282 NURSERY POETRY. 



saders of the twelfth century, - when they devoutly and heroically 

 inarched themselves to the Holy Land to expel the infidels from the 

 sacred territory. 



I regret, and it is a disgrace to the age in which we live, that I 

 should be left to engage single-handed in this glorious enterprise. 

 Had Mr. Canning been alive, I should have found an able coadjutor 

 in him. In his younger years he gave convincing proof of the esti- 

 mation in which he held Nursery Poetry ; and not only showed that 

 he could duly appreciate its transcendant merits, but that he could 

 ably vindicate its matchless claims to the admiration of all possessed 

 of sufficient intellect to perceive its excellences. In the Microcosm, 

 a periodical work which he conducted when an " Eton Boy,'' he 

 published two masterly papers, admirable alike for the eloquence of 

 their style and their critical discernment, on the well-known nursery 

 poem beginning with 



" The Queen of Hearts 

 She made some tarts 



All on a summer's day." 



That Mr. Canning did not pursue the glorious and useful career 

 which he thus early pointed out for himself is solely to be ascribed 

 to the circumstance of his comprehensive mind having been, from 

 that period until the time of his death, occupied with the weightier 

 matters of state. Had he only been spared to accomplish to some 

 extent the objects so dear to his heart, namely, those of ** calling 

 new worlds into existence," and regenerating the old, there can be 

 no doubt that he would have devoted the entire faculties of his mind 

 for the remainder of his life to the promotion of the prase worthy 

 purpose I have mentioned. 



" Thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just." Encouraged by 

 the assurance that the object I have in view involves in an 

 eminent degree not only the abstract principles of justice, but the 

 interests of our national literature, I proceed fearlessly and at once 

 to the performance of my task. 



The only thing about which there is any doubt or difficulty is the 

 particular nursery poem I should select to commence with. The 

 claims of several to the distinction of priority in the specification of 

 their merits are so nicely balanced, that I am at a loss to say to 

 which I ought to give the preference. I am particularly distracted 

 amidst the conflicting claims of three beautiful little well-known 

 poems. The first I refer to is that commencing with 



" Who killed cock robin ? 

 I, said the sparrow, 

 With my bow and arrow, 

 And I killed cock robin." 



The second is " The House that Jack built ;'' and the third is 

 the popular poem of" Jack and Gill." As the last is the shortest, 

 I shall begin with it. 



Though it is very unusual for critics to give the whole of the 



