I do not like (or love) thee, Doctor Fell is an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

, said to have been translated by satirical English poet Tom Brown in 1680. Later it has been recorded as a nursery rhyme and a proverb.

Origin

The anecdote associated with the origin of the rhyme is that when Brown was a student at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, he was caught doing mischief. The college dean, John Fell (1625–1686) had expelled Brown but offered to take him back if he passed a test. If Brown could make an extempore translation of the thirty-second epigram of

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

, his expulsion would be cancelled. The epigram in Latin is as follows: a literal translation of which is "I do not like you, Sabidius, nor can I say why. This much I can say: I do not like you." Brown successfully met the challenge with his impromptu version, which soon became well known: The story is that Dr. Fell stayed Brown's dismissal but the story is apocryphal. All that is known is that Brown left Oxford without a degree.

Later use

The verse was not mentioned as a nursery rhyme until late in the 19th century and did not appear in collections of such material. In 1802 it was quoted in an English parliamentary debate (with reference to Martial's epigram) as "the English parody". The 1809 ''British Encyclopedia'' mentions its earlier appearance in a novel by

Samuel Richardson Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: ''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and ''The History of ...

. But by 1877 it is referred to as "the old nursery rhyme" in the course of a New Zealand parliamentary debate. And in the US it was described as a "nursery jingle" in the 1914 edition of ''The Pottery & Glass Salesman''. The young

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

also included it among his "Nursery rhymes or Mother Goose rhymes set to music" (1918–22). The rhyme later appeared in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs'' (1935), but with no mention of a nursery connection.p.196
/ref> In 1927, however,

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...

included it in his collection of ''The Less Familiar Nursery Rhymes'' in a version that later appeared in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (1951).

References

{{reflist 1680s poems English nursery rhymes Cultural depictions of British men English children's songs