A web-based edition of early seventeenth-century political poetry from manuscript sources. It brings into the public domain over 350 poems, many of which have never before been published.
Nii3 The famous Embassador, brother to the French Favorer
Notes. In one source this poem is titled “Uppon the French Embassadours entertainment in England at Westminster Hall, Decem. 30. 1620” (Bodleian MS Malone 19). The French ambassador Cadenet, with a large train of followers, arrived in England late in December 1620, and left in mid-January 1621 after a series of negotiations and a succession of lavish feasts and entertainments during the Christmas season, the festive apex of the English court year. Although Chamberlain (2.334) reports widespread speculation that Cadenet had come to discuss a possible French marriage for Prince Charles, and to talk with James about the situation in the Palatinate, this relatively light-hearted libel is far more concerned with the riot of conspicuous consumption surrounding the ambassador’s visit.
The famous Embassador, brother to the French Favorer1
Is traveild to Spayne againe.
Hee was a great guest heere, & had such a feast heere,
Was able to begger halfe Spayne.
All fish were turnd Salmon, all wild foules were common
5Each had what his hart could wish
Besides other presents, there were 24 Pheasantes
Twelve in a pye, & twelve in a dish.
And then god be thanked, there was a good banquett
Which through the citty did sound
10That of certayne report, both of citty & court
It cost half a thousand pound.
Brave Doncaster vicount,2 a man of high count
Did feast him 2 or three dayes
All the citty did singe, God save our good Kinge
15And blesse the right honorable L. Hayes3
The healthes they went roundly, some pates were paid soundly
For wine was as free as a well:
Besides these contents, they had French Complementes
Wherein my Lord Hayes did excell
20The Kinge & the states, opend Westmister gates,
And filld the hall with good cheere
That all men spake playne, since K. Stephens4 raigne
Such a table was never seene theare.
Lawyers5 wise wordes, were turnd to longe boardes
25To dishes the budgetts & Cookes6
The seates of their benchers, to napkins & trenchers
And clientes transformed to Cookes.
There was such a Confusion, causd through intrusion
To view this brave Westmister guest
30That most men affirm’d, all the fees of this terme7
Cannot buy such another feast.
In Denmark’s great pallace,8 as big as halfe Callice9
Hee lodg’d for a fortnight & more
Abroad his men scatterd, with lackquies halfe tatter’d,
35I never saw footmen soe poore.
They thought to make common,10 each well favourd woman
The stone was to small for their stewes11
Some purchasd enough, of such pocky-fied12 stuffe
That they curst plague of their Carleques.13
40But now all their forces, uppon english horses,
Are ridd to the Cinqe port of Dover14
The wind that was Easteward, is now turnd Westward
And god send them good shippinge over.
Source. Folger MS V.a.162, fols. 54v-55r
Other known sources. Bodleian MS Malone 19, p. 78
Nii3
1 The famous Embassador, brother to the French Favorer: the French ambassador was the Marquis de Cadenet, brother of Louis XIII’s favourite, the Duc de Luynes. <back>
2 Doncaster vicount: James Hay, Viscount Doncaster (and later Earl of Carlisle). Doncaster—James’s frequent ambassador to France, and a notorious profligate—feasted the French ambassador at Essex House with what Chamberlain reported was “that sumptuous superfluitie, that the like hath not ben seene nor heard in these parts” (2.333). <back>
3 L. Hayes: i.e. James Hay, Viscount Doncaster. <back>
4 K. Stephens: reference to the twelfth-century King of England. <back>
5 Lawyers: Westminster Hall was the site of several major law courts. The gist of this stanza is that a space typically reserved for the practice of the law was turned into a space for cooking and feasting. <back>
6 Cookes: probable scribal error; read “Bookes”. <back>
7 fees of this terme: fees paid to lawyers during one the three terms for conducting legal business. <back>
8 Denmark’s great pallace: Denmark (formerly Somerset) House in London, formerly a residence of James I’s late queen, Anne of Denmark. <back>
10 make common: turn into whores. <back>
12 pocky-fied: syphilis-ridden. <back>
13 Carleques: probably curlicues, or fantastic curls; however, the OED’s earliest example of English usage of “curlicue” is from the mid-nineteenth century. <back>
14 Cinqe port of Dover: the French took ship at Dover, one of the ancient Cinque Ports. <back>
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