Columbus Columbus, full of travellers' lore,
1498 By going West sought India's shore;
But found America's wondrous land;
His 'exes' paid by Ferdinand.
Of voyagers we've now a lot
Vasco da Gama and Cabot,
Who sailed from Bristol, whence it grew
Bristolians claim this fine cuckoo.
[Illustration: Henry VIII Pops the Question]
Henry VIII. Now Henry Eight comes on the screen,
1509-1547 A stalwart youth, aetat. eighteen;
With youthful hope the nation's buoyed;
Only, alas! to be destroyed.
[Illustration: Henry ye eighth Thynkynge offe ye Past]
Henry VIII. This King Henry number Eight
1509-1547 Six times tried the married state;
(continued) And certainly of all the Kings
Spent the most on wedding rings.
But to search through old Archives
For tales of Henry and his wives
And all their little tiffs to trace
We cannot spare the time or space.
Yet there are some who fain would sing
The praises of this rotund King;
But as a husband we're afraid
His category's lowest grade.
He wielded harsh the despot's power,
And packed his wives off to the Tower;
Consigned them to a fate most dreaded;
Two, alas! he had beheaded.
[Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic
_HAIL NOW TO THEE OUR GOOD QUEEN BESS!_]
Henry VIII.
(continued)
Reformation Martin Luther, fifteen-one-seven,
1517 Sows his Reformation leaven;
It finds a culture medium here
In the 'New Learning's' atmosphere.
Of this New Learning More's the chief,
Utopia's Author, He's 'mid grief
Beheaded, saying cool and calm,
'Cut not my beard, that's done no harm.'
His friend Erasmus, Logic's Master,
Trimmed his sails and 'scaped disaster.
A third, Dean Colet who St. Paul's
School London into being calls.
Wolsey In fifteen-thirty Wolsey great,
1530 A Cardinal and Man of State,
From Butcher's son had risen high.
Reader! consult your Shakespeare nigh.
Blamed by some; by others praised;
He fell; but still the pile he raised
Most nobly graces Hampton Court.
Give Wolsey then a tender thought.
His main ambition that the King
Should be supreme in everything;
Thomas And Thomas Cromwell followed suit
Cromwell To make his master absolute
Head of the Church within his realm.
These two most able at the helm;
But not with skill enough endued
To 'scape their King's ingratitude.
Despotical the King's power grew.
He's England's Pope by Act of Su-
Premacy; as, to gain divorce,
The foreign Pope is banned perforce.
1537 Now Bluff King Harry gives the Monks
A series of most awful funks;
Three thousand odd of their domains
He 'collars' for his Courtiers' gains.
Edward VI. Edward Six to the throne succeeds
1547-1553 A pious youth of goodly deeds;
One, well known in the Capital,
The Blue Coat School (Christ's Hospital).
Mary Queen Mary One, in Smithfield Square,
1553-1558 At Oxford, Gloucester and elsewhere,
Burned poor Martyrs by the score;
The Romish faith she would restore.
Elizabeth Hail now to thee our good Queen Bess,
1558-1603 Garbed in the puffed and padded dress,
Farthingale and starched up frills,
Meaning heavy laundry bills.
Od's Bodikins; what monstrous ruffs,
What gowns of rich embroidered stuffs
Piped and scolloped, trimmed with furs,
And shaped like huge gasometers.
Now we've warfare of the Creeds,
For their thoughts all Europe bleeds;
Each party seeks by force to make
The other side its faith forsake.
Spain the Great Power of those days
In these contentions first part plays.
[Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic