Twyngwyn nailed it.
Mary Mary quite contrary (wayward)
How does your garden grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.
Some say this rhyme started life as a satire on the fanatical Catholicism of Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary)
One theory suggests the silver bells refer to the bells rung during mass, the cockle shells to those worn in their hats by pilgrims returning from the shrine of Sant Iago de Compostella in Spain, and the pretty maids to nuns.
Another says that the rhyme refers to her persecution of Protestants: the silver bells being thumbscrews and the cockle shells instruments of torture applied to male genitals.
