Note 324 — PART II. DR. COVEL’S DIARY. (continued 3)
Reading edition
The origin of the diminutive Sir Tom Thumb is, like that of the Teutonic myth, Jack the Giant-killer, to be found in the earliest annals of our race. An old ballad, written in 1630, commences thus:—
“In Arthur’s court Tom Thumb did live, A man of mickle might, The best of all the table round, And eke a doughty knight. “His stature but an inch in height, Or quarter of a span, Then thinke you not this little knight Was proved a valiant man.”
Probably the Tom Thumb alluded to by Dr. Covel is the one who, in 1588, fought a duel on Salisbury Plain with a noted giant.