CANTILENA POLITICA-JOCUNDA FACTA POST PRINCIPIS DISCESSUM IN HISPANIAM,
1623
I come from England into France,
Neither to learn to sing nor dance,
Nor yet to ride nor fence;
Nor yet to see strange things as those,
Which have returned without the nose5
They carried out from hence.
But I to Paris rode along,
Just like John Dory in the song,
Upon an holy tide;
For I an ambling nag did get:10
I hope he is not paid for yet,
I spurred him on each side.
And to St. Dennis first I came
To see the sights at Notre Dame,
The man that showeth snuffles;15
Where who is apt for to believe
May see St. Mary's right-hand sleeve,
And her old pantuffles,
Her breast, her milk, her very gown,
Which she did wear in Bethlehem town,20
When in the inn she lay.
That all the world knows is a fable;
For so good clothes ne'er lay in stable
Upon a lock of hay.
Nor carpenter could by his trade25
Gain so much coin as to have made
A gain of such rich stuff:
Yet they (poor souls) think, for her credit,
They must believe old Joseph did it,
'Cause he deserved enough.30
There is one of the Cross's nails,
Which whoso sees his bonnet vails,
And (if he will) may kneel:
Some say 'twas false, 'twas never so;
But, feeling it, thus much I know,35
It is as true as steel!
There is the lanthorn, which the Jews,
When Judas led them forth, did use;
It weighs my weight down-right:
