The collection of rhymes known as _Mother Goose's Melody_, which aroused the interest of Ritson, was probably the toy-book which was entered for copyright in London on 28 December, 1780. Its title was _Mother Goose's Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle_, and it was entered by John Carnan, the stepson of the famous publisher John Newbery, who had succeeded to the business in partnership with Francis Newbery.[2] Of this book no copy is known to exist. Toy-books, owing to the careless way in which they are handled, are amongst the most perishable literature. Many toy-books are known to have been issued in hundreds of copies, yet of some of these not a single copy can now be traced. [2] Welsh, Ch., _A Publisher of the Last Century_, 1885, p. 272. The name Mother Goose, its connection with nursery rhymes, and the date of issue of _Mother Goose's Melody_, have been the subject of some contention. Thomas Fleet, a well-known printer of Boston, Mass., who was from Shropshire, is said to have issued a collection of nursery rhymes under the following title, _Songs for the Nursery, or Mother Goose's Melodies for Children_, printed by Thomas Fleet at his printing-house, Pudding Lane, 1719, price two coppers.[3] The existence of this book at the date mentioned has been both affirmed and denied.[4] John Fleet Eliot, a great-grandson of the printer, accepted its existence, and in 1834 wrote with regard to it as follows: "It is well known to antiquaries that more than a hundred years ago there was a small book in circulation in London bearing the name of _Rhymes for the Nursery or Lulla-Byes for Children_, which contained many of the identical pieces of _Mother Goose's Melodies_ of the present day. It contained also other pieces, more silly if possible, and some that the American types of the present day would refuse to give off an impression. The cuts or illustrations thereof were of the coarsest description." On the other hand, the date of 1719 in connection with the expression "two coppers," has been declared impossible. However this may be, no copy of the book of Fleet or of its presumed prototype has been traced. [3] Appleton, _Cyclopædia of American Biography_, 1887: Fleet, Thomas. [4] Whitmore, W. H., _The original Mother Goose's Melody_, 1892, p. 40 ff.