Part 14
Who shall be King? how comes the thing For which we all are met? Claret is a prince that hath long since In the royal order set: His face is spread with a warlike seed, And so he loves to see men; When he bears the sway, his subjects they Shall be as good as freemen; But here’s the plot, almost forgot, ’Tis too much burnt with women.
By the river of Rhine is a valiant wine That can all other replenish; Let’s then consent to the government And the royal rule of Rhenish: The German wine will warm the chine, And frisk in every vein; ’Twill make the bride forget to chide, And call him to’t again: But that’s not all, he is too small To be our sovereign.
Let us never think of a noble drink, But with notes advance on high, Let’s proclaim good Canary’s name,— Heaven bless his Majesty! He is a King in everything, Whose nature doth renounce all, He’ll make us skip and nimbly trip From ceiling to the groundsil; Especially when poets be Lords of the Privy Council.
But a vintner will his taster be, Here’s nothing that can him let; A drawer that hath a good palat Shall be squire of the gimblet. The bar-boys shall be pages all, A tavern well-prepared, And nothing shall be spared; In jovial sort shall be the court, Wine-porters that are soldiers tall Be yeomen of the guard.
But if a cooper we with a red nose see In any part of the town; The cooper shall, with his aids-royal, Bear the sceptre of the crown; Young wits that wash away their cash In wine and recreation, Who hates ale and beer, shall be welcome here To give their approbation; So shall all you that will allow Canary’s recreation.
THE MOURNFUL SUBJECTS, OR THE WHOLE NATION’S LAMENTATION, FROM THE HIGHEST TO THE LOWEST.
The Mournful Subjects, or the Whole Nation’s Lamentation, from the Highest to the Lowest; who did with brinish tears (the true signs of sorrow) bewail the death of their most gracious Soveraign King Charles the Second, who departed this life Feb. 6th, 1684, and was interred in Westminster Abbey, in King Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, on Saturday night last, being the 14th day of the said month; to the sollid grief and sorrow of all his loving subjects.
From vol. i. of the Roxburgh Ballads in Brit. Mus.
Tune, “Troy Town, or the Duchess of Suffolk.”
TRUE subjects mourn, and well they may, Of each degree, both lords and earls, Which did behold that dismal day, The death of princely pious Charles; Some thousand weeping tears did fall At his most sollid funeral.
He was a prince of clemency, Whose love and mercy did abound; His death may well lamented be Through all the nations Europe round; Unto the ears of Christian kings His death unwelcome tidings brings.
All those that ever thought him ill, And did disturb him in his reign,— Let horrour now their conscience fill, And strive such actions to restrain; For sure they know not what they do, The time will come when they shall rue.
How often villains did design By cruelty his blood to spill, Yet by the Providence divine God would not let them have their will, But did preserve our gracious King, Under the shadow of his wing.
We grieved his soul while he was here, When we would not his laws obey; Therefore the Lord he was severe, And took our gracious prince away: We were not worthy to enjoy The prince whom subjects would annoy.
In peace he did lay down his head, The sceptre and the royal crown; His soul is now to heaven fled, Above the reach of mortal frown, Where joy and glory will not cease, In presence with the King of Peace.
Alas! we had our liberty, He never sought for to devour By a usurping tyranny, To rule by arbitrary power; No, no, in all his blessed reign We had no cause for to complain.
Let mourners now lament the loss Of him that did the scepter sway, And look upon it as a cross That he from us is snatch’d away; Though he is free from care or woe, Yet we cannot forget him so.
But since it was thy blessed will To call him from a sinful land, Oh let us all be thankful still That it was done by thine own hand: No pitch of honour can be free From Death’s usurping tyranny.
The fourteen day of February They did interr our gracious Charles; His funeral solemnity, Accompanied with lords and earls, Four Dukes, I, and Prince George by name, Went next the King with all his train.
And thus they to the Abbey went To lay him in his silent tomb, Where many inward sighs were spent To think upon their dismal doom. Whole showers of tears afresh then fell When they beheld his last farewell.
