Many rhymes that originated in these nonsense verses have found their way into nursery collections. Halliwell printed the following lines as a separate nursery rhyme:—
Eight ships on the main,
I wish them all safe back again;
Seven eagles in the air,
I wonder how they all came there;
I don't know, nor I don't care.
Six spiders on the wall,
Close to an old woman's apple stall;
Five puppies in Highgate hall,
Who daily for their breakfast call;
Four mares stuck in a bog,
Three monkeys tied to a log,
Two pudding ends will choke a dog,
With a gaping wide mouthed waddling frog.
(1842, p.246.)
Halliwell also printed some utterly debased rhymes, in which, however, numbers are still combined with the objects that are named. Among these rhymes is the following:—
[Pg 141] One old Oxford ox opening oysters;
Two teetotums totally tired of trying to trot to Tadbury;
Three tall tigers tippling tenpenny tea;
Four fat friars fanning fainting flies;
And so on to
Twelve typographical typographers typically translating types.
(1846, p. 111.)
Other rhymes of this kind depend for their consistency on alliteration only, such as:—
Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round,
A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round;
Where rolled the round roll Robert Rowley rolled round.
(1842, p. 128.)
Robert Rowley is perhaps a name for thunder, since a rhyme recited in the North of England as a charm against thunder is:—
Rowley, Rowley, Rattley-bags;
Take the lasses and leave the lads.
(1876, p. 15.)