[1] The oldest known version was first published in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1744) with the lyrics that are shown here: Mistress Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

Several printed versions of the 18th century have the lyrics: Mistress Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

One theory is that it is a religious allegory of Catholicism, with Mary being Mary, the mother of Jesus, bells representing the sanctus bells, the cockleshells the badges of the pilgrims to the shrine of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and pretty maids are nuns, but even within this strand of thought there are differences of opinion as to whether it is lament for the reinstatement of Catholicism or its persecution.

said to refer to her lack of heirs, or to the common idea that England had become a Catholic vassal or "branch" of Spain and the Habsburgs.

"Quite contrary" is said to be a reference to her unsuccessful attempt to reverse ecclesiastical changes effected by her father Henry VIII and her brother Edward VI.