LIMERICKS.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sm,—Your contributor writing on " Limericks " says that he remembers that a collection published in the latter part of the nineteenth century contained specimens, but that he has lost the reference. Probably he came across Mr. Tuer's delightful Forgotten Children's Books, published 1898-99. Amongst other gems it includes portions of " The History of Sixteen Wonderful Old Women," published 1821. The verses are perfect Limericks and the illustrations as good as any of Lear's. Take the following :-
"There was an old woman of Croydon, To look young she affected the Hoyden, And would jump and would skip Till she put out her hip; Alas ! poor old woman of Croydon."
The picture represents her with a coquettish air, trundling a hoops—.
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