Henry VIII seated beneath a tapestry cloth of state
King Henry VIII, his son and heir Edward VI and his third wife, Jane Seymour
British school, “The Family of Henry VIII” (detail), ca. 1545. Oil on canvas. The Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 405796
Pastime with good company
I love and shall until I die.
Grudge who likes, but none deny,
So God be pleased, thus live will I.
For my pastance:
Hunt, sing, and dance.
My heart is set!
All goodly sport
For my comfort.
Who shall me let?
Youth must have some dalliance,
Of good or ill some pastance.
Company I think then best —
All thoughts and fantasies to digest.
For idleness
Is chief mistress
Of vices all.
Then who can say
But mirth and play
Is best of all?
Company with honesty
Is virtue — vices to flee.
Company is good and ill,
But every man has his free will.
The best ensue.
The worst eschew.
My mind shall be.
Virtue to use.
Vice to refuse.
Thus shall I use me!
Alas, what shall I do for love?
Alas, what shall I do for love?
For love, alas, what shall I do?
Since now so kind
I do you find
To kepe you me unto.
Alasse!
Oh my heart
Oh my heart, and oh my heart,
My hart it is so sore.
Since I must from my love depart,
And know no cause wherefore.
The time of youth is to be spent
The time of youth is to be spent,
But vice in it should be forfent.
Pastimes there be I note truly
Which one may use and vice deny.
And they be pleasant to God and man:
Those should we covet when we can.
As feats of arms, and such other
Wherby activeness one may utter.
Comparisons in them may lawfully be set,
For, thereby, courage is surely out fet.
Vertue it is, then, youth for to spend
In good disports which it does fend.
Some background information to the writing of the period in history.
Some interesting trivia though not so trivial !
Palace of Placentia now Greenwich Palace where Henry was born on 28th June 1491
Here you find a true portrait of King Henry VIII.
