Three wise men of Gotham
Three wise men of Gotham
Original Text
Mother Goose's Melody: A facsimile reproduction of the earliest known edition, ed. W. F. Prideaux (London: A. H. Bullein, 1904): 21. DeLury Collection F, Fisher Rare Book Library. The original is Mother Goose's Melody: or, Sonnets for the Cradle (London: Francis Power, 1791).
2They went to sea in a bowl,
3And if the bowl had been stronger,
4My song had been longer.
Notes
1] A town near Nottingham whose citizens are defamed for their lack of intelligence. Cf. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, ed. Iona and Peter Opie (1951; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966), no. 192, pp. 193-94. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1765
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1998.
Rhyme