| Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). Verse: 1885–1918. 1922. | | | | James I |
| | (1603–1625)
THE CHILD of Mary Queen of Scots, | |
| A shifty mother’s shiftless son, | |
| Bred up among intrigues and plots, | |
| Learnèd in all things, wise in none. | |
| Ungainly, babbling, wasteful, weak, | 5 |
| Shrewd, clever, cowardly, pedantic, | |
| The sight of steel would blanch his cheek, | |
| The smell of baccy drive him frantic. | |
| He was the author of his line— | |
| He wrote that witches should be burnt; | 10 |
| He wrote that monarchs were divine, | |
| And left a son who—proved they weren’t! | | | | |
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