Tommy Linn is a Scotchman born, His head is bald and his beard is shorn; He has a cap made of a hare skin, An alderman is Tommy Linn. Tommy Linn has no boots to put on, But two calves' skins and the hair it was on. They are open at the side and the water goes in, Unwholesome boots, says Tommy Linn. Tommy Linn had no bridle to put on, But two mouse's tails that he put on. Tommy Linn had no saddle to put on, But two urchins' skins and them he put on. Tommy Linn's daughter sat on the stair, O dear father, gin I be not fair? The stairs they broke and she fell in, You're fair enough now, says Tommy Linn. Tommy Linn had no watch to put on, So he scooped out a turnip to make himself one; He caught a cricket and put it within, It's my own ticker, says Tommy Linn. Tommy Linn, his wife, and wife's mother, They all fell into the fire together; Oh, said the topmost, I've got a hot skin, It's hotter below, says Tommy Linn. (1849, p. 271.) Several short nursery rhymes are taken from this, or other versions of this poem. Among the pieces printed by Chambers we read-- Tam o' the Lin and his bairns, Fell i' the fire in others' arms! Oh, quo' the bunemost, I ha'e a hot skin!! It's hotter below, quo' Tam o' the Lin!!! (1870, p. 33.) Sir Walter Scott in _Redgauntlet_ cites a catch on _Sir Thom o' Lyne_. In some nursery collections the adventures of Tommy Lin, the Scotchman, are appropriated to Bryan O'Lin, the Irishman. Bryan O'Lin had no watch to put on, So he scooped out a turnip to make himself one: He caught a cricket and put it within, And called it a ticker, did Bryan O'Lin. Bryan O'Lin had no breeches to wear, So he got a sheepskin to make him a pair: With the skinny side out and the woolly side in, Oh! how nice and warm, cried Bryan O'Lin. (1842, p. 212.) Many nursery rhymes which dwell on cats are formed on the model of these verses. A rhyme that comes from America is as follows:-- Kit and Kitterit and Kitterit's mother, All went over the bridge together. The bridge broke down, they all fell in, "Good luck to you," says Tom Bolin. A modern collection of rhymes (1873, p. 136) gives this as follows:-- The two grey cats and the grey kits' mother, All went over the bridge together; The bridge broke down, they all fell in, May the rats go with you, sings Tom Bowlin. The association of cats with Tommy Linn reappears in the rhyme in which Tommy, who in the romantic ballad begged immersion for himself, practised immersion on a cat. Perhaps the cat was figured as a witch, who, being suspected, was cast into the water in order to prove her witchcraft.