Miller of Dee

☞ Public‐domain character. First appearance, Love in a Village, 1762. Possibly created by Isaac Bickerstaffe.

MILLER OF DEE. A jolly hardworking English miller who has a mill on the river Dee and who is so happy and content with his life that he attracts the attention of men of rank, including King Henry VIII, who comes out to meet him and express admiration. According to an 1886 text, the miller is vengefully abducted by the giant ghost of a flea he has killed, yet he nevertheless has a number of later adventures, notably when he plays an instrumental rôle in saving Toyville from the nefarious pirate Red Beard in 1906.

Most texts refer to the miller only as the Miller of Dee, the Miller of the Dee or the Jolly Miller, and what few sources document his real name are in disagreement; an additional stanza from 1777 to the original song refers to him as Ralph (Gold‐finch), a later text says his name is John Cole (Harlequin Jack Sprat), and an 1899 illustration for the original song depicts his mill with a sign thereon that identifies him as John Chump (Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes).

The miller is a married man according to the additional stanzas from 1777, and his wife appears in a number of subsequent stories. In the additional stanzas from 1776, however, the miller praises his mill by saying it serves as “ kindred, child and wife, ” which might be taken to mean that he is unmarried, but in fact his wife is mentioned in a number of later texts. In the 1855 song “ The King and the Miller of Dee, ” the miller has three children, and in the 1880 poem “ The Miller of Dee ” (as well as in the 1911 dramatization thereof), he still has three children, but by the time of the 1902 book Yankee Mother Goose, the miller has five children. According to Harlequin Jack Sprat, one of the miller’s progeny is Joan Cole, the wife of Jack Sprat, and according to a 1903 story, he has a daughter named Peg (Stories of Mother Goose Village), the same girl from the nursery rhyme “ Peg, Peg, with a wooden leg ” (HathiTrust).

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In the 1762 musical Love in a Village, the farmer Hawthorn sings an air about a “ Jolly Miller ” who “ work’d and Sung from Morn till Night ” and who attributes his great happiness and contentment to his personal philosophy of independence and self‐sufficiency: “ I care for Nobody no not I, / If no one cares for me. ”

In 1845, if not earlier, ….

In the week of 22 December 1855, The Illustrated London News records what is presumably a past episode in the life of the miller and his family … (“ King and the Miller of Dee ”).

Likely in the 1860s ….

In December 1880 ….

In the Christmas 1886 issue of The Northwestern Miller, ….

In 1896, the book Fifty Famous Stories Retold recapitulates in prose ….

In 1903 … (Stories of Mother Goose Village).

In 1906 … (Peter Poodle).

In 1911, the book The Land of Make‐Believe recapitulates in prose ….

In 1916 … (Midgets’ Grand Parade).

Public‐domain bibliography

• • “ Miller of Dee ” (“ There was a Jolly Miller once ”) (song, Roud 503), Love in a Village, act 1, scene 5, air 7, by Isaac Bickerstaffe (unless interpolated), to an earlier melody, 1762. (Internet Archive, sheet music, 1763)

    • Libretto reprinted in Love in a Village ; A Comic Opera: As It Is Performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent‐Garden, new ed., 1767. (Google Books) (HathiTrust)

    • “ Þe Jolly Miller, ” illustrated by Walter Crane, The Baby’s Opera: A Book of Old Rhymes with New Dresses …, [1876 ?]. (Internet Archive) (Google Books) (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes, illustrated by Frederick Opper (d. 1937), 1899. (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Jolly Miller, ” illustrated by Grace G. Drayton, Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose, 1916. (HathiTrust)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller Once, ” new musical setting by Leo Ornstein, 1916. (HathiTrust)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller, ” illustrated by Boyd Smith, The Boyd Smith Mother Goose with Numerous Illustrations in Color and in Black and White from Original Drawings …, 1919. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Miller of Dee ” 1776 additions (“ I live by my mill, God bleſs her! ”), Herd manuscript, 1776.

    • “ The Miller of Dee, ” Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, Etc. Collected from Memory, Tradition, and Ancient Authors, 2nd ed., vol. 2, 1776. (Internet Archive)

    • The Convivial Songſter: Being a Select Collection of the Beſt Songs in the English Language ; Humourous Satirical, Bachanalian, &c. &c. &c. with the Muſic Prefixed to Each Song, song 168, 1782. (Google Books)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller, ” The Edinburgh Muſical Miſcellany: A Collection of the Moſt Approved Scotch, Engliſh, and Iriſh Songs, Set to Muſic, vol. 2, selected by David Sime, song 86, 1793. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The Skylark: Being an Elegant Collection of the Beſt and Neweſt Songs of the Engliſh Language, [1797 ?]. (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Jolly Miler, ” The Scottish Songs, vol. 2, collected by Robert Chambers, 1829. (HathiTrust)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller, ” A Collection of National English Airs, Consisting of Ancient Song, Ballad, & Dance Tunes, Interspersed with Remarks and Anecdotes …, ed. W. Chappell, 1840. The Convivial Songſter text with some other lines added apparently from confusion with “ The Jolly Woodcutter. ” (HathiTrust)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller, ” The Book of English Songs: From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century, (June) 1851. “ The last two stanzas … appear to be by different hands, and to have been successively added at different times. ” (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Miller of Dee, ” Songs from David Herd’s Manuscripts, ed. Hans Hecht, (Aug.) 1904. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Miller of Dee, ” Old Time Ballads, illustrated by John Eyre (d. 1927), 1906 ? (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Miller of Dee, ” Old Ballads, different illustration by John Eyre (d. 1927), 1906. (Internet Archive)

