_The Spider and the Fly._--Can any of your readers, gentle or simple,
senile or juvenile, inform me, through the medium of your useful and
agreeable periodical, in what collection of nursery rhymes a poem
called, I think, "The Spider and Fly," occurs, and if procurable, where?
The lines I allude to consisted, to the best of my recollection, of a
dialogue between a fly and a spider, and began thus:-- {246}
_Fly_. Spider, spider, what do you spin?
_Spider_. Mainsails for a man-of war.
_Fly_. Spider, spider, 'tis too thin.
Tell me truly, what 'tis for.
_Spider_. 'Tis for curtains for the king,
When he lies in his state bed.
_Fly_. Spider, 'tis too mean a thing,
Tell me why your toils you spread.
&c. &c. &c.
There were other stanzas, I believe, but these are all I can remember.
My notion is, that the verses in question form part of a collection of
nursery songs and rhymes by Charles Lamb, published many years ago, but
now quite out of print. This, however, is a mere surmise on my part, and
has no better foundation than the vein of humour, sprightliness, and
originality, obvious enough in the above extract, which we find running
through and adorning all he wrote. "Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit."