Nursery Songs

: NURSERY-SONGS.
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

The earliest and simplest form in which the nursery song appears is the

lullaby, which may be defined a gentle song used for the purpose of

inducing sleep. The term was generally, though not exclusively, confined

to nurses:



Philomel, with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby.



The etymology is to be sought for in the verb lull, to sing gently,

which Douce thinks is connected with

One of the earliest nursery lullabies that have descended to our day

occurs in the play of Philotimus, 1583:



Trylle the ball againe my Jacke,

And be contente to make some play,

And I will lull thee on my lappe,

With hey be bird now say not nay.



Another is introduced into the comedy of Patient Grissel, printed in the

year 1603:



Hush, hush, hush, hush!

And I dance mine own child,

And I dance mine own child,

Hush, hush, hush, hush!