(_d_) Of the twenty-four versions given there are not two alike, and this game is distinguished from all others by the singular diversity of its variants; although the original structure of the verses has been preserved to some extent, they seem to have been the sport of the inventive faculty of each different set of players. Lines have been added, left out, and altered in every direction, and in the example from Hazelbury Bryan, in Dorsetshire (No. xxiii.), a portion of an old song or ballad has been added to the game rhyme. These alterations occur not only in different counties, but in the same counties, as may be seen by the Dorset, Hants, Staffordshire, and Northants examples. Mr. Carter says of the Galloway game that the kissing match sometimes degenerates into a spitting match, according to the temper of the parties concerned. In the Suffolk version (Mrs. Haddon), at the words “Lean across the water,” the two in the centre lean over the arms of those forming the ring. These words and action are probably an addition. They belong to the “Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear” game. These peculiar characteristics of the game do not permit of much investigation into the original words of the game-rhyme, but they serve to illustrate, in a very forcible manner, the exactly opposite characteristics of nearly all the other games, which preserve, in almost stereotyped fashion, the words of the rhymes. It appears most probable that the verses belonged originally to some independent game like “Sally, Sally Water,” and that, when divorced from their original context, they lent themselves to the various changes which have been made. The minute application of modern ideas is seen in the version from Gambledown, where “A bottle of wine and a guinea, too,” becomes “A bottle of wine and a biscuit, too;” and at West Haddon, in Northamptonshire, a variant of the marriage formula is given in _Northants Notes and Queries_, ii. 106, as— Now you’re married, we wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy; Cups and saucers, sons and daughters, Now join hands and kiss one another. Another version from Long Itchington, given in _Notes and Queries_, 7th series, x. 450, concludes with— Up the kitchen and down the hall, Choose the fairest of them all; Seven years now and seven years then, Kiss poor Sally and part again. [2] Matron is _not_ a word in common use among Lancashire people. [3] _d_ not sounded. [4] Another version has “pree,” which means in Scotch, _taste_, hence _kiss_. [5] At Earls Heaton two verses or lines are added, viz.:— “If she is not here to take her part, Choose another with all your heart.” Pretty Miss Pink Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out, Will you come out, will you come out? Pretty Miss Pink, will you come out, To see the ladies dancing? No, I won’t.