How Many Miles to Babylon? How Many Miles to Babylon? "How Many Miles to Babylon" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 8148. The accepted modern lyrics are: <poem>How many miles to Babylon? Three score miles and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again.. If your heels are nimble and your toes are light, You may get there by candle-light.</poem> A longer Scottish version has the lyrics: <poem>King and Queen of Cantelon, How many miles to Babylon? Eight and eight, and other eight. Will I get there by candle-light? If your horse be
Furlong leading to serious complications in trade, taxation, etc. Around the year 1300, by royal decree England standardized a long list of measures. Among the important units of distance and length at the time were the foot, yard, rod (or pole), furlong, and the mile. The rod was defined as yards or feet, and the mile was eight furlongs, so the definition of the furlong became 40 rods and that of the mile became 5,280 feet (eight furlongs/mile times 40 rods/furlong times feet/rod). A description from 1675 states, "Dimensurator or Measuring Instrument whereof the mosts usual has been the Chain, and