Have any of your readers seen this _Lindwurm_ under more favourable circumstances than myself, and can they throw any light on the genus to which it belongs?
May not the various legends respecting dragons, &c., have their origin from similar circumstances to those of this Brünn Lindwurm, which I take to leave strong proof of fact, the body being there? Perhaps some of our correspondents may have it in their power to give further corroborative evidence of the former existence of dragons under the shape of crocodiles. The description of the Wantley dragon tallies with that of the crocodile very nearly.
JOAN SANDERSON, OR THE CUSHION DANCE; AND BAB AT THE BOWSTER.
Can any of your numerous valuable correspondents give me the correct date, or any clue to it, of the above dance. There is little doubt of its great antiquity. The dance is begun by a single person (either a woman or man), who { 518} dances about the room with a cushion in his hand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:
"Because Joan Sanderson will not come to!"
"She must come to, and she shall come to, And she must come whither she will or no."
He now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he kisses her, singing:
"Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome."
She rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing:
"Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance, And shall we go dance it once again, And once again, And shall we go dance it once again?"
Then making a stop, the woman sings, as before:
"Because John Sanderson will not come to."
And so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it, salutes her, she singing:
Then, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round, singing as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into the ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman singing, "This dance," &c. (as before), only instead of "Come to," they sing "Go fro," and instead of "Welcome, John Sanderson," &c., they sing, "Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell," &c.: and so they go out, one by one, as they came in. This dance was at one time highly popular, both at court and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country villages, it is still danced. Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers to it: