“Little Boy Blue” theoretically alludes to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1475-1530), a prominent English statesman and figure in the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII. Wealthy and arrogant (“blowing one’s horn”), Wolsey was disliked among both the courtiers and commoners of England. The line “where’s the boy who look after the sheep?” alludes to Wolsey’s efforts to profit for himself rather than the good of the country. It is suggested that the title “Little Boy Blue” was derived from Wolsey’s Blazon of Arms that featured the faces of four leopards as opposed to traditional scarlet cardinal robes. Because open criticism of the Cardinal would have been punished with harsh penalty or death, this rhyme is suggested to have been a masked message of rebellion opposing Wolsey’s selfish greed.