Bob's-a-dying

She threatened to run away from him, and kicked up Bob's-a-dying, and I don't know what all; and being the woman, of course she was sure to beat in the long run.

The Hand of Ethelberta Thomas Hardy 1884

"Yes: you see her first husband was a young man, who let her go too far; in fact, she used to kick up Bob's-a-dying at the least thing in the world.

Under the Greenwood Tree, or, the Mellstock quire; a rural painting of the Dutch school Thomas Hardy 1884