“ I'LL sing you a song,
Though not very long,
Yet I think it as pretty as any.
Put your hand in your purse,
You'll never be worse,
And give the poor singer a penny.
LITTLE Polly Flinders
Sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty little toes. ”

“ I cannot tell what King of France went up the hill with twenty thousand men, and did nothing when he got there. But I do know who Charley was that "loved good ale and wine," and also "loved good brandy," and was fond of a pretty [10] girl, "as sweet as sugar-candy." This was the banished Prince of Wales, who tried to win back his father's kingdom more than a hundred years ago, and gained battles, and took cities, and would have recovered the throne if his officers had followed him. ”

“ I would say good morrow,
Then, aunts, all three.
FORMED long ago, yet made to-day,
Employed while others sleep;
What few would like to give away,
Nor any wish to keep.
[A Bed.
AS I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives;
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives.
How many were there going to St. Ives?
[132]
AS I went through the garden gap,
Who should I meet but Dick Red-cap!
A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat. ”

“ Merry was myself, and merry could I sing;
With a merry ding-dong, happy, gay, and free,
And a merry sing-song, happy let us be!
Waddle goes your gait, and hollow are your hose;
Noddle goes your pate, and purple is your nose;
Merry is your sing-song, happy, gay, and free,
[105] With a merry ding-dong, happy let us be! ”

“ There is a French rhyme like "Blue-Eye Beauty"—
"Les yeux bleus
Vont aux cieux.
Les yeux gris
Vont à Paradis.
Les yeux noirs
Vont à Purgatoire."
[19] None of the other rhymes seem to be anything but nonsense, and nonsense is a very good thing in its way, especially with pictures. Any child who likes can get Mrs. Markham's "History of England," and read about the Jims, and Georges, and Charleys, but I scarcely think that such children are very common. ”

“ But he was as unfortunate as he was brave, and when he had no longer a chance, perhaps he did love good ale and wine rather too dearly. As for the pretty girls, they all ran after him, and he could not run away like Georgey Porgey. There is plenty of poetry about Charley, as well as about King Arthur.
About King Charles the First, "upon a black horse," a child will soon hear at least as much as he can want, and perhaps his heart "will be ready to burst," as the rhyme says, with sorrow for the unhappy King. ”

“ I love sixpence, pretty little sixpence,
I love sixpence better than my life;
I spent a penny of it, I spent another,
[100] And took fourpence home to my wife.
Oh, my little fourpence, pretty little fourpence,
I love fourpence better than my life;
I spent a penny of it, I spent another,
And I took twopence home to my wife.
Oh, my little twopence, my pretty little twopence,
I love twopence better than my life;
I spent a penny of it, I spent another,
And I took nothing home to my wife.
Oh, my little nothing, my pretty little nothing,
What will nothing buy for my wife? ”

“ POLLY put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
And let's drink tea.
Sukey take it off again,
Sukey take it off again,
Sukey take it off again,
They're all gone away.
LITTLE Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.
Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating ”

“ Indeed, the scraps of magical versified spells in Märchen are entirely of the character of nursery rhymes, and are of dateless antiquity. The rhyme of "Dr. Faustus" may be nearly as old as the mediæval legend dramatised by Marlowe. The Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists put nursery rhymes in the mouths of characters; a few jingles creep into the Miscellanies, such as "The Pills to purge Melancholy." Among these (1719) is "Tom the piper's son," who played "Over the hills and far away," a song often adapted to Jacobite uses. ”

“ The plague came to Perth, where they lived, so they built a bower in a wood, far off the town. But their lovers came to see them in the bower, and brought the infection of the plague, and they both died. There is a little churchyard and a ruined church in Scotland, where the people who died of the plague, more than two hundred years ago, were buried, and we used to believe that if the ground was stirred, the plague would fly out again, like a yellow cloud, and kill everybody. ”

