THREE wise Men of Gotham

   They went to Sea in a Bowl,

And if the Bowl had been stronger

   My Song had been longer.

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. 21.

THREE wise men of Gotham

Went to sea in a bowl, 

And if the bowl had been stronger,

My song would have been longer.

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 24. No. LXV

THREE wise men of Gotham

   Went to sea in a bowl,

If the bowl had been stronger,

My song had been longer.

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. 39.

Three wise men of Gotham

Went to Sea in a bowl, 

If the Bowl had been stronger

My Song had been longer.

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.115. No. IX in Nursery Jingles Section

THREE wise men of Gotham

   Went to sea in a bowl: 

And if the bowl had been stronger,

My song would have been longer.

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, p. 65.

Three wise men of Gotham,

They went to sea in a bowl,

And if the bowl had been stronger

My song had been longer.

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, p.193. No. 192

Three wise men of Gotham

They went to Sea in a Bowl, 

And if the Bowl had been stronger

My Song had been longer. 

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 54. No. 41