Four and Twenty

Several poems include the phrasde "Four and Twenty". For example:


Four and twenty weavers went out to kill a snail,
The bravest man among them trod upon his tail;
The snail turned round with horns like a cow -
`God bless us', said the weavers, `We're dead men now.'

or

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing;
Wasn't that a dainty dish, to set before the king?