"Do you put on a fryar's coat,
And I'll put on another;
And we will to Queen Eleanor go,
Like fryar and his brother."20
Thus both attired then they go:
When they came to Whitehall,
The bells did ring, and the choristers sing,
And the torches did light them all.
When that they came before the Queen,25
They fell on their bended knee;
"A boon, a boon, our gracious queen,
That you sent so hastily."
"Are you two fryars of France," she said,
"As I suppose you be?30
But if you are two English fryars,
Then hanged you shall be."
"We are two fryars of France," they said,
"As you suppose we be;
We have not been at any mass35
Since we came from the sea."
"The first vile thing that e're I did,
I will to you unfold;
Earl Marshal had my maidenhead,
Beneath this cloth of gold."40
"That's a vile sin," then said the King;
"God may forgive it thee!"
"Amen, amen!" quoth Earl Marshal;
With a heavy heart spoke he.
"The next vile thing that e're I did,45
To you I'll not deny;
I made a box of poyson strong,
To poyson King Henry."