As I went by St. James's, I heard a bird sing,
" Of certain the queen has a boy in the spring. "
But one of the chairmen did laugh and did say,
" It was born overnight and brought forth the next day. "
This bantling was heard at St. James's to squall,
Which made the queen make so much haste from Whitehall.
" Peace, peace, little master, and hold up thy head;
Here's money bid for thee, " the true mother said.
But nobody knows from what parish it came,
And that is the reason it has not a name.
Good Catholics all were afraid it was dying,
There was such abundance of sighing and crying;
Which is a good token by which we may swear
It is the queen's own and the kingdom's right heir.
Now if we should happen to have a true lad
From the loins of so wholesome a mother and dad,
'Twere hard to determine which blood were the best —
That of Southesk, or the bastard of Est!
But now we have cause for thanksgiving, indeed,
There was no other way for mending the breed!