A History of Nursery Rhymes Part 19

"She gaed up the stair To ring the bell, The bell-rope broke, And down she fell."

"THE MOON IS A LADY."

"The moon is a lady who reigns in the sky As queen of the kingdom of night; The stars are her army she leads forth on high As bright little soldiers of light.

"Her captains are Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, Three glittering warriors bold; And the Milky Way's studded with forces of stars In numbers that cannot be told.

"When Aurora comes up through the Orient gate, And chanticleer crows to the sun, The moon will retire, and the stars in her wake Will follow their queen every one."

R. A. FOSTER.[J]

FOOTNOTES:

[J] When I asked my friend, Robert Adams Foster, whose _Boy Ballads_ are being read with unusual interest in Scotland, to write a Scotch lullaby, he sent me the above verses.

CHAPTER XIII.

A FAVOURITE NURSERY HYMN.

Known to the rustics of England, France, and Italy since the days of the great Charlemagne, has a peculiar history. Like many other rhymes of yore it is fast dying out of memory. The educational influences of the National Schools in the former part of this century, and the Board Schools at a later date, have killed this little suppliant's prayer, as well as most of the other rural rhymes and folk-lore tales handed down by mother to child.

The hymn, though still used in some parts of Northern England, and especially amongst the Nonconformists, as a child's evening ode of praise, runs--

"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon this little child; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee."

The next verse, a more modern addition, is--

"Fain I would to Thee be brought, Lamb of G.o.d, forbid it not; In the kingdom of Thy grace Give this little child a place."

Leo III. is the supposed author of the book in which it is found, viz., _Enchiridion Leonis Papae_. However, the _Enchiridion_ was a book of magic, and not authorised by the Church of Rome, but used by spurious monks and charlatans, wizards and quacks, in their exploits amongst the credulous rural folk. It was full of charms, prayers, and rhymes to ward off evil spirits. The Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John verses are part of the same "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild." The _Enchiridion_ was first published in 1532. This hymn was, in the main, derived from the White Paternoster, and handed down to posterity and preserved by the rustics.

THE LATIN VERSION OF THE VIRGIN'S LULLABY.

"Dormi fili, dormi! mater Cantat unigenito, Dormi, puer, dormi! pater Nato clamat parvulo: Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies.

"Dormi cor, et meus thronus, Dormi matris jubilum; Aurium clestis sonus.

Et suave sibilum!

Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies.

"Ne quid desit, sternam rosis Sternam fnum violis, Pavimentum hyacinthis Et praesepe liliis Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies.

"Si vis musicam, pastores Convocabo protinus Illis nulli sunt priores; Nemo canit castius Millies tibi laudes canimus Mille, mille, millies."

CHAPTER XIV.

"THERE WAS A MAID CAME OUT OF KENT."

"There was a maid came out of Kent, Dangerous be, dangerous be; There was a maid came out of Kent, Fayre, propre, small, and gent As ever upon the ground went, For so should it be."

Of authentic currency in Mary's time.

"Martin Smart and his man, fodledum, fodledum; Martin Smart and his man, fodledum, bell."

Same date.

"I see the moon, and the moon sees me; G.o.d bless the moon, and G.o.d bless me."

Child's saying.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I caught a hare alive; 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, I let her go again."

Counting-out rhyme.

"Great | A was a | larm'd at | B's bad be | haviour, Be | cause C | D, E, F de | nied G a | favour; H had a | husband with | I, J, | K and L; M married | Mary, and | taught | her scholars | how to spell A B C, D E F G, H I J K L M, N O P Q, R S T U, V W X Y Z, Z, Z."

"Hush-a-by, baby, on a green bock (Saxon for bough); When the wind blows the cradle will rock."

A NURSERY TALE.

"I saddled my sow with a sieve of b.u.t.ter-milk, put my foot into the stirrup, and leaped up nine miles beyond the moon into the land of temperance, where there was nothing but hammers and hatchets and candlesticks, and there lay bleeding Old Noll. I let him lie and sent for Old Hipper Noll, and asked him if he could grind green steel five times finer than wheat flour. He said he could not. Gregory's wife was up a pear tree gathering nine corns of b.u.t.tered beans to pay St. James's rent. St. James was in a meadow mowing oat cakes; he heard a noise, hung his scythe to his heels, stumbled at the battledore, tumbled over the barn door ridge, and broke his shins against a bag of moonshine that stood behind the stairs-foot door; and if that isn't true, you know as well as I all about it."

"A duck, a drake, a barley cake, A penny to pay the baker; A hop, a scotch, another notch-- Slitherum, slitherum, take her."

A verse repeated when playing at skimming sh.e.l.ls or stones on the water of a pond or lake.