They called up Cheshire and Lancashire, 45 And Derby lads that were so free; Not a married man, nor a widow's son, Yet they were a jovial bold companie.
O then he sailed to fair French land, With drums and trumpets so merrilie; 50 O then bespoke the king of France, "Yonder comes proud king Henrie."
The first fire that the Frenchmen gave, They killed our Englishmen so free; We killed ten thousand of the French, 55 And the rest of them they were forced to flee.
And then we marched to Paris gates, With drums and trumpets so merrilie; O then bespoke the king of France, "Lord have mercy on my poor men and me! 60
"Go! tell him I'll send home his tribute due, Ten ton of gold that is due from me; And the fairest flower that is in our French land To the Rose of England it shall go free."
The story and character of Jane Shore can best be read in a charmingly written passage of Sir Thomas More's _History of Edward Fifth_, quoted in Percy's _Reliques_, ii. 268. The ballad adheres to matter of fact with a fidelity very uncommon. In Drayton's _England's Heroical Epistles_ is one from Jane Shore to King Edward, and in the notes he thus gives her portrait: "Her stature was meane, her haire of a dark yellow, her face round and full, her eye gray, delicate harmony being betwixt each part's proportion, and each proportion's colour, her body fat, white, and smooth, her countenance cheerfull and like to her condition." (Cited by Percy.)
This ballad is taken from the Collection of 1723, vol. i. p. 145. The full title is: _The Woeful Lamentation of Jane Shore, a Goldsmith's Wife in London, sometime King Edward the Fourth's Concubine_. The same version, with trifling variations, is found in Percy's _Reliques_, ii. 274, and Ritson's _Ancient Songs_, ii. 128. In the _Garland of Good Will_ there is another piece on the same subject, (Percy Society, vol. xxx. p. 9, _The Lamentation of Shore's Wife_,) and in the Collection of 1723, a burlesque song, called _King Edward and Jane Shore_ (vol. i. p. 153).
If Rosamond, that was so fair, Had cause her sorrow to declare, Then let Jane Shore with sorrow sing, That was beloved of a king.
Then, wanton wives, in time amend, For love and beauty will have end.