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Bessy kept the garden gate,
And Mary kept the pantry:
Bessy always had to wait,

While Mary lived in plenty.

LVII.

My lady Wind, my lady Wind,
Went round about the house to find
A chink to get her foot in:

She tried the key-hole in the door,
She tried the crevice in the floor,

And drove the chimney soot in.

And then one night, when it was dark,
She blew up such a tiny spark,

That all the house was pothered:

From it she rais'd up such a flame,

As flamed away to Belting Lane,

And White Cross folks were smothered.

And thus when once, my little dears,

A whisper reaches itching ears,

The same will come, you'll find: Take my advice, restrain the tongue, Remember what old nurse has sung Of busy lady Wind!

LVIII.

ROBIN the Bobbin, the big-bellied Ben,

He eat more meat than fourscore men;
He eat a cow, he eat a calf,

He eat a butcher and a half;

He eat a church, he eat a steeple,

He eat the priest and all the people!

LIX.

PEG, Peg, with a wooden leg,

Her father was a miller:

He tossed the dumpling at her head,
And said he could not kill her.

LX.

[THE tale of Jack Horner has long been appropriated to the nursery. The four lines which follow are the traditional ones, and they form part of "The pleasant History of Jack Horner, containing his witty Tricks and pleasant Pranks, which he plaied from his Youth to his riper Years," 12mo. a copy of which is in the Bodleian Library.]

LITTLE Jack Horner, sat in the corner,
Eating of Christmas pie:

He put in his thumb, and took out a plum,
And said, "What a brave boy am I!"

LXI.

[THIS nursery song may probably commemorate a part of Tom Thumb's history, extant in a little Danish work, treating of "Swain Tomling, a man no bigger than a thumb, who would be married to a woman three ells and three quarters long." See Mr. Thoms' Preface to "Tom à Lincoln," p. xi.]

I HAD a little husband,

No bigger than my thumb;

I put him in a pint pot,

And then I bade him drum:
I bridled him, and saddled him,
And sent him out of town:

I gave him a pair of garters
To tie up his little hose;
And a little silk handkerchief,
To wipe his little nose.

LXII.

THERE was an old woman who lived in a shoe,

She had so many children she didn't know what to do; She

gave them some broth without any bread,

She whipped them all well and put them to bed.

LXIII.

[The following is a Scotch version of the same song.]

THERE was a wee bit wifie,

Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many bairns,

She kenn'd na what to do.

She gaed to the market

To buy a sheep-head;

When she came back

They were a' lying dead.
She went to the wright

To get them a coffin;

When she came back

They were a' lying laughing.

She gaed up the stair,

To ring the bell;

The bell-rope broke,

And down she fell.

LXIV.

TAFFY was a Welchman, Taffy was a thief;
Taffy came to my house, and stole a piece of beef:
I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was not at home;
Taffy came to my house, and stole a marrow-bone.

I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was not in; Taffy came to my house, and stole a silver pin: I went to Taffy's house, Taffy was in bed,

I took up a poker and flung it at his head.

LXV.

OLD Dr. Foster went to Gloster,
To preach the word of God:

When he came there, he sat in his chair,

And

gave all the people a rod.

LXVI.

MARY had a pretty bird,

Feathers bright and yellow,
Slender legs,-upon my word
He was a pretty fellow.

The sweetest note he always sung,
Which much delighted Mary;

She often where the cage was hung,
Sate to hear her canary.

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