5 h 20 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What survives in a childhood rhyme when the voices that first spoke it are gone?
In The Nursery Rhymes of England, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps presents verses that English children have learned for generations. Lullabies, counting games, riddles, charms and little stories in verse sit together here, arranged by purpose. Each kind reveals a different use for rhyme in childhood.
Jack and Jill climb their hill. Little Jack Horner pulls out his plum. A cat plays the fiddle while a cow leaps over the moon. Around these familiar scenes are less familiar verses, with notes on older versions, odd spellings and local differences. The collection invites you to notice what memory keeps—and what it nearly loses.
What you’ll discover
- Old friends, strange cousins Meet familiar childhood figures beside verses that have almost slipped out of memory.
- Rhythms to say aloud Feel the beat of pieces meant for speaking, rocking and clapping.
- More than bedtime verses Explore lullabies, riddles, counting games and charms, each with its own purpose.
- Clues in the notes Follow Halliwell's notes through older versions, unusual spellings and local forms of familiar rhymes.
- A glimpse of childhood Find tenderness in baby games and lullabies, and traces of what children are taught.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy folklore, word play and old songs, or if you read aloud to children and want to know the stories behind the rhymes you already say.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A collector sorts the nursery into classes
- Old rhymes keep the memory of kings and rebels
- Counting and letters teach through rhythm
- Tales in rhyme and prose fill the third class
- Proverbs and school rhymes pass on everyday wisdom
- The songs carry the best-loved tunes and tales
- Riddles and charms play with answers and magic
- Games and lullabies shape how children play and sleep
- Chains, nonsense and love fill the final classes
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Le filastrocche d’Inghilterra
by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps (curatore)
A king counts his money, a queen eats bread and honey, and blackbirds sing from a pie.
Medium level5–10 hours to readItaliano
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In short
A king counts his money, a queen eats bread and honey, and blackbirds sing from a pie. Where do such verses come from?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A collector sorts the nursery into classes
James Orchard Halliwell gathers the rhymes of the English nursery into one book. His preface says the steady love of the public for these verses proves that children still want the old chanted nonsense, which he links to the nursery songs of the ancient North.
He argues that a rhyme works like light reading for the very young. A child whose parents insist that the cow must jump under the moon, and that the dog must bark, loses something of imagination. He says he gathered the rhymes from nearly every county in England, and he calls them flowers for a child's unhappy hours.
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What is The Nursery Rhymes of England about?
It is a collection of traditional English rhymes for children, gathered from nearly every county. Halliwell arranges them in eighteen classes, such as tales, songs, riddles and games, and adds notes on their sources.
Who is Old King Cole in the book?
The notes say he is a legendary king of Britain in the third century. One chronicler makes him the father of St Helena, and the earthwork at Colchester is called King Cole's kitchen.
What is Humpty Dumpty in this book?
He appears in the riddle class, where the answer is an egg. Two versions are given, each describing an impossible task of repair.
The author
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps
1820–1889 · English Shakespeare scholar and antiquarian
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820–1889) was a British Shakespeare scholar and antiquarian. He was born in London and later lived near Brighton, where he died. He collected English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. His publications included Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales (1849) and Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare (1881).
More by J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps (curatore)
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