The name Mother Goose, which John Newbery and others associated with nursery rhymes, may have been brought into England from France, where _La Mère Oie_ was connected with the telling of fairy tales as far back as 1650.[5] _La Mère Oie_ is probably a lineal descendant of _La Reine Pédauque_, otherwise _Berthe au grand pied_, but there is the possibility also of the relationship to _Fru Gode_ or _Fru Gosen_ of German folk-lore. We first come across Mother Goose in England in connection with the famous puppet-showman Robert Powell, who set up his show in Bath and in Covent Garden, London, between 1709 and 1711. The repertory of his plays, which were of his own composing, included _Whittington and his Cat_, _The Children in the Wood_, _Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay_, _Robin Hood and Little John_, _Mother Shipton_, and _Mother Goose_.[6] A play or pantomime called _Mother Goose_ was still popular at the beginning of the nineteenth century, for the actor Grimaldi obtained his greatest success in it in 1806.[7] [5] Lang, A., _Perrault's Popular Tales_, 1888. Introduction, XXIV. [6] Collier, J. P., _Punch and Judy, citing "A Second Tale of a Tub or the History of Robert Powell, the puppet-showman, 1715."_ [7] _Dictionary of National Biography_, Grimaldi. The name Gammer Gurton which Ritson chose for his collection of rhymes, was traditional also. _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ is the name of a famous old comedy which dates from about the year 1566. The name also appears in connection with nursery rhymes in a little toy-book, issued by Lumsden in Glasgow, which is called _Gammer Gurton's Garland of Nursery Songs, and Toby Tickle's Collection of Riddles_. This is undated. It occurs also in an insignificant little toy-book called _The Topbook of all_, in connection with Nurse Lovechild, Jacky Nory, and Tommy Thumb. This book is also undated, but contains the picture of a shilling of 1760 which is referred to as "a new shilling." The date at which nursery rhymes appeared in print yields one clue to their currency at a given period. The oldest dated collection of rhymes which I have seen bears the title _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book_, vol. II, "sold by M. Cooper according to Act of Parliament." It is printed partly in red, partly in black, and on its last page bears the date 1744. A copy of this is at the British Museum. Next to this in date is a toy-book which is called _The Famous Tommy Thumb's Little Story-Book_, printed and sold at the printing office in Marlborough Street, 1771. A copy of this is in the library of Boston, Mass. It contains nine nursery rhymes at the end, which have been reprinted by Whitmore. Other collections of rhymes issued in America have been preserved which are reprints of earlier English collections. Among these is _Tommy Thumb's Song Book for all Little Masters and Misses_, by Nurse Lovechild, which is dated 1788, and was printed by Isaiah Thomas at Worcester, Mass. A copy is at the British Museum.