HUSH a by Baby

   On the Tree Top,

When the Wind blows

   The cradle will rock

When the Bough breaks

   The Cradle will fall,

Down tumbles baby,

   Cradle and all.

The Original Mother Goose's Melody, As First Issued by John Newbery, of London, About A.D., 1760. Reproduced in fac-simile from the edition as reprinted by Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, Mass. About A.D., 1785. With Introductory Notes by William H. Whitmore. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1889. [Reprinted by Singing Tree Press, Book Tower, 1969] p.39.

HUSH-A-BYE baby, on the tree top,

When the wind blows, the cradle will rock;

When the bough bends, the cradle will fall.

Down will come baby, bough, cradle, and all. 

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 83. No. CCCXCIV

HUSH-A-BYE, baby, on the tree top, 

   When the wind blows the cradle will rock;

When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,

Down comes hush-a-bye, baby, and all.

Old Nurse's Book: Of Rhymes, Jingles and Ditties. Ed. and Illus. by Charles H. Bennett. London, England: Griffith and Farran, 1857. [Facsimile edition reproduced from The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Toronto Public Library by Holp Shuppan, Publishers, Tokyo 1981.] p. 17.

Rock-a-bye, baby, on the tree top,

When the wind blows the cradle will rock,

When the wind lulls, the cradle will fall,

Down will come baby and cradle and all.

Baring-Gould, Sabine. A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes. Illus. by Members of the Birmingham Art School under the direction of A. J. Gaskin. London, England: Methuen, 1895, p. 114. No. V in Nursery Jingles section

HUSH-A-BYE baby, on the tree top;

   When the wind blows, the cradle will rock;

When the bough bends, the cradle will fall;

Down will come baby, bough, cradle, and all.

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, p. 149.

Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree top, 

When the wind blows the cradle will rock;

When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,

Down will come baby, cradle, and all.

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, p.61. No. 22

Hush a by Baby

   On the Tree Top, 

When the Wind blows

   The Cradle will rock;

When the Bough breaks

   The Cradle will fall,

Down tumbles Baby,

   Cradle and all. 

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 224. No. 550