in
everyday life rather than apart from it.
One indication of this integration is the ages of the youth from whom
he collected. He notes that they mostly are between the ages of nine and
eleven. Often anthologies of childlore associate any rhymes and games
with a broad swath of childhood, and in the process render childhood in
often romanticised terms as life before adulthood rather than in terms of
viii FOREWORD

human development. Indeed, some parents as well as scholars might

imagine that folklore arises early in life from a lack of literacy and formal
education. Kelsey was impressed with the amount of material when the
children were not only literate but well along in their schooling. Their
education, reliant as it was on book culture, was not a reason to abandon
reliance on oral tradition. Certainly there was more that he could have
done with adolescents, but he implied that the tenor of the lore changed
during the teen years away from games and rhymes, and more to social
customs, probably owing to post-pubertal interests. He offers evidence to
a theory I proposed in Explaining Traditions (2011) that youth in middle
childhood in modern culture use folklore more so than other times in
their lives to provide adjustment to the significant, if often overlooked,
emotional, social, and physical changes associated with the pre-pubescent
years. Social scientists as well as humanists have been slow to recognise
the distinctiveness of this age, although in popular culture, it is some-
times referred to as the “tween” years. Indeed, the betwixt and between
nature of the age between toddler and teen status lends a liminal status to
the age that impels folkloric functions of dealing with anxiety and para-
dox in the symbolic realm of folklore. Folklore, with its ritual passages,
symbolic tools of expression and persuasion, and lessons for social rela-
tions and roles, takes on an extraparental role. With change as the one
constant of modern life, folklore provides a familiar, reassuring type of
learning, a cultural register in which children can anticipate the future
and express concerns about the present. In London, as in other places
representing the specially modern, children want to declare their own
identity, and lore is their protected expression of cultural connection to
one another. Increasingly independent at younger ages, children fiercely
hang on to their cultural property to express their distinct personality and
social separation from other ages. Increasingly left to themselves, and in
fact separating from parents earlier, children use folklore to help them
grow and cope.
Toward the admirable goal of interpreting the significance of folklore in
youth culture as it affects human development and societal “dynamics”,
Janet Alton and J.D.A. Widdowson provide an exemplary model for iden-
tification and annotation, the first critical step in a folkloristic methodology
(Bronner 2017). Annotation is a laborious and challenging task, but none-
 FOREWORD ix

theless essential, to establish the traditionality and context of expressions.

The notes establish the historic lineage of folklore and identify those items
that have arisen in contemporary settings. Their command of the literature
is exceptional and they bring a world-renowned linguistic expertise to the
study of children’s folklore in addition to an intimate knowledge of the set-
tings in which Kelsey collected. Alton and Widdowson are especially good
at elucidating the many popular allusions contained in children’s folklore
that respond to media and advertisements. Indeed, they have made annota-
tion an art form that assuredly illuminates the central significance of play
in the lives of children from generation to generation, and from locality to
locality. To their credit, they retained multiple versions of folkloric items,
and thereby show that there is not a “correct” version but instead various
expressions that children freely use and adapt. With their masterful help,
Kelsey the teacher has let the students instruct us about the vigorous and
real traditions of youth. They will remind us of what it means to grow up
in this city, and this world, and how it affects us as grownups.

Simon J. Bronner,
 Pennsylvania State University
 State College, PA, USA

REFERENCES
Beresin, A. R. (2010). Recess battles: Playing, fighting, and storytelling. Jackson,
MS: University Press of Mississippi.
Bronner, S. J. (1988). American children’s folklore. Little Rock, AR: August
House.
Bronner, S. J. (2011). Explaining traditions: Folk behavior in modern culture.
Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
Bronner, S. J. (2017). Folklore: The basics. London: Routledge.
Dundes, A. (1966). “Metafolklore and oral literary criticism”. Monist, 50,
505–516.
Opie, I, and Opie, P. (1959). The lore and language of schoolchildren. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
Opie, I, and Opie, P. (1969). Children’s games in street and playground. Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
 PREFACE

This collection of some 2000 games, rhymes, songs, and wordplay of

London children has its roots in Nigel Kelsey’s work as a primary
school teacher in the city. In a career spanning some thirty years, first
as a class teacher in Stepney, and later as a deputy head in West
Norwood and headteacher in Walworth, his interest in children’s tra-
ditional lore continued to develop. It was undoubtedly boosted during
fieldwork in 1966–68 for his thesis on Speech and Creative Writing of
Fourth Year Junior School Children, submitted for the University of
London Diploma in the Education of Children in Junior School,
which was awarded to him in 1969. To smooth the way towards
recording the essential information for this research, he first encour-
aged children to talk freely about their traditional activities, rhymes,
and linguistic play. This early foray obviously fired his enthusiasm for
the subject, and after his retirement in 1982 he embarked on an ambi-
tious project to investigate the traditional lore and the speech of chil-
dren in twenty-one Inner London schools in the period 1982–84,
partially underpinned by material he had collected in the 1960s.
However, it soon became clear that this dual approach would not be
practicable, especially in view of the overall aim to publish the mate-
rial. Consequently, he decided to focus on the traditional lore rather
than combining this with a detailed analytical study of the spoken

xi
xii PREFACE

language.1 Even so, the fieldwork proved so successful, and the mate-
rial so rich and varied, that the collection offers a revealing snapshot of
children’s speech and language play in London in the second half of
the twentieth century.
Once the fieldwork was over, the daunting task of transcribing the
taperecordings and collating the data began. Nigel Kelsey not only com-
pleted this work in record time, but also produced the original typewrit-
ten manuscript of the collection in 1986. He offered to make the collected
material available to students and other researchers by depositing a copy
of the typescript in the archives of the National Centre for English
Cultural Tradition at the University of Sheffield in 1989. This prompted
an offer to work with him in editing the material for publication.
Discussions on his views and intentions for the manuscript were con-
ducted by correspondence and the occasional meeting. However, by the
time the typescript was received, Nigel Kelsey had become seriously ill,
and collaborative efforts were cut short by his death in 1990, at which
point only preliminary editing had been undertaken. He bequeathed to
the Centre the whole of the material on children’s traditional lore which
he had collected in the field, together with his manuscript notes and
additional information.2 This was later transferred to the Special
Collections Department of the University Library.
The editing of the manuscript continued throughout the 1990s, with
the aim of preserving the original as completely as possible. The guiding
principle here was respect for the author’s work, and for his intentions
and expectations regarding publication, many of which are outlined in
his Introduction. Consequently, at this point editorial intervention in the
main body of the work was minimal, being confined to essential correc-
tions and clarifications. In these early stages a succession of voluntary
researchers and students at the Centre assisted with checking and proof-
reading the manuscript and the necessary revisions. The manuscript was
then retyped, retaining the content, arrangement, and overall conception
of the original, including the collector’s grouping together of examples
which have similar characteristics and functions. The whole work was
also reformatted in a consistent style of presentation to aid accessibility.
At first sight, the editorial process appeared to be relatively straightfor-
ward. However, it was soon realised that there were various ways in which
 PREFACE xiii

