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Title: The Poetical Works of Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)
Author: Dyce, Alexander
Language: English
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Transcriber’s Note: Volume I is available as PG ebook #59997.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF SKELTON.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY LEVEY, ROBSON, AND FRANKLYN,
Great New Street, Fetter Lane.
THE
POETICAL WORKS
OF
JOHN SKELTON:
WITH NOTES,
AND
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR AND HIS WRITINGS,
BY THE
REV. ALEXANDER DYCE.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
THOMAS RODD, GREAT NEWPORT STREET.
MDCCCXLIII.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN SKELTON.
SPEKE, PARROT.[1]
THE BOKE[2] COMPILED BY MAISTER SKELTON, POET LAUREAT, CALLED SPEAKE,
PARROT.
[_Lectoribus auctor recipit[3] opusculi hujus auxesim._
_Crescet in immensum me vivo pagina præsens;_
_Hinc mea dicetur Skeltonidis aurea fama._
_Parot._]
[Sidenote: Lucanus.[4] Tigris et Euphrates uno se fonte resolvunt.]
My name is Parrot, a byrd of paradyse,
By nature deuysed of a wonderous[5] kynde,
Dyentely dyeted with dyuers dylycate spyce,
Tyl Euphrates, that flode, dryueth me into Inde;
Where men of that countrey by fortune me fynd,
And send me to greate ladyes[6] of estate:
Then Parot must haue an almon or a date;
[Sidenote: Topographia, quam habet hæc avicula in deliciis.]
A cage curyously caruen, with syluer pyn, 10
Properly paynted, to be my couertowre;
A myrrour of glasse, that I may toote therin;
These maidens ful mekely with many a diuers[7] flowre
Freshly they dresse, and make swete my bowre,
With, Speke, Parrot, I pray you, full curtesly they say;
Parrot is a goodly byrd, a[8] prety popagey:
[Sidenote: Delectatur in factura sua, tamen res est forma fugax.]
With my becke bent, my[9] lyttyl wanton eye,
My fedders freshe as is the emrawde grene,
About my neck a cyrculet lyke the ryche rubye,
My lyttyll leggys, my feet both fete and clene, 20
I am a mynyon to wayt vppon a[10] quene;
My proper Parrot, my lyttyl prety foole;
With ladyes I lerne, and go with them to scole.
[Sidenote: Psittacus a vobis aliorum nomina disco: Hoc per me didici
dicere,[11] Cæsar, ave.]
Hagh, ha, ha, Parrot, ye can laugh pretyly!
Parrot hath not dyned of al this[12] long day:
Lyke your[13] pus cate, Parrot can mute and cry
In Lattyn, in Ebrew, Araby, and Caldey;[14]
In Greke tong Parrot can bothe speke and say,
As Percyus, that poet, doth reporte of me,
_Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaire?_ 30
[Sidenote: Docibilem se pandit in omni idiomate. Polichronitudo Basileos.]
Dowse[15] French of Parryse Parrot can lerne,
Pronounsynge my purpose after my properte,
With, _Perliez byen_, Parrot, _ou perlez rien_;
With Douch, with Spanysh, my tong can agre;
In Englysh to God Parrot can supple,[16]
Cryst saue Kyng Henry[17] the viii., our royall kyng,
The red rose in honour to florysh and sprynge!
[Sidenote: Katerina universalis vitii ruina, Græcum est. Fidasso de
cosso, i. habeto fidem in temet ipso. Auctoritate[m] inconsultam taxat
hic. Lege Flaccum, et observa plantatum diabolum.]
With Kateryne incomparable, our ryall[18] quene also,
That pereles pomegarnet, Chryst saue her noble grace!
Parrot, _saves[19] habler Castiliano_, 40
With _fidasso de cosso_[20] in Turkey and in Trace;
_Vis consilii expers_,[21] as techith me Horace,
_Mole ruit sua_, whose dictes ar[22] pregnaunte,
_Souentez foys_,[23] Parrot, _en souenaunte_.
[Sidenote: Sæpenumero hæc pensitans psittacus ego pronuntio.[24]
Aphorismo, quia paronomasia certe incomprehensibilis.]
My lady maystres,[25] dame Philology,
Gaue me a gyfte in my nest whan I[26] laye,
To lerne all language, and it to spake aptely:
Now _pandez mory_,[27] wax frantycke, some men[28] saye;
Phroneses for[29] Freneses may not holde her way.
An almon now for Parrot, dilycatly drest; 50
In _Salve festa dies, toto_ theyr doth[30] best.
[Sidenote: Aptius hic loquitur animus quam lingua. Notum adagium et
exasperans.]
_Moderata juvant_, but _toto_ doth excede;
Dyscressyon is moder of noble vertues all;
_Myden[31] agan_ in Greke[32] tonge we rede;
But reason and wyt wantyth theyr prouyncyall
When wylfulnes is vycar generall.
_Hæc res acu tangitur_, Parrot, _par ma foy_:
_Ticez vous_, Parrot, _tenez vous coye_.
Besy, besy,[33] besy, and besynes agayne!
_Que pensez voz_, Parrot? what meneth this besynes? 60
_Vitulus_ in Oreb troubled Arons brayne,
Melchisedeck mercyfull made Moloc mercyles;
To wyse is no vertue, to medlyng, to restles;
In mesure is tresure, _cum sensu maturato_;[34]
_Ne tropo sanno,[35] ne tropo mato_.
Aram was fyred with Caldies fyer called Ur;
Iobab[36] was brought vp in the lande of Hus;[37]
The lynage of Lot toke supporte of Assur;
Iereboseth is Ebrue, who lyst the cause[38] dyscus.
Peace, Parrot, ye prate, as ye were _ebrius_: 70
Howst thé, _lyuer god van hemrik, ic seg_;
In Popering[39] grew peres, whan Parrot was an eg.
What is this to purpose? Ouer in a whynnymeg![40]
Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon wald haue e[41] byt of bred;
The iebet of Baldock was made for Jack Leg;
An arrow vnfethered and without an hed,
A bagpype[42] without blowynge standeth in no sted:
Some run to far before, some run to far behynde,
Some be to churlysshe, and some be to kynde.
_Ic dien_ serueth for the[43] erstrych[44] fether, 80
_Ic dien_ is the language of the land of Beme;
In Affryc tongue _byrsa_ is a thonge of lether;
In Palestina there is Ierusalem.
_Colostrum_ now for Parot, whyte bred and swete creme!
Our Thomasen[45] she doth trip, our Ienet she doth shayle:
Parrot hath a blacke beard and a fayre grene tayle.
Moryshe myne owne shelfe, the costermonger sayth;[46]
Fate, fate, fate, ye Irysh[47] water lag;
In flattryng fables men fynde but lyttyl fayth:
But _moveatur terra_, let the world wag; 90
Let syr Wrig wrag[48] wrastell with syr Delarag;[49]
Euery man after his maner of wayes,
_Pawbe une aruer_, so the Welche man sayes.
Suche shredis of sentence, strowed in the shop
Of auncyent Aristippus and such other mo,
I gader togyther and close in my crop,[50]
Of my wanton conseyt, _unde depromo_
_Dilemmata docta in pædagogio_
_Sacro vatum_, whereof to you I breke:
I pray you, let Parot haue lyberte to speke. 100
But ware the cat, Parot, ware the fals cat!
With, Who is there? a mayd? nay, nay, I trow:
Ware ryat, Parrot, ware ryot, ware that!
Mete, mete for Parrot, mete, I say, how!
Thus dyuers of language by lernyng I grow:
With, Bas me, swete Parrot, bas me, swete swete;
To dwell amonge ladyes Parrot is mete.
Parrot, Parrot, Parrot, praty popigay!
With my beke I can pyke my lyttel praty too;
My delyght is solas, pleasure, dysporte, and pley; 110
Lyke a wanton, whan I wyll, I rele to and froo:
Parot can say, _Cæsar, ave_, also;
But Parrot hath no fauour to Esebon:
Aboue all other byrdis, set Parrot alone.
_Ulula_, Esebon, for Ieromy doth wepe!
Sion is in sadnes, Rachell ruly doth loke;
Madionita Ietro, our Moyses kepyth his shepe;
Gedeon is gon, that Zalmane vndertoke,
Oreb _et_ Zeb, of _Judicum_ rede the boke;
Now Geball, Amon, and Amaloch,—harke, harke! 120
Parrot pretendith to be a bybyll clarke.
O Esebon, Esebon! to thé is cum agayne
Seon, the regent _Amorræorum_,
And Og, that fat hog of[51] Basan, doth retayne,
The crafty _coistronus Cananæorum_;[52]
And _asylum_, whilom _refugium miserorum_,
_Non fanum, sed profanum_, standyth in lyttyll sted:
_Ulula_, Esebon, for Iepte is starke ded!
Esebon, Marybon, Wheston next Barnet;
A trym tram for an horse myll it were a nyse thyng; 130
Deyntes for dammoysels, chaffer far fet:
Bo ho doth bark wel, but Hough ho he rulyth[53] the ring;
From Scarpary to Tartary renoun therin doth spryng,
With, He sayd, and we said, ich wot now what ich wot,
_Quod magnus est dominus Judas Scarioth_.
Tholomye and Haly were cunnyng and wyse
In the volvell, in the quadrant, and in the astroloby,
To pronostycate truly the chaunce of fortunys dyse;
Som trete of theyr tirykis, som of astrology,
Som _pseudo-propheta_ with chiromancy:[54] 140
Yf fortune be frendly, and grace be the guyde,
Honowre with renowne wyll ren on[55] that syde.
_Monon calon agaton_,
Quod Parato
_In Græco_.
Let Parrot, I pray you, haue lyberte to prate,
For _aurea lingua Græca_ ought to be magnyfyed,
Yf it were cond perfytely, and after the rate,
As _lingua Latina_, in scole matter occupyed;
But our Grekis theyr Greke so well haue applyed, 150
That they cannot say in Greke, rydynge by the way,
How, hosteler, fetche my hors a botell of hay!
Neyther frame a silogisme in _phrisesomorum_,
_Formaliter et Græce, cum medio termino:_
Our Grekys ye walow in the washbol _Argolicorum_;
For though ye can tell in Greke what is _phormio_,
Yet ye seke out your Greke in _Capricornio_;
For they[56] scrape[57] out good scrypture, and set in a gall,
Ye go about to amende, and ye mare all.
Some argue _secundum quid ad simpliciter_, 160
And yet he wolde be rekenyd _pro Areopagita_;
And some make distinctions _multipliciter_,
Whether _ita_ were before _non_, or _non_[58] before _ita_,
Nether wise nor wel lernid, but like _hermaphrodita_:
Set _sophia_ asyde, for euery Jack Raker
And euery mad medler must now be a maker.
_In Academia_ Parrot dare no probleme kepe;
For _Græce fari_[59] so occupyeth the chayre,
That _Latinum fari_ may fall to rest and slepe,
And _syllogisari_ was drowned at Sturbrydge fayre; 170
Tryuyals[60] and quatryuyals so sore now they appayre,
That Parrot the[61] popagay hath pytye to beholde
How the rest of good lernyng is roufled[62] vp and trold.
_Albertus de modo significandi_,
And _Donatus_ be dryuen out of scole;
Prisians hed broken now handy dandy,
And _Inter didascolos_ is rekened for a fole;
Alexander, a gander of Menanders[63] pole,
With _Da Cansales_, is cast out of the gate,
And _Da Racionales_ dare not shew his pate. 180
_Plauti_[64] in his comedies a chyld shall now reherse,
And medyll with Quintylyan in his Declamacyons,[65]
That Pety Caton can scantly construe a verse,
With _Aveto in Græco_, and such solempne salutacyons,
Can skantly the tensis of his coniugacyons;
Settynge theyr myndys so moche of eloquens,
That of theyr scole maters lost is the hole sentens.
Now a nutmeg, a nutmeg, _cum gariopholo_,[66]
For Parrot to pyke vpon, his brayne for to stable,
Swete synamum styckis and _pleris cum musco_![67] 190
In Paradyce, that place of pleasure perdurable,
The progeny of Parrottis were fayre and fauorable;
Nowe _in valle_ Ebron Parrot is fayne to fede:
Cristecrosse and saynt Nycholas, Parrot, be your good spede!
The myrrour that I tote in, _quasi diaphanum_,
_Vel quasi speculum, in ænigmate_,
_Elencticum_,[68] or ells _enthymematicum_,[69]
For logicions to loke on, somwhat _sophistice_:
Retoricyons[70] and oratours in freshe humanyte,
Support Parrot, I pray you, with your suffrage ornate, 200
Of _confuse tantum_ auoydynge the chekmate.
But of that supposicyon that callyd is arte
_Confuse distributive_, as Parrot hath deuysed,
Let euery man after his merit take his parte,
For in this processe Parrot nothing hath surmysed,
No matter pretendyd, nor nothyng enterprysed,
But that _metaphora_, _allegoria_ with all,
Shall be his protectyon, his pauys, and his wall.
For Parot is no churlish chowgh, nor no flekyd pye,
Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng, 210
Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly,
Parrot is no stameryng stare, that men call a starlyng;
But Parot is my[71] owne dere harte and my dere[72] derling;
Melpomene, that fayre mayde, she burneshed his beke:
I pray you, let Parrot haue lyberte to speke.
Parrot is a fayre byrd for a lady;
God of his goodnes him framed and wrought;
When Parrot is ded, she dothe not putrefy:
Ye, all thyng mortall shall torne vnto nought,
Except mannes soule, that Chryst so dere bought; 220
That neuer may dye, nor neuer dye shall:
Make moche of Parrot, the[73] popegay ryall.[74]
For that pereles prynce that Parrot dyd create,
He made you of nothynge by his magistye:
Poynt well this probleme that Parrot doth prate,
And remembre amonge how Parrot and ye
Shall lepe from this lyfe, as mery as we be;
Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches, and worldly lust,
Parrot sayth playnly, shall tourne all to dust.
Thus Parrot dothe pray you 230
With hert most tender,
To rekyn with this recule now,[75]
And it to remember.
_Psittacus, ecce, cano, nec sunt mea carmina Phœbo_
_Digna scio, tamen est plena camena deo._
_Secundum Skeltonida famigeratum,_
_In Piereorum catalogo numeratum._
_Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis, &c._[76]
_Candidi lectores, callide callete; vestrum fovete Psittacum, &c._[77]
[_Galathea._
[Sidenote: Hic occurrat[78] memoriæ Pamphilus de amore Galatheæ.]
Speke, Parotte, I pray yow, for Maryes saake,
Whate mone he made when Pamphylus loste hys make.
_Parrotte._
[Sidenote: In ista cantilena[79] ore stilla plena abjectis frangibulis et
aperit.]
My propire Besse, 240
My praty Besse,
Turne ones agayne to me:
For slepyste thou, Besse,
Or wakeste thow, Besse,
Myne herte hyt ys with thé.
[Sidenote: Quid quæritis tot capita, tot census?]
My deysy delectabyll,
My prymerose commendabyll,
My vyolet amyabyll,
My ioye inexplicabill,
Nowe torne agayne to me. 250
I wylbe ferme and stabyll,
And to yow seruyceabyll,
And also prophytabyll,
Yf ye be agreabyll
To turne agayne to me,
My propyr Besse.
[Sidenote: Maro: Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, Et fugit ad
salices, &c.]
Alas, I am dysdayned,
And as a man halfe maymed,
My harte is so sore payned!
I pray thé, Besse, vnfayned, 260
Yet com agayne to me!
Be loue I am constreyned
To be with yow retayned,
Hyt wyll not be refrayned:
I pray yow, be reclaymed,
And torne agayne to me,
My propyr Besse.
Quod[80] Parot, the popagay royall.
_Martialis cecinit carmen fit mihi scutum:—_
_Est mihi lasciva pagina, vita proba.[81]_
_Galethea._
[Sidenote: Zoe kai psyche.[82] Non omnes capiunt verbum istud, sed quibus
datum est desuper.]
Now kus me, Parrot, kus me, kus, kus, kus:[83]
Goddys blessyng lyght on thy swete lyttyll[84] mus! 270
_Vita et anima,_
_Zoe kai psyche._[85]
[Sidenote: Aquinates.[86]]
_Concumbunt[87] Græce. Non est hic sermo pudicus._
[Sidenote: Sua consequentia[88] magni æstimatur momenti Attica sane
eloquentia.]
_Ergo_[89] _Attica[90] dictamina_
_Sunt[91] plumbi lamina,_
_Vel[92] spuria vitulamina:_
_Avertat hæc[93] Urania!_[94]
[_Amen._]
_Amen, Amen_,[95]
And set to[96] a D,
And then it is, Amend
Our new found A, B, C.
_Cum cæteris paribus._[97]
[_Lenuoy primere._
Go, litell quayre, namyd the Popagay, 280
Home to resorte Jerobesethe perswade;
For the cliffes of Scaloppe they rore wellaway,
And the sandes of Cefas begyn to waste and fade,
For replicacion restles that he of late ther made;
Now Neptune and Eolus ar agreed of lyclyhode,
For Tytus at Dover abydythe in the rode;
Lucina she wadythe among the watry floddes,
And the cokkes begyn to crowe agayne the day;
_Le tonsan de Jason_ is lodgid among the shrowdes,
Of Argus revengyd, recover when he may; 290
Lyacon of Libyk and Lydy hathe cawghte hys pray:
Goe, lytyll quayre, pray them that yow beholde,
In there remembraunce ye may be inrolde.
Yet some folys say that ye arre ffurnysshyd with knakkes,
That hang togedyr as fethyrs in the wynde;
But lewdlye ar they lettyrd that your lernyng lackys,
Barkyng and whyning, lyke churlysshe currys of kynde,
For whoo lokythe wyselye in your warkys may fynde
Muche frutefull mater: but now, for your defence
Agayne all remordes arme yow with paciens. 300
_Monostichon._
_Ipse sagax æqui ceu verax nuntius ito._
_Morda[98] puros mal desires. Portugues._
_Penultimo die Octobris, 33ᵒ._
_Secunde Lenuoy._
Passe forthe, Parotte, towardes some passengere,
Require hym to convey yow ovyr the salte fome;
Addressyng your selfe, lyke a sadde messengere,
To ower soleyne seigneour Sadoke, desire hym to cum home,
Makyng hys pylgrimage by _nostre dame de Crome_;
For Jerico and Jerssey shall mete togethyr assone
As he to exployte the man owte of the mone.
With porpose and graundepose he may fede hym fatte,
Thowghe he pampyr not hys paunche with the grete seall: 310
We haue longyd and lokyd long tyme for that,
Whyche cawsythe pore suters haue many a hongry mele:
As presydent and regente he rulythe every deall.
Now pas furthe, good Parott, ower Lorde be your stede,[99]
In this your journey to prospere and spede!
And thowe sum dysdayne yow, and sey how ye prate,
And howe your poemys arre barayne of polyshed eloquens,
There is none that your name woll abbrogate
Then nodypollys and gramatolys of smalle intellygens;
To rude ys there reason to reche to your sentence: 320
Suche malyncoly mastyvys and mangye curre dogges
Ar mete for a swyneherde to hunte after hogges.
_Monostichon._
_Psittace, perge[100] volans, fatuorum tela retundas._
_Morda[101] puros mall desers. Portugues._
_In diebus Novembris, 34._
_Le dereyn Lenveoy._
Prepayre yow, Parrot, breuely your passage to take,
Of Mercury vndyr the trynall aspecte,
And sadlye salute ower solen syre Sydrake,
And shewe hym that all the world dothe coniecte,
How the maters he mellis in com to small effecte;
For he wantythe of hys wyttes that all wold rule alone;
Hyt is no lytyll bordon to bere a grete mylle stone: 330
To bryng all the see into a cheryston pytte,
To nombyr all the sterrys in the fyrmament,
To rule ix realmes by one mannes wytte,
To suche thynges ympossybyll reason cannot consente:
Muche money, men sey, there madly he hathe spente:
Parrot, ye may prate thys vndyr protestacion,
Was neuyr suche a senatour syn Crystes incarnacion.
Wherfor he may now come agayne as he wente,
_Non sine postica sanna_, as I trowe,
From Calys to Dovyr, to Caunterbury in Kente, 340
To make reconyng in the resseyte how Robyn loste hys bowe,
To sowe corne in the see sande, ther wyll no crope growe.
Thow ye be tauntyd, Parotte, with tonges attayntyd,
Yet your problemes ar preignaunte, and with loyalte acquayntyd.
_Monostichon._
_I, properans, Parrot[e],[102] malas sic corripe linguas._
_Morda puros mall desires. Portigues._
_15 kalendis Decembris, 34._
_Distichon miserabile._
_Altior, heu, cedro, crudelior, heu, leopardo!_
_Heu, vitulus bubali fit dominus Priami!_
_Tetrastichon,—Unde species Priami est digna imperio._
_Non annis licet et Priamus sed honore voceris:_
_Dum foveas vitulum, rex, regeris, Britonum;_
_Rex, regeris, non ipse regis: rex inclyte, calle;_ 350
_Subde tibi vitulum, ne fatuet nimium._
God amend all,
That all amend may!
Amen, quod Parott,
The royall popagay.
_Kalendis Decembris, 34._
_Lenvoy royall._
Go, propyr Parotte, my popagay,
That lordes and ladies thys pamflett may behold,
With notable clerkes: supply to them, I pray,
Your rudenes to pardon, and also that they wolde
Vouchesafe to defend yow agayne the brawlyng scolde, 360
Callyd Detraxion, encankryd with envye,
Whose tong ys attayntyd with slaundrys obliqui.
For trowthe in parabyll ye wantonlye pronounce,
Langagys diuers, yet vndyr that dothe reste
Maters more precious then the ryche jacounce,
Diamounde, or rubye, or balas of the beste,
Or eyndye sapher with oryente perlys[103] dreste:
Wherfor your remorde[r]s ar madde, or else starke blynde,
Yow to remorde erste or they know your mynde.
_Distichon._
_I, volitans,[104] Parrote, tuam moderare Minervam:_ 370
_Vix tua percipient, qui tua teque legent._
_Hyperbato[n]._
_Psittacus hi notus[105] seu Persius est puto notus,_
_Nec reor est nec erit licet est erit._
_Maledite soyte bouche malheurewse! 34_
_Laucture de Parott._
O my Parrot, _O unice dilecte, votorum meorum omnis lapis,
lapis pretiosus operimentum tuum!_
_Parrott._
_Sicut Aaron populumque, sic bubali vitulus, sic bubali
vitulus, sic bubali vitulus._
Thus myche Parott hathe opynlye expreste:
Let se who dare make vp the reste.
_Le Popagay sen va complayndre._[106]
Helas! I lamente the dull abusyd brayne,
The enfatuate fantasies, the wytles wylfulnes
Of on and hothyr at me that haue dysdayne:
Som sey, they cannot my parables expresse;
Som sey, I rayle att ryott recheles; 380
Some say but lityll, and thynke more in there thowghte,
How thys prosses I prate of, hyt ys not all for nowghte.
O causeles cowardes, O hartles hardynes!
O manles manhod, enfayntyd all with fere!
O connyng clergye, where ys your redynes
To practise or postyll thys prosses here and there?
For drede ye darre not medyll with suche gere,
Or elles ye pynche curtesy, trulye as I trowe,
Whyche of yow fyrste dare boldlye plucke the crowe.
The skye is clowdy, the coste is nothyng clere; 390
Tytan bathe truste vp hys tressys of fyne golde;
Iupyter for Saturne darre make no royall chere;
Lyacon lawghyth there att, and berythe hym more bolde;
Racell, rulye ragged, she is like to cache colde;
Moloc, that mawmett, there darre no man withsay;
The reste of suche reconyng may make a fowle fraye.
_Dixit_, quod Parrott, the royall popagay.
_Cest chose maleheure[u]se,_
_Que mall bouche._
_Parrotte._
_Jupiter ut nitido deus est veneratus Olympo;_
_Hic coliturque deus._ 400
_Sunt data thura Jovi, rutilo solio residenti;_
_Cum Jove thura capit._
_Jupiter astrorum rector dominusque polorum;[107]_
_Anglica sceptra regit._
_Galathea._
I compas the conveyaunce vnto the capitall
Of ower clerke Cleros, whythyr, thydyr, and why not hethyr?
For passe a pase apase ys gon to cache a molle,
Over Scarpary _mala vi_, Monsyre cy and sliddyr:
Whate sequele shall folow when pendugims mete togethyr?
Speke, Parotte, my swete byrde, and ye shall haue a date, 410
Of frantycknes and folysshnes whyche ys the grett state?
_Parotte._
Difficille hit ys to ansswere thys demaunde;
Yet, aftyr the sagacite of a popagay,—
Frantiknes dothe rule and all thyng commaunde;
Wylfulnes and braynles no[w] rule all the raye;
Agayne ffrentike frenesy there dar no man sey nay,
For ffrantiknes, and wylfulnes, and braynles ensembyll,
The nebbis of a lyon they make to trete and trembyll;
To jumbyll, to stombyll, to tumbyll down lyke folys,
To lowre,[108] to droupe, to knele, to stowpe, and to play cowche
quale, 420
To fysshe afore the nette, and to drawe polys;
He make[th] them to bere babylles, and to bere a lowe sayle;
He caryeth a kyng in hys sleve, yf all the worlde fayle;
He facithe owte at a fflusshe, with, shewe, take all!
Of Pope Julius cardys he ys chefe cardynall.
He tryhumfythe, he trumpythe, he turnythe all vp and downe,
With, skyregalyard, prowde palyard, vaunteperler, ye prate!
Hys woluys hede, wanne, bloo as lede, gapythe over the crowne:
Hyt ys to fere leste he wolde were the garland on hys pate,
Peregall with all prynces farre passyng hys estate; 430
For of ower regente the regiment he hathe, _ex qua vi,_
_Patet per versus_, quod _ex vi bolte harvi_.
Now, Galathea, lett Parrot, I pray yow, haue hys date;
Yett dates now ar deynte, and wax verye scante,
For grocers were grugyd at and groynyd at but late;
Grete reysons with resons be now reprobitante,
For reysons ar no resons, but resons currant:
Ryn God, rynne Devyll! yet the date of ower Lord
And the date of the Devyll dothe shrewlye accord.
_Dixit_, quod Parrott, the popagay royall.
_Galathea._
Nowe, Parott, my swete byrde, speke owte yet ons agayne, 440
Sette asyde all sophysms,[109] and speke now trew and playne.
_Parotte._
So many[110] morall maters, and so lytell vsyd;
So myche newe makyng, and so madd tyme spente;
So myche translacion in to Englyshe confused;
So myche nobyll prechyng, and so lytell amendment;
So myche consultacion, almoste to none entente;
So myche provision, and so lytell wytte at nede;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde there can no clerkes rede.
So lytyll dyscressyon, and so myche reasonyng;
So myche hardy dardy, and so lytell manlynes; 450
So prodigall expence, and so shamfull reconyng;
So gorgyous garmentes, and so myche wrechydnese;
So myche portlye pride, with pursys penyles;
So myche spente before, and so myche vnpayd behynde;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde there can no clerkes fynde.
So myche forcastyng, and so farre an after dele;
So myche poletyke pratyng, and so lytell stondythe in stede;
So lytell secretnese, and so myche grete councell;
So manye bolde barons, there hertes as dull as lede;
So many nobyll bodyes vndyr on dawys hedd; 460
So royall a kyng as reynythe vppon vs all;—
Syns Dewcalions flodde was nevyr sene nor shall.
So many complayntes, and so smalle redresse;
So myche callyng on, and so smalle takyng hede;
So myche losse of merchaundyse, and so remedyles;
So lytell care for the comyn weall, and so myche nede;
So myche dowȝtfull daunger, and so lytell drede;
So myche pride of prelattes, so cruell and so kene;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde, I trowe, was nevyr sene.
So many thevys hangyd, and thevys never the lesse; 470
So myche prisonment ffor matyrs not worthe an hawe;
So myche papers weryng for ryghte a smalle exesse;
So myche pelory pajauntes vndyr colower of good lawe;
So myche towrnyng on the cooke stole for euery guy gaw;
So myche mokkyshe makyng of statutes of array;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde was nevyr, I dar sey.
So braynles caluys hedes, so many shepis taylys;
So bolde a braggyng bocher, and flesshe sold so dere;
So many plucte partryches, and so fatte quaylles;
So mangye a mastyfe curre, the grete grey houndes pere; 480
So bygge a bulke of brow auntlers cabagyd that yere;
So many swannes dede, and so small revell;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde, I trow, no man can tell.
So many trusys takyn, and so lytyll perfyte[111] trowthe;
So myche bely joye, and so wastefull banketyng;
So pynchyng and sparyng, and so lytell profyte growthe;
So many howgye howsys byldyng, and so small howse-holding;
Suche statutes apon diettes, suche pyllyng and pollyng;
So ys all thyng wrowghte wylfully withowte reson and skylle;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde the world[112] was never so yll. 490
So many vacabondes, so many beggers bolde;
So myche decay of monesteries and of relygious places;
So hote hatered agaynste the Chyrche, and cheryte so colde;
So myche of my lordes grace, and in hym no grace ys;
So many holow hartes, and so dowbyll faces;
So myche sayntuary brekyng, and preuylegidde barrydd;—
Syns Dewcalyons flodde was nevyr sene nor lyerd.
So myche raggyd ryghte of a rammes horne;
So rygorous revelyng[113] in a prelate specially;
So bold and so braggyng, and was so baselye borne; 500
So lordlye of hys lokes and so dysdayneslye;
So fatte a magott, bred of a flesshe flye;
Was nevyr suche a ffylty gorgon,[114] nor suche an epycure,
Syn[s] Dewcalyons flodde, I make thé faste and sure.
So myche preuye wachyng in cold wynters nyghtes;
So myche serchyng of loselles, and ys hymselfe so lewde;
So myche coniuracions for elvyshe myday sprettes;
So many bullys of pardon puplysshyd and shewyd;
So myche crossyng and blyssyng, and hym all beshrewde;
Suche pollaxis and pyllers, suche mvlys trapte with gold;— 510
Sens Dewcalyons flodde in no cronycle ys told.
_Dixit_, quod Parrot.
_Crescet in immensum me vivo Psittacus iste;_
_Hinc mea dicetur Skeltonidis inclyta fama._
Quod Skelton Lawryat, _Orator Regius_. 34.]
[1] _Speke, Parrot_] From the ed. by Lant of _Certayne bokes compyled
by mayster Skelton, &c._, n. d., collated with the same work ed. Kynge
and Marche, n. d., and ed. Day, n. d.; with Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s
_Workes_, 1568; and with a MS. in the Harleian Collection, 2252. fol.
133, which has supplied much not given in the printed copies, and placed
between brackets in the present edition. The marginal notes are found
only in MS.
[2] _The boke, &c.... Speake, Parrot_] So Marshe’s ed. Not in other eds.
[3] _recipit_] MS. “_recepit_.” The next two lines are given very
inaccurately here in MS., but are repeated (with a slight variation)
more correctly at the end of the poem. The Latin portions of the MS.
are generally of ludicrous incorrectness, the transcriber evidently not
having understood that language.
[4] _Lucanus_] See _Phar._ iii. 256. But the line here quoted is from
Boethii _Consol. Phil._ lib. v. met. 1.
[5] _wonderous_] So other eds. Lant’s ed. “wonderuos.”
[6] _to greate ladyes_] MS. “_to_ grece to lordes.”
[7] _ful mekely with many a diuers_] MS. “_full_ meryly _with many
dyuors_.”
[8] _a_] MS. “and _a_.”
[9] _my_] MS. “and _my_.”
[10] _a_] So MS. Eds. “the.”
[11] _dicere_] MS. (which alone has these marginal notes) “_dictorem:_”
the whole runs in Martial thus:
“_Psittacus a vobis aliorum nomina_ discam:
_Hoc didici per me dicere, Cæsar, ave_.”
xiv. 73.
[12] _this_] Ed. of Kynge and Marche, “thie.”
[13] _your_] MS. “ower.”—In this line a friend would read “muie;” but MS.
has “mewte.”
[14] _Ebrew, Araby, and Caldey_] MS. “_Ebrue and_ in _Caldee_.”
[15] _Dowse_] Other eds. “Howse.” MS. “Dowche.”
[16] _can supple_] MS. “_can_ shewe propyrlye.”
[17] _Henry_] MS. “herry.”
[18] _ryall_] Other eds. and MS. (with various spelling) “roial.”
[19] _saves_] So MS. Eds. “_sauies:_”—“_habler_” ought to be “_hablar_;”
but throughout this work I have not altered the spelling of quotations in
_modern_ languages, because probably Skelton wrote them inaccurately.
[20] _fidasso de cosso_] So MS. Eds. of Lant, and of Kynge and Marche,
“sidasso _de cosso_.” Eds. of Day, and of Marshe, “sidasso _de_ costo.”
See notes.
[21] _expers_] Not in MS.
[22] _dictes ar_] Other eds. “dices at.”
[23] _Souentez foys, &c._] This line found only in Lant’s ed. and MS. The
latter has “_Souentem_,” (or “_Sonentem_,”) &c.
[24] _pronuntio_] Probably not the right reading. The MS. seems to have
either “pō sio” or “pō fio.”
[25] _maystres_] Other eds. “maysters” and “maisters.”
[26] _I_] MS. “he.”
[27] _mory_] MS. “mery:” but the context seems to confirm the other
reading.
[28] _men_] MS. “mad.”
[29] _for_] Other eds. “sor” and “or.”
[30] _theyr doth_] MS. “ys the.”
[31] _Myden_] So MS. Eds. “_Niden_.”
[32] _Greke_] MS. “grekys.”
[33] _Besy, besy, &c._] Instead of this stanza, MS. has,—
“_Besy, besy, besy, and Besynes agayne_
_Thus parott dothe pray yow with herte moste tentyr,” &c._
omitting what occurs between the first of these lines and the second (p.
11) in eds.
[34] _maturato_] Other eds. “_marturato_.”
[35] _sanno_] Marshe’s ed. “_saung_.”
[36] _Iobab_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “Iob.” See notes.
[37] _Hus_] Ed. of Kynge and Marche, “Pus.”
[38] _cause_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “law.”
[39] _Popering_] Other eds. “popeting.”
[40] _whynnymeg_] Other eds. (with various spelling) “whynnynmeg.”
[41] _wald haue e_] Other eds. “would (and “wold”) _haue_ a:” but the
reading of Lant’s ed. seems to have been intended for Scotch.
[42] _bagpype_] So other eds. (with various spelling). Lant’s ed.
“Bagbyte.”
[43] _the_] Not in other eds.
[44] _erstrych_] So other eds. Lant’s ed. “exstrych.”
[45] _Thomasen_] Marshe’s ed. “thomase.”
[46] _sayth_] Other eds. “say.”
[47] _Irysh_] Marshe’s ed. “trysh.”
[48] _Wrig wrag_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “_wrig_ wag.”
[49] _Delarag_] Other eds. “declarag.”
[50] _crop_] Other eds. “cryp” and “crip.”
[51] _Og, that fat hog of_] Other eds. “hog _that fat hog_ or.”
[52] _Cananæorum_] Eds. “canaueorum.”
[53] _Hough ho he rulyth_] Day’s ed. “_hough he ruleth_.” Marshe’s ed.
“_hough ho ruleth_.”
[54] _chiromancy_] So Marshe’s ed. Other eds. “ciromancy.”
[55] _on_] Other eds. “of.”
[56] _they_] Qy. “ye” here—or “they” in the three preceding lines?
[57] _scrape_] Eds. of Kynge and Marche, and of Day, “scape.”
[58] _non, or non_] Lant’s ed. “_non or_ uou.” Other eds. “uou _or_ uou.”
[59] _Græce fari_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “_grecisari_.”
[60] _Tryuyals_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “Triuiale.”
[61] _the_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “that.”
[62] _roufled_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “roulled.”
[63] _Menanders_] See notes.
[64] _Plauti_] Lant’s ed. “Plautfi.” Other eds. “Plaut si.”
[65] _Declamacyons_] Eds. (with various spelling) “declaracyons.” See
_ante_ p. 374, note 5.
[66] _gariopholo_] See notes.
[67] _pleris cum musco_] Ed. of Kynge and Marche, “_pleris_ com _musco_.”
Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “_pleris_ commusco.” Instead of “_pleris_,” the
Rev. J. Mitford proposes “flarnis” (_species placentæ_).
[68] _Elencticum_] Eds. “_Elencum_.”
[69] _enthymematicum_] Eds. “_Emtimematicum_” and “_Emtimaticum_.”
[70] _Retoricyons_] Other eds. “_Retorcions_.”
[71] _my_] Other eds. “myne” and “mine.”
[72] _dere_] Not in eds. of Day, and Marshe.
[73] _the_] Other eds. “that.”
[74] _ryall_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, (with various spelling), “royall.”
[75] _now_] Not in MS.
[76] _Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis, &c._] “&c.” not in eds.
of Day, and Marshe. MS. “_Itaque consolamyni in verbis_ istibus.” Before
these words eds. have “_Galathea_,” which MS. rightly, I think, omits.
[77] _Candidi lectores, callide callete; vestrum fovete Psittacum, &c._]
Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “—— seuete _psitacum_,” omitting “&c.” MS. omits
this passage here, but gives it after the words with which the eds.
of _Speke, Parrot_ conclude (see p. 14), having “callige” instead of
“_callete_,” and wanting “&c.”
[78] _Hic occurrat, &c._] Was no doubt intended for a marginal note,
though in MS. (it is wanting in eds.) it is not clearly distinguished
from the text.
[79] _In ista cantilena, &c._] Grossly corrupted. The Rev. J. Mitford
proposes “_ore stillanti_.” MS. has “_eperit_.”
[80] _Quod_] MS. “Quid.”
[81] _Est mihi lasciva pagina, vita proba_] “_Lasciva est nobis pagina,
vita proba est._” _Ep._ i. 5.
[82] _Zoe kai psyche ... desuper_] Is plainly a marginal note, though in
MS. (it is not in eds.) it is placed after “_Concumbunt Græce_,” &c.
[83] _kus, kus, kus_] MS. “_kus, kus._”
[84] _lyght on thy swete lyttyll_] MS. “lyghten _thy lytyll swete_.”
[85] _Zoe kai psyche_] Eds. “_zoelzepsiche_;” and so MS., with slight
variation of spelling: the Latin which precedes shews the true reading.
These words are followed in eds. by “Amen;” which MS. rightly gives a
little after.
[86] _Aquinates_] Has crept into the text in eds., and is not clearly
distinguished from the text in MS. But it is certainly a marginal
note—meaning Juvenal, from whom “_Concumbunt Græce_,” &c. is quoted: see
_Sat._ vi. 191.
[87] _Concumbunt_] Other eds. “_Concubunt._”
[88] _Sua consequentia, &c._] Another marginal note (not in eds.) which
MS. does not clearly distinguish from the text.
[89] _Ergo_] Not in MS.
[90] _Attica_] So MS. Eds. “_Actica._”
[91] _Sunt_] So MS. Eds. “_Suus._”
[92] _Vel_] MS. “_Ve_.”
[93] _hæc_] So MS. Eds. “_hoc_.”
[94] _Urania_] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, “_Vxania_.”
[95] _Amen, Amen_] Occurs twice in MS. by a mistake of the transcriber.
[96] _to_] Not in MS.
[97] _Cum cæteris paribus_] After these words, MS. has the passage
“_Candidi lectores ... fovete Psittacum_,” which has been already given:
see p. 11.
[98] _Morda_] So MS. afterwards: here “_Merda_.”
[99] _stede_] MS. “spede.”
[100] _Psittace, perge_] MS. “_Psitago perage_.”
[101] _Morda_] So MS. afterwards: here “_Merda_.”
[102] _Parrot[e]_ Must be considered here as a Latin word, and a
trisyllable—u.
[103] _perlys_] MS. “prelys.”
[104] _volitans_] MS. “_vtilans_”—not, I think, a mistake for
“_rutilans_:” compare _ante_, “Psittace, perge, _volans_,” p. 16, and “I,
properans, Parrot,” p. 17.
[105] _notus_] Qy. “_motus_?” but I have no idea what these two lines
mean.
[106] _complayndre_] MS. “_complayndra._”
[107] _polorum_] MS. “_populorum._”
[108] _lowre_] Qy. “lowte?”
[109] _sophysms_] MS. “sophyns.”
[110] _many_] MS. “_many_ many.”
[111] _perfyte_] MS. “profyte.”
[112] _the world_] MS. “_the world_ the world.”
[113] _revelyng_] So MS. _literatim_,—meant for “ruelyng” (ruling).
[114] _ffylty gorgon_] MS. seems to have “ffyltyrͬgogon,”—the _r_ in the
word (apparently) having been drawn through, and another _r_ placed over
it, which, I suppose, ought to have stood above the _og_.
HERE AFTER FOLOWETH A LYTELL BOKE,[115] WHICHE HATH TO NAME WHY COME YE
NAT[116] TO COURTE?
COMPYLED BY MAYSTER SKELTON, POETE LAUREATE.
The relucent mirror[117] for all Prelats and Presidents, as well
spirituall as temporall, sadly to loke vpon, deuised in English by
Skelton.
All noble men,[118] of this take hede,
And beleue it as your Crede.
To hasty of sentence,
To ferce for none offence,
To scarce of your expence,
To large in neglygence,
To slacke in recompence,
To haute in excellence,
To lyght [in] intellegence,
And to lyght in[119] credence; 10
Where these kepe resydence,
Reson is banysshed thence,
And also dame Prudence,
With sober Sapyence.[120]
All noble men, of this take hede,
And beleue it as your Crede.
Than without collusyon,
Marke well this conclusyon,
Thorow[121] suche abusyon,
And by suche illusyon, 20
Vnto great confusyon
A noble man may fall,
And his honour appall;
And[122] yf ye thynke this shall
Not rubbe you on the gall,
Than the deuyll take all!
All noble men, of this take hede,
And beleue it as your Crede.
_Hæc vates ille,_
_De quo loquuntur mille._[123] 30
WHY COME YE NAT TO COURT?
For age is a page
For the courte full vnmete,
For age cannat[124] rage,
Nor basse her swete swete:
But whan age seeth that rage
Dothe aswage and refrayne,
Than wyll age haue a corage
To come to court agayne.
But
Helas, sage ouerage
So[125] madly decayes, 40
That age for dottage
Is reconed[126] now adayes:
Thus age (a[127] graunt domage)
Is nothynge set by,
And rage in arerage
Dothe rynne lamentably.
So
That rage must make pyllage,
To catche that catche may,
And with suche forage
Hunte the boskage, 50
That hartes wyll ronne away;
Bothe hartes and hyndes,
With all good myndes:
Fare well, than, haue good day!
Than, haue good daye, adewe!
For defaute of rescew,
Some men may happely rew,
And some[128] theyr hedes mew;
The tyme dothe fast ensew,
That bales begynne to brew: 60
I drede, by swete Iesu,
This tale wyll be to trew;
In faythe, dycken, thou krew,
In fayth, dicken, thou krew, &c.
Dicken, thou krew doutlesse;
For, trewly to expresse,
There hath ben[129] moche excesse,
With banketynge braynlesse,
With ryotynge rechelesse,
With gambaudynge thryftlesse, 70
With spende and wast witlesse,
Treatinge of trewse restlesse,
Pratynge for peace peaslesse.
The[130] countrynge at Cales
Wrang vs on the males:[131]
Chefe counselour was carlesse,
Gronynge, grouchyng, gracelesse;
And to none entente
Our talwod is all brent,
Our fagottes are all spent, 80
We may blowe at the cole:
Our mare hath cast her fole,
And Mocke hath lost her sho;
What may she do therto?
An ende of an olde song,
Do ryght and do[132] no wronge,
As ryght as a rammes horne;
For thrifte is threde bare worne,
Our shepe are shrewdly shorne,
And trouthe is all to-torne; 90
Wysdom is laught to skorne,
Fauell is false forsworne,
Iauell is nobly borne,
Hauell and Haruy Hafter,
Iack Trauell and Cole Crafter,
We shall here more herafter;
With pollynge and shauynge,
With borowynge and crauynge,[133]
With reuynge and rauynge,
With swerynge and starynge, 100
Ther vayleth no resonynge,
For wyll dothe rule all thynge,
Wyll, wyll, wyll, wyll, wyll,
He ruleth alway styll.
Good reason and good skyll,
They may garlycke pyll,
Cary sackes to the myll,
Or pescoddes they may shyll,
Or elles go rost a stone:
There is no man but one 110
That hathe the strokes alone;
Be it blacke or whight,
All that he dothe is ryght,
As right as a cammocke croked.
This byll well ouer loked,
Clerely perceuye we may
There went the hare away,
The hare, the fox, the gray,
The harte, the hynde, the buck:
God sende vs better luck! 120
God sende vs better lucke, &c.
Twit, Andrewe, twit, Scot,[134]
Ge heme, ge scour thy pot;
For we haue spente our shot:
We shall haue a _tot quot_
From the Pope of Rome,
To weue all in one lome
A webbe of lylse wulse,
_Opus male dulce_:
The deuyll kysse his[135] cule! 130
For, whyles he doth rule,
All is warse and warse;
The deuyll kysse his arse!
For whether he blesse or curse,
It can not be moche worse.
From Baumberow to Bothombar[136]
We haue cast vp our war,
And made[137] a worthy trewse,
With, gup, leuell suse!
Our mony madly lent,[138] 140
And mor madly spent:
From Croydon to[139] Kent,
Wote ye whyther they went?
From Wynchelsey to Rye,
And all nat[140] worth a flye;
From Wentbridge to Hull;
Our armye waxeth dull,
With, tourne all home agayne,
And neuer a Scot slayne.
Yet the good Erle of Surray, 150
The Frenche men he doth fray,
And vexeth them day by day
With all the power he may;
The French men he hath faynted,
And made[141] theyr hertes attaynted:
Of cheualry he is the floure;
Our Lorde be his soccoure!
The French men he hathe so mated,
And theyr courage abated,
That they are but halfe men; 160
Lyke foxes in theyr denne,
Lyke cankerd cowardes all,
Lyke vrcheons[142] in a stone wall,
They kepe them in theyr holdes,
Lyke henherted cokoldes.
But yet they ouer shote vs
Wyth crownes and wyth scutus;
With scutis and crownes of gold
I drede we are bought and solde;
It is a wonders warke: 170
They shote all at one marke,
At the Cardynals hat,
They[143] shote all at that;
Oute of theyr stronge townes
They shote at him with crownes;
With crownes of golde enblased
They make him so amased,
And his eyen so dased,
That he ne se can
To know God nor man. 180
He is set so hye
In his ierarchy
Of frantycke frenesy
And folysshe fantasy,
That in the Chambre of Starres[144]
All maters there he marres;
Clappyng his rod on the borde,
No man dare speke a worde,
For he hathe all the sayenge,
Without any renayenge; 190
He rolleth in his recordes,
He sayth, How saye ye, my lordes?
Is nat[145] my reason good?
Good euyn, good Robyn Hood![146]
Some say yes, and some
Syt styll as they were dom:
Thus thwartyng ouer thom,
He ruleth all the roste
With braggynge and with bost;
Borne vp on euery syde 200
With pompe and with pryde,
With, trompe vp, alleluya!
For dame Philargerya[147]
Hathe so his herte in holde,
He loueth nothyng but golde;
And Asmodeus of hell
Maketh his membres swell
With Dalyda to mell,
That wanton damosell.[148]
Adew, Philosophia, 210
Adew, Theologia!
Welcome, dame Simonia,
With dame Castrimergia,
To drynke and for to eate
Swete ypocras[149] and swete meate!
To kepe his flesshe chast,
In Lent for a repast
He eateth capons[150] stewed,
Fesaunt and partriche mewed,
Hennes, checkynges, and pygges; 220
He foynes and he frygges,
Spareth neither mayde ne wyfe:
This is a postels lyfe!
Helas! my herte is sory
To tell of vayne glory:
But now vpon this story
I wyll no further ryme
Tyll another tyme,
Tyll another tyme, &c.[151]
What newes, what newes?[152] 230
Small newes the[153] true is,
That be worth ii. kues;
But at the naked stewes,
I vnderstande how that
The sygne of the Cardynall Hat,
That inne is now shyt vp,
With, gup, hore, gup, now gup,
Gup, Guilliam[154] Trauillian,
With, iast you, I say, Jullian!
Wyll ye bere no coles? 240
A mayny of marefoles,
That occupy theyr holys,
Full of pocky molys.
What here ye of Lancashyre?
They were nat[155] payde their hyre;
They are fel as any fyre.
What here ye of Chesshyre?
They haue layde all in the myre;
They grugyd,[156] and sayde
Theyr wages were nat[157] payde; 250
Some sayde they were afrayde
Of the Scottysshe hoste,[158]
For all theyr crack[159] and bost,
Wylde fyre and thonder;
For all this worldly wonder,
A hundred myle asonder
They were whan they[160] were next;
That is a trew text.
What here ye of the Scottes?
They make vs all sottes, 260
Poppynge folysshe dawes;
They make vs to pyll strawes;
They play their olde pranckes,
After Huntley bankes:
At the streme of Banockes burne
They dyd vs a shrewde turne,
Whan Edwarde of Karnaruan
Lost all that[161] his father wan.
What here ye of the Lorde Dakers?
He maketh vs Jacke Rakers; 270
He sayes we ar but crakers;
He calleth vs England men
Stronge herted lyke an hen;
For the Scottes and he
To well they do agre,
With, do thou for me,
And I shall do for thé.
Whyles the red hat doth endure,
He maketh himselfe cock sure;
The red hat with his lure 280
Bryngeth all thynges vnder cure.
But, as the worlde now gose,
What here ye of the Lorde Rose?
Nothynge to purpose,
Nat[162] worth a cockly fose:
Their hertes be in thyr hose.
The Erle of Northumberlande
Dare take nothynge on hande:
Our barons be so bolde,
Into a mouse hole they wolde 290
Rynne[163] away and crepe,
Lyke a mayny of shepe;
Dare nat[164] loke out at dur[165]
For drede of the mastyue cur,
For drede of the bochers dogge
Wold wyrry them lyke an hogge.
For and this curre do gnar,
They must stande all a far,
To holde vp their hande at the bar.
For all their noble blode 300
He pluckes them by the hode,
And shakes them by the eare,
And brynge[s] them in suche feare;
He bayteth them lyke a bere,
Lyke an oxe or a bull:
Theyr wyttes, he saith, are dull;
He sayth they haue no brayne
Theyr astate to mayntayne;
And maketh them to[166] bow theyr kne
Before his maieste. 310
Juges of the kynges lawes,
He countys them foles and dawes;
Sergyantes of the coyfe eke,
He sayth they are to seke
In pletynge of theyr case
At the Commune Place,
Or at the Kynges Benche;
He wryngeth them suche a wrenche,
That all our lerned men
Dare nat[167] set theyr penne 320
To plete a trew tryall
Within Westmynster hall;
In the Chauncery where he syttes,
But suche as he admyttes
None so hardy to speke;
He sayth, thou huddypeke,
Thy lernynge is to lewde,
Thy tonge is nat[168] well thewde,
To seke before our grace;
And openly in that place 330
He rages and he raues,
And cals them cankerd knaues:
Thus royally he dothe deale
Vnder the kynges brode seale;
And in the Checker he them cheks;
In the Ster Chambre he noddis and beks,
And bereth him there so stowte,
That no man dare rowte,
Duke, erle, baron, nor lorde,
But to his sentence must accorde; 340
Whether he be knyght or squyre,
All men must[169] folow his desyre.
What say ye of the Scottysh kynge?
That is another thyng.
He is but an yonglyng,
A stalworthy[170] stryplyng:
There[171] is a whyspring and a whipling,
He shulde be hyder[172] brought;
But, and it were well sought,
I trow all wyll be nought, 350
Nat[173] worth a shyttel cocke,
Nor worth a sowre calstocke.
There goth many a lye
Of the Duke of Albany,
That of shulde go his hede,
And brought in quycke or dede,
And all Scotlande owers
The mountenaunce of two houres.
But, as some men sayne,
I drede of some false trayne 360
Subtelly wrought shall be
Vnder a fayned treatee;
But within monethes thre
Men may happely se
The trechery and the prankes
Of the Scottysshe bankes.
What here ye of Burgonyons,
And the Spainyardes onyons?
They haue slain our Englisshmen
Aboue threscore and ten: 370
For all your amyte,
No better they agre.
God saue my lorde admyrell!
What here ye of Mutrell?
There with I dare nat[174] mell.
Yet what here ye tell
Of our graunde counsell?
I coulde say some what,
But speke ye no more of that,
For drede of the red hat 380
Take peper in the nose;
For than thyne heed of gose,
Of by the harde arse.
But there is some trauarse
Bytwene some and some,
That makys our syre to glum;
It is some what wronge,
That his berde is so longe;
He morneth in blacke clothynge.
I pray God saue the kynge! 390
Where euer he go or ryde,
I pray God be his gyde!
Thus wyll I conclude my style,
And fall to rest a whyle,
And so to rest a whyle, &c.
Ones[175] yet agayne
Of you I wolde frayne,
Why come ye nat[176] to court?—
To whyche court?
To the kynges courte, 400
Or to Hampton Court?—
Nay, to the kynges court:
The kynges courte
Shulde haue the excellence;
But Hampton Court
Hath the preemynence,
And Yorkes Place,
With my lordes grace,
To whose magnifycence
Is all the conflewence, 410
Sutys and supplycacyons,
Embassades of all nacyons.
Strawe for lawe canon,[177]
Or for the lawe common,
Or for lawe cyuyll!
It shall be as he wyll:
Stop at law tancrete,
An obstract or a concrete;
Be it soure, be it swete,
His wysdome is so dyscrete, 420
That in a fume or an hete,
Wardeyn of the Flete,
Set hym fast by the fete!
And of his royall powre
Whan him lyst to lowre,
Than, haue him to the Towre,
_Saunz aulter_ remedy,
Haue hym forthe by and by
To the Marshalsy,
Or to the Kynges Benche! 430
He dyggeth so in the trenche
Of the court royall,
That he ruleth them all.
So he dothe vndermynde,
And suche sleyghtes dothe fynde,
That the kynges mynde
By hym is subuerted,
And so streatly coarted
In credensynge his tales,
That all is but nutshales 440
That any other sayth;
He hath in him suche fayth.
Now, yet all this myght be
Suffred and taken in gre,
If that that he wrought
To any good ende were brought;
But all he bringeth to nought,
By[178] God, that me dere bought!
He bereth the kyng[179] on hand,
That he must pyll his lande, 450
To make his cofers ryche;
But he laythe all in the dyche,
And vseth suche abusyoun,
That in the conclusyoun
All commeth to confusyon.
Perceyue the cause why,
To tell the trouth playnly,
He is so ambicyous,
So shamles, and[180] so vicyous,
And so supersticyous, 460
And so moche obliuyous
From whens that he came,
That he falleth into[181] a _cæciam_,[182]
Whiche, truly to expresse,
Is a forgetfulnesse,
Or wylfull blyndnesse,
Wherwith the Sodomites
Lost theyr inward syghtes,
The Gommoryans also
Were brought to deedly wo, 470
As Scrypture recordis:
_A cæcitate cordis_,
In the Latyne synge we,
_Libera nos, Domine_!
But this madde Amalecke,
Lyke to a Mamelek,[183]
He regardeth lordes
No more than potshordes;
He is in suche elacyon
Of his exaltacyon, 480
And the supportacyon
Of our souerayne lorde,
That, God to recorde,
He ruleth all at wyll,
Without reason or skyll:
How be it the[184] primordyall
Of his wretched originall,
And his base progeny,
And his gresy genealogy,
He came of the sank royall, 490
That was cast out of a bochers stall.
But how euer he was borne,
Men wolde haue the lesse scorne,
If he coulde consyder
His byrth and rowme togeder,[185]
And call to his mynde
How noble and how kynde
To him he hathe founde
Our souereyne lorde, chyfe grounde
Of all this prelacy, 500
And set hym nobly
In great auctoryte,
Out from a low degre,
Whiche he can nat[186] se:
For he was parde
No doctor of deuinyte,
Nor doctor of the law,
Nor of none other saw;
But a poore maister of arte,
God wot, had lytell parte 510
Of the quatriuials,
Nor yet of triuials,
Nor of philosophy,
Nor of philology,
Nor of good pollycy,
Nor of astronomy,
Nor acquaynted worth a fly
With honorable Haly,
Nor with royall Ptholomy,
Nor with Albumasar, 520
To treate of any star
Fyxt or els mobyll;
His Latyne tonge dothe hobbyll,
He doth but cloute and cobbill
In Tullis faculte,
Called humanyte;
Yet proudly he dare pretende
How no man can him amende:
But haue ye nat[187] harde this,
How an one eyed man is 530
Well syghted when
He is amonge blynde men?
Than, our processe for to stable,
This man was full vnable
To reche to suche degre,
Had nat[188] our prynce be
Royall Henry the eyght,
Take him in suche conceyght,
That he set him on heyght,
In exemplyfyenge 540
Great Alexander the kynge,
In writynge as we fynde;
Whiche of his royall mynde,
And of his noble pleasure,
Transcendynge out of mesure,
Thought to do a thynge
That perteyneth to a kynge,
To make vp one of nought,
And made to him be brought
A wretched poore man, 550
Whiche his lyuenge wan
With plantyng of lekes
By the dayes and by the wekes,
And of this poore vassall
He made a kynge royall,
And gaue him a realme to rule,
That occupyed a showell,
A mattoke, and a spade,
Before that he was made
A kynge, as I haue tolde, 560
And ruled as he wolde.
Suche is a kynges power,
To make within an hower,
And worke suche a myracle,
That shall be a spectacle
Of renowme and worldly fame:
In lykewyse now the same
Cardynall is promoted,
Yet with lewde condicyons cotyd,[189]
As herafter ben notyd, 570
Presumcyon and vayne glory,
Enuy, wrath, and lechery,
Couetys and glotony,
Slouthfull to do good,
Now frantick, now starke wode.
Shulde this man of suche mode
Rule the swerde of myght,
How can he do ryght?
For he wyll as sone smyght
His frende as his fo; 580
A prouerbe longe ago.
Set vp a wretche on hye
In a trone triumphantlye,
Make him a great astate,
And he wyll play checke mate
With ryall[190] maieste,
Counte him selfe as good as he;
A prelate potencyall,
To rule vnder Bellyall,
As ferce and as cruell 590
As the fynd of hell.
His seruauntes menyall
He dothe reuyle, and brall,
Lyke Mahounde in a play;
No man dare him withsay:
He hath dispyght and scorne
At them that be well borne;
He rebukes them and rayles,
Ye horsons, ye vassayles,
Ye knaues, ye churles sonnys, 600
Ye rebads, nat[191] worth two plummis,
Ye raynbetyn beggers reiagged,
Ye recrayed ruffyns all ragged!
With, stowpe, thou hauell,
Rynne, thou iauell!
Thou peuysshe pye pecked,
Thou losell longe necked!
Thus dayly they be decked,
Taunted and checked,
That they ar so wo, 610
They wot not whether to go.
No man dare come to the speche
Of this gentell Iacke breche,
Of what estate he be,
Of spirituall dygnyte,
Nor duke of hye degre,
Nor marques, erle, nor lorde;
Whiche shrewdly doth accorde,
Thus he borne so base
All noble men shulde out face, 620
His countynaunce lyke a kayser.
My lorde is nat[192] at layser;
Syr, ye must tary a stounde,
Tyll better layser be founde;
And, syr, ye must daunce attendaunce,
And take pacient sufferaunce,
For my lordes grace
Hath nowe no tyme nor space
To speke with you as yet.
And thus they shall syt, 630
Chuse them syt or flyt,
Stande, walke, or ryde,
And his layser abyde
Parchaunce halfe a yere,
And yet neuer the nere.
This daungerous dowsypere,
Lyke a kynges pere;
And within this xvi. yere
He wolde haue ben ryght fayne
To haue ben a chapleyne, 640
And haue taken ryght gret payne
With a poore knyght,
What soeuer he hyght.
The chefe of his owne counsell,
They can nat[193] well tell
Whan they with hym shulde mell,
He is so fyers and fell;
He rayles and he ratis,
He calleth them doddypatis;
He grynnes and he gapis, 650
As it were iack napis.
Suche a madde bedleme
For to rewle this reame,[194]
It is a wonders[195] case:
That the kynges grace
Is toward him so mynded,
And so farre blynded,
That he can nat[196] parceyue
How he doth hym disceyue,
I dought, lest by sorsery, 660
Or suche other loselry,
As wychecraft, or charmyng;
For he is the kynges derlyng,
And his swete hart rote,
And is gouerned by this mad kote:
For what is a man the better
For the kynges letter?
For he wyll tere it asonder;
Wherat moche I wonder,
How suche a hoddypoule 670
So boldely dare controule,
And so malapertly withstande
The kynges owne hande,
And settys nat[197] by it a myte;
He sayth the kynge doth wryte
And writeth he wottith nat[198] what;
And yet for all that,
The kynge his clemency
Despensyth with his demensy.
But what his grace doth thinke, 680
I haue no pen nor inke
That therwith can mell;
But wele I can tell
How Frauncis Petrarke,
That moche noble clerke,
Wryteth how Charlemayn
Coude nat[199] him selfe refrayne,
But was rauysht with a rage
Of a lyke dotage:
But how that came aboute, 690
Rede ye the story oute,
And ye shall fynde surely
It was by nycromansy,
By carectes and coniuracyon,
Vnder a certeyne constellacion,
And a certayne fumygacion,
Vnder a stone on a golde ryng,
Wrought to Charlemayn the king,
Whiche constrayned him forcebly
For to loue a certayne body 700
Aboue all other inordinatly.
This is no fable nor no lye;
At Acon it was brought to pas,
As by myne auctor tried it was.
But let mi masters mathematical
Tell you the rest, for me they shal;
They haue the full intellygence,
And dare vse the experyens,
In there obsolute consciens
To practyue[200] suche abolete sciens; 710
For I abhore to smatter
Of one so deuyllysshe a matter.
But I wyll make further relacion
Of this isagogicall colation,
How maister Gaguine, the crownycler
Of the feytis of war
That were done in Fraunce,
Maketh remembraunce,
How Kynge Lewes of late
Made vp a great astate 720
Of a poore wretchid man,
Wherof moche care began.
Iohannes Balua was his name,
Myne auctor writeth the same;
Promoted was he
To a cardynalles dygnyte
By Lewes the kyng aforesayd,
With hym so wele apayd,
That he made him his chauncelar
To make all or to mar, 730
And to rule as him lyst,
Tyll he cheked at the fyst,
And agayne all reason
Commyted open trayson
And[201] against his lorde souerayn;
Wherfore he suffred payn,
Was hedyd, drawen, and quarterd,
And dyed stynkingly marterd.
Lo, yet for all that
He ware a cardynals hat, 740
In hym was small fayth,
As myne auctor sayth:
Nat[202] for that I mene
Suche a casuelte shulde be sene,
Or suche chaunce shulde fall
Vnto our cardynall.
Allmyghty God, I trust,
Hath for him dyscust
That of force he must
Be faythfull, trew, and iust 750
To our most royall kynge,
Chefe rote of his makynge;
Yet it is a wyly mouse
That can bylde his dwellinge house
Within the cattes eare[203]
Withouten drede or feare.
It is a nyce reconynge,
To put all the gouernynge,
All the rule of this lande
Into one mannys hande: 760
One wyse mannys hede
May stande somwhat in stede;
But the wyttys of many wyse
Moche better can deuyse,
By theyr cyrcumspection,
And theyr sad dyrrection,
To cause the commune weale
Longe to endure in heale.
Christ kepe King Henry the eyght
From trechery and dysceyght, 770
And graunt him grace to know
The faucon from the crow,
The wolfe from the lam,
From whens that mastyfe cam!
Let him neuer confounde
The gentyll greyhownde:
Of this matter the grownde
Is easy to expounde,
And soone may be perceyued,[204]
How the worlde is conueyed. 780
But harke, my frende, one worde
In ernest or in borde:
Tell me nowe in this stede
Is maister Mewtas dede,
The kynges Frenshe secretary,
And his vntrew aduersary?
For he sent in writynge
To Fraunces the French kyng
Of our maisters counsel in eueri thing:
That was a peryllous rekenyng!— 790
Nay, nay, he is nat[205] dede;
But he was so payned in the hede,
That he shall neuer ete more bred.
Now he is gone to another stede,
With a bull vnder lead,
By way of commissyon,
To a straunge iurisdictyon,
Called Dymingis Dale,
Farre byyonde Portyngale,
And bathe his pasport to pas 800
_Ultra Sauromatas_,
To the deuyll, syr Sathanas,
To Pluto, and syr Bellyall,
The deuyls vycare generall,
And to his college conuentuall,
As well calodemonyall
As to cacodemonyall,[206]
To puruey for our cardynall
A palace pontifycall,
To kepe his court prouyncyall, 810
Vpon artycles iudicyall,
To contende and to stryue
For his prerogatyue,
Within that consystory
To make sommons peremtory
Before some prothonotory[207]
Imperyall or papall.
Vpon this matter mistycall
I haue tolde you part, but nat[208] all:
Herafter perchaunce I shall 820
Make a larger[209] memoryall,
And a further rehersall,
And more paper I thinke to blot,
To the court why I cam not;
Desyring you aboue all thynge
To kepe you from laughynge
Whan ye fall to redynge
Of this wanton scrowle,
And pray for Mewtas sowle,
For he is well past and gone; 830
That wolde God euerychone
Of his affynyte
Were gone as well as he!
Amen, amen, say ye,
Of your inward charyte;
Amen,
Of your inward charyte.
It were great rewth,
For wrytynge of trewth
Any man shulde be 840
In perplexyte
Of dyspleasure;
For I make you sure,
Where trouth is abhorde,
It is a playne recorde
That there wantys grace;
In whose place
Dothe occupy,
Full vngracyously,
Fals flatery, 850
Fals trechery,[210]
Fals brybery,
Subtyle Sym Sly,
With madde foly;
For who can best lye,
He is best set by.
Than farewell to thé,
Welthfull felycite!
For prosperyte
Away than wyll fle. 860
Than must we agre
With pouerte;
For mysery,
With penury,
Myserably
And wretchydly
Hath made askrye
And outcry,
Folowynge the chase
To dryue away grace. 870
Yet sayst thou percase,
We can lacke no grace,
For my lordes grace,
And my ladies grace,
With trey duse ase,
And ase in the face,
Some haute and some base,
Some daunce the trace
Euer in one case:
Marke me that chase 880
In the tennys play,
For synke quater trey
Is a tall man:
He rod, but we ran,
Hay, the gye and the gan!
The gray gose is no swan;
The waters wax wan,
And beggers they ban,
And they cursed Datan,
_De tribu Dan_, 890
That this warke[211] began,
_Palam et clam_,
With Balak and Balam,
The golden ram
Of Flemmyng dam,
Sem, Iapheth, or Cam.
But howe comme to pas,
Your cupbord that was
Is tourned to glasse,
From syluer to brasse, 900
From golde to pewter,
Or els to a newter,
To copper, to tyn,
To lede, or alcumyn?
A goldsmyth your mayre;
But the chefe of your fayre
Myght stande nowe by potters,
And suche as sell trotters:
Pytchars,[212] potshordis,
This shrewdly accordis 910
To be a cupborde[213] for lordys.
My lorde now and syr knyght,
Good euyn and good nyght!
For now, syr Trestram,
Ye must weare bukram,
Or canues of Cane,
For sylkes are wane.
Our royals that shone,
Our nobles are gone
Amonge the Burgonyons, 920
And Spanyardes onyons,
And the Flanderkyns.
Gyll swetis, and Cate spynnys,
They are happy that wynnys;
But Englande may well say,
Fye on this wynnyng all way!
Now nothynge but pay, pay,
With, laughe and lay downe,
Borowgh, cyte, and towne.
Good Sprynge of Lanam 930
Must counte what became
Of his clothe makynge:
He is at suche takynge,
Though his purse wax dull,
He must tax for his wull
By nature of a newe writ;
My lordys grace nameth it
A _quia non satisfacit_:
In the spyght of his tethe
He must pay agayne 940
A thousande or twayne
Of his golde in store;
And yet he payde before
An[214] hunderd pounde and more,
Whiche pyncheth him sore.
My lordis grace wyll bryuge
Downe this hye sprynge,
And brynge it so lowe,
It shall nat[215] euer flowe.
Suche a prelate, I trowe, 950
Were worthy to rowe
Thorow the streytes of[216] Marock
To the gybbet of Baldock:
He wolde dry vp the stremys
Of ix. kinges realmys,[217]
All ryuers and wellys,
All waters that swellys;
For with vs he so mellys
That within Englande dwellys,
I wolde he were somwhere ellys; 960
For els by and by
He wyll drynke vs so drye,
And suck vs so nye,
That men shall scantly
Haue peny or halpeny.
God saue his noble grace,
And graunt him a place
Endlesse to dwell
With the deuyll of hell!
For, and he were there, 970
We nede neuer feere
Of the fendys blake:
For I vndertake
He wolde so brag and crake,
That he wolde than make
The deuyls to quake,
To shudder and to shake,
Lyke a fyer drake,
And with a cole rake
Brose[218] them on a brake, 980
And bynde them to a stake,
And set hell on fyer,
At his owne desyer.
He is suche a grym syer,
And suche a potestolate,
And suche a potestate,
That he wolde breke the braynes
Of Lucyfer[219] in his chaynes,
And rule them echone
In Lucyfers trone. 990
I wolde he were gone;
For amonge vs is none
That ruleth but he alone,
Without all good reason,
And all out of season:
For Folam peason
With him be nat[220] geson;
They growwe very ranke
Vpon euery banke
Of his herbers grene, 1000
With my lady bryght and shene;
On theyr game it is sene
They play nat[221] all clene,
And it be as I wene.
But as touchynge dyscrecyon,[222]
With sober dyrectyon,
He kepeth them in subiectyon:
They can haue no protectyon
To rule nor to guyde,
But all must be tryde, 1010
And abyde the correctyon
Of his[223] wylfull affectyon.
For as for wytte,
The deuyll spede whitte!
But braynsyk and braynlesse,
Wytles and rechelesse,
Careles and shamlesse,
Thriftles and gracelesse,
Together are bended,
And so condyscended, 1020
That the commune welth
Shall neuer haue good helth,
But tatterd and tuggyd,
Raggyd and ruggyd,
Shauyn and shorne,
And all threde bare worne.
Suche gredynesse,
Suche nedynesse,
Myserablenesse,
With wretchydnesse, 1030
Hath brought in dystresse
And moche heuynesse
And great dolowre
Englande, the flowre
Of relucent honowre,
In olde commemoracion
Most royall Englyssh nacion.
Now all is out of facion,
Almost in desolation;
I speke by protestacion: 1040
God of his miseracyon
Send better reformacyon!
Lo, for to do shamfully
He iugeth it no foly!
But to wryte of his shame,
He sayth we ar to blame.
What a frensy is this,
No shame to do amys,
And yet he is ashamed
To be shamfully named![224] 1050
And ofte prechours be blamed,
Bycause they haue proclamed
His madnesse by writynge,
His symplenesse resytynge,
Remordynge and bytynge,
With chydyng and with flytynge,[225]
Shewynge him Goddis lawis:
He calleth the prechours dawis,
And of holy scriptures sawis
He counteth them for gygawis, 1060
And putteth them to sylence
And[226] with wordis of vyolence,
Lyke Pharao, voyde of grace,
Dyd Moyses sore manase,
And Aron sore he thret,
The worde of God to let;
This maumet in lyke wyse
Against the churche doth ryse;
The prechour he dothe dyspyse,
With crakynge in suche wyse, 1070
So braggynge all with bost,
That no prechour almost
Dare speke for his lyfe
Of my lordis grace nor his wyfe,
For he hath suche a bull,
He may take whom he wull,
And as many as him lykys;
May ete pigges in Lent for pikys,
After the sectes of heretykis,
For in Lent he wyll ete 1080
All maner of flesshe mete
That he can ony[227] where gete;
With other abusyons grete,
Wherof for[228] to trete
It wolde make the deuyll to swete,
For all priuileged places
He brekes and defaces,
All placis of relygion
He bathe them in derisyon,
And makith suche prouisyon 1090
To dryue them at diuisyon,
And fynally in conclusyon
To bringe them to confusyon;
Saint Albons to recorde
Wherof this vngracyous lorde
Hathe made him selfe abbot,
Against their wylles, God wot.
All this he dothe deale
Vnder strength of the great seale,
And by his legacy, 1100
Whiche madly he dothe apply
Vnto an extrauagancy
Pyked out of[229] all good lawe,
With reasons that ben rawe.
Yet, whan he toke first his hat,
He said he knew what was what;
All iustyce he pretended,
All thynges sholde be amended,
All wronges he wolde redresse,
All iniuris he wolde represse, 1110
All periuris he wolde oppresse;
And yet this gracelesse elfe,
He is periured himselfe,
As playnly it dothe appere,
Who lyst to enquere
In the regestry
Of my Lorde of Cantorbury,
To whom he was professed
In thre poyntes expressed;
The fyrst to do him reuerence, 1120
The seconde to owe hym obedyence,[230]
The thirde with hole affectyon
To be vnder his subiectyon:
But now he maketh obiectyon,
Vnder the protectyon
Of the kynges great seale,
That he setteth neuer a deale
By his former othe,
Whether God be pleased or wroth.
He makith so proude pretens, 1130
That in his equipolens
He iugyth him equiualent
With God omnipotent:
But yet beware the rod,
And the stroke of God!
The Apostyll Peter
Had a pore myter
And a poore cope
Whan he was creat Pope,
First in Antioche; 1140
He dyd neuer approche
Of Rome to the see
Weth suche dygnyte.
Saynt Dunstane, what was he?
Nothynge, he sayth, lyke to me:[231]
There is a dyuersyte
Bytwene him and me;
We passe hym in degre,
As _legatus a latere_.
_Ecce, sacerdos magnus_, 1150
That wyll hed vs and hange vs,
And streitly strangle vs
And[232] he may fange vs!
Decre and decretall,
Constytucyon prouincyall,
Nor no lawe canonicall,
Shall let the preest pontyficall
To syt _in causa sanguinis_.
Nowe God amende that is amys!
For I suppose that he is 1160
Of Ieremy the whyskynge rod,
The flayle, the scourge of almighty God.
This Naman Sirus,
So fell and so irons,
So full of malencoly,
With a flap afore[233] his eye,
Men wene that he is pocky,
Or els his surgions they lye,
For, as far as they[234] can spy
By the craft of surgery, 1170
It is _manus Domini_.
And yet this proude Antiochus,
He is so ambicious,
So elate, and so vicious,
And so cruell hertyd,
That he wyll nat[235] be conuertyd;
For he setteth God apart,
He is nowe so ouerthwart,
And so payned with pangis,
That all his trust hangis 1180
In Balthasor, whiche heled
Domingos nose that was wheled;
That Lumberdes nose meane I,
That standeth yet awrye;
It was nat[236] heled alderbest,
It standeth somwhat on the west;
I meane Domyngo Lomelyn,
That was wont to wyn
Moche money of the kynge
At the cardys and haserdynge: 1190
Balthasor, that helyd Domingos nose[237]
From the puskylde pocky pose,[238]
Now with his gummys of Araby
Hath promised to hele our cardinals eye;
Yet sum surgions put a dout,
Lest he wyll put[239] it clene out,
And make him lame of his neder limmes:
God sende him sorowe for his sinnes!
Some men myght aske a question,
By whose suggestyon 1200
I toke on hand this warke,
Thus boldly for to barke?
And men lyst to harke,
And my wordes marke,
I wyll answere lyke a clerke;
For trewly and vnfayned,
I am forcebly constrayned,
At Iuuynals request,
To wryght of this glorious gest,
Of this vayne gloryous best, 1210
His fame to be encrest
At euery solempne feest;
_Quia difficile est_
_Satiram non scribere_.
Now, mayster doctor, howe say ye,
What soeuer your name be?
What though ye be namelesse,
Ye shall nat[240] escape blamelesse,
Nor yet shall scape shamlesse:
Mayster doctor in your degre, 1220
Yourselfe madly ye ouerse;
Blame Iuuinall, and blame nat[241] me:
Maister doctor Diricum,
_Omne animi vitium_, &c.
As Iuuinall dothe recorde,
A small defaute in a great lorde,
A lytell cryme in a great astate,
Is moche more inordinate,
And more horyble to beholde,
Than any other a thousand folde. 1230
Ye put to blame ye wot nere whom;
Ye may weare a cockes come;
Your fonde hed in your furred hood,[242]
Holde ye your tong, ye can no goode:
And at more conuenyent tyme
I may fortune for to ryme
Somwhat of your madnesse;
For small is your sadnesse
To put any man in lack,
And say yll behynde his back: 1240
And my wordes marke truly,
That ye can nat[243] byde thereby,
For _smegma non est cinnamomum_,
But _de absentibus nil nisi bonum_.
Complayne, or do what ye wyll,
Of your complaynt it shall nat[244] skyl:
This is the tenor of my byl,
A daucock ye be, and so shalbe styll.
_Sequitur Epitoma_
_De morbilloso Thoma,_
_Necnon obscœno_
_De Polyphemo, &c._
_Porro perbelle dissimulatum_
_Illum Pandulphum,[245] tantum legatum,_
_Tum formidatum nuper prælatum,_
_Ceu Naman Syrum nunc elongatum,[246]_
_In solitudine jam commoratum,_
_Neapolitano morbo gravatum,_
_Malagmate, cataplasmate stratum,[247]_
_Pharmacopolæ[248] ferro foratum,_
_Nihilo magis alleviatum,_
_Nihilo melius aut medicatum,_ 10
_Relictis famulis ad famulatum,_
_Quo[249] tollatur infamia,_
_Sed major patet insania;_
_A modo ergo ganea_
_Abhorreat ille ganeus,_
_Dominus male creticus,_
_Aptius dictus tetricus,_
_Fanaticus, phreneticus,_
_Graphicus sicut metricus_
_Autumat._ 20
_Hoc genus dictaminis_
_Non eget examinis_
_In centiloquio_
_Nec centimetro_
_Honorati_
_Grammatici_
_Mauri._
[115] _Here after foloweth a lytell boke, &c._] From the ed. by Kele, n.
d., collated with that by Wyght, n. d., with that by Kytson, n. d., and
with Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568.
[116] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[117] _The relucent mirror, &c.... by Skelton_] So Marshe’s ed. Not in
other eds.
[118] _All noble men, &c._] These twenty-eight introductory lines, which
are found in all the eds. of this poem, are also printed as a distinct
piece, in the various editions of _Certaine bokes compyled by Mayster
Skelton, &c._, n. d., and in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568.
[119] _in_] _Certayne bokes, &c._, and the distinct piece in Marshe’s
ed., “of.”
[120] _Sapyence_] Eds. of Kytson, and (in both places) Marshe, and all
eds. but one of _Certaine bokes, &c._, “Pacyence” (with various spelling).
[121] _Thorow_] So (with various spelling) _Certaine bokes, &c._, and the
distinct piece in Marshe’s ed. Other eds. “Through.”
[122] _And_] _Certaine bokes, &c._, and the distinct piece in Marshe’s
ed., “That.”
[123] _mille_] Other eds. “_in ille._”
[124] _cannat_] Other eds. “_can_not.”
[125] _So_] Other eds. “To.”
[126] _reconed_] Other eds. “recouered.”
[127] _a_] Not in eds. of Kytson, and Marshe.
[128] _some_] Not in other eds.
[129] _ben_] Other eds. “be.”
[130] _The_] Eds. “They.”
[131] _males_] Eds. “wales.” See notes.
[132] _do_] Not in eds. of Kytson, and Marshe.
[133] _crauynge_] Kele’s ed. “crauyne.” Other eds. “crauyng.”
[134] _Scot_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “scote.”
[135] _his_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “hes.”
[136] _Bothombar_] Other eds. “Bothambar.”
[137] _made_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “mad.”
[138] _lent_] Marshe’s ed. “sent.”
[139] _to_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “in _to_.”
[140] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[141] _made_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “mad.”
[142] _vrcheons_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “heons.”
[143] _They_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “Thy.”
[144] _Starres_] Kele’s ed. “sterres.” Other eds. “sters” and “stars.”
[145] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[146] _Hood_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “hode.”
[147] _Philargerya_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “Philargera.”
[148] _damosell_] Other eds. “damsell.”
[149] _ypocras_] Kele’s ed. “ypocrus.” Other eds. “ipocras.”
[150] _capons_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “copons.”
[151] _&c._] Not in other eds.
[152] _newes_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “news” here, but not in the
earlier part of this, nor in the next line.
[153] _the_] Eds. of Wyght, and Marshe, “that.”
[154] _Guilliam_] Other eds. “Gilliam.”
[155] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[156] _grugyd_] Other eds. “grudge.”
[157] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[158] _hoste_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “hoost.”
[159] _crack_] Other eds. “crake.”
[160] _they_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “the.”
[161] _that_] So other eds. Not in Kele’s ed.
[162] _Nat_] Other eds. “Not.”
[163] _Rynne_] Other eds. “Runne.”
[164] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[165] _at dur_] Other eds. “a _dur_.”
[166] _maketh them to_] Other eds. “make to.”
[167] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[168] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[169] _must_] Not in Marshe’s ed.
[170] _stalworthy_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “tall worthy.”
[171] _There_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “her” and “Her.”
[172] _hyder_] Other eds. “hither.”
[173] _Nat_] Other eds. “Not.”
[174] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[175] _Ones_] Other eds. “Once.”
[176] _nat_] Other eds, “not.”
[177] _canon_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “conon.”
[178] _By_] Marshe’s ed. “But.”
[179] _kyng_] Kele’s ed. “dkeyng.” Other eds. “king.”
[180] _and_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “an.”
[181] _into_] Marshe’s ed. “in.”
[182] _a cæciam_] Eds. “_Acisiam_:” see a similar misprint in v. 476.
Compare v. 472. The Rev. J. Mitford conjectured “_acrisiam_” (_judicii
inopiam_).
[183] _a Mamelek_] Eds. “Amamelek.”
[184] _the_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “they be.”
[185] _togeder_] Other eds. “together.”
[186] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[187] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[188] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[189] _cotyd_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “noted.”
[190] _ryall_] Other eds. “royall.”
[191] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[192] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[193] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[194] _reame_] Other eds. “realm.”
[195] _wonders_] Other eds. “wonderous.”
[196] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[197] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[198] _wottith nat_] Other eds. “wot not.”
[199] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[200] _practyue_] Other eds. “practique.”
[201] _And_] Perhaps ought to be thrown out. Compare v. 1062.
[202] _Nat_] Other eds. “Not.”
[203] _eare_] Marshe’s ed. “eares.”
[204] _perceyued_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “perceyuid.”
[205] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[206] _cacodemonyall_] Eds. (with various spelling) “cac_a_demonyall:”
but compare the preceding line.
[207] _prothonotory_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “prothonetory.”
[208] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[209] _larger_] Marshe’s ed. “large.”
[210] _trechery_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “terchery.”
[211] _warke_] Other eds. “worke.”
[212] _Pytchars_] The Editor of 1736 printed “_Pytchars_ and”—without the
authority, I believe, of any old ed.
[213] _cupborde_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. here (but not previously, see
v. 898) “copborde.”
[214] _An_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “And.”
[215] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[216] _of_] Not in other eds.
[217] _realmys_] Marshe’s ed. “realme.”
[218] _Brose_] Other eds. “Bruse.”
[219] _Lucyfer_] Kele’s ed. “Lucyfers.” Other eds. “Lucifer.”
[220] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[221] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[222] _dyscrecyon_] Eds. of Kele, Wyght, and Kytson (with various
spelling), “dystrectyon.” Marshe’s ed. “discretion.”
[223] _his_] Other eds. “him.”
[224] _named_] Marshe’s ed. “name.”
[225] _flytynge_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “fiting.”
[226] _And_] Perhaps ought to be thrown out. Compare v. 735.
[227] _ony_] Other eds. “any.”
[228] _for_] Not in eds. of Kytson, and Marshe.
[229] _of_] Not in Marshe’s ed.
[230] _obedyence_] Kele’s ed. “obedynce.” Other eds. “obedience.”
[231] _me_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “we.”
[232] _And_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “That.”
[233] _afore_] Eds. of Kytson, and Marshe, “before.”
[234] _they_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “the.”
[235] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[236] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[237] _nose_] Marshe’s ed. “pose.”
[238] _pose_] Kytson’s ed. “nose.”
[239] _put_] Wyght’s ed. “but.”
[240] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[241] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[242] _hood_] So other eds. Kele’s ed. “hode.”
[243] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[244] _nat_] Other eds. “not.”
[245] _Pandulphum_] Other eds. “_pandulohum_.”
[246] _elongatum_] Marshe’s ed. “_longatum_.”
[247] _cataplasmate stratum_] Eds. “_cataplasmati statum_.”
[248] _Pharmacopolæ_] Eds. (with various spelling) “_Pharmacapoli_.”
[249] _Quo_] Marshe’s ed. “_Quod_.”
DECASTICHON VIRULENTUM IN GALERATUM LYCAONTA MARINUM, &c.
_Proh dolor, ecce, maris lupus, et nequissimus ursus,_
_Carnificis vitulus, Britonumque bubulcus iniquus,_
_Conflatus vitulus vel Oreb, vel Salmane vel Zeb,_
_Carduus, et crudelis Asaphque Datan reprobatus,_
_Blandus et Achitophel regis, scelus omne Britannum,_
_Ecclesias qui namque Thomas confundit ubique,_
_Non sacer iste Thomas, sed duro corde Goleas,_
_Quem gestat mulus,—Sathane, cacet,[250] obsecro, culus_
_Fundens asphaltum, precor! Hunc versum lege cautum;_
_Asperius nihil est misero quum surget in altum.[251]_ 10
[250] _cacet_] Other eds. “_caret_.”
[251] _quum surget in altum_] Not in Marshe’s ed.
APOSTROPHA AD[252] LONDINI CIVES (CITANTE[253] MULUM ASINO AUREO
GALERATO) IN OCCURSUM ASELLI,[254] &c.
_Excitat, en,[255] asinus mulum,[256] mirabile visu,_
_Calcibus! O vestro cives occurrite asello,_
_Qui regnum regemque regit, qui vestra gubernat_
_Prædia, divitias, nummos, gazas, spoliando!_
_Dixit alludens, immo illudens, paradoxam de asino aureo galerato._
_xxxiiii._
_Hæc vates ille,_
_De quo loquuntur mille._
[252] _ad_] Eds. “_an_.”
[253] _citante_] Eds. “_citanto_” and “_citando_.”
[254] _aselli_] Eds. “_aguile_:” compare the second line. The Editor of
1736 printed “_asini_.”
[255] _en_] Eds. “_eu_.”
[256] _mulum_] Other eds. “_multum_.”
SKELTON, LAUREATE, &c.
HOWE THE DOUTY DUKE OF ALBANY,[257] LYKE A COWARDE KNYGHT, RAN AWAYE
SHAMFULLY, WITH AN HUNDRED THOUSANDE TRATLANDE SCOTTES AND FAINT HARTED
FRENCHEMEN, BESIDE THE WATER OF TWEDE, &c.
Reioyse, Englande,
And vnderstande
These tidinges newe,
Whiche be as trewe
As the gospell:
This duke so fell
Of Albany,
So cowardly,
With all his hoost
Of the Scottyshe coost, 10
For all theyr boost,
Fledde lyke a beest;
Wherfore to ieste
Is my delyght
Of this cowarde knyght,
And for to wright
In the dispyght
Of the Scottes ranke
Of Huntley banke,
Of Lowdyan, 20
Of Locryan,
And the ragged ray
Of Galaway.
Dunbar, Dunde,
Ye shall trowe me,
False Scottes are ye:
Your hartes sore faynted,
And so[258] attaynted,
Lyke cowardes starke,
At the castell of Warke, 30
By the water of Twede,
Ye had euill spede;
Lyke cankerd curres,
Ye loste your spurres,
For in that fraye
Ye ranne awaye,
With, hey, dogge, hay!
For Sir William Lyle
Within shorte whyle,
That valiaunt knyght, 40
Putte you to flyght;
By his valyaunce
Two thousande[259] of Fraunce
There he putte backe,
To your great lacke,
And vtter shame
Of your Scottysshe name.
Your chefe cheftayne,
Voyde of all brayne,
Duke of all Albany, 50
Than shamefuly
He reculed backe,
To his great lacke,
Whan he herde tell
That my lorde amrell
Was comyng downe,
To make hym frowne
And to make hym lowre,
With the noble powre
Of my lorde cardynall, 60
As an hoost royall,
After the auncient manner,
With sainct Cutberdes banner,
And sainct Williams also;
Your capitayne ranne to go,
To go, to go, to go,
And brake vp all his hoost;
For all his crake and bost,
Lyke a cowarde knyght,
He fledde, and durst nat fyght, 70
He ranne awaye by night.
But now must I
Your Duke ascry
Of Albany
With a worde or twayne
In sentence playne.
Ye duke so doutty,
So sterne, so stoutty,
In shorte sentens,
Of your pretens 80
What is the grounde,
Breuely and rounde
To me expounde,
Or els wyll I
Euydently
Shewe as it is;
For the cause is this,
Howe ye pretende
For to defende
The yonge Scottyshe kyng, 90
But ye meane a thyng,
And ye coude bryng
The matter about,
To putte his eyes out
And put hym downe,
And set hys crowne
On your owne heed
Whan he were deed.
Such trechery
And traytory 100
Is all your cast;
Thus ye haue compast
With the Frenche kyng
A fals rekenyng
To enuade Englande,
As I vnderstande:
But our kyng royall,
Whose name ouer all,
Noble Henry the eyght,
Shall cast a beyght, 110
And sette suche a snare,
That shall cast you in care,
Bothe Kyng Fraunces and thé,
That knowen ye shall be
For the moost recrayd
Cowardes afrayd,
And falsest forsworne,
That euer were borne.
O ye wretched Scottes,
Ye puaunt pyspottes, 120
It shalbe your lottes
To be knytte vp with knottes
Of halters and ropes
About your traytours throtes!
O Scottes pariured,
Vnhaply vred,
Ye may be assured
Your falshod discured
It is and shal be
From the Scottish se 130
Vnto Gabione!
For ye be false echone,
False and false agayne,
Neuer true nor playne,
But flery, flatter, and fayne,
And euer to remayne
In wretched beggary
And maungy misery,
In lousy lothsumnesse
And scabbed scorffynesse, 140
And in abhominacion
Of all maner of nacion,
Nacion moost in hate,
Proude and poore of state.
Twyt, Scot, go kepe thy den,
Mell nat with Englyshe men;
Thou dyd nothyng but barke
At the castell of Warke.
Twyt, Scot, yet agayne ones,
We shall breke thy bones, 150
And hang you vpon polles,
And byrne you all to colles;
With, twyt, Scot, twyt, Scot, twyt,
Walke, Scot, go begge a byt
Of brede at ylke mannes hecke:
The fynde, Scot, breke thy necke!
Twyt, Scot, agayne I saye,
Twyt, Scot of Galaway,
Twyt, Scot, shake thy dogge,[260] hay!
Twyt, Scot, thou ran away. 160
We set nat a flye
By your Duke of Albany;
We set nat a prane
By suche a dronken drane;
We set nat a myght
By suche a cowarde knyght,
Suche a proude palyarde,
Suche a skyrgaliarde,
Suche a starke cowarde,
Suche a proude pultrowne, 170
Suche a foule coystrowne,
Suche a doutty dagswayne;
Sende him to F[r]aunce agayne,
To bring with hym more brayne
From Kynge Fraunces of Frauns:
God sende them bothe myschauns!
Ye Scottes all the rable,
Ye shall neuer be hable
With vs for to compare;
What though ye stampe and stare? 180
God sende you sorow and care!
With vs whan euer ye mell,
Yet we bear away the bell,
Whan ye cankerd knaues
Must crepe into your caues
Your heedes for to hyde,
For ye dare nat abyde.
Sir Duke of Albany,
Right inconuenyently
Ye rage and ye raue, 190
And your worshyp depraue:
Nat lyke Duke Hamylcar,
With the Romayns that made war,
Nor lyke his sonne Hanyball,
Nor lyke Duke Hasdruball
Of Cartage in Aphrike;
Yet somwhat ye be lyke
In some of their condicions,
And their false sedycions,
And their dealyng double, 200
And their weywarde trouble:
But yet they were bolde,
And manly manyfolde,
Their enemyes to assayle
In playn felde and battayle;
But ye and your hoost,
Full of bragge and boost,
And full of waste wynde,
Howe ye wyll beres bynde,
And the deuill downe dynge, 210
Yet ye dare do nothynge,
But lepe away lyke frogges,
And hyde you vnder logges,
Lyke pygges and lyke hogges,
And lyke maungy dogges.
