cat and dog pastimes from past times

vintage PD

From an 1892 book of English folk verses and games. . .

"Leg over leg as the dog went to Dover,
When he came to the style, jump he went over." . . .
This is said when placing the right foot and left foot of a child over and under, by turns. In Gloucestershire, seventy years ago, they said fox instead of "dog," and pop for "jump."

"Fie for shame, a dog in a lane,
If I was your mother, I'd give you the cane."
Said by youngsters to a child whose indelicate conduct can only be compared to that of "a dog in a lane."

"It's time, I believe,
For us to get leave:
This little dog says,
It isn't, it is; it isn't, it is, etc."
Said by a schoolboy, who places his book between his knees. His two forefingers are then placed side by side, and the breadth of each is measured alternately along the length of the book. The time to get leave (to be dismissed) is supposed to have arrived or not, according as one finger or the other fills up the last space.

Three cats sat by the fireside,
In a basket full of coal dust;
One cat said to the other
In fun, Pell-mell, Queen Anne's dead!
"Is she," said Grimalkin, " then I'll reign Queen in her stead,"
Then up, up, up, they flew up the chimney. (No one seems to know what this is all about - curator)

"A cat may look at a king,
And surely I may look at an ugly thing."
Said in derision by one child to another, who complains of being stared at.

-- Northall, G. F.. (1892). English folk-rhymes: a collection of traditional verses relating to places and persons, customs, superstitions, etc. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. Passim.