Jack Spratt

"Jack Sprat"
Roud #19479
Jack Sprat and his wife by Frederick Richardson
Song
Written	England
Published	1639
Form	Nursery rhyme
Writer(s)	Traditional
Language	English

"Jack Sprat" (or "Jack Spratt") is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19479.

The most common modern version of the rhyme is:

The name Jack Sprat was used of people of small stature in the sixteenth century. This rhyme was an English proverb from at least the mid-seventeenth century. It appeared in John Clarke's collection of sayings in 1639 in the form:

The saying entered the canon of English nursery rhymes when it was printed in Mother Goose's Melody around 1765, but it may have been adopted for use with children much earlier.