King William's Troops

DESCRIPTION: "Open the gates as high as the sky" or "as wide as wide"; let "Victoria's," "victorious" or "King William's" troops, or "King George's horses" by, or "let King George go through with his bride." It's too dark to see how to thread the tailor's needle.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Child and Leslie)
KEYWORDS: playparty royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Opie/Opie-TheSingingGame, pp. 37-39, ("Open the Gates") (2 texts)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #151, "Open the Gates" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: [Lydia Maria] Child and [Eliza] Leslie, The Little Girl's Own Book (Edinburgh, 1847 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 35, "King William's Troops" ("Open the gates sky high") (1 text)
G.F. Northall, English Folk-Rhymes (London, 1892 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 397, ("Open the gates as wide as the sky") (1 text)
J.B. Partridge, "The Game of 'Thread the Needle' and Custom of Church Clipping" in Folklore, Vol. XXIII, No. 2 (Jun 1912 (available online by JSTOR)), p. 202 ("Open the gates as high as the sky") (Worcestershire) (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Thread the Needle" (game) and references there
NOTES [33 words]: This is one of the "Thread the Needle" game sets of texts. - BS
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren calls it a variation of "London Bridge." But it certainly seems to have gone its own way! - RBW
Last updated in version 3.3
File: OpGap37A

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