An excellent Ballad of a Prince of Englands Courtship to the
King of Frances Daughter, and how the Prince was disasterously slain; and how the afore-
said Princess was afterwards married to a Forrester.
To the Tune of, Crimson Velvet, etc.
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IN the Days of Old
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when fair France did flourish,
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Stories plainly told,
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Lovers it annoy;
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The King a Daughter had,
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beauteous, fair, and lovely,
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Which made her father glad,
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she was his only Joy:
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A Prince of England came,
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Whose Deeds did merit fame,
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he woo'd her long, and loe at last,
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And what he did require,
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She granted his desire,
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their hearts in one were linked fast.
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Which when her father proved,
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Lord how he was moved,
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and tormented in his mind,
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He sought for to prevent them,
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And to discontent them,
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Fortune crossed Lovers kind.
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When these Princes twain,
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were thus bar'd of pleasure.
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Through the Kings Disdain,
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which their joys withstood,
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The Lady lockt up close,
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her jewels and her treasure,
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Having no remorse
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of State and Royal blood:
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In homely poor array,
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She went from Court away,
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to meet her love and hearts delight:
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Who in a Forrest great,
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Had taken up his seat,
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to wait her coming in the night:
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But loe what sudden Danger,
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To this Princely Stranger
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chanced as he sat alone;
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By Out-laws he was robbed,
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And with Poniard stabbed,
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uttering many a dying Groan.
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The Princess armed by him,
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and by true Desire,
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Wandring all that night,
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without dread at all;
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Still unknown she past,
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in her strange attire,
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Coming at the last,
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within Eccho's call;
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You fair wood quoth she,
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Honoured may you be,
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harbouring my hearts delight,
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Which doth incompass here,
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My Joy and only Dear,
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my trusty friend & comely Knight;
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Sweet I come unto thee,
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Sweet I come to woo thee,
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that thou maist not angry be,
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For my long delaying,
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And thy courteous staying,
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amends for all I'll make to thee.
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Passing thus alone,
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through the silent Forrest,
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Many a grievous groan
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sounded in her ear,
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Where she heard a man
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to lament the sorest
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Chance that ever came,
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forc'd by Deadly strife:
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Farewel (my Dear) quoth he,
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Whom I shall never see,
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for why my life is at an end;
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For thy sweet sake I dye,
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Thro' Villains cruelty,
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to show I am a faithful friend;
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Here lie a bleeding,
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While my thoughts are feeding
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on the rarest beauty found:
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O hard hap that may be,
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Little knows my Lady
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my heart blood lies on the ground.
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With that he gave a Groan
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that did break asunder,
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All the tender strings
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of his gentle heart:
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She who knew his voice,
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at his tale did wonder,
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All her former joys
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did to grief convert,
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Straight she ran to see
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who this Man should be,
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That so like her love did speak,
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and found when as she came,
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Her lovely Lord lay slain,
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smear'd in blood which life did break;
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Which when that she espyed,
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Lord how sore she cried,
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her sorrows could not counted be,
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Her eyes like fountains running,
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While she cry'd out, My Darling,
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would God that I had dy'd for thee.
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His pale lips; alas,
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twenty times she kissed,
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And his face did wash
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with her brinish tears;
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Evry bleeding wound
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her fair face bedewed,
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Wiping off the blood
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with her golden hair:
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Speak my Lord (quoth she)
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Speak fair Prince to me
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one sweet word of comfort give;
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Lift up thy fair eyes,
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Listen to my cries,
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think in what great grief I live;
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All in vain she sued,
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All in vain she wooed,
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the Prince's life was fled & gone:
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There stood she still mourning,
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Till the Suns approaching,
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& bright day was coming on.
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In this great Distress,
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quoth this Royal Lady,
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Who can now express
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what will become of me?
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To my Fathers Court
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never will I wander,
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But some service seek,
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where I may placed be.
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Whilst she thus made her moan,
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Weeping all alone,
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in this deep & deadly fear,
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A Forrester all in green,
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Most comely to be seen,
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ranging the wood did find her there,
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Round beset with sorrow,
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Maid (quoth he) good morrow,
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what hard hap hath brought ye here
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Harder hap did never
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Chance to a Maiden ever,
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here lies slain my Brother dear.
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Where might I be plac'd,
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gentle Forrester tell me;
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Where might I procure
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a service in my need?
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Pains will I not spare,
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but would do my duty,
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Ease me of my care,
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help my extream need.
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The Forrester all amazed;
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On her beauty gazed
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till his heart was set on fire:
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If fair maid (quoth he)
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You will go with me,
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you shall have your hearts desire.
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He brought her to his mother,
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And above all other
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he set forth this maidens praise;
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Long was his heart inflamed,
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At length her love he gained,
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so fortune did his glory raise.
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Thus unknown he matcht
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with the Kings fair Daughter,
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Children seven he had,
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e'er she to him was known:
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But when he understood
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she was a Royal Princess,
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By this means at last
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he shews forth her fame:
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He cloathed his children then,
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Not like to other men,
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in partly colours strange to see,
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The right side cloth of gold,
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The left side to behold
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of woollen cloth still framed he:
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Men thereat did wonder;
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Golden Fame did thunder
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this strange Deed in every place:
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The King of France came thither,
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Being pleasant weather
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in these woods the hart to chase.
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The Children there did stand
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as their mother willed,
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Where the Royal King
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must of force come by.
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Their mother richly clad
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in fair Crimson Velvet,
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Their faither all in gray,
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most comely to the eye,
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When this famous king,
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Noting everything,
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did ask how he durst be so bold,
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To let his wife to wear,
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And deck his Children there,
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in costly Robes of pearl & gold.
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The Forrester bold replyed,
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And the cause Descried;
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& to the king he thus did say:
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Well may they by their mother,
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Wear rich cloaths with other,
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being by birth a Princess gay.
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The king upon these words
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more heedfully beheld them,
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Till a crimson blush
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his conceit did cross:
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The more I look (quoth he)
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upon thy wife and children,
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The more I call to mind
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my daughter whom I lost.
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I am that child (quoth she)
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Falling on her knee,
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pardon me my Soveraign Liege,
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The king perceiving this,
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His Daughter dear did kiss,
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till joyful tears did stop his speech
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With his train he turned,
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And with her sojourned,
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straight he dub'd her husband knight,
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He made him Earl of Flanders,
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One of his chief Commanders;
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thus was their sorrow put to flight.
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