London Bridge is broken down, _Dance over the Lady Lea_; London Bridge is broken down, _With a gay lady_ [_la-dee_]. Then we must build it up again. What shall we build it up withal? Build it up with iron and steel, Iron and steel will bend and break. Build it up with wood and stone, Wood and stone will fall away. Build it up with silver and gold, Silver and gold will be stolen away. Then we must set a man to watch, Suppose the man should fall asleep? Then we must put a pipe in his mouth, Suppose the pipe should fall and break? Then we must set a dog to watch, Suppose the dog should run away? Then we must chain him to a post. The two lines in _italic_ are all regularly repeated after each line.—M. Green. Another correspondent to this magazine, in the same volume, p. 507, observes that the ballad concerning London Bridge “formed, in my remembrance, part of a Christmas Carol, and commenced thus— Dame, get up and bake your pies, On Christmas-day in the morning. The requisition goes on to the dame to prepare for the feast, and her answer is— London Bridge is fallen down, On Christ-mas day in the morning, &c. The inference always was, that until the bridge was rebuilt some stop would be put to the Dame’s Christmas operations; but why the falling of London Bridge should form part of a Christmas Carol at Newcastle-upon-Tyne I am at a loss to know.” Some fragments were also printed in the _Mirror_ for November 1823; and a version is also given by Ritson, _Gammer Gurton’s Garland_. The _Heimskringla_ (Laing, ii. 260, 261) gives an animated description of the Battle of London Bridge, when Ethelred, after the death of Sweyn, was assisted by Olaf in retaking and entering London, and it is curious, that the first line of the game-rhyme appears— London Bridge is broken down, Gold is won and bright renown; Shields resounding, War-horns sounding, Hild is shouting in the din; Arrows singing, Mail-coats ringing, Odin makes our Olaf win. If this is anything more than an accidental parallel, we come back to an historical episode wherein the breaking down and rebuilding of London Bridge occur, and it looks as if the two streams down which this tradition has travelled, namely, first, through the game, and second, through the song, both refer to the same event. Dr. Rimbault has, in his _Nursery Rhymes_, p. 34, reconstructed a copy of the original rhyme from the versions given by Halliwell and the _Mirror_, and gives the tune to which it was sung, which is reprinted here. The tune from Kent is the one generally used in London versions. The tune of a country dance called “London Bridge” is given in Playford’s _Dancing Master_, 1728 edition. [4] Another informant gives the refrain, “Grand says the little Dee.”