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Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
While Peter and Iona Opie do claim that the earliest version of this rhyme in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744) recorded only the first four lines, the British Library copy (one of only two extant) clearly shows all eight lines on pp. 10 and 11. I can't find a secondary source that clearly states this. The Baring-Goulds on p. 28 of The Annotated Mother Goose give all eight lines as they appear in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, but do not explicitly state that that is their source. (Their ordinary practice is to state that lines come from an alternate source if that is the case, and they don't here, but that is inferential rather than explicit.) sbh (talk) 18:30, 17 June 2022 (UTC)Reply
