This site is to support the book
by the same name.
The Bumper Book of
Illustrated Nursery Rhymes - Book 1
by Mol Smith
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JACK SPRATT |
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The name "Jack Sprat" was used of people of small stature in the 16th century. This rhyme became an English proverb from at least the mid-17th century. It appeared in John Clarke's collection of sayings in 1639 in the form: Jack will eat not fat, and Jull doth love no leane. Yet betwixt them both they lick the dishes cleane. Like many nursery rhymes, "Jack Sprat" may have originated as a satire on a public figure. History writer Linda Alchin suggests that Jack was King Charles I, who was left "lean" when parliament denied him taxation, but with his queen Henrietta Maria he was free to "lick the platter clean" after he dissolved parliament—Charles was a notably short man. An alternative explanation comes from the popular Robin Hood legend, applying it to the disliked King John and his greedy queen Isabella.
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