Cornish Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Cornish Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Legends -- England -- Cornwall (County)
Doubtless so soon as the merchant reached Launceston he placed all the
wool he purchased on carts, to convey it to town through Exeter. Deloney
tells an amusing story of how King Henry was riding forth west with one
of his sons and some of his nobility, when "he met with a great number
of waines loaden with cloth coming to London, and seeing them still
drive one after another so many together, demanded whose they were. The
wainemen answered in this sort: Coles of Reading, quoth they. Then, by
and by, the King asked another, saying: Whose cloth is all this? Old
Coles, quoth he. And againe anon after he asked the same questions to
others, and still they answered, Old Coles. And it is to be remembered
that the King met them in such a place so narrow and streight, that hee
with the rest of his traine were faine to stand as close to the hedge,
whilest the carts passed by, the which at that time being in number
above two hundred, was neere hand an hour ere the King could get room to
be gone; so that by his long stay, he began to be displeased, although
the admiration of that sight did much qualify his furie; but breaking
out in discontent, by reason of his stay, he said, I thought Old Cole
had got a commission for all the carts in the country to carry his
cloth. And how if he have (quoth one of the wainemen) doth that grieve
you, good Sir? Yes, good Sir, said our King. What say you to that? The
fellow, seeing the King (in asking the question) to bend his browes,
though he knew not what he was, yet being abasht, he answered thus: Why,
Sir, if you be angry, nobody can hinder you; for possibly, Sir, you have
anger at commandment. The King, seeing him in uttering of his words to
quiver and quake, laughed heartily at him ... and by the time he came
within a mile of Staines, he met another company of waines, in like sort
laden with cloth, whereby the King was driven into a further admiration;
and demanding whose they were, answere was made in this sort: They bee
goodman Sutton's of Salisbury, good Sir. And by that time a score of
them were past; he asked againe, saying, Whose are these? Sutton's of
Salisbury, quoth they, and so still, so often as the King asked that
question, they answered, Sutton's of Salisbury. God send me such more
Suttons, said the King. And thus the further he travelled westward, more
waines and more he met continually: upon which occasion he said to his
nobles, that it would never grieve a King to die for the defence of a
fertile country and faithful subjects. I alwayes thought (quoth he) that
England's valor was more than her wealth, yet now I see her wealth
sufficient to maintaine her valour, which I will seek to cherish in all
I may, and with my sword keepe myselfe in possession of that I have."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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