 The rhyme has traditionally been seen as a nonsense verse , particularly as the couple go up a hill to find water , which is often thought to be found at the bottom of hills . <unk> and brown paper were a home cure used as a method to draw out <unk> on the body . The phrase " Jack and Jill " , indicating a boy and a girl , was in use in England as early as the 16th century . A comedy was performed at the <unk> court in 1567 @-@ 8 with the title Jack and Jill and the phrase was used twice by Shakespeare : in A Midsummer Night 's Dream , which contains the line : " Jack shall have Jill ; <unk> shall go ill " ( III : ii : 460 @-@ 2 ) and in Love 's Labour 's Lost , which has the lines : " Our wooing <unk> not end like an old play ; Jack hath not Jill " ( V : ii : 874 – 5 ) , suggesting that it was a phrase that indicated a romantically attached couple , as in the <unk> " A good Jack makes a good Jill " . 
