"The nursery rhyme is the novel and light reading of the infant scholar. It occupies, with respect to the A B C, the position of a romance which relieves the mind from the cares of a riper age. The absurdity and frivolity of a rhyme may naturally be its chief attractions to the very young; and there will be something lost from the imagination of that child, whose parents insist so much on matters of fact, that the "cow" must be made, in compliance with the rules of their educational code, to jump "under" instead of "over the moon;" while of course the little dog must be considered as "barking," not "laughing" at the circumstance. "These, or any such objections, -for it seems there are others of about equal weight, -are, it appears to me, more silly than the worst nursery rhyme the little readers will meet with in the following pages. I am quite willing to leave the question to their decision, feeling assured the catering for them has not been in vain, and that these cullings from the high-ways and bye-ways-they have been collected from nearly every county in England-will be to them real flowers, soothing the misery of many an hour of infantine adversity." - James Orchard Halliwell, 1886 This republication of Halliwell's work, complete with its original illustrations, will delight children and adults alike. Preserving the nursery literature of an earlier age will preserve the history and culture inextricably woven into the words as parents, grandparents, older siblings, and caregivers read these charming rhymes to attentive youngsters.