"Mary, Mary quite contrary,
how do your gardens grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids, all in a row."
Mary is believed to refer to bloody Mary, or queen the Mary the first of England. She was known for her brutal punishments, and the many tortures she conducted. The "gardens" she was growing was more a metaphorical reference to all the people she was killing, and how the graveyards were filling up quickly. Amongst the common folk of England during this time, a Silver bell was a slang term for an instrument of torture, which applied great pressure to the thumbs and/or fingers, and completely crushing them. The cockle shell was another used term for another instrument which was believed to inflict genital torture. A Maid, or a maiden was the name that people used to speak of the guillotine, which was the official instrument used for the be-heading of people.
