The old nurse paid no attention to her critics, but
continued to sing her rhymes as before; for, however much grown people
might laugh at her, the children seemed to enjoy them very much, and
not one of them was too peevish to be quieted and soothed by her
verses. At one time Mistress Gooch was nursing a child of Mr. Ronald
Barclay, a physician residing in the town, and he noticed the rhymes
she sang and became interested in them. In time he wrote them all down
and made a book of them, which it is said was printed by John
Worthington & Son in the Strand, London, in 1712, under the name of
"Ye Melodious Rhymes of Mother Goose." But even this story of Martha
Gooch is based upon very meager and unsatisfactory evidence.
The earliest English edition of Mother Goose's Melodies that is
absolutely authentic was issued by John Newbury of London about the
year 1760, and the first authentic American edition was a reprint of
Newbury's made by Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, Mass., in 1785.
None of the earlier editions, however, contained all the rhymes so
well known at the present day, since every decade has added its quota
to the mass of jingles attributed to "Mother Goose." Some of the
earlier verses have become entirely obsolete, and it is well they
have, for many were crude and silly and others were coarse. It is
simply a result of the greater refinement of modern civilization that
they have been relegated to oblivion, while the real gems of the
collection will doubtless live and grow in popular favor for many
ages.
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