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This Nursery Rhyme
was written in 1680
by the satirical
English poet Tom
Brown (1663-1704).
Whilst Tom Brown was
a student at the
Oxford university of
Christ Church he got
into some trouble
and was sent to the
Dean - Dr. John
Fell.
Dr. Fell (1625–1686)
was an English
clergyman, the Dean
of Christ Church who
later became the
Bishop of Oxford. Dr
Fell was furious
with Tom Brown but
before expelling him
he set him a test.
If Tom passed the
test, to assess
whether he could use
the literary style
marked by the use of
epigrams, he would
not be sent down.
The test was to
further translate
and extempore work
by Martial, who was
the most well-known
of Roman
epigrammatists.
Martial's epigram
was in Latin as
follows:
"Non amo te, Sabidi,
nec possum dicere
quare;
Hoc tantum posso
dicere, non amo te."
Brown made an
excellent English
translation:
"I don't like
you, Sabidius, and I
can't say why; all I
can say is I don't
like you"
Tom Brown used this
as a basis to then
compose the witty
nursery rhyme 'I do
not like thee,
Doctor Fell'. The
nursery rhyme 'I do
not like thee Dr.
Fell' was not
included in Mother
Goose collections
until 1926,
following the rhymes
inclusion in 'Less
Familiar Nursery
Rhymes' by Robert
Graves (1895 - 1985)
the famous author of
'I Claudius'. |
