Tweedledum and Tweedledee the most celebrated and most frequently quoted (and sometimes misquoted) epigrams", satirising the disagreements between George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini, written by John Byrom (1692–1763): Although Byrom is clearly the author of the epigram, the last two lines have also been attributed to Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope. While the familiar form of the rhyme was not printed until around 1805, when it appeared in "Original Ditties for the Nursery", it is possible that Byrom was drawing on an existing rhyme. The characters are perhaps best known from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There" (1871).
Muzio Scevola Giovanni Bononcini had also been resident in London and composing operas for the Academy since 1719 and some music lovers preferred his lighter, more Italianate style with straightforward melodies to Handel's more weighty music. The rivalry between those who supported one of the composers more than the other inspired a satirical ditty from John Byrom: <poem> Some say, compared to Bononcini That meinherr Handel's but a ninny. Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee!</poem> To capitalise on this rivalry, according to Handel's first biographer