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TO lordlings proud I tune my lay,
Who feast in bow'r or hall:
Though dukes they be, to dukes I say.
That pride will have a fall.
Now, that this same it is right sooth,
Full plainly doth appear,
From what befel John duke of Guise,
And Nic. of Lancastere.
When Richard Cœur de Lion reign'd,
(Which means a lion's heart)
Like him his barons rag'd and roar'd:
Each play'd a lion's part.
- ↑ This very humourous ballad was occasioned by a quarrel between Nicholas lord Lechmere and sir John Guise, bart. — Lord Lechmere had been representative in parliament for Cockermouth, and one of the managers against Sacheverell; he was an eminent lawyer, a staunch whig, and, having been removed from his office of queen's counsel in June 1711, was a constant opposer of her ministry. He was appointed solicitor general in Oct. 1714; chancellor of the duchy court of Lancaster for life in June 1717; attorney-general in March 1717-18; and was created baron Lechmere of Evesham, Sept. 8, 1721: dying June 18, 1727, the title became extinct. — Sir John Guise, who represented the county of Gloucester in several parliaments, died Nov. 6, 1732.
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