And Oh! the right good merry times
With Maskers, Mummers and the Mimes,
Hobby horses gaily prancing,
Bats and Bowls and Maypole dancing.
When folks would take a lengthy journey
To see the Knights at Joust or Tourney:
Or watch the early English ‘Knuts’
Show their skill at Archery butts.
Then come gloomy History pages
On torture of the Middle ages;
The clanking fetters grim and black,
The thumbscrew and the awful rack,
The horrors of the dungeon deep
Beneath the moat or castle keep,
Rusty locks and heavy keys
And—let us change the subject, please.
First House of Commons twelve-six-five,
At Westminster they all arrive.
Simon de Montfort 1265
Simon de Montfort was the man
Who ‘engineered’ this useful plan.