tit Pierrot.

The Swedish cradle song follows the almost universal custom. It runs (in
English):--

Hush, hush; baby mine!
Pussy climbs the big green pine,
Ma turns the mill stone,
Pa to kill the pig has gone.

The Danish does not prove an exception:--

Lullaby, sweet baby mine!
Mother spins the thread so fine;
Father o'er the bridge has gone,
Shoes he'll buy for little John.

The North German cradle song is:--

Schlaf Kindchen, schlaf!
Dein Vater hut't die schaf;
Dein Mutter schuttelts Baumelien,
Da fallt herab ein Tramelein,
Schlaf, Kindchen, schlaf!

Which, being done into English, runs:--

Sleep, baby, sleep!
Thy father guards the sheep;
The mother shakes the dreamland tree,
And from it falls sweet dreams for thee.
Sleep, baby, sleep.

The simplest and crudest of these, we may be sure, has lulled millions
to sleep, and by virtue of that association is worth more than many
quartos of recent verse deliberately composed with the view of engaging
the attention of the nursery circle. How many volumes of the newer
wares, for instance, might be accepted in exchange for

KATIE BEARDIE.

Katie Beardie had a coo,
Black and white about the mou';
Wasna that a dentie coo?
Dance, Katie Beardie!

Katie Beardie had a hen,
Cackled but an' cackled ben;
Wasna that a dentie hen?
Dance, Katie Beardie!

Katie Beardie had a cock
That could spin a gude tow rock;
Wasna that a dentie cock?
Dance, Katie Beardie!

Katie Beardie had a grice,
It could skate upon the ice;
Wasna that a dentie grice?
Dance, Katie Beardie!

Katie Beardie had a wean,
That was a' her lovin' ain;
Wasna that a dentie wean?
Dance, Katie Beardie!

Yet, there is tolerable proof extant that the above dates from at least
the beginning of the seventeenth century. "Katherine Beardie," anyway,
is the name affixed to an air in a manuscript musical collection which
belonged to the Scottish poet, Sir William Mure, of Rowallan, written,
presumably, between the years 1612 and 1628. The same tune, under the
name of "Kette Bairdie," also appears in a similar collection which
belonged to Sir John Skene of Hallyards, supposed to have been written
about 1629. Further, so well did Sir Walter Scott know that this was a
popular dance during the reign of King James VI., as Mr. Dawney points
out, that he introduces it in the _