He that would not when he might, He shall not when he wolda.6
The Friar of Orders Gray.
Note 1. Young Adam Cupid, he that shot so trim, When King Cophetua loved the beggar-maid! William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 1. [back]
Note 2. Shakespeare, who alludes to this ballad in Loves Labour s Lost, act iv. sc. 1, gives the beggars name Zenelophon. The story of the king and the beggar is also alluded to in King Richard II., act v. sc. 3. [back]