Since it is so, that all must die, And must before our God appear, Oh let us have a watchful eye, Over our conversation here; That like great Charles, our King and friend, We all may have a happy end.
Let England by their loyalty Repair the breach which they did make; And let us all united be To gracious James, for Charles his sake; And let there be no more discord, But love the King and fear the Lord.
Printed for F. Deacon in Guilt-Spur Street.
“MEMENTO MORI.”
AN ELOGY ON THE DEATH OF HIS SACRED MAJESTY KING CHARLES II., OF BLESSED MEMORY.
From the King’s Pamphlets, British Museum.
UNWELCOME news! Whitehall its sable wears, And each good subject lies dissolved in tears! Justly indeed; for Charles is dead, the great, (Who can so much as such great griefs repeat?) King Charles the good, in whom that day there fell More than one tribe in this our Israel! Ah! cruel Death! we find thy fatal sting In losing him who was so good a King,— A King so wise, so just, and he’d great part In Solomon’s wisdom and in David’s heart; A King! whose virtues only to rehearse Rather requires a volume than a verse. Sprung from the loyns of Charles of blessed fame, A worthy son of his great father’s name, His parent’s and his grandsire’s virtues he, As h’ did their crown, enjoy’d _ex traduce_, Of th’ best and greatest of Kings the epitome. His justice such as him none could affright From doing t’all to God and subjects right. Punish he could, but, like Heaven’s Majesty, Would that a traitor should repent, not die. His prudence to the laws due vigour gave, He saved others and himself did save. His valour and his courage, write who can? Being a good souldier ere he was a man. Wrestling with sorrows in a land unknown, Whilst Herod did usurp his royal throne, Banish’d his native country, every day, Like Moses, at the brink of death he lay. But that storm’s over, and blest be that hand That gave him conduct to his peaceful land; Where this great King the Gordian knot unties, Of Heaven’s, the kingdom’s, and his enemies; Not with the sword, but with his grace and love, Giving to those their lives that for his strove: Never did person so much mercy breath Since our blest Saviour’s and his father’s death. In fine, his actions may our pattern be, His godly life, the Christian diary; But now he’s dead, alas! our David’s gone, And having served his generation, Is fall’n asleep; that glorious star’s no more That English wise men led unto the shore Of peace, where gospel-truth’s protest Cherished within our pious mother’s breast, And with protection of such Kings still blest; Blest with his piety and the nation too, Happy in’s reign, with milk and honey flew; Yea, blest so much with peace and nature’s store Heaven could scarce give or we desire he more; But yet, alas! he’s dead! Mourn, England, mourn, And all your scarlet into black cloth turn; Let dust and ashes with your tears comply. To weep, not sing, his mournful elegy; And let your love to Charles be shown hereby In rendering James your prayers and loyalty. Long may Great James these kingdoms’ sceptre sway, And may his subjects lovingly obey, Whilst with joint comfort all agree to sing, Heaven bless these kingdoms and “God save the King!”
London: printed by F. Millet for W. Thackeray, at the sign of the Angel in Duck Lane, 1685.
ACCESSION OF JAMES II.
From “Read’s Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer.” Saturday, May 15th, 1731. This was a Jacobite Journal, and this song was reproduced at the time, from an earlier period. The allusions are evidently to the death of Charles II. and the succession of James II.
WHAT means, honest shepherd, this cloud on thy brow? Say, where is thy mirth and thy melody now? Thy pipe thrown aside, and thy looks full of thought, As silent and sad as a bird newly caught. Has any misfortune befallen thy flocks, Some lamb been betray’d by the craft of the fox; Or murrain, more fatal, just seized on thy herd; Or has thy dear Phyllis let slip a cross word?
The season indeed may to musing incline, Now that grey-bearded Winter makes Autumn resign; The hills all around us their russet put on, And the skies seem in mourning for loss of the sun. The winds make the tree, where thou sitt’st, shake its head; Yet tho’ with dry leaves mother earth’s lap is spread, Her bosom, to cheer it, is verdant with wheat, And the woods can supply us with pastime and meat.