What an army were ye?
Or what actyuyte
Is in you, beggers braules,
Full of scabbes and scaules,
Of vermyne and of lyce, 220
And of all maner vyce?
Syr duke, nay, syr ducke,
Syr drake of the lake, sir ducke
Of the donghyll, for small lucke
Ye haue in feates of warre;
Ye make nought, but ye marre;
Ye are a fals entrusar,
And a fals abusar,
And an vntrewe knyght;
Thou hast to lytell myght 230
Agaynst Englande to fyght;
Thou art a graceles wyght
To put thy selfe to flyght:
A vengeaunce and dispight
On thé must nedes lyght,
That durst nat byde the sight
Of my lorde amrell,
Of chiualry the well,
Of knighthode the floure
In euery marciall shoure, 240
The noble Erle of Surrey,
That put thé in suche fray;
Thou durst no felde derayne,
Nor no batayle[261] mayntayne
Against our st[r]onge captaine,
But thou ran home agayne,
For feare thou shoulde be slayne,
Lyke a Scottyshe keteryng,
That durst abyde no reknyng;
Thy hert wolde nat serue thé: 250
The fynde of hell mot sterue thé!
No man hath harde
Of suche a cowarde,
And such a mad ymage
Caried in a cage,
As it were a cotage;
Or of suche a mawment
Caryed in a tent;
In a tent! nay, nay,
But in a mountayne gay, 260
Lyke a great hill
For a wyndmil,
Therin to couche styll,
That no man hym kyll;
As it were a gote
In a shepe cote,
About hym a parke
Of a madde warke,
Men call it a toyle;
Therin, lyke a royle, 270
Sir Dunkan, ye dared,
And thus ye prepared
Youre carkas to kepe,
Lyke a sely shepe,
A shepe of Cottyswolde,
From rayne and from colde,
And from raynning of rappes,
And suche after clappes;
Thus in your cowardly castell
Ye decte you to dwell: 280
Suche a captayne of hors,[262]
It made no great fors
If that ye had tane
Your last deedly bane
With a gon stone,
To make you to grone.
But hyde thé, sir Topias,
Nowe into the castell of Bas,
And lurke there, lyke an as,
With some Scotyshe [l]as, 290
With dugges, dugges, dugges:
I shrewe thy Scottishe lugges,
Thy munpynnys, and thy crag,
For thou can not but brag,
Lyke a Scottyshe hag:
Adue nowe, sir Wrig wrag,
Adue, sir Dalyrag!
Thy mellyng is but mockyng;
Thou mayst giue vp thy cocking,
Gyue it vp, and cry creke, 300
Lyke an huddypeke.
Wherto shuld I more speke
Of suche a farly freke,
Of suche an horne keke,
Of suche an bolde captayne,
That dare nat turne agayne,
Nor durst nat crak a worde,
Nor durst nat drawe his swerde
Agaynst the Lyon White,
But ran away quyte? 310
He ran away by nyght,
In the owle flyght,
Lyke a cowarde knyght.
Adue, cowarde, adue,
Fals knight, and mooste vntrue!
I render thé, fals rebelle,
To the flingande fende of helle.
Harke yet, sir duke, a worde,
In ernest or in borde:
What, haue ye, villayn, forged, 320
And virulently dysgorged,
As though ye wolde parbrake,
Your auauns to make,
With wordes enbosed,
Vngraciously engrosed,
Howe ye wyll vndertake
Our royall kyng to make
His owne realme to forsake?
Suche lewde langage ye spake.
Sir Dunkan, in the deuill waye, 330
Be well ware what ye say:
Ye saye that he and ye,—
Whyche he and ye? let se;
Ye meane Fraunces, French kyng,
Shulde bring about that thing.
I say, thou lewde lurdayne,
That neyther of you twayne
So hardy nor so bolde
His countenaunce to beholde:
If our moost royall Harry 340
Lyst with you to varry,
Full soone ye should miscary,
For ye durst nat tarry
With hym to stryue a stownde;
If he on you but frounde,
Nat for a thousande pounde[263]
Ye durst byde on the grounde,
Ye wolde ryn away rounde,
And cowardly tourne your backes,
For all your comly crackes, 350
And, for feare par case
To loke hym in the face,
Ye wolde defoyle the place,
And ryn your way apace.
Thoughe I trym you thys trace
With Englyshe somwhat base,
Yet, _saue[264] voster grace_,
Therby I shall purchace
No displesaunt rewarde,
If ye wele can regarde 360
Your cankarde cowardnesse
And your shamfull doublenesse.
Are ye nat frantyke madde,
And wretchedly bestadde,
To rayle agaynst his grace,
That shall bring you full bace,
And set you in suche case,
That bytwene you twayne
There shalbe drawen a trayne
That shalbe to your payne? 370
To flye ye shalbe fayne,
And neuer tourne agayne.
What, wold Fraunces, our friar,
Be suche a false lyar,
So madde a cordylar,
So madde a murmurar?
Ye muse somwhat to far;
All out of ioynt ye iar:
God let you neuer thriue!
Wene ye, daucockes, to driue 380
Our kyng out of his reme?
Ge heme, ranke Scot, ge heme,
With fonde Fraunces, French kyng:
Our mayster shall you brynge
I trust, to lowe estate,
And mate you with chekmate.
Your braynes are ydell;
It is time for you to brydell,
And pype in a quibyble;
For it is impossible 390
For you to bring about,
Our kyng for to dryue out
Of this his realme royall
And lande imperiall;
So noble a prince as he
In all actyuite
Of hardy merciall actes,
Fortunate in all his faytes.[265]
And nowe I wyll me dresse
His valiaunce to expresse, 400
Though insufficient am I
His grace to magnify
And laude equiualently;
Howe be it, loyally,
After myne allegyaunce,
My pen I will auaunce
To extoll his noble grace,
In spyght of thy cowardes face,
In spyght of Kyng Fraunces,
Deuoyde of all nobles, 410
Deuoyde of good corage,
Deuoyde of wysdome sage,
Mad, frantyke, and sauage;
Thus he dothe disparage
His blode with fonde dotage.
A prince to play the page
It is a rechelesse rage,
And a lunatyke ouerage.
What though my stile be rude?
With trouthe it is ennewde: 420
Trouth ought to be rescude,
Trouthe should nat be subdude.
But nowe will I expounde
What noblenesse dothe abounde,
And what honour is founde,
And what vertues be resydent
In our royall regent,
Our perelesse president,
Our kyng most excellent:
In merciall prowes 430
Lyke vnto Hercules;
In prudence and wysdom
Lyke vnto Salamon;
In his goodly person
Lyke vnto Absolon;
In loyalte and foy
Lyke to Ector of Troy;
And his glory to incres,
Lyke to Scipiades;
In royal mageste 440
Lyke unto Ptholome,
Lyke to Duke Iosue,
And the valiaunt Machube;
That if I wolde reporte
All the roiall sorte
Of his nobilyte,
His magnanymyte,
His animosite,
His frugalite,[266]
His lyberalite, 450
His affabilite,
His humanyte,
His stabilite,
His humilite,
His benignite,
His royall dignyte,
My lernyng is to small
For to recount them all.
What losels than are ye,
Lyke cowardes as ye be, 460
To rayle on his astate,
With wordes inordinate!
He rules his cominalte
With all benignite;
His noble baronage,
He putteth them in corage
To exployte dedes of armys,
To the domage and harmys
Of suche as be his foos;
Where euer he rydes or goos, 470
His subiectes he dothe supporte,
Maintayne them with comforte
Of his moste princely porte,
As all men can reporte.
Than ye be a knappishe sorte,
_Et faitez a luy grant torte_,
With your enbosed iawes
To rayle on hym lyke dawes;
The fende scrache out your mawes!
All his subiectes and he 480
Moost louyngly agre
With hole hart and true mynde,
They fynde his grace so kynde;
Wherwith he dothe them bynde
At all houres to be redy
With hym to lyue and dye,
And to spende[267] their hart blode,
Their bodyes and their gode,
With hym in all dystresse,
Alway in redynesse 490
To assyst his noble grace;
In spyght of thy cowardes face,
Moost false attaynted traytour,
And false forsworne faytour.
Auaunte, cowarde recrayed!
Thy pride shalbe alayd;
With sir Fraunces of Fraunce
We shall pype you a daunce,
Shall tourne you to myschauns.
I rede you, loke about; 500
For ye shalbe driuen out
Of your lande in shorte space:
We will so folowe in the chace,
That ye shall haue no grace
For to tourne your face;
And thus, Sainct George to borowe,
Ye shall haue shame and sorowe.
_Lenuoy._
Go, lytell quayre, quickly;
Shew them that shall you rede,
How that ye are lykely 510
Ouer all the worlde[268] to sprede.
The fals Scottes for dred,
With the Duke of Albany,
Beside the water of Twede
They fledde full cowardly.
Though your Englishe be rude,
Barreyne of eloquence,
Yet, breuely to conclude,
Grounded is your sentence
On trouthe, vnder defence 520
Of all trewe Englyshemen,
This mater to credence
That I wrate with my pen.
SKELTON LAUREAT, OBSEQUIOUS ET LOYALL.[269]
TO MY LORDE CARDYNALS RIGHT NOBLE GRACE, &c.
_Lenuoy._
Go, lytell quayre, apace,
In moost humble wyse,
Before his noble grace,
That caused you to deuise
This lytel enterprise;
And hym moost lowly pray,
In his mynde to comprise
Those wordes his grace dyd saye
Of an ammas gray.
_Ie foy enterment en sa bone grace._
[257] _Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c._] From Marshe’s ed. of
Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568.
[258] _so_] Qy. “sore?”
[259] _thousande_] Ed. “thausande.”
[260] _thy dogge_] Qy. “thé, dogge?” but see notes.
[261] _Nor no batayle, &c._] The Editor of 1736 chose to give this
passage thus;
“Nor _a_ batayle mayntayne
_With our_ stronge captayne
_For you_ ran,” &c.
[262] _hors_] Ed. “fors.”
[263] _pounde_] Ed. “pouned.”
[264] _saue_] Ed. “_saua_.”
[265] _faytes_] Qy. “factes?”
[266] _frugalite_] Ed. “fragalite.”
[267] _And to spende, &c._] This line and the next transposed in ed.
[268] _worlde_] Ed. “worlds.”
[269] _Skelton Laureat, obsequious et loyall_] Perhaps these words are a
portion of the superscription to the _Lenuoy_ which follows. The _Lenuoy_
itself does not, I apprehend, belong to the poem on the Duke of Albany.
See _Account of Skelton, &c._
NOTES TO VOLUME I.
OF THE DEATH OF THE NOBLE PRINCE, KYNGE EDWARDE THE FORTH.
Page 1. “Indeed if he well weighed that Epitaph of King Edward the
fourth, made by Skelton, which I find inserted amongst the vnprinted
Workes of Lydgate, he would be more modest in this kinde.” _Qvaternio_,
1633, p. 239, by Nash, who cites a considerable portion of this poem
from a MS.—Lydgate could not have been alive at the period of Edward’s
decease: see Warton’s _Hist. of E.P._ ii. 51. ed. 4to. (note), Ritson’s
_Bibl. Poet., &c._
Edward the Fourth died April 9th, 1483, in the 41st year of his age and
the 23d of his reign: see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Chron. of Hist._ pp. 325,
349, sec. ed. These lines were probably composed soon after the king’s
death—_per Skeltonidem laureatum_ having been subsequently added to the
title.
v. 8. _lykynge_] i. e. joy, pleasure.
Page 2. v. 22. _a chery fayre_] If this is to be understood as
_cherry-fair_ (which I think doubtful), the line ought to be pointed,
“Not certayne, but as a chery fayre, full of wo.”
The first of the following parallel passages is cited by Richardson in
his _Dict._ under _Cherry_ (as also from the same work of Gower,
“And that endureth but a throwe,
Right as it were a _cherie feste_.”
B. vi. fol. cxxxiii. ed. 1554).
and Mr. Halliwell has obligingly forwarded to me a letter from one of
his friends, who states that “cherry-wakes or _cherry-fairs_ used not
long since to be held in Worcestershire on Sunday-evenings after divine
service, and that in his own village there were three in the season, one
for the early cherries, and two others for those of later growth.”
“For all is but _a cherie feire_
This worldes good, so as thei tell.”
Gower’s _Conf. Am._, Prol. fol. 3. ed. 1554.
“This worlde ys but _a chyrye feyre_, whan ȝe be heyest ȝe mowe aslake.”
Lydgate’s verses entitled _Make Amendes_,—_MS. Cott.
Calig._ A ii. fol. 67.
“Reuoluyng als this liif _a chere fayre_
To loke how sone she deyde the fayrist wight.”
_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 42.
“Thys werld hyt turnys euyn as a whele,
All day be day hyt wyl enpayre,
And so, sone, thys worldys wele,
Hyt faryth but as _a chery fare_.”
_How the wise man taught his son_,—_Pieces of An. Pop. Poetry_,
p. 90. ed. Ritson.
Page 2. v. 28. _to contribute Fraunce_] i. e. to take tribute of France.
In 1475 Edward withdrew from France with his army on condition that Louis
should pay him immediately 75 thousand crowns, settle on him an annuity
for life of 50 thousand more, &c. See Lingard’s _Hist. of Engl._ v. 303.
ed. 8vo.
v. 35. _as who sayth_] A not unfrequent expression in our early poetry,
equivalent to—as one may say, as the saying is.
Page 3. v. 37. _I se wyll, they leve that doble my ȝeris_] i. e. I see
well, that they live that double my years.
v. 38. _This dealid this world_] i. e. Thus dealed this world. Skelton
elsewhere, like many of our old poets, uses _this_ for _thus_; as in his
_Ware the Hauke_;
“Where Christis precious blode
Dayly offred is,
To be poluted _this_.”
v. 179. vol. i. 161.
v. 40. _Had I wyst_] i. e. Had I known,—the exclamation of one who
repents of a thing done unadvisedly. It is very common in our early
poetry. In _The Paradyse of daynty deuises_, 1576, the second copy of
verses is entitled _Beware of had I wyst_.
v. 52. _occupy_] i. e. possess,—or, rather, use: “Surgyons _occupy_
oyntmentes, &c., Vulnarii medici _vtuntur_,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. I. vi. ed. 1530.
v. 53. _I made the Tower stronge_] “Edward iv ... fortified the Tower,
and _made it strong_.” Stow’s _Survey_, B. i. 79. ed. 1720.
v. 54. _I purchased Tetersall_] I have not found elsewhere any mention of
Edward the Fourth having possessed Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire.
“It does not appear into whose hands the Tattershall estate fell after
the death of the Lord Treasurer Cromwell [in 1455], until the year 1487,
when Henry VII. granted the manor to his mother Margaret Countess of
Richmond,” &c. _Hist. of the County of Lincoln_, ii. 73.
v. 55. _I amendid Douer_] “K. Edw. iv., by the advice of Lord Cobham,
expended 10,000_l._ in repairing and fortifying the several works, and
beautifying the apartments in it [Dover Castle].” Hasted’s _Hist. of
Kent_, iv. 63.
Page 3. v. 56. _And London I prouoked to fortify the wall_]—_prouoked_,
i. e. incited, caused.—“In the Seventeenth of Edward iv., Ralph
Josceline, Maior, caused part of the Wall about the City to be repaired,
to wit, between Aldgate and Aldersgate,” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. I. 10.
ed. 1720.
v. 57. _I made Notingam a place full royall_] Leland, describing
Nottingham Castle, says; “But the moste bewtifullest Part and gallant
Building for lodgyng is on the Northe side, wher Edward the 4. began a
right sumptuus pece of Stone Work, of the which he clerely finichid one
excellent goodly Toure of 3. Hightes yn Building, and brought up the
other Part likewise from the Foundation with Stone and mervelus fair
cumpacid Windoes to layyng of the first soyle for Chambers and ther
lefte.” _Itin._ i. 107. ed. 1770.
v. 58. _Wyndsore_] “The present magnificent fabrick [St. George’s Chapel
at Windsor], which exhibits one of the most beautiful specimens in this
or any other kingdom, of that richly ornamented species of architecture,
which prevailed towards the close of the fifteenth and the commencement
of the 16th century, was begun by King Edward IV., who having found it
necessary to take down the old chapel on account of its decayed state,
resolved to build another on the same site, upon a larger scale, and
committed the superintendence of the building to Richard Beauchamp,
bishop of Salisbury. The work was not completed till the reign of King
Henry VIII.,” &c. Lysons’s _Berkshire_, p. 424: see too p. 468 of the
same volume.—An account of the manors, &c., granted by Edward to Windsor
College, will be found in Pote’s _Hist. of Wind. Castle_, p. 107.
—— _Eltam_] “K. Edw. iv. repaired this house [Eltham Palace] with much
cost, and inclosed Horne-Park,” &c. Hasted’s _Hist. of Kent_, i. 51.
Page 4. v. 64. _solas_] i. e. sport, amusement.
v. 66. _Lady Bes_] Edward married, May 1st, 1464, the Lady Elizabeth
Grey, widow of Sir John Grey, and daughter of Wydevile Lord Rivers by
Jacquetta (or Jacqueline) Duchess of Bedford.
v. 70. _But Windsore alone, now I haue no mo_]—_mo_, i. e. more.—“He
[Edward IV.] lies buried at Windsor, in the new Chappel (whose
Foundation himself had laid, being all the Works of Piety by him left)
under a Monument of Steel, polish’d and gilt, [iron gilt—see Lysons’s
_Berkshire_, p. 210.], representing a Pair of Gates, betwixt Two Towers,
all of curious transparent Workmanship after the Gothick Manner, which
is placed in the North-Arch, faced through with Touch-Stone, near to the
High-Altar.” Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 413. ed. 1707.
Page 4. v. 73.
_Why should a man be proude or presume hye?_
_Sainct Bernard therof nobly doth trete,_
_Seyth a man is but a sacke of stercorry,_
_And shall returne vnto wormis mete._
_Why, what cam of Alexander the greate?_
_Or els of stronge Sampson, who can tell?_
_Were not wormes ordeyned theyr flesh to frete?_
_And of Salomon, that was of wyt the well?_
_Absolon profferyd his heare for to sell,_
_Yet for al his bewte wormys ete him also_]
—_stercorry_, i. e. dung: _frete_, i. e. eat, devour: _heare_, i. e.
hair.—In cap. iii. of _Meditationes piissimæ de cognitione humanæ
conditionis_, a piece attributed to Saint Bernard, we find, “_Nihil aliud
est homo, quam_ sperma fœtidum, _saccus stercorum, cibus vermium.... Cur
ergo superbis homo.... Quid superbis_ pulvis et cinis,” &c. Bernardi
_Opp._ ii. 335-36. ed. 1719. In a _Rythmus de contemptu mundi_,
attributed to the same saint, are these lines;
“Dic _ubi Salomon_, olim tam nobilis?
Vel _ubi Samson_ est, dux invincibilis?
Vel _pulcher Absalon, vultu mirabilis?_
...
_O esca vermium_! O massa pulveris!
O roris vanitas, _cur sic extolleris?_”
_Opp._ ii. 913-14. ed. 1719.
(This _Rythmus_ is printed by Mr. Wright among _The Latin Poems
attributed to Walter Mapes_, p. 147.) So also Lydgate in a poem on the
mutability of human affairs;
“And _wher is Salomon_ moost soueryn of konnynge,
Richest of bildyng, of tresour incomparable?
Face of _Absolon_ moost fair, moost amyable?
...
And _wher is Alisaundir_ that conqueryd al?”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 4, 5.
—_of wyt the well_: so in _Cæsar Augustus_;
“_Of witt_ art thou _the welle_.”—_Townely Mysteries_, p. 68.
v. 85. _I haue played my pageyond_] i. e. I have played my pageant,—my
part on the stage of life. Compare
“Theyr _pageandes_ are past
And ours wasteth fast
Nothynge dothe aye last
But the grace of God.”
Feylde’s _Contrav. bytwene a louer and a Iaye_, sig. B iii. n. d. 4to.
“_Playis heir thair padyanis_, syne gois to graif.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, i. 213. ed. Laing.
“To playe this parte or _padgeant_.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540, sig.
S.—The word _pageant_ was originally applied to the temporary erections
(sometimes placed upon wheels) on which miracle-plays were exhibited,
afterwards to the exhibition itself. See Sharp’s _Diss. on Coventry Pag.
and Myst._, p. 2; Collier’s _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 151.
Page 4. v. 86. _yeld_] i. e. eld, age.
Page 5. v. 87. _This_] i. e. Thus: see note on v. 38.
SKELTON LAUREATUS LIBELLUM SUUM, &c.
Page 6. v. 3. _leonis_] See note on v. 109 of next poem.
VPON THE DOLOUR[U]S DETHE AND MUCHE LAMENTABLE CHAUNCE OF THE MOST
HONORABLE ERLE OF NORTHUMBERLANDE.
This elegy must have been written soon after the earl’s murder: see v.
162.—“The subject of this poem ... is the death of Henry Percy, fourth
earl of Northumberland, who fell a victim to the avarice of Henry vii. In
1489 the parliament had granted the king a subsidy for carrying on the
war in Bretagne. This tax was found so heavy in the North, that the whole
country was in a flame. The E. of Northumberland, then lord lieutenant
for Yorkshire, wrote to inform the king of the discontent, and praying an
abatement. But nothing is so unrelenting as avarice: the king wrote back
that not a penny should be abated. This message being delivered by the
earl with too little caution, the populace rose, and, supposing him to be
the promoter of their calamity, broke into his house, and murdered him,
with several of his attendants, who yet are charged by Skelton with being
backward in their duty on this occasion. This melancholy event happened
at the earl’s seat at Cocklodge, near Thirske, in Yorkshire, April 28,
1489. See Lord Bacon, &c. If the reader does not find much poetical merit
in this old poem (which yet is one of Skelton’s best [?]), he will see
a striking picture of the state and magnificence kept up by our ancient
nobility during the feudal times. This great earl is described here as
having, among his menial servants, KNIGHTS, SQUIRES, and even BARONS:
see v. 32, 183, &c., which, however different from modern manners, was
formerly not unusual with our greater Barons, whose castles had all the
splendour and offices of a royal court, before the Laws against Retainers
abridged and limited the number of their attendants.” PERCY.
Page 6. v. 4. _Of the bloud royall descending nobelly_] “The mother
of Henry, first Earl of Northumberland, was Mary daughter to Henry E.
of Lancaster, whose father Edmond was second son of K. Henry iii. The
mother and wife of the second Earl of Northumberland were both lineal
descendants of K. Edward iii. The Percys also were lineally descended
from the Emperour Charlemagne and the ancient Kings of France, by his
ancestor Josceline de Lovain (son of Godfrey Duke of Brabant), who took
the name of Percy on marrying the heiress of that house in the reign of
Hen. ii. Vid. Camdeni Britan., Edmondson, &c.” PERCY.
v. 6. _again_] i. e. against.
Page 7. v. 14. _Elyconys_] i. e. Helicon’s.
v. 16. _astate_] i. e. estate, high rank.
v. 20. _nobles_] i. e. nobless, nobleness.
v. 21. _dites_] i. e. ditties.
v. 24. _hastarddis_] “i. e. perhaps, hasty, rash fellows.”
PERCY.—Jamieson gives “_Hastard_. Irascible.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._
—— _tene_] i. e. wrath.
v. 26. _Confetered_] i. e. Confederated.
v. 27. _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 30. _ken_] i. e. know.
v. 34. _karlis of kind_] i. e. churls by nature.
v. 35. _slo_] i. e. slay.
Page 8. v. 40. _bode_] i. e. abode.
v. 41. _glose_] “i. e. set a false gloss or colour.” PERCY.
v. 43. _redouted_] i. e. dreaded.
v. 45. _great estates_] i. e. persons of great estate or rank.
—— _lowted_] i. e. bowed, made obeisance.
v. 46. _mayny_] i. e. train, company, set.
v. 48. _paues_] i. e. shield (properly a large shield covering the body).
v. 49. _mot_] i. e. may.
v. 51. _fyll_] i. e. fell.
v. 53. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 59. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, respectability.
v. 62. _againe_] i. e. against (and so in the next line).
v. 63. _slee_] i. e. slay.
Page 9. v. 71. _fals packing_] i. e. false dealing (_packing_
is—iniquitous combination, collusion, for evil purposes, for deceiving,
&c.).
v. 73. _occupied_] i. e. used: see note, p. 86, v. 52.
—— _shilde_] i. e. shield.
v. 78. _renyed_] i. e. refused.
v. 81. _buskt them_] “i. e. prepared themselves, made themselves ready.”
PERCY. Rather,—hied.
Page 9. v. 81. _bushment_] i. e. ambushment.
—— _baile_] i. e. sorrow, trouble.
v. 82. _Againe_] i. e. Against.
—— _wring_] “i. e. contend with violence.” PERCY.
v. 84. _forsed_] i. e. regarded.
v. 87. _Presed_] i. e. Pressed.
v. 88. _faught them agagne_] i. e. fought against them.
Page 10. v. 96. _whose_] i. e. whoso.
v. 98. _sort_] i. e. set, band.
v. 100. _wode_] i. e. frantic, wild.
v. 102. _gode_] i. e. good.
v. 106. _spylt_] i. e. destroyed.
v. 109. _The myghty lyon_] “Alluding to his crest and supporters.” PERCY.
—— _doutted_] i. e. dreaded.
v. 115. _shoke_] i. e. shook.
Page 11. v. 118. _mysuryd_] “i. e. misused, applied to a bad purpose.”
PERCY.
v. 123. _sleest_] i. e. slayest.
v. 125. _enharpit of mortall drede_] “i. e. hooked, or edged with mortal
dread.” PERCY.
v. 126. _kit_] i. e. cut.
v. 128. _aureat_] i. e. golden, excellent.
—— _ellumynynge_] i. e. embellishing.
v. 131. _fuyson_] i. e. abundance.
v. 134. _Paregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).
v. 135. _Surmountinge_] i. e. Surpassing.
v. 136. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
v. 142. _enkankered_] i. e. corroded.
v. 143. _worshiply_] i. e. honourably.
v. 145. _supprised_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.
—— _lust_] i. e. liking, desire.
Page 12. v. 151. _Tretory_] i. e. Traitory, treachery.
v. 152. _holl_] i. e. whole.
v. 154. _sle_] i. e. slay.
v. 155. _hole quere_] i. e. whole quire.
v. 160. _holy_] i. e. wholly.
v. 162. _yonge lyon_] See note on v. 109. The fifth Earl of
Northumberland was only eleven years old at his father’s death.
v. 166. _Agayn_] i. e. Against.
v. 172. _faytors_] “i. e. deceivers, dissemblers.” PERCY.—“_Faytoure_,
Fictor, Simulator.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
Page 12. v. 176. _chere_] i. e. countenance, or (as it may mean here)
spirit.
Page 13. v. 179. _Algife_] i. e. Although.
—— _thorow saught_] i. e. sought through.
v. 181. _complayne_] i. e. lament for.
v. 186. _worshyply_] i. e. honourably.
v. 195. _finaunce_] i. e. fine, forfeiture.
v. 196. _from the fendys pray_] “i. e. from being the prey of the
fiends.” PERCY.
v. 199. _eterminable_] i. e. interminable.
Page 14. v. 212. _hole sorte_] i. e. whole company.
v. 213. _mot_] i. e. may.
—— _ad magistrum Rukshaw_] The person here addressed was perhaps “William
Rowkshaw, priest,” by whom a letter, dated from the Gilbertine priory of
Watton in the east riding of Yorkshire, is printed among the _Plumpton
Correspondence_, p. 82. Camd. Soc. ed.
AGAYNSTE A COMELY COYSTROWNE, THAT CURYOWSLY CHAWNTYD, AND CURRYSHLY
COWNTRED, &c.
Page 15. _Coystrowne_ (which Skelton uses again in his poem _Howe the
douty Duke of Albany_, &c., v. 171. vol. ii. 73., and has Latinized in
his _Speke, Parot_, v. 125. vol. ii. 7.) is written by Chaucer _quistron_;
“This God of Loue of his fashion
Was like no knaue ne _quistron_,
[_Ne resembloit pas un garçon_].”
_Rom. of the Rose_, fol. 113,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
Urry renders it—a beggar (Fr. _questeur_); but Tyrwhitt observes, “I
rather believe it signifies a scullion, _un garçon de cuisine_.” _Gloss.
to C.T._—Douce says that Tyrwhitt’s explanation is correct, citing the
words “_un quistron de sa cusyne_” from the prose French chronicle of the
Brut of England, and Caxton’s version of them, “a knave of his kychen.”
See _Gloss._ to Weber’s _Met. Rom._—Roquefort has “_Questron_: bâtard,
enfant d’une prostituée.” _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._—In Scottish poetry
_custroun_ occurs several times: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot.
Lang._ and _Suppl._, where are various conjectures on the derivation and
meaning of the word.
In _Prompt. Parv._ we find “_Cowntryn_ in songe. Occento.” ed. 1499.
To _counter_ is properly—to sing an extemporaneous part upon the plain
chant. Skelton uses the word in other places, and perhaps not always in
its strict sense.
v. 4.
_In peuyshnes yet they snapper and fall,_
_Which men the viii dedly syn call_]
_Snapper_ is commonly explained—stumble; but Palsgrave makes a
distinction between the words: “I _Snapper_ as a horse dothe that
tryppeth, _Ie trippette_. My horse dyd nat _stumble_ he dyd but _snapper_
a lytell, _Mon cheual ne choppyt poynt il ne fit que tripetter vng
petit._” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxv. (Table of
Verbes.)—Compare the following lines;
“Not say y this but wel parcas that y
In _pevisshe synne_ myght happe me ī aseven
_Which is the viii synne_ to synnes vii.”
_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 145.
Page 15. v. 6. _prendergest_] A word (probably the origin of the surname
_Prendergast_) which I am unable to explain.
v. 8. _bayardys bun_] i. e. horse-loaf, a sort of bread formerly much
used for feeding horses: _bayard_ is, properly, a bay horse.
v. 9. _sumdele_] i. e. somewhat.
v. 11. _maunchet_] Properly, a small loaf of fine white bread.
—— _morell_] Properly, a dark-coloured, a black horse.
v. 13. _carp_] Which generally means—speak, talk,—is sometimes found
applied to music, and here, perhaps, is equivalent to—make a noise.
v. 14. _Lo, Jak wold be a jentylman!_] So in Heywood’s _Dialogue_;
“_Iacke would be a gentleman_, if he could speake French.”
Sig. D 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See also Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 124. ed. 1768.
v. 15.
_Wyth, Hey, troly, loly, lo, whip here, Jak,_
_Alumbek sodyldym syllorym ben!_
_Curyowsly he can both counter and knak_
_Of Martyn Swart and all hys mery men_]
_Hey, troly, loly_, Ritson observes, is a chorus or burden “of vast
antiquity;” see _Anc. Songs_, ii. 8. ed. 1829: _counter_; see note on
title of the poem: _knak_, i. e. triflingly, or affectedly shew off his
skill in singing about, &c. In _A very mery and Pythie Commedie, called
The longer thou liuest, the more foole than art_, &c. _Newly compiled by
W. Wager_, 4to. n. d. (written in the early part of Elizabeth’s reign),
Moros sings, among other fragments of songs,
“_Martin swart and his man, sodledum sodledum,_
_Martin swart and his man, sodledum bell._”
Sig. A 3.
and in a comparatively recent drama we find;
“The Beare, the Boare, and Talbot with his tuskish white,
Oh so sore that he would bite,
The Talbot with his Tuskish white,
_Soudledum Soudledum_;
The Talbot with his Tuskish white, _Soudledum bell_.
The Talbott with his Tuskish white,
Oh so sore that he would bite,
_Orebecke soudledum, sing orum bell_.”
_The Varietie_ (by the Duke of Newcastle), 1649. 12mo. p. 41.
Martin Swart, “a noble man in Germany, and in marciall feactes verye
expert,” (Hall’s _Chron._ (_Henry VII._) fol. ix. ed. 1548), headed the
auxiliaries sent by the Duchess of Burgundy with Lambert Simnel, and
fell, fighting with great valour, at the battle of Stoke.
Page 15. v. 19. _pohen_] i. e. pea-hen.
Page 16. v. 21. _An holy water clarke_] _Aquæbajulus_; an office
generally mentioned with contempt.
v. 23. _solfyth to haute_] i. e. solfas too haughtily,—highly.
v. 25. _to sharp is hys my_] “The syllable Mi used in solmisation.”
Hawkins’s _Hist. of Music_, iii. 41.
v. 26. _pyrdewy_] Compare _Hycke Scorner_;
“Than into loues daunce we were brought,
That we played _the pyrdewy_.”
Sig. A v. ed. W. de Worde.
and _Colkelbie Sow_;
“Sum _Perdowy_ sum Trolly lolly.”
v. 303. Laing’s _Early Pop. Poet. of Scotland_.
v. 27. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 29. _a lewde lewte_] i. e. a vile lute.
—— _Roty bully joyse_] “The initial words of some old song.” Hawkins’s
_Hist. of Music_, iii. 41.—In our author’s _Magnyfycence_, Courtly
Abusyon exclaims,
“_Rutty bully_, ioly rutterkyn, heyda!”
v. 757, vol. i. 249.
Perhaps the same air is alluded to in _Colkelbie Sow_;
“Sum _Rusty bully_ with a bek.”
v. 320.—Laing’s _Early Pop. Poet. of Scotland_.
v. 33. _and he wyst_] i. e. if he knew.
v. 34. _sped_] i. e. versed.
—— _tauellys_] “_Tauell_ an instrument for a sylke woman to worke with.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxix. (Table of Subst.)
v. 36. _a payre of clauycordys_] i. e. a clavichord (so, formerly, an
organ was called _a pair of organs_); of which see an engraving in
Hawkins’s _Hist. of Music_, ii. 443.
v. 43. _jet_] Is explained in modern dictionaries—strut.—“I _Get_ I vse a
proude countenaunce and pace in my goyng, _Ie braggue_.” “I _Iette_ with
facyon and countenaunce to set forthe myselfe, _Ie braggue_.” “I Go a
_iettynye_ or a ryottynge, _Ie raude_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fols. ccxlvi, cclxv, ccli. (Table of Verbes.)
Page 16. v. 47. _dumpys_] i. e. dumps.
v. 48. _prycke songe_] i. e. music _pricked_ or noted down; when opposed
(see v. 54) to _plain song_, it meant counter-point, as distinguished
from mere melody.
v. 49. _a larg and a long_] Characters in old music: one _large_
contained two _longs_, one _long_ two breves, &c.
v. 50. _iape_] i. e. jest, joke.
v. 51. _solayne_] i. e. sullen.
Page 17. v. 53. _fayne_] Palsgrave gives, “I _feyne_ in syngyng, _Ie
chante a basse voyx_. We maye nat synge out we are to nere my lorde,
but lette vs _fayne_ this songe,” &c. _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. ccxxxv. (Table of Verbes.) But here, I apprehend, _fayne_ can only
mean—sing in falsetto. Our author, in _The Bowge of Courte_, has
“His throte was clere, and lustely coude _fayne_.”
v. 233. vol. i. 39.
v. 55. _Thys docter Deuyas commensyd in a cart_] So again Skelton in his
_Colyn Cloute_,
“Auaunt, syr _doctour Deuyas_!”
v. 1159. vol. i. 356.
Compare a much later writer: “What, a graue Doctor, a base Iohn Doleta
the Almanack-maker, _Doctor Deuse-ace_ and Doctor Merryman?” Nash’s _Haue
with you to Saffron-Walden_, 1596. sig. L 3.—_commensyd_, i. e. who took
his degree.
v. 60. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 61. _wark_] i. e. work, business.
v. 62. _walk, and be nought!_] Equivalent to—away, and a mischief on you!
v. 68. _Take thys in worth_] “I _Take in worthe_ or I take in good
worthe, _Ie prens en gré_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. ccclxxxiiii. (Table of Verbes.)
v. 69. _Wryten at Croydon by Crowland in the Clay_] Concerning this line,
the Rev. Joseph Hunter has obligingly remarked to me: “I was in hope of
finding ‘Croydon by Crowland in the Clay’ by looking in Ingulphus and his
Continuator, where all the places are mentioned in which the Abbey of
Crowland (Croyland) had estates. No such name as Croydon appears; and as
it is not in Speed’s maps, I see little chance of meeting with the place
so called by Skelton. It would be a very bold emendation to read,—
‘Wryten _in Hoyland_ by Crowland in the Clay:’
the parts of Lincolnshire in which Crowland is situated are called
Holland or formerly Hoylande.”—To G. Steinman Steinman, Esq., author of
the _Hist. of Croydon_, I am indebted for the following observations:
“The passage has been a puzzle to me. The distance is very great between
Crowland and Croydon in Cambridgeshire; and in Croydon in Surrey there
is no such place as Crowland, though I can point out to you ‘the Clays’
there. The manor of Crou_ham_ is in the Surrey Croydon, but far away from
‘the Clays.’”
Page 18. _Qd_] i. e. Quod, quoth.
VPPON A DEEDMANS HED, &c.
_couenable_, i. e. befitting: _sentence_, i. e. sense, meaning. The
pointing perhaps ought to be thus;—“_in Englysh couenable, in sentence
commendable_,” &c.
v. 13. _shyderyd_] i. e. split, splintered.
v. 18. _fell_] i. e. skin.
Page 19. v. 24. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 29.
_Oure days be datyd,_
_To be chekmatyd_
_With drawttys of deth_]
_Checkmate_, the term at chess when the king is made prisoner, and the
game consequently finished, is often used figuratively by our early
writers. With the present lines compare the following passages:
“_Wyth a draght_ he was _chek mate_.”
_Kyng Roberd of Cysylle_,—_MS. Harl._ 1701. fol. 93.
“But she had taken suche cold for the defaute of helpe that depe
_draughtes of deth_ toke her, that nedes she must dye,” &c. _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. viii. c. i. vol. i. 247. ed. Southey.
v. 36. _brynnyng_] i. e. burning.
v. 40. _rew_] i. e. have pity.
v. 43. _shylde_] i. e. shield.
v. 45. _dyne_] i. e. dun, dark.
v. 46. _boteles bale_] i. e. remediless sorrow.
v. 48. _fendys blake_] i. e. fiends black.
v. 54. _solace_] i. e. pleasure.
“WOMANHOD, WANTON, YE WANT,” &c.
Page 20. v. 4. _recheles_] i. e. reckless.
v. 6. _draffe_] i. e. refuse: in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 171.
vol. i. 100, it means hog-wash,—the coarse liquor, or brewers’ grains,
with which swine are fed.
Page 20. v. 13. _pohen_] i. e. peahen.
v. 18. _auayle_] i. e. advantage, profit.
v. 19. _shayle_] Is several times used by Skelton. “_Schayler_ that gothe
awrie with his fete _boytevx_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. lxi. (Table of Subst.) “I _Shayle_ as a man or horse dothe
that gothe croked with his legges: _Ie vas eschays_. It is to late to
beate him for it nowe, he shal _shayle_ as longe as he lyueth ... _il yra
eschays_ ... I _Shayle_ with the fete, _Ientretaille des pieds_.” _Id._
fol. cccxlviii. (Table of Verbes). “_A shayle_ with yᵉ knees togyther
and the fete outwarde: _A eschays_.” _Id._ fol. ccccxxxvii. (Table of
Aduerbes).
v. 20. _pyggysny_] “The Romans,” says Tyrwhitt, “used _oculus_ as a
term of endearment, and perhaps _piggesnie_, in vulgar language, only
means _ocellus_; the eyes of that animal being remarkably small.” Note
on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v. 3268.—In confirmation of this etymology,
Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Pigsney_) has shewn that the word was
occasionally written _pigs eie_.
v. 21. _quyte_] i. e. requite.
Page 21. v. 26. _doute_] i. e. fear.
v. 28. _all beshrewde_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 29. _that farly swete_] i. e. that strange sweet one.
v. 30. _wonnes_] i. e. dwells.
—— _Temmys strete_] i. e. Thames’ street.
DYUERS BALETTYS AND DYTIES, &c.
_solacyous_] i. e. pleasant, amusing.
Page 22. v. 2. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 4. _hardely_] i. e. boldly, with confidence.
v. 7. _kepe_] i. e. heed, regard, care.
v. 8.
_With ba, ba, ba, and bas, bas, bas,_
_She cheryshed hym both cheke and chyn_]
i. e. With kissings,—with, kiss me.
“Come ner my spouse, and let me _ba_ thy cheke.”
Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._ v. 6015. ed. Tyr.
“I wald him chuk, _cheik and chyn_, and _cheris_ him so mekill.”
Dunbar’s tale of _The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo_,—_Poems_, i. 71.
ed. Laing.
v. 10. _wyst_] i. e. knew.
v. 11. _He had forgoten all dedely syn_] Compare our author’s _Phyllyp
Sparowe_, v. 1080. vol. i. 84.
v. 13. _He trusted her payment, and lost all hys pray_] In the note
below the text I inconsiderately queried if “_pray_” should be “pay.”
Compare the last of Skelton’s _Poems against Garnesche_;
“And thus there ye _lost yower pray_ [i. e. prey].”
v. 61. vol. i. 128.
Page 22. v. 15. _rowth_] i. e. rough.
—— _waters wan_] Many passages of our early poetry might be cited where
this epithet is applied to water: see note on _Why come ye nat to
Courte_, v. 887, where a wrong reading has misled H. Tooke and Richardson.
v. 18. _halsyd_] i. e. embraced (round the neck).
v. 19. _cought_] i. e. caught.
Page 23. v. 20. _lefe_] i. e. dear.
—— _rowtyth_] i. e. snoreth.
v. 21. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 23. _lust and lykyng_] “_Luste_ pleasure _delyt ... volupté._”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvi. (Table of
Subst.): _lykyng_; see note, p. 85. v. 8. This somewhat pleonastic
expression (used again more than once by Skelton) is not uncommon in
our old writers: “Allas my swete sones thenne she sayd, for your sakes
I shalle lese my _lykynge and lust_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xi. c. x.
vol. ii. 174. ed. Southey. Nay, in the interlude of _The Worlde and the
Chylde_, 1522, one of the characters bears the name of _Lust and Lykynge_.
v. 24. _blowboll_] “Blowbole _yuroigne_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xx. (Table of Subst.).
“To _blowe in a bowle_, and for to pill a platter,” &c.
Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A iiii. ed. 1570.
“Farewell Peter _blowbowle_ I may wel call thee.”
_Enterlude of Kyng Daryus_, 1565. sig. B.
Among the contents of MS. Rawlinson marked C. 86., Bodl. Libr., is a
ludicrous poem entitled _Colyne Blowbols Testament_: see Sir F. Madden’s
Introd. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c. p. lxvi.
v. 25. _luggard_] i. e. heavy fellow, sluggard.
v. 28. _powle hachet_] So again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“_Powle hatchettis_, that prate wyll at euery ale pole.”
v. 613. vol. i. 386.
—— _bleryd thyne I_] (I—eye) i. e. imposed on, put a cheat on you.
_Qd._] i. e. Quod, quoth.
v. 4. _pastaunce_] i. e. pastime.
v. 7. _corage_] i. e. heart.
Page 23. v. 8. _fauorable_] i. e. well-favoured, beautiful.
v. 11. _Menolope_] In a “ballade” entitled _The IX. Ladies Woorthie_,
printed among Chaucer’s _Workes_, the writer, after celebrating the
eighth, “Quene Semiramys,” concludes thus;
“Also the ladie _Menalip_ thy sister deere,
Whose marcial power no man coud withstand,
Through the worlde was not found her pere,
The famous duke Thes[e]us she had in hand,
She chastised hym and [conquered] all his land,
The proude Greekes mightely she did assaile,
Ouercame and vanquished them in battaile.”
fol. 324. ed. 1602.
Compare Hawes;
“There was quene Phantasyle with penalape
Quene helayne and quene _menalape_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. T iii. ed. 1555.
v. 16. _curtoyl_] i. e. curtal.
—— _set nowght by_] i. e. set no value, or regard, on.
Page 24. v. 17.
_Gup, morell, gup,_
_With jayst ye_——]
_morell_; see note, p. 93. v. 11.—_Gup_ and _jayst_ are exclamations
applied to horses; compare our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 390. vol.
i. 107., and his third _Poem against Garnesche_, v. 13. vol. i. 120. So
too in _Camelles Rejoindre_ to Churchyarde (fol. broadside);
“Then _gip_ fellowe asse, then _jost_ fellowe lurden.”
v. 19. _corage_] i. e. heart, affection, inclination.
—— _haggys_] I know not in what sense Skelton uses this word: so again in
his _Colyn Cloute_;
“I purpose to shake oute
All my connyng bagge,
Lyke a clerkely _hagge_.”
v. 50. vol. i. 313.
and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;
“For thou can not but brag,
Lyke a Scottyshe _hag_.”
v. 294. vol. ii. 76.
v. 20. _Haue in sergeaunt ferrour_] i. e. Bring in sergeant farrier.
“_Ferrour._ Ferrarius. Ferrator.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. The title
_sergeant_ belongs properly to certain of the king’s servants: so in
an unpublished _Liber Excerpt. Temp. Hen. vii. et Hen. viii._ in the
Chapter-house, Westminster;
(xix. of “Item payd to the _sergeant_ plummer and }
Hen. vii.) bartram opon their indentures for grenewiche } _xxli._”
Page 24. v. 23. _keylyth_] i. e. (perhaps) cooleth—but I do not
understand the passage.
v. 24. _neuer a dele_] i. e. not a bit.
v. 25. _wrenche_] “_Wrenche_, a wyle _gauche_, _ruse_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxvi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 30. _dyntes_] i. e. blows.
v. 31. _He bresyth theyr braynpannys_] i. e. He bruiseth, breaketh their
skulls, heads: “_Pan_ of the hede. _Cranium._” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 32. _all to-brokyn_] A writer in the new ed. of Boucher’s _Gloss._ (in
v. _All_) justly observes that it is a mistake to suppose that in such
expressions _all_ is coupled with _to_, and that it becomes equivalent to
_omnino_ from being thus conjoined. The augmentative _to_ is connected
with the following word as a prefix, and often occurs without being
preceded by _all_: so in our author’s _Bowge of Courte_,
“A rusty gallande, _to-ragged_ and _to-rente_.”—v. 345. vol. i. 43.
