Poem by Homer
O'er the green mead the sporting virgins play,

Their shining veils abound along the skies,
Tos't and retos't, the ball incessant flies.

'The King's Tradgedy' by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Alas! in that vault a gap once was,

Wherethro' the King might have fled;
But three days since close-walled it had been
By his will; for the ball would roll therin
When without at the palm he played.

The poem details the death of James I of Scotland on 20th February, 1437. To facilitate the playing of handball (probably Jeu de Paume) he had the exit from the cellar closed up. When the assassin came to murder him, this blocked exit prevented his escape. His maidservant, Catherine Douglas, attempted to stay the killers by using her arm to bar the door.

This old arm's withered now. 'Twas once
Most deft 'mong maidens all
To run the steed to wing the shaft,
To smite the palm-play ball.