Penny Dreadfuls, 1602 · page 208 of 400
Penny Dreadful Cover — page 208: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This is a page of running prose poetry from *Albion's England* (Chapter 37, Book 7), a 16th-century narrative poem—not a Victorian penny dreadful as the prompt suggests. The text recounts an allegorical animal fable involving an Owl, Cuckoo, Swallow, and Buzzard engaged in disputes over servants, infidelity, and domestic quarrels. The narrative describes how the Cuckoo kills a page in rage, then later mediates a dispute between the Owl and Buzzard over her affections, resolving that "one Hen" suffices for both roosters. The language is early modern English with archaic spelling and typography.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘ : - ke ie a 7 rh a y | re % A * a.44 + 4 Dis ' . Bet , . a “ALBIONS “ENGLAND, ind j ina ftammering chafe he fled to wowe the Owle hionfelfe,- TI ¢ Swallow Mans him thether,whom the deu'lith Owle did hat And all becaufe he had reprou'd her tvrannie of late. The Cuckooe offering to haue bilde,the coyely turnd her face, Tis S23 {he, than needeth that we kiffeas lands the cace: Ric hence yonn fame your knauith Page you fent him with a Moufe To [piemy fecrets,or belike to brave me in my houfe: r. Gods pretious, would you kaew I beare a mind leffe bace than that Ican difgett your Drudge with me fo faucely thould chat: Thicke Napes,forfooth did chafe becaufe I eate my Slave the Bar, c whata worldis this that we can Hoehne private haue Vocenfur’d of our Seruants though the fimpleft Gill or Knaue ? \ ell,tid him of your feruice , Nay , icskils not if oflife, leaf if fo you meane that we fhall loue'as miatvarid wif For fuch Colecarriers in an houfe are ever hatching ftrife. The Cuckooe, hearing thisc omplaint, flew on his trufty Page, ‘And vndifereatly gaue him ftrokes that kild himvin that rage: Yeat,ere he left his lifeshe thus vnto his Maifter faid: Thus many honeft feruants in their Maifters haftie brayd A re Dog- -like handled either yeat likedeare in /owes tult cies: n . f Harlots and of haftines beware, faid he, and dies. be When now her gluttony and fpigt it had thus difpatched twaine. The Cuckooe,plying amoroufly her fauour to obtaine, | E tien then and looking very bigge, in came the Buszard , who? Did (weare that he would kill and iflay,] mary would he doe, ly Swad befides himfelfe faire Madam Owle did wowe. § The Cuckooe,feeing him fo bog,waxt alfo wondrous wroth : But thus the Owle did ftint the finife: S! nee cals them husbands both: Now fie(quoth the)iffo youcould betwixt your {elues agree, Y fee both fhould haue your bellies full,and itno hurt to me, The Buszard faintly did confent,the Cuckooe faid Amen: f pad fo was Hen inough for Cocke,not Cocke inough for Hen: For books"