Note 819 — BOOK II. BALLADS THAT ILLUSTRATE SHAKESPEARE.
Reading edition
Shakespeare (who alludes to this ballad in his Love's Labour's Lost, act iv. sc. 1.) gives the beggar's name Zenelophon, according to all the old editions: but this seems to be a corruption; for Penelophon, in the text, sounds more like the name of a woman.—The story of the King and the Beggar is also alluded to in K. Rich. II act v, sc. 3.