o lived in the days of King John; but every child more
than ten years old knows that the lines present a conundrum, the answer
to which is--an egg. And yet, were it no conundrum, but only a nonsense
rhyme, its fascination for the budding intellect would be no less. It is
enough when, with the jingle of rhyme, the imagination, is tickled, as
in

Hey diddle dumplin' my son John,
Went to his bed with his trowsers on;
One shoe off and the other shoe on,
Hey diddle dumplin', my son John;

or--

Cripple Dick upon a stick,
And Sandy on a soo,
Ride away to Galloway
To buy a pund o' woo';

or yet again in--

Sing a sang o' saxpence,
A baggie fu' o' rye,
Four-and-twenty blackbirds,
Bakit in a pie.
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
And wasna that a dainty dish
To set before the King?

The King was in his counting-house
Counting out his money,
The Queen was in the parlour
Eating bread and honey,
The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
When by came a blackbird
And snapped aff her nose.

For such supreme nonsense no historical origin need be sought, surely.
Yet part of the latter has been at least applied to a historical
personage in a way that is worth recalling. Dr. H. J. Pye, who was
created Poet Laureate in succession to Thomas Warton, in 1790, was, as
a poet, regularly made fun of. In his _New Year Odes_ there were
perpetual references to the coming spring: and, in the dearth of more
important topics, each tree and field-flower were described: and the
lark, and every other bird that could be brought into rhyme, were sure
to appear; and his poetical and patriotic _olla podrida_ ultimately
provoked the adaptation:--

When the Pye was opened,
The birds began to sing,
And was not that a dainty dish,
To set before a king?

But to take the rhymes only by themselves. Action rhymes, by reason of
their practical drollery, never fail to amuse. And among the very
earliest practised is the following. The nurse, with the child on her
knee, takes a little foot in either hand, and, making them go merrily up
and down, she sings:--

This is Willie Walker, and that's Tam Sim,
He ca'd him to a feast, and he ca'd him;
He sticket him on the spit, and he sticket him;
And he owre him, and he owre him,
And he owre him, and he owre him, etc.

Then, to keep up the diversion, may follow in the same manner:--

T