old British legend, told in Geoffrey of Monmouth, of Corineues the Trojan, the companion of the Trojan Brutus when he first settled in Britain; which Corineues, being a very strong man, and particularly good-humored, is satisfied with being King of Cornwall, and killing out all the aboriginal giants there, leaving to Brutus all the rest of the island, and only stipulating that, whenever there is a peculiarly difficult giant in any part of Brutus’ dominions, he shall be sent for to finish the fellow.”

Tom Hickathrift, whose history is given in an old number of Fraser’s Magazine, is described by Thackeray as one of the publisher Cundall’s books, bound in blue and gold, illustrated by Frederick Taylor in 1847.  According to Thackeray this chap-book tale was written by Fielding.  Speaking of the passage, “The giant roared hideously but Tom had no more mercy on him than a bear upon a dog,” he said:  “No one but Fielding could have described battle so.”  Of the passage, “Having increased his strength by good living and improved his courage by drinking strong ale,” he remarked:  “No one but Fielding could have given such an expression.”  The quality of the English of this chap-book is apparent in the following sentence, taken from Ashton’s version:  “So Tom stepped to a gate and took a rail for a staff.”

In regard to their literary merit the chap-books vary greatly.  Some evidently are works of scholars who omitted to sign their names.  In the collection by Ashton those deserving mention for their literary merit are:  Patient Grissel, by Boccaccio; Fortunatus; Valentine and Orson; Joseph and His Brethren; The Friar and the Boy; Reynard the Fox, from Caxton’s translation; Tom Hickatkrift, probably by Fielding; and The Foreign Travels of Sir John Mandeville.

     1708-90.  Chap-Books.  Printed by J. White, of York,
     established at Newcastle, 1708.  These included:  Tom
     Hickathrift; Jack the Giant-Killer; and Cock Robin.

     1750. A New Collection of Fairy Tales. 2 vols.

1760. Mother Goose’s Melodies.  A collection of many nursery rhymes, songs, and a few old ballads and tales, published by John Newbery.  The editor is unknown, but most likely was Oliver Goldsmith.  The title of the collection may have been borrowed from Perrault’s Contes de ma Mere l’Oye, of which an English version appeared in 1729.  The title itself has an interesting history dating hundreds of years before Perrault’s time.  By 1777 Mother Goose’s Melodies had passed the seventh edition.  In 1780 they were published by Carnan, Newbery’s stepson, under the title Sonnets for the Cradle.  In 1810 Gammer Gurton’s Garland, a collection, was edited by Joseph Ritson, an English scholar.  In 1842 J.O.  Halliwell issued, for the Percy Society, The Nursery Rhymes of England.  The standard modern text should consist of Newbery’s book with such additions from Ritson and Halliwell as bear internal evidence of antiquity and are true nursery rhymes.

     1770. Queen Mab, A Collection of Entertaining Tales of
     Fairies.