I do not like thee, Doctor Fell

"I do not like thee, Doctor Fell"
Nursery rhyme
Published	1680
Songwriter(s)	Tom Brown

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell is a nursery rhyme, said to have been written by satirical English poet Tom Brown in 1680.^[1]^[2]

Origin and basis

The anecdote associated with the origin of the rhyme is that when Brown was a student at the Christ Church, Oxford, he was caught doing mischief. The dean of Christ Church, John Fell (1625–1686), who later went on to become the Bishop of Oxford, expelled Brown; but offered to take him back if he passed a test. If Brown could extemporaneously translate the thirty-second epigram of Martial (a well known Roman epigramist), his expulsion would be cancelled. The epigram in Latin is as follows:

Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare;
Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.^[3]

Brown made the impromptu English translation which became the verse:

I do not like thee, Doctor Fell,
The reason why – I cannot tell;
But this I know, and know full well,
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.^[3]

Recognition

The nursery rhyme "I do not like thee, Doctor Fell" was not included in Mother Goose collections until 1926, following the rhyme's inclusion in "Less-Familiar Nursery Rhymes" by Robert Graves of I, Claudius fame.

References

↑ Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham (2001). The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Wordsworth Reference Series. Wordsworth Editions. p. 346. ISBN 978-1-84022-310-1.
↑ Jacox, Francis (1866), "On not liking Dr Fell; and the reason why", The New Monthly Magazine, 137
1 2 Opie, I. & Opie, P. (1997) [1951]. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-19-860088-7.

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[1] Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham (2001). The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Wordsworth Reference Series. Wordsworth Editions. p. 346. ISBN 978-1-84022-310-1.

[2] Jacox, Francis (1866), "On not liking Dr Fell; and the reason why", The New Monthly Magazine, 137

[opie1997-3] 1 2 Opie, I. & Opie, P. (1997) [1951]. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 169. ISBN 0-19-860088-7.