Gower

RIDDLES. 169

CCXCVITI.

THE first letter of our fore-fadyr,
A worker of wax,

An I and an N;

The colour of an ass;

And what have you then?

A-b-in-dun, or Abingdon, in Berks

{An ancient rebus given in Lelanai [tin., ed. 1744, li. 136.]

CCXCVIII.

I saw a fight the other day;

A damsel did begin the fray.

She with her daily friend did meet,
Then standing in the open street ;
She gave such hard and sturdy blows,
He bled ten gallons at the nose;
Yet neither seem to faint nor fall,

Nor gave her any abuse at all.
A pump.
(MS. Harl. 1962, xvii. cent. ]

CCXCXIx.
A WATER there is I must pass,
A broader water never was ;
And yet of all waters I ever did see,

To pass over with less jeopardy.
The dew.
[From the same MS.]