Discovering poetry: Henry VIII’s Camelot

‘Pastime with good company’, attributed to Henry VIII

Pastime with good company
I love and shall until I die.
Grudge who list, but none deny,
So God be pleased, thus live will I.
For my pastance,
Hunt, sing and dance,
My heart is set.
All goodly sport
For my comfort
Who shall me let?

Youth must have some dalliance,
Of good or ill some pastance.
Company me thinks the best
All thoughts and fancies to digest.
For idleness
Is chief mistress
Of vices all.
Then who can say
But mirth and play
Is best of all?

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Company with honesty
Is virtue, vices to flee;
Company is good and ill,
But everyman has his free will.
The best ensue,
The worst eschew!
My mind shall be
Virtue to use,
Vice to refuse;
Thus shall I use me.

It was Jacqueline Kennedy who first described JFK’s White House as an American Camelot.