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 (first published in 1643). 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]

On 23 February 1748, the birthday of the Pretender's youngest son, two Oxford University undergraduates (James Dawes of St Mary Hall and John Whitmore of Balliol College) openly declared for the Pretender, for which they were charged with uttering treason and given bail. However, in October the pair toured Oxford's colleges with two musicians who played ‘When the king enjoys his own again’ and they were subsequently expelled, fined and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.[13][14][15]

Lyrics

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 who better may The sceptre 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.
13. Paul Langford, 'Tories and Jacobites, 1714–1751', in L. S. Sutherland and L. G. Mitchell (eds.), The History of the University of Oxford, Volume V: The Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 121.
14. W. R. Ward, Georgian Oxford: University Politics in the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), pp. 170–171, 174.
15. Monod, p. 277.

Further reading

• William Wagstaffe, The Ballad of The king shall enjoy his own again: with a learned comment thereupon, at the request of Capt. Silk (London, 1711).