OLD NURSE AT HOME.

OLD NURSE’S BOOK
OF
Rhymes, Jingles and Ditties.

Edited and Illustrated by
Charles H. Bennett,
Author of “Shadows,” etc.

With Ninety Engravings.

London:
Griffith and Farran,
(Late Grant and Griffith, successors to Newbery and Harris)
Corner of St. Paul’s Churchyard.
MDCCCLVIII.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY J. WERTHEIMER AND CO.,
CIRCUS PLACE, FINSBURY.

TO
SYDNEY ROGERS,
A PLAYMATE OF MINE.

My dear Syd.,

If you laugh heartily at the Pictures in this Book, I shall not have laboured in vain: if you feel glad that the Rhymes are as you and I remember them, and recognise the few old ones, now printed for the first time, it will add to the satisfaction I shall feel.

When you have looked well at the other Cuts, please not to forget the little children at the corners of the pages, they represent all the different sorts of boys and girls that I could easily call to mind.

And, with love to all at home,

Believe me to be,

My dear little Boy,

Your affectionate friend,

CHARLES H. BENNETT.

London, November, 1857.

OLD NURSE’S BOOK
OF
RHYMES, JINGLES AND DITTIES.

A cat came fiddling out of a barn,

With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm;

She could sing nothing but fiddle cum fee,

The mouse has married the humble-bee;

Pipe, cat,—dance, mouse,

We’ll have a wedding at our good house.

As I went through the garden gap,

Who should I meet but Dick Red-cap!

A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,

If you’ll tell me this riddle, I’ll give you a groat.

[A cherry.]

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives;

Every wife had seven sacks,

Every sack had seven cats,

Every cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

As round as an apple, as deep as a cup,

And all the king’s horses can’t pull it up.

[A well.]

A diller, a dollar,

A ten o’clock scholar,

What makes you come so soon?

You used to come at ten o’clock,

But now you come at noon.

A, B, C, tumble down D,

The cat’s in the cupboard and can’t see me.

A farmer came trotting upon his grey mare,

Bumpety, bumpety, bump.

With his daughter behind him, so rosy and fair,

Lumpety, lumpety, lump.

A raven cried croak! and they all tumbled down,

Bumpety, bumpety, bump.

The mare broke her knees, and the farmer his crown,

Lumpety, lumpety, lump.

The mischievous raven flew laughing away,

Bumpety, bumpety, bump.

And vowed he would serve him the same next day,

Lumpety, lumpety, lump.

A long-tailed pig, or a short-tailed pig,

Or a pig without a tail;

A sow pig, or a boar pig,

Or a pig with a curly tail.

Abbace,

Daffagee,

Kellamenoppekew,

Rustyvee,

Doubleyou,

X, Y, Z.

All of a row,

Bend the bow,

Shot at a pigeon,

And killed a crow.

A, B, C, and D, pray, playmates agree,

E, F, and G, well so it shall be.

J, K, and L, in peace we will dwell.

M, N, and O, to play let us go.

P, Q, R, and S, love may we possess.

W, X, and Y, will not quarrel or die.

Z, and ampherse-and, go to school at command.

Bell horses, bell horses, what time of day?

One o’clock, two o’clock, off and away.

Barber, barber, shave a pig;

How many hairs will make a wig?

“Four and twenty, that’s enough.”

Give the poor barber a pinch of snuff.

Blow, wind, blow! and go, mill, go!

That the miller may grind his corn;

That the baker may take it,

And into rolls make it,

And send us some hot in the morn.

Bah, bah, black sheep, have you any wool,

Yes, marry have I, three bags full:

One for my master, and one for my dame,

But none for the little boy who cries in the lane.

Brow, brow, brinkie;

Eye, eye, winkie;

Nose, nose, nopper;

Mouth, mouth, merry;

Cheek, cheek, cherry;

Chin, chin, chopper.

Bye, baby, bunting,

Daddy’s gone a hunting,

To get a little rabbit skin

To wrap his baby bunting in.

Cross patch, draw the latch,

Sit by the fire and spin;

Take a cup, and drink it up,

Then call your neighbours in.

Cry, baby, cry,

Put your finger in your eye,

And tell your mother it wasn’t I.

Cock a doodle doo!

My dame has lost her shoe;

My master’s lost his fiddle stick,

And don’t know what to do.

“Come, let’s to bed,” says Sleepy-head;

“Tarry a while,” says slow:

“Put on the pot,” says Greedy-gut,

“We’ll sup before we go.”