—— _clappys_] i. e. strokes.
v. 33. _to lepe the hach_] i. e. to run away:—(_hatch_—the fastened half
or part of the door, the half-door).
“I pretende [i. e. intend] therefore _to leape ouer the hatche_.”
_The Triall of Treasure_, 1567. sig. E ii.
v. 34. _By theyr conusaunce knowing how they serue a wily py_]
_Conusaunce_ is cognizance,—a badge worn by servants; _py_ is magpie:
there seems to be some allusion to armorial bearings.
v. 36. _It can be no counsell that is cryed at the cros_] i. e. It can be
no secret that is proclaimed at the market-place.
v. 38. _furst_] i. e. first.
—— _los_] May mean _loss_, but, rather, it would seem, “_Loos_ or bad
name. Infamia.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 39. _warke_] i. e. work.
_Qd_] i. e. Quod, quoth.
Page 25. v. 3. _Corage wyth lust_] See notes, p. 98. v. 23., p. 99. v.
19: but the whole stanza is very obscure.
v. 7. _surmountyng_] i. e. surpassing.
v. 8. _Allectuary_] i. e. Electuary.
—— _arrectyd_] i. e. perhaps, considered sovereign; to _arrect_ is to
impute: or it may simply mean—raised up; our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_ begins
“_Arectyng_ my syght towarde the zodyake.”—vol. i. 361.
—— _redres_] i. e. relieve, remedy.
v. 9. _axys_] i. e. fits, paroxysms.
“Yet I haue felt of the sicknesse through May
Both hote and cold, and _axes_ euery day.”
Chaucer’s _Cuckow and Nightingale_,—_Workes_, fol. 316. ed. 1602.
“Ther comyth a _quarteyn_, seith in his gret _accesse_,” &c.
Lydgate’s verses _Against Self-love_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 8.
“Help _feuerous_ folk that tremble in ther _accesse_.”
Lydgate’s _Prayer to St. Leonard_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 114.
In some parts of England and Scotland _access_ is still used to denote
the ague.—Lest any reader should think this note unnecessarily long, I
may observe that in two recently published works the word “_axes_” is
erroneously explained,—aches.
Page 25. v. 10. _Of thoughtfull hertys plungyd in dystres_] Skelton
borrowed this line from Lydgate, whose _Lyf of our Lady_ begins
“O _thoughtful herte plungyd in distresse_.”
In the _Bibl. Poet._ p. 82, Ritson gives these words as the commencement
of a poem by Lydgate, _Cott. Ap._ viii., not knowing that this reference
is to a MS. of the _Lyf of our Lady_.—_Thoughtfull_ is anxious, heavy,
sad.
“For _thought_ and woe pyteously wepynge.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. T v. ed. 1555.
v. 13. _Herber_] Warton appears to limit the signification of this word
in old poetry to “an herbary for furnishing domestic medicines,” which,
says he, “always made a part of our ancient gardens;” note on _Hist.
of E. P._ ii. 231. ed. 4to. But Jamieson observes, that it would seem
to be used for arbour by James I., _Kings Quair_, ii. 12, 13., and in
the romance of _Sir Egeir_, v. 356. _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ (in v.
_Herbere_). See also _The Flower and the Leaf_, and _The Complaint of the
Black Knight_, by Chaucer.
v. 14. _lusty somer_] i. e. pleasant summer.
v. 16. _ruddys_] i. e. ruddy tints of the cheek, complexion.
v. 17. _Saphyre of sadnes_]—_sadnes_, i. e. steadiness, constancy:
“For hit is write and seide how _the safere_
_Doth token trowthe_.”
_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 44.
—— _enuayned with indy blew_] _enuayned_, i. e. enveined. “_Inde._ Fr.,
Azure-coloured.” Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_. “Inde,
_ynde_: couleur de bleu foncé, d’azur, _indicum_.” Roquefort’s _Gloss. de
la Lang. Rom._ So again our author in his _Magnyfycence_;
“The streynes of her vaynes as asure _inde blewe_.”
v. 1571. vol. i. 276.
See too his _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 478. vol. i. 381. Compare Hawes;
“Lyke to a lady: for to be moost trewe
She ware a fayre: and goodly garment
Of moost fyne veluet: al of _Indy blewe_
With armynes powdred: bordred at the vent.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. K iiii. ed. 1555.
and Nevil, son of Lord Latimer, in a poem of great rarity;
“On the gates two scryptures I aspyed
Theym for to rede my mynd than I applyed
Wryten in gold and _indye blewe_ for folkes fortheraunce.”
_The Castell of pleasure_, sig. A v. 1518.
Chaucer has
“Of grasse and floures, _Inde_ and Pers.”
_Romaunt of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 109. ed. 1602.
(monstrously explained in Urry’s ed. “Indian and Persian”): and Lydgate,
“Nor stonys al by nature, as I fynde,
Be not saphires that shewethe _colour ynde_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 150.
Sir John Mandeville says that the beak of the Phœnix “is coloured blew as
_ynde_.” _Voiage and Travaile_, &c., p. 58. ed. 1725.
Page 25. v. 20. _Geyne_] i. e. Against.
———— _the emeraud comendable;_
_Relucent smaragd_]
_Emeraud_ (emerald) and _smaragd_ are generally considered as synonymous;
but here Skelton makes a distinction between them. So too Drayton in his
_Muses Elizium_, 1630. p. 78; and Chamberlayne in his _Pharonnida_, 1659.
B. ii. c. 4. p. 150. And so R. Holme: “The _Emrauld_ is green.”—“The
_Smaradge_ is of an excellent fresh green, far passing any Leaf.” _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. pp. 39, 41. James I. in his _Quair_ mentions
“The _panther_ like unto the _smaragdyne_.”
Chalmers’s _Poet. Rem. of Scot. Kings_, p. 85.
v. 22. _perspectyue_] Which generally signifies a glass to look through,
seems here, from the context, to mean some sort of reflecting glass.
v. 23. _Illumynyd_] i. e. Adorned.
v. 26. _Gayne_] i. e. Against.
Page 25. v. 29. _Remorse_] Means commonly in early writers,—pity; but
that sense is unsuited to the present passage: it seems to be used here
for—remembrance, recollection.
—— _most goodlyhod_] i. e. perfect goodness.
v. 33. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
Page 26. v. 40. _mastres_] i. e. mistress.
v. 41. _nys_] i. e. ne is—is not.
v. 43. _more desyrous_] i. e. more desirable.
_Qd_] i. e. Quod, quoth.
v. 11. _rede_] i. e. advise.
v. 12. _fals poynt_] “This _fals poynt_ ... Hæc _fraus_.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. s viii. ed. 1530.
v. 13. _fell_] i. e. skin.
Page 27. v. 15. _lesard_] In the Latin above, the corresponding word
is _anguis_: long after Skelton’s time, the poor harmless lizard was
reckoned venomous; so in Shakespeare’s _Third Part of Henry VI._, act ii.
sc. 2., “_lizards’_ dreadful stings.”
v. 1. _rasyd_] i. e. torn, wounded. Skelton in his _Woffully Araid_ has
“See how a spere my hert dyd _race_.”
v. 45. vol. i. 142.
v. 3. _vaynys_ i. e. veins.
—— _blo_] i. e. livid. “_Blo_, blewe and grene coloured, as ones body
is after a drie stroke, _iaunastre_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxiiii. (Table of Adiect.).
v. 5. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse, adverse.
v. 7. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.
MANERLY MARGERY MYLK AND ALE.
Skelton mentions this piece among his works, in the _Garlande of
Laurell_, v. 1198. vol. i. 409. Sir John Hawkins, who printed it together
with the music, says that it “appears to have been set by William Cornish
of the Chapel Royal in the reign of Henry vii.” _Hist. of Music_, iii. 2.
Page 28. v. 1. _besherewe yow_] i. e. curse you,—confound you!
—— _be my fay_] i. e. by my faith.
v. 2. _This wanton clarkes be nyse all way_] i. e. These wanton scholars
be always foolish, inclined to folly, to toyish tricks: compare our
author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_;
“Phyllyp, though he were _nyse_,
In him it was no vyse,” &c.
v. 173. vol. i. 56.
Page 28. v. 3. _Avent_] i. e. Avaunt.
—— _popagay_] i. e. parrot.
v. 5. _Tully valy_] Or _Tilly vally_—an exclamation of contempt, the
origin of which is doubtful.
v. 6. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
—— _Cristian Clowte_] Compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“He coud not syng himselfe therout
But by the helpe of _Christyan Clout_.”
v. 880. vol. i. 345.
—— _Jak of the vale_] So our author in his _Magnyfycence_; “some
iangelynge _Jacke of the vale_,” v. 260. vol. i. 234. Compare two pieces
of a much later date;
“I am not now to tell a tale
Of George a Greene, or _Jacke a Vale_.”
_The Odcombian Banquet_, 1611. sig. C 3.
“And they had leauer printen _Jacke a vale_
Or Clim o Clough,” &c.
J. Davies,—_Other Eglogues_ annexed to _The Shepheards Pipe_, 1614.
sig. G 4.
v. 8. _Be_] i. e. By.
—— _praty pode_]—_praty_, i. e. pretty: _pode_, i. e., perhaps, toad.
Compare Roy’s satire, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“A littell, _pratye_, foolysshe _poade_.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 19. ed. Park.
v. 10. _Strawe, Jamys foder, ye play the fode_] The meaning of _Jamys
foder_,—and whether “fode” is used here in the sense of—deceiver, one who
feeds another with words (compare our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1719.
vol. i. 281.),—I must leave the reader to determine.
v. 12. _bole_] i. e. (I suppose) bull.
v. 15. _I wiss_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 17. _piggesnye_] See note, p. 97. v. 20.
v. 19. _Be_] i. e. By.
—— _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 20. _japed bodely_] See Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. cclxv. (Table of Verbes); Puttenham’s _Arte of English Poesie_, B.
iii. c. xxii. p. 212. ed. 1589; and the Prologue to the anonymous old
play, _Grim the Collier of Croydon_.
Page 29. v. 27. _thought_] i. e. sadness, grief: see note, p. 101. v. 10.
THE BOWGE OF COURTE.
“It is a _bouge of courte_. _Ceremonia aulica_ est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. s iii. ed. 1530. “_Bouche à Court._ _Budge-a-Court_, diet allowed at
Court.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “The Kings Archers ... had _Bouch of Court_
(to wit, Meat and Drink) and great Wages of six Pence by the Day.” Stow’s
_Survey_, B. vi. 49. ed. 1720.
“The poem called the BOUGE OF COURT, or the _Rewards of a Court_, is in
the manner of a pageaunt, consisting of seven personifications. Here our
author, in adopting the more grave and stately movement of the seven
lined stanza, has shewn himself not always incapable of exhibiting
allegorical imagery with spirit and dignity. But his comic vein
predominates.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to.
“_Bouge of court_, a corruption of _bouche_, Fr. An allowance of meat
and drink for the tables of the inferior officers, and others who were
occasionally called to serve and entertain the court. Skelton has a kind
of little drama called _Bouge of Court_, from the name of the _ship_
in which the dialogue takes place. It is a very severe satire, full of
strong painting, and excellent poetry. The courtiers of Harry must have
winced at it.” Gifford, note on Ben Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 428.
Page 30. v. 7. _to werre hym dyde dres_] i. e. did address, apply himself
to war.
v. 15. _rede_] i. e. conceive, consider.
Page 31. v. 17. _aforce_] i. e. attempt.
v. 18. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.
v. 20. _illumyne_] i. e. embellish a subject.
v. 21. _Auysynge_] i. e. Advising.
v. 22. _he so_] i. e. who so.
v. 23. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 30. _ne wyste_] i. e. knew not.
v. 31. _sore enwered_]—_enwered_ means simply—wearied. Richardson
(_Dict._ in v. _En_) observes that “Skelton appears to have wantoned in
such compounds.”
v. 33. _I me dreste_] i. e. I addressed, applied myself.
v. 36.
_Methoughte I sawe a shyppe, goodly of sayle,_
_Come saylynge forth into that hauen brood,_
_Her takelynge ryche and of hye apparayle_]
Of this passage Mr. Wordsworth has a recollection in one of his noble
Sonnets;
“_A goodly Vessel_ did I then espy
Come like a giant from a _haven broad_;
And lustily along the bay she strode,
_Her tackling rich, and of apparel high_.”
_Works_, iii. 34. ed. 1836.
Page 31. v. 39. _kyste_] i. e. cast.
v. 40. _what she had lode_] i. e. what she had been freighted with.
Page 32. v. 44. _prece_] i. e. press,—the throng.
v. 49. _hyghte_] i. e. is called.
v. 50. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.
v. 54. _chaffre_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 58. _traues_] Means here a sort of low curtain or screen.—Hall,
describing the preparations for combat between the Dukes of Hereford and
Norfolk, tells us that the former, having entered the lists, “set hym
doune in a chayer of grene veluet whiche was set in a _trauers_ of grene
and blewe veluet,” &c.; and that the latter “satte doune in his chayer
whiche was Crimosen Veluet, _cortened_ [curtained] aboute with white and
redde Damaske.” _Chron._ (_Henry IV._) fol. iii. ed. 1548.—At a later
period, curtains, which were used on the stage as substitutes for scenes,
were called _traverses_. See also Singer’s note on Cavendish’s _Life of
Wolsey_, p. 167. ed. 1827, and Sir H. Nicolas’s note on _Privy Purse
Expenses of Elizabeth of York_, p. 259.
v. 60. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 61. _spere_] i. e. sphere.
v. 63. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge,—skill.
Page 33. v. 71. _prese_] i. e. press.
v. 72. _she trowed that I had eten sause_] Compare our author’s
_Magnyfycence_;
“Ye haue _eten sauce, I trowe_, at the Taylors Hall.”
v. 1421. vol. i. 271.
v. 78. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 80. _glome_] i. e. glum,—sullen look, frown.
v. 82. _daynnously_] i. e. disdainfully.
—— _fro me she dyde fare_] i. e. from me she did go.
v. 83. _mased_] i. e. amazed, confounded.
v. 87. _Abasshe you not_] i. e. Be not abashed.
—— _hardely_] i. e. confidently.
v. 88. _Auaunce_] i. e. Advance.
v. 89. _chaffer_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 90. _I auyse you to speke, for ony drede_] i. e. I advise you to
speak, notwithstanding any dread you may feel. Compare Lydgate;
“And _for_ al strengthe that gad yaf hym [Samson] before,
Thei hym captived.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 48.
Page 33. v. 92. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
Page 34. v. 94. _And this an other_] i. e. And this is another reason.
v. 95. _not worth a bene_] _Bene_ (bean) is frequently used by our early
poets to express any thing worthless:
“I yeue not of her harme _a bene_.”
Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 137. ed. 1602.
v. 96. _lene_] i. e. lend, furnish with.
v. 100. _cheuysaunce_] i. e. achievement,—profit, gain.
v. 101. _nys_] i. e. ne is,—is not.
v. 106. _werne_] i. e. warn.
v. 107. _styreth_] i. e. steereth, directeth.
v. 108. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 114. _luste_] i. e. pleasure, liking.
Page 35. v. 117. _casseth_] “_Casser_ ... to _casse_, cassere, discharge,
turne out of service, deprive of entertainment.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 120. _route_] i. e. company, crowd.
v. 122. _thronge_] i. e. thronged.
v. 134. _Fauell_] Our author in his _Magnyfycence_ has,
“My tonge is with _fauell_ forked and tyned.”
v. 737. vol. i. 249.
Some readers need not be told how _Fauel_ figures in _Pierce Plowman_.
Ritson (_An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 77) explains the word by deceit, referring
to the present passage of _The Bowge of Courte_; but Mason (note on
Hoccleve’s _Poems_, p. 42) observes that here “_Favel_ and _Disceyte_ are
distinct personages, though the latter (for the sake of rhyme,) is first
called _Subtylte_,” and considers that Carpentier, in his Sup. to Du
Cange, gives the truest explanation of _Favel_ by _Cajolerie_. See also
_Supplement_ to Roquefort’s _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._ in v. _Favelle_.
The origin of the word, after all that has been written on it, seems
still uncertain.
v. 137. _Mysdempte_] i. e. Misdeemed.
v. 138. _Haruy Hafter_] Eds., as already noticed, have “_Haruy_ Haster;”
and in the fourth of Skelton’s _Poems against Garnesche_, v. 164. vol.
i. 131, the MS. gives the name with the same error. Compare our author’s
_Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“Hauell and Haruy _Hafter_.”
v. 94. vol. ii. 29.
and his _Magnyfycence_;
“Nowe, _benedicite_, ye wene I were some _hafter_.”
v. 259. vol. i. 233.
“Craftynge and _haftynge_ contryued is by me.”
v. 707. vol. i. 248.
“For to vse suche _haftynge_ and crafty wayes.”
v. 1698. vol. i. 280.
“And from crafters and _hafters_ I you forfende.”
v. 2485. vol. i. 307.
The sense in which Skelton employs these words is fully illustrated by
the following passages of Hormanni _Vulgaria_, ed. 1530: “This was a
subtyle and an _haftynge_ poynt. Astus fuit, et _versatilis ingenii_
argumentum. He is a _hafter_ of kynde. Est _versutiæ_ ingenitæ homo.”
sig. N vi. “A flaterynge _hafter_ is soone espyed of a wyse man. Sedulus
_captator_,” &c. sig. O ii. “There is nothynge more set by nowe than
subtyle _hafters ... callidis_.” sig. O iii. “There is an _haftynge_
poynt, or a false subtylte. _Stellionatus crimen_ est.” sig. n iiii. “——
_haftynge ... dolus malus_.” sig. s viii.
Page 35. v. 138. _male_] i. e. bag, wallet, pouch.
Page 36. v. 143. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 144. _solace_] i. e. sport.
v. 149. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 150. _Deynte to haue with vs suche one in store_] In Chaucer’s
_Clerkes Tale_, v. 8988, Tyrwhitt explains (and rightly, I believe) “_it
was deintee_”—it was a valuable thing. But both in the present passage,
and in a subsequent stanza of the same poem—
“Trowest thou, dreuyll, I saye, thou gawdy knaue,
That I haue _deynte_ to see thé cherysshed thus?”
v. 337—
“deynte” seems to be equivalent to—pleasure: compare
“Bycause that he hath ioye and great _deintye_
To reade in bokes of olde antiquitye.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_ (_Prologue_), sig. B i. ed. 1555.
“Adew, dolour, adew! my _daynte_ now begynis.”
Dunbar’s tale of _The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo_,—_Poems_, i. 76.
ed. Laing.
v. 154. _it is surmountynge_] i. e. it is surpassing, it excels.
v. 155. _ony_ i. e. any.
Page 37. v. 173. _lewde cok wattes_]—_lewde_, i. e. ignorant, vile.
Compare our author’s third copy of verses _Against venemous tongues_;
“Than ye may commaunde me to gentil _Cok wat_.”—vol. i. 132.
and his _Magnyfycence_;
“What canest thou do but play _cocke wat_?”
v. 1206. vol. i. 264.
Is _cock wat_ only another form of _cockward_, i. e. cuckold? See _Arthur
and the King of Cornwall_, p. 279,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c., edited by Sir F.
Madden.
Page 37. v. 174. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 175. _but no worde that I sayde_] i. e. but mention not a word that I
said.
v. 180. _reboke_] i. e. belch, cast up.
“As grunting and drinking, _reboking_ vp agayne.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 229. ed. 1570.
v. 181. _at a brayde_] i. e. at a start, at a turn, on a sudden,
forthwith.
v. 183. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 184. _lete_] i. e. hinder.
v. 186. _Twyst_] i. e. Tush.
—— _ne reke_] i. e. reck not.
v. 187. _a soleyne freke_]—_soleyne_, i. e. sullen: _freke_ is here
equivalent to—fellow. See Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v.
_Freik_, for the various senses in which the word was used.
v. 189. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 191. _whom and ha_] i. e. hum and ha.
v. 193. _quoke_] i. e. quaked.
Page 38. v. 198. _commaunde_] i. e. communed, conversed.
—— _party space_] May mean—a short space; but (as I have noticed _ad
loc._) “_party_” is probably a misprint for “_praty_” (pretty).
v. 199. _auowe_] i. e. vow.
“That hyr _auowe_ maad of chastyte.”
Lydgate’s _Lyf of our Lady_, sig. b i.
v. 210. _auyse_] i. e. advice.
v. 215. _shryue me_] i. e. confess myself, tell my mind.
v. 216. _plenarely_] i. e. fully.
v. 219. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.
v. 221. _with all my besy cure_] i. e. with all my busy care,—a common
expression in our early poetry.
Page 39. v. 225. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 226. _all and some_] Another expression frequently used by our early
poets. “All and some: _Tout entierement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlviii. (Table of Aduerbes).
v. 228. _he wolde be come_] i. e. he would go.
v. 231. _lyghte as lynde_] So in _Annunciacio_;
“A, what, I am _light as lynde_!”
_Towneley Myst._ p. 80.
and in Chaucer’s _Clerkes Tale_;
“Be ay of chere _as light as_ lefe on _linde_.”
v. 9087. ed. Tyr.
_Lynde_ is properly the linden or lime-tree,—used for a tree in general.
Page 39. v. 232. _a versynge boxe_] Does it mean—a dice-box?
v. 233. _fayne_] See note, p. 95. v. 53.
v. 234. _foxe_] i. e. fox-skin.
v. 235. _Sythe I am no thynge playne_] i. e. Since I, &c.—the
commencement of some song.
v. 236. _pykynge_] i. e. picking, stealing.
—— _payne_] i. e. difficulty.
v. 239. _sadde_] i. e. grave, serious.
v. 243. _auowe_] See note on v. 199.
v. 245. _and ye wolde it reherse_] i. e. if you would recite it.
Page 40. v. 252. _Heue and how rombelow_] A chorus of high antiquity,
(sung chiefly, it would seem, by sailors):
“They sprede theyr sayles as voyde of sorowe
Forthe they rowed saynt George to borowe
For ioye theyr trumpettes dyde they blowe
And some songe _heue and howe rombelowe_.”
_Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. C i.
“Synge _heaue and howe rombelowe_, trolle on away.”
Burden to the Ballad _On Thomas Lord Cromwell_,—Percy’s _Rel. of
A. E. P._, ii. 64. ed. 1794.
Varied thus:
“Wit[h], _hey, howe, rumbelowe_.”
Skelton’s _Epitaphe_, &c., v. 61. vol. i. 171.
“They rowede hard, and sungge thertoo,
With _heuelow and rumbeloo_.”
_Richard Coer de Lion_,—Weber’s _Met. Rom._ ii. 99.
“Maydens of Englande sore may ye morne
For your lemmans ye haue loste at Bannockys borne,
Wyth _heue a lowe_.
What weneth the king of England
So soone to haue wone Scotland,
Wyth _rumbylowe_.”
Scottish Song on the Battle of Bannockburn,—Fabyan’s _Chron._, vol. ii.
fol. 169. ed. 1559.
“Your maryners shall synge arowe
_Hey how and rumby lowe_.”
_The Squyr of Lowe Degre_,—Ritson’s _Met. Rom._ iii. 179.
“I saw three ladies fair, singing _hey and how_,
Upon yon ley land, hey:
I saw three mariners, singing _rumbelow_,
Upon yon sea-strand, hey.”
Song quoted _ibid._, iii. 353.
“Where were many shippes and maryners noyse with _hale & how_.”
_Morte d’Arthur_, B. vii. c. xv. vol. i. 209. ed. Southey.
“Hope, Calye, and Cardronow,
Gathered out thick-fold,
With _heigh, and how, rumbelow_,
The young fools were full bold.”
_Peblis to the Play_,—Chalmers’s _Poet. Rem. of Scot. Kings_, p. 108.
“Robin Hood and Little John
They are both gone to fair O!
And we will go to the merry green wood,
To see what they do there O!
With _Hel-an-tow_
_And Rum-be-low_,” &c.
Cornish Song,—_Gent. Mag._ for Dec. 1790. vol. lx. (part sec.) 1100.
Among the songs enumerated in _The Complaynt of Scotland_ is “Sal i go
vitht zou to _rumbelo_ fayr,” p. 101. ed. Leyden: and in _Hycke Scorner_
mention is made of
“the londe of _rumbelowe_
Thre myle out of hell.”
Sig. A vii. ed. W. de Worde.
Page 40. v. 252. _row the bote, Norman, rowe!_] A fragment of an old
song, the origin of which is thus recorded by Fabyan: “In this. xxxii.
yere [of King Henry the Sixth] Jhon Norman foresaid, vpon the morowe of
Simon and Judes daie, thaccustomed day when the newe Maior vsed yerely to
ride with greate pompe vnto westminster to take his charge, this Maior
firste of all Maiors brake that auncient and olde continued custome, and
was rowed thither by water, for the whiche yᵉ Watermen made of hym a
roundell or song to his greate praise, the whiche began: _Rowe the bote
Norman, rowe_ to thy lemman, and so forth with a long processe.” _Chron._
vol. ii. fol. 457. ed. 1559.
v. 253. _Prynces of yougthe can ye synge by rote?_] The meaning of this
line seems to be—Can you sing by rote the song beginning, _Princess of
youth_? Skelton, in his _Garlande of Laurell_, calls Lady Anne Dakers
“_Princes of yowth_, and flowre of goodly porte.”
v. 897. vol. i. 398.
Page 40. v. 254. _Or shall I sayle wyth you a felashyp assaye_] i. e., I
suppose,—Or try, of good fellowship, (or, perhaps, together with me,) the
song which commences _Shall I sail with you?_ Compare the quotation from
_The Complaynt of Scotland_ in preceding page.
“Nowe, _of good felowshyp_, let me by thy dogge.”
Skelton’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1095. vol. i. 260.
“_Yng._ But yf thou wylt haue a song that is good
I haue one of robynhode
The best that euer was made.
_Hu._ Then _a feleshyp_ let vs here it.”
_Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d. sig. E vii.
v. 259. _bobbe me on the noll_] i. e. beat me on the head.
v. 261. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 262. _gete_] i. e. got.
v. 269. _wyste_] i. e. knew.
v. 275. _vnneth_] i. e. scarcely, not without difficulty.
Page 41. v. 276. _But I requyre you no worde that I saye_] i. e. But I
beg you not to mention a word of what I say.
v. 277. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 278. _agayne you_] i. e. against you, to your disadvantage.
—— _wetynge_] i. e. knowledge, intelligence.
v. 283. _wonderly besene_] i. e. of strange appearance, or array. “Well
_bysene_: Bien _accoustré_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes).
v. 284. _hawte_] i. e. haughty.
v. 285. _scornnys_] i. e. scorns.
v. 286. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 287. _by Cockes blode_] i. e. by God’s blood (_Cock_ a corruption of
_God_). “The Host’s oath in Lydgate,” says Warton, note on _Hist. of E.
P._, ii. 349. ed. 4to. It occurs often in other writers.
v. 288. _bote_] i. e. bit.
v. 289. _His face was belymmed, as byes had him stounge_] i. e. His face
was disfigured, as if bees had stung him.—In a fragment of Lydgate’s
_Fall of Prynces, MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 97, we find
“So that a _by_ myght close hem both two
Vnder his wynges;”
where Wayland’s ed. (B. ii. leaf li.) has “a _Bee_.”
v. 290. _jape_] i. e. jest, joke.
Page 41. v. 294. _this comerous crabes hyghte_] i. e. (I suppose) this
troublesome crab was called.—Warton (_Hist. of E. P._ ii. 350) cites,
without the authority of any ed., “—— crab is _hyghte_.”
v. 297. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 298. _euyll apayed_] i. e. ill satisfied, ill pleased.
v. 301. _Dawes_] Equivalent to—simpleton; the _daw_ being reckoned a
silly bird: so again, in the next line but one, “doctour _Dawcocke_.”
Page 42. v. 302. _in conceyte_] i. e. in the good opinion, favour of our
Lady Fortune: compare v. 270.
v. 303. _hyghte_] i. e. is called.
v. 304. _sleyte_] i. e. sleight, artful contrivance.
v. 311. _layne_] i. e. conceal.
v. 312. _beyte_] i. e. bait.
v. 315. _And soo outface hym with a carde of ten_] “A common phrase,”
says Nares, “which we may suppose to have been derived from some game,
(possibly _primero_), wherein the standing boldly upon a _ten_ was often
successful. _A card of ten_ meant a tenth card, a ten.... I conceive
the force of the phrase to have expressed originally the confidence or
impudence of one who with a ten, as at brag, _faced_, or _outfaced_ one
who had really a faced card against him. To face meant, as it still does,
to bully, to attack by impudence of face.” _Gloss._ in v. _Face it_,
&c. “The phrase of _a card of ten_ was possibly derived, by a jocular
allusion, from that of _a hart of ten_, in hunting, which meant a full
grown deer, one past six years of age.” _Ibid._ in v. _Card of ten_.
v. 316. _assawte_] i. e. assault.
v. 317. _meuyd all in moode_] i. e. moved all in anger.
v. 318. _fawte_] i. e. fault.
v. 320. _I wende he had be woode_] i. e. I thought he had been mad.
v. 327. _hayne_] i. e. (perhaps) hind, slave, peasant.
v. 329. _suche maysters to playe_] i. e. to play such pranks of assumed
superiority. Compare v. 341. See Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in
v. _Maistryss_.
Page 43. v. 330. _I am of countenaunce_] i. e. perhaps, I am a person
of credit, good means, consequence (see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s
_Works_, ii. 111).
v. 332. _dyspleasaunce_] i. e. displeasure.
v. 334. _no force_] i. e. no matter.
v. 336. _auenture_] i. e. adventure.
v. 337. _dreuyll_] i. e. drudge, low fellow. “_Dryuyll_ seruaunt.”
_Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499; and see also Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
_Drivel_.
Page 43. v. 338. _have deynte_] See note on v. 150. p. 108.
v. 340. _Well, ones thou shalte be chermed, I wus_] i. e. Well, one time
or other thou shalt be charmed (quelled, as if by a charm), certainly (_I
wus—i-wis,_ adv.).
v. 344. _Ryotte_] “Is forcibly and humorously pictured.” Warton, _Hist.
of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.
v. 345. _A rusty gallande, to-ragged and to-rente_] i. e. A shabby
gallant, utterly ragged and tattered: see note on v. 32. p. 100.
v. 346. _bones_] i. e. dice.
v. 348. _by saynte Thomas of Kente_] i. e. by saint Thomas a Becket:
“Thought I, _By saint Thomas of Kent_,” &c.
Chaucer’s _House of Fame_,—_Workes_, fol. 267. ed. 1602.
The picture of Ryotte in the present passage and in v. 389 sqq. gave
birth no doubt to the following lines in a poem called _Syrs spare your
good_;
No by my faith he saide incontinente
But by saint Thomas of Kente
I woulde haue at the hasarde a cast or two
For to learne to caste the dyce to and fro
And if here be any body that wyll for money playe
I haue yet in my purse money and pledges gaye
Some be nobles some be crownes of Fraunce
Haue at all who wyll of this daunce
One of them answered with that worde
And caste a bale of dyce on the borde,” &c.
I quote from _Brit. Bibliog._ ii. 371, where are extracts from an ed. of
the poem printed by Kytson, n. d.: it originally appeared from the press
of W. de Worde; see _Cens. Liter._ i. 55. sec. ed.
v. 349. _kyst I wote nere what_] i. e. cast I know never (not) what.
v. 350. _His here was growen thorowe oute his hat_] i. e. His hair, &c.
Compare Barclay’s _Argument of the first Egloge_;
“At diuers holes _his heare grewe through his hode._”
Sig. A i. ed. 1570.
and Heywood’s _Dialogue_;
“There is a nest of chickens which he doth brood
That will sure _make his hayre growe through his hood_.”
Sig. G 2.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Ray gives, “_His hair grows through his hood_. He is very poor, his hood
is full of holes.” _Proverbs_, p. 57. ed. 1768.
Page 43. v. 351. _how he dysgysed was_] i. e. what a wretched plight he
was in:
“Ragged and torne, _disguised_ in array.”
Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_, fol. 329,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
v. 352. _watchynge ouer nyghte_] i. e. over-night’s debauch:
“Withdraw your hand fro riotous _watchyng_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ix. fol. xxxi. ed. Wayland.
v. 354. _ne couer myghte_] i. e. might not cover.
v. 355. _he wente so all for somer lyghte_]—_somer_, i. e. summer.
Compare;
“For he sente hem forth selverles, in _a somer garnement_.”
_Peirs Plouhman_, Pass. Dec. p. 153. ed. Whit.
“It semed that he caried litel array,
_Al light for sommer_ rode this worthy man.”
Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Prol._ v. 16035. ed. Tyr.
See too Bale’s _Kyng Iohan_, p. 34. ed. Camd. Soc.; and our author’s
_Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 719. vol. i. 73.
v. 356. _His hose was garded wyth a lyste of grene_] i. e. his breeches
were faced, trimmed with, &c. “There was an affectation of smartness in
the trimming of his hose.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed.
4to.
Page 44. v. 359. _Of Kyrkeby Kendall was his shorte demye_] Kendal,
or Kirkby in Kendal, was early famous for the manufacture of cloth of
various colours, particularly green. Here the word “Kendall” seems
equivalent to—green: so too in Hall’s _Chronicle_, where we are told that
Henry the Eighth, with a party of noblemen, “came sodainly in a mornyng
into the Quenes Chambre, all appareled in shorte cotes of Kentishe
_Kendal_ ... like outlawes, or Robyn Hodes men.” (_Henry viii._) fol.
vi. ed. 1548.—_demye_; i. e., says Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii.
348. ed. 4to., “doublet, jacket:” rather, I believe, some sort of close
vest,—his “cote” having been mentioned in the preceding line.
v. 360. _In fayth, decon thou crewe_] The commencement of some song;
quoted again by our author in _A deuoute trentale for old Iohn Clarke_,
v. 44. vol. i. 170, and in _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 63. vol. ii.
28.
v. 361. _he ware his gere so nye_] i. e., I suppose, he wore his clothes
so near, so thoroughly. But Warton explains it “his coat-sleeve was so
short.” Note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.
v. 363. _whynarde_] i. e. a sort of hanger, sword.
Page 44. v. 363.
—— _his pouche_,
_The deuyll myghte daunce therin for ony crouche_]
—_ony crowche_, i. e. any piece of money,—many coins being marked with a
_cross_ on one side. “The devil might dance in his purse without meeting
with a single sixpence.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed.
4to. So in Massinger’s _Bashful Lover_;
“The devil sleeps in my pocket; _I have no cross_
_To drive him from it_.”
_Works_ (by Gifford), iv. 398. ed. 1813.
v. 365. _Counter he coude O lux vpon a potte_]—_Counter_; see note, p.
92:—i. e. he could sing _O lux_, playing an accompaniment to his voice
on a drinking-pot. _O lux beata Trinitas_ was an ancient hymn, “which,”
says Hawkins, “seems to have been a very popular melody before the time
of King Henry viii.” _Hist. of Music_, ii. 354. In a comedy by the Duke
of Newcastle is a somewhat similar passage: “I danced a Jig, while Tom
Brutish whistled and _play’d upon the head of a pint pot_.” _The Humorous
Lovers_, 1677, act i. sc. 1. p. 5.
v. 366. _eestryche fedder_] i. e. ostrich-feather.
v. 367. _fresshely_ i. e. smartly.
v. 368. _What reuell route_] Compare;
“And euer be mery lett _reuell rought_.”
_A Morality,—Anc. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 187. ed. Abbotsf.
“Then made they _revell route_ and goodly glee.”
Spenser’s _Mother Hubberds Tale_,—_Works_, vii. 428. ed. Todd.
—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 370. _Felyce fetewse_]—_Felyce_, i. e. Phillis: _fetewse_, i. e.
feateous; “_Fetyce_ and prety. Paruiculus. Elegantulus.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499.
v. 371. _klycked_] i. e. fastened. In Chaucer’s _Marchantes Tale_, v.
9991. ed. Tyr., “_clicket_” means a key. Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v.)
cites Cotgrave and Skinner for its having the signification of the ring,
knocker, or hammer of a door. Richardson (_Dict._ in v.) remarks that the
word was “applied to any fastening which was accompanied by a _clicking_,
snapping noise.”
v. 372. _rebaudrye_] i. e. ribaldry.
v. 375. _in the deuylles date_] An exclamation several times used by
Skelton.—In _Pierce Plowman_, a charter, which is read at the proposed
marriage of Mede, is sealed “_in the date of the deuil_,” sig. C i. ed.
1561.
v. 378. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note on v. 199. p. 109.
Page 44. v. 380. _done_] i. e. do.
v. 382. _wake_] See note on v. 352. p. 115.
—— _none_] i. e. noon.
v. 383. _mone_] i. e. moon.
Page 45. v. 386. _Plucke vp thyne herte vpon a mery pyne_] “Vpon a mery
pynne: _De hayt_, as _Il a le cueur de hayt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de
la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes). The expression
occurs often in our early poetry; and is found even in one of Wycherley’s
comedies.
v. 387. _And lete vs laugh a placke or tweyne at nale_]—“plucke,” as I
have observed _ad loc._, seems to be the right reading, though the word
occurs in the preceding line: compare _Thersytes_, n. d.
“Darest thou trye maystries with me a _plucke_.”
p. 60. Rox. ed.
and a song quoted in the note on our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 757;
“A stoupe of bere vp at _a pluk_.”
_at nale_, (_atten ale_, _at then ale_; see Price’s note, Warton’s _Hist.
of E. P._ ii. 501. ed. 1824), i. e. at the ale-house.
v. 389. _of dyce a bale_] i. e. a pair of dice.
v. 390. _A brydelynge caste_] An expression which I am unable to explain.
It occurs (but applied to drinking) in Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Scornful
Lady_;
“Let’s have _a bridling cast_ before you go.
Fill’s a new stoop.”
act ii. sc. 2.
—— _male_] i. e. bag, wallet, pouch.
v. 391. _burde_] i. e. board.
v. 393. _the dosen browne_] Is used sometimes to signify thirteen; as in
a rare piece entitled _A Brown Dozen of Drunkards_, &c., 1648. 4to., who
are _thirteen_ in number. But in our text “the dosen browne” seems merely
to mean the full dozen: so in a tract (_Letter from a Spy at Oxford_)
cited by Grey in his notes on _Hudibras_, vol. ii. 375; “and this was the
twelfth Conquest, which made up the Conqueror’s _brown Dozen_ in Number,
compared to the twelve Labours of Hercules.”
v. 394. _pas_] Seems here to be equivalent to—stake; but I have not found
_pass_ used with that meaning in any works on gaming. See _The Compleat
Gamester_, p. 119. ed. 1680.
v. 397. _in my pouche a buckell I haue founde_] So in our author’s
_Magnyfycence_, after Foly and Fansy have exchanged purses, the latter
says
“Here is nothynge but _the bockyll of a sho_,
And in my purse was twenty marke.”
v. 1120. vol. i. 261.
Page 45. v. 398. _The armes of Calyce_] In our author’s _Magnyfycence_ is
the same exclamation;
“By _the armes of Calys_, well conceyued!”
V. 685. vol. i. 247.
Whether Calais in France, or Cales (Cadiz) be alluded to, I know not.
—— _crosse_] See note on v. 363. p. 116.
v. 399. _renne_] i. e. run.
v. 401. _To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte_] i. e. To know
if Malkin, my mistress, has got aught:—whether _Malkin_ is the diminutive
of _Mal_ (Mary) has been disputed.
v. 406. _Bordews_] i. e. Bordeaux.
v. 408. _auenture_] i. e. adventure.
v. 411. _curtel_] i. e. curtal.
v. 412. _lege_] i. e. allege.
v. 413. _haue here is myne hat to plege_] Marshe’s ed., as I have noticed
_ad loc._, omits “is:” but compare our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_;
“_Haue here is_ for me,
A cloute of London pynnes.”
v. 563. vol. i. 113.
“_Haue._ i. take the this torne or thredebare garment.” Palsgrave’s
_Acolastus_, 1540. sig. U ii.
Page 46. v. 414. _rybaude_] i. e. ribald.
v. 418. _kyste_] i. e. cast.
v. 420. _sadde_] i. e. serious, earnest.
v. 423. _stede_] i. e. place.
v. 425. _Me passynge sore myne herte than gan agryse_] For the reading of
all the eds. “aryse,” I have ventured to substitute “agryse,” i. e. cause
to shudder. Compare;
“_Sore_ might _hir agrise_.”
_Arthour and Merlin_, p. 34. ed. Abbotsf.
“Of his sweuen _sore him agros_.”
_Marie Maudelein_, p. 226,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Catholicæ_ (from the
Auchinleck MS.).
“The kinges _herte_ of pitee _gan agrise_.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 5034. ed. Tyr.
“Swiche peines, that your _hertes_ might _agrise_.”
Chaucer’s _Freres Tale_, v. 7231. ed. Tyr.
v. 426. _I dempte and drede_] i. e. I deemed and dreaded.
v. 428. _Than in his hode, &c._]—_hode_, i. e. hood.—This passage is
quoted by Warton, who observes, “There is also merit in the delineation
of DISSIMULATION ... and it is not unlike Ariosto’s manner in imagining
these allegorical personages.” _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 349. ed. 4to.
Page 46. v. 431. _coost_] i. e. coast, approach.
v. 433. _I sawe a knyfe hyd in his one sleue_]—_sleue_, i. e.
sleeve.—This picture somewhat resembles that of False Semblant;
“But _in his sleue he gan to thring_
_A rasour sharpe_.”
Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 141. ed. 1602.
v. 434. _Myscheue_] i. e. Mischief.
v. 436. _spone_] i. e. spoon.
v. 437. _to preue a dawe_] i. e. to prove, try a simpleton: see note on
v. 301. p. 113.—Warton, who gives the other reading, “_to preye_ a dawe,”
explains it—to catch a silly bird. Note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 349. ed.
4to.
v. 438. _wrete_] i. e. writ.
Page 47. v. 440. _His hode was syde, his cope was roset graye_] i. e. His
hood was long (or full), his cope was russet grey.
v. 445. _a connynge man ne dwelle maye_] i. e. a wise, a learned man may
not dwell.
v. 448. _that nought can_] i. e. that knows nothing.
v. 454. _clerke_] i. e. scholar.
v. 455. _in the deuylles date_] See note on v. 375. p. 116.
v. 456. _longe_] i. e. belong.
v. 457. _lewde_] i. e. wicked.
v. 460. _herte brennynge_] i. e. heart-burning.
v. 464. _It is a worlde_] Equivalent to—It is a matter of wonder.
Page 48. v. 466. _A man can not wote where to be come_] i. e. A man
cannot know whither to go: compare v. 228.
v. 467. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
—— _home_] i. e. hum.
v. 470. _frere_] i. e. friar.
v. 471. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 476. _shall wene be hanged by the throte_] i. e. (I suppose) shall
think themselves hanged, &c.
v. 477. _a stoppynge oyster_] Compare Heywood;
“Herewithall his wife to make vp my mouth,
Not onely her husbands taunting tale auouth,
But thereto deuiseth to cast in my teeth
Checks and _choking oysters_.”
_Dialogue_, sig. E,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 477. _poke_] i. e. pouch.
v. 484. _teder_] i. e. toder, t’other.
v. 486. _dreuyll_] See note on v. 337, p. 113.
Page 48. v. 488. _on flote_] i. e. flowing, full.
v. 490. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 491. _but what this is ynowe_] i. e. but that this is enough.
Page 49. v. 502. _Sterte_] i. e. Started.
v. 504. _nobles_] i. e. the gold coins so called.
v. 508. _His hode all pounsed and garded_]—_hode_, i. e. hood: _pounsed_,
i. e. perforated, having small holes stamped or worked in it, by way of
ornament—_garded_, i. e. adorned with _gards_, facings.
v. 510. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 513. _rounde_] i. e. whisper,—or, rather, mutter, for Skelton
(_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 250. vol. i. 372) and other poets make a
distinction between _whisper_ and _round_:
“Me lyste not now. whysper _nether rowne_.”
Lydgate’s _Storye of Thebes, Pars Prima_, sig. b vii. ed. 4to. n. d.
“Whisper _and rounde_ thinges ymagined falsly.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 208. ed. 1570.
“They’re here with me already, whispering, _rounding_.”
Shakespeare’s _Winter’s Tale_, act i. sc. 2.
v. 521. _hafte_] See note on v. 138. p. 108.
v. 522. _payne_] i. e. difficulty.
Page 50. v. 525. _shrewes_] i. e. wicked, worthless fellows.
v. 527. _confetryd_] i. e. confederated.
v. 528. _lewde_] i. e. vile, rascally.
v. 529. _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 530. _hente_] i. e. seized.
v. 536. _Syth_] i. e. Since.
PHYLLYP SPAROWE
Must have been written before the end of 1508; for it is mentioned with
contempt in the concluding lines of Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, which was
finished in that year: see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
The _Luctus in morte Passeris_ of Catullus no doubt suggested the present
production to Skelton, who, when he calls on “all maner of byrdes” (v.
387) to join in lamenting Philip Sparow, seems also to have had an eye
to Ovid’s elegy _In mortem Psittaci, Amor_. ii. 6. Another piece of the
kind is extant among the compositions of antiquity,—the _Psittacus Atedii
Melioris_ of Statius, _Silv_. ii. 4. In the _Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ
Socraticæ Joco-seriæ_, &c., of Dornavius, i. 460 sqq. may be found
various Latin poems on the deaths, &c. of sparrows by writers posterior
to the time of Skelton. See too Herrick’s lines _Upon the death of his
Sparrow, an Elegie, Hesperides_, 1648. p. 117; and the verses entitled
_Phyllis on the death of her Sparrow_, attributed to Drummond, _Works_,
1711. p. 50.
“Old Skelton’s ‘Philip Sparrow,’ an exquisite and original poem.”
Coleridge’s _Remains_, ii. 163.
Page 51. v. 1. _Pla ce bo, &c._] Skelton is not the only writer that
has taken liberties with the Romish service-book. In Chaucer’s _Court
of Loue_, parts of it are sung by various birds; _Domine, labia_ by the
nightingale, _Venite_ by the eagle, &c., _Workes_, fol. 333. ed. 1602: in
a short poem by Lydgate “dyuerse foules” are introduced singing different
hymns. _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 37: and see too a poem (attributed, without
any authority, to Skelton) called _Armony of Byrdes_, n. d., reprinted
(inaccurately) in _Typog. Antiq._ iv. 380. ed. Dibdin; and Sir D.
