<P> The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London in about 1744, which uses the opening line:' Hickere, Dickere Dock' . The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses' Dickery, Dickery Dock' . </P> <P> The rhyme is thought by some commentators to have originated as a counting - out rhyme . Westmorland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers Hevera (8), Devera (9) and Dick (10). </P> <P> The rhyme is thought to have been based on the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral . The clock has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice . </P>

In hickory dickory dock what time did the mouse run down the clock