Cuckoo, cherry tree,

Catch a bird and give it to me;

Catch another

And give it to brother.

Cock Robin got up early,

At the break of day,

And went to Jenny’s window,

To sing a roundelay.

He sang Cock Robin’s love

To the pretty Jenny Wren,

And when he got unto the end,

Then he began again.

Ding, dong, bell,

Pussy’s in the well!

Who put her in?

Little Tommy Green;

Who pull’d her out?

Little Johnny Stout;

What a naughty boy was that

To try and drown poor pussy cat,

Who never did him any harm,

But kill’d the mice in his father’s barn.

Dickery, dickery, dare,

The pig flew up in the air;

The man in brown

Soon brought him down,

Dickery, dickery, dare.

Danty, baby, diddy,

What can mammy do wid’e?

Sit in a lap,

And give it some pap,

Danty, baby, diddy.

Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John

Went to bed with his stockings on;

One shoe off, the other shoe on,

Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John.

Daffy-down-dilly has come up to town,

In a fine petticoat and a green gown.

Diddlety, diddlety, dumpty,

The cat ran up the plum tree;

Half-a-crown, to fetch her down,

Diddlety, diddlety, dumpty.

Ding, dong, darrow,

The cat and the sparrow;

The little dog has burnt his tail,

And he shall be hang’d to-morrow.

Eggs, butter, cheese, bread,

Stick, stock, stone, dead,

Stick him up, stick him down,

Stick him in the old man’s crown.

Elizabeth, Lizzy, and Betsy and Bess,

They all went together to seek a bird’s nest.

They found a bird’s nest with five eggs in,

They all took one and left four in.

Een-a, deen-a,

Dine-a, dust,

Catt’ll-a, ween-a,

Wine-a, wust,

Spit, spot, must be done,

Twiddlum, twaddlum, twenty-one.

O-U-T, spells out,

A nasty dirty dish-clout.

F for fig, J for jig,

And N for knuckle bones,

I for John the waterman,

And S for sack of stones.

Flour of England, fruit of Spain,

Met together in a shower of rain;

Put in a bag tied round with a string,

If you’ll tell me this riddle, I’ll give you a ring.

[A plum pudding.]

Four and twenty tailors, went to kill a snail,

The best man among them durst not touch her tail.

She put out her horns, like a little Kyloe cow;

Run, tailors, run, or she’ll kill you all just now.

Girls and boys, come out to play,

The moon doth shine as bright as day;

Come with a whoop, come with a call,

Come with a good-will or not at all.

Up the ladder and down the wall,

A halfpenny roll will serve us all.

You find milk, and I’ll find flour,

And we’ll have a pudding in half an hour.

Great A, little a,

Bouncing B!

The cat’s in the cupboard,

And can’t see me.

Hickety, pickety, my black hen,

She lays eggs for gentlemen;

Sometimes nine,

Sometimes ten.

Gentlemen come every day,

To see what my black hen doth lay.

Here we are on Tom Tiddler’s ground,

Picking up gold and silver.

Here comes a poor woman from baby-land,

With three small children in her hand:

One can brew, the other can bake,

The other can make a lily-white cake.

One can sit in the garden and spin,

Another can make a fine bed for the king;

Pray ma’am will you take one in?

Hey! diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jump’d over the moon;

The little dog laugh’d

To see such sport,

While the dish ran after the spoon.

Hicky more, hacky more,

Hung at the kitchen door,

All day long,

Nothing so long,

Nothing so strong,

As hickeymore, hackymore,

Hung at the kitchen door

All day long.

[Sunshine.]

Hickory, diccory dock,

The mouse ran up the clock,

The clock struck one,

And down the mouse run,

Hiccory, diccory, dock.

Hark, hark,

The dogs do bark,

The beggars are coming to town;

Some in rags, and some in jags,

And some in velvet gowns.

Humpty Dumpty, sat on a wall;

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

Not all the king’s horses, nor all the king’s men

Could set Humpty Dumpty up again.

Here we go round the mulberry bush,

Mulberry bush,

Mulberry bush,

Here we go round the mulberry bush,

On a cold frosty morning.

This is the way we brush our hair,

Brush our hair,

Brush our hair,

This is the way we brush our hair,

On a cold frosty morning.

[Followed by “This is the way we clean our boots,” etc.]

Hey ding a ding, what shall I sing?

How many holes in a skimmer?

Four and twenty—my stomach’s empty;