Lyndsay’s _Complaynt of the Papingo, Works_, i. 325. ed. Chalmers. In
_Reynard the Fox_ we are told that at the burial of “coppe, chanteklers
doughter,”—“Tho begonne they _placebo domino_, with the verses that to
longen,” &c. Sig. a 8. ed. 1481. Compare also the mock _Requiem_ printed
(somewhat incorrectly) from _MS. Cott. Vesp._ B. 16. in Ritson’s _Antient
Songs_, i. 118. ed. 1829; Dunbar’s _Dirige to the King at Stirling,
Poems_, i. 86. ed. Laing; and the following lines of a rare tract
entitled _A Commemoration or Dirige of Boner_, &c., by Lemeke Auale,
1569,—
“_Placebo_. Bo. Bo. Bo. Bo. Bo.
_Heu me_, beware the bugge, out quod Boner alas,
_De profundis clamaui_, how is this matter come to passe.
_Lævaui oculos meos_ from a darke depe place,” &c.
sig. A viii.
Other pieces of the kind might be pointed out.
v. 6. _Wherfore and why, why?_] So in the _Enterlude of Kyng Daryus_,
1565;
“Thys is the cause _wherfore and why_.”
sig. G ii.
v. 7. _Philip Sparowe_] _Philip_, or _Phip_, was a familiar name given to
a sparrow from its note being supposed to resemble that sound.
v. 8. _Carowe_] Was a nunnery in the suburbs of Norwich. “Here [at
Norwich],” says Tanner, “was an ancient hospital or nunnery dedicated to
St. Mary and St. John; to which K. Stephen having given lands and meadows
without the south gate, Seyna and Leftelina two of the sisters, A.D.
1146, began the foundation of a new monastery called Kairo, Carow, or
Carhou, which was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, and consisted
of a prioress and nine Benedictine nuns.” _Not. Mon._ p. 347. ed. 1744.
In 1273, Pope Gregory the Tenth inhibited the Prioress and convent
from receiving more nuns than their income would maintain, upon their
representation that the English nobility, whom they could not resist, had
obliged them to take in so many sisters that they were unable to support
them. At the Dissolution the number of nuns was twelve. The site of the
nunnery, within the walls, contained about ten acres. It was granted,
with its chief revenues, in the 30th Henry viii. to Sir John Shelton,
knight, who fitted up the parlour and hall, which were noble rooms, when
he came to reside there, not long after the Dissolution. It continued in
the Shelton family for several generations.
This nunnery was during many ages a place of education for the young
ladies of the chief families in the diocese of Norwich, who boarded with
and were taught by the nuns. The fair Jane or Johanna Scroupe of the
present poem was, perhaps, a boarder at Carow.
See more concerning Carow in Dugdale’s _Monast._ (new ed.) iv. 68 sqq.,
and Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, ii. 862 sqq. ed. fol.
Page 51. v. 9. _Nones Blake_] i. e. Black Nuns,—Benedictines.
v. 12. _bederolles_] i. e. lists of those to be prayed for.
Page 52. v. 24. _The tearys downe hayled_] So Hawes;
“That euermore the salte _teres downe hayled_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. Q viii. ed. 1555.
v. 27. _Gyb our cat_] _Gib_, a contraction of _Gilbert_, was a name
formerly given to a male cat:
“_Gibbe our Cat_,
That awaiteth Mice and Rattes to killen.”
_Romaunt of the Rose_,—Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 136. ed. 1602.
In _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_, 1575, “_Gib our cat_” is a person of
consequence. Shakespeare (_Henry iv. Part First_, act i. sc. 2.) has the
expression “gib cat;” and how his commentators have written “about it and
about it” most readers are probably aware.
v. 29. _Worrowyd her on that_] So Dunbar;
“He that dois _on_ dry breid _wirry_.”
_Poems_, i. 108. ed. Laing.
v. 34. _stounde_] i. e. moment, time.
v. 35. _sounde_] i. e. swoon.
v. 37. _Vnneth I kest myne eyes_] i. e. Scarcely, not without difficulty,
I cast, &c.
v. 42. _Haue rewed_] i. e. Have had compassion.
Page 52. v. 46. _senaws_] i. e. sinews.
Page 53. v. 58. _frete_] i. e. eat, gnaw.
v. 69. _marees_] i. e. waters.
v. 70. _Acherontes well_] i. e. Acheron’s well. So,—after the fashion of
our early poets,—Skelton writes _Zenophontes_ for _Xenophon_, _Eneidos_
for _Eneis_, _Achilliedos_ for _Achilleis_, &c.
v. 75. _blo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 76. _mare_] i. e. hag.—“_Mare_ or witche.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 77. _fende_] i. e. fiend.
v. 78. _edders_] i. e. adders.
v. 82. _sowre_] In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, is
“_Sower_ of smellyng,” fol. xcvi. (Table of Adiect.),—a sense of the word
which Skelton has elsewhere (third poem _Against Garnesche_, v. 146. vol.
i. 124), and which therefore probably applies to the present passage.
But qy. does “sowre” signify here—foul? “_Sowre_ filthe. Fimus. Cenum.
Lutum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Sowry_ or defiled in _soure_ or
filth,” &c. _Id._
“The riuer cler withouten _sour_.”
_Arthour and Merlin_, p. 320. ed. Abbotsf.
v. 87. _outraye_] “I _Outray_ a persone (Lydgate) I do some outrage or
extreme hurt to hym. _Ie oultrage_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxi. (Table of Verbes).
“The childe playes hym at the balle,
That salle _owttraye_ zow alle.”
_The Awntyrs of Arthurs_, p. 110. (_Syr Gawayne, &c._)
where Sir F. Madden explains it “injure, destroy.”—In our text, “outraye”
is equivalent to—vanquish, overcome; and so in the following passages;
“The cause why Demostenes so famously is brutid,
Onely procedid for that he did _outray_
Eschines, whiche was not shamefully confutid
But of that famous oratour, I say,
Whiche passid all other; wherfore I may
Among my recordes suffer hym namyd,
For though he were _venquesshid_, yet was he not shamyd.”
Skelton’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 155. vol. i. 368.
(Richardson, in his valuable _Dictionary_, v. _Out-rage_, &c., says that,
in the stanza just cited, _outray_ “is evidently—to exceed, to excel;”
but the last line of the stanza, together with the present passage of
_Phyllyp Sparowe_, and the annexed quotations from Lydgate, shew that he
is mistaken.)
“Whom Hercules most strong and coragious,
Sumtime _outraid_, and slewe hym with his hand.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxvii. ed. Wayland.
“Al be that Cresus faught long in hys defence,
He finally by Cyrus was _outrayed_,
And depriued by knyghtly vyolence,
Take in the felde,” &c.
_Id._ B. ii. leaf lviii.
“But it may fall, a dwerye [i. e. dwarf] in his right,
To _outray_ a gyaunt for all his gret might.”
_Id._ B. iii. leaf lxvii.
Page 54. v. 98. _Zenophontes_] i. e. Xenophon: see note on v. 70,
preceding page.
v. 107. _thought_] See notes, p. 101. v. 10. p. 104. last line.
v. 114. _go_] i. e. gone.
v. 115. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 116. _stole_] i. e. stool.
v. 117. _scole_] i. e. school, instruction.
v. 118.
_For to kepe his cut,_
_With, Phyllyp, kepe your cut!_]
Compare Gascoigne in a little poem entitled _The praise of Philip
Sparrow_;
“As if you say but _fend cut_ phip,
Lord how the peat will turne and skip.”
_Workes_ (_Weedes_), p. 285. ed. 1587.
Sir Philip Sidney in a sonnet;
“Good brother Philip, I haue borne you long,
I was content you should in fauour creepe,
While craftily you seem’d your _cut to keepe_,
As though that faire soft hand did you great wrong.”
_Astrophel and Stella_, p. 548. ed. 1613.
Brome in _The Northern Lasse_, 1632;
“A bonny bonny Bird I had
A bird that was my Marroe:
A bird whose pastime made me glad,
And Phillip twas my Sparrow.
A pretty Play-fere: Chirp it would,
And hop, and fly to fist,
_Keepe cut_, as ’twere a Vsurers Gold,
And bill me when I list.”
Act iii. sc. 2. sig. G 2.
and in _The New Academy_; “But look how she turnes and _keeps cut like
my Sparrow_. She will be my back Sweet-heart still I see, and love me
behind.” Act iv. sc. 1. p. 72. (_Five New Playes_, 1659).
Page 55. v. 125.
_Betwene my brestes softe_
_It wolde lye and rest_]
So Catullus, in the beginning of his verses _Ad Passerem Lesbiæ_, (a
distinct poem from that mentioned at p. 120);
“Passer, deliciæ meæ puellæ,
Quicum ludere, _quem in sinu tenere_,” &c.
v. 127. _It was propre and prest_] Compare v. 264, “As _prety_ and
as _prest_,” where “prety” answers to “propre” in the present line.
“_Proper_ or feate. _coint_, _godin_, _gentil_, _mignot_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._ 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.):—_prest_,
which generally means—ready, seems here to be nearly synonymous
with _propre_; and so in a passage of Tusser,—“more handsome, and
_prest_,”—cited by Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v.), who explains it “neat,
tight.”
v. 137. _gressop_] i. e. grasshopper.—“_Cicada_ ... anglice _a gresse
hoppe_.” _Ortus Vocab._, fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 138. _Phyp, Phyp_] See note on v. 7. p. 121.
v. 141. _slo_] i. e. slay.
v. 147. _dome_] i. e. judgment, thinking.
v. 148. _Sulpicia_] Lived in the age of Domitian. Her satire _De corrupto
statu reipub. temporibus Domitiani, præsertim cum edicto Philosophos urbe
exegisset_, may be found in Wernsdorf’s ed. of _Poetæ Latini Minores_,
iii. 83.
v. 151. _pas_] i. e. pass, excel.
v. 154. _pretende_] i. e. attempt.
Page 56. v. 171. _perde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 173. _nyse_] i. e. foolish, inclined to folly, to toyish tricks:
compare our author’s _Manerly Margery_, &c., v. 2. vol. i. 28.
v. 176. _To pyke my lytell too_]—_too_, i. e. toe.—In a comedy (already
mentioned, p. 93. v. 15), _The longer thou liuest, the more foole thou
art_, &c., n. d., by W. Wager, Moros sings
“I haue a prety tytmouse
Come _picking on my to_.”
sig. D ii.
v. 186. _ryde and go_] A sort of pleonastic expression which repeatedly
occurs in our early writers.
Page 57. v. 192. _Pargame_] i. e. Pergamus.
v. 198. _wete_] i. e. know.
v. 205. _be quycke_] i. e. be made alive.
Page 57. v. 211. _the nones_] i. e. the occasion.
v. 213. _My sparow whyte as mylke_] Compare Sir P. Sidney;
“They saw a maid who thitherward did runne,
To catch her sparrow which from her did swerue,
As shee a black-silke Cappe on him begunne
To sett, for foile of his _milke-white_ to serue.”
_Arcadia_, lib. i. p. 85. ed. 1613.
and Drayton;
“I haue two Sparrowes _white as Snow_.”
_The Muses Elizium_, p. 14. ed. 1630.
v. 216. _importe_] i. e. impart.
v. 218. _solas_] i. e. amusement.
Page 58. v. 227. _hear_] i. e. hair.
v. 230. _kest_] i. e. cast.
v. 242. _bederoule_] See note on v. 12. p. 122.
v. 244. _Cam, and Sem_] i. e. Ham, and Shem.
v. 247. _the hylles of Armony_]—_Armony_, i. e. Armenia.—So in _Processus
Noe_;
“What grownd may this be?
_Noe. The hyllys of Armonye._”
_Townley Myst._ p. 32.
See also Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf iiii. ed. Wayland, and
Heywood’s _Foure P. P._, sig. A i. ed. n. d.
v. 248.
_Wherfore the birdes yet cry_
_Of your fathers bote_]
The reading of Kele’s ed., “bordes,” (as I have already observed _ad
loc._) is perhaps the true one;—(compare _Pierce Plowman_;
“And [God] came to Noe anone, and bad him not let
Swyth go shape a shype of shydes and of _bordes_.”
Pass. Non. sig. M ii. ed. 1561.)—
and qy. did Skelton write,—
“_Whereon_ the _bordes_ yet _lye_?”
v. 253. _it hyght_] i. e. it is called.
Page 59. v. 264. _prest_] See note on v. 127, preceding page.
v. 272. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 273. _vengeaunce I aske and crye_] Compare _Magnus Herodes_;
“_Venjance I cry and calle._”
_Townley Myst._ p. 149.
v. 281. _Carowe_] See note on v. 8. p. 121.
v. 282. _carlyshe kynde_] i. e. churlish nature.
v. 283. _fynde_] i. e. fiend.
Page 59. v. 284. _vntwynde_] i. e. tore to pieces, destroyed: so again in
our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“This goodly flowre with stormis was _vntwynde_.”
v. 1445. vol. i. 418.
Page 60. v. 290. _Lybany_] i. e. Libya.
v. 294. _mantycors_] “Another maner of bestes ther is in ynde that ben
callyd _manticora_, and hath visage of a man, and thre huge grete teeth
in his throte, he hath eyen lyke a ghoot and body of a lyon, tayll of a
Scorpyon and voys of a serpente in suche wyse that by his swete songe he
draweth to hym the peple and deuoureth them And is more delyuerer to goo
than is a fowle to flee.” Caxton’s _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig.
e vii. See also R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 212.—This
fabulous account is derived from Pliny.
v. 296. _Melanchates, that hounde, &c._] See the story of Actæon in
Ovid’s _Metam._;
“Prima _Melanchætes_ in tergo vulnera fecit.” iii. 232.
v. 305.
_That his owne lord bote,_
_Myght byte asondre thy throte!_]
—_bote_, i. e. bit.—So in _Syr Tryamoure_;
“He toke the stuarde by the _throte_,
And _asonder_ he it _botte_.”
_Early Pop. Poetry_ (by Utterson), i. 28.
v. 307. _grypes_] i. e. griffins.
v. 311. _The wylde wolfe Lycaon_] See Ovid’s _Metam._ i. 163 sqq. for
an account of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, being transformed into a wolf.
I ought to add, that he figures in a work well known to the readers of
Skelton’s time—_The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_.
v. 313. _brennynge_] i. e. burning.
Page 61. v. 325. _gentle of corage_]—_corage_, i. e. heart, mind,
disposition. So in our author’s _Magnyfycence_; “Be _gentyll_ then _of
corage_.” v. 2511. vol. i. 308.
v. 329. _departed_] i. e. parted. So in our old marriage-service; “till
death us _depart_.”
v. 336. _rew_] i. e. have compassion.
v. 345.
_And go in at my spayre,_
_And crepe in at my gore_
_Of my gowne before_]
“_Cluniculum_, an hole or a _spayre_ of a womans smoke.” _Ortus Vocab._
fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. (In ed. 1514 of that work—“_spayre_ of a
womans kyrtell”). “_Sparre_ of a gowne _fente de la robe_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxvi. (Table of Subst.). “That
parte of weemens claiths, sik as of their gowne or petticot, quhilk vnder
the belt and before is open, commonly is called the _spare_.” Skene,
quoted by Jamieson, _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Spare_.——“_Lacinia_
... anglice a heme of clothe or a _gore_.” _Ortus. Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de
Worde, n. d. (ed. 1514 of that work adds “or a trayne”). “_Goore_ of a
smocke _poynte de chemise_.” Palsgrave, _ubi supra_, fol. xxxvii. (Table
of Subst.). Jamieson (_ubi supra_), in v. _Gair_, says it was “a stripe
or triangular piece of cloth, inserted at the bottom, on each side of a
shift or of a robe,”—a description which agrees with that of R. Holme,
_Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. iii. p. 95.
Page 61. v. 351. _myne hert it sleth_]—_sleth_, i. e. slayeth.—So Chaucer;
“Thise rockes _slee min herte_ for the fere.”
_The Frankeleines Tale_, v. 11205. ed. Tyr.
Page 62. v. 360. _Phyppes_] See note on v. 7. p. 121.
v. 361. _kusse_] i. e. kiss.
“And if he maie no more do,
Yet woll he stele a _cusse_ or two.”
Gower’s _Conf. Am._ lib. v. fol. cxix. ed. 1554.
v. 362. _musse_] i. e. muzzle,—mouth.
v. 366. _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 375. _Gyb_] See note on v. 27. p. 122.
v. 383. _bederolle_] See note on v. 12. p. 122.
Page 63. v. 387.
_To wepe with me loke that ye come,_
_All maner of byrdes in your kynd, &c._]
—_loke_, i. e. look. Compare Ovid (see note on title of this poem, p.
120);
“Psittacus, Eois imitatrix ales ab Indis,
Occidit: exequias ite frequenter, aves.
Ite, piæ volucres, et plangite pectora pennis,
Et rigido teneras ungue notate genas.
Horrida pro moestis lanictur pluma capillis,
Pro longa resonent carmina vestra tuba.”
_Amor._ lib. ii. El. vi. 5. 1.
v. 396. _ianglynge_] i. e. babbling, chattering—an epithet generally
applied to the jay by our old poets.
v. 397. _fleckyd_] i. e. spotted, variegated.
v. 403. _the red sparow_] i. e. the reed-sparrow.
“The _Red-sparrow_, the Nope, the Red-breast, and the Wren.”
Drayton’s _Polyolbion_, Song xiii. p. 215. ed. 1622.
“The _Red Sparrow_, or Reed Sparrow.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688.
B. ii. p. 246.
Page 63. v. 406. _to_] i. e. toe.
v. 407. _The spynke_] i. e. The chaffinch. In the _Countrie Farme_, the
“spinke” is frequently mentioned (see pp. 886, 890, 891, 898, 900. ed.
1600); and in the French work by Estienne and Liebault, from which it is
translated, the corresponding word is “pinçon:” in Cotgrave’s _Dict._ is
“Pinson. _A Spink_, _Chaffinch_, or Sheldaple;” and in Moor’s _Suffolk
Words_, “_Spinx. The chaffinch_.” R. Niccolls, in a poem which contains
several pretty passages, has
“The speckled _Spinck_, that liues by gummie sappe.”
_The Cuckow_, 1607. p. 13.
v. 409. _The doterell, that folyshe pek_] The dotterel is said to allow
itself to be caught, while it imitates the gestures of the fowler: _pek_,
or _peke_, seems here to be used by Skelton in the sense of—contemptible
fellow; so in his _Collyn Cloute_;
“Of suche _Pater-noster pekes_
All the worlde spekes.”
v. 264. vol. i. 321.
In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find: “He is shamefast but not _pekysshe_.
Verecundus est sine _ignauia_.” sig. N i. ed. 1530.—And see Todd’s
Johnson’s _Dict._, and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. _Peak_.
v. 411. _toote_] i. e. pry, peep, search.
v. 412. _the snyte_] i. e. the snipe.
v. 415. _His playne songe to solfe_] See note, p. 95, v. 48: _solfe_, i.
e. solfa.
v. 418.
_The woodhacke, that syngeth chur_
_Horsly, as he had the mur_]
—_woodhacke_, i. e. woodpecker. “_Wodehac_ or nothac byrde. Picus.”
_Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499: _mur_, i. e. a severe cold with hoarseness.
Compare Lydgate;
“And at his feete lay a prykeryd curre
He rateled in the throte _as he had the murre_.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. b i. n. d. 4to.
v. 420. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant.
v. 421. _The popyngay_] i. e. The parrot.
Page 64. v. 422. _toteth_] Or _tooteth_; see note on v. 411.
v. 424. _The mauys_] Is properly the song-thrush, as distinguished from
the missel-thrush: see note on v. 460, p. 131.
v. 425. _the pystell_] i. e. the Epistle.
v. 426. _a large and a longe_] See note, p. 95. v. 49.
Page 64. v. 427.
_To kepe iust playne songe,_
_Our chaunters shalbe the cuckoue_]
See note, p. 95. v. 48. So Shakespeare mentions “_the plain-song cuckoo_
gray.” _Mids. Night’s Dream_, act iii. sc. 1.
v. 430. _puwyt the lapwyng_] In some parts of England, the lapwing is
called _pewit_ from its peculiar cry.
v. 432. _The bitter with his bumpe_] “The _Bitter_, or Bitterne,
_Bumpeth_, when he puts his Bill in the reeds.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 310.
v. 434. _Menander_] Means here _Mæander_: but I have not altered the
text; because our early poets took great liberties with classical names;
because all the eds. of Skelton’s _Speke, Parrot_, have
“Alexander, a gander of _Menanders_ pole.”
v. 178. vol. ii. 9.
and because the following passage occurs in a poem by some imitator of
Skelton, which is appended to the present edition;
“Wotes not wher to wander,
Whether to _Meander_,
Or vnto _Menander_.”
_The Image of Ipocrisy_, Part Third.
v. 437. _wake_] i. e. watching of the dead body during the night.
v. 441. _He shall syng the grayle_]—_grayle_, says Warton (correcting
an explanation he had formerly given), signifies here “_Graduale_, or
the _Responsorium_, or _Antiphonarium_, in the Romish service.... He
shall sing that part of the service which is called the _Grayle_, or
_graduale_.” _Obs. on the F. Queen_, ii. 244. ed. 1762. See too Du Cange
in v. _Gradale_, and Roquefort in v. _Gréel_.
v. 442. _The owle, that is so foule_]—_foule_, i. e. ugly. The Houlate,
(in the poem so called, by Holland), says,
“Thus all the foulis, for my _filth_, hes me at feid.”
Pinkerton’s _Scot. Poems_, iii. 149.
v. 444. _gaunce_] i. e. gaunt.
v. 445. _the cormoraunce_] i. e. the cormorant.
v. 447. _the gaglynge gaunte_] In _Prompt. Parv._ is “_Gant_ birde.
Bistarda.” ed. 1499. Palsgrave gives “_Gant_ byrde,” without a
corresponding French term. _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxv.
(Table of Subst.). Our author in his _Elynour Rummyng_ has—
“In came another dant,
Wyth a gose and a _gant_.”
v. 515. vol. i. 111;
where _gant_ is plainly used for gander. In the present passage, however,
_gaunte_ must have a different signification (“The gose and the
_gander_” being mentioned v. 435), and means, I apprehend,—wild-goose:
Du Cange has “_Gantæ_, Anseres silvestres,” &c.; and see Roquefort in v.
_Gans._ But Nares, MS. note on Skelton, explains _gaunte_—gannet.
Page 64. v. 449. _The route and the kowgh_] The Rev. J. Mitford suggests
that the right reading is “The _knout_ and the _rowgh_,”—i. e. the knot
and the ruff.
v. 450. _The barnacle_] i. e. The goose-barnacle,—concerning the
production of which the most absurd fables were told and credited: some
asserted that it was originally the shell-fish called barnacle, others
that it grew on trees, &c.
v. 451. _the wilde mallarde_] i. e. the wild-drake.
Page 65. v. 452. _The dyuendop_] i. e. The dabchick or didapper.
v. 454. _The puffin_] A water-fowl with a singular bill.
v. 455. _Money they shall dele, &c._] According to the ancient custom at
funerals.
v. 458. _the tytmose_] i. e. the titmouse.
v. 460. _The threstyl_] Or _throstle_, is properly the missel-thrush: see
note on v. 424. p. 129.
v. 461. _brablyng_] i. e. clamour, noise—properly, quarrel, squabble.
v. 462. _The roke_] i. e. The rook.
—— _the ospraye_
_That putteth fysshes to a fraye_]
—_fraye_, i. e. fright. It was said that when the osprey, which feeds on
fish, hovered over the water, they became fascinated and turned up their
bellies.
v. 464. _denty_] i. e. dainty.
v. 468. _The countrynge of the coe_]—_countrynge_; see note, p. 92:
_coe_, i. e. jack-daw; “_Coo_ birde. Monedula. Nodula.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499.
v. 469.
_The storke also,_
_That maketh his nest_
_In chymneyes to rest;_
_Within those walles_
_No broken galles_
_May there abyde_
_Of cokoldry syde_]
The stork breeds in chimney-tops, and was fabled to forsake the place, if
the man or wife of the house committed adultery. The following lines of
Lydgate will illustrate the rest of the passage:
“a certaine knight
Gyges called, thinge shameful to be tolde,
To speke plaine englishe, made him [i. e. Candaules] cokolde.
Alas I was not auised wel beforne,
Vnkonnyngly to speake such langage,
I should haue sayde how that he had an horne,
Or sought some terme wyth a fayre vysage,
To excuse my rudenesse of thys gret outrage:
And in some land Cornodo men do them cal,
And some affirme that _such folke haue no gal_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf lvi. ed. Wayland.
Page 65. v. 478.
_The estryge, that wyll eate_
_An horshowe so great_]
—_estryge_, i. e. ostrich: _horshowe_, i. e. horse-shoe.—In
_Struthiocamelus_, a portion of that strange book _Philomythie_, &c., by
Tho. Scot., 1616, a merchant seeing an ostrich, in the desert, eating
iron, asks—
“What nourishment can from those mettals grow?
The Ostrich answers; Sir, I do not eate
This iron, as you thinke I do, for meate.
I only keepe it, lay it vp in store,
To helpe my needy friends, the friendlesse poore.
I often meete (as farre and neere I goe)
_Many a fowndred horse that wants a shooe_,
Seruing a Master that is monylesse:
Such I releiue and helpe in their distresse.”
Sig. E 7.
v. 482. _freat_] i. e. gnaw, devour.
Page 66. v. 485. _at a brayde_] Has occurred before in our author’s
_Bowge of Courte_; see note, p. 109. v. 181; but here it seems to have a
somewhat different meaning, and to signify—at an effort, at a push. “_At
a brayde, Faysant mon effort, ton effort, son effort_, &c.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxviii. (Table of Aduerbes).
“_I Abrayde_, I inforce me to do a thynge.” ... “I _Breyde_ I make _a
brayde_ to do a thing sodaynly.” _Id._ fols. cxxxvi. clxxii. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 487. _To solfe aboue ela_]—_solfe_, i. e. solfa: _ela_, i. e. the
highest note in the scale of music.
v. 488. _lorell_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow (see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._
to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_): used here as a sportive term of reproach.
v. 491.
_The best that we can,_
_To make hym our belman,_
_And let hym ryng the bellys;_
_He can do nothyng ellys_]
“_Sit campanista, qui non vult esse sophista_, Let him bee a bellringer,
that will bee no good Singer.” Withals’s _Dict._ p. 178. ed. 1634.
Page 66. v. 495.
_Chaunteclere, our coke,_
...
_By the astrology_
_That he hath naturally, &c._]
So Chaucer;
“But when _the cocke_, commune _Astrologer_,
Gan on his brest to beate,” &c.
_Troilus and Creseide_, B. iii. fol. 164.—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
See also Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. i. sig. D v. ed. 1555; and his
copy of verses (entitled in the Catalogue _Advices for people to keep a
guard over their tongues_), _MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 132.
v. 499. _cought_] i. e. caught: compare the first of our author’s
_Balettys_, v. 19. vol. i. 22.
v. 500. _tought_] i. e. taught. “Musyke hath me _tought_.” Hawes’s
_Pastime of pleasure_, sig. G iiii. ed. 1555.
v. 501. _Albumazer_] A famous Arabian, of the ninth century.
v. 503.
—— _Ptholomy_
_Prince of astronomy_]
The celebrated Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian: “Il fleurit vers l’an 125
et jusqu’à l’an 139 de l’ère vulgaire.” _Biog. Univ._—In _The Shepherds
Kalendar_ (a work popular in the days of Skelton) a chapter is entitled
“To know the fortunes and destinies of man born under the xii signs,
after _Ptolomie, prince of astronomy_ [i. e. astrology].” “_Astronomy_,
and _Astronomer_, is the Art of, and the foreteller of things done and
past, and what shall happen to any person, &c.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 438.
v. 505. _Haly_] Another famous Arabian: “claruit circa A. C. 1100.” Fabr.
_Bibl. Gr._ xiii. 17.
v. 507. _tydes_] i. e. times, seasons.
v. 509. _Partlot his hen_] So in Chaucer’s _Nonnes Preestes Tale_;
Lydgate’s copy of verses (entitled in the Catalogue _Advices for people
to keep a guard over their tongues_), _MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 132; and G.
Douglas’s Prol. to the xii Booke of his _Eneados_, p. 401. l. 54. ed.
Ruddiman, who conjectures that the name was applied to a hen in reference
to the ruff (the _partlet_), or ring of feathers about her neck.
Page 67. v. 522. _thurifycation_] i. e. burning incense.
Page 67. v. 524. _reflary_] As I have already noticed, should probably
be “reflayre,”—i. e. odour. See Roquefort’s _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._
in v. _Flareur_, and _Suppl._ in v. _Fleror;_ and Cotgrave’s _Dict._ in
v. _Reflairer_. In _The Garlande of Laurell_ our author calls a lady
“_reflaring_ rosabell.” v. 977. vol. i. 401.
v. 525. _eyre_] i. e. air, scent.
“Strowed wyth floures, of all goodly _ayre_.”
Hawes’s _Pastime of pleasure_, sig. D iiii. ed. 1555.
See too _The Pistill of Susan_, st. viii.—Laing’s _Early Pop. Poetry of
Scot._
v. 534. _bemole_] i. e. in B molle, soft or flat. So in the last stanza
of a poem by W. Cornishe, printed in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_,
1568;
“I kepe be rounde and he by square
The one is _bemole_ and the other bequare.”
v. 536.
_Plinni sheweth all_
_In his story naturall_]
See _Historia Naturalis_, lib. x. sect. 2.
v. 540. _incyneracyon_] i. e. burning to ashes.
v. 545. _corage_] i. e. heart,—feelings.
Page 68. v. 552. _the sedeane_] Does it mean subdean, or subdeacon?
v. 553. _The quere to demeane_] i. e. to conduct, direct the choir.
v. 555. _ordynall_] i. e. ritual.
v. 556. _the noble fawcon_] “There are seuen kinds of Falcons, and among
them all for her _noblenesse_ and hardy courage, and withal the francknes
of her mettell, I may, and doe meane to place the Falcon gentle in
chiefe,” Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 25. ed. 1611.
v. 557. _the gerfawcon_] “Is a gallant Hawke to behold, more huge then
any other kinde of Falcon, &c.” _Id._ p. 42.
v. 558. _The tarsell gentyll_] Is properly the male of the gosshawk; but
Skelton probably did not use the term in its exact meaning, for in the
fifth line after this he mentions “the goshauke.” It is commonly said
(see Steevens’s note on _Romeo and Juliet_, act ii. sc. 2.) to be called
_tiercel_ because it is a _tierce_ or third less than the female. But,
according to Turbervile, “he is termed a _Tyercelet_, for that there are
most commonly disclosed three birds in one selfe eyree, two Hawkes and
one Tiercell.” _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 59. ed. 1611.
v. 560. _amysse_] i. e. amice—properly the first of the six vestments
common to the bishop and presbyters. “Fyrst do on the _amys_, than the
albe, than the gyrdell, than the manyple, than the stoole, than the
chesyble.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. E iiii. ed. 1530.
Page 68. v. 561. _The sacre_] A hawk “much like the Falcon Gentle for
largenesse, and the Haggart for hardines.” Turbervile’s _Booke of
Falconrie_, &c. p. 45. ed. 1611.
v. 563. _role_] i. e. roll.
v. 565. _The lanners_] “They are more blancke Hawkes then any other, they
haue lesse beakes then the rest, and are lesse armed and pounced then
other Falcons be.” Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 47. ed. 1611.
—— _the marlyons_] Or _merlins_,—the smallest of the hawks used by
falconers.
v. 566. _morning gounes_] i. e. mourning-gowns.
v. 567. _The hobby_] “Of all birdes of prey that belong to the Falconers
vse, I know none lesse then the Hobby, unles it be the Merlyn.”
Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 53. ed. 1611.
—— _the muskette_] i. e. the male sparrow-hawk. “You must note, that all
these kind of hawkes haue their male birdes and cockes of euerie sort and
gender, as the Eagle his Earne ... and the Sparrow-hawke his _Musket_.”
_Id._ p. 3. “The male sparrow hawke is called a _musket_.” _The Countrie
Farme_, p. 877. ed. 1600.
v. 568. _sensers_] i. e. censers.
—— _fet_] i. e. fetch.
v. 569. _The kestrell_] A sort of base-bred hawk.
—— _warke_] i. e. work, business.
v. 570. _holy water clarke_] See note, p. 94. v. 21.
Page 69. v. 590. _And wrapt in a maidenes smocke_] Spenser seems to have
recollected this passage: he says, that when Cupid was stung by a bee,
Venus
—— “tooke him streight full pitiously lamenting,
_And wrapt him in her smock_.”
See a little poem in his _Works_, viii. 185. ed. Todd.
v. 595. _Lenger_] i. e. Longer.
v. 600.
—— _the prety wren,_
_That is our Ladyes hen_]
So in a poem (attributed, on no authority, to Skelton) entitled _Armony
of Byrdes_, n. d., and reprinted entire in _Typogr. Antiq._ iv. 380. ed.
Dibdin;
“Than sayd _the wren_
I am called _the hen_
_Of our lady_ most cumly.”
p. 382.
Wilbraham, in his _Cheshire Gloss._, p. 105, gives the following metrical
adage as common in that county;
“The Robin and _the Wren_
Are _God’s_ cock and _hen_,
The Martin and the Swallow
Are God’s mate and marrow.”
In the _Ballad of Kynd Kittok_, attributed to Dunbar, we are told
that after death she “wes _our Ledyis henwyfe_,” _Poems_, ii. 36. ed.
Laing.—An Elysium, very different from that described in the somewhat
profane passage of our text, is assigned by the delicate fancy of Ovid
to the parrot of his mistress, in the poem to which (as I have before
observed, p. 120,) Skelton seems to have had an eye;
“_Colle sub Elysio nigra nemus illice frondens_,” &c.
_Amor._ ii. 6. 49.
Page 69. v. 609. _asayde_] i. e. tried—tasted: compare our author’s
_Elynour Rummyng_, v. 397. vol. i. 108.
v. 610. _Elyconys_] i. e. Helicon’s.
Page 70. v. 616.
_As Palamon and Arcet,_
_Duke Theseus, and Partelet_]
See Chaucer’s _Knightes Tale_, and _Nonnes Preestes Tale_.
v. 618.
—— _of the Wyfe of Bath_,
_That worketh moch scath_, &c.]
See Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prologue_.—_scath_, i. e. harm, mischief.
v. 629. _Of Gawen_] Son of King Lot and nephew of King Arthur. Concerning
him, see the _Morte d’Arthur_ (of which some account is given in note on
v. 634),—_Syr Gawayn and the Grene Knyȝt_, in _MS. Cott. Nero_ A. x. fol.
91,—_Ywaine and Gawin_, in Ritson’s _Met. Rom._ vol. i.,—the fragment
of _The Marriage of Sir Gawaine_, at the end of Percy’s _Rel. of A. E.
P._,—_The Awntyrs of Arthure at the Terne Wathelyn_, in Laing’s _Early
Pop. Poetry of Scot._, (the same romance, from a different MS., under the
title of _Sir Gawan and Sir Galaron of Galloway_, in Pinkerton’s _Scot.
Poems_, vol. iii.),—_The Knightly Tale of Golagrus and Gawane_, reprinted
at Edinburgh in 1827 from the ed. of 1508, (the same romance, under
the title of _Gawan and Gologras_, in Pinkerton’s _Scot. Poems_, vol.
iii.),—and the romance of _Arthour and Merlin_, from the Auchinleck MS.,
published by the Abbotsford Club, 1838.
I had written the above note before the appearance of a valuable volume
put forth by the Bannatyne Club, entitled _Syr Gawayne; A collection of
Ancient Romance-Poems, by Scotish and English Authors, relating to that
celebrated Knight of the Round Table, with an Introduction, &c., by Sir
F. Madden_, 1839.
—— _syr Guy_] In _The Rime of Sire Thopas_, Chaucer mentions “_Sire Guy_”
as one of the “romaunces of pris.” For an account of, extracts from, and
an analysis of, the English romance on the subject of this renowned hero
of Warwick, see Ritson’s _Met. Rom._ (_Dissert._) i. xcii., Warton’s
_Hist. of E. P._ i. 169. ed. 4to., and _Ellis’s Spec. of Met. Rom._ ii.
I must also refer the reader to a volume, issued by the Abbotsford Club
(while the present sheet was passing through the press), entitled _The
Romances of Sir Guy of Warwich, and Rembrun his son. Now first edited
from the Auchinleck MS._ 1840.
Page 70. v. 631.
—— _the Golden Flece,_
_How Jason it wan_]
_A boke of the hoole lyf of Jason_ was printed by Caxton in folio, n.
d. (about 1475), being a translation by that venerable typographer from
the French of Raoul le Fevre. A copy of it (now before me) in the King’s
Library, though apparently perfect, has no title of any sort. Specimens
of this prose-romance, which is not without merit, may be found in
Dibdin’s _Biblioth. Spenc._ iv. 199.—The story of Jason is also told by
Chaucer, _Legend of Hipsiphile and Medea_; by Gower, _Conf. Am._ Lib. v.;
and, at considerable length, by Lydgate, _Warres of Troy_, B. i.
v. 634.
_Of Arturs rounde table,_
_With his knightes commendable,_
_And dame Gaynour, his quene,_
_Was somwhat wanton, I wene;_
_How syr Launcelote de Lake_
_Many a spere brake_
_For his ladyes sake;_
_Of Trystram, and kynge Marke,_
_And al the hole warke_
_Of Bele Isold his wyfe_]
—_warke_, i. e. work, affair.—Concerning the various romances on
the subject of Arthur, Lancelot, Tristram, &c. see Sir F. Madden’s
Introduction to the volume already mentioned, _Syr Gawayne, &c._—In
this passage, however, Skelton seems to allude more particularly to a
celebrated compilation from the French—the prose romance of _The Byrth,
Lyf, and Actes of Kyng Arthur_, &c., commonly known by the name of _Morte
d’Arthur_. At the conclusion of the first edition printed in folio by
Caxton (and reprinted in 1817 with an Introd. and Notes by Southey)
we are told “_this booke was ended the ix. yere of the reygne of kyng
Edward the Fourth by syr Thomas Maleore, knyght_”.... “_Whiche booke was
reduced in to Englysshe by Syr Thomas Malory knyght as afore is sayd and
by me_ [Caxton] _deuyded in to xxi bookes chaptyred and emprynted and
fynysshed in thabbey Westmestre the last day of July the yere of our
lord_ MCCCCLXXXV.”
In the _Morte d’Arthur_, the gallant and courteous Sir Launcelot du
Lake, son of King Ban of Benwyck, figures as the devoted lover of
Arthur’s queen, Gueneuer (Skelton’s “_Gaynour_”), daughter of King
Lodegreans of Camelard. On several occasions, Gueneuer, after being
condemned to be burnt, is saved by the valour of her knight. But their
criminal intercourse proves in the end the destruction of Arthur and of
the fellowship of the Round Table. Gueneuer becomes a nun, Launcelot a
priest. The last meeting of the guilty pair,—the interment of Gueneuer’s
body by her paramour,—and the death of Launcelot, are related with no
ordinary pathos and simplicity.
The same work treats fully of the loves of Sir Trystram, son of King
Melyodas of Lyones, and La Beale Isoud (Skelton’s “_Bele Isold_”),
daughter of King Anguysshe of Ireland, and wife of King Marke of
Cornwall, Trystram’s uncle.—(Trystram’s wife, Isoud La Blaunche Maynys,
was daughter of King Howel of Bretagne).—The excuse for the intrigue
between Trystram and his uncle’s spouse is, that their mutual passion was
the consequence of a love-potion, which they both drank without being
aware of its nature.
“In our forefathers time,” observes Ascham, somewhat severely, “when
Papistrie, as a standing poole, couered and ouerflowed all England, fewe
bookes were red in our tonge, sauing certayne bookes of Chiualrie, as
they sayd for pastime and pleasure, which, as some say, were made in
Monasteries, by idle Monkes, or wanton Chanons: as one for example _Morte
Arthur_: the whole pleasure of which booke standeth in two speciall
pointes, in open mans slaughter, and bolde bawdrye: in which booke,
those bee counted the noblest knights, that doe kill most men without
any quarell, and commit fowlest aduoulteries by sutlest shifts: as Sir
Launcelote, with the wife of king Arthure his maister: Sir Tristram,
with the wife of King Marke his uncle: Syr Lamerocke, with the wife of
king Lote, that was his own aunte. This is good stuffe, for wise men to
laugh at, or honest men to take pleasure at. Yet I knowe, when Gods Bible
was banished the Court, and _Morte Arthure_ receaued into the Princes
chamber.” _The Schole Master_, fol. 27. ed. 1571.
Page 71. v. 649.
—— _of syr Lybius,_
_Named Dysconius_]
See the romance of _Lybeaus Disconus_ (_Le beau desconnu_), in Ritson’s
_Met. Rom._ ii.; also Sir F. Madden’s note in the volume entitled _Syr
Gawayne_, &c. p. 346.
v. 651.
_Of Quater Fylz Amund,_
...
... _how they rode eche one_
_On Bayarde Mountalbon;_
_Men se hym now and then_
_In the forest of Arden_]
The English prose romance on the subject of these worthies came
originally from the press of Caxton, an imperfect copy of his edition n.
d. folio, being in Lord Spencer’s library; see Dibdin’s _Ædes Althorp._
ii. 298: and that it was also translated from the French by Caxton
himself, there is every reason to believe; see Dibdin’s _Bibliog. Decam._
ii. 438. According to the colophon of Copland’s ed., this romance was
reprinted in 1504 by Wynkyn de Worde; see _Typ. Antiq._ ii. 116. ed.
Dibdin. Copland’s edition has the following title: _The right plesaunt
and goodly Historie of the foure sonnes of Aimon the which for the
excellent endytyng of it, and for the notable Prowes and great vertues
that were in them: is no les pleasaunt to rede, then worthy to be knowen
of all estates bothe hyghe and lowe, M.CCCCC.LIIII._ folio.
The names of the brothers were “Reynawde, Alarde, Guycharde, and
Rycharde, that were wonderfull fayre, wytty, great, mightye, and
valyaunte, specyally Reynawde whiche was the greatest and the tallest
manne that was founde at that tyme in al the worlde. For he had xvi.
feete of length and more.” fol. i. ed. Copl. The father of this hopeful
family was Duke of Ardeyne.
_Bayarde_—(properly a bay horse, but used for a horse in general)—“was
suche a horse, that neuer was his like in all the world nor neuer shall
be except Busifal the horse of the great Kinge Alexander. For as for
to haue ronne. xxx. myle together he wolde neuer haue sweted. The sayd
Bayard thys horse was growen in the Isle of Boruscan, and Mawgys the
sonne of the duke Benes of Aygremount had gyuen to his cosin Reynawde,
that after made the Kynge Charlemayne full wrothe and sory.” fol. v.
Reynawde had a castle in Gascoigne called Mountawban; hence Skelton’s
expression, “_Bayarde Mountalbon_.” A wood-cut on the title-page
represents the four brothers riding “_eche one_” upon the poor animal.
“I,” says Reynawde, relating a certain adventure, “mounted vpon Bayarde
and my brethern I made to mount also thone before and the two other
behynde me, and thus rode we al foure vpon my horse bayarde.” fol. lxxxii.
Charlemagne, we are told, made peace with Reynawde on condition that he
should go as a pilgrim, poorly clothed and begging his bread, to the holy
land, and that he should deliver up Bayard to him. When Charlemagne had
got possession of the horse,—“Ha Bayarde, bayarde,” said he, “thou hast
often angred me, but I am come to the poynt, god gramercy, for to auenge
me;” and accordingly he caused Bayarde to be thrown from a bridge into
the river Meuse, with a great millstone fastened to his neck. “Now ye
ought to know that after that bayarde was caste in the riuer of meuze: he
wente vnto the botom as ye haue herde, and might not come vp for bicause
of the great stone that was at his necke whiche was horryble heuye, and
whan bayarde sawe he myghte none otherwise scape: he smote so longe and
so harde with his feete vpon the mylle stone: that he brast it, and came
agayne aboue the water and began to swym, so that he passed it all ouer
at the other syde, and whan he was come to londe: he shaked hymselfe
for to make falle the water fro him and began to crie hie, and made a
merueyllous noyse, and after beganne to renne so swyftlye as the tempest
had borne him awaie, and entred in to the great forest of Ardeyn ... and
wit it for very certayn that the folke of the countrey saien, that he
is yet alyue within the wood of Ardeyn. But wyt it whan he seeth man or
woman: he renneth anon awaye, so that no bodye maye come neere hym.” fol.
cxlv.
Page 71. v. 661. _Of Judas Machabeus_] “Gaultier de Belleperche
Arbalestrier, ou Gaultier Arbalestrier de Belleperche, commença _le
Romans de Judas Machabee_, qu’il poursuiuit jusques à sa mort.... Pierre
du Riez le coutinua jusques à la fin.” Fauchet’s _Recveil de l’origine de
la langue et poesie Françoise_, &c., p. 197.
v. 662.—_of Cesar Julious_] In the prologue to an ancient MS. poem, _The
boke of Stories called Cursor Mundi_, translated from the French, mention
is made of the _romance_
“Of _Julius Cesar_ the emperour.”
Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._ i. 123, note, ed. 4to.
v. 663.
—— _of the loue betwene_
_Paris and Vyene_]
This prose romance was printed by Caxton in folio: _Here begynneth
thystorye of the noble ryght valyaunt and worthy knyght Parys, and of the
fayr Vyēne the daulphyns doughter of Vyennoys, the whyche suffred many
aduersytees bycause of theyr true loue or they coude enioye the effect
therof of eche other_. Colophon: _Thus endeth thystorye of the noble_,
&c. &c., _translated out of frensshe in to englysshe by Wylliam Caxton
at Westmestre fynysshed the last day of August the yere of our lord
MCCCCLXXXV, and enprynted the xix day of decembre the same yere, and the
fyrst yere of the regne of kyng Harry the seuenth_.
Gawin Douglas tells us in his _Palice of Honour_, that, among the
attendants on Venus,
“Of France I saw thair _Paris and Veane_.”
p. 16. Bann. ed.
Page 71. v. 665. _duke Hannyball_]—_duke_, i. e. leader, lord.—So Lydgate;
“Which brother was vnto _duke Haniball_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xlv. ed. Wayland;
and in a copy of verses entitled _Thonke God of alle_, he applies the
word to our Saviour;
“The dereworth _duke_ that deme vs shalle.”
_MS. Cott. Calig._ A ii. fol. 66.
v. 667. _Fordrede_] i. e. utterly, much afraid.
