Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARGARET SLACK AND THE PRINCE OF WALES, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARGARET SLACK AND THE PRINCE OF WALES, by                    
First Line: "you mothers and fathers, I hope you'll attend"
Last Line: And look to the rights of margaret slack
Subject(s): Babies;churches;love;wales; Infants;cathedrals;welshmen;welshwomen


You mothers and fathers, I hope you'll attend,
Unto these few lines that I have here penn'd,
Listen a while unto my simple tale,
About the late doings of our Prince of Wales;
In the year '61, as the story's told,
When this pretty Prince was eighteen years old,
He thought he would have a nice wife to his back,
They say that he married sweet Margaret Slack.

They say our young Prince has done it before,
He has got two wives like a great many more,
The truth of the story you shall know in a crack,
They call her sweet Miss Margaret Slack.

This Margaret Slack, a sweet lady so kind,
The young Prince of Wales got her into a line,
There's the great Cardinal Wiseman, a man without fear,
He says I will marry you, my little dear,
Of course a young man now ripe in his 'teens,
He liked pickled pork and wanted some greens,
About English laws it's to me all my eye,
And of course I must have a wife on the sly.

To Ireland's Cardinal they went straightway,
Saying we must be married without more delay.
Albert Guelph that, sir, is my name,
And when we are married hers will be the same,
And when the world knows it, it will them surprise
And the sweet Alexandra will scratch out his eyes,
If a baby comes forth that will tell tales,
But we've got a nice father, my nice Prince of Wales.

There's kind Father Rowe, as good as a King,
He has my marriage lines and my wedding ring,
My royal husband can't leave me in the lurch,
I am made fast in the Catholic Church,
Good luck to Cardinal Wiseman, all people say,
For when married by him it stands good, they say,
The royal pair I've knocked off their perch,
I was married to rights in the Catholic Church.

* * *

Some say this tale is now all my eye,
For we are bound to increase and then multiply,
Ah, whether a lie or whether the truth,
By our charming young Prince -- just a trick of his youth
Like all other men, he is woman's delight,
He will love them and bless them from morning till night;
Let the burden be fixed to the ablest back
And look to the rights of Margaret Slack.





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