ムギセンノウ (10) “Mary quite contrary” -3. チャップブック, Chapbook-2. “Everybody's songster”, Bishop “Nursery rhymes”

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  チャップブック（Chapbook）は，主に17世紀から19世紀にかけてイギリスで発行されたポケットサイズの本．低価格で，内容は大衆向けの文学や実用的なものなど様々であり，19世紀の書物収集家によって名付けられた．16 - 24ページ程度で，その中には，子供向けの歌謡（ナーサリーライム）を収めたものも多く，児童文学の一翼を担った（前記事参照）が，19世紀末には，中産階級の増大と共に，木口印刷の発展と共に，精密で多色刷りの挿絵のついた本も刊行されるようになり，ペニーブックと称する 6 – 12 ペンス（500円-1,000円）の，高価な子供向けの絵本が多く発行され（次記事），チャップブックは衰退した．（以下のチャップブックの画像は，McGill Library's Chapbook Collection の公開デジタル画像による）

★William S. Fortey “Everybody's songster”, Catnach Press（1859） は，流行歌の歌詞を集めたチャップブック（冒頭図①-1）で，その中には，当時ミュージック・ホールで絶大な人気を誇っていた George Leybourne (1842 - 1884) が歌っていた，コミカルな “Oh! Mary quite Contrary” という歌の歌詞が載っている．メリーという名の女性の愛を失った男の嘆きの歌で，巧みにいくつかのナーサリーライムを取り入れている．聴衆の子供の頃の歌が出てくるので，大いに盛り上がったと思われる（冒頭図①-2）．

Oh! Mary quite Contrary.

Sung by George Leybourne.

I’m in a quandary, because I’ve lost my Mary,

I’m sure I shall go crazy, I’ve nearly lost my mind;
I’ve wandered over mountains, silver streams and fountains,
I’ve looked down wells and chimney-pots, but no Mary can I find.
　　　　　　　　　　　　Chorus.
  Oh, Mary; Oh, Mary; why did you behave contrary?
  Oh, Mary; Oh, Mary; why did you treat your love so?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?
Silver bells, and cockle-shells, and cowslips all of a row
Goosey, goosey gander, where shall I wander,
If she’s in my lady’s chamber, I’m sure I do not knew,
                        Oh, Mary, &c

Little boy blue, blow your horn, sheep in the meadow eating the corn,
Have you seen Mary pass this way, tell me, since the break of day ?
If you have, I pray you tell, because you know, I love her well;
You rascal, you have been to sleep, instead of tending to the sheep.
                        Oh, Mary, &c

Little Miss Muffet, she sat on a tufffet, eating of curds and whey,
In her father’s garden, upon a sunny day,
Oh, perhaps a spider, my love, sat down beside her,
And like he did Miss Muffet, has frightened my Mary away.
                        Oh, Mary, &c

Little Bo-peep she lost her sheep, and didn’t know where to find them,
But when she awoke she found it a joke,
For they came with their tails behind them.
I wonder if I, like little Bo-peep, was to go right off to sleep,

If my Mary, like the sheep would come back with her tail behind her
                        Oh, Mary, &c

この唄に入っているナーサリーライムは， “Mary quite contrary” の他， “Goosey, goosey gander”, “Little boy blue”, “Little Miss Muffet”, “Little Bo-peep” の計五つで，いずれも人口に膾炙していた唄である．ここでの “Mary quite Contrary” の最終行は “cowslips all of a row” とキバナノクリンザクラになっている．
 

George Leybourne は "Champagne Charlie" という歌が大ヒットし，これは彼の代名詞ともなった．この曲も，また "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"　という彼のヒット曲も，未だに YouTubeなど聞く事ができる．彼は19世紀の最もよく知られた英国のミュージック・ホールの芸人の一人として記憶されている．

この唄に取り上げられている Nursery Rhyme の詞を Eugene Field (1850-1895) の “MOTHER GOOSE'S MELODIES” より抽出して記す．

GOOSEY, GOOSEY, GANDER
Goosey, goosey, gander, / Whither shall I wander, / Up stairs, down stairs, / And in my lady's chamber. / There I met an old man / Who would not say his prayers; / I took him by his left leg / And threw him down the stairs.

LITTLE BOY BLUE
Little Boy Blue, come, blow me your horn; / The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. / Where's the little boy that looks after the sheep? / He's under the haycock, fast asleep.

LITTLE MISS MUFFET
Little Miss Muffet, / Sat on a tuffet, / Eating of curds and whey; / There came a great spider / That sat down beside her, / And frightened Miss Muffet away.

LITTLE BO-PEEP
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep, / And can't tell where to find them; / Leave them alone, and they'll come home, / And bring their tails behind them.
Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep, / And dreamed she heard them bleating; / But when she awoke, she found it a joke, / For they were still a-fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook, / Determined for to find them; / She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed, / For they'd left their tails behind them!
It happened one day, as Bo-peep did stray, / Unto a meadow hard by, / There she espied their tails side by side, / All hung on a tree to dry.
She heaved a sigh, and wiped her eye, / And over the hillocks she raced; / And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, / That each tail should be properly placed.
図はこれらの Rhyme の挿画で，左より4枚は “A book of nursery rhymes” Francis D Bedford, ill. (1897) 及び右端の1枚は “The Nursery Rhyme Book” Andrew Lang (1897) に依る．

19世紀末期に，Bishop & Co. (London, England) によって出版されたチャップブック ★“Nursery rhymes” (1860) （冒頭図②-1）にも，
　Mistress, Mary, quite contrary,
　 How does your garden grow?
　With cockle and silver bells,
　 And cowslips all of a row.

の唄が収載され（冒頭図②-2），最終行で並んでいるのはキバナノクリンザクラとなっている．ページ全体が細かな連続模様で囲まれ，木口木版と思われる手法で描かれた挿絵には，花々に囲まれた長椅子に座った貴婦人が，メイドさんと話している挿絵がある．明らかにこの唄のために彫られた圖版であり，これまでのチャップブックより高級感が感じられる．更に裏表紙には，花かごを抱えた貴婦人の図（冒頭図②-3）もあり，収載されている他の唄がこの図には関連していないので，” Mary, quite contrary” の挿画と思われる．それだけ，この唄の人気が高かったのであろう．