the work as it stood – already a substantial body of data – could be

enhanced to provide a unique resource for the researcher and the
­interested general reader alike. Nigel Kelsey had consulted many of the
reference works on children’s play then extant, and had noted, beneath
each of his own collected items, the authors and abbreviated titles of any
printed sources in which he had found parallels, but he had not included
page numbers. Readers trying to pinpoint these precedents and similari-
ties in the printed sources would therefore have had to search for them,
using only the author and title of the relevant publication as a starting
point. The long and challenging process of identifying each reference as
precisely as possible then began. During this process, careful checking of
each printed source revealed many more parallels and a few additional
publications which had not been noted in the first round of editing.
Fortunately, by this stage the revised typescript had been digitally cap-
tured, which facilitated the complex task of identifying and adding the
essential page references. Numerous additional parallels were also found
at a late stage by close examination of the Rowland Kellett manuscript
deposited in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library of the English Folk
Dance and Song Society. Nigel Kelsey had made tantalising reference to
only two parallels in Kellett’s work, so may not have had full access to the
manuscript during his research. The checking process inevitably proved
extremely time-consuming, and was exacerbated by the fact that some of
the more obscure references were not traceable in the extensive material
bequeathed to the Centre, and not easily identifiable in library holdings
or media records.
It was then decided to trace and present only those selective references
to publications already accessible to Nigel Kelsey at the time the original
manuscript was completed in 1986. This reflected his preliminary anno-
tation of the material in the context of works published up to that date,
and we therefore resisted the temptation to trace parallels in works pub-
lished subsequently. The decision was also prompted by the difficulties
already experienced in checking and verifying the thousands of specific
references in the wide range of sources published before that date. A
period of more intensive work on the references in 2000–02 generated
the bulk of this information. It then remained to track down those in the
more obscure and elusive printed sources. As a result, it has been possible
xiv PREFACE

to reference the most significant of the relevant printed sources published

before 1986, and also a number of the lesser known works – over 160
publications in total. Consequently, many of the references to numerous
variants and similarities in children’s traditional lore from the early nine-
teenth century onwards have been gathered together in this collection,
providing a unique reference resource and a useful starting point for fur-
ther investigation. The references set the London examples in the wider
context of the British Isles and other parts of the English-speaking world,
and demonstrate the wide distribution both of genres and individual
items of play over time and space. The parallels identified are of course
not exhaustive, but nevertheless represent a substantial cross-section of
illustrative examples. Readers may wish to consult the Selected Further
Reading section (p. 803), which lists both pre-1986 works not consulted
by Nigel Kelsey and works published after the present collection was
completed in 1986, for pointers in extending the search for parallels.
Nigel Kelsey aimed to offer a representative range of material from a
specific age-group (nine to eleven years) in a way that would clearly indi-
cate the geographical spread of children’s traditional lore across the area
then covered by the Inner London Education Authority, as well as the
broad social grouping in the catchment area of each school, and the gen-
der of many individual contributors. In marked contrast to most previ-
ous collections, this not only provides important contextual information,
but also offers pathways for further exploration and analysis of the data.
The dating of examples tells us when each was in current usage, and illus-
trates development over a period of some twenty years, reflecting the
author’s awareness that these traditional forms change with the social
world around them. It also facilitates direct comparison with the only
other extensive collection of London childlore (Norman Douglas’s
London Street Games, 1916) and with other more recent publications.3
Unusually in collections of childlore, Nigel Kelsey provides essen-
tial information on the scope of the taperecorded data and the meth-
odology he adopted during fieldwork, and he comments revealingly
on the reaction to his work by the schoolchildren and their teachers.
He worked systematically with small groups of ten to twelve children
in each school. Drawing on his long experience as a primary school
teacher, he was extraordinarily successful in establishing rapport with
 PREFACE xv

the children and gaining their trust. His self-effacing account of the
collecting process makes it sound easy, whereas anyone who has
attempted it knows how difficult it is. It requires special skills, and a
genuine and sympathetic interest in children and their traditional
play, to encourage them to share their games, rhymes, and wordplay,
especially the more risqué examples, with an adult. Nigel Kelsey’s per-
sonality, skills, approachability, tact, and knowledge of children
enabled him not only to collect a wide range of material but also
rhymes and wordplay from parts of the child’s world which are nor-
mally hidden from adults, reflecting his liberal and broadminded
approach. He was even able to record some of the children’s own atti-
tudes to such material, and he presents it verbatim and uncensored,
while drawing attention to the comparative lack of “unrespectable”
examples in most previous collections. The terminology and social
attitudes evident in these examples of course reflect those of the period
in which they were recorded. However, he omitted some items which
“seemed to offend the general consensus of children’s extremely liberal
conceptions of good taste” (p. xxxiv). The collection also omits exam-
ples “which seemed to lack any pattern or shape in meaning or struc-
ture” (p. xxxiii), and those apparently made up on the spur of the
moment, again demonstrating the author’s proficiency and sophisti-
cation as a collector. He adds that the collection is not representative
of the traditional lore of younger children in the area.
Differing from Douglas’s work in many respects, notably in its breadth,
depth, and verbatim quotations of data taperecorded during the field-
work, this collection ranges widely over the whole field of Inner London
children’s traditional lore in this age-group, including superstitions and
seasonal customs, providing copious and detailed examples and variants.
These are presented in a sequence of categories based partly on function
and partly on subject matter, although distinctions between categories
are inevitably blurred. For example, a given rhyme may serve several dif-
ferent functions. These and other similarities between various games and
rhymes are signalled by cross-references. The work therefore constitutes a
major new resource, not only for the study of childlore in the capital but
also for comparison with other collections, especially those from Britain
and Ireland, and other predominantly English-speaking countries.
xvi PREFACE