“ But, somehow, George really got Jim by the nose, in spite of what the poet says; for it does not do to believe all the history in song-books.
After these songs there is not much really useful information in the Nursery Rhymes. Simple Simon was not Simon Fraser of Lovat, who was sometimes on Jim's side, and sometimes on George's, till he got his head cut off by King George. That Simon was not simple. ”

“ About the people mentioned in this book:—We do not exactly know who Old King Cole was, but King Arthur must have reigned some time about 500 to 600 A.D. As a child grows up, he will, if he is fond of poetry, read thousands of lines about this Prince, and the Table Round where his Knights dined, and how four weeping Queens carried him from his last fight to Avalon, a country where the apple-trees are always in bloom. ”

“ Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, what did you there?
I frighten'd a little mouse under the chair.
[222]
CUCKOO, Cuckoo,
What do you do?
"In April
I open my bill;
In May
I sing night and day;
In June
I change my tune;
In July
Away I fly;
In August
Away I must."
HICKETY, pickety, my black hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen;
Gentlemen come every day
To see what my black hen doth lay. ”

“ I remember the Lark dressed as a clerk, but what a clerk might be I did not ask. Other children, who are little now, will read this book, and remember it well when they have forgotten a great deal of history and geography. We do not know what poets wrote the old Nursery Rhymes, but certainly some of them were written down, or even printed, three hundred years ago. Grandmothers have sung them to their grandchildren, and they again to theirs, for many centuries. In Scotland an old fellow will take a child on his knee for a ride, and sing—
"This is the way the ladies ride,
Jimp and sma',—" ”

“ The captain said, "Quack! quack!"
[140]
HERE am I, little jumping Joan.
When nobody's with me,
I'm always alone.
O THAT I was where I would be,
Then would I be where I am not!
But where I am there I must be,
And where I would be I cannot.
[141]
TOBACCO reek! ”

“ In Mr. Halliwell's Collection, from which this volume is abridged, no manuscript authority goes further back than the reign of Henry VIII., though King Arthur and Robin Hood are mentioned. The obscure Scottish taunt, levelled at Edward I. when besieging Berwick, is much in the manner of a nursery rhyme:—
"Kyng Edward,
When thu havest Berwic,
Pike thee!
When thu havest geton,
Dike thee!"
This, as Sir Herbert Maxwell says, "seems deficient in salt," but was felt to be irritating by the greatest of the Plantagenets. ”

“ So much the better for the nation.
But as it's only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead,
Why there's no more to be said."
This poet seems to have preferred Charley, who wore a white rose in his bonnet, and was much handsomer than Fred.
Another rhyme tells about Jim and George, and how Jim got George by the nose. This Jim was [13] Charley's father, and the George whom he "got by the nose" was Georgey Porgey, the fat German. Jim was born on June 10 ”

“ It is not generally thought now that they are of much use, but there can be no harm in trying. Nobody will be burned now for saying these charms, like the poor old witches long ago. The Queen Anne mentioned on page 172 was the sister of the other Princess who married the Prince of Orange, and she was Charley's aunt. She had seventeen children, and only one lived to be as old as ten years. He was a nice boy, and had a regiment of boy-soldiers. [17]
"Hickory Dickory Dock" is a rhyme for counting out a lot of children. ”

“ Little Jack Horner lived at a place called Mells, in Somerset, in the time of Henry VIII. The plum he got was an estate which had belonged to the priests. I find nobody else here about whom history teaches us till we come to Dr. Faustus. He was not "a very good man" ”

“ Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, don't be too late.
DING, dong, bell,
Pussy's in the well!
Who put her in?—
Little Tommy Lin.
Who pulled her out?—
Dog with long snout.
What a naughty boy was that
To drown poor pussy-cat,
Who never did any harm,
But kill'd the mice in his father's barn.
DIDDLEDY, diddledy, dumpty;
The cat ran up the plum-tree.
I'll lay you a crown
I'll fetch you down;
So diddledy, diddledy, dumpty.
[195]
FIDDLE-DE-DEE, fiddle-de-dee,
The fly shall marry the humble-bee.
They went to the church, and married was she:
The fly has married the humble-bee. ”

