nothing but victuals and drink:
Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet;
This tiresome old woman could never be quiet.

She went to the baker, to buy her some bread,
And when she came home her old husband was dead;
She went to the clerk to toll the bell,
And when she came back her old husband was well.

CCCLXXI.

Here am I, little jumping Joan;
When nobody's with me,
I'm always alone.

CCCLXXII.

There was an old woman had nothing,
And there came thieves to rob her;
When she cried out she made no noise,
But all the country heard her.

CCCLXXIII.

There was a little Guinea-pig,
Who, being little, was not big;
He always walked upon his feet,
And never fasted when he eat.

When from a place he ran away,
He never at that place did stay;
And while he ran, as I am told,
He ne'er stood still for young or old.

He often squeak'd and sometimes vi'lent,
And when he squeak'd he ne'er was silent;
Though ne'er instructed by a cat,
He knew a mouse was not a rat.

One day, as I am certified,
He took a whim and fairly died;
And, as I'm told by men of sense,
He never has been living since.

CCCLXXIV.

[Mind your punctuation!]

I saw a peacock with a fiery tail,
I saw a blazing comet drop down hail,
I saw a cloud wrapped with ivy round,
I saw an oak creep upon the ground,
I saw a pismire swallow up a whale,
I saw the sea brimful of ale,
I saw a Venice glass full fifteen feet deep,
I saw a well full of men's tears that weep,
I saw red eyes all of a flaming fire,
I saw a house bigger than the moon and higher,
I saw the sun at twelve o'clock at night,
I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight.

CCCLXXV.

My true love lives far from me,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.
Many a rich present he sends to me,
Petrum, Partrum, Paradise, Temporie,
Perrie, Merrie, Dixie, Dominie.

He sent me a goose, without a bone;
He sent me a cherry, without a stone.
Petrum, &c.

He sent me a Bible, no man could read;
He sent me a blanket, without a thread.
Petrum, &c.

How could there be a goose without a bone?
How could there be a cherry without a stone?
Petrum, &c.

How could there be a Bible no man could read?
How could there be a blanket without a thread?
Petrum, &c.

When the goos