MacLean, Gerald, editor. The Return of the King : An Anthology of English Poems Commemorating the Restoration
of Charles II / edited by Gerald MacLean
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
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England's Great Prognosticator62
[undated]
This version of Parker's The King enjoys his own again more closely follows the text of the blackletter copy in the British Library (L2; see line 31) than the copy in roman type (L1), but displays sufficient independent and substantial variants from either to establish itself as a distinct variant. In several places, the versification has been improved. More generally, alterations here add edge to the satire against those who supported and benefitted from parliamentary government (eg. line 11), while shifts in verb tenses intensify the historical immediacy of the verses by signalling certainty that the king is about to arrive (eg. lines 21, 28-30). With the return of monarchy, the danger from treacherous "rogues" is replaced by that from "Papists" (line 95), adding international relations to the agenda: "a fig for Rome and Spain."
One of several ballads published for Francis Grove to celebrate the events of 1660, this one bears an original cut representing an astrologer looking through a three-barrelled telescope alongside a stock cut of two noble knights riding.
[62] Wing: E2974A. Copies: GU Euing 96. E [not found]. Commentaries: Hazlitt, Handbook, p. 93.
Englands Great Prognosticator,
Foretelling when England shall enjoy a settled peace and happinesse again,
Not by Planets, Signes, nor by Stars, But truly tells when ends these bloody wars.
To the Tune of, When the King injoyes his own again.
[cut]
1: WHat Booker can Prognosticate
2: Concerning of our Kingdomes fate?
3: I think my self to be as wise
4: As most that gazes in the Skyes
5: my skill goes beyond
6: the Depth of Pond,
7: Or Rivers in the Greatest rain,
8: by which I can tell
9: all things will be well,
10: Now the King injoyes his own again.
11: There's neither Swallow, Dove, nor Dade,63
12: Can soare more high, nor deeper wade,
13: To give you a reason from the Stars,
14: What causeth Peace, or Civill wars,
15: the man in the Moon,
16: may wear out his shoon,
17: In running after Charls his wane,
18: and all to no end,
19: for the times they will mend,
20: Now the King enjoyes his own again.
21: Though for a time you saw White-hall
22: With cobwebs hanging on the wall,
23: Instead of Silk and silver brave,
24: As formerly it us'd to have,
25: in every room,
26: the sweet perfume
27: Delightfull for a Princely train,
28: the which you may see,
29: now the time it shall be,
30: That the King is come home in peace again.
31: Full forty years the Royall Crown,64
32: Hath been his Fathers, and his own,
33: And is there any more than he,
34: Hath right unto that Soveraignty?
35: then who better may
36: the Scepter sway,
37: Than he that hath such right to reign
38: the hopes of our peace
39: for the wars will cease,
40: Now the King is come home in peace again.
41: Till when, Ararat upon thy Hill,
42: My hopes did cast her Anchour still,
43: Untill I saw some peacefull Dove,
44: Bring home that branch which dear I love,
45: till then I did wait,
46: the waters abate,
47: Which most disturb'd my troubled brain,
48: and never did rejoyce,
49: till I did hear the voyce,
50: That the King enjoyes his own again.
51: Oxford and Cambridge still agree,
52: Crown'd with honour and dignity.
53: Learned men shall now take place,
54: Tub-men be silenc'd with disgrace,
55: for they shall know
56: 'twas but an outward show
57: That they so long disturb'd their brain,
58: so I can tell
59: that all things will be well
60: Now the King is come home in peace again.
[cut]
61: CHurch, Government shall settled be,
62: And then I hope we shall agree,
63: Without their helps whose hair-brain'd zeal,
64: Hath long disturb'd the Common-weal,
65: Green's65 out of date,
66: and the Cobler66 doth prate,
67: Of whimsies that disturbs his brain,
68: the which you shall see,
69: when the time it shall be,
70: Now the King enjoyes his own again.
71: Though many men are much in debt,
72: And divers shops are to be let,
73: A golden time is drawing neer,
74: Men shall want shops for their ware,
75: all Trades shall increase
76: by the means of a Peace67
77: The which ere long we shall obtain,
78: for which I can tell
79: all things will be well,
80: Now the King enjoys his own again.
81: Maydens shall injoy their Mates,
82: And honest men their lost estates,
83: Women shall have what they do lack,
84: Their husbands are a comming back
85: when the wars have an end,
86: then I and my friend,
87: A Subjects freedome shall obtain,
88: for this I can tell,
89: all things will be well
90: Now the King enjoys his own again.
91: People shall walk without any fear,
92: About the Country every where.
93: Theeves shall tremble at the Law,
94: And Justice keep them all in awe,
95: Papists shall flye,
96: with their trumpery
97: And then a fig for Rome and Spain,
98: the which you shall see,
99: when the time it shall be,
100: Now the King is come home in peace again.
101: The Parliament most willing be,
102: That all the world may plainly see,
103: Now they do labour still for Peace,
104: That all these bloody wars may cease,
105: for they will spend
106: their lives to defend
107: The King in all his rights to reign,
108: so I can tell,
109: all things will be well,
110: Now the King enjoys his own again.
111: When all these things to passe shall come,
112: Then farewell Musket, Pike, and Drum,
113: The Lamb shall with the Lion feed,
114: That were a happy time indeed,
115: O let all pray,
116: that we may see the day
117: That Peace may govern Charles his Wane,
118: for then I can tell,
119: all things will be well
120: Now the King enjoyes his own again.
FINIS.
London, Printed for Francis Grove on Snowhill, without Newgate. Entred according to Order.
[63] Thomas Swallow, Jonathan Dove and William Dade all gave their names to well-known almanacs published throughout the century; see Bernard Capp, Astrology and the Popular Press, pp. 357, 358, 380-81. According to Ebsworth, each of them prospered during the commonwealth: "Swallow had been a corn-cutter, cheiropodist, in Gutter-Lane, helped into favour by Pennington's wife whom he literally set on her feet again. Dove, a cobbler at Whitecross-street, had told Sir William Waller that `The Lord would fight his battles for him!' and after Waller's success in Cambridgeshire Dove was rewarded, being subsidized as an almanack-maker. Dade, seller of fiddle-strings and pensioner of parliament, had fooled them with flattery" (RB, 7:634).
[64] "forty years" follows Upon Defacing of Whitehall and the blackletter version of Parker at@@####
[65] Probably a compositor's error for "Greed's" as in Parker, line 53.
[66] Presumably Col. John Hewson, commonly thus termed in satires of the time.
[67] An improvement on Parker line 61.