“To wretthe the king thai were _for dred_ [_sic_].”
_Seynt Katerine_, p. 170,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Catholicæ_ (from the
Auchinleck MS.).
v. 668. _wake_] i. e. watch,—besiege.
v. 673.
_Of Hector of Troye_
_That was all theyr ioye_]
See the _Warres of Troy_ by Lydgate, a paraphrastical translation of
Guido de Colonna’s _Historia Trojana_: it was first printed in 1513. See
too the _Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_. Compare Hawes;
“Of the worthy _Hector that was all theyr ioye_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. P iii. ed. 1555.
v. 677.
—— _of the loue so hote_
_That made Troylus to dote_
_Vpon fayre Cressyde, &c._]
See Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_.
Page 72. v. 682. _Pandaer_] Or _Pandare_ as Chaucer occasionally calls
Pandarus.
—— _bylles_] i. e. letters: see Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_.
v. 686. _An ouche, or els a ryng_] “_Nouche_. Monile.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499. “_Ouche_ for a bonnet _afficquet_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar.
de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. li. (Table of Subst.). “He gaue her an
_ouche_ couched with perles, &c.... _monile_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. k iii. ed. 1530.—Concerning _ouche_ (jewel, ornament, &c.), a word
whose etymology and primary signification are uncertain, see Tyrwhitt’s
_Gloss._, to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v. _Nouches_, and Richardson’s
Dict. in v. _Ouch_.—Here, perhaps, it means a brooch: for in the third
book of Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, Cressid proposes that Pandarus
should bear a “blew ring” from her to Troilus; and (_ibid._) afterwards
the lovers
“enterchaungeden her _ringes_,
Of which I can not tellen no scripture,
But well I wot, a _broche_ of gold and azure,
In which a Rubbie set was like an herte,
Creseide him yaue, and stacke it on his sherte.”
Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 164. ed. 1602.
After Cressid becomes acquainted with Diomede, she gives him _a brooch_,
which she had received from Troilus on the day of her departure from
Troy. _Id._ fols. 179, 181. In Henrysoun’s _Testament of Creseide_ (a
poem of no mean beauty), Cressid, stricken with leprosy, bequeathes to
Troilus _a ring_ which he had given her. _Id._ fol. 184.
Page 72. v. 700. _That made the male to wryng_] So Skelton elsewhere;
“That ye can not espye
Howe the _male_ dothe _wrye_.”
_Colyn Cloute_, v. 687. vol. i. 337.
“The countrynge at Cales
_Wrang_ vs on the _males_.”
_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 74. vol. ii. 29,
and so Lydgate;
“Now al so mot I thryue and the, saide he than,
I can nat se for alle wittes and espyes,
And craft and kunnyng, but that _the male so wryes_
That no kunnyng may preuayl and appere
Ayens a womans wytt and hir answere.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 50.
I do not understand the expression. In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530, besides “_Male_ or wallet to putte geare in,” we find
“_Mayle_ that receyueth the claspe of a gowne in to it ... _porte_,” fol.
xlvi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 702. _The song of louers lay_]—_lay_ seems here to mean—law.
“Of _louers lawe_ he toke no cure.”
_Harpalus_ (from pieces by uncertain authors printed with the poems of
Surrey),—Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ ii. 68. ed. 1794.
Page 73. v. 716. _kys the post_] So Barclay;
“Yet from beginning absent if thou be,
Eyther shalt thou lose thy meat and _kisse the post_,” &c.
_Egloge_ ii. sig. B iiii. ed. 1570.
The expression is found in much later writers: see, for instance,
Heywood’s _Woman Kilde with Kindnesse_, sig. E 2. ed. 1617.
v. 717. _Pandara_] So in Chaucer (according to some copies);
“Aha (quod _Pandara_) here beginneth game.”
_Troilus and Creseide_, B. i. fol. 147,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
Page 73. v. 719. _But lyght for somer grene_] See note, p. 115. v. 355.
v. 727. _ne knew_] i. e. knew not.
v. 728. _on lyue_] i. e. alive.
v. 732. _make_] i. e. mate.
v. 735. _proces_] i. e. story, account. So again in this poem
“_relation_” and “_prosses”_ are used as synonymous, vv. 961, 969; and in
our author’s _Magnyfycence_ we find
“Vnto this _processe_ brefly compylyd.”
v. 2534. vol. i. 308.
and presently after,
“This _treatyse_, deuysyd to make you dysporte.”
v. 2562. p. 309.
The 15th chap. of the first book of Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_ is headed
“A _processe_ of Narcissus, Byblis, Myrra,” &c.
v. 736.—_of Anteocus_] Whom Chaucer calls “the cursed king Antiochus.”
_The Man of Lawes Prol._ v. 4502. ed. Tyr. His story may be found in
Gower’s _Confessio Amantis_, lib. viii. fol. clxxv. sqq. ed. 1554.
v. 739.
—— _of Mardocheus,_
_And of great Assuerus, &c._]
“Even scripture-history was turned into romance. The story of Esther and
Ahasuerus, or of Amon or Hamon, and Mardocheus or Mordecai, was formed
into a fabulous poem.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 178. (where
some lines of the romance are quoted from a MS.) ed. 4to.
v. 741. _Vesca_] i. e. Vashti.
v. 742. _teene_] i. e. wrath: see the Book of _Esther_.
v. 745. _Of kyng Alexander_] See Weber’s _Introduction_, p. xx. sqq., and
the romance of _Kyng Alisaunder_ in his _Met. Rom._ i.; also _The Buik of
the most noble and vailȝeand Conquerour Alexander the Great_, reprinted
by the Bannatyne Club, 1831.
v. 746.—_of kyng Euander_] As the lady declares (v. 756) that she was
slightly acquainted with Virgil, we may suppose that her knowledge of
this personage was derived from _The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_,
and Caxton’s _Boke of Eneydos_.
Page 74. v. 751. _historious_] i. e. historical.
v. 752. _bougets and males_] i. e. budgets and bags.
v. 754. _sped_] i. e. versed in.
v. 760. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 766. _Phorocides_] i. e. Pherecydes.
v. 767. _auncyente_] i. e. antiquity.
Page 74. v. 768. _to diffuse for me_] i. e. too difficult for me to
understand. “_Dyffuse_ harde to be vnderstande, _diffuse_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxvi. (Table of Adiect.).
“What quoth Doctryne where is he now
That meued this mater straunge and _dyffuse_.”
Lydgate’s _Assemble de dyeus_, sig. f ii. n. d. 4to.
“Whyche is _defuse_, and right fallacyous.”
Hawes’s _Pastime of pleasure_, sig. H i. ed. 1555.
“But oft yet by it [logick] a thing playne, bright and pure,
Is made _diffuse_, vnknowen, harde and obscure.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 53. ed. 1570.
v. 775. _enneude_] “I _Ennewe_ I set the laste and fresshest coloure vpon
a thyng as paynters do whan their worke shall remayne to declare their
connyng, _Je renouuelle_. Your ymage is in maner done, so sone as I haue
_ennewed_ it I wyl sende it you home,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxxvi. (Table of Verbes).
“Ylike _enewed_ with quickenes of coloure,
Both of the rose and the lyly floure.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. I ii. ed. 1555.
“And the one shylde was _enewed_ with whyte, and the other shelde was
reed.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. iii. c. ix. vol. i. 81. ed. Southey.
v. 776. _pullysshed_] i. e. polished.
—— _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, beautiful.
v. 779. _frowardes_] i. e. frowardness.
Page 75. v. 788. _sped_] i. e. versed.
v. 791. _Solacious_] i. e. affording amusement.
v. 792. _alowed_] i. e. approved.
v. 793. _enprowed_] In the Glossary to Fry’s _Pieces of Ancient Poetry_,
1814, where a portion of the present poem is given, _enprowed_ is
rendered “profited of:” the whole passage is very obscure.
v. 799. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 804.
—— _Johnn Lydgate_
_Wryteth after an hyer rate_]
Lydgate, however, disclaims all elevation of style: see his _Fall of
Prynces_, Prol. sig. A iii. ed. Wayland; his _Warres of Troy_, B. ii.
sigs. F ii, K. ii, B. v. sigs. E e i. ii. iii. ed. 1555.
v. 806. _dyffuse_] i. e. difficult: see note on v. 768, _supra._
v. 807. _sentence_] i. e. meaning.
v. 809. _No man that can amend_, &c.] So Hawes, speaking of the works of
Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate;
“Whose famous draughtes _no man can amende_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. G iiii. ed. 1555.
Page 75. v. 811. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 812. _to haute_] i. e. too high, too loftily.
Page 76. v. 817. _In worth_] See note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 841. _Joanna_] See note, p. 122.
Page 77, v. 860.
_If Arethusa wyll send_
_Me enfluence to endyte_]
Skelton recollected that Virgil had invoked this nymph as a Muse;
“Extremum hunc, _Arethusa_, mihi concede laborem.”
_Ecl._ x. 1.
v. 869. _lust_] i. e. pleasure.
v. 872. _enbybed_] i. e. made wet.
v. 873. _aureat_] i. e. golden.
v. 875. _Thagus_] i. e. Tagus.
Page 78. v. 882. _remes_] i. e. realms.
v. 886. _Perce and Mede_] i. e. Persia and Media.
v. 896.
_She floryssheth new and new_
_In bewte and vertew_]
So Lydgate:
“And euer encrecyng _in vertue new and newe_.”
_The Temple of Glas._, sig. b vii. n. d. 4to.
See also his _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. II i. B. iii. sig. S i. ed.
1555; and Chaucer, _The Pardoneres Tale_, v. 12863. ed. Tyr.
v. 903. _askry_] i. e. call out against, raise a shout against: see note
on v. 1358, p. 152.
v. 905. _odyous Enui, &c._] Here Skelton has an eye to Ovid’s picture of
Envy:
“Pallor in ore sedet; macies in corpore toto:
Nusquam recta acies: livent rubigine dentes:
Pectora felle virent: lingua est suffusa veneno.
Risus abest, nisi quem visi movere dolores.
Nec fruitur somno, vigilacibus excita curis:
Sed videt ingratos, intabescitque videndo,
Successus hominum: carpitque et carpitur una:
Suppliciumque suum est.”
_Met._ ii. 775.
See too the description of Envy in _Pierce Plowman_, sig. F ii. ed. 1561.
v. 908. _ledder_] i. e. leather, leathern.
Page 79. v. 912. _crake_] i. e. creak.
v. 913. _Leane as a rake_] From Chaucer;
“As _lene_ was his hors _as is a rake_.”
_Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 289. ed. Tyr.
Browne has the expression,—_Britannia’s Pastorals_, B. ii. S. 1. p. 18.
ed. 1625.
Page 79. v. 915. _vnlusty_] i. e. unpleasant, unseemly.
v. 919. _wronge_] i. e. wrung.
v. 930. _bete_] i. e. agitated; or, perhaps, inflamed (the expression to
_bete a fire_, to mend it, to make it burn, is a common one).
v. 931. _frete_] i. e. eaten, gnawed.
v. 936. _semblaunt_] i. e. semblance, appearance.
Page 80. v. 947. _slo_] i. e. slay.
v. 963. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 968. _dres_] i. e. address, apply.
v. 969. _prosses_] Equivalent to “_relation_” in v. 961: see note on v.
735, p. 143.
v. 970. _ken_] i. e. instruct.
v. 973. _As hym best lyst_] i. e. As best pleases him.
Page 81. v. 980. _bedell_] i. e., I apprehend, servitor: but Nares, MS.
note on Skelton, explains it—beadsman.
v. 999. _sort_] i. e. set, assemblage.
v. 1002. _fauour_] i. e. appearance, look—or, perhaps, beauty,—in which
sense the word occurs v. 1048.
v. 1003. _Ennewed_] See note on v. 775, p. 144.
Page 82. v. 1014.
_Her eyen gray and stepe_
...
_With her browes bent_]
“_Gray_ coloured _as ones eyes be vair_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.):—_bent_, i. e.
arched. Compare Hawes;
“Her forehead _stepe with_ fayre _browes ybent_
_Her eyen gray_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. S i. ed. 1555.
I may just observe that these passages (and many others which might be
cited) shew how unnecessarily Ritson substituted “brent” for “bent” in
_The Squyr of Lowe Degre_; see his note, _Met. Rom._ iii. 351.
v. 1019. _Polexene_] i. e. Polyxena, the daughter of Priam,—celebrated by
Lydgate in his _Warres of Troy_, and by others.
v. 1031. _The Indy saphyre blew_] _Indy_ may perhaps be used here
for—Indian; but I believe the expression is equivalent to—the azure
blue sapphire (Skelton in his _Garlande of Laurell_ has “_saphiris indy
blew_,” v. 478, vol. i. 381); see note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 1032. _ennew_] See note on v. 775. p. 144.
Page 82. v. 1034. _lere_] i. e. skin.
v. 1035. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, beautiful.
—— _ruddes_] i. e. ruddy tints of the cheek, complexion.
Page 83. v. 1048. _with fauour fret_]—_fauour_, i. e. beauty; so Skelton
has “feturs _fauorable_,” in the second of his _Balettys_, v. 8, vol.
i. 23: _fret_, I believe, does not here mean fraught (see Tyrwhitt’s
_Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_), but is equivalent to—wrought,
adorned,—in allusion to fret-work; so in our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_,—
“_Fret_ all with orient perlys of Garnate.”
v. 485, vol. i. 381.
v. 1052.
_The columbine commendable,_
_The ielofer amyable_]
_Ielofer_ is perhaps what we now call gillyflower; but it was formerly
the name for the whole class of carnations, pinks, and sweetwilliams. So
Graunde Amoure terms La Bell Pucell;
“The gentyll _gyllofer_ the goodly _columbyne_.”
Hawes’s _Pastime of pleasure_, sig. N i. ed. 1555.
v. 1065. _denayd_] i. e. denied.
v. 1069. _conuenyently_] i. e. fittingly, suitably.
Page 84. v. 1077. _sker_] i. e. scar: see v. 1045.
v. 1078. _Enhached_] i. e. Inlaid: our author has the word again in his
_Garlande of Laurell_;
“_Enhachyde_ with perle and stones preciously.”
v. 40. vol. i. 363.
v. 1081. _To forget deadly syn_] Compare the first of our author’s
_Balettys_, v. 11. vol. i. 22.
v. 1096. _pastaunce_] i. e. pastime.
v. 1097. _So sad and so demure_]—_sad_, i. e. serious, grave, sober: so
afterwards, “_Sobre_, demure Dyane.” v. 1224.
v. 1100. _make to the lure_] A metaphor from falconry: “_Lure_ is that
whereto Faulconers call their young Hawks, by casting it up in the aire,
being made of feathers and leather, in such wise that in the motion it
looks not unlike a fowl.” Latham’s _Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words of
Art_), 1658.
v. 1102. _hole_] i. e. whole.
Page 85. v. 1105. _crased_] i. e. crushed, enfeebled.
v. 1106. _dased_] i. e. dazzled.
v. 1116.
_And to amende her tale,_
_Whan she lyst to auale_]
—_auale_ is generally—to let down, to lower: but I know not how to
explain the present passage, which appears to be defective.
Page 85. v. 1118.
_And with her fyngers smale,_
_And handes soft as sylke,_
_Whyter than the mylke,_
_That are so quyckely vayned_]
—_quyckely vayned_, i. e. lively veined. Compare Hawes;
“By her propre _hande, soft as any sylke_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. H iiii. ed. 1555.
“_Her fingers small_, and therto right longe,
_White as the milke, with blew vaynes_ among.”
_Id._ sig. S i.
v. 1124. _Vnneth_] i. e. Scarcely, not without difficulty. Here again the
text seems to be defective.
v. 1125. _reclaymed_] A metaphor from falconry. “_Reclaming_ is to tame,
make gentle, or to bring a Hawk to familiarity with the man.” Latham’s
_Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words of Art_), 1658.
Page 86. v. 1146. _tote_] i. e. look, gaze: see note on v. 411, p. 129.
v. 1147. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 1148. _hert rote_] i. e. heart-root.
v. 1151.
_She is playnly expresse_
_Egeria, the goddesse,_
_And lyke to her image,_
_Emportured with corage,_
_A louers pilgrimage_]
I must leave the reader to form his own idea of the meaning of the last
two lines, which are beyond my comprehension.
v. 1157. _Ne_] i. e. Nor.
—— _wood_] i. e. mad, furious.
Page 87. v. 1170.
_So goodly as she dresses,_
_So properly she presses_
_The bryght golden tresses_
_Of her heer so fyne,_
_Lyke Phebus beames shyne._
_Wherto shuld I disclose_
_The garterynge of her hose?_]
—_Phebus beames shyne_, i. e. the shine of Phœbus’ beams. Compare Hawes;
“_Her shining here so properly she dresses_
Alofe her forehed with fayre _golden tresses_
...
Her fete proper, _she gartered well her hose_.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. S i. ed. 1555.
v. 1177. _to suppose_] i. e. to be supposed.
Page 87. v. 1178. _were_] i. e. wear.
v. 1179. _gere_] i. e. dress, clothes.
v. 1180. _fresshe_] i. e. gay.
v. 1184. _lusty somer_] i. e. pleasant summer.
v. 1194. _kyrtell_] “_Kyrtell_ a garment _corpset_, _surcot_, _cotelle_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xliii. (Table of
Subst.). It has been variously explained (see notes on _Henry IV_. Part
ii. act ii. sc. 4, _Shakespeare_ by Malone and Boswell, xvii. 98, 99,
Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._, and Nares’s _Gloss._), petticoat,—safe-guard or
riding-hood,—long cloak,—long mantle, reaching to the ground, with a head
to it that entirely covered the face, and usually red,—apron,—jacket,—and
loose gown!!! The following note by Gifford on _Cynthia’s Revels_
(Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 260) gives the most satisfactory account of
a kirtle: “Few words have occasioned such controversy among the
commentators on our old plays as this; and all for want of knowing that
it is used in a two-fold sense, sometimes for the jacket merely, and
sometimes for the train or upper petticoat attached to it. A full kirtle
was always a jacket and petticoat, a half kirtle (a term which frequently
occurs) was either the one or the other: but our ancestors, who wrote
when this article of dress was everywhere in use, and when there was
little danger of being misunderstood, most commonly contented themselves
with the simple term (kirtle), leaving the sense to be gathered from the
context.”
v. 1199. _let_] i. e. hinder.
Page 88. v. 1205. _pullysshed_] i. e. polished.
v. 1223. _Jane_] See note, p. 122.
v. 1225. _hyght_] i. e. called.
Page 89. v. 1242. _saynt Jamys_] i. e. Saint James of Compostella: see
note on _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 354.
v. 1243. _pranys_] i. e. prawns.
v. 1244. _cranys_] i. e. cranes.
v. 1250. _sadly_] i. e. seriously, soberly.
v. 1251. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
Page 90. —— _an adicyon_] Though found in all the eds. of _Phyllyp
Sparowe_ which I have seen, it was not, I apprehend, originally
published with the poem. It is inserted (and perhaps first appeared)
in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1261. vol. i. 412, where he
tells us that some persons “take greuaunce, and grudge with frownyng
countenaunce,” at his poem on Philip Sparrow,—alluding probably more
particularly to Barclay; see note, p. 120, and _Account of Skelton and
his Writings_.
v. 1269. _ianglynge iayes_] See note on v. 396, p. 128.
Page 90. v. 1274. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame. “Thus was syr Arthur
_depraued_ and euyl sayd of.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xxi. c. i. vol. ii.
433. ed. Southey.
v. 1289. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.
Page 91. v. 1291. _Hercules that hell dyd harow_]—_harow_, i. e. lay
waste, plunder, spoil,—overpower, subdue,—Hercules having carried away
from it his friends Theseus and Pirithous, as well as the dog Cerberus.
The _harrowing of hell_ was an expression properly and constantly applied
to our Lord’s descent into hell, as related in the Gospel of Nicodemus.
There were several early miracle-plays on this favourite subject; and
Lydgate strangely enough says that Christ
“Took out of helle soulys many a peyre
Mawgre Cerberus and al his cruelte.”
_Testamentum_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 49.
I may add, that Warner, speaking of Hercules, uses the words “harrowed
hell.” _Albion’s England_, p. 23. ed. 1612.
v. 1293. _Slew of the Epidaures, &c._] Qy. is not the text corrupted here?
v. 1295. _Onocentaures_] i. e. Centaurs, half human, half asses. See
Ælian _De Nat. Anim._ lib. xvii. c. 9. ed. Gron., and Phile _De Anim.
Prop._ c. 44. ed. Pauw. Both these writers describe the onocentaur as
having the bosom of a woman. R. Holme says it “is a Monster, being the
Head and Breasts of a Woman set upon the Shoulders of a Bull.” _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 208.
v. 1296. _Hipocentaures_] i. e. Centaurs, half human, half horses.
v. 1302. _Of Hesperides withhold_] i. e. Withheld by the Hesperides.
v. 1314. _rounses_] i. e. common hackney-horses (though the word is
frequently used for horses in general).
v. 1318.
_He plucked the bull_
_By the horned skull,_
_And offred to Cornucopia_]
The “bull” means Achelous, who, during his combat with Hercules, assumed
that shape:
“rigidum fera dextera cornu
Dum tenet, infregit; truncaque a fronte revellit.
Näides hoc, pomis et odoro flore repletum,
Sacrarunt; divesque meo bona Copia cornu est.”
Ovid. _Met._ ix. 85.
Page 92. v. 1322. _Ecates_] i. e. Hecate’s.
Page 92. v. 1326.
—— _the venemous serpent,_
_That in hell is neuer brent_]
—_brent_, i. e. burned. A somewhat profane allusion to the scriptural
expression “the worm dieth not;”—(_worm_ and _serpent_ were formerly
synonymous).
v. 1332. _infernall posty_]—_posty_, i. e. power. So Lydgate;
“Of heuene and erthe and _infernal pooste_.”
_Testamentum_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 47.
v. 1333. _rosty_] i. e. roast.
v. 1335. _wood_] i. e. mad, wild.
v. 1340. _frounsid_] i. e. wrinkled.
v. 1344. _Primo Regum_] i. e. _The First Book of Kings_, or, as it is now
called, _The First Book of Samuel_, chap, xxviii.
“_Primo regum_ as ye may playnly reade.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xxxix. ed. Wayland.
v. 1345.
_He bad the Phitonesse_
...
_But whether it were so,_
_He were idem in numero,_
_The selfe same Samuell, &c._]
—_Phitonesse_, i. e. Pythoness, witch,—the witch of Endor.
“And speke as renably, and faire, and wel,
As to the _Phitonesse_ did Samuel:
And yet wol som men say it was not he,” &c.
Chaucer’s _Freres Tale_, v. 7091. ed. Tyr.;
and see his _House of Fame_, B. iii. fol. 267, _Workes_, ed. 1602.
“And of Phyton that Phebus made thus fine
Came _Phetonysses_ that can so deuyne,” &c.
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. K vi. ed. 1555.
“And secretelye this Saule is forth gone
To a woman that should him rede and wisse,
In Israell called a _phytonesse_.
...
To diuines this matter I commit,
...
_Whether it was the soule of Samuell_,” &c.
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xl. ed. Wayland.
See also Gower’s _Conf. Am._ B. iv. fol. lxxiii. ed. 1554; Barbour’s
_Bruce_, B. iii. v. 982. ed. Jam.; G. Douglas’s Preface to his Virgil’s
_Æneados_, p. 6, 1. 51. ed. Rudd.; and Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Monarchie_, B.
iv. _Works_, iii. 151. ed. Chalmers.
Page 92. v. 1346. _dresse_] i. e. address, apply.
v. 1351. _condityons_] i. e. qualities. But in our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_, where this “adicyon” is given, the passage according to Fake’s
ed., and rightly perhaps (compare the preceding lines), stands thus;
“And by her supersticiouns
_Of_ wonderfull condiciouns.”
v. 1343. vol. i. 414.
Page 93. v. 1352. _stede_] i. e. place.
v. 1358. _ascry_] Has occurred before in this poem, see note on v.
903. p. 145. Palsgrave has “I _Askry_ as fore riders of an armye
do their enemyes whan they make reporte where they haue sene them:
_Je descouures_.... Whose company dyd _askry_ them first .... _les
descouuryt_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cliii. (Table of
Verbes). But in the present passage “ascry” seems to mean assail (with a
shout). In Langtoft’s _Chronicle_ we find,
“Edward was hardie, the Londres gan he _ascrie_.”
p. 217. ed. Hearne,—
(who in Gloss. renders “_ascrie_”—cry to). The original French has,
“Sir Eduuard fiz le rays, les loundrays _escrye_.”
_MS. Cott. Jul._ A v. fol. 122.
Roquefort gives “_Escrier_: Faire entendre son cri d’armes dans une
bataille ... marcher à l’ennemi, l’attaquer,” &c. _Gloss. de la Lang.
Rom._ (_Sup._).
v. 1360. _my selfe dyscharge_] i. e. unburden myself,—open my mind.
v. 1365. _shene_] i. e. shine.
v. 1371. _Scroupe pulchra Joanna_] See note, p. 122. I ought to have
observed _ad loc._ that “_Scroupe_” is to be considered here as a
monosyllable; unless we read “_Scrope_” as two short syllables.
ELYNOUR RUMMYNGE.
On the title-page and also on the last leaf of Rand’s edition of this
poem, 1624, 4to, (reprinted, not with perfect accuracy, in the _Harleian
Miscellany_; see vol. i. 415. ed. Park,) is an imaginary portrait, of
which the subjoined is a fac-simile:
[Illustration:
“When Skelton wore the Laurell Crowne,
My Ale put all the Ale-wiues downe.”
]
George Steevens having heard that a copy of Rand’s edition was in
the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, prevailed on the Dean to bring it
to London; and having made a drawing of the title-page, gave it to
Richardson the printseller, who engraved and published it. Steevens, soon
after, contributed to the _European Magazine_ for May, 1794, vol. xxv.
334,—
“Verses meant to have been subjoined (with the following Motto) to a
Copy from a scarce Portrait of Elinour Rumming, lately published by Mr.
Richardson, of Castle-street, Leicester-square.
Ne sit ancillæ tibi amor pudori
Xanthia Phoceu! prius insolentem
Serva Briseis niveo colore
Movit Achillem.
Movit Ajacem Telamone natum
Forma captivæ dominum Tecmessæ;
Arsit Atrides medio in triumpho
Virgine rapta.
HORACE.
“Eleonora Rediviva.
To seek this nymph among the glorious dead,
Tir’d with his search on earth, is Gulston fled:—
Still for these charms enamour’d Musgrave sighs;
To clasp these beauties ardent Bindley dies;—
For these (while yet unstag’d to public view)
Impatient Brand o’er half the kingdom flew;—
These, while their bright ideas round him play,
From classic Weston force the Roman lay:—
Oft too, my Storer! heaven has heard thee swear,
Not Gallia’s murder’d Queen was half so fair:—
‘A new Europa!’ cries the exulting Bull,
‘My Granger now (I thank the gods) is full:’—
Even Cracherode’s self, whom passions rarely move,
At this soft shrine has deign’d to whisper love.—
Haste then, ye swains, who Rumming’s form adore,
Possess your Elinour, and sigh no more.
W. R.”
The Marquis of Bute told Dallaway that he gave twenty guineas for the
original engraving of Elinour: see Dallaway’s _Letheræum_, 1821, p. 6.
Rand’s edition opens with the following lines, which, I need hardly
observe, are by some rhymer of the day:
“_Skeltons Ghost._
To all tapsters and tiplers,
And all ale house vitlers,
Inne-keepers and cookes,
That for pot-sale lookes,
And will not giue measure,
But at your owne pleasure,
Contrary to law,
Scant measure will draw
In pot and in canne,
To cozen a man
Of his full quart a penny,
Of you there’s to many:
For in King Harry’s time,
When I made this rime
Of Elynor Rumming
With her good ale tunning,
Our pots were full quarted,
We were not thus thwarted
With froth-canne and nick-pot
And such nimble quick shot,
That a dowzen will score
For twelue pints and no more.
Full Winchester gage
We had in that age;
The Dutchmans strong beere
Was not hopt ouer heere,
To vs t’was unknowne:
Bare ale of our owne
In a bowle we might bring
To welcome the king,
And his grace to beseech,
With, _Wassall my Leigh_.[270]
Nor did that time know
To puffe and to blow
In a peece of white clay,
As you doe at this day,
With fier and coale,
And a leafe in a hole;
As my ghost hath late seene,
As I walked betweene
Westminster Hall
And the church of Saint Paul,
And so thorow the citie,
Where I saw and did pitty
My countrymen’s cases,
With fiery-smoke faces,
Sucking and drinking
A filthie weede stinking,
Was ne’re knowne before
Till the deuill and the More
In th’ Indies did meete,
And each other there greete
With a health they desire
Of stinke, smoake, and fier.
But who e’re doth abhorre it,
The citie smoakes for it;
Now full of fier-shops
And fowle spitting chops,
So neesing and coughing,
That my ghost fell to scoffing,
And to myselfe said,
Here’s fylthie fumes made;
Good physicke of force
To cure a sicke horse.
Nor had we such slops,
And shagge-haire on our tops:
At wearing long haire
King Harry would sweare,
And gaue a command
With speede out of hand
All heads should be powl’d,
As well young as old,
And his owne was first so,
Good ensample to show.
Y’are so out of fashion,
I know not our nation;
Your ruffes and your bands,
And your cuffes at your hands;
Your pipes and your smokes,
And your short curtall clokes;
Scarfes, feathers, and swerds,
And thin bodkin beards;
Your wastes a span long,
Your knees with points hung,
Like morrice-daunce bels;
And many toyes els,
Which much I distaste:
But Skelton’s in haste.
My masters, farewell;
Reade ouer my Nell,
And tell what you thinke
Of her and her drinke:
If shee had brew’d amisse,
I had neuer wrote this.”
[270] _Leigh_] Meant for “Liege.”
At the end of the poem is, from the same hand,
“_Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader._[271]
Thus, countrymen kinde,
I pray let me finde,
For this merry glee,
No hard censure to be.
King Henry the Eight
Had a good conceit
Of my merry vaine,
Though duncicall plaine
It now nothing fits
The time’s nimble wits:
My lawrell and I
Are both wither’d dry,
And you flourish greene
In your workes daily seene,
That come from the presse,
Well writ I confesse;
But time will devouer
Your poets as our,
And make them as dull
As my empty scull.”
[271] _Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader_, &c. I
give these lines
from the _Harl. Miscel._, the copy of Rand’s ed. which was lent to me by
Mr. Heber, wanting the last leaf.]
Concerning Elynour Rummyng and the poem by which Skelton has rendered
her famous, Dallaway has the following remarks,—_his account of the
circumstances which introduced Skelton to her acquaintance being a mere
hypothesis!!_ “When the Court of Henry viii was frequently kept at the
palace of Nonsuch (about six miles distant), the laureate, with other
courtiers, sometimes came to Leatherhead for the amusement of fishing,
in the river Mole; and were made welcome at the _cabaret_ of Elinor
Rummyng, whom Skelton celebrated in an equivocal encomium, in a short
[?—it consists of 623 lines—] poem, remarkable only for a very coarse
jest, after a manner peculiar to the author and the times in which he
lived, but which has been more frequently reprinted than his other works.
The gist or point of this satire had a noble origin, or there must be
an extraordinary coincidence of thought in the _Beoni_, or Topers, a
ludicrous effusion of the great Lorenzo de Medici, when a young man....
Her domicile, near the bridge, still exists. The annexed etching was made
from a drawing taken previously to late repairs, but it still retains its
first distinction as an ale-house.”
[Illustration]
“Some of her descendants occur in the parish register in the early part
of the last century.” _Letheræum_, 1821, pp. 4-6.
_The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng_] Besides “I _Tonne_ ale or wyne I put
lycour in to tonnes, _Je entöne_,” Palsgrave has “I _Tonne_ I masshe ale,
_Je brasse_.... Whan _tonne_ you and god wyll: _Quant brasserez vous_,”
&c. _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxxxi. (Table of Verbes);
and here _Tunnyng_ means—Brewing.
P. 95. v. 1.
_Tell you I chyll,_
_If that ye wyll_
_A whyle be styll_]
—_I chyll_, i. e. Ich wyll, I will. Compare _Syr Gawayn and the Grene
Knyȝt;_
“_And ȝe wyl a whyle be stylle,_
_I schal telle yow_ how thay wroȝt.”
p. 74. Bann. ed.
and the Prol. to _Kyng Alisaunder;_
“_Yef ye wolen sitte stille_,
Ful feole _Y wol yow telle_.”
Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 5.
Page 95. v. 4. _gyll_] Equivalent here to girl—a familiar name for a
female; as in the proverb, “Every Jack must have his _Gill_:” supposed
by some etymologists to be an abbreviation of _Julia_, _Juliana_, or
_Gillian;_ by Richardson (_Dict._ in v.) to be a corruption of _giglot_.
v. 6. _gryll_] “Grymm _gryl_ and horryble ... horridus ... horribilis.”
_Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221. (Ed. 1499 of that work omits
“_gryl._.”) The word is of frequent occurrence; but its exact meaning
here seems to be doubtful.
v. 12. _lere_] i. e. complexion, skin.
v. 14. _chere_] i. e. look, countenance.
v. 17. _bowsy_] i. e. bloated by drinking.
v. 21. _here_] i. e. hair.
v. 22. _lewde_] i. e. vile, nasty.
v. 23. _sayne_] i. e. say.
v. 25. _glayre_] i. e. viscous matter.
Page 96. v. 27.
_Her nose somdele hoked,_
_And camously croked_]
—_somdele hoked_, i. e. somewhat hooked. “_Camed_ or short nosed. Simus.”
_Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “A _Camoise_ nose, that is to saie crooked
vpward as the Morians [Moors].” Baret’s _Alvearie_. “_Camuse_. Flat.”
Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. “_Camused._ Flat, broad
and crooked; as applied to a nose, what we popularly call a _snub-nose_.”
Nares’s _Gloss._ Todd, quoting this passage of Skelton, explains
_camously_, awry. _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 34. _gowndy_] So Lydgate;
“A _goundy_ eye is deceyued soone,
That any colour cheseth by the moone.”
_Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. H iii. ed. 1555.
“_Gownde_ of the eye. Ridda, Albugo.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221.
v. 35. _vnsowndy_] i. e. unsound.
v. 38. _jetty_] i. e. that part of a building which projects beyond the
rest.
Page 96. v. 40.
—— _how she is gumbed,_
_Fyngered and thumbed_]
i. e. what gums, fingers, and thumbs she has.
v. 45. _huckels_] i. e. hips.
v. 49. _Foted_] i. e. Footed.
v. 51. _iet_] i. e. strut: see note, p. 94. v. 43.
v. 52. _fet_] Means, perhaps, _feat_,—neat, handsome one.
v. 53. _flocket_] “Is described as a loose garment with large sleeves:”
see Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 373.
v. 54. _rocket_] i. e. a garment, worn often without, and sometimes with
sleeves; sometimes it was made to reach the ground, and sometimes much
shorter and open at the sides. See _Id. ibid._
v. 55. _With symper the cocket_] So Heywood in his _Dialogue_;
“Vpright as a candell standth in a socket,
Stoode she that day, so _simper decocket_.”
Sig. F,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
and Jonson in his Masque, _The Gipsies Metamorphosed;_
“Lay by your wimbles,
Your boring for thimbles,
Or using your nimbles,
In diving the pockets,
And sounding the sockets
Of _simper-the-cockets_.”
_Works_ (by Gifford), vii. 376.
In a note on the latter passage, Whalley quotes from Cotgrave’s _Dict.:_
“_Coquine_, a beggar-woman, also a cockney, _simper de cockit_, nice
thing.” Gifford (_ibid._) remarks, “_Cocket_ was a fine species of bread,
as distinguished from common bread; hence, perhaps, the name was given
to an overstrained affectation of delicacy. To _simper_ at, or over,
a thing, is to touch it _as in scorn_.” Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) doubts
(justly, I think) the connexion of _simper-the-cocket_ with _cocket_
bread, and explains it, “quasi simpering coquette,” observing, that “one
of Cotgrave’s words in rendering ‘coquette’ is _cocket_.” I may add, that
in _Gloss. of Prov. and Loc. Words_ by Grose and Pegge, ed. 1839, is,
“_Cocket_, brisk, apish, pert,” and “_Simper_, to mince one’s words.”
Page 97. v. 56.
_Her huke of Lyncole grene,_
_It had ben hers, I wene,_
_More then fourty yere_]
“Huke _surquanie, froc_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. xli. (Table of Subst.). “A loose kind of garment, of the cloak or
mantle kind.” Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 364. “_Lyncolne_
anciently dyed _the best greene_ of England.” Marg. note in Drayton’s
_Polyolbion_, Song 25. p. 111. ed. 1622.—Compare a celebrated ballad;
“My _cloake_ it was a verry good cloake,
Itt hath been alwayes true to the weare,
But now it is not worth a groat;
I have had it _four and forty yeere_.”
_Take thy old cloak about thee_,—Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ i. 206.
ed. 1794.
Page 97. v. 63. _woll_] i. e. wool.
v. 68. _gytes_] i. e. clothes. _Gite_ is properly a gown:
“And she came after in a _gite_ of red.”
Chaucer’s _Reves Tale_, v. 3952. ed. Tyr.
v. 69. _pranked with pletes_]—_pletes_, i. e. plaits. “I _Pranke_ ones
gowne I set the _plyghtes_ in order.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxxi. (Table of Verbes).
v. 70. _Her kyrtel Brystow red_]—_kyrtel_; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.
“London hath scarlet, and _Bristowe_ pleasaunt _red_.”
Barclay’s _Fourth Egloge_, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.
“At _Brystowe_ is the best water to _dye reed_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. V ii. ed. 1530.
v. 74. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 75. _whym wham_] i. e. something whimsically, fantastically devised.
The word is frequently applied to articles of female finery by our early
dramatists. In _Ane Interlude of the Laying of a Gaist_, we are told that
the Gaist (ghost)
“stall fra peteouss Abrahame
An quhorle and _ane quhum quhame_.”
v. 74,—Laing’s _An. Pop. Poetry of Scotland_.
_Whim-wham_ is used by Gray, _Works_, iii. 123. ed. Mitford, and by Lamb,
_Prose Works_, ii. 142.
v. 76. _trym tram_] i. e. some trim, neat ornament, or pretty trifle. In
Weaver’s _Lusty Juuentus_, Hipocrisie, after enumerating a variety of
popish trumpery, adds
“And a hundred _trim trams_ mo.”
Sig. B iiii. ed. Copland.
v. 77. _brayne pan_] i. e. skull, head. See note, p. 100. v. 31.
v. 78. _Egyptian_] i. e. gipsy.
Page 98. v. 85. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 88. _shone_] i. e. shoes.
v. 90. _baudeth_] i. e. fouls. “I _Baudy_ or fyle or soyle with any
filthe, _Ie souylle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
clviii. (Table of Verbes). “The auter clothes, and the vestementes shulde
be very clene, not _baudy_, nor torne,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. E
iiii.
Page 98. v. 94. _wonnynge_] i. e. dwelling.
v. 96. _Sothray_] i. e. Surrey.
v. 97. _stede_] i. e. place.
v. 98. _Lederhede_] i. e. Leatherhead; see p. 157.
v. 99. _tonnysh gyb_] The epithet _tonnysh_ is perhaps derived from her
occupation of _tunning_ (see note, p. 158), or perhaps it may allude to
her shape: _gyb_ is properly a male cat (see note, p. 122. v. 27); but
the term, as here, is sometimes applied to a woman;
“And give a thousand by-words to my name,
And call me Beldam, _Gib_, Witch, Night-mare, Trot.”
Drayton’s _Epistle from Elinor Cobham to Duke Humphrey_,—_Poems_, p. 175.
ed. 1619. fol.
v. 100. _syb_] i. e. related, akin.
v. 102. _noppy_] i. e. nappy.
v. 103. _port sale_] If the right reading, must be used here for—sale
in general. “Port-sale, The Sale of Fish as soon as it is brought into
the Harbour; also an Out-cry or Publick Sale of any Commodity.” Kersey’s
_Dict._
v. 105. _To sweters, to swynkers_] i. e. to those who sweat and labour
hard,—to labourers of various kinds.
“For we can neyther _swyncke nor sweate_.”
_Pierce Plowman_, sig. I ii. ed. 1561.
v. 110. _Now away the mare_] Skelton has the same expression in his
_Magnyfycence_, v. 1342. vol. i. 268. Compare _The Frere and the Boye_;
“Of no man he had no care,
But sung, hey howe, _awaye the mare_.”
Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 37.
and _Jyl of Braintfords Testament_, n. d.;
“Ah sira, mary _away the mare_,
The deuil giue thee sorow and care.”
sig. B ii.
and _A new Commodye_ &c. _of the bewte & good propertes of women_, &c. n.
d.
“Tush syr be mery let pas _awey the mare_.”
sig. A ii.
The words are doubtless a portion of some song or ballad. In
Ravenscroft’s _Melismata, Musicall Phansies_, &c. 1611, is a song (No. 6)
supposed to be sung by “Seruants out of Seruice” who “are going to the
Citie to looke for new;”
“Heigh ho, _away the Mare_,
Let vs set aside all care,
If any man be disposed to trie,
Loe here comes a lustie crew,
That are enforced to crie
A new Master, a new,” &c.
Page 99. v. 111. _sley_] i. e. slay.
v. 115. _Wyth, Fyll the cup, fyll_] So in _The Hye Way to the Spyttell
Hous_, by Copland, n. d.;
“_With fyll the pot, fyll_, and go fyll me the can.”
Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poet._ ii. 15.
v. 122. _Hardely_] i. e. Assuredly.
v. 123. _heles dagged_] In _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. is “_Daggyd_.
Fractillosus,”—a sense in which Skelton certainly has the word elsewhere
(_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 630. vol. i. 386); but here perhaps _dagged_
may mean—be-mired: “I Daggyll or I _dagge_ a thing with myer.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cciii. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 124. _kyrtelles_] See note, p. 149. v. 1194.
—— _all to-iagged_] See note, p. 100. v. 32: “I Cutte or _iagge_ a
garment.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cciii.
(Table of Verbes).
v. 130. _tunnynge_] i. e. brewing; see note, p. 158.
v. 131. _leneth ... on_] i. e. lendeth, furnisheth ... of: compare v. 491.
v. 139. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 142. _skewed_] Does it mean—distorted? or walking obliquely? or
squinting? see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._ in v. _Skew_. A friend suggests
that this epithet, as well as that in the preceding line, may be applied
to colour,—the words being still used as terms of the stable.
Page 100. v. 143. _sho clout_] i. e. shoe-cloth.
v. 145. _herelace_] i. e. hair-band.
v. 147. _tresses vntrust_] So Lydgate;—“With _heyr vntrussed_.” _Warres
of Troy_, B. iii. sig. S i. ed. 1555.
v. 148. _vnlust_] i. e. unpleasantness, unseemliness.
v. 149.
_Some loke strawry,_
_Some cawry mawry_]
—_loke_, i. e. look: _strawry_ I do not remember to have met with
elsewhere: _cawry mawry_ (as a substantive) occurs in _Pierce Plowman_;
“[Envy] was as pale as a pellet, in the palsey he semed
And clothed in _Caurymaury_,” &c.
sig. F ii. ed. 1561.
Page 100. v. 151. _vntydy_] i. e. sluttish.
—— _tegges_] A term found again in our author’s first poem _Against
Garnesche_;
“Your wynde schakyn shankkes, your longe lothy legges
...
Bryngges yow out of fauyr with alle femall _teggys_.”
v. 29. vol. i. 117.
In what sense Skelton uses _tegge_, I cannot pretend to determine. In
Warwickshire and Leicestershire, a _teg_ means a sheep of a year old;
and Ray gives, “A _Tagge_, a Sheep of the first Year, _Suss_.” _Coll. of
Words_, &c., p. 88, appended to _Proverbs_, ed. 1768.
v. 152. _Lyke rotten egges_] Lydgate in a satirical description of a lady
has—
“Colowryd _lyche a rotyn eey_ [i. e. egg].”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 156.
v. 153. _lewde sorte_] i. e. vile set, low rabble.
v. 155. _tyde_] i. e. time, season.
v. 161. _commy_] i. e. come.
v. 163. _shreud aray_]—_shreud_, i. e. evil, bad. “_Araye_ condicion or
case _poynt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xviii.
(Table of Subst.); which, however, may not be the sense of _aray_ in the
present passage. We find:—“Soo with this rumoure came in syr launcelot
and fond them al at a grete _araye_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. vi.
vol. ii. 374. ed. Southey; the next chapter beginning “What _araye_ is
this sayd sir Launcelot,” &c. “For al this foule _araye_, for al this
great frai.” _Mery Tales, Wittie Questions_, &c., 1567. p. 18, reprint.
See also our author’s sacred poem, _Wofully araid_, vol. i. 141, and note
on it.
v. 171. _draffe_] i. e. hog-wash—either the coarse liquor, or brewers’
grains, with which swine are fed.
v. 173. _swyllynge tubbe_] i. e. tub in which _swillings_ (hog-wash) are
preserved for swine.
v. 174.
_For, be there neuer so much prese,_
_These swyne go to the hye dese_]
—_prese_, i. e. press, throng: _dese_, or _dais_, a word of doubtful
etymology, generally means—a table of estate,—the upper table raised on
a platform more elevated than the others. See Tyrwhitt’s note on _Cant.
Tales_, v. 372; and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. _Dais_. It sometimes
signifies a long bench (see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v.
_Deis_); and such seems to be its meaning here, as in the fourth line
after this “the hye benche” is mentioned.—Roy in his satire against
Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c., has imitated the present
passage of Skelton;
“_For, be there never so grett prease_,
They are set up at _the hy dease_.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 51. ed. Park.
Page 101. v. 185.
_God gyue it yll preuynge,_
_Clenly as yuell cheuynge_]
—_preuynge_, i. e. proving.
“And prechest on thy benche, _with evil prefe_:”
(i. e. evil may it prove!)
Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._ v. 5829. ed. Tyr.
—_yuell cheuynge_, i. e. evil ending, bad success.
“_God geve it yvell chevynge._”
Roy’s _Rede me_, &c., _Harl. Miscell._ ix. 79. ed. Park.
