COMPARATIVE STUDIES
IN NURSERY RHYMES
COMPARATIVE STUDIES
IN
NURSERY RHYMES
BY
LINA ECKENSTEIN
AUTHOR OF "WOMAN UNDER MONASTICISM"
_There were more things in Mrs. Gurton's eye,
Mayhap, than are dreamed of in our philosophy_
C. S. CALVERLEY
[Illustration]
LONDON
DUCKWORTH & CO.
3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN
1906
TO THE GENTLE READER
The walls of the temple of King Sety at Abydos in Upper Egypt are
decorated with sculptured scenes which represent the cult of the gods
and the offerings brought to them. In a side chapel there is depicted
the following curious scene. A dead figure lies extended on a bier;
sorrowing hawks surround him; a flying hawk reaches down a seal amulet
from above. Had I succeeded in procuring a picture of the scene, it
would stand reproduced here; for the figure and his mourners recalled
the quaint little woodcut of a toy-book which told the tale of the Death
and Burial of Cock Robin. The sculptures of Sety date from the
fourteenth century before Christ; the knell of the robin can be traced
back no further than the middle of the eighteenth century A.D. Can the
space that lies between be bridged over, and the conception of the dead
robin be linked on to that of the dead hawk? However that may be, the
sight of the sculptured scene strengthened my resolve to place some of
the coincidences of comparative nursery lore before the gentle reader.
It lies with him to decide whether the wares are such as to make a
further instalment desirable.
_23 September, 1906._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT 1
II. EARLY REFERENCES 13
III. RHYMES AND POPULAR SONGS 23
IV. RHYMES IN TOY-BOOKS 36
V. RHYMES AND BALLADS 45
VI. RHYMES AND COUNTRY DANCES 57
VII. THE GAME OF "SALLY WATERS" 67
VIII. "THE LADY OF THE LAND" 78
IX. CUSTOM RHYMES 89
X. RIDDLE-RHYMES 104
XI. CUMULATIVE PIECES 115
XII. CHANTS OF NUMBERS 134
XIII. CHANTS OF THE CREED 143
XIV. HEATHEN CHANTS OF THE CREED 152
XV. SACRIFICIAL HUNTING 171
XVI. BIRD SACRIFICE 185
XVII. THE ROBIN AND THE WREN 200
XVIII. CONCLUDING REMARKS 215
LIST OF FOREIGN COLLECTIONS 221
ALPHABETICAL INDEX 223
_... To my gaze the phantoms of the Past,
The cherished fictions of my boyhood, rise:_
* * * * *
_The House that Jack built--and the Malt that lay
Within the House--the Rat that ate the Malt--
The Cat, that in that sanguinary way
Punished the poor thing for its venial fault--
The Worrier-Dog--the Cow with crumpled horn--
And then--ah yes! and then--the Maiden all forlorn!_
_O Mrs. Gurton--(may I call thee Gammer?)
Thou more than mother to my infant mind!
I loved thee better than I loved my grammar--
I used to wonder why the Mice were blind,
And who was gardener to Mistress Mary,
And what--I don't know still--was meant by "quite contrary."_
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
CHAPTER I
FIRST APPEARANCE OF RHYMES IN PRINT
The study of folk-lore has given a new interest to much that seemed
insignificant and trivial. Among the unheeded possessions of the past
that have gained a fresh value are nursery rhymes. A nursery rhyme I
take to be a rhyme that was passed on by word of mouth and taught to
children before it was set down in writing and put into print. The use
of the term in this application goes back to the early part of the
nineteenth century. In 1834 John Gawler, afterwards Bellenden Ker,
published the first volume of his _Essay on the Archaiology of Popular
English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes_, a fanciful production. Prior to
this time nursery rhymes were usually spoken of as nursery songs.
The interest in these "unappreciated trifles of the nursery," as
Rimbault called them, was aroused towards the close of the eighteenth
century. In a letter which Joseph Ritson wrote to his little nephew, he
mentioned the collection of rhymes known as _Mother Goose's Melody_, and
assured him that he also would set about collecting rhymes.[1] His
collection of rhymes is said, in the _Dictionary of National Biography_,
to have been published at Stockton in 1783 under the title _Gammer
Gurton's Garland_. A copy of an anonymous collection of rhymes published
by Christopher and Jennett at Stockton, which is called _Gammer Gurton's
Garland or the Nursery Parnassus_, is now at the British Museum, and is
designated as a "new edition with additions." It bears no name and no
date, but its contents, which consist of over seventy rhymes, agree with
parts 1 and 2 of a large collection of nursery rhymes, including over
one hundred and forty pieces, which were published in 1810 by the
publisher R. Triphook, of 37 St. James Street, London, who also issued
other collections made by Ritson.
