RHYMES OLD AND NEW
RHYMES
OLD AND NEW
Collected by
M. E. S. WRIGHT
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1900
To
GLADYS, HELEN, AND JACK
PREFACE
In making this little collection, my aim hasbeen to bring together rhymes old and new,which for the greater part are not includedin other books for the nursery or schoolroom.
Some of the old friends appear with localvariations, many of the others have beenrepeated to me by people who do not knowwhence they come, and, indeed, in manycases it has been impossible to discover theauthors.
I have done my best to avoid infringingcopyrights, but should I have inadvertentlydone so, I hope my humble apologies willbe accepted.
The complete version of “The Ram ofDerby,” is taken from Jewitt’s “Reliquary”;“A Dutch Lullaby,” from “A Little Bookof Western Verse,” is included by kindpermission of Messrs Harper; and I acknowledgewith gratitude that I have beenallowed to select from “Notes and Queries”from “Popular Rhymes,” published by MessrsChambers, from “Northall’s Folk Rhymes,”published by Messrs Kegan Paul Trench &Co., and “Halliwell’s Nursery Rhymes ofEngland,” published by Messrs Warne.
Some rhymes have been taken from thosenever-failing sources of delight, J. and A.Taylor, C. and M. Lamb, E. Turner, and M.Howitt, some from “Poor Robin’s Almanac,”“The Poetical Aviary,” Ross’s Juvenile Library,1813-1816, etc., etc.
That others besides “Gladys, Helen, andJack,” including “children of a largergrowth,” may find pleasure in my littlecollection is the sincere wish of
M. E. S. WRIGHT.
CONTENTS
| Page | |
| Couplets | 1 |
| Weather and Season Rhymes | 8 |
| Baby Songs | 23 |
| Men, Women, and Children | 35 |
| Beasts, Birds, etc. | 51 |
| Alphabets | 86 |
| Games | 90 |
| Miscellaneous Rhymes | 96 |
COUPLETS
If the grass grow in Janiveer,
’Twill be t