Page:Comical history of the king and the cobbler (1).pdf/19

 19 To sing and whistle in my stall,

my Joan will me desire:

I do but think how she shall laugh,

when she hears of this thing,

That he that drank her nut-brown ale,

Was England's Royal King.

CHAP. VI.

How the Cobbler became a Courtier.

Now the king considering the pleasant humour of the cobbler, how innocently merry he was, and free from any design; that he was a person that laboured very hard, and took a great deal of pains for a small livelihood, was pleased, out of his princely grace and favour, to allow him a liberal annuity of forty merks a year, for the better support of his jolly humour, and the maintenance of his wife Joan and that he should be admitted one of his courtiers, and that he might have the freedom of his cellar whenever he pleased.

Which being so much beyond expectation, did highly exalt the cobbler's humour, much to the satisfaction of the king.