---

Since Arthure,1 or his stable stood,

Or that black Prince2 that was so good,

England could ne’re advance,

A cronicle to fill with fame

Of him who onely has the name,

5

Alone in seeing France

Hee neither ridd his fathers fleete,

Nor mustered men his foes to meete;

As erst at Agincourt3

The mapcappe Prince of Wales4 once did;

10

Oh, no: such tumultes God forbidd;

He onely went in sporte.

Some say t’was love that drewe him out,

And then it followes out of doubt,

An errant Knight5 hee’l bee.

15

Which I confirme too by his store,

Two shirts hee tooke along no more

Perhappes hee’l bring home three

If safe hee passe in this disguise,6

As he was cunning whose advise

20

So ere provok’d him to it,

Has not hee farr more honour wonne,

Then hee which march’d with horrid drumme,

And came for to undoe it.

But if the French should chance to spye,

25

As they are plaguy knaves to prie,

The Marquesse7 and the Prince.

Should not wee subjects good dispayre,

For ever seeing Englands Heire,

without the French8 from thence.

30

Yet this for comfort still wee gather,

Two issues more9 his royall father

Conceald, has kept in store.

For whose rich matter every day,

The faithfull pastors10 truly pray:

35

And yet they still growe sore.

Nor have the people cause to hate

The King who ventured thus his state,

His care of thinges well knowne.

For Buckingham his spouse is gone,

40

And left the widowed King alone,

With sacke11 and greefe upblowne.

And though the Counsell picke their teeth,

And with their nightcappes hide their greefe

Alas they are not blam’d.

45

For our safe Soveraighne ever chose,

Such heads to whom hee to disclose

His secretes was asham’d

---

Source. Bodleian MS Rawl. Poet. 26, fols. 22v-23r

Other known sources. BL MS Harley 367, fol. 163r

Nv9

Quick links to other poems within this section

Select page here < N0. Introduction Ni1 You men of Britaine Ni2 A Prince out of Ni3 A Prince out of the North Ni4 If 88 be past then Nii1Some say Sir Edward Nii2 Whiles thy sonnes rash Nii3 The famous Embassador Nii4 The Belgick Frogge Nii5 When we but heare Nii6 Religion the most sacred Niii1 Why? what meanes this? Niii2 Adew deere Don Niii3 Anagram on Count Niv1 If Saints in heaven Niv2 Your bold Petition Mortalls Nv1 What suddayne change Nv2 From Englands happy Nv3 I’ve read of Ilands flotinge Nv4 False on his Deanrye? Nv5 Tell mee for gods sake Nv6 The day was turnd Nv7A Phillipp once to england Nv8 The starre that rose Nv9 Since Arthure, or his Nv10 Ilium deplores, but still Nv11Our eagle is yett flowne Nv12 Poor silly wight that Nv13 Our Prince whom we Nv14 The Prince of Wales Nv15 All the newes thats Nv16 Oh for an Ovid Nv17 The Prince is now Nv18 The fift of August Nvi1O stay your teares yow Nvi2 Contemne not Gracious Nvi3 Withold thy fiery steeds

¹   Arthure: King Arthur, legendary British king. <back>

²   black Prince: Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III, commander of English armies in France during the Hundred Years’ War. <back>

³   Agincourt: Henry V defeated the armies of France at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. <back>

⁴   mapcappe Prince of Wales: Henry V had led a notoriously reckless youth. <back>

⁵   errant Knight: a wandering knight of chivalric romance. <back>

⁶   disguise: Charles left England disguised as the humble Jack Smith. <back>

⁷   Marquesse: the Marquis of Buckingham. <back>

⁸   the French: the pun here is on the common usage of “the French” as a synonym for the “French pox”, or syphilis. <back>

⁹   Two issues more: probably referring to James’s daughter Elizabeth and her husband Frederick V, Elector Palatine. Deposed as King and Queen of Bohemia by Imperial forces in 1620, then driven from the Palatinate by Spanish and Bavarian troops, Frederick and Elizabeth were refugees in The Hague. <back>

¹⁰   faithfull pastors: i.e. Protestant ministers, critical of the Spanish Match, and ardent supporters of the cause of the Elector Palatine. <back>

¹¹   sacke: wine. <back>