JACK AS ENTERTAINER 159 



about the door ; good, sweet John, come forth with 

 the candle and help me seek it." 



He " went forth " accordingly, into the street, and 

 she locked him out ! We are not told what happened 

 when he got in again. 



He seems to have taken her loss, a little later, 

 calmly enough, for he speedily married again, and 

 although " wondrous wealthie," he chose a poor girl 

 who lived at Aylesbury. A grand wedding it was 

 when Joan (for that was her name) and Jack were 

 married. Her head, we are assured, was adorned with 

 a " billement of gold, and her hair, as yellow as gold, 

 hanoino; downe behind her." In fact, " Her golden 

 hair was hano-ino- down her back," as the music-hall 

 songster has it ; which goes far to prove that the 

 modern penchant for yellow locks has a respectable 

 antic[uity, and warrants brunettes in using all the 

 arts of the toilet to redress the errors of Nature. 



Jack of Newbury entertained Henry the Eighth 

 here, and, wonderful to relate, the floors of the house 

 were covered with broad cloth, instead of the then 

 usual rushes. Also, he equipped a hundred of his 

 workmen, fifty as horsemen, and fifty armed with 

 bows and pikes, "as well armed and better clothed 

 than any," and went with them to the Scotch war. 

 The "Ballad of the Newberrie Archers" tells us how 

 they distinguished themselves at Flodden Field ; but it 

 must be added that it is doubtful whether they ever 

 reached so far ; which proves the ballad-maker — the 

 " special correspondent " of that time — to have been 

 more eloquent than truthful. That Jack was the 

 principal man of his trade must be evident from these 