In many ways, this book is a celebration of what the author describes

as “the great wealth of traditional and newly created material to be found
in almost every school playground” (p. xxiii) in Inner London at the time
he was collecting. The evidence amply demonstrates the resilience, cre-
ativity, and adaptability of childlore in a rapidly changing world where
many adults wrongly believe that such traditional activities are in termi-
nal decline or have disappeared altogether. Such misconceptions4 are not
only proved unfounded by the extensive material presented here, but also
by studies undertaken in Britain in more recent years.5 Comparison with
these accounts will indicate the changes which have taken place in chil-
dren’s traditions over the past three decades, not least the effects of the
increasingly multicultural mix in London schools and those of many
other urban communities in Britain.
In addition to the discussion of the collected material in the
Introduction, Nigel Kelsey prefaces each section and subsection of the
publication with an introductory commentary foregrounding the charac-
teristic features of the genre concerned. The Introduction and the com-
mentaries, which reflect the situational context of the fieldwork in the
early 1980s, offer valuable insights into a range of topics arising from the
author’s experiences in collecting and scrutinising the material. These
topics include the differences in repertoire from one school to another;
gender roles; generational traditions; pre-game elimination rituals; the
history, provenance, and current representation of individual games and
rhymes; games and rhymes learned in the classroom or in Scout and
Guide groups and modified in the playground; skipping as a solo and
group activity; the interaction between traditional and popular culture;
variation and terminology in ball games; references in rhymes to well-­
known figures; sources of inspiration for new or adapted material; hybrid
rhymes; formulaic structures in rhymes; adaptability and mutation of
rhymes; linguistic creativity and enjoyment; effects of social change; inev-
itability of change in children’s traditional play; similarities and differ-
ences between the traditional beliefs and practices of children and adults;
and optimism about the resilience and future of traditional play.
Nigel Kelsey not only presents condensed and informative comments
on these wideranging topics, but also discusses children’s attitudes towards
risqué and scatological material, offering insights into the well-known
 PREFACE xvii

preoccupation with bodily functions and sex in this age group.6 This
aspect of the child’s world, usually hidden from and strongly disapproved
of by adults, is seen as part of the experimental process of self-assertion
and of challenging authority, which children normally grow out of as
they mature. Children’s awareness of language “unacceptable” to adults is
illustrated by their occasional censorship of their own material during the
fieldwork, as noted in the Introduction (p. xliii). While the subject mat-
ter of some of the material may be uncomfortable for adults, the language
used is for the most part surprisingly unexceptionable. It would be inter-
esting to discover whether this still holds true in playgrounds today.7
A particular strength of the book is the wealth of evidence of children’s
spoken language, amply displayed in their descriptions of games and
rhymes, transcribed verbatim from the field recordings, and preserving
both the immediacy and the flavour of speech. These descriptions are
often both graphic and concise, and add an important dimension to the
data which is frequently absent from other collections. It also gives the
children a voice, and the freedom to speak for themselves.
After the Introduction, the collection is presented in six sections, each
with a number of subsections. Following the introductory overview of
each section and subsection, the collected material relevant to the section
or subsection is set out, together with a range of significant variants. The
annotation includes information on locality, distribution, printed ver-
sions, early notings, audio recordings, cross-references and, where neces-
sary, brief elucidatory notes. The typical order of presentation is displayed
on pp. xxi–xxii.
The extraordinary wealth of material collected mainly over a period of
just two years testifies not only to the vigour and variety of local children’s
traditions but also to Nigel Kelsey’s decision to undertake such a chal-
lenging project and to analyse and present the results of his findings.
Surprisingly little systematic and extensive fieldwork has been carried out
on children’s traditions in England in recent years.8 Nigel Kelsey’s collec-
tion is unique in its focus on a carefully defined geographical area over a
comparatively short period of time, and in the sheer volume of data
recorded – the only such substantial collection in the city since that of
Douglas seventy years earlier. It fills a major gap in our knowledge of
childlore, especially in a specific urban area, and provides incontrovert-
xviii PREFACE

ible evidence of the richness and vibrancy of children’s traditional play in

the heart of London in the late twentieth century.
Over the years during which this collection has been prepared for publi-
cation, the editors have appreciated the assistance and support of the many
people who have been involved with the project, whether directly or indi-
rectly. The fieldwork would not have been possible without the agreement
of the Inner London Education Authority and of the headteachers and staff
of the schools concerned. During the writing up of the collection, Nigel
Kelsey greatly valued the advice, help, and encouragement of Marilyn
Jorgensen, Iona Opie, Cecilia Riddell, Dave Rogers, Steve Roud, and
Jacqueline Simpson. Preliminary checking of the original manuscript was
undertaken by Tony Pike and other voluntary staff and students in the
National Centre for English Cultural Tradition at the University of
Sheffield. The retyped and successive typeset drafts of the emerging final
version of the work were proofread and pre-edited by Celia Robinson. The
editors are grateful to Paul Smith and Steve Roud for their assistance, espe-
cially in identifying a number of the more elusive references, to Joy Fraser
who tracked down other problematical references in various London librar-
ies and elsewhere, to Malcolm Taylor for making a copy of the Rowland
Kellett manuscript available to us, to June Factor for advice on published
Australian childlore collections, to Country Publications and Linda
McFadzean for providing a copy of D. Dennison’s article on singing games
published in The Dalesman, to Laura Smyth for supplying copies of two
articles by Muriel Searle, to Helen Lewis and Philip Maughan for identify-
ing material published in the New Statesman, to Sarah McDonnell for
information on the Woodcraft Folk Song Book, to Herbert Halpert for his
encouragement and his assistance with bibliographical references and
proofreading, and to Steve Dumpleton for drafting diagrams of hopscotch
markings and for ongoing technical expertise and advice. We especially
thank Eileen Collins, Publications Assistant in the Department of Folklore
at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, whose exemplary typeset-
ting skills transformed a complex, partially edited typescript into an acces-
sible format for its final editing. We are indebted to successive Deans of
Arts and Heads of the Department of Folklore at Memorial University for
their support of the editorial work. We are grateful to the Leverhulme Trust
for the award of an Emeritus Fellowship, providing the essential financial
 PREFACE xix

infrastructure for the preparation of the work for publication, and to the
Division of Adult Continuing Education at the University of Sheffield for
a grant towards the costs of research assistance. We also thank Cathy Scott
and Beth Farrow, our editors at Palgrave Macmillan, for their guidance and
support. We particularly wish to thank Mrs V. E. Kelsey-Jansen and Mrs
P. J. Roberts for facilitating a generous bequest from Nigel Kelsey’s estate as
a contribution towards the editing of the collection, and for their patience
and forbearance over the long period leading up to its publication. Our
greatest debt of gratitude, of course, is to all the children who shared their
wealth of traditional lore during the fieldwork, and to Nigel Kelsey himself
for his foresight in undertaking this remarkable project, and his courage
and determination, despite increasing ill health, to bring it to a successful
conclusion.

