King Cole

“ Settled with feathery feet and quivering sense,
Till the white, gleaming robe seemed stuck with eyes.
It was the grinning glitterer, white and wise,
[Pg 69] King Cole, who said, "Madam, the Court is here,
The Court, the Prince, the Queen, all drawing near,
We here, the vanguard, set them on their way.
They come intent to see your circus play.
They ask that all who wish may enter free,
And in their princely hope that this may be
They send you these plump bags of minted gold." ”

“ But never told what kind of good Was in Alexis and Evander. And Old King Cole, with many a puff That haloed his urbanity, Would smoke till he had smoked enough, And listen most attentively. He beamed as with an inward light That had the Lord's assurance in it; And once a man was there all night, Expecting something every minute. But whether from too little thought, Or too much fealty to the bowl, A dim reward was all he got For sitting up with Old King Cole. ”

“ King Cole at first refused to see them, declaring he knew nothing of the quarrels of his subjects and they must manage their own affairs; but when the prime minister told him it was one of his duties as king, and the law required it, he could not [71] do otherwise than submit. So he put on his crown and his ermine robe and sat upon the throne, although he grumbled a good deal at the necessity; for never having had any business of his own to attend to he thought it doubly hard that in his old age he must attend to the business of others. ”

“ Chappell printed the words of the song of Old King Cole in several variations, and pointed out that The Pleasant Historie of Thomas of Reading, or the Six Worthie Yeomen of the West of 1632, contains the legend of one Cole, a cloth-maker of Reading at the time of King Henry I, and that the name "became proverbial owing to the popularity of this book." "There was some joke or conventional meaning among Elizabethan dramatists," he says, "when they gave the name of Old Cole, which it is now difficult to recover." ”

“ An old, thin, grinning glitterer, decked with green,
With thready blood-streaks in his visage lean,
And at his wrinkled eyes a look of mirth
[Pg 52] Not common among men who walk the earth;
Yet from his pocket poked a flute of wood,
And little birds were following him for food.
"Sirs," said King Cole (for it was he) , "I know
You seek the Mayor, but you need not so ”

“ QUITE FABULOUS! (A Story of the Times, dedicated to Professor Munro.)
KING COLE, although described as a "merry old soul," was in reality a tyrant. He had a number of subjects who used to work underground, and their labour was to bring to the surface the black diamonds of the earth. It was not altogether a pleasant occupation, but still, the task had to be accomplished. His Majesty was fond of ferocious practical jokes, and perchance this may have been the origin of the jocular description attached to his name. One day, some of his subjects complained that their hours of labour were too many. ”

“ King Cole was a brave and popular man in his day, and ascended the throne of Britain on the death of Asclepiod, amidst the acclamations of the people, or, as Robert of Gloucester expresses himself, the "fole was tho of this lond y-paid wel y-nou." ”

“ The Showman:
You mean, a tramp who flutes for bread and pence?
King Cole:
I come, and flute, and then I wander thence.
The Showman:
Quicksilver Tom, who couldn't keep his place.
King Cole:
My race being run, I love to watch the race.
The Showman:
You ought to seek your rest.
King Cole:
My rest is this,
The world of men, wherever trouble is.
The Showman:
If trouble rests you, God! your life is rest.
[Pg 21] King Cole:
Even the sun keeps moving, east to west.
The Showman:
Little he gets by moving; less than I.
King Cole:
He sees the great green world go floating by. ”

“ We had a nurse, an artilleryman, whose name was Cole, but unlike “Old King Cole,” he was not a “jolly old soul.” He growled and grumbled constantly, and in these days we would call him a “kicker.” One day I started from the tent with more than I could carry, a glass of cherry preserves fell, the glass was broken and contents spilled. The next day, Cole was sent with me to assist in carrying our dinner. As we passed the cherries still lying in the dust, Cole growled out, “Just look at them good cherries; you ought to be made get down and lick ’em up.” ”

“ Their riders are driving; the horses, warm to the strife, stretch their necks, flatten to the ground, and now at the huge wall together they gather their loins for the lift.
The soft earth gives from under the push of Rollo's hoofs; he sways, he strikes—down, his neck drawn to an arch, he goes, and King Cole, half a length behind, crashes into the gray. ”

