Nursery Rhyme. CXIV. Scholastic.

    When I was a little boy, I had but little wit
    It is some time ago, and I've no more yet;
    Nor ever ever shall, until that I die,
    For the longer I live, the more fool am I.

        Cross patch,
        Draw the latch,
    Sit by the fire and spin;
        Take a cup,
        And drink it up,
    Then call your neighbours in.

    The rose is red, the grass is green;
    And in this book my name is seen.

        [A game at ball.]

    Cuckoo, cherry tree,
    Catch a bird, and give it to me;
    Let the tree be high or low,
    Let it hail, rain, or snow.

        [The Holly Tree.]

    Highty, tighty, paradighty clothed in green,
    The king could not read it, no more could the queen;
    They sent for a wise man out of the East,
    Who said it had horns, but was not a beast!

    Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
        How does your garden grow?
    With cockle-shells, and silver bells,
        And mussels all a row.