Edale, Hope Valley, UK The Editors

NOTES

1. See Wiltshire, R. (2001). The Nigel Kelsey Collection of children’s folklore,

1962–1990. Repository and Media Guide, Archives of Cultural Tradition.
Sheffield: National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, p. 34.
2. See Wiltshire, 2001, pp. 28–34; Wiltshire, R. (2001, April). The Nigel
Kelsey Collection of children’s folklore, 1962–1990. Folklore, 112(1), 82–87;
and Wiltshire, R. (2002). The Nigel Kelsey Collection of children’s folklore,
1962–1990. Folk Life, 40, 72–79. Robin Wiltshire also created a compre-
hensive catalogue of the Kelsey Collection during his work as Archivist at the
National Centre for English Cultural Tradition at the University of Sheffield.
3. The most immediately relevant of these works, an illustrated book aimed at
children, is Inky Pinky Ponky (Rosen and Steele, 1982), the games and rhymes
in which were collected in Inner London at the same time as Nigel Kelsey
was working, and which contains many striking parallels.
4. As noted, for example, in Roud (2010, pp. xi–xv). See Selected Further
Reading.
5. See, for example, Bishop and Curtis (2001); Green and Widdowson (2003);
Marsh (2008); Marsh and Bishop (2013); Opie (1993); Opies (1997); and
Roud (2010). See Bibliography and Selected Further Reading.
xx PREFACE

6. See Introduction, pp. xlii–xliii. See also, for example, Knapps (1976,
pp. 61–63, 82–94, 179–190, 211–216); Lowenstein (1974, 1986, 1988,
1989); Opies (1969, pp. 93–97); Opie (1993, pp. 9–10, 14–15, 26, 39–41,
86–87, 160, and passim); Turner (1969, p. 2, and passim); and Wolfenstein
(1978, pp. 168–181, and passim). See Bibliography and Selected Further
Reading.
7. An indication of recent trends can be found, for example, in Lowenstein
(1974), Green and Widdowson (2003, pp. 361–509), and Roud (2010,
pp. 413–437). See Bibliography and Selected Further Reading.
8. See, however, Bishop and Curtis (2001); Green and Widdowson (2003);
Marsh (2008); Roud (2010); and Marsh and Bishop (2013). See Selected
Further Reading.
THE COLLECTION: KEY TO PRESENTATION
OF ENTRIES
SECTION NAME, Table of Contents where applicable, and introductory notes
SUBSECTION NAME and introductory notes
Reference number (and Reference numbers run consecutively through each
title if a rhyme or song, subsection
etc.) In the case of games with rhymes, the title is usually the
first line of the primary example
Illustrative examples and The occasional emendation, clarification, or alternative
variants, with places and wording of the transcripts by the author is indicated by
dates of collection brackets. Where similar versions were collected at more
than one school, the place and year where the quoted
example was collected are underlined, e.g.:
Walworth 1979; Dalston, Borough 1983
The localities are listed alphabetically within the entries
for each year
Child’s description of Given where possible in the child’s own words
example(s)
Cross-references and/or These draw attention to other examples in the
notes where applicable collection which have a similar form and/or function.
Individual genres, sections, and subsections can be
located by reference to the Table of Contents, and in
the case of rhymes to the Index, p. 811
Tune name, where
applicable
Printed versions References here are from all works consulted (see
Bibliography). Page numbers are given for works cited
which were published after the end of the Second
World War. References are listed alphabetically by
authors’ names. Where more than one work by the
same author(s) is cited, or where several authors share
the same surname, each publication has been given an
identifying acronym or abbreviation (for a list of these,
see p. 795; full details of all publications referenced can
be found in the Bibliography, p. 779)
Early notings References from works published prior to 1945 are
given here in full. They are listed in date order and
quote the earliest printed version identified, plus any
interesting versions intermediate between this and later
examples
Commercially available See Discography, p. 801
recordings

xxi
 INTRODUCTION

It is probably not an overstatement to claim that children’s lore is the

most real and vigorous of the oral folklore still alive in London. While my
experience does not cover the central areas of large cities in the United
Kingdom in general, the two books by Ritchie on Edinburgh children’s
lore (SS, 1964; GC, 1965), and Shaw’s books about Liverpool (1969,
1970), seem to indicate that city folklore has a wider relevance than what
is to be found in the school playground. As someone who has lived and
worked through more than six decades in Inner London, apart from chil-
dren’s lore I have encountered the changing aspects of dialects and slang,
a few ephemeral parodies, large numbers of risqué jokes, a few urban
legends, some obscene songs and verses, but not much more. Most books
on Cockney lore tend to dwell considerably on the past. Certainly the
rich humour which tends to be associated with this lore seems to be very
much on the decline.
All in all I think that what is still left does not add up to very much, in
comparison with the great wealth of traditional and newly created mate-
rial to be found in almost every school playground. I have been fortunate
enough in a career of thirty-two years in primary teaching to have spent
long periods in three separate and different Inner London school envi-
ronments and to have been able to observe and note some of the tradi-
tional processes at work. These observations have been supplemented by
briefer experiences in a number of other schools. Towards the end of
xxiii
xxiv INTRODUCTION