  • “ Miller of Dee ” 1777 additions (“ A noble lord, that liv’d hard by ”). “ The Jolly Miller, ” The Gold‐finch, a Choice Collection of the Moſt Celebrated Songs, Scots and Engliſh: Many of Which Never Before in Print ; Likewiſe a Variety of Favourite Catches, with Toaſts and Sentiments …, 1777. (Google Books)

    • “ The Jolly Miller, ” The Union Song‐book: or, Vocal Miſcellany ; Being a Choice Collection of the Moſt Celebrated Scots and Engliſh Songs ; Likewiſe a Variety of Favourite Airs and Catches ; to Which Is Added, Toaſts, Sentiments, and Hob‐nobs, &c. &c. &c., (Oct.) 1781. (Google Books)

    • “ The Jolly Miller, ” The Charms of Melody: or, A Choice Collection of the Most Approved Songs, Catches, Duets, &c., 1788. (Oxford)

    • “ The Jolly Miller, ” The Universal Songster ; or, Museum of Mirth: Forming the Most Complete, Extensive, and Valuable Collection of Ancient and Modern Songs in the English Language: With a Copious and Classified Index, Which Will, Under Its Various Heads, Refer the Reader to the Following Description of Songs, Viz. Ancient, Amatory, Bacchanalian, Comic, (English,) Dibdins’ Miscellaneous, Duets, Trios, Glees, Choruses, Irish, Jews, Masonic, Military, Naval, Scotch, Sentimental, Sporting, Welsh, Yorkshire &c. …, vol. 3, 1826. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • “ Miller of Dee ” 1845 variant (“ He look’d upon his pillow ”). The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Chiefly from Oral Tradition, 4th ed., ed. James Orchard Halliwell, (Nov.) 1845. (HathiTrust)

    • The Book of Nursery Rhymes Complete: From the Creation of the World to the Present Time, 1846. (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies: Containing All That Have Ever Come to Light of Her Memorable Writings, 1869. (Internet Archive)

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, or Songs for the Nursery with Notes, Music, and an Account of the Goose or Vergoose Family, (Nov.) 1869. (HathiTrust)

  • “ The King and the Miller of Dee ” (song), by Charles Mackay, illustrated by John Gilbert, The Illustrated London News, vol. 27, no. 776, 22 Dec. 1855. Henry VIII of England died in 1547. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted as “ The Miller of the Dee, ” illustrated by John Gilbert, The Collected Songs of Charles Mackay, 1859. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted as “ The Miller of the Dee, ” illustrated by George Housman Thomas, A Book of Favourite Modern Ballads Illustrated with Fifty Engravings, from Drawings by the First Artists, 1860. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “The King and the Miller ; Bass Song,” new musical setting by M. Keller, [1867]. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Miller of Dee ” 1856 additions (“ The reason why he was so blithe ”). “ Song of the Jolly Miller, ” additional stanzas presumably by Pallas, The Illustrated London News, vol. 28, no. 787, 1 Mar. 1856. (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Budgeon It Is a Delicate Trade, ” The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time: A History of the Ancient Songs, Ballads, and of the Dance Tunes of England, with Numerous Anecdotes and Entire Ballads …, vol. 2, ed. W. Chappell, 1859. (HathiTrust)

    • “ There Was a Jolly Miller Lived on the River Dee, ” Ballads & Legends of Cheshire, compiled by Egerton Leigh, 1867. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin Jack Sprat, the Three Blind Mice, and Great A, Little A, Bouncing B, the Cat’s in the Cupboard and She Can’t See, by the Brothers Grinn, [1866–70]. (Internet Archive)

  • “ The Miller of Dee, ” by Eva L. Ogden, illustrated by Alfred Brennan, St. Nicholas, vol. 8, no. 2, Dec. 1880. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Jolly Miller ” (game description), “ Round or Parlour Games, ” Cassell’s Book of In‐door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun, [1881]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Sports of All Sorts, illustrated by F. Schuyler Mathews, [1890]. (Internet Archive)

  • “ The Restored Romaunt of ‘The Jolly Miller’, ” by James Whitcomb Riley, illustrated by George E. Graves, The Northwestern Miller, vol. 22, holiday number [26½], Christmas 1886. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted as “ The Jolly Miller [Restored Romaunt], ” Rhymes of Childhood, 1890. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Miller of Dee, ” Fifty Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin, with an uncredited illustration, Eclectic School Readings, 1896. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Miller of the Dee, ” Four Centuries and Other Poems, by R. J. Lewis, 1898. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Yankee Mother Goose, by Benj. F. Cobb, illustrated by Ella S. Brison, 1902. (Internet Archive)

  • “ A Miller of Dee, ” by John Sinjohn (pseudonym of John Galsworthy, d. 1933), T.P.’s Weekly, vol. 1, no. 12, 30 Jan. 1903. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Motley, 1910. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Stories of Mother Goose Village, by Madge A. Bigham (d. 1957), illustrated by Ella S. Brison (d. 1970), 1903. Published simultaneously in the US and UK, but both authoress and illustrator are American. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • “ ‘Miller of Dee’ with the Babies, ” Month by Month Books, vol. 8, by Sara H. Willis and Florence V. Farmer, Apr. 1904. (HathiTrust)

  • “ There was a jolly miller, lived on the River Dee, ” Mrs. Goose: Her Book, by Maurice Switzer, 1906. (HathiTrust)

  • Peter Poodle: Toy Maker to the King, by Will Bradley, (Oct.) 1906. (Internet Archive)

  • “ The Miller of Dee, ” The Land of Make‐Believe: A World for Little Actors, by Mary Gardner, Dramatic Reader, 1911. (Internet Archive)

  • The Midgets’ Grand Parade: An Entertainment for Tiny Tots, by Willis N. Bugbee, Bugbee’s Popular Plays, 1916. (Internet Archive)

See <http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/K229A.html>.