Excerpt from Folk Rhymes of Devon: Notices of the Metrical Sayings Found in the Lore of the People

Folk rhymes that are strictly local are found less frequently than might be imagined. Many appear to be so, but upon investigation it will be discovered that they have their counterparts in other places; that variants of them exist in many counties. This, although it may sometimes be dis appointing to the student of local lore, IS nevertheless a fact not wanting in interest, for it proves that the same ideas on certain subjects possessed the minds of men, though they might be scattered over a wide area. Even If we imagine the rhyme to have been transplanted, as it were, from one district to another, which in very many instances undoubtedly was the case, it does not alter thls. Those to whom the rhyme came must have possessed the idea it conveyed before it did come to them, or they would not have so generally adopted it.

It is on this account impossible to bring together the folk rhymes of any particular county without including in the collection many that also pertain to others. But it would atthe same time be rash to say of any that it did not originate in that county, merely because another laid claim to it. The first may be its birthplace, or it may not; but it is sufficient that it exists there, and is regarded by the people as theirs.

Although it cannot be said that folk rhymes shew the character of a people to the same extent as the ballads of a country do, yet they help to reveal much concerning them that would not otherwise be known. And the ideas embodied in each have a common origin. They are essentially of the people, springing up in their midst, and born of their thoughts and feelings. And the forms in which these ideas are expressed is likewise so; for while some single hand must have shaped each one, they would not have been adopted. And have come down to us, had they not been a true reflection of the people's thoughts in words that appealed to their sense of the homely and the natural.

It is obvious that many ideas are expressed in folk sayings that are not always in accordance with those of to-day, and this fact suggests much to us. We learn what swayed men's minds at a particular period, and perceive how their thoughts were moulded by some particular form of teaching. It is a sidelight let in upon the history of the time, and enables us to read it more clearly.

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