See also _Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. B i., _Towneley Myst._ p. 108, and
Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16693. ed. Tyr.
v. 189. _patch_] I know not how to explain.
v. 190. _ron_] i. e. run.
v. 192. _ioust_] i. e. joist.
v. 196. _bolle_] i. e. bowl.
v. 198. _skommeth_] i. e. skimmeth.
v. 199. _Whereas_] i. e. Where.
v. 201. _blennes_] i. e. blends.
Page 102. v. 212. _And ye may it broke_] i. e. If you may brook it.
v. 213. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 218. _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.
v. 219. _Ich am_] i. e. I am.
v. 222. _In lust and in lykyng_] See note, p. 98. v. 23.
v. 223. _whytyng_] So in our early dramas, _whiting-mop_ (young whiting)
is a cant term for a nice young woman, a tender creature: see Puttenham’s
_Arte of E. P_., 1589. p. 184., and note in my ed. of Webster’s _Works_,
in. 37.
v. 224. _mullyng_] This term of endearment occurs in the _Coventry
Mysteries_, applied by one of the shepherds to the infant Saviour;
“Thow I be the last that take my leve
ȝit fayre _mullynge_ take it nat at no greve.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._. D viii. fol. 91.
Compare also Hormanni _Vulgaria_: “This is a fayre and swete _mullynge_.
Blandus est _puerulus_ insigni festiuitate.” Sig. dd vii. ed. 1530.
—— _mytyng_] In the _Towneley Mysteries_, one of the shepherds says to
the infant Saviour,
“Haylle, so as I can, haylle, praty _mytyng_!”
p. 96.
and Jamieson gives _myting_ as a fondling designation for a child, _Et.
Dict. of Scot. Lang._—In our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_, v.
115. vol. i. 123, “myteyng”—(but used as a term of contempt)—is, as here,
the rhyme to “wyteyng.”
Since writing the above note, I have met with a passage in the comedy
called _Wily Beguilde_, which might be adduced in support of the reading,
“nytyng;” but I still think that “mytyng” is the true one: the dramatist
evidently recollected Skelton’s poem, in the ed. of which he had found
“nytyng,” “nittinge,” or “nittine:”—“Comely Pegge, my _nutting_, my
sweeting, my Loue, my doue, my honnie, my bonnie, my ducke, my deare and
my deareling.” Sig. C 4. ed. 1606.
Page 102. v. 225. _His nobbes and his conny_] So in a song in _The Triall
of Treasure_, 1567;
“My mouse my _nobs_ and _cony_ swete.”
Sig. E.
_conny_, i. e. rabbit.
v. 227. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.
—— _bonny_] i. e. precious one (rather than—beautiful one,—for it has the
epithet “prety”).
v. 229. _This make I my falyre fonny_] _This_, i. e. Thus; see note, p.
86. v. 38: it has been suggested that _falyre_ means fellow; which I
doubt: _fonny_ is, I suppose, foolishly amorous; compare—
“As freshly then thou shalt begin to _fonne_
And dote in loue.”
Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_,—_Workes_, fol. 329. ed. 1602.
“With kissing, and with clapping, _I gert the carill fon_.”
Dunbar’s _Tua Maryit Wemen and The Wedo_, _Poems_, i. 71. ed. Laing.
v. 230. _dronny_] i. e. drone.
v. 232. _rout_] i. e. snore.
Page 103. v. 245. _conny_] i. e. rabbit.
v. 247. _a salt_] i. e. a salt-cellar.
—— _spone_] i. e. spoon.
v. 248. _shone_] i. e. shoon, shoes.
v. 250. _a skellet_] i. e. a skillet, a small kettle: in Suffolk it means
a brass perforated implement for skimming the cream off milk; see Moor’s
_Suff. Words_.
v. 251.
_Some fyll theyr pot full_
_Of good Lemster woll_]
The meaning is—in the pot which was to hold the ale they brought wool
“instede of monny” (v. 244).
Page 103. v. 254. _athrust_] i. e. a-thirst.
v. 258. _slaty or slyder_] i. e. miry or slippery.
Page 104. v. 266. _renne_] i. e. run.
v. 269. _byrle_] The word _birl_—to pour out, furnish for, or part
drink among guests—(see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v.,
and Leyden’s Gloss. to _The Comp. of Scotland_ in v. _Beir_)—is not
very common in English literature: “the olde God of wyne called Baccus
_birlyng_ the wyne.” Hall’s _Chronicle_, (_Hen. viii._) fol. lxxiii. ed.
1548.
v. 270. _gest_] i. e. guest.
v. 271. _She swered by the rode of rest_]—_rode_, i. e. _rood_,—cross:
see note on _Ware the Hauke_, v. 69.
“That is hardly saide, man, _by the roode of rest_.”
Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A iii. ed. 1570.
v. 280. _haruest gyrdle_] i. e. perhaps, a girdle worn at the feast after
the gathering in of the corn.
v. 286. _To offer to the ale tap_] So in _Jak Hare_, a poem attributed to
Lydgate;
“And with his wynnynges he _makith his offrynge_
_At the ale stakis_.”
_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 14.
v. 288. _sowre dowe_]—_dowe_, i. e. dough. “_Sower dough leuayn_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of Subst.).
v. 289. _howe_] i. e. ho.
v. 292. _And pype tyrly tyrlowe_] Compare a Song belonging to the
Tailors’ and Shearmen’s Pageant;
“Thé sange _terly terlow_.”
Sharp’s _Diss. on Coventry Pag. and Myst._, p. 114.
v. 295. _hekell_] i. e. comb for dressing flax.
v. 296. _rocke_] i. e. distaff.—In a poem entitled _Cryste Crosse me
Spede_. _A. B. C. Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of the
Sonne, by me Wynkyn de Worde_, 4to. (which I know only from the account
of it in _Typog. Antiq._ ii. 367. ed. Dibdin) are the following lines;
“A grete company of gossyps gadred on a route
Went to besyege an ale hous rounde aboute
Some brought a distaffe & some a rele
Some brought a shouell & some a pele
Some brought drynke & some a tankarde
And a galon potte faste they drewe thederward,” &c.
Though no edition of _Elynour Rummyng_ has come down to us printed
anterior to _Cryste Crosse me Spede_, the evident imitation of the former
in the passage just quoted, shews that it must have existed.
Page 104. v. 298. _wharrowe_] i. e. whirl, or wharve, for a spindle.
“A spyndell with a _wharowe_—fusus cum _spondulo, siue verticillo siue
harpage_.” Hormanni _Vulg._ sig. t i. ed. 1530.
v. 299. _rybskyn_] In _Prompt. Parv._, ed. 1499, “_Rybskyn_” stands
without a Latin term; but in the copy of that work, _MS. Harl._ 221, is
“_Rybbe skynn._ Melotula.” In a MS. _Catholicon in Lingua materna_, dated
1483, I find “_Rybbynge skyn._ nebrida. pellicudia.” I may add that in
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, “_Rybbe skynne_” occurs
without the corresponding French, fol. lix. (Table of Subst.).—Does it
mean (as Albert Way, Esq. has obligingly suggested to me) a leather
apron, used during the operation of flax-dressing?
Page 105. v. 303. _thrust_] i. e. thirst.
v. 305.
_But drynke, styll drynke,_
_And let the cat wynke_]
So in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;
“_Manhode._ Now _let vs drynke_ at this comnaunt
For that is curtesy.
_Folye._ Mary mayster ye shall haue in hast
A ha syrs _let the catte wyncke_,” &c.
Sig. C ii.
See also three epigrams by Heywood _Of the winking Cat_,—_Workes_, sig. P
4. ed. 1598.
v. 307. _gommes_] i. e. gums.
v. 308. _crommes_] i. e. crums.
v. 314. _chaffer_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 319. _in all the hast_] Compare: “Bulwarkes were made _in all the
haste_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. z iii. ed. 1530.
“the ryght way
To London they tooke _in all the haste_.”
Smith’s _xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth_, ed. 1573. sig. H iiii.
v. 320. _vnlast_] i. e. unlaced.
v. 323. _all hallow_] i. e. all saints,—perhaps, All-saints’ day.
v. 324.
_It was a stale to take_
_The deuyll in a brake_]
For “_stare_,” which is the reading of all the eds., I have substituted
“_stale_”—i. e. lure, decoy. “_Stale_ of fowlys takinge.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499. So in Marmyon’s _Hollands Leaguer_, 1632;
“And if my skill not failes me, her I’ll make
_A Stale, to take_ this Courtier _in a brake_.”
Act ii. sc. 1. sig. D 3.
Compare too an epigram by Heywood;
“Take time when time commeth: are we set time to take?
Beware time, in meane time, _take_ not vs _in brake_.”
_Workes_, sig. Q 3. ed. 1598.
and Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_; “At last, as ye have heard here before,
how divers of the great estates and lords of the council lay in a-wait
with my Lady Anne Boleyn, to espy a convenient time and occasion _to
take_ the cardinal _in a brake_.” p. 147. ed. 1827.—In our text, and in
the passages just quoted, _brake_ seems to be used for trap: among its
various significations, it means a strong wooden frame for confining the
feet of horses, preparatory to their being shod; see Gifford’s note on
Jonson’s _Works_, iii. 463.
Page 105. v. 327. _gambone_] i. e. gammon.
v. 328. _resty_] i. e. reasty, rancid.
v. 330. _Angry as a waspy_]—_waspy_, i. e. wasp. So Heywood;
“Now mery as a cricket, and by and by,
_Angry as a waspe_.”
_Dialogue_, sig. C 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 331. _yane_] “I _yane_ I gaspe or gape.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxi. (Table of Verbes).
—— _gaspy_] i. e. gasp.
Page 106. v. 332. _go bet_] Compare;
“Arondel, queth Beues tho,
For me loue _go bet_, go.”
_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 129. Maitl. ed.
“_Go bet_, quod he, and axe redily,
What corps is this,” &c.
Chaucer’s _Pardoneres Tale_, v. 12601. ed. Tyrwhitt,—
who observes that in the following lines of Chaucer’s _Legend of Dido_
(288), _go bet_ seems to be a term of the chase;
“The herd of hartes founden is anon,
With hey, _go bet_, pricke thou, let gon, let gon.”
“He hath made me daunce, maugre my hede,
Amonge the thornes, hey _go bette_.”
_The Frere and the Boye_,—_An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 46. ed. Ritson,—
who supposes the words to be the name of some old dance.
Page 106. v. 333. _met_] i. e. measure.
v. 334. _fet_] i. e. fetched.
v. 335. _spycke_] “_Spyk_ of flesshe. Popa.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
The copy of that work, _MS. Harl._ 221, has “_Spyk_ or fet flesche,” &c.
v. 336. _flycke_] i. e. flitch.
v. 339. _stut_] i. e. stutter.
v. 343. _sayne_] i. e. says.
—— _a fyest_] So Hawes;
“She let no ferte nor yet _fyste_ truelye.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. Q viii. ed. 1555.
“_A fiest_, Tacitus flatus.” Withals’s _Dict_. p. 343. ed. 1634.
v. 346. _wyth shamfull deth_] Equivalent to—may you die with a shameful
death! see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, in v. _With_.
v. 347. _callettes_] i. e. trulls, drabs, jades.
v. 348. _I shall breake your palettes_]—_palettes_, i. e. crowns, pates.
So in a poem by Sir R. Maitland;
“For your rewarde now _I sall brek your pallat_.”
_Anc. Scot. Poems from. Maitl. MSS._, ii. 317. ed. Pinkerton,—
who, in the Gloss., wrongly explains it “cut your throat.”
v. 350. _And so was made the peace_] In confirmation of the reading which
I have given, compare _Reynard the Fox_; “Thus was _the pees made_ by
fyrapel the lupaerd frendly and wel.” Sig. e 5. ed. 1481; and see note on
v. 319. p. 168.
v. 354. _sainct James in Gales_] The body of Saint James the Great
having, according to the legend, been buried at Compostella in Galicia
(_Gales_), a church was built over it. Pilgrims flocked to the spot;
several popes having granted the same indulgences to those who repaired
to Compostella, as to those who visited Jerusalem. In _The foure P. P._
by Heywood, the Palmer informs us that he has been
“At saynt Cornelys at _saynt James in Gales_
And at saynt Wynefrydes well in Walles,” &c.
Sig. A ii. ed. n. d.
v. 355. _Portyngales_] i. e. Portuguese.
v. 356. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 360. _the Crosse in Chepe_] Was originally erected in 1290 by Edward
I. at one of the resting places of the body of his beloved Eleanor, in
its progress from Herdeby, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, where
she was buried; and was adorned with her image and arms. Of its being
afterwards rebuilt,—of the conduits that were added to it, &c. &c. an
account will be found in Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 35. ed. 1720, and _Sup.
to Gent. Mag._ for 1764, vol. 34. 607. This structure was barbarously
demolished in 1643, as a monument of Popish superstition.
Page 106. v. 362. _route_] i. e. disorderly crowd.
Page 107. v. 364.
_Sneuelyng in her nose,_
_As thoughe she had the pose_]
—_pose_, i. e. a rheum in the head. So Chaucer;
“_he speketh in his nose_,
And sneseth fast, and eke _he hath the pose_.”
_The Manciples Prol._ v. 17010. ed. Tyr.
See also _Reves Tale_, v. 4149.
v. 371. _fyll_] i. e. fell.
v. 372. _barlyhood_] Or _barlikhood_, is said to mean a fit of obstinacy
or violent ill-humour produced by drunkenness: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict.
of Scot. Lang._ and _Supp._ in v.; also Stevenson’s addition to Boucher’s
_Gloss._ in v. _Barlic_.
v. 378. _newe ale in cornes_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“I will make the drincke worse than good _ale in the cornes_.”
p. 56. Rox. ed.
“_New ale in cornes. Ceruisia cum recrementis_.” Baret’s _Alvearie_, in
v. _Ale_.
v. 386. _fabell_] i. e. talking.
v. 387. _babell_] i. e. babbling.
v. 388.
—— _folys fylly_
_That had a fole wyth wylly_]
Whether _folys fylly_ means a foolish young jade (a _filly_,—compare what
follows), or foolish Philly (_Phillis_,—compare our author’s _Bowge of
Court_, v. 370. vol. i. 44); and whether or not _wylly_ is meant for a
proper name (as it is given in the comparatively recent ed. of Rand), let
the reader judge.
v. 390. _Iast you, and, gup, gylly_] See note, p. 99. v. 17. “What _gyppe
gyll_ with a galde backe, begynne you to kycke nowe: _Hey de par le
diable gilotte_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
cclxxii. (Table of Verbes). So Dunbar uses _gillot_ for a young mare; see
his _Poems_, i. 65, ii. 459 (note), ed. Laing.
v. 394. _sennet_] i. e. sennight, week.
Page 108. v. 395. _pay_] i. e. satisfaction, content.
v. 397. _Of thyne ale let vs assay_]—_assay_, i. e. try, taste. So in
_Pierce Plowman_;
“I haue good _ale_ goship said he, gloton _wold thou assai_.”
Sig. G ii. ed. 1561.
Page 108. v. 398. _pylche_] i. e. cloak of skins.
v. 399. _conny_] i. e. rabbit.
v. 490. _loke_] i. e. look.
—— _donny_] Richardson, _Dict._ in vv. _Dun_, _Dunny_, cites this line
as containing an example of the latter word,—rightly, perhaps, for
_donne_ (dun) occurs in Skelton’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1102. vol. i.
257.—The common people of Ireland employ _donny_ in the sense of—poor,
mean-looking, as “a _donny_ creature;” also in the sense of—poorly,
as “How are you to-day?”—“Och! but _donny_, very _donny_.” For this
information I am indebted to the kindness of Miss Edgeworth, who has used
the word in one of her excellent tales.
v. 407. _blommer_] i. e., perhaps, noise, uproar.
v. 408. _a skommer_] i. e. a skimmer.
v. 409. _a slyce_] “_Sclyce_ to tourne meate _tournoire_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 412. _sterte_] i. e. started, rushed.
v. 414. _somdele seke_] i. e. somewhat sick.
v. 415. _a peny cheke_] Does it mean—a puny chick?
v. 418. _Margery Mylkeducke_] So again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_;
“What, _Margery Mylke Ducke_, mermoset!”
v. 462. vol. i. 240.
Compare one of the _Coventry Mysteries_;
“Malkyn _Mylkedoke_ and fayr Mabyle.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 74.
v. 419.
_Her kyrtell she did vptucke_
_An ynche aboue her kne_]
—_kyrtell_; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.—So in our old ballad poetry;
“Then you must cut your gowne of greene,
_An inch above your knee_.”
_Child Waters_,—Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ iii. 56. ed. 1794.
v. 422. _stubbed_] i. e. short and thick.
v. 423. _pestels_] i. e. legs,—so called, perhaps, because the leg-bone
resembles a _pestle_ used in a mortar. The expression “_pestle_ of pork”
frequently occurs in our early writers; as in the following passage
concerning the tremendous appetite of Charlemagne; “Whan he took hys
repaast he was contente wyth lytel brede, but as touchyng the pytaunce,
he ete at his repaast a quarter of moton, or ii hennes, or a grete ghoos,
or a grete _pestel_ of porke, or a pecok, or a crane, or an hare all
hool.” Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485. sig. b iii.
Page 108. v. 423. _clubbed_] i. e. like clubs.
v. 425. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 426. _foule_] i. e. ugly: see note, p. 130. v. 442.
Page 109. v. 429. _cantell_] i. e. corner, piece, fragment.
v. 431. _quycke_] i. e. live.
v. 435. _punyete_] i. e. pungent.
v. 436. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 441. _I wote nere_] i. e. I know never, not.
v. 443. _podynges and lynkes_] “_Links_, a kind of Pudding, the skin
being filled with Pork Flesh, and seasoned with diverse Spices, minced,
and tied up at distances.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. iii. p.
83. In Scotland the terms _puddings_ and _links_ are applied to various
intestines of animals.
v. 447. _leche_] i. e. physician, doctor.—Dunbar makes a distinction,
which I do not understand;
“In Medicyne the most Practicianis,
_Leichis_, Surrigianis, and Phisicianis.”
_Poems_, i. 213. ed. Laing.
v. 450. _keke_] i. e. kick.
v. 451. _the vertue of an vnset leke_] “_Vnsette lekes_ be of more
_vertue_ than they that be sette ... _præstant in medicina_.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. f ii. ed. 1530.
v. 452. _breke_] i. e. breeches.
v. 453. _feders_] i. e. feathers.
v. 460. _noughty froslynges_] i. e. worthless things, stunted by frost.
In Suffolk, _froslin_ is applied to any thing—a lamb, a _goslin_, a
chicken, an apple, &c., nipped, or pinched, or injured by frost: see
Moor’s _Suffolk Words, Appendix_.
Page 110. v. 462. _callet_] i. e. trull, drab, jade.
v. 465. _wretchockes_] “The famous imp yet grew a _wretchock_; and
though for seven years together he was carefully carried at his mother’s
back, rocked in a cradle of Welsh cheese, like a maggot, and there
fed with broken beer, and blown wine of the best daily, yet looks as
if he never saw his _quinquennium_.” Jonson’s Masque, _The Gipsies
Metamorphosed_,—_Workes_, vii. 371. ed. Gifford, who thus comments on
the passage in his authoritative style: “i. e. pined away, instead of
thriving. Whalley appears to have puzzled himself sorely in this page,
about a matter of very little difficulty. In every large breed of
domestic fowls, there is usually a miserable little stunted creature,
that forms a perfect contrast to the growth and vivacity of the rest.
This unfortunate abortive, the goodwives, with whom it is an object of
tenderness, call a _wrethcock_; and this is all the mystery. Was Whalley
ignorant that what we now term chick, was once chocke and _chooke_?” The
fol. ed. of the _Masque of Gipsies_ has “_wretch-cock_,” which Nares,
who does not know what to make of the word, observes “would admit of an
easy derivation from _wretch_ and _cock_, meaning a poor wretched fowl.”
_Gloss._ in v.
Page 110. v. 466. _shyre shakyng nought_] i. e. sheer worthless. So again
our author in his _Magnyfycence_;
“From _qui fuit aliquid_ to shyre shakynge nought.”
v. 1319. vol. i. 267.
v. 475. _fall_] i. e. fallen.
v. 483. _foggy_] “_Foggy_, to full of waste flesshe.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).
v. 489. _craw_] i. e. crop, stomach.
v. 491. _on_] i. e. of: compare v. 131.
Page 111. v. 492. _an old rybibe_] Chaucer, in _The Freres Tale_, says,
“This Sompnour, waiting ever on his pray,
Rode forth to sompne a widewe, _an olde ribibe_.”
v. 6958. ed. Tyrwhitt,—
who says he cannot guess how this musical instrument came to be put for
an old woman, “unless perhaps from its shrillness.” The word so applied
occurs also in Jonson’s _Devil is an Ass_, act i. sc. 1, where Gifford
observes, “_Ribibe_, together with its synonym _rebeck_, is merely a cant
expression for an old woman. A ribibe, the reader knows, is a rude kind
of fiddle, and the allusion is probably to the inharmonious nature of its
sounds.” _Works_, v. 8.
v. 493. _She halted of a kybe_] i. e. She limped from a chap in the heel.
The following remedy is seriously proposed in _The Countrie Farme_, and
was no doubt applied by our ancestors: “_For kibes on the heeles_, make
powder of old shooe soles burned, and of them with oile of roses annoint
the kibes; or else lay vnto the kibes the rinde of a pomegranat boiled in
wine.” p. 83. ed. 1600.
v. 496.
_And fell so wyde open_
_That one myght se her token_]
Compare _The foure P. P._ by Heywood;
“So was thys castell layd _wyde open_
_That euery man myght se the token_.”
Sig. D i. ed. n. d.
v. 498. _wroken_] i. e. wreaked.
v. 501. _on Gods halfe_] i. e. “on God’s part, with God’s favour.”
Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. “_A goddes halfe: De par
dieu._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxvi.
(Table of Aduerbes).
Page 111. v. 503. _beshrew_] i. e. curse.
v. 506. _lampatrams_] A word which I am unable to explain.
v. 507. _shap_] i. e. pudendum: see Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. xxvi. (Table of Subst.). So in a description of
purgatory-punishments in the metrical legend of _Owayne Myles_;
“And some were yn to _shappus_
And some were vp to the pappus.”
_MS. Cott. Calig._ A ii. fol. 91.
v. 512. _stert_] i. e. started.
v. 515. _dant_] In Kilian’s _Dict._ is “_Dante. Ambubaia, mulier
ignaua._” ed. 1605; and in _Gloss. to West. and Cumb. Dialect_,
“_Dannet_, a ... woman of disreputable character:” but, for aught I know,
the word in the text may have some very different signification.
v. 516. _a gose and a gant_] Must mean here,—a goose and a gander: yet
Skelton in _Phyllyp Sparowe_ mentions first “the gose and the _gander_,”
and afterwards “the gaglynge _gaunte_:” see note, p. 130. v. 447.
v. 517. _wesant_] i. e. weasand.
v. 519. _olyfant_] i. e. elephant.
v. 520. _bullyfant_] Another word which I do not understand.
v. 522. _hedes_] i. e. heads.
Page 112. v. 525. _ale pole_] i. e. pole, or stake, set up before an
ale-house by way of sign.
v. 535. _A strawe, sayde Bele, stande vtter_]—_stande vtter_, i. e. stand
more out, back.
“_Straw_, quod the thridde, ye ben lewed and nice.”
Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16393. ed. Tyr.
“_Stonde vtter_ felowe where doest thou thy curtesy preue?”
_The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522. sig. B iv.
v. 538. _sterte_] i. e. started.
—— _fysgygge_] “_Trotiere_: A raumpe, _fisgig_, fisking huswife, raunging
damsell, gadding or wandring flirt.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Fiz-gig_, a
wild flirting wench.” _Dialect of Craven_, &c.
v. 543. _gat_] i. e. got.
v. 549. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
—— _hyght_] i. e. called.
v. 550. _bybyll_] i. e. drink, tipple.
v. 553. _Wheywormed_] i. e. covered with _whey-worms_,—pimples from which
a whey-like moisture exudes.
Page 113. v. 555. _puscull_] i. e. pustule.
v. 556. _muscull_] i. e. muscle,—the shell of which is frequently
“scabbyd.”
Page 113. v. 557. _noppy_] i. e. nappy.
v. 558. _soppy_] i. e. sop.
v. 560. _mote I hoppy_] i. e. may I have good hap.
v. 561. _coleth_] i. e. cooleth.
—— _croppy_] i. e. crop, stomach.
v. 563. _Haue here is for me_] See note, p. 118. v. 413.
v. 573. _defoyled_] i. e. defiled.
v. 575. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 582. _a pryckemedenty_] i. e. one affectedly nice, finical.
v. 583.
_Sat lyke a seynty,_
_And began to paynty_
_As thoughe she would faynty_]
—_seynty_, i. e. saint: _paynty_, i. e. paint,—feign: _faynty_, i. e.
faint. Compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“That counterfaytes and _payntes_
As they were very _sayntes_.”
v. 922. vol. i. 347.
v. 587. _a lege de moy_] So again in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“And howe Parys of Troy
Daunced a _lege de moy_,
Made lusty sporte and ioy
With dame Helyn the quene.”
v. 952. vol. i. 348.
I have not found elsewhere the term _lege de moy_. Mace, in his _Musick’s
Monument_, 1676, mentions a _Tattle de Moy_,—“a New Fashion’d Thing, much
like a Seraband; only It has more of Conceit in It, as (in a manner)
speaking the word (Tattle de Moy),” &c. p. 129.
Page 114. v. 594. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 598. _spence_] i. e. store-room, for drink, or victuals: “_Spens_ a
buttrye _despencier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
lxvi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 609. _awne_] i. e. own.
v. 610. _Neyther gelt nor pawne_] i. e. Neither money nor pledge.
v. 615. _balke_] i. e. beam, post: “_Balke_ of an house _pouste_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xix. (Table of Subst.).
v. 616. _tayle_] i. e. tally. “A payre of _taylles_, suche as folke vse
to score vpon for rekennyng.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. xiii. (Thirde Boke).
v. 617. _yll hayle_] i. e. ill health,—ill luck,—a common imprecation in
our old poetry;
“_Ill haile_, Alein, by God thou is a fonne.”
Chaucer’s _Reves Tale_, v. 4087. ed. Tyr.
See too _Chester Mysteries_ (_De Del. Noe_), p. 27. Roxb. ed.
Page 114. v. 619. _to mytche_] i. e. too much.
v. 620. _mummynge_] i. e. frolicking, merriment.
Page 115. v. 622. _gest_] i. e. story. “_Gest_ or romauns.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 623. _this worthy fest_] So in the _Coventry Mysteries_;
“At _wurthy festys_ riche men woll bene.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 32.
and in Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, “It is not to be doubted but that
the king was privy of all _this worthy feast_.” p. 199. ed. 1827.
_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.
POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.
All the particulars concerning Garnesche, which I have been able to
discover will be found in the _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
Page 116. v. 1. _Sithe_] i. e. Since.
v. 4. _Syr Tyrmagant_]—or _Termagant_,—a very furious deity, whom the
Crusaders and romance-writers charged the Saracens with worshipping,
though there was certainly no such Saracenic divinity. Concerning the
name, see Gifford’s note on Massinger’s _Works_, ii. 125. ed. 1813, and
Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.—So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, which
in various minute particulars bears a strong resemblance to the present
pieces _Against Garnesche_;
“_Termygantis_ temptis and Vespasius thy eme.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 85. ed. Laing.
—— _tyrnyd_] i. e. tourneyed, encountered.
v. 5. _Syr Frollo de Franko_] Was a Roman knight, governor of Gaul, slain
by King Arthur: see _Geoffrey of Mon._ l. ix. cap. ii., _The Legend of
King Arthur_, Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ iii. 39. ed. 1794, &c. &c.
—— _talle_] i. e. valiant.
v. 6. _Syr Satrapas_] Neither with this, nor with the personage mentioned
in the next line, have I any acquaintance.
v. 8. _haue ye kythyd yow a knyght_]—_kythyd_, i. e. made known, shewn.
“It _kythit_ be his cognisance _ane knight_ that he wes.”
_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 137, _Syr Gawayne_, &c. ed. Bann.
Garnesche had the dignity of knighthood; see _Account of Skelton and his
Writings_. In the heading, and first line, of this poem, he is called
_Master_; but knights were frequently so addressed. In Cavendish’s _Life
of Wolsey_ mention is made of “Sir William Fitzwilliams, _a knight_,”
who is presently called “_Master_ Fitzwilliams,” pp. 310, 311. ed. 1827,
and of “Sir Walter Walshe, _knight_,” who is immediately after termed
“_Master_ Walshe,” pp. 339, 340, and of “that worshipful _knight Master_
Kingston,” p. 374.
Page 116. v. 8. _Syr Dugles the dowty_] “The high courage of Dowglasse
wan him that addition of _Doughty Dowglasse_, which after grew to a
Prouerbe.” Marg. Note on the description of the Battle of Shrewsbury, in
Drayton’s _Polyolbion_, Song 22. p. 37. ed. 1622.
v. 9. _currysly_] i. e. currishly.
v. 10. _stowty_] i. e. stout.
v. 11. _Barabas_] The robber mentioned in Scripture.
—— _Syr Terry of Trace_]—_Trace_, i. e. Thrace: but I do not recollect
any romance or history in which a Sir Terry of that country is mentioned.
v. 12. _gyrne_] i. e. grin.
—— _gomys_] i. e. gums.
v. 15. _Syr Ferumbras the ffreke_]—_ffreke_ (common in romance-poetry in
the sense of—man, warrior) is here, as the context shews, equivalent to
furious fellow: we have had the word before, see p. 109. v. 187. Consult
the analysis of the romance of _Sir Ferumbras_ in Ellis’s _Spec. of Met.
Rom._ ii. 356, and Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485, for
much about this Saracen, called in the latter _Fyerabras_,—“a meruayllous
geaunte,”—“whyche was vaynquysshed by Olyuer, and at the laste baptysed,
_and was after a Saynt in heuen_.” Sig. b viii.
v. 16. _Syr capten of Catywade, catacumbas of Cayre_] _Cayre_ is Cairo;
but I am unable to explain the line. In the opening of Heywood’s _Four
P. P._, the Palmer says, he has been at “the graet God of Katewade,”
alluding, as O. Gilchrist thinks, to Catwade-bridge in Sampford hundred
in Suffolk, where there may have been a famous chapel and rood; see
Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, i. 61. last ed.
v. 17. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
—— _Syr Lybyus_] See note, p. 138. v. 649.
v. 18. _contenons oncomly_] i. e. countenance uncomely.
v. 19. _apayere_] i. e. impair—become less.
Page 117. v. 22. _Of Mantryble the Bryge, Malchus the
murryon_]—_murryon_, i. e. Moor; so in the third of these poems, Skelton
calls Garnesche “Thou _murrionn_, thou mawment,” v. 170. vol. i. 125; so
too in the Scottish Treasurer’s Accounts for 1501, “Peter the _Moryen_,”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 306. ed. Laing; and in a folio broadside, _M. Harry
Whobals mon to M. Camell_, &c. (among the “flytings” of Churchyard and
Camell), “Some _morryon_ boye to hold ye vp.” If the present passage
means that the Bridge was guarded by a Moor called Malchus, I know not
what authority Skelton followed. Concerning the Bridge of Mantryble
see the analysis of the romance of _Sir Ferumbras_, Ellis’s _Spec. of
Met. Rom._ ii. 389; and Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485,
“Of the meruayllous bridge of Mantryble, of the trybute there payed
for to passe ouer,” &c., sig. e viii., and how “the strong brydge of
mantryble was wonne not wythoute grete payne,” sig. h viii.: it was
kept by a giant, named Algolufre in the former, and Galafre in the
latter, who was slain by the Frenchmen when the Bridge was won. In _The
Bruce_ of Barbour, the hero reads to his followers “Romanys off worthi
Ferambrace” and how Charlemagne “wan _Mantrybill_ and passit Flagot.”
B. ii. v. 832 sqq. ed. Jam. “The tail of _the brig of the mantribil_”
is mentioned in _The Complaynt of Scotland_, p. 98. ed. Leyden. Compare
also _Don Quixote_; “nor that [history] of Fierabras, with the _Bridge
of Mant[r]ible_, which befell in Charlemaines time, and is, I sweare, as
true, as that it is day at this instant.” P. i. B. iv. c. xxii. p. 546.,
Shelton’s trans., 1612.
Page 117. v. 23. _blake Baltazar with hys basnet routh as a bere_] Does
_blake Baltazar_ mean one of the Magi, or, as they were commonly called,
the Three Kings of Cologne? “the third, Balthasar, a black or Moor,
with a large spreading beard,” &c. _Festa Anglo-Romana_, p. 7, cited in
Brand’s _Pop. Ant._ i. 19 (note), ed. 1813: _with hys basnet routh as a
bere_, i. e. with his cap (not helmet, it would seem,) rough as a bear.
v. 24. _Lycon, that lothly luske_]—_Lycon_ is probably Lycaon; see note,
p. 127. v. 311. “Here is a great knaue i. a great lyther _luske_, or a
stout ydell lubbar.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. X ii. “_Luske_ a
vyle parsone _ribavlt, esclaue, lovrdavlt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.). The word is often used as
a term of reproach in general.
v. 25. _brymly_] i. e. fiercely, ruggedly.
—— _here_] i. e. hair.
v. 26. _bake_] i. e. back.
—— _gere_] i. e. dress.
v. 30. _a camoke_] Is explained—a crooked stick, or tree; a crooked beam,
or knee of timber.
v. 31. _teggys_] See note, p. 164. v. 151.
Page 117. v. 33. _Orwelle hyr hauyn_] By Harwich.
v. 36. _Sarson_] i. e. Saracen. So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_
(see note, p. 177. v. 4), “_Sarazene_, syphareit,” &c. Dunbar’s _Poems_,
ii. 75. ed. Laing.
—— _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.
v. 37. _As a glede glowynge_] i. e. glowing like a burning coal:—but qy.
did Skelton write “as a glede _glowrynge_?” i. e. staring like a kite. He
uses _glede_ in this latter sense in _Magnyfycence_, v. 1059. vol. i. p.
259: and in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4)
we find,—
“hungry _gled_.”
...
“Lyke to ane stark theif _glowrand_ in ane tedder.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 70, 72. ed. Laing.
—— _ien_] i. e. eyne, eyes.
v. 39. _passe_] i. e. excel.
v. 40. _Howkyd as an hawkys beke, lyke Syr Topyas_] i. e. Hooked, &c.
The allusion is to Chaucer’s _Sire Thopas_, who “had a semely nose.” v.
13659. ed. Tyr.
v. 41. _buske_] i. e. prepare, or rather, perhaps, hie.
v. 42. _fole_] i. e. fool.
_Be_] i. e. By.
_gorbelyd_] i. e. big-bellied.
_Godfrey_] Concerning this person, who assisted Garnesche in his
compositions, and is afterwards called his _scribe_, I can give the
reader no information.
Page 118. v. 2. _[Your] gronynge, ȝour grontynge, your groinynge lyke a
swyne_] Skelton has elsewhere;
“Hoyning like hogges that _groynis_ and wrotes.”
_Against venemous tongues_, vol. i. 132.
“The Gruntyng and the _groynninge_ of the gronnyng swyne.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1376. vol. i. 415.
To _groin_ is explained to groan, to grunt, to growl; but perhaps our
author may have used it like the French “_Groigner_. To nuzle, or to root
with the snout.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 3. _alle to peuiche_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
v. 4. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.
—— _maltaperte_] i. e. malapert, (perhaps an error of the transcriber).
v. 5. _lere_] i. e. complexion, skin.
—— _gresyd bote_] i. e. greased boot.
Page 118. v. 6.
_Ye cappyd Cayface copious, your paltoke on your pate,_
_Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware yet of chek mate_]
—_Cayface_, i. e. Caiaphas: _copious_ is perhaps an allusion to some sort
of cope, in which that personage might have figured on the stage. The
usual explanations of _paltock_ (“_Paltok._ Baltheus,” _Prompt. Parv._;
“a short garment of the doublet kind,” Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_,
&c. ii. 352) do not seem to suit the present passage. In Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. lii. (Table of Subst.) we find
“_Paltocke_ a patche _palleteau_;” and see what immediately follows in
this poem: _Thow_, i. e. Though: _chek mate_; see note, p. 96. v. 29.
Compare _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4)
“Thow irefull attircop, _Pylat_ appostata.”
...
...“_Cayphass_ thy fectour.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 85, 86. ed. Laing.
v. 8. _Hole_] i. e. Whole, healed.
—— _Deu[ra]ndall_] Was the celebrated sword of Roland: see (among other
works which might be referred to) Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_,
&c., 1485, “How Rolland deyed holyly after many martyres and orysons
made to god ful deuoutely, and of the complaynte maad for _hys swerde
durandal_.” Sig. m i.
—— _awne_] i. e. own.
v. 11. _Ye countyr vmwhyle to capcyously, and ar ye be
dysiryd_]—_countyr_; see note, p. 92: _vmwhyle_, i. e. some time: _to_,
i. e. too: _ar_, i. e. ere.
v. 12. _all to-myryd_] See note, p. 100. v. 32,—meaning, I suppose, all
befouled.
v. 15. _Gabionyte of Gabyone_] So in his _Replycacion agaynst certayne
yong scolers_, &c. Skelton calls them “_Gabaonitæ_,” vol. i. 218.
—— _gane_] “I _Gane_ or gape.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. ccxliii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 16. _Huf a galante_] Compare;
“_Hof hof hof a frysch galaunt._”
_Mary Magdalene,—An. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 85. ed. Abbotsf.
“Make rome syrs and let vs be mery
With _huffa galand_ synge tyrll on the bery.”
_Interlude of the iiii. Elementes_, n. d. sig. B ii.
In some _Glossary_, to which I have lost the reference, is “_Huff_, a
gallant.”
Page 118. v. 16. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 17. _Lusty_] See note on title of the next poem, p. 183.
—— _jet_] i. e. strut; see note, p. 94. v. 43.
—— _jaspe_] Does it mean—wasp?
v. 19. _that of your chalennge makyth so lytyll fors_] i. e. that maketh
(make) so little matter of your challenge.
Page 119. v. 22. _Syr Gy_, _Syr Gawen_, _Syr Cayus_, _for and Syr
Olyuere_] Concerning the two first see notes, p. 136. v. 629: _Cayus_, or
Kay, was the foster-brother of King Arthur; see the _Morte d’Arthur_, &c.
&c.: _for and_ is an expression occasionally found in much later writers;
see Middleton’s _Fair Quarrel_, act v. sc. 1., _Works_, iii. 544. ed.
Dyce; and Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_,—
“_For and_ the Squire of Damsels, as I take it.”
Act ii. sc. 2. [sc. 3.],—
a passage which the modern editors have most absurdly altered: _Olyuere_
was one of the twelve peers of France.
v. 23. _Priamus_] Perhaps the personage so named, who fought with
Gawayne, and was afterwards made a knight of the Round Table; see _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. v. ch. x. xii. vol. i. 148 sqq. ed. Southey.
v. 24. _Arturys auncyent actys_] An allusion, perhaps, more particularly
to the _Morte d’Arthur_; see its other title in note, p. 137. v. 634.
v. 25. _fysnamy_] i. e. physiognomy. So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and
Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4.)
“—— thy frawart phisnomy.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 68. ed. Laing.
v. 26. _to hawte_] i. e. too haughty.
—— _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 29. _Godfrey_] See note on title of this poem, p. 180.
—— _gargons_] i. e. Gorgon’s.
v. 30. _Syr Olifranke_] Qy. a mistake of the transcriber for _Syr
Olifaunte_, the giant mentioned in Chaucer’s _Sire Thopas_?
—— _splay_] i. e. display.
v. 31. _Baile_] Seems to mean—howl, cry. “I _Balle_ as a curre dogge
doth, _Ie hurle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
clvii. (Table of Verbes).
—— _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 32. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.
Page 119. v. 36. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
—— _gorbellyd_] i. e. big-bellied.
v. 37. _turney_] i. e. tourney, contend.
—— _to fare to seke_] i. e. too far at a loss, inexperienced,—unable.
v. 38. _whypslovens_] A term which I do not understand.
—— _a coke stole_] i. e. a cucking-stool, a chair or stool fixed at the
end of a long pole, used for the punishment of scolds and brawlers by
plunging them in the water.
v. 39. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.
—— _marmoset_] A kind of ape, or monkey.
Page 120.—— _lusty Garnyche welle be seyn Crysteouyr_] Both these
epithets allude to his dress: “_Lusty_ or fresshe in apparayle
_frisque_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xci. (Table
of Adiect.): _welle be seyn_; see note, p. 112. v. 283.—Compare Dunbar;
“Gife I be _lusty in array_,
Than luve I paramouris thay say
...
Gife I be nocht _weill als besene_,” &c.
_Poems_, i. 185. ed. Laing.
v. 1. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, vile.
v. 3. _skrybe_] Printed by mistake in the text “skryke”—means Godfrey;
see note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180, and compare v. 90 of the
present.
v. 6. _I caste me_] i. e. I project, design.
v. 9. _fauyr_] i. e. appearance, look.
v. 11. _cousshons_] i. e. cushions.
v. 12. _condycyonns_] i. e. qualities, dispositions, habits.
“_Condycions_ maners _meurs_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
fol. xxv. (Table of Subst.). “Whan a man is set in autoryte, than shall
his _condycyons_ be spyed ... _Mores_ deprehenduntur.” “Thy _good
condycyons_ ... _virtutes_ tuas.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N i. ed. 1530.
v. 13. _Gup, marmeset, jast ye, morelle_] See notes, p. 93. v. 11. p. 99.
v. 17, and this page, v. 39.
v. 14. _lorelle_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow (see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._
to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_).
v. 15. _Lewdely_] i. e. Badly, (as in v. 18 _lewdnes_, i. e.
badness); but in v. 19 it is to be understood in its more original
meaning—ignorantly.
v. 18. _awne_] i. e. own.
v. 20. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.
v. 21. to _wyde_] i. e. too wide.
Page 120. v. 26. _dryvyll_] See note, p. 113. v. 337.
v. 27. _your nose dedde sneuylle_] So in _The Flytyng of Dunbar and
Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);
“Out! out! I schowt, upon _that snout that snevillis_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 86. ed. Laing.
v. 30. _fonne_] i. e. fool.
v. 31. _A gose with the fete vponne_] i. e. a goose with its feet on.
Page 121. v. 32. _slvfferd vp_] i. e. slabbered up.
—— _sowse_] “Succiduum. anglice. _sowce_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W.
de Worde, n. d. (and so _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499). “_Souce trippes._”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of
Subst.). And see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v.
v. 34. _xulde_] i. e. should: a provincialism (see, for instance, the
_Coventry Mysteries_ passim), to be attributed not to Skelton, but to the
transcriber.
v. 36. _bawdy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
v. 38. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
—— _polleynge_] i. e. plundering.
v. 40. _Gynys_] i. e. Guines.
v. 41. _spere_] i. e. spire, shoot,—stripling.
v. 42. _lewdly_] i. e. vilely, meanly.
—— _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 46. _dud frese_] i. e. coarse frieze.
v. 52. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.
v. 53. _warde_] i. e. wardrobe.
v. 54. _kyst a shepys ie_] i. e. cast a sheep’s eye.
v. 56. _gonge_] i. e. privy.
v. 62. _bassyd_] i. e. kissed.
Page 122. v. 68. _pyllyd garleke hed_] Palsgrave has both “_Pylled_,
as one that wanteth heare,” and “_Pylled_ scalled.” _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.). Compare the next poem
_Against Garnesche_;
“Thow callyst me _scallyd_, thou callyst me mad:
Thow thou be _pyllyd_, thow ar nat sade.”
v. 116. vol. i. 130.
_Pilled-garlick_ was a term applied to a person whose hair had fallen off
by disease; see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 69. _hocupy there no stede_] i. e. occupy there no place, stand in no
stead,—avail nothing.
v. 70. _Syr Gy of Gaunt_] So our author again, in his _Colyn Cloute_;
“Auaunt, _syr Guy of Gaunt_.”
v. 1157. vol. i. 355.
In _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (which, as already shewn, strongly
resembles the present pieces _Against Garnesche_ in several minute
particulars) we find—
“thow _spreit of Gy_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 72. ed. Laing.
and at p. 37 of the same vol., in _The Droichis Part of the Play_,
attributed to Dunbar,—
“I wait I am _the spreit of Gy_.”
So too Sir D. Lyndsay in his _Epistill to the Kingis Grace_ before his
_Dreme_,—
“And sumtyme, lyke _the grislie gaist of Gy_.”
Works, i. 187. ed. Chalmers,—
who explains it “the well-known Sir Guy of romance.” But both Dunbar and
Lyndsay allude to a story concerning the ghost of a person called Guy,
an inhabitant of Alost. There is a Latin tract on the subject, entitled
_De spiritu Guuidonis_, of which various translations into English are
extant in MS. One of these is now before me, in verse, and consisting
of 16 closely written 4to pages: _Here begynnyth a notabyll matere and
a gret myracule don be oure lord ihesus cryst and shewyd In the ȝeer
of his incarnacion MCCCXXIII._ [printed Latin tract now before me has
MCCCXXIIII.] _and in the xvi day of decembyr in the Cete of Aleste.
Whiche myracule ys of a certeyn man that was callyd Gy. and deyde and
aftyr viii days he apperyd to his wyf aftyr the comaundment of god. of
whiche apperyng she was aferd and oftyn tyme rauysshid. Than she toke
conseyl and went to the ffreris of the same cete and tolde the Pryor
ffrere Iohnn goly of this mater, &c._ As _Gaunt_ is the old name of
Ghent, and as Alost is about thirteen miles from that city, perhaps
the reader may be inclined to think,—what I should greatly doubt,—that
Skelton also alludes to the same story.
Page 122. v. 71. _olyfaunt_] i. e. elephant.
v. 72. _pykes_] i. e. pickaxe. “_Pykeys._ Ligo. Marra.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499.
—— _twybyll_] “_Twybyll_ writis instrument. Bisacuta. Biceps.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499. “Twybill or mactok. Marra. Ligo.” _Ibid._ “Bipennis ...
a _twyble_ or axe, a twall.” _Ortus Vocab._ ed. 1514. (in the earlier ed.
fol. n. d. W. de Worde, the English explanation is less full). “_Twyble_
an instrument for carpentars _bernago_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxi. (Table of Subst.).
Page 122. v. 75. _wary_] Is frequently found in the sense of curse,—
(“Who so the _waris wared_ be he.”
