1201TLN 1201-1208: King Stephen . . . thee.

From an early ballad called "Take Your Old Cloak About You" or "Bell My Wife" that tells the story of a farmer who is eager to trade in his old clothes for the expensive attire of a courtier but finally convinced by his wife to swallow his pride and be satisfied with his lot in life. In The Tempest the jester Trinculo alludes to the same song when he punningly likens his companion, the drunken butler Stephano, to the yeoman who dreams of replacing his old cloak with courtly finery as the two men conspire with Caliban to usurp Prospero, magician-ruler of the island on which they are shipwrecked: "O King Stephano! O peer! O worthy Stephano! Look what a wardrobe here is for thee!" (Tmp 4.1.222-3).