Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
- Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross is a nursery rhyme connected with the English town Banbury. The nursery rhyme was first seen in print in 1784. Very popular before the 20th century, it was sung every day by William Gladstone to his children as they had "rides on his foot, slung over his knee". [Gladstone, William Henry, quoted by Masterman, Lucy, in Drew 1930, p. 4.]
Rhyme
"Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross"
"To see a fine lady upon a white horse"
"With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes"
"She shall have music wherever she goes."
Interpretation
The fine lady
There is no consensus as to who the "fine lady" actually was. Suggestions include::* Queen Elizabeth I of England [ [http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ride_a_cock_horse.htm Rhymes.org.uk: Banbury Cross - Origin & History] ] :* Welsh Goddess Rhiannon [ [http://www.kton.demon.co.uk/banbury.htm A Possible Solution to the Banbury Cross Mystery] ] , who was said to have ridden a white horse.:* Lady Godiva [ [http://www.smart-central.com/banburycross.htm Just Playing] Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury cross ] :* An unknown member of the wealthy Fiennes [ Possibly Celia Fiennes who travelled extensively through out Great Britain between 1684 and 1703] family that had married into the Saye family of nearby Broughton Castle This is a very possible answer and it is most likely true .This theory shows because extremely near by is the castle where the name is still Fiennes today
The cock horse
A "Cock Horse" is an old carriage-driving term, referring to an extra harness horse employed to assist pulling a cart or carriage up a hill. The "Cock Horse" would be hitched up at the bottom of the hill and then unhitched at the top. It would then be ridden back down to the bottom of the hill to await its next customer. Banbury is situated at the bottom of a moderately steep hill and the town's council made a "cock horse" available to help access to the town. [ [http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ride_a_cock_horse.htm Rhymes.org.uk: Banbury Cross - Origin & History] ]
"Cock Horse" can also refer to a Hobby horse, a child's toy.
The bells
The words ".... and bells on her toes", refer to the fashion of attaching bells to the end of the pointed toes of each shoe, associated with the nobility of England since the Plantagenet era.
References
Drew, Mary. "Mary Gladstone (Mrs. Drew): Her Diaries and Letters". Edited by Lucy Masterman. London: Methuen, 1930.
Notes
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross — [Ride a Cock horse to Banbury Cross] a traditional ↑nursery rhyme, often said by mothers to their babies as they bounce them on their knee. A ‘cock horse’ is a child’s toy, a horse’s head on a stick. The words are: Ride a cock horse to Banbury… … Useful english dictionary
Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross — a traditional nursery rhyme, often said by mothers to their babies as they bounce them on their knee. A ‘cock horse’ is a child’s toy, a horse’s head on a stick. The words are: Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady upon a white… … Universalium
Ride a Cock-Horse — a ↑nursery rhyme (=an old song or poem for children) . The rhyme goes: Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross,/To see a fine lady ride on a white horse,/With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,/She shall have music wherever she goes … Dictionary of contemporary English
Banbury Cross — Ban|bu|ry Cross a stone cross in the small English town of Banbury, near Oxford, which is mentioned in a popular British ↑nursery rhyme (=old song or poem for young children) ▪ Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross … Dictionary of contemporary English
Banbury — infobox UK place country = England latitude= 52.0605 longitude= 1.3362 official name= Banbury population= 43,867 (2001 Census) shire district= Cherwell shire county = Oxfordshire region= South East England constituency westminster= Banbury post… … Wikipedia
Hobby horse (toy) — William Wallace Denslow s illustrations for a variant of Ride a cock horse, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose. This article is about the children s toy; for other uses, see Hobby horse (disambiguation). A hobby horse … Wikipedia
Индекс народных песен Роуда — (англ. Roud Folk Song Index) база данных из 300 000 ссылок на более чем 21 600 песен, которые были собраны в устной традиции на английском языке на всех континентах, где язык имеет распространение. Труд по систематизации был проделан… … Википедия
Roud Folk Song Index — The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before… … Wikipedia
I've Got Rings On My Fingers — is a popular song written in 1909, words by Weston and Barnes, and music by Maurice Scott. It concerns an Irishman named Jim O Shea, a castaway who finds himself on an island somewhere in the East Indies, whereupon he is made a king by the… … Wikipedia
Mixed-Up Mother Goose — cover (1987 version) Developer(s) S … Wikipedia
