A nursery ryme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries but usage of the term only dates from the late 18th /early 19th century.The term Mother Goose rymes is intercharchangeble with nursey rymes.
From the mid 16 th century nursery rymes begin to be recorded in English plays,and most popular rymes date from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The first English collections,Tommy Thumb's Song Book and a sequel ,Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book ,were published before 1744.Publisher John Newbery's stepson Thomson Carman,was the first to use the term Mother Goose for nursery rymes when he published a compilation of English rymes,Mother Goose 's Melody,or ,Sonnets for the Cradle(London 1780).