But a historical name does not necessarily indicate the date of a rhyme. For a popular name is sometimes substituted for one that has fallen into contempt or obscurity. Moreover, a name may originally have indicated a person other than the one with whom it has come to be associated. A familiar nursery song printed in the collection of c. 1783, and extant in several variants, is as follows:-- When good King Arthur rul'd the land, He was a goodly king, He stole three pecks of barley meal To make a bag pudding. A bag pudding the king did make And stuff'd it well with plumbs, And in it put great lumps of fat, As big as my two thumbs. The king and queen did eat thereof, And noblemen beside, And what they could not eat that night The queen next morning fry'd. (_c._ 1783, p. 32.) Mr. Chappell, as cited by Halliwell, considered that this version is not the correct one, but the one which begins:-- King Stephen was a worthy king As ancient bards do sing.... The same story related in one verse only, and in simpler form, connects it with Queen Elizabeth, in a version recovered in Berkshire. Our good Quane Bess, she maayde a pudden, An stuffed un well o' plumes; And in she put gurt dabs o' vat, As big as my two thumbs. (1892, p. 289.) On the face of it the last variant appears to be the oldest. An interesting example of a change of name, and of the changing meaning of a name, is afforded by the nursery song that is told of King Arthur, and _mutatis mutandis_ of Old King Cole. The poem of King Arthur is as follows:-- When Arthur first in Court began To wear long hanging sleeves, He entertained three serving men And all of them were thieves. The first he was an Irishman, The second was a Scot, The third he was a Welshman, And all were knaves, I wot. The Irishman loved usquebaugh, The Scot loved ale called blue-cap. The Welshman he loved toasted cheese, And made his mouth like a mouse-trap. Usquebaugh burnt the Irishman, The Scot was drowned in ale, The Welshman had liked to be choked by a mouse, But he pulled it out by the tail. In this form the piece is designated as a glee, and is printed in the _New Lyric_ by Badcock of about 1720, which contains "the best songs now in vogue." In the nursery collection of Halliwell of 1842 there is a parallel piece to this which stands as follows:-- Old King Cole was a merry old soul And a merry old soul was he; Old King Cole he sat in his hole, And he called for his fiddlers three. The first he was a miller, The second he was a weaver, The third he was a tailor, And all were rogues together. The miller he stole corn, The weaver he stole yarn, The little tailor stole broadcloth To keep these three rogues warm.