When the king enjoys his own again

When the king enjoys his own again (sometimes known as The king shall enjoy his own again) is a Cavalier ballad written by Martin Parker during the English Civil War. It was later adopted by Jacobites. According to the historian Dr. Bernard Capp, this song was perhaps the most popular song in mid-seventeenth century England.[1] The eighteenth century critic Joseph Ritson called it "the most famous and popular air ever heard in this country".[2]

Jacobite usage

One of the Irish Jacobite regiments formed in the 1690s from veterans of James II's Irish campaign, the Régiment Rooth (nicknamed 'the Pretender's body-guard'), marched to ‘When the king enjoys his own again’.[3] Upon Queen Mary II's death in 1694, Bristol Jacobites publicly rejoiced with bell-ringings and danced through the streets to the song.[4] In September 1711 a commander of a company of London militia, Captain John Silk, had his trained bands march to the song through the City.[5] In 1713 the Tory clergyman Henry Sacheverell preached to the Sons of the Clergy and afterwards attended a gathering with (amongst others) Dr. Bisse (the Bishop of Hereford) and Francis Atterbury (the Bishop of Rochester). The song was played by the musicians and met with such a favourable reception that it was repeated and when the musicians tried to play a different song they were met with great hissing.[6]

After the accession of the first Hanoverian king, George I, there was a resurgence of Jacobitism in the form of celebrating Charles II's Restoration Day (29 May). On that day in 1715 Bristol Jacobites were heard humming the tune.[7] At Oxford on Restoration Day in 1716 local Jacobite gownsmen disrupted attempted Whig celebrations of it by playing the tune.[8] According to the historian Daniel Szechi, this was the most popular Jacobite song of the period.[9]

In February 1716 two Exeter College, Oxford undergraduates were beaten by officers for playing the song.[10]

In 1722 in St Albans the future MP for the town, Thomas Gape, had musicians play the song during an election riot.[11][12] Words: Let rogues and cheats prognosticate

Concerning king's or kingdom's fate

I think myself to be as wise

As he that gazeth on the skies

My sight goes beyond

The depth of a pond

Or rivers in the greatest rain

Whereby I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again

There's neither Swallow, Dove, or Dade

Can soar more high or deeper wade

Nor show a reason from the stars

What causeth peace or civil wars

The man in the moon

May wear out his shoon

By running after Charles his wain

But all's to no end,

For the times will not mend

Till the King enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again

Full forty years this royal crown

Hath been his father's and his own

And is there anyone but he

That in the same should sharer be?

For better may

The scepter sway

Than he that hath such right to reign?

Then let's hope for a peace,

For the wars will not cease

Till the king enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again


Though for a time we see Whitehall

With cobwebs hanging on the wall

Instead of gold and silver brave

Which formerly was wont to have

With rich perfume

In every room,

Delightful to that princely train

Yet the old again shall be

When the time you see

That the King enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again


Then fears avaunt, upon the hill

My hope shall cast her anchor still

Until I see some peaceful dove

Bring home the branch I dearly love

Then will I wait

Till the waters abate

Which now disturb my troubled brain

Then for ever rejoice,

When I've heard the voice

That the King enjoys his own again

Yes, this I can tell

That all will be well

When the King enjoys his own again

Notes

  1. ↑ Bernard Capp, Astrology and the Popular Press: English Almanacs 1500-1800 (Faber and Faber, 2008), p. 23.
  2. ↑ Joseph Ritson, Ancient Songs and Ballads (1790; 3rd ed. 1877), p. 367, quoted in Victor E. Neuburg, Popular Literature: A History and Guide (Routledge, 1977), p. 57.
  3. ↑ Paul Kleber Monod, Jacobitism and the English People. 1688-1788 (Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 107.
  4. ↑ Monod, p. 170.
  5. ↑ Monod, p. 172.
  6. ↑ Monod, p. 148.
  7. ↑ Monod, p. 182.
  8. ↑ Monod, p. 204.
  9. ↑ Daniel Szechi, The Jacobites: Britain and Europe, 1688-1788 (Manchester University Press, 1994), p. 34.
  10. ↑ Monod, p. 276.
  11. ↑ Monod, p. 198.
  12. ↑ Romney Sedgwick (ed.), The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1715-1754. II: Members E-Y (London: The Stationery Office, 1970), p. 59.

Further reading

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