Page:Merry and entertaining history of the king and the cobler.pdf/12

 I wonder that how ſhe will laugh,
 * When she hears of this thing,

That he who drank her nut-brown ale,
 * Was England's royal King.

OW the King conſidering the pleaſant humour of the cobler, how innocently marry he was, and free from any deſigns that he was perſon who laboured very hard, and took great deal of pains for a ſmall livelihood, was pleaſed, out of his princely grace and favour to allow him liberal annuity of forty marks 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 liberty of his cellar whenever he pleaſed; which bring ſo fa beyond expectation, did highly exalt the cobler's humour, much to the ſatisfaction of the King.

So, after a great many bows and ſcrapes, he returned home to his wife Joan, with the joyful news of his reception at court, which ſo well pleaſed her, that the did not think much of the great pains the had taken in decorating him up for the journey.

HRISTOPHER CRISPIN, for ſo was the cobler called, with whom King Henry VIII, had made himſelf ſo exceedingly familiar; the cobler, I ſay, having been at court, where he made much mirth and was much made of for the mirth and merriment which he made, returning home in the afternoon, full freighted with wine, and likewiſe wonderful expectations, his head and head being light, he went capering along, flinging with