Say the bells of Shoreditch.
Pokers and tongs,
Say the bells of St. John's.
Kettles and pans,
Say the bells of St. Ann's.
Half-pence and farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.


All this was sung to New England children, thank God without note
or comment, and with no other explanation. But the American traveler
who goes into Baring Brothers', Bishopsgate, with his credit, feels
a thrill which the clerk who attends to him does not understand,
if one speaks to him of St. Helen's or St. Ann's.

All this accounts for Mother Goose as Fleet reprinted her baby songs
as early as the year 1700. But as the reader will see, somebody
had the editing of the baby's text book who was not afraid of his
own time. I think that the very latest verses which will be found
here are those of Scott's Donald Dhu. Walter Scott wrote this
for Campbell's Anthology in 1816. The presence of these verses
fixes the latest date of any lines in the collection, except, as
Mr. Whitmore has observed, the line "Boston Town" is changed into
"Boston City," so that must have been written after 1822.

But it is interesting to see that no American line of comment seems
to have slipped in. There was no lack of nationalism in the air,
but I cannot find any reference to a cent[*], a dime, a governor,
or a President. Now in the printed handkerchiefs, such as children
used to buy on Election Day in the street, I remember the Ballad