CONTENTS
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| Introduction | [xiii] | |
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| CHAP. | ||
| I. | Prehistoric man—His language one of signs and sounds—Thestory of Psammetichus and the Two Babies—Idiom oflanguage a survival of primitive peoples | [1] |
| II. | Modern types of early man—Sign-language of people living onthe globe to-day—The custom of the Uvinza grandees—The"good-morning" of the Walunga tribe—Signs ofhospitality in the sign vocabulary of the North AmericanIndian—The "attingere extremis digitis" of theRomans—Clap-hands one of the first lessons of theNursery—The modern survival of hand-clapping—"Is itrude to shake hands, Nurse?"—A hypercriticalmother—Plato's rebuke—Agesilaus and hischildren—Nursery classics and critical babies—"Lalla,lalla, lalla" of the Roman child—The well-known babydance of "Crow and caper, caper and crow" | [8] |
| III. | Writers on comparative religions show that entire religiousobservances come down to modern peoples from heathensources—The Bohemian Peasant and his Apple Tree—A mythof long descent found in the rhyme of "A Woman, aSpaniel, and Walnut Tree"; our modern "Pippin, pippin,fly away," indicates the same sentiment—The fairy taleof Ashputtel and the Golden Slipper, the legend fromwhich came our story of Cinderella—Tylor on Children'sSports—The mystery of Northern Europe at Christ'scoming—The Baby's Rattle—Ancestral worship follows sunand moon worship, and gives us the tales of fairies,goblins, and elves—Boyd Dawkins' story of the Isle ofMan farmer—A Scandinavian Manxman—Modernised lullabyof a Polish mother—"Shine, Stars"—"Rain, rain, goaway"—Wind making—Lullabies—Bulgarian, German,"Sleep, Baby, Sleep"—The lullaby of the BlackGuitar—"Baby, go to Sleep"—English version, "Hushthee, my Babby"—Danish lullaby of "Sweetly sleep, mylittle Child"—"Bye, baby bunting" | [17] |
| IV. | Elf-land—Old-time superstitions—A custom of providing afeast for the dead known in Yorkshire, North-westIreland, and in Armenia—The Erl King of Goethe—Balletof the Leaf-dressed Girl—The Spirit of the Waters—AnIrish legend of Fior Usga—Scotch superstition—JennyGreenteeth of Lancashire—The Merrow of the West ofIreland—Soul Cages—The German rhyme of "O Man of theSea, come list unto Me"—Mysticism among uncivilisedraces—The Corn Spirit—The Rye-wolf—"The Cow's in theCorn"—"Ring a ring a rosies"—"Cuckoo Cherry Tree"—Ourearliest song, "Summer is a-coming in"—"Hot Cockles" atYorkshire funerals—"Over the Cuckoo Hill, Ioh!"—Indian Lore | [34] |
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| I. | Games—Whipping-tops, Marbles, etc.—"I am good at Scourgingof my Toppe," date 15—(?)—Dice andPitch-and-Toss—"Dab a Prin in my Lottery Book"—"A'the Birds of the Air"—Hop Scotch—"Zickety, dickety,dock"—"All good Children go to Heaven"—"Mary at theCottage Door." | |
| Marriage Games—"If ever I Marry I'll Marry a Maid,"1557 A.D.—London Street Games—A Wedding—"Choose one,choose two, choose the nearest one to you"—"RosyApple, Lemon, and Pear"—The King of theBarbarines—"I've got Gold and I've got Silver"—ALancashire Round Game—"Fol th' riddle, I do, I do, Ido"—Round Game of the Mulberry Bush—"Pray, Mr. Fox,what time is it?"—"Mother, buy me a MilkingCan"—"Here comes a Poor Sailor from Botany Bay"—"CanI get there by Candle-light?" | [58] | |
| II. | Nursery Games—A Game for a Wet Day—"Cows and Horses walkon four legs"—A Game nearly 300 years old—"There weretwo birds sitting on a stone"—A B C Game—"Hi diddlediddle"—"I Apprentice my Son"—An Armenian Child'sGame, "Jack's Alive"—Russian Superstition | [80] |
| III. | Jewish Rhymes—"A kid, a kid my father bought for twopieces of money—a kid! a kid!"—"The house that Jackbuilt"—The Scotch version, "There was an old womanswept her house and found a silver penny"—The ChadGadyâ—"Who knoweth One" | [89] |
