Jack Sprat
Jack
Sprat could eat no fat,
His
wife could eat no lean,
And so betwixt them both, you see,
They
licked the platter clean.
Midi: Jack Sprat
Many 'Nursery Rhymes' have political origins.
It is said that Jack Sprat was King Charles I.
This rhyme poked fun at Charles I of England and his greedy wife,
Henrietta Maria. When Parliament refused to finance Charles’
war with Spain and left him “lean,” he turned the tables
and dissolved Parliament. He and his wife imposed an illegal war
tax and forced the common people to house their troops. They “licked”
England clean to feed their own appetites.
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