View source for England's Happiness in the Crowning of William and Mary

{{Short description|English broadside ballad}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''England's Happiness in the Crowning of William and Mary''' is an English [[broadside ballad]] composed in 1689 and takes as its primary focus the [[coronation]] of [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=English Short Title Catalogue|title=Englands happiness in the crowning of VVilliam and Mary, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. Tune of, Let Cæsar live long, and his temper abide; or, my life and my death.|url=http://estc.bl.uk/F/EFTKFXIK8A8FPHKR5HDDCPGSV8XHKXK5UF4GAK7DYHL4K8XGT5-00314?func=full-set-set&set_number=048867&set_entry=000001&format=999|website=estc.bl.uk|access-date=17 September 2014}}</ref> William and Mary's joint reign began in February 1689 when the [[Convention Parliament (1689)|Convention Parliament]], summoned by William after his [[Glorious Revolution|invasion]] of England in 1689, offered him the crown.<ref>{{cite book |last=Van der Kiste|first=John|date=2008|title=William and Mary: Heroes of the Glorious Revolution|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0750945776}}</ref> Though this ballad never comments explicitly on William and Mary's 1689 penning of the [[English Bill of Rights]], it nevertheless focuses heavily on one specific component of the act, namely the reestablishment of [[Protestant]] liberty, as William III and Mary II were both Protestants:<ref>{{cite book |last1=MacCubbin |first1=Robert P. |last2=Hamilton-Phillips |first2=Martha |last3=College of William and Mary|last4=Grolier Club|last5=Folger Shakespeare Library|date=1990 |title=The Age of William III & Mary II: Power, Politics and Patronage, 1688-1702 : A Reference Encyclopedia and Exhibition Catalogue |publisher=College of William & Mary |isbn=0962208108}}</ref> "For a Protestant King and a Protestant Queen, / The like in old England long time hath not been."
==Synopsis==
The ballad, set to the tune of "Let Caesar Live Long,"<ref>{{cite web|last1=English Broadside Ballad Archive|title=ENGLANDS Happiness In the Crowning of WILLIAM and MARY, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland.|url=http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20880/image|website=ebba.english.ucsb.edu|access-date=17 September 2014}}</ref> celebrates the 1689 coronation of [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Mary II]]. We see this adulation displayed most prominently in the ballad's refrain: "For in heart, voice, and loyalty merry we'll be, / In the Crowning of William and brave Queen Mary." Though there are variations of the [[refrain]] present in the ballad, each stanza concludes with the commemoration of the "Crowning of William and brave Queen Mary." The ballad celebrates also the subsequent abolition of [[Roman Catholicism]] that the crowning of the Protestant King and Queen was sure to bring about: "Now England, old England, still hold up thy head, / who lately by Popery long time hath been led, / [An]d let the Pope’s Actors, that plaid all their pranks, / [Be] gone in all haste, or we’l[l] cripple  their shanks." Indeed, one might say that a primary theme of this ballad, other than that of a straightforward [[encomium]], is [[anti-Catholicism]]. The stanzas are littered with pro-Protestant/anti-Catholic rhetoric. Indeed, the stanza ends by praising the reestablishment of the Protestant religion: "Then let all true Christians that lives in the lan[d] / By Protestant Interest for ever to stand, / And for good King William and Mary to pray, / In true Gospel-glory the Scepter to sway."
==Form==
The ballad is split into 10 six-line stanzas ([[sestet]]s), making the total line count 60. Each line is composed in [[iambic hexameter]], and the author uses rhyming [[couplets]] to tie these lines together.
==References==
<references/>
==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Beavan |first=Bryan |date=1997 |title=King William III: Prince of Orange, the First European|publisher=Rubicon Press|isbn=0948695544}}
*{{cite journal |last=McShane |first=Angela|date=2009 |title=Subjects and Objects: Material Expressions of Love and Loyalty in Seventeenth-Century England |jstor=27752636 |journal=Journal of British Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=871–886|doi=10.1086/603618|s2cid=145097775 |url=http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/420/1/McShane_Subjects_and_Objects.pdf}}
==External links==
*[http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20880/xml Text transcription of the English broadside ballad ''England's Happiness in the Crowning of William and Mary''] at the [[English Broadside Ballad Archive]] of [[University of California, Santa Barbara|UC Santa Barbara]].
*[http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/20880/recording Audio recording of ''England's Happiness in the Crowning of William and Mary''].
[[Category:17th-century songs]]
[[Category:Glorious Revolution]]
[[Category:17th-century broadside ballads]]
[[Category:Mary II]]
[[Category:17th-century Protestantism]]
[[Category:Songs about kings]]
[[Category:Songs about queens]]
[[Category:Songs about England]]
[[Category:Songs based on actual events]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of William III of England]]