The Nursery Rhymes of England

								

And Catskin, before a twelvemonth,

    Of a young lord was brought to bed.


To a wayfaring woman and child,

    Lady Catskin one day sent an alms;
The nurse did the errand, and carried

    The sweet little lord in her arms.


The child gave the alms to the child,

    This was seen by the old lady-mother;
"Only see," said that wicked old woman,

    "How the beggars' brats take to each other!"


This throw went to Catskin's heart,

    She flung herself down on her knees,
And pray'd her young master and lord

    To seek out her parents would please.


They set out in my lord's own coach;

    They travelled, but nought befel
Till they reach'd the town hard by,

    Where Catskin's father did dwell.


They put up at the head inn,

    Where Catskin was left alone;
But my lord went to try if her father

    His natural child would own.


When folks are away, in short time

    What great alterations appear;
For the cold touch of death had all chill'd

    The hearts of her sisters dear.


Her father repented too late,

    And the loss of his youngest bemoan'd;
In his old and childless state,

    He his pride and cruelty own'd.


The old gentleman sat by the fire,

    And hardly looked up at my lord;
He had no hopes of comfort

    A stranger could afford.


But my lord drew a chair close by,

    And said, in a feeling tone,
"Have you not, sir, a daughter, I pray,

    You never would see or own?"


The old man alarm'd, cried aloud,

    "A hardened sinner am I!
I would give all my worldly goods,

    To see her before I die."


Then my lord brought his wife and child

    To their home and parent's face,
Who fell down and thanks returned

    To God, for his mercy and grace.


The bells, ringing up in the tower,

    Are sending a sound to the heart;
There's a charm in the old church-bells,

    Which nothing in life can impart!

XLVI.



    [The tale of Simple Simon forms one of the chap-books, but the

    following verses are those generally sung in the nursery.]


Simple Simon met a pieman

    Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

    "Let me taste your ware."


Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

    "Show me first your penny."
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

    "Indeed I have not any."


Simple Simon went a fishing

    For to catch a whale:
All the water he had got

    Was in his mother's pail.
XLVII.


Punch and Judy,

    Fought for a pie,
Punch gave Judy

    A sad blow on the eye.

XLVIII.


There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

XLIX.


Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,