e bells of Bow Church ringing out the invitation to Dick Whittington
to return to his master's house should not be forgotten--

"Turn again, Whit-ting-ton,
Lord-Mayor-of London."

In New York, U.S.A., the little school urchins sing a bell rhyme of--

"Hark, the merry bells from Trinity
Charm the ear with their musical din,
Telling all throughout the vicinity
Holy-day gambols are now to begin."

FOOTNOTES:

[K] Or Coventry Cross.

[L] Fine.

[M] Rings.

CHAPTER XVI.

POLITICAL SIGNIFICATIONS OF NURSERY RHYMES.

In 1660, when the Restoration of Charles II. took place, the great
procession of State to St. Paul's Cathedral called forth this rhyme:--

"Come, Jack, let's drink a pot of ale,
And I shall tell thee such a tale
Will make thine ears to ring.
My coin is spent, my time is lost,
And I this only fruit can boast,
That once I saw my king!"

A Roundhead sneer at the man in the street, after the Royalist
rejoicings were over.

In a copy of rhyming proverbs in the British Museum, written about the
year 1680, occurs the following Puritan satire on Charles II.'s
changeability:--

"A man of words and not of deeds,
Is like a garden full of weeds;
And when the weeds begin to grow,
It's like a garden full of snow;
And when the snow begins to fall,
It's like a bird upon the wall;
And when the bird away does fly,
It's like an eagle in the sky;
And when the sky begins to roar,
It's like a lion at your door;
And when the door begins to crack,
It's like a stick across your back;
And when your back begins to smart,
It's like a penknife in your heart;
And when your heart begins to bleed,
You're dead, you're dead, and dead indeed."

Among Marvel's works (vol. i. pp. 434-5) a witty representation of the
king's style of speech is given with the _jeu d'esprit_ so
distinctively peculiar to Marvel:--

"My proclamation is the true picture of my mind. Some may perhaps be
startled and cry, 'How comes this sudden change?' To which I answer,
'I am a changeling, and that's sufficient, I think. But, to convince
men further that I mean what I say, these are the arguments. First,
I tell you so, and you know I never break my word; secondly, my Lord
Treasurer says so, and he never told a lie in his life; thirdly, my
Lord Lauderdale will undertake it for