Mother Goose

PREFACE.

An edition of the real, original, and uncorrupted melodies of Mother Goose has long been desired by the lovers of ancient poetry. Being myself a lineal descendant of that venerable person, and having in my possession all her original manuscripts with her latest corrections, I was fortunately able to supply this want in a manner which shall leave nothing further to be desired. The present edition, therefore, which I have edited with great care and immense labour, may hence­forward be considered the standard edition—the family edition, setting at nought all editions of outside person­ages who have no connexion with the Goose Family.

The embellishments are from the sketches of an artist who was a contemporary of Mother Goose, and they were presented to her by him shortly before her lamented death. I found them in a portfolio in the drawer of a very ancient black walnut bureau, preserved in the family as a relic. Of course they have never before been published.