The Prodigal Son in the Tavern, c1540.
Circle of Jan Cornelis.
Pastime With Good Company
By Henry VIII
[British Library Additional Ms. 31922, ff.14v-15]
Pastime with good company
I love and shall unto I die;
Grudge who list, but none deny,
So God be pleased thus live will I.
For my pastance
Hunt, song, and dance.
My heart is set:
All goodly sport
For my comfort,
Who shall me let?
Youth must have some dalliance,
Of good or illé some pastance;
Company methinks then best
All thoughts and fancies to dejest:
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 hath his free will.
The best ensue,
The worst eschew,
My mind shall be:
Virtue to use,
Vice to refuse,
Shall I use me.
Source: English Literature: An Illustrated Record. Vol I.
Richard Garnet and Edmund Gosse, Eds.
London: William Heinemann, 1903. 357.
Sheet Music for "Pastime With Good Company" (Original Manuscript, c.1518)
Sheet Music for "Pastime With Good Company" (Modern)
O Tempo Canta performing at Palacio da Independencia, Lisbon, Feb '06
King Henry VIII of England