“ And the little that one hopes one does not get.
The Wife:
Look, Will, the city gates with sentries set.
The Showman:
It looks to me as if the road were barred.
King Cole:
They are some soldiers of the bodyguard.
I hope, the heralds of your fortune's change.
[Pg 33]
"Now take this frowsy circus off the range,"
The soldiers at the city entrance cried;
"Keep clear the town, you cannot pass inside,
The Prince is here, with other things to do
Than stare at gangs of strollers such as you."
The Showman:
But I am billed to play here; and must play.
The Soldiers:
No must at all. ”

“ William Cole has begun his first experience of being 'rocked in the cradle of the deep.'"
"Was the Arcadia the ship he was going out on?" asked Ida.
"Yes," replied her father; "that was the one in which he had booked his passage."
"'Old King Cole was a merry old soul,'" chanted Guy, with his mouth half full of toast and butter. "I wish he hadn't gone. I'm sure we shan't ever have such a nice man again."
"He was a civil, sharp young fellow," said Mr. Ormond. "I suppose he hopes to do better in the Colonies than by staying on in the old country. Well, it's very possible he may get on. ”

“ King Cole, the shining, with his flute of wood,
Waiting until the chattering Court was stilled.
Then from his wooden flute his piping thrilled,
Then all was tense, and then the leaping fluting
Clamoured as flowering clamours for the fruiting.
[Pg 77]
And round the ring came Dodo, the brown mare,
Pied like a tiger-moth; her bright shoes tare
The scattered petals, while the clown came after
Like life, a beauty chased by tragic laughter.
The showman entered in and cracked his whip. ”

“ Where good King Cole most haunts the public way,
Coming from Reading for St. Giles's Fair
Through rain unceasing since Augustine's Day;
The horses spent, the waggons splashed with clay,
The men with heads bowed to the wester roaring,
Heaving the van-wheels up the hill at Goring.
Wearily plodding up the hill they went,
Broken by bitter weather and the luck,
Six vans, and one long waggon with the tent,
[Pg 10] And piebald horses following in the muck,
Dragging their tired hooves out with a suck,
And heaving on, like some defeated tribe
Bound for Despair with Death upon their kibe. ”

“ Perk agreed in his odd fashion. “Scofflaws aplenty to keep our crowd busy for years ahead. Say, d’ye know I been readin’ a heap ’bout a smart guy they say calls hisself King Cole—seems like he got a hole in the wall ’way out in the wildest part o’ the Rockies, an’ jest laughs at the boys from Washington to size him up.” ”

“ Maids with wide eyes from upper windows hung,
The children waved their toys and sang aloud.
But in his van the beaten showman bowed
His head upon his hands, and wept, not knowing
[Pg 39] Aught of what passed except that wind was blowing.
All through the town the fluting led them on,
But near the western gate King Cole retired;
And, as he ceased, the vans no longer shone,
The bright procession dimmed like lamps expired;
Again with muddy vans and horses tired,
And artists cross and women out of luck,
The sodden circus plodded through the muck. ”

“ With an ease that made even Tom’s eyes open in wonder, and the lad was accustomed to Cole’s exhibitions of tremendous strength, the giant slave hoisted the chest upon his back, and motioned to his master to go before him and open the doors. It was a dead weight and sufficient to crush an ordinary man; but Cole carried it downstairs, through the wide hall, out into the garden, and thence to the orchard, where he lowered it to the ground with scarcely a labored breath.
“Cole,” said Tom Deering in astonishment, “I believe you are a second cousin to an elephant! You’re growing stronger every day!” ”

“ While others suck their blood and smile and smile. [Pg 46]
You be an artist on the roads a while,
You'll know what justice comes with suffering then.
King Cole:
Friend, I am one grown old with sorrowing men.
The Showman:
The old are tamed, they have not blood to feel.
King Cole:
They've blood to hurt, if not enough to heal. ”