1982 I embarked on a study of all the aspects of children’s lore that are
generally covered by that term. It involved visiting and recording in
twenty-one schools in the area of what was then the Inner London
Education Authority and covering a wide social spectrum in all the
Authority’s ten divisions. The study took two years and included the tran-
scription of about thirty hours of audiotape. Because of the limited time­
scale, and its coverage of the whole of an inner city area, the study is
unique.
Many collections of children’s lore, especially of the rhymes and songs
used to accompany games activities, have been compiled and published
in the English-speaking world over the last century and a half. They have
tended to concentrate on singing games, action rhymes, and songs and
rhymes used to accompany skipping, ball bouncing and hand clapping
routines. Sometimes the collector has restricted the material to a particu-
lar region or city, or has covered a specific country. Rarely has the collec-
tion of versions of rhymes and other material been restricted to a specific
period of time. London has not been well served by such collectors. The
only fairly large collection is contained in London Street Games, compiled
by Norman Douglas. It was first published in 1916 and a further edition
appeared in 1931. Both contained ninety-three rhymes, the beginnings
of a further forty-six and the titles of twenty-four others. Douglas also
listed the names of nearly 800 different games, and gave rudimentary
descriptions of sixty-six of them, though he did not attempt to analyse
them or explain how they were played. He did not set out to compile a
scholarly collection. In fact he made fun of the attempts to explain the
origins of courtship rhymes etc., by reference to ancient rituals. He did
not include any examples of wordplay, repartee, taunts and the like, for
this was not his aim. His intention was that no interpolations or explana-
tions should come between his readers and the vigour and flow of chil-
dren’s rhymes and songs used in play, where one will follow another, often
without any interruption or discussion among the children at play.
Examples of London’s children’s lore appear in writings about childhood
memories of London streets and playgrounds. In their book on Cockney
lore, The Muvver Tongue (1980), Barltrop and Wolveridge give several, as
does Charles Keeping in his song book Cockney Ding Dong (1975). Grace
Foakes remembers some rhymes from her childhood in My Part of the River
 INTRODUCTION xxv

(1974). Dan Jones, an East London artist, reproduced the words used in
play, alongside the groups of children performing them, in a picture of an
East London playground painted in 1975. He also included play rhymes in
several of his illustrations for the picture book Inky Pinky Ponky (Rosen and
Steele, 1982). I have received many details of rhymes and games from older
citizens, now living all over the country, who remember the games they
played in their London childhood, from twenty to as long as seventy years
before the present collection was completed. It is frustrating to anyone
interested in this lore that so little information is available in print about
the circumstances in which the games were played, or about the age or
gender of the children taking part. In the case of Norman Douglas’s collec-
tion we are not told how he noted or recorded his material, over how long
a period the collecting took place, or whether he used adult memories of
informants to supplement the information from children.
If we look at collectors in other regions of the British Isles, there are
two little books of street games from North Shields, dating from 1926
and 1930, compiled by Madge and Robert King. Alfred Gaskell remem-
bers the rhymes of Salford in Those Were the Days (1963). A very informa-
tive little work published at the University of Durham, and entitled All
the Way to Pennywell (Rutherford, 1971), contains a large number of
rhymes used for various purposes, in many cases with their tunes. It cov-
ers the North East area and includes some valuable information from its
compiler. Frank Shaw does a rather different job for the rhymes of
Liverpool in his two compilations entitled You Know me Anty Nelly? from
1969 and 1970 which, like Norman Douglas’s book, are intended to be
read straight through to appreciate the oral flow. It certainly brings the
children’s street culture of that fascinating city to life. Many rhymes and
fragments are included in the text. A book about singing games and other
traditional games in a Nottingham primary school, with clear details of
how these are played, was compiled by its headmaster, R. A. Smith, and
published, together with a video, in 1982.
When we turn to Scotland there are the two invaluable books noted
above about Edinburgh’s rich oral lore by James T. R. Ritchie: The Singing
Street (SS, 1964) and Golden City (GC, 1965). A booklet with some of
the play rhymes of a school in Ayrshire was compiled at Cumnock
Academy in 1961 and entitled Bluebells my Cockle Shells. Norah and
xxvi INTRODUCTION

William Montgomerie included much play material in their four vol-

umes of Scottish nursery rhymes (SNR, 1946; SC, 1948; HBSNR, 1964;
1966), and there is also a valuable little booklet by Jean Rodger based on
personal memory (1958). Ireland is served by Leslie Daiken, who covers
the children’s calendar in his Children’s Games Throughout the Year (CGTY,
1949) and includes a number of play rhymes (mainly from Ireland) in his
Teaching Through Play (TTP, 1954). He also compiled a little book of
Dublin rhymes: Out Goes She (OGS, 1963). Another Dublin collection is
All In! All In! by Eilís Brady (1975).
Over the years almost the whole field of children’s culture has been
covered by Iona and Peter Opie. Their first book to comprehensively
cover children’s rhymes, superstitions, sayings, epithets etc. was their
great work The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (LL, 1959), but it has
been well complemented by their later publications, Children’s Games in
Street and Playground (CGSP, 1969) and The Singing Game (SG, 1985),
and their earlier little book I Saw Esau (ISE, 1947). Invaluable collections
of the lore pertaining to younger children are Gullen’s Traditional Number
Rhymes and Games (1950), and Number Rhymes and Finger Plays by Boyce
and Bartlett (1941). Typical settings of singing games to music are those
of Kidson (1916), Gillington (OHSG, OIWSG, OSSG, 1909; ODSG,
1913), and Thornhill (1911), while Ewan MacColl and Dominic Behan
recorded children’s songs from their childhoods in Glasgow, Salford and
Dublin on an LP record entitled Streets of Song (1959).
Moving on to important overseas collections covering similar mate-
rial, there are Brian Sutton-Smith’s outstanding book The Games of
New Zealand Children (1959), Edith Fowke’s Sally Go Round the Sun
from Canada (1969), and Ian Turner’s important Australian collec-
tion Cinderella Dressed in Yella (1969). Caribbean rhymes and games
can be found in the works of Beckwith and Roberts (FGJ, 1922),
Beckwith (JFL, 1928), Elder (1965), and Robertson (1971). There are
many American collections, of which only a few can be mentioned
here. The wide field of American folklore is covered by Botkin’s A
Treasury of American Folklore (TAF, 1944) and Folklore in America by
Coffin and Cohen (1966). Both have sections dealing with children’s
lore. Some works dealing with specific aspects of children’s rhymes are
those by Abrahams (1969), Abrahams and Rankin (1980), Evans
 INTRODUCTION xxvii

