"Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four-and-twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
"When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing,
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
"The king was in his counting-house,
Counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour
Eating bread and honey.
"The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
Then came a little blackbird
And snapped off her nose."
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Sir Toby alludes to the "Sing a Song a Sixpence," Act II., Sc. 3:—
"Come on, there is a sixpence for you; let's have a song."
In Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca it is also quoted.