[1] _Letters of Joseph Ritson_, edited by his Nephew, 1833. 27
April, 1781.
The collection of rhymes known as _Mother Goose's Melody_, which aroused
the interest of Ritson, was probably the toy-book which was entered for
copyright in London on 28 December, 1780. Its title was _Mother Goose's
Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle_, and it was entered by John Carnan,
the stepson of the famous publisher John Newbery, who had succeeded to
the business in partnership with Francis Newbery.[2] Of this book no
copy is known to exist. Toy-books, owing to the careless way in which
they are handled, are amongst the most perishable literature. Many
toy-books are known to have been issued in hundreds of copies, yet of
some of these not a single copy can now be traced.
[2] Welsh, Ch., _A Publisher of the Last Century_, 1885, p. 272.
The name Mother Goose, its connection with nursery rhymes, and the date
of issue of _Mother Goose's Melody_, have been the subject of some
contention. Thomas Fleet, a well-known printer of Boston, Mass., who was
from Shropshire, is said to have issued a collection of nursery rhymes
under the following title, _Songs for the Nursery, or Mother Goose's
Melodies for Children_, printed by Thomas Fleet at his printing-house,
Pudding Lane, 1719, price two coppers.[3] The existence of this book at
the date mentioned has been both affirmed and denied.[4] John Fleet
Eliot, a great-grandson of the printer, accepted its existence, and in
1834 wrote with regard to it as follows: "It is well known to
antiquaries that more than a hundred years ago there was a small book in
circulation in London bearing the name of _Rhymes for the Nursery or
Lulla-Byes for Children_, which contained many of the identical pieces
of _Mother Goose's Melodies_ of the present day. It contained also other
pieces, more silly if possible, and some that the American types of the
present day would refuse to give off an impression. The cuts or
illustrations thereof were of the coarsest description." On the other
hand, the date of 1719 in connection with the expression "two coppers,"
has been declared impossible. However this may be, no copy of the book
of Fleet or of its presumed prototype has been traced.
[3] Appleton, _Cyclopædia of American Biography_, 1887: Fleet,
Thomas.
[4] Whitmore, W. H., _The original Mother Goose's Melody_, 1892, p.
40 ff.
The name Mother Goose, which John Newbery and others associated with
nursery rhymes, may have been brought into England from France, where
_La Mère Oie_ was connected with the telling of fairy tales as far back
as 1650.[5] _La Mère Oie_ is probably a lineal descendant of _La Reine
Pédauque_, otherwise _Berthe au grand pied_, but there is the
possibility also of the relationship to _Fru Gode_ or _Fru Gosen_ of
German folk-lore. We first come across Mother Goose in England in
connection with the famous puppet-showman Robert Powell, who set up his
show in Bath and in Covent Garden, London, between 1709 and 1711. The
repertory of his plays, which were of his own composing, included
_Whittington and his Cat_, _The Children in the Wood_, _Friar Bacon and
Friar Bungay_, _Robin Hood and Little John_, _Mother Shipton_, and
_Mother Goose_.[6] A play or pantomime called _Mother Goose_ was still
popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for the actor
Grimaldi obtained his greatest success in it in 1806.[7]
[5] Lang, A., _Perrault's Popular Tales_, 1888. Introduction, XXIV.
[6] Collier, J. P., _Punch and Judy, citing "A Second Tale of a Tub
or the History of Robert Powell, the puppet-showman, 1715."_
[7] _Dictionary of National Biography_, Grimaldi.
The name Gammer Gurton which Ritson chose for his collection of rhymes,
was traditional also. _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ is the name of a famous
old comedy which dates from about the year 1566. The name also appears
in connection with nursery rhymes in a little toy-book, issued by
Lumsden in Glasgow, which is called _Gammer Gurton's Garland of Nursery
Songs, and Toby Tickle's Collection of Riddles_. This is undated. It
occurs also in an insignificant little toy-book called _The Topbook of
all_, in connection with Nurse Lovechild, Jacky Nory, and Tommy Thumb.
This book is also undated, but contains the picture of a shilling of
1760 which is referred to as "a new shilling."
The date at which nursery rhymes appeared in print yields one clue to
their currency at a given period. The oldest dated collection of rhymes
which I have seen bears the title _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book_, vol.
II, "sold by M. Cooper according to Act of Parliament." It is printed
partly in red, partly in black, and on its last page bears the date
1744. A copy of this is at the British Museum.
Next to this in date is a toy-book which is called _The Famous Tommy
Thumb's Little Story-Book_, printed and sold at the printing office in
Marlborough Street, 1771. A copy of this is in the library of Boston,
Mass. It contains nine nursery rhymes at the end, which have been
reprinted by Whitmore.