(JRR, 1954; WI, 1956), Morrison (1958), the Petershams (1945),

Withers (CO, 1946, 1970; RIMP, 1948), and Worstell (1961). Talley’s
Negro Folk Rhymes (1922) and The Book of Negro Folklore by Hughes
and Bontemps (1958) are concerned with African American culture,
including that of children.
Turning to some of the early collectors of the nineteenth century,
Chambers’s The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (first published 1826),
Halliwell’s The Nursery Rhymes of England (NRE, first published 1842)
and Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales (PRNT, first published 1849),
Northall’s English Folk-Rhymes (first published 1892), and Nicholson’s
Golspie (1897) all contain some traditional rhymes as well as much mate-
rial mainly transmitted by adults. It was probably Henry Bolton’s The
Counting-out Rhymes of Children, published in London in 1888, contain-
ing hundreds of rhymes and variations used to decide who was to be “he”
or the equivalent, which was the first significant collection of genuine
children’s folklore. Most of the material for Bolton’s volume was collected
in the USA and the first important collection of children’s singing (and
other) games was also American. This was William Wells Newell’s Games
and Songs of American Children, first published in New York in 1883. It
contains nearly two hundred games, including the words and tunes of
many singing games. Versions and rhymes noted in both these sources
were still to be found in Inner London school playgrounds at the time of
writing.
The first really extensive collection of children’s games in these islands
was made by Alice Bertha Gomme in her great two volume work entitled
The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland published in 1894
and 1898, and reprinted in 1984 in a one volume edition. The original
two thick volumes contained the names of, and information on, more
than 800 games, some 600 being described in detail. Many variants of
the singing games are given, but counting-out rhymes and the vast field
of wordplay were obviously outside the scope of the work. Her collection
of games, as the title denotes, was drawn from most parts of Britain and
Ireland. They were not limited to those in contemporary use and several
may have been extinct by the time the volumes were published. She relied
on correspondents, on her own collecting, and on printed sources,
although many of the citations from printed sources are not followed by
xxviii INTRODUCTION

a description. It is not clear what age the children were who played par-
ticular games, and as some games appear to be of an indoor “party” type,
there may have been a certain amount of adult organisation and direction
involved. It is still a great work, however, and invaluable for anyone inter-
ested in children’s play.
Almost all the books cited above are either, on the one hand, specifi-
cally limited to a particular category of children’s lore, or in some cases to
a particular school or area, or on the other hand, cover large areas. In no
case were they limited to a particular period. I had a different aim in my
study. I wished to cover a specific area, namely Inner London, and to
restrict myself basically to the years of my research, 1982–84, supple-
mented by material I had collected from 1960 to 1982, either as a class
teacher or headmaster, using this earlier material to fill gaps or throw
light on the tradition. Furthermore, the material was collected from chil-
dren roughly between the ages of nine and eleven, who are full of their
currently used repertoire but can look back to their younger years very
easily and without embarrassment. At the same time they pick up a lot of
material from elder siblings and friends and from young and old adults.
I aimed to present a representative collection of children’s lore, which
would however have the limitations of not being fully representative of
infant and younger junior children (five to eight), nor of secondary age
children (twelve plus). All the examples in each section were collected by
me within the bounds of the Inner London Education Authority which in
1963 replaced the old London County Council, set up in 1888. The mate-
rial is drawn from all of the ten divisions of the Authority (pp. xlv–xlvi).
The overwhelming majority of the examples reproduced were collected
from schools visited between 1982 and 1984. In certain cases some mate-
rial is included from schools in which I taught from 1960 to 1982, and a
few items collected from an earlier small study in 1968. These earlier
examples sometimes give fuller versions of, or represent, rhymes which
were still current at the time of the present study, in the early 1980s,
though not collected for one reason or another. They also help to illus-
trate the development of the tradition over a period of up to twenty years,
each example being dated.
The schools visited in the two year period were selected with the help
of the Authority in order to cover the widest possible social range. In
 INTRODUCTION xxix

most of the ten divisions it was possible for me to visit on the one hand a
school mainly limited to children whose parents were unskilled or semi-­
skilled, and on the other hand a school with a fair number of children
whose parents were from professional or managerial occupations, or one
with a balanced make-up right across the social spectrum. There were
some difficulties in always obtaining an accurate breakdown of the social
composition in several of the schools visited or of the actual classes or
groups who were my informants. However, it became clear that the
twenty-one schools visited fell roughly into three categories:

1. Schools where the majority of the children came from professional,

managerial and “white collar” families.
2. Schools where the overwhelming majority of the children came from
semi-skilled, unskilled and unwaged families.
3. Schools where there was a fairly balanced social composition.

In the two-year survey there were eight schools in category a., nine in
category b., and four in category c. Of the three schools in which I taught
for a fairly long period, two were in category b., and one in category c. In
those three schools I was able to observe the processes of change and
innovation over a number of years, nine years in the case of the first
school (1960–69), four years in the second (1969–73), and eight years in
the third (1974–82). In the case of the first school, which was in Mile
End, East London, I visited it as one of the schools included in the survey
in 1983. In the schools surveyed a number of other variables affected the
extent and the composition of the collected material: gender balance, size
of groups, numbers of visits made, and other miscellaneous factors. It can
be deduced that children in category a. schools would tend not to play so
much in public playgrounds and probably not at all in the courtyards of
blocks of flats and in the streets. They would have less practice in acquir-
ing and passing on the skills in ball bouncing etc., or in learning new
material from children attending other schools. It was noticeable that
most of the examples of inter-school chauvinism came from schools in
this category.
The rhymes to accompany skipping, ball bouncing, and hand clapping
routines, and the songs for games, mime, and dance were mainly (but not
xxx INTRODUCTION

entirely) contributed by girls. A majority of the entertainment rhymes,

wordplay, teases etc. were contributed by boys. Counting-out rhymes
were provided equally by boys and girls. The question of the integration
of boys’ and girls’ play appears to be a controversial one among folklorists
specialising in children’s play and customs. Father Damian Webb, for
whose work I have a very great respect, expressed himself in his introduc-
tion to the 1984 edition of Gomme’s Traditional Games as being con-
cerned at the effects of the integration of play spaces in schools. He writes
(p. 15):

I am convinced that nothing in this century has done more to destroy our
ancient and precious heritage of the singing game tradition than to force
boys and girls to play together on the very limited area most junior schools
possess.

