Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0248. Saturday, 19 March 1994.
(1) From: Edward Dotson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 18 Mar 94 16:10 EST
Subj: Hey Nonny Nonny
(2) From: Simon Morgan-Russell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 18 Mar 1994 13:00:42 EST
Subj: "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go"
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Edward Dotson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 18 Mar 94 16:10 EST
Subject: Hey Nonny Nonny
This layman would like to know what the phrase 'Hey nonny nonny' is
supposed to mean. I read Much Ado after seeing the film and the glossary
for the text did not define it. Thanks for the help.
Edward Dotson
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(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Simon Morgan-Russell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 18 Mar 1994 13:00:42 EST
Subject: "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go"
Some time ago I was told that the English nickname for the French--"frog"--had
its origin in a French suitor to Elizabeth, and that the English nursery
ryhme "A frog he would a-wooing go" told the story of the failed courtship
more explicitly. Paging through Jonson's conversations with Drummond, I
encountered Jonson's reference to the physician of "Monsieur," glossed as Henri
III's brother, Francis, duc d'Alencon, and I wondered if he is the suitor in
question. Apparently, I was informed, the suitor resembled a frog--though in
what ways, I don't know! Can anyone out there clear this up? And can anyone
gloss the nursery rhyme? I don't know whether it's restricted to English
children, so I'll provide a stanza (though I've never seen it in a textual
form), which goes something like this:
A frog he would a-wooing go
Hey-ho, says Roly,
Whether his mother would let him or no
With a Roly, Poly, Gammon and Spinach
Hey-ho, says Anthony Roly.
This may be the chorus? Who was Anthony Roly?
Rather a bizarre inquiry, but it has piqued my curiosity.
Simon Morgan-Russell
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