UNIQUE POETICAL BROADSIDE.  
146. ELIZABETH ( Queen of England).  
... O happy town, O happy Rye:  
That once in thee ye Queen doth ly  
Such ioy before was never seen  
In Rye as now to lodge the Queen ....  
A single leaf, on which is printed a poem of fourteen lines in Black Letter; reverse of the sheet blank, sm. 4to., uncut, as issued.  
[ London? 1573]  
AN UNIQUE POETICAL BROADSIDE celebrating Queen Elizabeth's visit to Rye( Sussex) in August, 1573. We have, after exhaustive research, failed to trace another copy of this leaflet; there is no mention of it in any work of reference or library catalogue. This broadside is all the more interesting since scarcely anything is known about the visit it commemorates. The latest historian of the town writes as follows:" We wish we knew more of the details of her visit, but tradition tells us that she drank of the water of Queenswell; some say she and her train had an alfresco meal there and came through the Postern Gate, where she was met by the Mayor and Jurats, who escorted her into the town and gave her a royal welcome. The date of her arrival would seem to be 11th August, 1573."( Vidler: A New History of Rye, p. 63.)  
This broadside was probably printed in London and sold in the streets of Rye immediately before the Queen's arrival.   


The first anointed queen I am:  
Within this town which ever came.   

¶ A saying of each good subject of Rye.  
O Happy town, O happy Rye:  
that once in thee the Queen dothly  
Such ioy before was never seen  
In Rye as now to lodge the Queen.  
You fissher men of Rye rejoice:  
To see your Queen & hear her voice.  
Now clap your hands rejoice & sing:  
which never erst lodged Queen ne king.  
rejoice thou town and port of Rye:  
To see thy souerains Meiestie.  
What hart hath he that dwells in Rye:  
That joys not now as well as I?  
Oh God that givest life and breath:  
preserve our Queen Elizabeth.   vivat Nestorios Elizabetha dies.