Nursery Rhyme. CCCLXVIII. Paradoxes.

    Up stairs, down stairs, upon my lady's window,
    There I saw a cup of sack and a race of ginger;
    Apples at the fire, and nuts to crack,
    A little boy in the cream-pot up to his neck.

        [The following occurs in a MS. of the seventeenth century, in the Sloane Collection, the reference to which I have mislaid.]

    The man in the wilderness asked me,
    How many strawberries grew in the sea?
    I answered him, as I thought good,
    As many as red herrings grew in the wood.

There was an old woman had nothing,
    And there came thieves to rob her;
When she cried out she made no noise,
    But all the country heard her.

        [The conclusion of the following resembles a verse in the nursery history of Mother Hubbard.]

    There was an old woman, and what do you think?
    She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink:
    Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet;
    This tiresome old woman could never be quiet.

    She went to the baker, to buy her some bread,
    And when she came home her old husband was dead;
    She went to the clerk to toll the bell,
    And when she came back her old husband was well.

    There was a man of Newington,
        And he was wond'rous wise,
    He jump'd into a quickset hedge,
        And scratch'd out both his eyes:
    But when he saw his eyes were out,
        With all his might and main,
    He jump'd into another hedge,
        And scratch'd 'em in again.

    If a man who turnips cries
    Cries not when his father dies,
    It is a proof that he would rather
    Have a turnip than his father.