Mother Hubbard
in nursery lore, the heroine of a famous story in rhyme, beginning,
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone.
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone.
The name Mother Hubbard is taken doubtless from Edmund Spenser's poem, entitled Mother Hubberd's Tale, published in Complaints, 1591. It is a satirical fable written in the style of Chaucer.
Volume IV · Aiton’s Encyclopedia