So rockets with their sweeping curves,
Crackers which upset the nerves
And squibs with their infernal din
To this date owe their origin.
Charles I. His son Charles One we understand
1625-1649 Ruled England with a grasping hand;
For he was never loth to levy
Taxes burdensome and heavy.
He moved in an expensive set,
Was always heavily in debt;
In fact this monarch with his frills
Was snowed up to the neck with bills.
He was courtly, graceful, distingue,
And when the scaffold came his way
'He nothing common did or mean
Upon that memorable scene.'
He had a very taking way
And made his taxed up subjects pay;
And over taxing it is said
This Monarch fairly lost his head.
Petition of The 'Petition of Right' a famous Act,
Right--1628 The Commons from the King exact;
Giving the subject on his own
A remedy against the throne.
First In sixteen-hundred-twenty-one
Newspaper Our first news-sheet began its run;
1621 For twenty years 'twas going strong
Then the first Censor came along.
This journal cribbing from the Dutch
Lacked the smart journalistic touch;
And also photographic views,
'Sporting pars' and 'Stop-press News.'
[Illustration: The Great Struggle in Charles' Time.
King Trying to get Money from Taxpayer.
Creditor Trying to get Money from King]
[Illustration: IRON JELLOIDS The Great Tonic
_THAT QUIET MAN, KNOWN AS THE EARLY PURITAN._]
Cotton Cotton first came from India's shore
1630 In sixteen-thirty, less or more;
Where for three thousand years it grew,
Also in Egypt and Peru.
Grim reading is the note confessing
Gangs went out for Navy pressing,
Forcing many a timid knave
To spend his life on ocean wave.
Ship Money Charles raises the ship money tax;
1636 He thought he only had to 'ax';
When Hampden strenuously objected,
The King was very much affected.
Strafford Earl Strafford ('Thorough') in his pride
1641 'The King shall rule the Commons' cried;
The Commons would not brook such stuff
And cut his head off. 'Quantum Suff.'
The 'Grand Remonstrance' is put forth
By the Commons who are wrath
With the King's despotic ways
Quite unsuited to these days.
The King tries hard to put in jail
Five Members but without avail;
Hollis, Strode, Haslerig and Pym
And Hampden (we must mention him);
They're guarded from the Royal hands
By Watermen and City Bands.
The 'die is cast' and Civil War
For seven long years the Nation tore.
Civil Wars Cromwell greatest of the foemen
1642-1648 With his faithful English Yeomen;
These 'Roundheads' sober, grim, religious
To 'Cavaliers' gave blows prodigious.
Their character's seen in the cry
'Trust God and keep your powder dry.'
Naseby The Cavaliers and Roundheads fought
1645 In many a field, 'till Naseby brought
To Generals Cromwell and Fairfax
A crowning victory, though not 'pax.'
The King's beheaded, but the State
Experiences no headless fate;
A commonwealth's forthwith proclaimed
And Cromwell's soon Protector named.
Dunbar In sixteen-fifty Dunbar sees
1650 The Royal Scots brought to their knees;
Worcester And in the second Worcester fight
1651 Cromwell for good asserts his might.
And there are those who love to tell
About that day at Boscobel
When Charles the Second's Majestye
Found itself doubly 'up a tree.'
And now we meet that quiet man
Known as the early Puritan;
Mild and placid in his talk,
Calm and measured in his walk.
[Illustration: "PAINT ME WARTS AND ALL"