Melismata (1611) already knows the "Frog who lived in a well," and in Deuteromelia (1609) occurs the "Three blind mice." On the Riddles, or Devinettes, chapters might be, and have been written. They go back to Samson's time, at least, and are as widely distributed as proverbs, even among Wolufs and Fijians. The most recent discussion is in Mr. Max Müller's "Contributions to the Science of Mythology" (1897). For using "charms," like "Come, butter, come," many an old woman was burned by the wisdom of our ancestors. Such versified charms, deducunt carmima lunam, are the karakias of the Maoris, and the mantras of Indian superstition. The magical papyri of ancient Egypt are full of them. In our own rhyme, "Hiccup," regarded as a personal kind of fiend ("Animism"), is charmed away by a promise of a butter-cake. There is a collection of such things in Reginald Scot's "Discovery of Witchcraft." Thus our old nursery rhymes are smooth stones from the brook of time, worn round by constant friction of tongues long silent. We cannot hope to make new nursery rhymes, any more than we can write new fairy tales.

Page
A carrion crow sat on an oak[103]
A diller, a dollar[49]
A farmer went trotting[246]
A little cock-sparrow sat on a green tree[230]
A little old man and I fell out[157]
A long-tail'd pig, or a short-tail'd pig[229]
A man of words and not of deeds[79]
A man went a hunting at Reigate[273]
A pie sat on a pear-tree[227]
A sunshiny shower[82]
A swarm of bees in May[82]
A was an apple-pie[46]
A was an Archer, and shot at a frog[45]
All of a row[220]
Around the green gravel the grass grows green[268]
Arthur O'Bower has broken his band[124]
As I walked by myself[38]
As I was going by Charing Cross[37]
As I was going o'er Westminster Bridge[132]
As I was going to sell my eggs[268]
As I was going to St. Ives[131]
As I was going up Pippen-hill[209]
As I went through the garden gap[132]
As soft as silk, as white as milk[124]
As the days lengthen[83]
As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks[203]

Bah, bah, black sheep		[240]
Barber, barber, shave a pig[271]
Bat, bat[172]
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray[207]
Betty Pringle had a little pig[229]
Birch and green holly, boys[44]
Black we are but much admired[130]
Blow, wind, blow! and go, mill, go![273]
Blue eye beauty[202]
Bounce Buckram, velvet's dear[79]
Bow, wow, wow[233]
Brave news is come to town[200]
Bryan O'Lin, and his wife, and wife's mother[63]
Burnie bee, burnie bee[220]
Bye, baby bunting[148]

Cock-a-doodle-doo!		[192]
Cock Robin got up early[228]
Cold and raw the north wind doth blow[117]
Come, butter, come[147]
Come, let's to bed[266]
Come, take up your hats, and away let us haste[239]
Come when you're called[44]
"Croak!" said the Toad, "I'm hungry, I think"[225]
Cross patch[51]
Cuckoo, cherry-tree[176]
Cuckoo, Cuckoo[222]
Curly locks! curly locks! wilt thou be mine?[214]
Curr dhoo, curr dhoo[235]
Cushy cow bonny, let down thy milk[145]

Daffy-down-dilly has come up to town		[269]
Dame, get up and bake your pies[117]
Dame, what makes your ducks to die?[231]
Dance, Thumbkin, dance[175]
Dance to your daddy[148]
Darby and Joan were dress'd in black[270]
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John[191]
Did you see my wife, did you see, did you see?[214]
Diddledy, diddledy, dumpty[194]
Ding, dong, bell[194]
Doctor Faustus was a good man[48]
Doctor Foster went to Glo'ster[65]
Draw a pail of water[184]

Early to bed, and early to rise		[83]
Eat, birds, eat, and make no waste[223]
Eggs butter, bread[186]
Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy, and Bess[133]
Elsie Marley is grown so fine[94]

Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee		[195]
Flour of England, fruit of Spain[128]
For every evil under the sun[82]
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost[84]
Formed long ago, yet made to-day[131]
Four and twenty tailors went to kill a snail[224]
Friday night's dream[83]

Gay go up and gay go down		[172]
Georgey Porgey, pudding and pie[215]
Girls and boys, come out to play[267]
God bless the master of this house[242]
Goosey, goosey, gander[243]
Great A, little a[43]
Grey goose and gander[220]

Handy Spandy, Jack-a-dandy		[196]
Hannah Bantry in the pantry[264]
He that would thrive[81]
Hector Protector was dressed all in green[37]
Here am I, little jumping Joan[140]
Here comes a lusty wooer[210]
Here sits the Lord Mayor[175]
Here stands a post[188]
Hey! diddle, diddle[193]
Hey, my kitten, my kitten[150]
Hick-a-more, Hack-a-more[124]
Hickety, pickety, my black hen[222]
Hickory, Dickory, Dock[176]
Hickup, hickup, go away![152]
Hickup, snicup[152]
"Hie, hie," says Anthony[223]
Higgledy piggledy[128]
Higgley Piggley[238]
High diddle ding[37]
Hink, minx! the old witch winks[264]
Hot-cross Buns[105]
How many days has my baby to play?[268]
How many miles is it to Babylon?[183]
Humpty Dumpty sate on a wall[129]
Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top[149]
Hushy baby, my doll, I pray you don't cry[148]

I am a gold lock		[180]
I doubt, I doubt, my fire is out[214]
I had a little dog, and they called him Buff[219]
I had a little hen, the prettiest ever seen[237]
I had a little husband[213]
I had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear[35]
I had a little pony[245]
I have a little sister, they call her Peep, Peep[128]
I love little pussy, her coat is so warm[234]
I love my love with an A, because he's Agreeable[51]
I love sixpence, pretty little sixpence[99]
I saw a peacock with a fiery tail[141]
I saw a ship a-sailing[139]
I saw three ships come sailing by[118]
I went to the wood and got it[123]
I went up one pair of stairs[180]
I would if I cou'd[134]
If all the seas were one sea[270]
If all the world was apple-pie[135]
If I'd as much money as I could spend[112]
If ifs and ands[44]
If wishes were horses[78]
If you love me, pop and fly[146]
If you sneeze on Monday, you sneeze for danger[80]
I'll sing you a song[114]
I'll tell you a story[58]
In fir tar is[51]
In marble walls as white as milk[127]
In the month of February[232]
Is John Smith within?[179]

Jack and Jill went up the hill		[199]
Jack, be nimble[171]
Jack in the pulpit, out and in[206]
Jack Sprat could eat no fat[206]
Jacky, come give me thy fiddle[113]
Jenny Wren fell sick[244]
Jim and George were two great lords[40]
John Cook had a little grey mare; he, haw, hum![114]
Johnny shall have a new bonnet[93]

King's Sutton is a pretty town		[266]

Lady bird, lady bird, fly away home		[235]
Leg over leg[234]
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep[92]
Little boy blue, come, blow up your horn[241]
Little girl, little girl, where have you been?[242]
Little Jack Horner sat in a corner[74]
Little Miss Muffet[264]
Little Nancy Etticoat[130]
Little Polly Flinders[114]
Little Robin-Redbreast[230]
Little Robin-Redbreast sat upon a tree[236]
Little Tom Tucker[272]
Little Tommy Tittlemouse[73]
London Bridge is broken down[98]
Long legs, crooked thighs[124]
Love your own, kiss your own[214]

March winds and April showers		[84]
Mary had a pretty bird[236]
Master I have, and I am his man[213]
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John[147]
Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring[104]
Mistress Mary, quite contrary[50]
Monday's bairn is fair of face[84]
Multiplication is vexation[47]
My dear, do you know[56]
My father he died, but I can't tell you how[90]
My lady Wind, my lady Wind[71]
My little old man and I fell out[268]
My maid Mary[112]
My true love lives far from me[138]

Nature requires five		[78]
Needles and pins, needles and pins[79]

O that I was where I would be		[140]
Oh, madam, I will give you the keys of Canterbury[204]
Old Abram Brown is dead and gone[70]
Old Betty Blue[162]
Old King Cole[31]
Old Mother Goose, when[67]
Old Mother Hubbard[163]
Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye[130]
Old woman, old woman, shall we go a-shearing?[157]
Once I saw a little bird[227]
One misty moisty morning[87]
One to make ready[186]
One, two[52]
Over the water, and over the sea[36]

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man!		[47]
Pease-pudding hot[179]
Peter Piper picked a peck[146]
Peter White will ne'er go right[136]
Please to remember[35]
Polly put the kettle on[92]
Poor old Robinson Crusoe[38]
Punch and Judy[71]
Pussicat, wussicat, with a white foot[194]
Pussy-cat, pussy-cat, where have you been?[221]
Pussy-cat sits by the fire[232]
Pussy sits behind the fire[236]

