Page:Merry and entertaining history of the king and the cobler.pdf/14

 time, without intermiſſion, whereupon the Queen, with her maids of honour, came to enquire the cauſe of ſuch general mirth.

My ſeige, bid the Queen, I am glad to hear you and your Nobles ſo merry, and would be glad to know what fancies have been the occaſion of ſo much laughter?

My lady, quoth the King, we have had the company of comical cobler, the like of whom I think never came here to court ſince the conqueſt; for his downright honeſt Simplicity has afforded us much paſtime.

Then, ſaid the Queen, I wiſh I had been here, to have been a partaker of this mirth. Then, the King replied, it may not be too late as yet; for I ſhall contrive, the very firſt opportunity, to give you a fight of him under ſome diſguiſe, by which we will have new proofs of the of the pleaſant paſtime.

But then, ſaid the proud prelate, Cardidal Woolſey, how do theſe frolics agree with your kingly dignity- What will your friends and allies ſay, when they ſhall hear how you converſe and take pleaſure in the company of a cobler? Why, ſaid the King, Woolley, have you not heard, how the induſtrious bee extracted honey as well from the meant flowers as the richeſt bloſſoms? And, if ſo, why may I not experience the felicity of my people, by converfing with a poor cobler, as well as I may from the crafty policy of a proud cardinal.

This choke-pear ſtoped the mouth of cardinal Woolſey, while the King, Queen, and Nobits purſued their wirth, to the height of their ſatisfacion.

OU may remember how the cobbler, at his return home from the court, in a frolickſome manner, was ſummoned to bed by the ſtrict order of old Joan, his commanding wife, where he ſlept ſecure till towards