Oh! no, says the shepherd, I mourn none of these, Content with such changes as Heaven shall please; Tho’ now we have got the wrong side of the year, ’Twill turn up again, and fresh beauties appear: But the loss that I grieve for no time can restore; Our master that lov’d us so well is no more; That oak which we hop’d wou’d long shelter us all, Is fallen; then well may we shake at its fall.
Where find we a pastor so kind and so good, So careful to feed us with wholesomest food, To watch for our safety, and drive far away The sly prouling fox that would make us his prey? Oh! may his remembrance for ever remain To shame those hard shepherds who, mindful of gain, Only look at their sheep with an eye to the fleece, And watch ’em but so as the fox watch’d the geese.
Whom now shall I choose for the theme of my song? Or must my poor pipe on the willow be hung? No more to commend that good nature and sense, Which always cou’d please, but ne’er once gave offence. What honour directed he firmly pursu’d, Yet would not his judgment on others intrude; Still ready to help with his service and vote, But ne’er to thrust oar in another man’s boat.
No more, honest shepherd, these sorrows resound, The virtues thou praisest, so hard to be found, Are yet not all fled, for the swain who succeeds To his fields and his herds is true heir to his deeds; His pattern he’ll follow, his gentleness use, Take care of the shepherds and cherish the muse: Then cease for the dead thy impertinent care, Rejoice, he survives in his brother and heir.
ON THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY MONARCH KING JAMES, ON HIS EXALTATION ON THE THRONE OF ENGLAND.
Being an excellent new song. From a “Collection of One Hundred and Eighty Loyal Songs, written since 1678.”
To the tune of “Hark! the Thundering Cannons roar.”
HARK! the bells and steeples ring! A health to James our royal King; Heaven approves the offering, Resounding in chorus; Let our sacrifice aspire, Richest gems perfume the fire, Angels and the sacred quire Have led the way before us.
Thro’ loud storms and tempests driven, This wrong’d prince to us was given, The mighty James, preserved by Heaven To be a future blessing; The anointed instrument, Good great Charles to represent, And fill our souls with that content Which we are now possessing.
Justice, plenty, wealth, and peace, With the fruitful land’s increase, All the treasures of the seas, With him to us are given; As the brother, just and good, From whose royal father’s blood Clemency runs like a flood, A legacy from Heaven.
Summon’d young to fierce alarms, Born a man in midst of arms, His good angels kept from harms— The people’s joy and wonder; Early laurels crown’d his brow, And the crowd did praise allow, Whilst against the Belgick foe Great Jove implored his thunder.
Like him none e’er fill’d the throne, Never courage yet was known With so much conduct met in one, To claim our due devotion; Who made the Belgick lion roar, Drove ’em back to their own shore, To humble and encroach no more Upon the British ocean.
When poor Holland first grew proud, Saucy, insolent, and loud, Great James subdued the boisterous crowd, The foaming ocean stemming; His country’s glory and its good He valued dearer than his blood, And rid sole sovereign o’er his flood, In spight of French or Fleming.
When he the foe had overcome, Brought them peace and conquest home, Exiled in foreign parts to roam, Ungrateful rebels vote him; But spite of all their insolence, Inspired with god-like patience, The rightful heir, kind Providence Did to a throne promote him.
May justice at his elbow wait To defend the Church and State, The subject and this monarch’s date May no storm e’er dissever: May he long adorn this place With his royal brother’s grace, His mercy and his tenderness, To rule this land for ever.
IN A SUMMER’S DAY.
From Hogg’s Jacobite Relics.
IN a summer’s day when all was gay The lads and lasses met In a flowery mead, when each lovely maid Was by her true love set. Dick took the glass, and drank to his lass, And _Jamie’s_ health around did pass; Huzza! they cried; Huzza! they all replied, God bless our noble King.
To the Queen, quothiwell; Drink it off, says Nell, They say she is wondrous pretty; And the prince, says Hugh; That’s right, says Sue; God send him home, says Katy; May the powers above this tribe remove, And send us back the man we love. Huzza! they cried; Huzza! they all replied, God bless our noble King.
