Here’s a Health to King Charles
Here’s a Health to King Charles - meaning Summary
Loyal Toast Under Peril
This short ballad is a loyal toast to King Charles, praising steadfast devotion despite exile, danger, and dependence on strangers. Speakers call for comrades to drink and honor the king even quietly amid forfeiture and peril. The final stanza looks forward to a restored courtly order, imagining public honors, trumpets, and ranks of Lords and Dukes. The tone mixes camaraderie, defiance, and hopeful anticipation of reinstatement.
Read Complete AnalysesBring the bowl which you boast, Fill it up to the brim; ’Tis to him we love most, And to all who love him. Brave gallants, stand up, And avaunt ye, base carles! Were there death in the cup, Here’s a health to King Charles. Though he wanders through dangers, Unaided, unknown, Dependent on strangers, Estranged from his own; Though ’tis under our breath, Amidst forfeits and perils, Here’s to honor and faith, And a health to King Charles! Let such honors abound As the time can afford, The knee on the ground, And the hand on the sword; But the time shall come round When, ’mid Lords, Dukes, and Earls, The loud trumpet shall sound, Here’s a health to King Charles!
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