“ Put in a bag tied round with a string,
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a ring.
[A plum-pudding.
I HAVE a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep;
She wades the waters deep, deep, deep;
She climbs the mountains high, high, high;
Poor little creature she has but one eye.
[A star.
HIGGLEDY piggledy
Here we lie,
Pick'd and pluck'd,
And put in a pie.
My first is snapping, snarling, growling,
My second's industrious, romping, and prowling.
Higgledy piggledy
Here we lie,
Pick'd and pluck'd,
And put in a pie. [Currants.
[129]
HUMPTY DUMPTY sate on a wall ”

“ Society. Dr. Nicholson's book on the Folk-Lore of Children in Sutherland, still unpublished when I write, may also be consulted. One of the songs collected by Dr. Nicholson was copied down by a Danish traveller in London during the reign of Charles II. Robert Chambers's "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" is also a treasure of this kind of antiquities. It is probable that the Lowland rhymes have occasionally Gaelic counterparts, as the nursery tales certainly have, but I am unacquainted with any researches on this topic by Celtic scholars. ”

“ THE origin of the right nursery rhymes is, of course, popular, like the origin of ballads, tales (Märchen) , riddles, proverbs, and, indeed, of literature in general. They are probably, in England, of no great antiquity, except in certain cases, where they supply the words to some child's ballet, some dance game. A game may be of prehistoric antiquity, as appears in the rudimentary forms of backgammon, Pachin and Patullo, common to Asia, and to the Aztecs, as Dr. ”

“ There's nobody at home but little jumping Joan,
Father, mother, and I.
HANNAH BANTRY in the pantry,
Eating a mutton bone;
How she gnawed it, how she clawed it,
When she found she was alone!
LITTLE Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a spider,
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
[265]
"What are Little Boys made of?"
WHAT are little boys made of, made of;
What are little boys made of?
"Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;
And that's what little boys are made of, made of."
What are little girls made of, made of, made of ”

“ Tom piped this tune, and pleased both the girls and boys. [16]
About the two birds that sat on a stone, on the "All-Alone Stone," you can read in a book called "The Water-Babies."
Concerning the Frog that lived in a well, and how he married a King's daughter and was changed into a beautiful Prince, there is a fairy tale which an industrious child ought to read. The frog in the rhyme is not nearly so lucky.
After these rhymes there come a number of riddles, of which the answers are given. Then there are charms, which people used to think would help in butter-making or would cure diseases. ”

“ CUSHY cow bonny, let down thy milk,
And I will give thee a gown of silk;
A gown of silk and a silver tee,
[146] If thou wilt let down thy milk to me.
If you love me, pop and fly;
If you hate me, lie and die.
[Said to pips placed in the fire; a species of divination practised by children.
PETER PIPER picked a peck of pickled pepper;
A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked;
[147]
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,
Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked? ”

“ Heigh, ho! heigh, ho!
[232]
IN the month of February,
When green leaves begin to spring,
Little lambs do skip like fairies,
Birds do couple, build, and sing.
PUSSY cat sits by the fire;
How did she come there?
In walks the little dog,
Says, "Pussy! are you there?"
"How do you do, Mistress Pussy?
Mistress Pussy, how d'ye do?"
"I thank you kindly, little dog,
I fare as well as you!"
THERE was a little boy went into a barn,
And lay down on some hay;
An owl came out and flew about,
And the little boy ran away.
[233]
THE dove says, "Coo, coo, what shall I do? ”

“ His grandfather, James II., lives in "The rhyme for porringer;" his father in "Jim and George were two great lords." Tout finit par des chansons.
Of non-historical jingles, Mr. Halliwell found traces in MSS. as old as the fifteenth century. But it would be a very rare accident that led to their being written down when nobody dreamed of studying Folk-Lore with solemnity. ”

“ Or the little god of love turn the spit, spit, spit?"
UP hill and down dale,
Butter is made in every vale,
And if that Nancy Cook
Is a good girl,
She shall have a spouse,
And make butter anon,
Before her old grandmother
Grows a young man. ”