gest, O cat, philosophy would
give no delight to inquirers, for knowing all things would mean the end
and destruction of philosophy."

With this owl's apology nursery-lore is presented to my readers without
the legion of verified references of that character demanded as
corroborative evidence in the schools of criticism to-day.

A few leading thoughts culled from such men as Tylor, Lubbock, Wilson,
McLennan, Frazer, and Boyd Dawkins, etc., the experiences of our modern
travellers among primitive races, Indian and European folk-lore, the
world's credulities past and present, have helped me to fix the idea
that amongst the true historians of mankind the children of our streets
find a place.

A HISTORY
OF
NURSERY RHYMES

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

"The scene was savage, but the scene was new."

Scientists tell us many marvellous tales, none the less true because
marvellous, about the prehistoric past. Like the owl in the preface,
they are not discouraged because the starting-point is beyond reach; and
we, like the cat, should try to awaken our interest when evidences are
presented to us that on first hearing sound like the wonderful tales of
the Orient.

Thousands of years ago in our own land dwelt two races of people, the
River Drift-men and the Cave-dwellers. The River Drift-man was a hunter
of a very low order, possessing only the limited intelligence of the
modern Australian native. This man supported life much in the same way
we should expect a man to do, surrounded by similar conditions; but, on
the other hand, the Cave-dweller showed a singular talent for
representing the animals he hunted, and his sketches reveal to us the
capacity he had for seeing the beauty and grace of natural objects. Were
a visit to be paid to the British Museum, his handicraft, rude when
compared to modern art, could be seen in the fragments beyond all cavil
recording his primitive culture.

Without, then, any very great stretch of imagination we can picture to
ourselves this man as belonging to one of the most primitive types of
our race, having little occasion to use a vocabulary--save of a most
meagre order; and indeed his language would embody only a supply of
words just expressive of his few simple wants. Without daring to compare
primitive culture with modern advancement, this prototype's appetites
would have been possibly served for the greater part by sign-language,
and the use of a few easy protophones.