What's the Rhyme to Porringer
O what's the rhyme to porringer?
Ken ye the rhyme to porringer?
King James the Seventh had ae dochter,
And he gave her to an Oranger.
Ken ye how she requited him?
Ken ye how she requited him?
The lad has into England come,
And ta'en the croon in spite of him.
The dog, he shallna keep it lang,
To flinch we'll mak him fain again;
We'll hang him hie upon a tree,
And James shall have his ain again.
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Nicht at Eenie (1932), 11; Montgomerie SNR (1946), 68.
Both ultimately from Hogg JR (1819), 218 (note to song
XXXIII), with a 4th stanza:
Ken ye the rhyme to grasshopper?
Ken ye the rhyme to grasshopper?
A hempen rein, a horse o' tree,
A psalm-book, and a Presbyter.
"The last verse of the song manifestly alludes to some
plot that the Jacobites expected would explode," says Hogg,
but cannot pin it down.
ODNR 354 (no. 422); Halliwell NRE (1842), 10 (no.X): "What is
the rhyme for porringer?/ The king he had a daughter fair,/
And gave the Prince of Orange her." Note says: "Written in
1641, on the occasion of the marriage of Mary, the eldest
daughter of Charles I, with the young Prince of Orange."
This is just possible, and the Jacobite rhyme developed
later; but more likely it is a good fifty years younger.
MS
oct96
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!