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A collection of English nursery rhymes created prior to the nineteenth century.

The great encouragement which has been given by the public to the previous editions of this little work, satisfactorily proves that, notwithstanding the extension of serious education to all but the very earliest periods of life, there still exists an undying love for the popular remnants of the ancient Scandinavian nursery literature. The infants and children of the nineteenth century have not, then, deserted the rhymes chanted so many ages since by the mothers of the North. This is a "great nursery fact"—a proof that there is contained in some of these traditional nonsense-rhymes a meaning and a romance, possibly intelligible only to very young minds, that exercise an influence on the fancy of children. It is obvious there must exist something of this kind; for no modern compositions are found to supply altogether the place of the ancient doggerel.

A nursery rhyme is a short rhyming song or poem that conveys a lesson or tells an amusing story. They are aimed at children. Most well-known nursery rhymes originated in the late 18th or 19th century. The English collections Tommy Thumb's Song Book and Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book were published in 1744 by Mary Cooper. The oldest rhymes are lullabies, sung in an effort to get a child to go to sleep. They can be found all over the world but are generally calming and peaceful. Often, the origins of a specific nursery rhyme are unknown. The lyrics also usually go through a period of transformation before they reach the well-known contemporary version. Nursery rhymes come from a number of different sources, from traditional songs, drinking songs, plays, historical events, riddles, proverbs, and more. Often, nursery rhymes were collected in the 19th century by folk song collectors. One of the best was The Nursery Rhymes of England, published in 1842 by James Orchard Halliwell. It sorted the rhymes by origin and inspiration, as well as by topic or use. For example, one could rhyme riddles, nature-rhymes, and fireside stories as headings.