The liquor spent, they to dancing went, Each gamester took his mate; Ralph bow’d to Moll, and Hodge to Doll, Hal took out black-eyed Kate. Name your dance, quoth John; Bid him, says Anne, Play, The King shall enjoy his own again. Huzza! they cried; Huzza! they all replied, God bless our noble King.
* * * * *
THE END.
* * * * *
JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES
{1} This stanza is omitted in most collections. Walker was a colonel in the parliamentary army; and afterwards a member of the Committee of Safety.
{2} The Directory for the Public Worship of God, ordered by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1644, to supersede the Book of Common Prayer.
{3} The Earl of Thomond.
{4} The Excise, first introduced by the Long Parliament, was
## particularly obnoxious to the Tory party. Dr Johnson more than a hundred
years later shared all the antipathy of his party to it, and in his Dictionary defined it to be “a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.”
{5} Henry the Eighth. The comparison is made in other ballads of the age. To play old Harry with any one is a phrase that seems to have originated with those who suffered by the confiscation of church property.
{6} The Marquis of Winchester, the brave defender of his house at Basing, had been made prisoner by Cromwell at the storming of that house in 1645. Waller had been foiled in his attempt on this place in the year preceding.—T. W.
{7} Sir John Ogle, one of the Royalist commanders, who was intrusted with the defence of Winchester Castle, which he surrendered on conditions just before the siege of Basing House.—T. W.
{8} Wren, bishop of Ely, was committed to the Tower in 1641, accused with high “misdemeanours” in his diocese.
{9} David Jenkins, a Welsh Judge, who had been made prisoner at the taking of Hereford, and committed first to Newgate and afterwards to the Tower. He refused to acknowledge the authority of the Parliament, and was the author of several tracts published during the year (while he was prisoner in the Tower), which made a great noise.—T. W.
{10} Sir Francis Wortley, Bart., was made a prisoner in 1644, at the taking of Walton House, near Wakefield, by Sir Thomas Fairfax.
{11} Sir Edward Hales, Bart., of Woodchurch, in Kent, had been member for Queenborough in the Isle of Sheppey. He was not a Royalist.
{12} Sir George Strangways, Bart., according to the marginal note in the original. Another of the name, Sir John Strangways, was taken at the surrender of Sherborne Castle.
{13} Sir Henry Bedingfield, Bart., of Norfolk; Sir Walter Blount, Bart., of Worcester; and Sir Francis Howard, Bart., of the North, were committed to the Tower on the 22nd of January, 1646.
{14} The horrible barbarities committed by the Irish rebels had made the Catholics so much abhorred in England, that every English member of that community was suspected of plotting the same massacres in England.—T. W.
{15} Sir John Hewet, of Huntingdonshire, was committed to the Tower on the 28th of January, 1645(–6).
{16} Sir Thomas Lunsford, Bart., the celebrated Royalist officer, was committed to the Tower on the 22nd of January, 1646. The violence and barbarities which he and his troop were said to have perpetrated led to the popular belief that he was in the habit of eating children.
From Fielding and from Vavasour, Both ill-affected men; From Lunsford eke dilver us, That eateth up children. Loyal Songs, ed. 1731, i. 38.
T. W.
{17} Sir William Lewis, one of the eleven members who had been impeached by the army.
{18} Col. Giles Strangwaies, of Dorsetshire, taken with Sir Lewis Dives, at the surrender of Sherborne, was committed to the Tower on the 28th August, 1645. He was member for Bridport in the Long Parliament, and was one of those who attended Charles’s “Mongrel” Parliament at Oxford.
{19} Sir Lewis Dives, an active Royalist, was governor of Sherborne Castle for the King, and had been made a prisoner by Fairfax in August, 1645, when that fortress was taken by storm. He was brother-in-law to Lord Digby.
{20} Sir John Morley, of Newcastle, committed to the Tower on the 18th of July, 1645.
{21} King was a Royalist general, in the north, who was slain July, 1643.
