[L] Fine.
[M] Rings.
CHAPTER XVI.
POLITICAL SIGNIFICATIONS OF NURSERY RHYMES.
In 1660, when the Restoration of Charles II. took place, the great procession of State to St. Paul's Cathedral called forth this rhyme:—
"Come, Jack, let's drink a pot of ale,
And I shall tell thee such a tale
Will make thine ears to ring.
My coin is spent, my time is lost,
And I this only fruit can boast,
That once I saw my king!"
A Roundhead sneer at the man in the street, after the Royalist rejoicings were over.
In a copy of rhyming proverbs in the British Museum, written about the year 1680, occurs the following Puritan satire on Charles II.'s changeability:—