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun		[172]

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit-pie		[149]
Rain, rain, go away[270]
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross (1)[182]
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross (2)[182]
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross[184]
Ride away, ride away, Johnny shall ride[116]
Ring the bell[179]
Robert Barnes, fellow fine[223]
Robin and Richard were two pretty men[66]
Robin the Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben[66]
Rock-a-bye, baby, thy cradle is green[150]
Rosemary green[200]
Rub a dub dub[196]

Says t'auld man tit oak tree		[91]
See a pin and pick it up[78]
See, saw, Margery Daw (1)[185]
See, saw, Margery Daw (2)[185]
See saw, sack-a-day[40]
See-saw sacradown[184]
Simple Simon met a pieman[58]
Sing a song of sixpence[93]
Solomon Grundy[74]
Some little mice sat in a barn to spin[220]
St. Swithin's day, if thou dost rain[78]
Swan swam over the sea[152]
Sylvia, sweet as morning air[200]

Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief		[72]
Tell tale, tit[44]
The art of good driving's a paradox quite[83]
The cock doth crow[222]
The cuckoo's a fine bird[225]
The dove says "Coo, coo, what shall I do?"[233]
The fair maid who, the first of May[83]
The fox and his wife they had a great strife[88]
The girl in the lane, that couldn't speak plain[264]
The hart he loves the high wood[244]
The King of France, and four thousand men[35]
The King of France went up the hill[35]
The lion and the unicorn[62]
The man in the moon[55]
The man in the wilderness asked me[137]
The north wind doth blow[100]
The old woman and her pig[253]
The Queen of Hearts[116]
The winds they did blow[228]
There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile[57]
There was a fat man of Bombay[63]
There was a frog liv'd in a well[106]
There was a jolly miller[112]
There was a king met a king[127]
There was a lady loved a swine[215]
There was a little boy and a little girl[201]
There was a little boy went into a barn[232]
There was a little Guinea-pig[136]
There was a little man[64]
There was a little man[208]
There was a little nobby colt[274]
There was a little woman, as I've been told[116]
There was a man, and he had nought[61]
There was a man and he was mad[142]
There was a man of Thessaly[133]
There was a monkey climbed up a tree[39]
There was a piper, he'd a cow[226]
There was an old man[162]
There was an old man of Tobago[161]
There was an old woman[155]
There was an old woman[158]
There was an old woman, and what do you think[141]
There was an old woman, as I've heard tell[156]
There was an old woman called Nothing-at-all[162]
There was an old woman had three sons[161]
There was an old woman of Leeds[158]
There was an old woman of Norwich[161]
There was an old woman toss'd up in a basket[157]
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe[158]
There were three jovial Welshmen[169]
There were three sisters in a hall[131]
There were two birds sat on a stone[111]
There were two blackbirds[188]
Thirty days hath September[49]
Thirty white horses upon a red hill[129]
This is the house that Jack built[249]
This is the key of the kingdom[260]
This is the way the ladies ride[187]
This pig went to market[176]
Thomas a Tattamus took two T's[130]
Three blind mice, see how they run![105]
Three children sliding on the ice[134]
Three wise men of Gotham[65]
Tobacco reek! tobacco reek![141]
To make your candles last for a'[77]
To market, to market[151]
To market, to market, to buy a fat pig[195]
To market, to market, to buy a plum-cake[272]
Tom he was a piper's son[95]
Tom, Tom, the piper's son[63]
Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee[196]
Two legs sat upon three legs[132]

Up at Piccadilly oh!		[113]
Up hill and down dale[208]

We are three brethren out of Spain		[181]
Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town[119]
We're all in the dumps[274]
What are little boys made of, made of?[265]
What is the rhyme for poringer?[37]
What's the news of the day?[266]
When good King Arthur ruled this land[32]
When I was a bachelor I lived by myself[202]
When little Fred was called to bed[120]
When the wind is in the east[80]
When V and I together meet[49]
Where are you going, my pretty maid?[111]
Where have you been all the day?[216]
Who comes here?[272]
Who goes round my house this night?[186]
Whoop, whoop, and hollow[186]
Willy boy, Willy boy, where are you going?[263]

Yeow mussent sing a' Sunday		[82]
You shall have an apple[106]
Young lambs to sell![150]

THE END

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.