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UNIQUE POETICAL BROADSIDE.
146. ELIZABETH (Queen of England).
... O happy town, O happy Rye: That once in thee ye Queen doth ly Such ioy before was neuer seen In Rye as now to lodge the Queen....
A single leaf, on which is printed a poem of fourteen lines in Black Letter; reverse of the sheet blank, sm. 4to., uncut, as issued.
[London? 1573]
AN UNIQUE POETICAL BROADSIDE celebrating Queen Elizabeth's visit to Rye (Sussex) in August, 1573. We have, after exhaustive research, failed to trace another copy of this leaflet; there is no mention of it in any work of reference or library catalogue. This broadside is all the more interesting since scarcely anything is known about the visit it commemorates. The latest historian of the town writes as follows: "We wish we knew more of the details of her visit, but tradition tells us that she drank of the water of Queenswell; some say she and her train had an alfresco meal there and came through the Postern Gate, where she was met by the Mayor and Jurats, who escorted her into the town and gave her a royal welcome. The date of her arrival would seem to be 11th August, 1573." (Vidler: A New History of Rye, p. 63.)
This broadside was probably printed in London and sold in the streets of Rye immediately before the Queen's arrival.