The HONOUR of a
LONDON PRENTICE;
Being an Account of his
Matchless Manhood and brave Adventures done
in TURKEY.
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OF a worthy LONDON PRENTICE,
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My purpose is to speak;
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And tell his brave Adventures,
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Done for his Countrys Sake,
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Seek all the World about,
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In vain will be your speed,
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To find any like to him,
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In Valor to exceed.
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He was born in Cheshire,
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The chief of Men was he;
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From thence brought up to London,
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A Prentice for to be,
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A Merchant on the Bridge,
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Did like his service so.
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That for three Years his Factor
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To Turkey he should go.
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And in the famous Country
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One Year he had not been,
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Ere he by Tilt maintaind
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The honor of his queen,
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ELIZABETH his Princess,
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He nobly did make known,
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To be the Phenix of the World,
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And none but she alone,
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In armor rich and gilded,
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Well mounted on a Steed;
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One Score of Knights most hardy,
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He made for to bleed:
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And brought tthem all unto the ground,
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Who proudly did deny
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ELIZABETH to be the Pearl
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Of princely Dignity.
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The King of that same Country
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Began therefore to frown,
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And willd his Son then present
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To pull this youngster down:
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Who at his Fathers words
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These boasting speeches said;
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Thou art a Traytor English Boy,
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And hast the Traytor playd.
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I am no Boy nor Traytor,
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Thy speeches I defy;
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For which Ill be revenged
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On thee by and by;
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A London Prentice still
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Shall prove as good a Man
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As any of your Turkish Knights,
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Do all the best you can.
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And therewithal he gave him
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A swinging box othe Ear.
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Which broke his Neck asunder,
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As plainly doth appear;
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How now proud Turk, said he,
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I am no English Boy,
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Who can with one small Box othe Ear,
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The Prince of Turks destroy.
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When as the King perceived
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His son so strangely slain,
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His Soul was so afflicted
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With more than mortal Pain;
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And in Revenge thereof
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He swore that he should die
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The cruelest death that ever Man
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Beheld with mortal Eye.
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Two Lions were prepard
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The Prentice to devour,
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Near famished with hunger,
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Ten Days within the Tower;
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For to make them more fierce,
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And eager for their prey,
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To glut themselves with human gore,
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Upon this dreadful Day.
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The appointed Time of Torment
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At length drew near at Hand,
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When all the noble Ladies
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And Barons of the Land,
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Attended on the King,
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To see this Prentice slain.
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And buried in the hungry Maws
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Of [t]hese fierce Lions twain,
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Then in his shirt of Cambrick
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With Silks most richly wrought,
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This worthy London Prentice
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Was from the Prison brought,
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And to the Lions given,
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To staunch their hunger great,
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Which had not eat in ten days Space,
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Not one small bit of Meat
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But God, who knows all secrets
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The Matter so contrivd
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That by this young Mans Valour
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They were of Life deprivd;
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For being faint for want of Food,
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They could not withstand
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The noble Force and Fortitude
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And Courage of his Hand:
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For when the hungry Lions
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Had on him cast their Eyes,
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The elements did thunder,
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With ecchoes of their Cries:
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And running all amain,
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His Body to devour,
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Into each Throat he thrust his Arm
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With all his Might and Power;
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From thence with manly Force,
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He tore their Hearts asunder,
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And at the King he threw them
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To tll the Peoples Wonder.
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This have I done, quoth he,
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For lovely Englands Sake,
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And for my Country Maiden Queen
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Much more will undertake.
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But when the King perceivd
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The wrathful Lions Hearts,
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Afflicted with great Sorrow,
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His Anger soon reverts,
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And turned all his Hate
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Into Remorse and Love;
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And said it is some Angel
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Sent down from Heaven above.
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No, no, I am no Angel,
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The courteous young Man said,
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But born in famous England,
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Where Gods Word is obeyd;
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Assisted by the Heavens,
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Who did me thus befriend,
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Or else they had most cruelly
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Brought here my Life to End.
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The King in Heart amazed,
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Lift up his Eyes to Heaven,
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And for his foul Offences
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Did beg to be forgiven;
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Believing that no Land
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With England could be seen,
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No People better governd
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By Virtue of a Queen.
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So taking up this young Man,
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He pardond him his Life,
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And gave his Daughter unto him
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To be his wedded Wife.
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Where then they did remain,
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And livd in quiet Peace,
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In spending of their happy Days,
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In Joy and Loves encrease.
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