The skin of my cowly Was softer than silk, And three times a-day My poor cow would give milk. Sing, oh poor Colly, &c. She every year A fine calf did me bring, Which fetcht me a pound, For it came in the spring. Sing, oh poor Colly, &c. But now I have kill'd her, I can't her recall; I will sell my poor Colly, Hide, horns, and all. Sing, oh poor Colly, &c. The butcher shall have her, Though he gives but a pound, And he knows in his heart That my Colly was sound. Sing, oh poor Colly, &c. And when he has bought her Let him sell all together, The flesh for to eat, And the hide for leather. Sing, oh poor Colly, &c.[*] [Footnote *: A different version of the above, commencing, My Billy Aroms, is current in the nurseries of Cornwall. One verse runs as follows: In comes the horner, Who roguery scorns, And gives me three farthings For poor cowly's horns. This is better than our reading, and it concludes thus: There's an end to my cowly, Now she's dead and gone; For the loss of my cowly, I sob and I mourn.] CXXXV. [A north-country song.] Says t'auld man tit oak tree, Young and lusty was I when I kenn'd thee; I was young and lusty, I was fair and clear, Young and lusty was I mony a lang year; But sair fail'd am I, sair fail'd now, Sair fail'd am I sen I kenn'd thou. CXXXVI. You shall have an apple, You shall have a plum, You shall have a rattle-basket, When your dad comes home. CXXXVII. Up at Piccadilly oh! The coachman takes his stand, And when he meets a pretty girl, He takes her by the hand; Whip away for ever oh! Drive away so clever oh! All the way to Bristol oh! He drives her four-in-hand. [Illustration] CXXXVIII. [The first line of this nursery rhyme is quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher's _Bonduca_, Act v, sc. 2. It is probable also that Sir Toby alludes to this song in _Twelfth Night_, Act ii, sc. 2, when he says, "Come on; there is sixpence for you; let's have a song." In _Epulario, or the Italian banquet_, 1589, is a receipt "to make pies so that the birds may be alive in them and flie out when it is cut up," a mere device, live birds being introduced after the pie is made. This may be the original subject of the following song.] Sing a song of sixpence, A bag full of rye; Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie; When the pie was open'd, The birds began to sing; Was not that a dainty dish, To set before the king? The king was in his counting-house Counting out his money; The queen was in the parlour Eating bread and honey; The maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes, There came a little blackbird, And snapt off her nose.