The franklin he hath gone to roam,
The franklin's maid she bides at home.
But she is cold and coy and staid,
And who may win the franklin's maid?
There came a knight of high renown
In bassinet and ciclatoun;
On bended knee full long he prayed:
He might not win the franklin's maid.
There came a squire so debonair,
His dress was rich, his words were fair,
He sweetly sang, he deftly played:
He could not win the franklin's maid.
There came a mercer wonder-fine
With velvet cap and gaberdine:
For all his ships, for all his trade,
He could not buy the franklin's maid.
There came an archer bold and true,
With bracer guard and stave of yew;
His purse was light, his jerkin frayed:
Haro, alas! the franklin's maid!
Oh, some have laughed and some have cried,
And some have scoured the country-side;
But off they ride through wood and glade,
The bowman and the franklin's maid.
A roar of delight from his audience, with stamping of feet and beating of black-jacks against the ground, showed how thoroughly the song was to their taste, while John modestly retired into a quart pot, which he drained in four giant gulps. 'I sang that ditty in Hordle ale-house ere I ever thought to be an archer myself,' quoth he.
'Fill up your stoups!' cried Black Simon, thrusting his own goblet into the open hogshead in front of him. 'Here is a last cup to the White Company, and every brave boy who walks behind the roses of Loring!'
'To the wood, the flax, and the gander's wing!' said an old grey-headed archer on the right.
'To a gentle loose, and the King of Spain for a mark at fourteen score!' cried another.