| IV. | An ancient English Rhyme—"A Frog who would a-wooing go,"the version of same sung in Henry VIII.'s reign—Songsof London Boys in Tudor times—"Quoth John toJoan"—"Good parents in good manners do instruct theirchild"—"Tom a Lin"—"Bryan O'Lynn"—Four songs sung bychildren in Elizabeth's reign—"We'll have a Wedding atour House" | [100] |
| V. | Cat Rhymes—"Pussy-cat, pussy-cat"—"Ten little mice sat downto spin"—"The rose is red, the grass is green"—"I Lovelittle Pussy"—"Three Cats sat by the Fireside"—"Therewas a Crooked Man"—"Ding dong bell"—Cat tale of DickWhittington | [112] |
| VI. | A Cradle Song of the first century, "Sleep, O son, sleep" | [117] |
| VII. | Jack Rhymes | [123] |
| VIII. | Riddle Making—German riddle of "Seven White and SevenBlack Horses"—Greek riddle of the Two Sisters; anotherof "The year, months, and days"—"Old MotherNeedle"—"Purple, yellow, red, and green"—"As round asan Apple"—"Humpty Dumpty"—The Phœnixfable—"Ladybird! ladybird! fly away home" | [127] |
| IX. | Nursery Charms—"When a twister twisting twists him atwist"—An Essex Charm for a Churn—"Matthew, Mark,Luke, and John" Charms. | |
| Money Rhymes—"How a lass gave her lover three slipsfor a tester"—"Little Mary Esther"—"Sing a Song ofSixpence"—"There was an old man in a velvetcoat"—"See-saw"—"One a penny"—"There's never amaiden in all the town"—"Pinky, pinky,bow-bell"—Numerical Nursery Rhyme—Baker's Man | [134] | |
| X. | Scraps—"Oh, slumber, my darling, thy sire is aknight"—"Bye, baby bumpkin"—"Nose, nose, jolly rednose"—"I saw a man in the moon"—A Henry VIII.Rhyme—"Peg-Peg"—"Round about"—"FatherLong-legs"—"Two-penny rice"—"Come when you'recalled"—A Game—"Nanny Natty Coat"—"As I was goingdown Sandy Lane"—"There was an old woman"—"RobertRowley"—"Little General Monk"—"Dr. Tom Tit"—"TommyTrot"—"Goosey Gander"—"The White Dove sat on theCastell Wall"—"This Little Pig"—"Little BoPeep"—"See-saw, Margery Daw"—"Four-and-twentyTailors"—"Little Moppet"—"Hub-a-dub, dub"—"DiddleDumpling"—"Jack and Jyll"—"The Cat and theFiddle"—"Baa! baa! black sheep"—"Here comes a poorDuke out of Spain"—"Ride to themarket"—"Cross-patch"—"The Man of the South"—ALancashire Fragment—"Dickery dock"—"There was an oldwoman toss'd up in a blanket"—"We're all in thedumps"—A Proverb—A Compliment—The Reverse | [141] |
| XI. | Songs—"Will the love that you're so richin?"—"Cock-a-doodle doo"—"King Cole"—"Rowstydowt"—"There was a Little Man"—The Creole'sSong—"Dapple Grey"—"Blue Betty"—"Tom, Tom, thePiper's Son"—"Oh dear, what can the matterbe?"—"Simple Simon"—"I saw a Ship a-sailing"—"Davidthe Welshman"—"My Father he Died" | [152] |
| XII. | Scotch Rhymes—"As I went up the Brandy Hill"—Scotchversion of Bryan O'Lynn—"Cripple Dick"—"Pan, Pan,Play"—"Gi'e a thing"—A Gruesome Riddle—"King andQueen of Cantelon"—Hidee—"Wha's your Daddie?"—"TheMoon is a Lady" | [162] |
| XIII. | A favourite Nursery Hymn—The Latin version of theVirgin's Lullaby | [169] |
| XIV. | "There was a maid came out of Kent"—"Martin Smart"—"GreatA, little B"—A Nursery Tale—"A duck, a drake"—"Hark!Hark!"—A B C Jingles—A Catch Rhyme | [173] |
| XV. | Bell Rhymes—"Banbury Cross"—"Gay go up, and gay godown"—"Mary, Mary, quite contrary"—The Provençal"Ding-dong" | [178] |
| XVI. | Political Significations of Nursery Rhymes—"Come,Jack"—"A man of words"—Pastorini, Lord Grey,Lyttleton, Dan O'Connell, and Lord Brougham caricatured | [185] |
INTRODUCTION
Without advancing any theory touching the progression of the mother's song to her babe, other than declaring lullabies to be about as old as babies, a statement which recalls to mind an old story, entitled "The Owl's Advice to an Inquisitive Cat."
"O cat," said the sage owl of the legend, "to pass life agreeably most of all you need a philosophy; you and I indeed enjoy many things in common, especially night air and mice, yet you sadly need a philosophy to search after, and think about matters most difficult to discover." After saying this the owl ruffled his feathers and pretended to think.
But the cat observed that it was foolish to search after such things. "Indeed," she purringly said, "I only trouble about easy matters."