Other collections of rhymes issued in America have been preserved which
are reprints of earlier English collections. Among these is _Tommy
Thumb's Song Book for all Little Masters and Misses_, by Nurse
Lovechild, which is dated 1788, and was printed by Isaiah Thomas at
Worcester, Mass. A copy is at the British Museum.
Isaiah Thomas was in direct connection with England, where he procured,
in 1786, the first fount of music type that was carried to America.
Among many toy-books of his that are reprints from English publications,
he issued _Mother Goose's Melody, Sonnets for the Cradle_. A copy of
this book which is designated as the third Worcester edition, bears the
date 1799, and has been reprinted in facsimile by Whitmore. It was
probably identical with the collection of rhymes for which the firm of
Newberry received copyright in 1780, and which was mentioned by Ritson.
Other copies of _Mother Goose's Melody_, one bearing the watermark of
1803, and the other issued by the firm of John Marshall, which is
undated, are now at the Bodleian.[8] Thus the name of Mother Goose was
largely used in connection with nursery rhymes.
[8] 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 (d.
1786) and Oliver Goldsmith (d. 1774), whose versatility and delicate
humour gave a peculiar charm to the books for children which they helped
to produce.
In London Newbery had a rival in John Marshall, whose shop in Aldermary
Churchyard was known already in 1787 as the _Great A, and Bouncing B Toy
Factory_. This name was derived from a current nursery rhyme on the
alphabet, which occurs as follows:--
Great A, little a, Bouncing B,
The cat's in the cupboard, and she can't see. (1744, p. 22.)
A number of provincial publishers followed their example. Among them
were Thomas Saint, in Newcastle, who between 1771 and 1774 employed the
brothers Bewick; Kendrew, in York; Lumsden, in Glasgow; Drewey, in
Derby; Rusher, in Banbury; and others. The toy-books that were issued by
these firms have much likeness to one another, and are often illustrated
by the same cuts. Most of them are undated. Among the books issued by
Rusher were _Nursery Rhymes from the Royal Collections_, and _Nursery
Poems from the Ancient and Modern Poets_, which contain some familiar
rhymes in versions which differ from those found elsewhere.
Besides these toy-book collections, there is a large edition of _Gammer
Gurton's Garland_, of the year 1810, which contains the collections of
1783 with considerable additions. In the year 1826, Chambers published
his _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, which contained some fireside stories
and nursery rhymes, the number of which was considerably increased in
the enlarged edition of 1870. In the year 1842, Halliwell, under the
auspices of the Percy Society, issued the _Nursery Rhymes of England_,
which were reprinted in 1843, and again in an enlarged edition in 1846.
Three years later he supplemented this book by a collection of _Popular
Rhymes_ which contain many traditional game rhymes and many valuable
remarks and criticisms.
These books, together with the rhymes of Gawler, and a collection of
_Old Nursery Rhymes with Tunes_, issued by Rimbault in 1864, exhaust
the collections of nursery rhymes which have a claim on the attention of
the student. Most of their contents were subsequently collected and
issued by the firm of Warne & Co., under the title _Mother Goose's
Nursery Rhymes, Tales and Jingles_, of which the issue of 1890 contains
over seven hundred pieces. In the list which follows, I have arranged
these various collections of rhymes in the order of their issue, with a
few modern collections that contain further rhymes. Of those which are
bracketed I have not succeeded in finding a copy.
(1719. _Songs for the Nursery, or Mother Goose's Melodies._ Printed by
T. Fleet.)
1744. _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book._
_c._ 1760. _The Topbook of all._
(1771. _Tommy Thumb's Little Story Book._ The nine rhymes which this
contains are cited by Whitmore.)
(1780. _Mother Goose's Melody_, for which copyright was taken by John
Carnan.)
_c._ 1783. _Gammer Gurton's Garland._
1788. _Tommy Thumb's Song Book_, issued by Isaiah Thomas.
(1797. _Infant Institutes_, cited by Halliwell and Rimbault.)
1799. _Mother Goose's Melody._ Facsimile reprint by Whitmore.
1810. _Gammer Gurton's Garland._ The enlarged edition, published by R.
Triphook, 37 St. James Street, London.
1826. Chambers, _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_.
1834-9. Ker, _Essays on the Archaiology of Nursery Rhymes_.
1842-3. Halliwell, _The Nursery Rhymes of England_.
1846. Halliwell, ditto. Enlarged and annotated edition.
1849. Halliwell, _Popular Rhymes_.
1864. Rimbault, _Old Nursery Rhymes with tunes_.
1870. Chambers, _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_. Enlarged edition.
1876. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_.
1890. _Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, Tales and Jingles._ Issued by
Warne & Co.
1892. Northall, G. F., _English Folk Rhymes_.
1894. Gomme, A. B., _The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and
Ireland_.
In the studies which follow, the rhymes cited have attached to them the
date of the collection in which they occur.