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 felt annoy;
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The King a Daughter had,
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beautious 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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then from England came,
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Whose deeds did merrit fame,
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he woo'd her long, and lo at last,
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Look 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 King's 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 Heart's De-light;
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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 lo 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 the 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 Woods, quoth she,
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Honoured may you be,
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harbouring my Heart's 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, and comely Knight:
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Sweet, I come unto thee,
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Sweet, I come to woe 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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Through Villains Cruelty,
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to show I am a faithful Friend;
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Here lye I ableeding,
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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 whenas 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 cryed,
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her Sorrows could not counted be;
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Her Eyes like Foantains 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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Every bleeding Wound,
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her fair Face bedewed,
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Wiping of the blood
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with her golden Hair:
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Speak, my Love, quoth she,
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Speak, dear 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 and gone.
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There stood she still mourning,
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Till the Sun's approaching,
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and 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 Father's 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 and 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 you 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 will 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 Heart's Desire,
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He brougtt her to his Mother,
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And above all other,
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he set forth this Maiden's 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 King's 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 shewed 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 Party-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 woolen Cloath 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 pl[a]ce:
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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 Father 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 and gold:
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The Forrester bold replyed,
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And the cause descryed;
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and 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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the 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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strait 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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