He considers that “the imposition of mixed sex schooling has dealt a ter-
rible blow to traditional children’s games.” (p. 15).
When I first became interested in collecting children’s play rhymes etc.
in the 1960s, many junior schools in Inner London had separate play-
grounds or play areas for boys and girls. Now integration is almost uni-
versal. I do not share Damian Webb’s pessimism, nor do I believe that
integrated playgrounds force boys and girls to play together, though it
obviously makes it much easier. The tendency to break down the old
gender differences, whether in playgrounds, lining up, seating arrange-
ments, curriculum or organised games activities, has been encouraged by
the Inner London Education Authority as well as the Equal Rights
Commission. In my opinion it has only dented the stereotype images of
how pre-pubescents are expected to behave. Social changes in the com-
munity as a whole have probably played a bigger part in bringing about
changes in children’s play.
Sluckin tends to emphasise the gender differences, pointing out that in
boys’ games the emphasis is more on physical strength, achievement, and
competitiveness, while in girls’ games there is less competitiveness, a
greater equality between roles, and an interest in family life. He says
(1981, pp. 102–103):
Another random document with
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Cardinal de
Richelieu
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
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Title: Cardinal de Richelieu

Author: Eleanor C. Price

Release date: September 10, 2023 [eBook #71607]

Language: English

Original publication: London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1912

Credits: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CARDINAL

DE RICHELIEU ***
 CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU
TRIPLE PORTRAIT BY PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAGNE
 CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU
BY
ELEANOR C. PRICE
AUTHOR OF “A PRINCESS OF THE OLD WORLD”

“Il est dans l’histoire de grandes et énigmatiques figures

sur lesquelles le ‘dernier mot’ ne sera peut-être jamais dit....
Telle est, assurément, celle du Cardinal de Richelieu.”

Baron A. de Maricourt.

WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS

SECOND EDITION

METHUEN & CO. LTD.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published September 19th 1912
Second Edition 1912
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE

“Temerarious indeed must he appear who attempts to

comprehend in so small a space the admirable actions of a
Hero who filled the whole earth with the fame of his glory, and
who, by the wonders he worked in our own days, effaced the
most lofty and astounding deeds of Pagan demigods and
illustrious Personages of Antiquity. But what encourages me
to attempt a thing so daring is the preciousness of the
material with which I have to deal; being such that it needs
neither the workman nor his art for the heightening of its
value. So that, however little I may say of the incomparable
and inimitable actions of the great Armand de Richelieu, I
shall yet say much; knowing also that if I were to fill large
volumes, I should still say very little.”

Although the courtly language of the Sieur de la Colombière,

Gentleman-in-Ordinary to Louis XIV., who wrote a Portrait of
Cardinal de Richelieu some years after his death, may appear
extravagant to modern minds, there is no denying that he is justified
on one point—the marvellous interest of his subject.
Few harder tasks could be attempted than a complete biography
of Richelieu. It would mean the history of France for more than fifty
years, the history of Europe for more than twenty: even a fully
equipped student might hesitate before undertaking it. At the same
time, Richelieu’s personality and the times in which he lived are so
rich in varied interest that even a passing glance at both may be
found not unwelcome. If excuse is needed, there is that of Monsieur
de la Colombière: “Pour peu que j’en parle, j’en dirai beaucoup.”
There are many good authorities for the life of Cardinal de
Richelieu and for the details of his time, among which the well-known
and invaluable works of M. Avenel and of the Vicomte G. d’Avenel
should especially be mentioned. But any modern writer on the
subject must, first and foremost, acknowledge a deep obligation to
M. Hanotaux, concerning whose unfinished Histoire du Cardinal de
Richelieu, extending down to the year 1624, one can only express
the hope that its gifted author may some day find leisure and
inclination to complete it.
E. C. P.
 CONTENTS
List of Authorities Pages xiii, xiv
PART I
CHAPTER I
The birth of Armand Jean du Plessis de Pages 1-9
Richelieu—The position of his family—His
great-uncles—His grandfather and
grandmother—His father, François de
Richelieu, Grand Provost of Henry III.—His
mother and her family—His godfathers—The
death of his father
CHAPTER II
Friends and relations—The household at Pages 10-15
Richelieu—Country life in Poitou
CHAPTER III
The University of Paris—The College of Pages 16-25
Navarre—The Marquis du Chillou—A change
of prospect—A student of theology—The
Abbé de Richelieu at Rome—His
consecration
PART II
CHAPTER I
A Bishop at the Sorbonne—State of France Pages 26-37
under Henry IV.—Henry IV., his Queen and
his Court—The Nobles and Princes—The
unhealthiness of Paris—The Bishop’s
departure
CHAPTER II
Richelieu arrives at Luçon—His palace and Pages 38-47
household—His work in the diocese—His
friends and neighbours
CHAPTER III
“Instructions et Maximes”—The death of Pages 48-62
Henry IV.—The difficult road to favour—Père
Joseph and the Abbey of Fontevrault
CHAPTER IV
Waiting for an opportunity—Political unrest— Pages 63-71
The States-General of 1614—The Bishop of
Luçon speaks
CHAPTER V
Richelieu appointed Chaplain to Queen Anne Pages 72-87
—Discontent of the Parliament and the
Princes—The royal progress to the south—
Treaty of Loudun—Return to Paris—Marie de
Médicis and her favourites—The young King
and Queen—The Duc de Luynes—Richelieu
as negotiator and adviser—The death of
Madame de Richelieu
CHAPTER VI
A contemporary view of the state of France— Pages 88-100
Barbin, Mangot, and Richelieu—A new
rebellion—Richelieu as Foreign Secretary—
The Abbé de Marolles—Concini in danger—
The death of Concini—The fall of the Ministry
—Horrible scenes in Paris—Richelieu follows
the Queen-mother into exile
CHAPTER VII
Richelieu at Blois—He is ordered back to his Pages 101-115
diocese—He writes a book in defence of the
Faith—Marriage of Mademoiselle de
Richelieu—The Bishop exiled to Avignon—
Escape of the Queen-mother from Blois—
Richelieu is recalled to her service
CHAPTER VIII
The Treaty of Angoulême—The death of Pages 116-130
Henry de Richelieu—The meeting at
Couzières—The Queen-mother at Angers—
Richelieu’s influence for peace—The battle of
the Ponts-de-Cé—Intrigues of the Duc de
Luynes—Marriage of Richelieu’s niece—The
campaigns in Béarn and Languedoc—The
death of Luynes—The Bishop of Luçon
becomes a Cardinal
PART III
CHAPTER I
Cardinal de Richelieu—Personal descriptions Pages 131-142
—A patron of the arts—Court intrigues—
Fancan and the pamphlets—The fall of the
Ministers—Cardinal de Richelieu First
Minister of France
CHAPTER II
Richelieu’s aims—The English alliance—The Pages 143-157
affair of the Valtelline—The Huguenot revolt
—The marriage of Madame Henriette—The
Duke of Buckingham
CHAPTER III
Peace with Spain—The making of the army Pages 158-175
and navy—The question of Monsieur’s
marriage—The first great conspiracy—
Triumph of Richelieu and death of Chalais
CHAPTER IV
Two famous edicts—The tragedy of Pages 176-192
Bouteville and Des Chapelles—The death of
Madame and its consequences—War with
England—The siege of La Rochelle
CHAPTER V
The Duc de Nevers and the war of the Pages 193-206
Mantuan succession—The rebellion in
Languedoc—A new Italian campaign—
Richelieu as Commander-in-Chief
CHAPTER VI
Illness of Louis XIII.—“Le Grand Orage de la Pages 207-216
Cour.”—The “Day of Dupes”
CHAPTER VII
Flight from France of the Queen-mother and Pages 217-233
Monsieur—New honours for Cardinal de
Richelieu—The fall of the Marillac brothers—
The Duc de Montmorency and Monsieur’s
ride to Languedoc—Castelnaudary—The
death of Montmorency—Illness and recovery
of the Cardinal
CHAPTER VIII
The Cardinal and his palaces—The château Pages 234-248
and town of Richelieu—The Palais-Cardinal
—Richelieu’s household, daily life, and
friends—The Hôtel de Rambouillet—
Mademoiselle de Gournay—Boisrobert and
the first Academicians—Entertainments at
the Palais-Cardinal—Mirame
CHAPTER IX
Conquests in Lorraine—The return of Pages 249-262
Monsieur—The fate of Puylaurens—France
involved in the Thirty Years’ War—Last
adventures of the Duc de Rohan—Defeat,
invasion, and panic—The turn of the tide—
Narrow escape of the Cardinal—The flight of
the Princes
 CHAPTER X
Palace intrigues—Mademoiselle de Hautefort Pages 263-275
—Mademoiselle de la Fayette—The affair of
the Val-de-Grâce—The birth of the Dauphin
—The death of Père Joseph—Difficulties in
the Church
CHAPTER XI
Victories abroad—The death of the Comte de Pages 276-290
Soissons—Social triumphs—Marriage of the
Duc d’Enghien—The revolt against the taxes
—The conspiracy of Cinq-Mars—The
Cardinal’s dangerous illness—He makes his
will—The ruin of his enemies—His return to
Paris
CHAPTER XII
The Cardinal’s last days—Renewed illness— Pages 291-298
His death and funeral—His legacies—The
feeling in France—The Church of the
Sorbonne
INDEX Pages 299-306
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
Cardinal de Richelieu. Triple Portrait by Frontispiece
Philippe de Champagne (National Gallery)
Henry IV. From an engraving after the 26
picture by François Porbus
Cloister at Champigny 34
From a photo by A. Pascal, Thouars.
The Majority of Louis XIII. (Louis XIII. and 68
Marie de Médicis). From the picture by
Rubens in the Louvre
From a photo by Neurdein, Paris.
Cardinal de Richelieu. Portrait by Philippe 132
de Champagne
From a photo by A. Giraudon, Paris.
Gaston de France, Duc d’Orléans. From 162
a contemporary portrait
From a photo by Neurdein, Paris.
Louis XIII. From a contemporary portrait 188
From a photo by Neurdein, Paris.
The Château de Richelieu. From an old 234
print
The Town of Richelieu. From an old print 238
Anne of Austria. From a miniature in the 268
Victoria and Albert Museum
Porte de Châtellerault, Richelieu 280
 From a photo by Imprimerie Photo-
Mécanique, Paris.
Tomb of Cardinal de Richelieu, by 294
Girardon, in the Church of the Sorbonne
From a photo by Neurdein, Paris.
 CHIEF AUTHORITIES
CONTEMPORARY