{22} Sir William Morton, of Gloucestershire, committed to the Tower on the 17th August, 1644. Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, brought about the marriage between King Henry VII. and the daughter of Edward IV., and thus effected the unison of the rival houses of York and Lancaster.
{23} Thomas Coningsby, Esq., of Northmyus in Hertfordshire, committed to the Tower in November, 1642, for reading the King’s commission of array in that county.
{24} Sir Wingfield Bodenham, of the county of Rutland, committed to the Tower on the 31st of July, 1643.
{25} Sir Henry Vaughan, a Welsh knight, committed to the Tower on the 18th July, 1645.
{26} Lilburn was, as has been observed, in the Tower for his practices against the present order of things, he being an advocate of extreme democratic principles; and he was there instructed in knotty points of law by Judge Jenkins, to enable him to torment and baffle the party in power. It was Jenkins who said of Lilburne that “If the world were emptied of all but John Lilburne, Lilburne would quarrel with John, and John with Lilburne.”—T. W.
{27} Mr Thomas Violet, of London, goldsmith, committed to the Tower January 6th, 1643(–4), for carrying a letter from the King to the mayor and common council of London.
{28} Dr Hudson had been concerned in the King’s transactions with the Scots, previous to his delivering himself up to them, and he and Ashburnham had been his sole attendants in his flight from Oxford for that purpose.—T. W.
{29} Poyntz and Massey were staunch Presbyterians, and their party counted on their assistance in opposing the army: but they withdrew, when the quarrel seemed to be near coming to extremities.
{30} Glynn was one of the eleven members impeached by the army.
{31} It was believed at this time that Fairfax was favourable to the restoration of the King.
{32} The “Jack Ketch” of the day.
{33} The copy in the “Rump Songs” has “Smee and his tub.”
{34} The old proverbial expression of “the devil and his dam” was founded on an article of popular superstition which is now obsolete. In 1598, a Welshman, or borderer, writes to Lord Burghley for leave “to drive the devill and his dam” from the castle of Skenfrith, where they were said to watch over hidden treasure: “The voyce of the countrey goeth there is a dyvell and his dame, one sitts upon a hogshed of gold, the other upon a hogshed of silver.” (Queen Elizabeth and her Times, ii. 397.) The expression is common in our earlier dramatic poets: thus Shakespeare,—
—“I’ll have a bout with thee; Devil, or devil’s dam, I’ll conjure thee: Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch.”
(Hen. V. Part I. Act I. sc. 5.) T. W.
{35} The prediction was not _quite_ so speedily verified.
{36} Colonel Hewson, originally a shoemaker.
{37} Newspapers.
{38} In the seventeenth century Lancashire enjoyed an unhappy pre-eminence in the annals of superstition, and it was regarded especially as a land of witches. This fame appears to have originated
## partly in the execution of a number of persons in 1612, who were
pretended to have been associated together in the crime of witchcraft, and who held their unearthly meetings at the Malkin Tower, in the forest of Pendle. In 1613 was published an account of the trials, in a thick pamphlet, entitled “The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster. With the Arraignment and Triall of nineteene notorious Witches, at the Assizes and general Goale Deliverie, holden in the Castle of Lancaster, on Monday, the seventeenth of August last, 1612. Published and set forth by commandment of his Majesties Justices of Assize in the North Parts, by Thomas Potts, Esquier.” “The famous History of the Lancashire Witches” continued to be popular as a chap-book up to the beginning of the nineteenth century.—T. WRIGHT.
{39} An allusion to the Dutch War of 1651 and 1652.
{40} Oliver Cromwell.
{41} The Welsh were frequently the subject of satirical allusions during the civil wars and the Commonwealth.
{42} Speaker of the Long Parliament.
{43} Cromwell’s wife.
{44} Cromwell’s two sons, Richard and Henry.
{45} Cromwell’s daughter.
{46} Col. Pride, originally a brewer’s drayman.
{47} Walter Strickland, M.P. for a Cornish borough.
{48} Monk was with his troops in Scotland, but had declared himself an approver of the proceedings of the Parliament.