Mary Mary quite contrary

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.

This is one of those rhymes that has a sad past, linked with the rein of Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII.

Many people were executed during here rein by the Guillotine, this rhyme refers those times.

Silver bells
Thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening a screw.
Cockle shells
Instruments of torture which were attached to the gen***ls
Maids or Maiden
The Guillotine

Rhymes Thirty Days Wise Old Owl Tom Piper House Jack Built Seesaw Margery Daw Bo Peep Little Piggy Boy Blue Jack Sprat Jack Horner Miss Muffet Tommy Tucker Ladybug Mary Mary quite contrary Old King Cole Cry Baby Bunting Hush A Bye Baby Doctor Foster Georgie Porgie Goosey Gander The Grand Old Duke Of York An Apple A Day St Ives Baa Baa Black Sheep Old Mother Hubbard Robin Red Brest Oranges And Lemon Banbury Cross Jack Be Nibble Twinkle Star Dicky Birds Willie Winker Sugar and Spice Cock Robin Old Women Diddle Diddle Hickory Dickory Hot Cross Buns Humpty Dumpty Ding Dong Bells Itsy Bitsy Spider Jack and Jill Christmas is coming Fish Alive