George's Notes
The last act of the Pace Egg was when Dirty Bet, as we usually referred to the character “Beelzebub”, squatted down and the other characters paced around him with their swords crossed over his upright sweeping brush. Several ditties, some old and slightly bawdy, were also sung.
Each character was named in turn in rhyme, an example being :
Li falara laddie, li falara laddie,
Tis our noble king ;
And lads if you believe me,
I learnt ‘em all to sing”.
Reference to other characters in the same idiom were:
“Tis our noble George………………………… I wear mi mothers drawers”
Tis our noble Hector…………………………… I make a good collector”
Tis our noble Slasher………………………….. I make a good egg smasher”
Tis our Dirty Bet……………………………………. I get mi perricots wet”
Tis our noble Prince…………………………….. I learnt em all to fence”
Tis our Doctor brave……………………………. I’ll send you to yer grave”
George Mainwaring
For information on the Pace Egg, please visit… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pace_Egg_play