“ In the Bodleian Catalogue its authorship is attributed to Joshua Bassett, Master of Sidney College, Cambridge, of whom our biographical dictionaries are perfectly silent. Fortunately, Cole has preserved some notices of him in his MSS., vol. xx. p. 117. It appears that he was a Roman Catholic, and had mass publicly said in his college; but upon King James revoking the mandamuses in 1688, he left Cambridge and settled in London, where, says Cole, "he lived to be a very old man, and died in no very affluent circumstances, as we may well imagine." ”

“ But he was dissuaded from carrying out his design of self-banishment chiefly by the earnest representations of Walpole, who pointed out to him that under the droit d'aubaine the king of France would become the possessor of all Cole's cherished manuscripts, which even at this period consisted of no fewer than forty folio volumes. ”

“ Don shook his head.
"Youngster named Petoen Waern. He's old enough—older than he looks. His mother's a niece of the last king. Conclave of the tribes could put him on the throne tomorrow morning. He's a bet Stern missed a while back. Now, he's trying to make up for it."
Don frowned. "Is that really why——"
"Right. That's why the row in the locker room. That would have eliminated that claimant in a hurry. Nobody wants a king with a family criminal record and a habit of starting brawls—especially when he loses those brawls. Kings just aren't supposed to go in for that sort of thing." ”

“ Cole brought his best horse, a powerful, intelligent looking chestnut with strong lines of speed and bottom, around to the front of the house and Tom vaulted lightly into the saddle. Cole mounted another horse, a great bay, and followed his youthful master, as was his custom. There were not many horses upon the Deering plantation capable of supporting the great weight of the giant slave for any length of time and still make speed. ”

“ Millions of human beings awoke to a new day of pleasure or labour, of joy or sorrow, but the brilliant King of Day ascended his appointed path through the sky unheeding and careless of the petty affairs of men. ”

“ And then, there is Laura! Every throb of her heart is of indignation against British oppression. I am confident of that.”
He was still deep in thought, and they were ascending a narrow road that led to the Harwood house before Tom realized it. Suddenly Cole uttered his strange cry and touched his horse with the spur. In a moment he was beside Tom, one hand upon his shoulder, and the other pointing to a small clump of trees by the roadside near the house. A half dozen horses were tied there, and from their trappings Tom knew them to be the mounts of the king’s dragoons. ”

“ To be a king is to be like a quince,
Bitter himself, yet flavour to the rest.
To be a cat among the hay were best;
There in the upper darkness of the loft,
With green eyes bright, soft-lying, purring soft,
Hearing the rain without; not forced, as I,
To lay foundation stones until I die,
Or sign State-papers till my hand is sick.
The man who plaits straw crowns upon a rick
Is happier in his crown than I the King. ”

“ The newly enrobed King of Oredan settled back in his chair and shook the heavy cloth back from his shoulder.
"So," he said thoughtfully, "it's all over." He sighed.
"And it's all just beginning, too. Now, I'll have to form a government." He smiled sadly.
"It's funny, Don. For years, I've dreamed of actually being king. Now it's suddenly happened and I feel about as helpless as they come." He stretched out a hand. "All at once, I'm realizing it's pretty rough for a schoolboy to suddenly find himself with a whole nation to run. I don't know where to start."
"You'll get used to it, Pete." ”

“ The crown of Mark Harwood’s wide wool hat was plainly visible to Tom’s watchful eyes, sticking above a bush behind which he was crouching. Tom was careful not to let the spying Tory know that he was observed; and in a voice that he knew would reach the listener, he said to Cole:
“This will be a good place to bury it. It won’t do to let all this gold lie around now [98] when there is danger of the enemy coming. We’ll bury it here and make a note of the spot; when everything is quiet again, and the Tories gone, we can dig it up once more.” ”

“ A foolish young rabbit jumped into it; puss drew the string and soon killed it. He went immediately to the palace with it. He found the king and queen sitting on the throne, and, bowing low, he laid the rabbit at the king's feet, saying: "Please, your majesty, my master, the Marquis de Carabas, has sent you a rabbit from his warren, as a mark of respect." "I am much obliged to the Marquis," said the king, and he ordered the rabbit to be taken to the cook, and a piece of money to be given to the cat. ”