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Nursery Rhyme. XIV. Historical

Topics: classic

[The word tory has changed greatly in its meaning, as it originated in the reign of Elizabeth, and represented a class of "bog-trotters," who were a compound of the knave and the highwayman. For many interesting particulars see Crofton Croker's 'Researches in the South of Ireland,' 4to, 1824, p. 52.]         Ho! Master Teague, what is your story?         I went to the wood and kill'd a tory;         I went to the wood and kill'd another;         Was it the same, or was it his brother?         I hunted him in, and I hunted him out,         Three times through the bog, about and about;         When out of a bush I saw his head,         So I fired my gun, and I shot him dead.

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"[The word tory has changed greatly in its meaning, as it originated in the reign of Elizabeth, and represented a class of "bog-trotters," who were a compound of the knave and the highwayman. For many interesting particulars see Crofton Croker's 'Researches in the South of Ireland,' 4to, 1824, p. 52.]..."

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