"Peg, Peg, with a wooden leg, Her father was a miller; He tossed a dumpling at her head, And swore that he would kill her." * * * * * "Round about, round about Maggotty pie (magpie), My father loves good ale, And so do I." * * * * * "Old father long-legs will not say his prayers, Take him by the left leg and throw him downstairs." * * * * * "Half a pound of twopenny rice, Half a pound of treacle, Stir it up and make it nice, Pop goes the weasel." * * * * * In 1754 mothers used to say to their children-- "Come when you're called, Do what you're bid, Shut the door after you, Never be chid." A GAME. "A great big wide-mouth waddling frog, Two pudding ends would choke a dog." * * * * * "Little Nanny Natty Coat Has a white petticoat, The longer she lives The shorter she grows." _Answer_--A candle. * * * * * "As I was going down Sandy Lane I met a man who had seven wives; each wife had a bag, each bag held a cat, each cat a kit. Now riddle-me-ree, how many were going down Sandy Lane?" _Answer_--One going down; the others were going up. * * * * * "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, And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed." * * * * * "Robert Rowley rolled a round roll round, A round roll Robert Rowley rolled round; Round rolled the round roll Robert Rowley rolled round." * * * * * "Little General Monk Sat upon a trunk Eating a crust of bread; There fell a hot coal And burnt into his clothes a hole, Now little General Monk is dead. Keep always from the fire, If it catch your attire You too, like General Monk, will be dead." MORE FRAGMENTS. "With hartshorn in his hand Came Doctor Tom-tit, Saying, 'Really, good sirs, It's only a fit.'" * * * * * "Cowardly, cowardly custard, Eats his mother's mustard." * * * * * "Tommy Trot, a man of law, Sold his bed and lay on straw, Sold the straw and slept on grass To buy his wife a looking-glass." * * * * * "Goosey, goosey, gander, Whither shall I wander, Upstairs, downstairs, In my lady's chamber?" * * * * * "Dilly, dilly, dilly, dilly, Come here and be killed." A nursery-tale rhyme of Henry VIII.'s time:--