Lettres, Instructions Diplomatiques et Papiers d’État du

Cardinal de Richelieu. Recueillis et publiés par M. Avenel.
Mémoires du Cardinal de Richelieu. Édition Petitot et
Monmerqué.
Mémoires du Cardinal de Richelieu. New Edition. With
Notes, etc. (Société de l’Histoire de France.) Not completed.
Mémoires sur la Régence de Marie de Médicis, par
Pontchartrain. Édition Petitot et Monmerqué.
Mémoires de Bassompierre. Édition Petitot et Monmerqué.
Journal de Pierre de l’Estoile. Édition Petitot et Monmerqué.
Mémoires du Marquis de Montglat. Édition Petitot et
Monmerqué.
Mémoires de Madame de Motteville. Édition Riaux.
L’Histoire du Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu. L. Aubery.
Testament Politique du Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu.
Journal de M. le Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu. 1630, 1631.
Portraits des Hommes Illustres François. M. de Vulson,
Sieur de la Colombière.
Le Véritable Père Joseph, Capucin. 1704.
Histoire du Roy Henry le Grand. Hardouin de Péréfixe.
Mémoire d’Armand du Plessis de Richelieu, Evêque de
Luçon, 1607 ou 1610. Édition Armand Baschet.
 Description de la Ville de Paris. Germain Brice.
Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux.
Etc., etc.

MODERN

Histoire du Cardinal de Richelieu. G. Hanotaux.

Histoire de France. H. Martin. Vol. xi.
Histoire de France. Michelet. Vols. xiii. and xiv.
Vie Intime d’une Reine de France, Marie de Médicis. L.
Batiffol.
Le Roi Louis XIII. à Vingt Ans. L. Batiffol.
Louis XIII. et Richelieu. Marius Topin.
Richelieu et les Ministres de Louis XIII. B. Zeller.
La Noblesse Française sous Richelieu. Vicomte G.
d’Avenel.
Prêtres, Soldats et Juges sous Richelieu. Vicomte G.
d’Avenel.
Le Cardinal de Bérulle et le Cardinal de Richelieu. M.
l’Abbé M. Houssaye.
Gentilshommes Campagnards de l’Ancienne France. Pierre
de Vaissière.
Le Père Joseph et Richelieu. G. Fagniez.
Madame de Hautefort. Victor Cousin.
Madame de Chevreuse. Victor Cousin.
Le Règne de Richelieu. Émile Roca.
Le Cardinal de Richelieu: Étude Biographique. L. Dussieux.
Le Plaisant Abbé de Boisrobert. Émile Magne.
Etc., etc.
CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU