| Citation |
CG-NL.769.056
11 Aug 1769:41 (300)
From the London Chronicle of April 22. Your correspondent's
anecdote about Coventry, brings to my remembrance the
following affair, which you may assure yourself is fact,
viz.
When the Mayor, one M. Bell, and corporation, had advice
that Queen Elizabeth intended to honour them with a visit, a
hall was called and the town clerk, who was temporary poet
laureate, ordered by the court to furnish a copy of verses,
which he manufactured as follows:
Be merry, John Bell, be merry,
Thou Mayor of Coventry:
For her Majesty's grace
It come to this place
To see Me.
These when read, were greatly approved of for the harmony of
the numbers; but it was objected, that as the Queen came to
visit the whole corporation, why should the Mayor only be
mentioned? The town clerk was ordered, therefore to mend
his poetry; which he did thus:
Be merry, John Bell, be merry,
Thou Mayor of Coventry:
For her Majesty's grace
It come to this place
To see We.
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