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Read Ebook: Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes by Eckenstein Lina
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LIST OF FOREIGN COLLECTIONS 221
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 223
C. S. C.
The dates that stand after the separate rhymes refer to the list of English collections on p. 11; the capital letters in brackets refer to the list of books on p. 221.
COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN NURSERY RHYMES
FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT
Whitmore, loc. cit., p. 6.
The second half of the eighteenth century witnessed a great development in toy-book literature. The leader of the movement was John Newbery, a man of considerable attainments, who sold drugs and literature, and who came from Reading to London in 1744, and settled in St. Paul's Churchyard, where his establishment became a famous centre of the book trade. Among those whom he had in his employ were Griffith Jones and Oliver Goldsmith , whose versatility and delicate humour gave a peculiar charm to the books for children which they helped to produce.
Great A, little a, Bouncing B, The cat's in the cupboard, and she can't see.
In the studies which follow, the rhymes cited have attached to them the date of the collection in which they occur.
EARLY REFERENCES
Again, the poet Henry Carey, about the year 1720, ridiculed the odes addressed to children by Ambrose Philips by likening these to a jumble of nursery rhymes. In doing so he cited the rhymes, "Namby Pamby Jack a Dandy," "London Bridge is broken down," "Liar Lickspit," "Jacky Horner," "See-saw," and others, which nowadays are still included among the ordinary stock of our rhymes.
Again, in the year 1671, John Eachard, the divine, illustrated his argument by quoting the alphabet rhyme "A was an apple pie," as far as "G got it." Instances such as these do not, however, carry us back farther than the seventeenth century.
Another clue to the date of certain rhymes is afforded by their mention of historical persons, in a manner which shows that the rhyme in this form was current at the time when the individual whom they mention was prominently before the eyes of the public. Halliwell recorded from oral tradition the following verse:--
Doctor Sacheverel Did very well, But Jacky Dawbin Gave him a warning.
The verse refers to Dr. Sacheverel, the nonconformist minister who preached violent sermons in St. Paul's, pointing at the Whig members as false friends and real enemies of the Church. John Dolben called attention to them in the House of Commons, and they were declared "malicious, scandalous, and seditious libels."
Again there is the rhyme:--
Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it, But the devil a penny was there in it, Except the binding round it.
This is said to preserve the names of two celebrated courtesans of the reign of Charles II .
The first name in the following rhyme is that of a famous border hero who was hanged between 1529 and 1530:--
Johnny Armstrong killed a calf; Peter Henderson got half; Willy Wilkinson got the head,-- Ring the bell, the calf is dead.
Among the pieces collected by Halliwell, and told in cumulative form, one begins and ends with the following line, which recurs at the end of every verse:--
John Ball shot them all.
Halliwell is of opinion that this may refer to the priest who took a prominent part in the rebellion at the time of Richard II, and who was hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1381.
But a historical name does not necessarily indicate the date of a rhyme. For a popular name is sometimes substituted for one that has fallen into contempt or obscurity. Moreover, a name may originally have indicated a person other than the one with whom it has come to be associated.
A familiar nursery song printed in the collection of c. 1783, and extant in several variants, is as follows:--
When good King Arthur rul'd the land, He was a goodly king, He stole three pecks of barley meal To make a bag pudding. A bag pudding the king did make And stuff'd it well with plumbs, And in it put great lumps of fat, As big as my two thumbs. The king and queen did eat thereof, And noblemen beside, And what they could not eat that night The queen next morning fry'd.
Mr. Chappell, as cited by Halliwell, considered that this version is not the correct one, but the one which begins:--
King Stephen was a worthy king As ancient bards do sing....
The same story related in one verse only, and in simpler form, connects it with Queen Elizabeth, in a version recovered in Berkshire.
Our good Quane Bess, she maayde a pudden, An stuffed un well o' plumes; And in she put gurt dabs o' vat, As big as my two thumbs.
On the face of it the last variant appears to be the oldest.
When Arthur first in Court began To wear long hanging sleeves, He entertained three serving men And all of them were thieves.
The first he was an Irishman, The second was a Scot, The third he was a Welshman, And all were knaves, I wot.
The Irishman loved usquebaugh, The Scot loved ale called blue-cap. The Welshman he loved toasted cheese, And made his mouth like a mouse-trap.
Usquebaugh burnt the Irishman, The Scot was drowned in ale, The Welshman had liked to be choked by a mouse, But he pulled it out by the tail.
In the nursery collection of Halliwell of 1842 there is a parallel piece to this which stands as follows:--
Old King Cole was a merry old soul And a merry old soul was he; Old King Cole he sat in his hole, And he called for his fiddlers three.
The first he was a miller, The second he was a weaver, The third he was a tailor, And all were rogues together.
The miller he stole corn, The weaver he stole yarn, The little tailor stole broadcloth To keep these three rogues warm.
The miller was drowned in his dam, The weaver was hung in his loom, The devil ran away with the little tailor With the broadcloth under his arm.
On the other hand a long ancestry is now claimed for certain characters of nursery fame who seemed to have no special claim to attention. The following verse appears in most collections of rhymes, and judging from the illustration which accompanies it in the toy-books, it refers sometimes to a boy and a girl, sometimes to two boys.
Jack and Gill went up the hill To fetch a bottle of water; Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Gill came tumbling after.
This verse, as was first suggested by Baring-Gould, preserves the Scandinavian myth of the children Hjuki and Bill who were caught up by Mani, the Moon, as they were taking water from the well Byrgir, and they can be seen to this day in the moon carrying the bucket on the pole between them.
The Man in the Moon drinks claret, But he is a dull Jack-a-dandy; Would he know a sheep's head from a carrot, He should learn to drink cider or brandy.
According to North German belief, a man stands in the moon pouring water out of a pail , which agrees with expressions such as "the moon holds water." In a Norse mnemonic verse which dates from before the twelfth century, we read, "the pail is called Saeg, the pole is called Simul, Bil and Hiuk carry them" .
There were two blackbirds sat upon a hill The one was named Jack, the other named Jill. Fly away Jack! Fly away Jill! Come again Jack! Come again Jill!
The lines suggest the augur's action with regard to the flight of birds. The same verse has been recited to me in the following variation:--
Peter and Paul sat on the wall, Fly away Peter! Fly away Paul! Come again Peter! Come again Paul!
I won't be my father's Jack, I won't be my mother's Gill, I will be the fiddler's wife And have music when I will. T'other little tune, t'other little tune, Pr'ythee, love, play me, t'other little tune.
RHYMES AND POPULAR SONGS
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