_Isaac_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 43)—
but here, I apprehend, it means—war, contend.
v. 79. _eldyr steke_] i. e. elder-stick.
v. 87. _sowtters_] i. e. shoemakers, cobblers.
v. 88. _seche a nody polle_] i. e. such a silly head, ninny.
v. 89. _pryste_] i. e. priest.
v. 90. _your scrybys nolle_] i. e. your scribe’s head,—Godfrey’s; see
note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180.
v. 91. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 93. _make_] i. e. compose verses.
v. 94. _dawpate_] i. e. simple pate, simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 123. v. 101. _Bolde bayarde_] The proverbial expression, “as bold as
blind bayard,”—(_bayard_, properly a bay horse, but used for a horse in
general),—is very ancient, and of very frequent occurrence in our early
literature; its origin is not known:
“For _blynde bayarde_ caste peryll of nothynge,
Tyll that he stumblyng fall amydde the lake.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. v. sig. E e ii. ed. 1555.
v. 102. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 108.
_Ye wolde be callyd a maker,_
_And make moche lyke Jake Raker_]
i. e. You would be called a composer of verses, or poet, and you compose
much in the style of Jack Raker. So again our author;
“Set _sophia_ asyde, for euery _Jack Raker_
And euery mad medler must now be a maker.”
_Speke, Parrot_, v. 165. vol. ii. 8.
“He maketh vs _Jacke Rakers_;
He sayes we ar but crakers,” &c.
_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 270. vol. ii. 35.
So too in the comedy by Nicholas Udall, entitled _Ralph Royster Doyster_;
“Of Songs and Balades also he is a maker,
And that can he as finely doe as _Jacke Raker_.”
Act ii. sc. 1. p. 27. (reprint.)
Mr. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 448) speaks of Jack Raker
as if he really had existed: I rather think that he was an imaginary
person, whose name had become proverbial.
v. 110. _crakar_] i. e. vaunter, big talker.
Page 123. v. 114. _despyghtyng_] “I _Dispyte_ I grutche or reprime
agaynst a thing.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxiiii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 115. _nat worthe a myteyng_]—_myteyng_ (which occurs in our author’s
_Elynour Rummyng_ as a term of endearment, v. 224. vol. i. 102) is
here perhaps equivalent to “_Myte_ the leest coyne that is _pite_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlviii. (Table of
Subst.).
v. 117. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 118. _occupyed no better your tole_] i. e. used no better your tool,
pen: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 119. _Ye xulde haue kowththyd me a fole_] i. e. You should have made
me known for, shewn me to be, a fool.
v. 121. _wyse_] i. e. think, intend.
v. 122. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 123. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
—— _Sarsens_] i. e. Saracen’s.
v. 124. _Row_] i. e. Rough.
—— _here_] i. e. hair.
v. 125. _heuery_] i. e. every.
v. 127. _peson_] i. e. pease.
v. 129. _geson_] i. e. scarce, scanty.
v. 131.
_Your skyn scabbyd and scuruy,_
_Tawny, tannyd, and shuruy_, &c.]
—_shuruy_, i. e., perhaps, “_shrovy_, squalid.” Forby’s _Vocab. of East
Anglia_. With this passage compare _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_
(see note, p. 177. v. 4);
“Fy! skolderit skyn, thow art bot skyre and skrumple.”
...
“Ane crabbit, _skabbit_, evill facit messane tyk.”
...
“Thow lukis _lowsy_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 70, 84, 72. ed. Laing.
Page 124. v. 139. _Xall kyt both wyght and grene_] i. e. Shall cut both
white and green,—an allusion to the dress which our author appears to
have worn as Laureat; see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 140. _to grett_] i. e. too great.
v. 143. _puauntely_] i. e. stinkingly, strongly.
v. 155. _crawes_] i. e. crops, stomachs.
v. 157. _perke_] i. e. perch.
v. 158. _gummys_] i. e. gums.
Page 124. v. 159. _serpentins_] “His campe was enuironed with artilerie,
as fawcones, _serpentynes_, cast hagbushes,” &c. Hall’s _Chronicle_
(Henry viii.), fol. xxviii. ed. 1548.
v. 160. _bynde_] i. e. bend; so in the next poem we find “_wyll_” for
“_well_,” and “_spynt_” for “_spent_,” peculiarities to be attributed to
the transcriber, not to Skelton.
v. 162. _scorpyone_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note,
p. 177. v. 4) “_scorpion_ vennemous.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75. ed. Laing.
v. 163. _bawdy babyone_] i. e. filthy baboon; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
v. 165. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.
v. 168. _gresly gargone_] i. e. grisly Gorgon.
—— _glaymy_] i. e., I suppose, slimy, clammy.
v. 169. _seymy_] i. e. greasy.
Page 125. v. 170. _murrionn_] i. e. Moor; see note, p. 178. v. 22.
—— _mawment_] “_Mawment._ Idolum. Simulacrum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“_Maument marmoset, poupee._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. xlvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Mawment_, a puppet.” Brockett’s
_Gloss. of North Country Words_.—(_Mawmet_, i. e. Mahomet.)
v. 172. _marmoset_] A sort of ape or monkey.
v. 173. _I wyll nat dy in they det_]—_they_, i. e. thy; as in the next
poem.—Compare _Cocke Lorelles Bote_;
“Yf he call her calat she calleth hym knaue agayne
She _shyll not dye in his dette_.”
Sig. B i.
v. 175. _xulddst_] i. e. shouldst.
v. 176. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 177. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 178. _Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd_] I do not understand this
line: _pelfry_ is, perhaps, pilfery; but does it not rather mean—petty
goods,—which Garnesche had _pachchyd_, fraudulently got together?
“Muche of theyr fishe they do barter with English men, for mele, lases,
and shoes, and other _pelfery_.” Borde’s _Boke of knowledge_, sig. I,
reprint. “Owt of whyche countre the sayd Scottys fled, and left mych
corne, butters, and other _pylfre_, behinde theim, whyche the ost hade.”
Letter from Gray to Crumwell, _State Papers_, iii. 155,—the Vocabulary to
which renders _pylfre_, pillage—wrongly, I believe.
v. 179. _houyr wachyd_] i. e. over watched.
v. 180. _thou xuldyst be rachchyd_] i. e. thou shouldest be
stretched—have thy neck stretched. So in _The Flytyng of Dunbar and
Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);
“For substance and geir thow hes _a widdy_ teuch
On Mont Falcone, about _thy craig to rax_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 79. ed. Laing.
Page 125. v. 182. _be bedawyd_] Does it mean—be daunted? or, be called
simple fellow? see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 183. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 184. _gronde_] i. e. ground.
v. 186. _Syr Dalyrag_] So our author elsewhere;
“Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with _syr Delarag_.”
_Speke, Parrot_, v. 91. vol. ii. 6.
“Adue nowe, sir Wrig wrag,
Adue, _sir Dalyrag_!”
_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 297. vol. ii. 76.
v. 187. _brag_] i. e. proud, insolent.
v. 189. _kyt_ ... _to large_] i. e. cut ... too large.
v. 190. _Suche pollyng paiaunttis ye pley_] i. e. Such plundering
pageants, thievish pranks, you play. The expression to “play a
pageant”—to play a part,—has before occurred, see note, p. 88. v. 85.
With the present passage compare: “This one _pageant_ hath stayned al
other honest dedes ... _flagitium_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N v. ed.
1530. “That was a wyly _pageaunt_ ... _commentum_.” Id. sig. N vi. “Thou
gatest no worshyp by this _pageant_ ... _facinore_.” _Id._ sig. P v.
“He had thought to playe me a _pagent_: _Il me cuyda donner le bont._”
_Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. (Table of
Verbes). “A felowe which had renued many of Robin Hodes _Pagentes_.”
Fabyan’s _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 533. ed. 1559. “After he had _plaied_ all
his troublesome _pageants_,” &c. Holinshed’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol.
iii. 830. ed. 1587.
v. 191. _poynt_] i. e. appoint, equip.
—— _fresche_] i. e. smart.
v. 192. _he_] i. e. Godfrey; see note on title of the second of these
poems, p. 180.
v. 193. _rowllys_] i. e. rolls.
v. 194. _sowllys_] i. e. souls.
v. 197.
_That byrd ys nat honest_
_That fylythe hys owne nest_]
—_fylythe_, i. e. defileth. This proverb occurs in _The Owl and the
Nightingale_ (a poem of the 12th century), p. 4. Rox. ed.
v. 199. _wyst what sum wotte_] i. e. knew what some know.
Page 126. v. 204. _Jake a thrum_] In his _Magnyfycence_ our author
mentions “_Jacke a thrommys_ bybyll,” v. 1444. vol. i. 272 (also in his
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 209. vol. i. 370); and in his _Colyn Cloute_ he
uses the expression,—
“As wyse as _Tom a thrum_.”
v. 284. vol. i. 322,—
where the MS. has “_Jacke_ athrum.”—Compare: “And therto acordes
too worthi prechers, _Jacke a Throme_ and Ione Brest-Bale.”
_Burlesques,—Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), i. 84.
_goliardum_] Equivalent, probably, to buffoon, or ridiculous rhymer. See
Du Cange’s Gloss. in v., Tyrwhitt’s note on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v.
562, and Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Goliard_.
_lusty Garnyshe well beseen Crystofer_] See note on title of the third of
these poems, p. 183.
Page 126. v. 1. _gargone_] i. e. _Gorgon_.
v. 3. _Thowthe ye kan skylle of large and longe_] i. e. Though you be
skilled in large and long; see note, p. 95. v. 49.
v. 4.
_Ye syng allway the kukkowe songe:_
...
_Your chorlyshe chauntyng ys al o lay_]
—_o lay_, i. e. one strain. So Lydgate;
“_The cokkowe syng can_ than _but oon lay_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151.
v. 12. _Cicero with hys tong of golde_] So Dunbar speaking of Homer and
_Tully_;
“Your _aureate tongis_ both bene all to lyte,” &c.
_Poems_, i. 13. ed. Laing.
v. 17. _xalte_] i. e. shalt.
—— _warse_] i. e. worse.
v. 18. _They_] i. e. Thy; as in the preceding poem.
Page 127. v. 23. _lest good kan_] i. e. that knows the least good.
v. 25. _wylage_] i. e. village.
v. 28. _Lothsum as Lucifer_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_
(see note, p. 177. v. 4), “_Luciferis_ laid.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75.
ed. Laing.
v. 29. _gasy_] i. e. gaze, look proudly.
v. 30. _Syr Pers de Brasy_] i. e. Pierre de Brézé, grand-seneschal of
Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy, and a distinguished warrior during the
reigns of Charles vii. and Lewis xi.: he fell at the battle of Montlhéry
in 1465.
v. 31. _caytyvys carkes_] i. e. caitiff’s carcass.
v. 32. _blasy_] i. e. blaze, set forth.
v. 33. _Gorge Hardyson_] Perhaps the “George Ardeson” who is several
times mentioned in the unpublished _Bokis of Kyngis Paymentis Temp.
Hen._ vii. _and_ viii., preserved in the Chapter-House, Westminster: one
entry concerning him is as follows;
“[xxiii. of Hen. vii.]
_George Ardeson_ and Domynicke Sall er }
bounden in an obligacion to pay for the }
lycence of cccl buttes of malvesey viˢ viiiᵈ }cxviˡⁱ xiiiˢ.”
for euery but within iii monethes next }
after they shalbe layde vpon lande }
Page 127. v. 34. _habarion_] i. e. habergeon. “_Haburion._ Lorica.”
_Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 35. the _Januay_] i. e. the Genoese. “The _ianuays_ ... Genuenses.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. k iii. ed. 1530.
v. 36. _trysyd hys trowle away_] i. e. (I suppose) enticed away his trull.
v. 37. _paiantes_] See note, p. 189. v. 190.
v. 39. _gate_] i. e. got.
—— _gaudry_] i. e., perhaps, trickery. In the _Towneley Mysteries_,
_gawde_, trick, occurs several times.
v. 41. _Fanchyrche strete_] i. e. Fenchurch Street.
v. 42. _lemmanns_] i. e. mistresses.
v. 43. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.
—— _buttyng_] A term of endearment, which I do not understand.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 47. _Bowgy row_] i. e. Budge Row: “This Ward [Cordwainers Street Ward]
beginneth in the East, on the West side of Walbrooke, and runneth West,
thorow _Budge row_ (a street so called of the Budge Furr, and of Skinners
dwelling there),” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 15. ed. 1720.
v. 50. _mow_] i. e. mouth,—mock.
Page 128. v. 54. _lust_] i. e. liking, inclination.
v. 55. _broke_] i. e. badger.
v. 56. _Gup, Syr Gy_] See notes, p. 99. v. 17. p. 184. v. 70.
v. 57. _xulde_] i. e. should.
v. 59. _herey_] i. e. hairy.
v. 60. _on Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.
v. 61. _pray_] i. e. prey.
v. 63. _auncetry_] i. e. ancestry.
v. 66. _askry_] See notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358.
v. 68. _Haroldis_] i. e. Heralds.
v. 69. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
v. 73. _brothells_] i. e. harlots. “_Brothell pailliarde putayn._”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of
Subst.).
Page 128. v. 75. _Betweyn the tappett and the walle_] A line which occurs
again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1249. vol. i. 265: _tappett_, i.
e. tapestry, hangings.
v. 76. _Fusty bawdyas_] An expression used again by Skelton in his
_Garlande of Laurell_;
“Foo, _foisty bawdias_! sum smellid of the smoke.”
v. 639. vol. i. 387.
It occurs in the metrical tale _The Kyng and the Hermyt_;
“When the coppe comys into the plas,
Canst thou sey _fusty bandyas_, [_baudyas_]
And think it in your thouht?
And you schall here a totted frere
Sey _stryke pantnere_,
And in ye [the] cope leve ryht nouht.”
_Brit. Bibliogr._ iv. 90.
and several times after, in the same poem.
v. 77. _harres_] Equivalent to—collection. Fr. _haras_, a stud. “_Haras_
of horse. Equicium.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221.
v. 78. _clothe of Arres_] i. e. tapestry; so called from Arras in Artois,
where the chief manufacture of such hangings was.
v. 79. _eylythe_] i. e. aileth.
—— _rebawde_] i. e. ribald.
v. 82. _Auaunsid_] i. e. Advanced.
v. 83. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 85. _lorell_] See note, p. 183. v. 14.
—— _to lewde_] i. e. too ignorant, vile.
v. 86. _Lythe and lystyn_] i. e. Attend and listen—a sort of pleonastic
expression common in our earliest poetry.
—— _all bechrewde_] See note, p. 97. v. 28.
Page 129. v. 88. _pointyd_] i. e. appointed.
v. 89. _semyth_] i. e. beseemeth.
—— _pyllyd pate_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.
v. 91. _scryue_] i. e. write.
v. 92. _cumys_] i. e. becomes.
v. 93. _tumrelle_] i. e. tumbrel.
v. 94. _melle_] i. e. meddle.
v. 95. _The honor of Englande_] i. e. Henry the Eighth.
v. 97. _wyl_] i. e. well; as afterwards in this poem.
—— _parcele_] i. e. part, portion.
v. 98. _yaue_] i. e. gave.
v. 99. _Eliconys_] i. e. Helicon’s.
v. 101. _commyth_] i. e. becometh.
Page 129. v. 101. _remorde_] Fr. “_Remordre._ To bite again; also, to
carpe at, or find fault with.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ The word is frequently
used by Skelton (see, for instance, vol. i. 188, where he introduces it
with other terms nearly synonymous,—“reprehending” and “rebukynge”).
v. 102. _creaunser_] i. e. tutor: see _Account of Skelton and his
Writings_.—Erasmus, in his _Paraph. in Epist. Pauli ad Galat._ cap. 4. v.
2,—_Opp._ vii. 956. ed. 1703-6, has these words; “sed metu cohibetur, sed
alieno arbitrio ducitur, sub _tutoribus_ et actoribus agens,” &c.: which
are thus rendered in _The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament_,
vol. ii. fol. xiii. ed. 1548-9; “but is kept vnder with feare, and ruled
as other men wyll, passyng that tyme vnder _creansers_ and gouernours,”
&c. (Fr. _creanser_.)
v. 105. _primordialle_] i. e. original, earliest.
v. 106. _rybawde_] i. e. ribald.
—— _reclame_] i. e. tame,—a metaphor from falconry; see note, p. 148. v.
1125.
v. 111. _warlde_] i. e. world.
v. 114. _bawdy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
Page 130. v. 117. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
—— _pyllyd_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.
—— _sade_] i. e. sad,—sober, discreet,—wise (see the preceding line).
v. 120. _Thowth_] i. e. Though.
v. 122. _throw_] i. e. little while, moment.
v. 125. _thé froo_] i. e. from thee.
v. 127. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.
—— _shrow_] i. e. curse.
v. 132. _Prickyd_] i. e. Pointed.
v. 133.
_I wold sum manys bake ink horne_
_Wher thi nose spectacle case_]
—_manys_, i. e. man’s: _bake_, i. e. back: _Wher_, i. e. Were. Compare
our author’s poem against Dundas, v. 37. vol. i. 194, and Bale’s _Kynge
Iohan_, p. 35. Camden ed.
v. 135. _wyll_] i. e. well; as before in this poem.
v. 136. _ouyrthwarthe_] i. e. overthwart,—cross, perverse, cavillous,
captious.
v. 144. _steuyn_] i. e. voice.
v. 145. _follest_] i. e. foulest.
v. 146. _lyddyr_] Or _lither_,—is—sluggish, slothful, idle; but the word
is often used in the more general meaning of wicked, evil, depraved.
Page 130. v. 146. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.
v. 147. _well thewde_] i. e. well dispositioned, well mannered.
Page 131. v. 148. _Besy_] i. e. Busy.
v. 149. _Syr Wrig wrag_] A term several times used by Skelton; see note,
p. 189. v. 186.
v. 151. _slyght_] i. e. trick, contrivance.
v. 153. _to mykkylle_] i. e. too much.
v. 154. _I xulde but lese_] i. e. I should but lose.
v. 155. _tragydese_] i. e. tragedies. Skelton does not mean here dramatic
pieces: compare his piece _Against the Scottes_, v. 72. vol. i. 184. So
Lydgate’s celebrated poem, _The TRAGEDIES, gathered by Iohn Bochas, of
all such Princes as fell from theyr estates_, &c.
v. 157. _my proces for to saue_]—_proces_, i. e. story; see notes, p.
143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. So our author in his _Why come ye nat to
Courte_;
“Than, our _processe for to stable_.”
v. 533. vol. ii. 43.
v. 158. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 162. _a tyd_] i. e. betime.
v. 164. _Haruy Haftar_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 166. _xulde_] i. e. should.
v. 170. _hay ... ray_] Names of dances, the latter less frequently
mentioned than the former:
“I can daunce _the raye_, I can both pipe and sing.”
Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A ii. ed. 1570.
v. 171. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 173. _lewdenes_] i. e. ignorance, baseness, worthlessness.
v. 176. _spynt_] i. e. spent, employed.
v. 180. _I xall thé aquyte_] i. e. I shall requite thee.
AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES.
Page 132. _Psalm cxlij._] _Vulg._ cxix. 3.
_Psal. lxvii._] _Vulg._ li. 7.
v. 4. _Hoyning_] “_Hoigner._ To grumble, mutter, murmure; to repine;
also, to whyne as a child or dog.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Hoi_, a word vsed
in driuing hogges,” says Minsheu; who proceeds to derive it “a Gr. κοΐ,
quod est imitatio vocis porcellorum.” _Guide into Tongues_.
—— _groynis_] See note, p. 180. v. 2.
—— _wrotes_] i. e. roots.
Page 132. v. 2. _made ... a windmil of an olde mat_] The same expression
occurs again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1040. vol. i. 258.
v. 4. _commaunde_] i. e. commend.
—— _Cok wat_] See note, p. 108. v. 173.
Page 133. v. 2. _lack_] i. e. fault, blame.
v. 3. _In your crosse rowe nor Christ crosse you spede_]—_crosse rowe_,
i. e. alphabet; so called, it is commonly said, because a cross was
prefixed to it, or perhaps because it was written in the form of a cross.
See Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. _Christ-cross_. _Christ crosse you spede_
alludes to some other elementary form of instruction:
“How long agoo lerned ye _Crist crosse me spede_?”
Lydgate’s _Prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 50.
and see title of a poem cited p. 167. v. 296.
v. 7. _cognisaunce_] i. e. badge.
v. 1. _scole_] i. e. school, teaching.
—— _haute_] i. e. high, lofty.
v. 2. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 2. _faitours_] Has been explained before (see p. 91. v.
172)—deceivers, dissemblers; and is rendered by Tyrwhitt (_Gloss._ to
Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_), lazy, idle fellows; but here the word seems to
be used as a general term of reproach,—scoundrels.
—— _half straught_] i. e. half in their senses.
v. 4. _liddrous_] See note, p. 193. v. 146.
—— _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, vile.
v. 3. _vale of bonet of their proude sayle_]—_vale_, i. e. lower: _bonet_
means a small sail attached to the larger sails.
v. 4. _ill hayle_] See note, p. 176. v. 617.
Page 134. v. 4. _vntayde_] i. e. untied, loose.
—— _renning_] i. e. running.
v. 7. _lewdly alowed_] i. e., perhaps, ignorantly approved of.
v. 9. _vertibilite_] i. e. variableness.
v. 10. _folabilite_] i. e. folly.
v. 12. _coarte_] i. e. coarct, constrain.
v. 13. _hay the gy of thre_] Perhaps an allusion to the dance called
_heydeguies_ (a word variously spelt).
v. 2. _Pharaotis_] i. e. (I suppose) Pharaoh.
v. 1. _vnhappy_] i. e. mischievous.
Page 135. v. 2. _atame_] i. e. tame.
v. 1. _tratlers_] i. e. prattlers, tattlers.
v. 3. _Scalis Malis_] i. e. Cadiz. “The tounes men of Caleis, or _Caleis
males_, sodainly rong their common bell,” &c. Hall’s _Chronicle_ (Hen.
viii.), fol. xiii. ed. 1548. “His fortunatest piece I esteem the taking
of _Cadiz Malez_.” _A Parallel of the Earl of Essex and the Duke of
Buckingham_,—_Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_, p. 177. ed. 1672.
Page 135. v. 4. _nut shalis_] i. e. nutshells.
v. 7. _ren_] i. e. run.
—— _lesinges_] i. e. falsehoods.
v. 8. _wrate suche a bil_] i. e. wrote such a letter.
v. 10. _ill apayed_] i. e. ill pleased, ill satisfied.
v. 1. _hight_] i. e. is called.
v. 2. _quight_] i. e. requite.
v. 5. _Although he made it neuer so tough_] The expression, _to make
it tough_, i. e. to make difficulties, occurs frequently, and with
several shades of meaning, in our early writers; see R. of Gloucester’s
_Chronicle_, p. 510. ed. Hearne, and the various passages cited in
Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_ in v. _Tough_. Palsgrave
has “I _Make it tough_ I make it coye as maydens do or persons that be
strange if they be asked a questyon.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. ccxcii. (Table of Verbes).
ON TYME.
Page 137. v. 5. _hym lyst_] i. e. pleases him.
v. 6. _couenable_] i. e. fit.
v. 10. _sad_] i. e. serious.
v. 17. _trauell_] i. e. travail, labour.
v. 21. _prease_] i. e. press, throng.
Page 138. v. 23. _lacke_] i. e. blame.
v. 24. _rotys_] i. e. roots.
—— _vere_] i. e. spring.
_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.
PRAYER TO THE SECONDE PARSON.
Page 139. v. 7. _Agayne_] i. e. Against.
v. 8. _woundis fyue_] A common expression in our early poetry;
“Jhesu, for _thi woundes five_,” &c.
Minot’s _Poems_, p. 5. ed. Ritson.
See too Dunbar’s _Poems_, i. 229. ed. Laing.
Page 140. v. 10. _blo_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.
WOFFULLY ARAID
Is mentioned by our author as one of his compositions in the _Garlande of
Laurell_, v. 1418. vol. i. 417.
With the opening of this piece compare Hawes’s _Conuercyon of Swerers_,
where Christ is made to exclaim,
“They newe agayne do hange me on the rode,
They tere my sydes, and are nothynge dysmayde,
My woundes they do open, and deuoure my blode:
I, god and man, moost _wofully arayde_,
To you complayne, _it maye not be denayde_;
Ye nowe to lugge me, ye tere me at the roote,
Yet I to you am chefe refuyte and bote.”
and a little after,
“Why arte thou _harde herted_,” &c.
Sig. A iii. ed. n. d. 4to.
Barclay too has,
“Some sweareth armes, nayles, heart, and body,
Tearing our Lorde worse then the Jewes him _arayde_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 33. ed. 1570.
_Woffully araid_ is, I believe, equivalent to—wofully disposed of or
treated, in a woful condition. “_Araye_ condicion or case _poynt_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xviii. (Table of
Subst.)—(and see note, p. 164. v. 163).
“_Isaac._ What have I done, fader, what have I saide?
_Abraham._ Truly, no kyns ille to me.
_Isaac._ And thus gyltles shalle be _arayde_.”
_Abraham_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 40.
—“His [Tybert’s] body was al to beten, and blynde on the one eye. Whan
the kynge wyste this, that tybert was thus _arayed_, he was sore angry,
&c.” _Reynard the Fox_, sig. b 8. ed. 1481. Again in the same romance,
when Isegrym the wolf has received a kick on the head from a mare, he
says to Reynard, “I am so foule _arayed_ and sore hurte, that an herte of
stone myght haue pyte of me.” Sig. f 4.
“Who was wyth loue: more _wofully arayed_
Than were these twayne.”
Hawes’s _Pastime of pleasure_, sig. I iiii. ed. 1555.
“I am fowle _arayed_ with a chyne cowgh. _Laceor_ pertussi.”—“He was sore
_arayed_ with sycknesse. Morbo atrociter _conflictus est_.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sigs. II iii. I ii. ed. 1530.
Page 141. v. 4. _naid_] i. e. denied.
v. 5. _bloo_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 8. _encheson_] i. e. cause.
v. 9. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
v. 12. _fretid_] Equivalent to—galled.
v. 14. _mowid_] i. e. made mouths at, mocked.
v. 19. _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.
Page 141. v. 20. _panys_] i. e. pains.
—— _vaynys_] i. e. veins.
—— _crake_] i. e. crack.
Page 142. v. 24.
_Entretid thus in most cruell wyse,_
_Was like a lombe offerd in sacrifice_]
_Entretid_, i. e. Treated. So in a “litel dite” by Lydgate, appended to
his _Testamentum_;
“Drawen as a felon _in moost cruel wyse_
...
_Was lik a lamb offryd in sacrifise_.”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 64.
v. 29. _bobbid_] i. e. struck. So Lydgate in the piece just cited;
“Bete and eke _bobbid_.”
_Ibid._
and in the _Coventry Mysteries_, Nichodemus seeing Christ on the cross,
says
“Why haue ȝe _bobbyd_ and thus betyn owth
All his blyssyd blood?”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 186.
—— _robbid_] i. e. (I suppose) robed.
v. 30. _Onfayned_] Generally means un-glad, displeased, which even in the
forced sense of—to my sorrow, is against the intention of the passage: it
seems to be used here for—Unfeignedly: and see note, p. 207. v. 81.
—— _deynyd_] i. e. disdained;
“Youth _dayneth_ counsell, scorning discretion.”
Barclay’s _Fifth Egloge_, sig. D ii. ed. 1570.
v. 33. _myȝt_] i. e. might.
v. 39. _enterly_] i. e. entirely.
v. 43. _ȝytt_] i. e. yet.
v. 45. _race_] i. e. tear, wound.
v. 48. _Butt gyve me thyne hert_]—_hert_, i. e. heart. With this and v.
41 compare Lydgate’s “litel dite” already cited;
“_Gyff me thyn herte_, and be no mor _vnkynde_.”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 66.
Page 143. v. 49. _wrouȝt_] i. e. wrought, formed.
—— _bowgȝt_] i. e. bought, redeemed.
v. 50. _hyȝt_] i. e. high.
v. 55. _sawlys_] i. e. soul’s.
v. 59. _Hytt_] i. e. It.
—— _nayd_] i. e. denied.
v. 60. _blow_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.
NOW SYNGE WE, &c.
This piece is mentioned by Skelton as his own composition in the
_Garlands of Laurell_, v. 1420. vol. i. 417.
Page 144. v. 1.
_Now synge we as we were wont,_
_Vexilla regis prodeunt_]
Compare Lydgate;
“Wherefore _I synge as I was wont_
_Vexilla regis prodeunt_.”
_Poem about various birds singing praises to God_,—_MS. Harl._
2251. fol. 38.
The hymn _Vexilla regis prodeunt_, &c. may be seen in _Hymni Ecclesiæ e
Breviario Parisiensi_, 1838, p. 71. I ought to add that the present poem
is not a translation of it.
v. 3. _onfelde is [s]playd_] i. e. is displayed on field.
v. 4. _nayd_] i. e. denied.
v. 11. _thees_] i. e. thighs.
v. 13. _pyne_] i. e. pain.
v. 14. _spylt_] i. e. destroyed, put to death.
v. 17. _dong_] i. e. dung, struck.
Page 145. v. 25. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 31. _Syth_] i. e. Since.
v. 33. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.
v. 35. _lykes_] i. e. pleases.
v. 40. _eysell_] i. e. vinegar.
v. 51. _doone_] i. e. done.
Page 146. v. 60. _isprode_] i. e. spread.
v. 68. _payne_] i. e. labour, strive.
v. 71. _mys_] i. e. miss, fail.
v. 72. _Withouten nay_] i. e. Without contradiction, assuredly.
v. 74. _hardnes_] i. e. cruelty.
LATIN POEM.
Page 147. v. 7. _gentis Agarenæ_] i. e. of the race of Hagar.
THE MANER OF THE WORLD NOW A DAYES.
In giving this poem a place among our author’s undoubted productions,
I now apprehend that I deferred too much to the judgment of my friend
Mr. J. P. Collier, who had recently reprinted it without suspecting its
genuineness. It may, after all, be Skelton’s; but at any rate it is only
a _rifacimento_ of the following verses,—found in _MS. Sloane_, 747. fol.
88, and very difficult to decipher:
“So propre cappes
So lytle hattes
And so false hartes
Saw y never.
So wyde gownes
In cytees and townes
And so many sellers of bromys
Say I never.
Suche garded huoes [hose]
Suche playted shoes
And suche a pose
Say y never.
Dowbletes not[?] syde
The syde so wyde
And so moche pride
Was never.
So many ryven shertes
So well appareld chyrches
And so many lewed clerkes
Say I never.
So fayre coursers
So godely trappers
And so fewe foluers
Say y never.
So many fayere suerdes
So lusty knyghtes and lordes
And so fewe covered bordes
Say I never.
So joly garded clokes
So many clyppers of grotes
And go vntyde be the throtes
Say I never.
So many wyde pu[r]ces
And so fewe gode horses
And so many curses
Say y never.
Suche bosters and braggers
And suche newe facyshyont daggers
And so many cursers
Say I never.
So many propere knyffes
So well apparelld wyfes
And so evyll of there lyfes
Say I never.
The stretes so swepynge
With wemen clothynge
And so moche swerynge
Say I never.
Suche blendynge of legges
In townes and hegges
And so many plegges
Say I never.
Of wymen kynde
Lased be hynde
So lyke the fende
Say I never.
So many spyes
So many lyes
And so many thevys
Say I never.
So many wronges
So few mery songges
And so many ivel tonges
Say I neuer.
So moche trechery
Symony and vsery
Poverte and lechery
Say I never.
So fewe sayles
So lytle avayles
And so many jayles
Sawe y never.
So many esterlynges
Lombardes and flemynges
To bere awey our wynynges
Sawe I never.
Be there sotyll weys
Al Englande decays
For suche false Januayes
Sawe I neuer.
Amonge the ryche
Where frenship ys to seche
But so fayre glosynge speche
Sawe I never.
So many poore
Comynge to the dore
And so litle socour
Sawe I never.
So prowde and say [gay?]
So joly in aray
And so litle money
Sawe I never.
So many sellers
So fewe byers
And so many marchaunt taylors
Sawe I never.
Executores havynge mony and ware
Than havynge so litle care
How the pore sowle shall fare
Sawe I never.
So many lawers vse
The truthe to refuse
And suche falsehed excuse
Sawe I never.
Whan a man ys dede
His wiffe so shortely wed
And havynge suche hast to bed
Sawe I neuer.
So many maydens blamed
Wrongefully not defamed
And beyenge so lytle ashamyd
Sawe I never.
Relygiouse in cloystere closyd
And prestes and large[272] losed
Beyenge so evyll disposyd
Sawe I never.
God saue our sovereygne lord the kynge
And alle his royal sprynge
For so noble a prince reyny[n]ge
Sawe I never.”
[272] _and large_] Qy. “at large?” but it is by no means certain that
“large” is the reading of the MS.
Page 148. v. 9. _gardes_] i. e. facings, trimmings.
v. 10. _Jagged_] See note, p. 163. v. 124: but here probably (as
certainly in v. 54) something ornamental is meant.
—— _al to-torne_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
v. 15. _hostryes_] i. e. inns.
v. 17. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 22. _preves_] i. e. proves; equivalent, perhaps, to—turn out well.
Page 149. v. 25. _garded hose_] i. e. faced, trimmed breeches.
v. 26. _cornede_] i. e. horned, pointed.
v. 29. _questes_] i. e. inquests.
v. 31. _quitte_] i. e. acquitted.
v. 50. _crakers_] i. e. vaunters, big talkers.
v. 54. _cultyng and jagging_] See note above, v. 10: _cultyng_, I
believe, should be _cuttyng_.
Page 150. v. 57. _knackes_] i. e. trifles, toys, or perhaps tricks.
v. 58. _naughty packes_] An expression which occurs again in our author’s
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 188. vol. i. 369, is common in writers of a
much later date, and is not yet altogether obsolete (see _The Dialect of
Craven_, &c. in _Noughty-Pack_),—equivalent to worthless, loose persons
(properly, it would seem, cheaters; see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v.
_Pack_).
Page 151. v. 90. _kepe tuche_] i. e. keep contract, agreement.
v. 93. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 94. _bordoure_] i. e. border.
v. 101. _bowyers_] i. e. bow-makers.
v. 102. _fletchers_] i. e. arrow-makers.
v. 105. _chepers_] i. e. traffickers, sellers (compare the fourth stanza
on the opposite page).
v. 109. _alle sellers_] i. e. ale-sellers.
v. 110. _baudy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
—— _sellers_] i. e. cellars.
v. 113. _pinkers_] Some cant term which I do not understand.
Page 152. v. 121. _vacabounde_] i. e. vagabond.
v. 122. _londe_] i. e. land.
v. 123. _bonde_] i. e. bound.
v. 129. _fleyng_] i. e. flying.
v. 130. _males_] i. e. bags, wallets, pouches.
Page 152. v. 138. _covetous_] i. e. covetise, covetousness.
v. 141. _carders_] i. e. card-players.
v. 143. _yl ticers_] i. e. evil-enticers.
v. 145. _lollers_] “Apostaticus ... anglice a renegade or _loller_.”
_Ortus Vocab._ ed. 1514. “_Lollar heretique._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de
la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlv. (Table of Subst.). So at the conclusion
of _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, the term _Lollard_ is used to
signify a heretic: see Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 445 (note), ed. Laing.
Compare too our author’s _Replycacion_, &c. v. 204. vol. i. 215.
v. 146. _tollers_] i. e. tellers, speakers.
v. 147. _pollers_] i. e. plunderers.
Page 153. v. 153. _So many avayles_] An expression which I do not
understand: the poem just given from _MS. Sloane_ has “So _lytle_
avayles;” see p. 201, last stanza but two.
v. 154. _geales_] i. e. gaols.
v. 161. _jackes_] i. e. jackets.
v. 163. _partlettes_] i. e. ruffs.
v. 166. _tucking hookes_] Another expression which I do not understand.
v. 169. _song_] i. e. sung.
v. 178. _brybors_] i. e. thieves,—properly, pilferers. “_Briboure_.
Manticulus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499; and see note on our author’s
_Magnyfycence_, v. 1242.
v. 182. _everichone_] i. e. every one.
Page 154. v. 186. _convenient_] i. e. fitting, suitable.
WARE THE HAUKE.
This poem was evidently called forth by a real event; but the name of
the “hawking parson” has not transpired. According to Barclay, skill in
hawking sometimes advanced its possessor to a benefice;
“But if I durst truth plainely vtter and expresse,
This is the speciall cause of this inconuenience,
That greatest fooles, and fullest of lewdnes,
Hauing least wit, and simplest science,
Are first promoted, and haue greatest reuerence,
For if one can flatter, and _beare a Hauke on his fist,_
_He shalbe made Parson of Honington or of Clist_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 2. ed. 1570.
I may add, that afterwards, in the same work, when treating of indecorous
behaviour at church, Barclay observes;
“Into the Church then comes another sotte,
Without deuotion, ietting vp and downe,
Or to be seene, and to showe his garded cote:
_Another on his fiste a Sparhauke or Fawcone_,” &c.
fol. 85.
Page 155. v. 5. _abused_] i. e. vitiated, depraved.
“Be all yonge galandes of these _abused_ sorte,
Whiche in yonge age vnto the court resorte?”
Barclay’s _Third Egloge_, sig. C ii. ed. 1570.
v. 8. _daw_] i. e. simpleton, fool; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 16. _him fro_] i. e. from him.
Page 156. v. 22. _dysgysed_] i. e. guilty of unbecoming conduct: so again
in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“They mought be better aduysed
Then to be so _dysgysed_.”
v. 581. vol. i. 333.
v. 30. _apostrofacion_] i. e. apostrophe.
v. 34. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
v. 35. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, worthless.
v. 42. _Dis_] Of which Skelton was rector; see _Account of his Life and
Writings_.
v. 43. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
—— _fauconer_] i. e. falconer.
v. 44. _pawtenar_] “_Pautner_ [_Pawtenere_, _MS. Harl._ 221.].
Cassidile.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Will. Brito: _Cassidile_ dicitur
pera Aucupis in modum reticuli facta, in quo ponit quos in casse, id est,
rete, cepit.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in v. “Pera ... anglice a skryppe or a
_pawtner_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 48. _hogeous_] i. e. hugeous, huge.
v. 49. _auter_] i. e. altar.
v. 50. _craked_] i. e. talked vauntingly.
Page 157. v. 55. _yede_] i. e. went.
v. 56. _pray_] i. e. prey.
v. 60. _tyrid_] A term in falconry: the hawk _tired_ on what was thrown
to her, when she pulled at and tore it.
v. 62. _mutid_] i. e. dunged.
—— _a chase_] Compare a passage in that curious tract, by Walter Smith,
_xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth_;
“Her potage & eke her ale were well poudred
With an holsome influence that surgeons call
Pouder Sinipari that wil make on cast his gall:”
in consequence of which, she is compelled suddenly to quit the
supper-table, and,
“When that she was vp, she got her foorth apace,
And er she had walkt xxx fote, she marked _a chase_
And eftsones another, thrugh the Hal as she yede,” &c.
Sig. f iii. ed. 1573.
“A _chase_ at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the
adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis,
it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.” Douce’s _Illust. of
Shakespeare_, i. 485. Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_,
v. 880. vol. ii. 53.
Page 157. v. 63. _corporas_] i. e. communion-cloth, the fine linen cloth
used to cover the _body_, or consecrated elements.
v. 65. _gambawdis_] i. e. gambols, pranks.
v. 66. _wexid_] i. e. waxed.
—— _gery_] “_Gerysshe_, wylde or lyght heeded _farouche_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).
“Howe _gery_ fortune furyous and wode.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iii. leaf lxxvii. ed. Wayland.
“And as a swalowe _geryshe_ of her flyghte,
Twene slowe and swifte, now croked nowe vpright.”
_Ibid._ B. vi. leaf cxxxiiii.
Tyrwhitt explains “_gery_—changeable.” _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant.
Tales_. Richardson observes that in the present passage of Skelton “it
seems to be _giddy_ (sc.) with turning round.” _Dict._ in v.
v. 69. _the rode loft_] A loft (generally placed just over the passage
out of the church into the chancel,) where stood the _rood_,—an image of
Christ on the cross, with figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John on
each side of it: compare v. 126 of the present poem;
“His hawke then flew vppon
_The rode with Mary and John”_.
v. 70. _perkyd_] i. e. perched.
v. 71. _fauconer_] i. e. falconer.
—— _prest_] i. e. ready.
v. 72. _dow_] i. e. pigeon.
v. 73. _And cryed, Stow, stow, stow!_] So Fansy, in our author’s
_Magnyfycence_, exclaims to his hawk,
“_Stowe_, byrde, _stowe, stowe_!
It is best I fede my hawke now.”
v. 980. vol. i. 257.
Compare Brathwait’s _Merlin_;
“But _stow_, bird, stow,
See now the game’s afoote,
And white-mail’d Nisus,
He is flying to’t.”
_Odes_, p. 250, appended to _Natures Embassie_, 1621.
“Make them come from it to your fist, eyther much or little, with calling
and chirping to them, saying: Towe, Towe, or _Stowe, Stowe_, as Falconers
vse.” Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 182. ed. 1611.
Page 157. v. 76. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 78. _endude_] “She [the hawk] _Enduyth_ whan her meete in her bowelles
falle to dygestyon.” _Book of St. Albans_, by Juliana Barnes, sig. C iii.
v. 79. _ensaymed_] i. e. purged from her grease. “_Ensayme_ of an hawke,”
says the lady just quoted, “is the greeys.” Sig. A v. See too “How you
shall _enseame_ a Hawke,” &c. in Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c.
p. 115. ed. 1611.
v. 80. _reclaymed_] i. e. tamed; see note, p. 148. v. 1125.
v. 81. _fawconer_] i. e. falconer.
—— _vnfayned_] Either, unfeignedly (in the next line but six is “not
_fayne_ nor forge”) or un-glad, displeased: see note, p. 198. v. 30.
Page 158. v. 83. _lyst_] i. e. liking, inclination.
v. 85. _loked_] i. e. looked.
—— _the frounce_] Is a distemper in which a whitish foam gathers in
wrinkles (frounces) about the hawk’s mouth and palate. “The _Frounce_
proceedeth of moist and cold humours, which descend from the hawkes
head to their palate and the roote of the tongue. And of that cold is
engendred in the tongue the _Frownce_,” &c. Turbervile’s _Booke of
Falconrie_, &c. p. 303. ed. 1611.
v. 87. _the gorge_] “Is that part of the Hawk which first receiveth
the meat, and is called the Craw or Crop in other fowls.” Latham’s
_Faulconry_, (Explan. of Words of Art), 1658.
v. 89. _clap_] i. e. stroke.
v. 91. _sparred_] i. e. fastened, shut (“boltyd and barryd” being in the
next line).
v. 93. _wyth a prety gyn_]—_gyn_, i. e. contrivance.
“And _with a prety_ gynne
Gyue her husbande an horne.”
_The boke of mayd Emlyn_, &c. n. d. sig. A ii.
v. 100. _On Sainct John decollacion_] i. e. On the festival of the
beheading of St. John.
Page 158. v. 103. _secundum Sarum_] So in Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Complaynt of
the Papingo_;
“Suppose the geis and hennis suld cry alarum,
And we sall serve _secundum usum Sarum_.”
_Works_, i. 327. ed. Chal.
The proverbial expression, “It is done _secundum usum Sarum_,” is thus
explained by Fuller: “It began on this occasion; Many Offices or forms of
service were used in severall Churches in England, as the Office of York,
Hereford, Bangor, &c. which caused a deal of Confusion in Gods Worship,
untill Osmond Bishop of Sarum, about the year of our Lord 1090, made that
Ordinall or Office which was generally received all over England, so that
Churches thence forward easily understood one another, all speaking the
same words in their Liturgy. It is now applyed to those persons which do,
and Actions which are formally and solemnly done, in so Regular a way by
Authentick Precedents, and Paterns of unquestionable Authority, that no
just exception can be taken thereat.” _Worthies_ (_Wilt-Shire_), p. 146.
ed. 1662.
v. 104. _Marche harum_] i. e. March hare.
v. 106. _let_] i. e. leave, desist.
v. 107. _fet_] i. e. fetch.
v. 110. _to halow there the fox_]—_halow_, i. e. halloo. “Men blewe the
hornes and cryed and _halowed the foxe_.” _Reynard the Fox_, sig. h 5.
ed. 1481.
v. 112. _Boke_] i. e. Book.
Page 159. v. 114. _lectryne_] “_Lecterne_ to syng at.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xliiii. (Table of Subst.).
“Sum syng at the _lectorne_ with long eares lyke an asse.”
Bale’s _Kynge Johan_, p. 27. Camd. ed.
Or simply, a reading-desk: see note on v. 120.
v. 116. _With, troll, cytrace, and trouy_] So in _Apius and Virginia_, by
R. B., 1575;
“_With_ hey tricke, how _trowle_, trey trip, and trey _trace_.”
Sig. B.
v. 117. _hankin bouy_] Compare _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“And we wyll haue minstrelsy
that shall pype _hankyn boby_.”
p. 62. Roxb. ed.
and Nash’s _Haue with you to Saffron-walden_, 1596; “No vulgar respects
haue I, what Hoppenny Hoe and his fellow _Hankin Booby_ thinke of mee.”
Sig. K 2: and Brome’s _Joviall Crew_, 1652; “he makes us even sick
of his sadness, that were wont to see my Ghossips cock to day, mould
Cocklebread, daunce clutterdepouch and _Hannykin booby_, binde barrels,
or do any thing before him, and he would laugh at us.” Act ii. sc. i.
sig. D 2.
Page 159. v. 119. _fawconer_] i. e. falconer.
vv. 120, 121. _gospellers_ ... _pystillers_] “_Gospellar_ that syngeth
the gospell.” “_Pysteller_ [Epistler] that syngeth the masse.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fols. xxxvii., liiii.
(Table of Subst.). But in our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_ we find,
“Shal _rede the Gospell_ at masse
...
Shal _rede_ there _the pystell_.”
vv. 423, 5. vol. i. 64.
and see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._ in vv. _Gospeller_, _Epistler_.
v. 125. _gydynge_] “He controlled my lyuynge and _gydynge_.... _mores_.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N vi. ed. 1530.
“Wise women has wayis, and wonderfull _gydingis_.”
Dunbar’s tale of _The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo_,—_Poems_, i. 77.
ed. Laing.
v. 127. _The rode with Mary and John_] See note on v. 69. p. 206.
v. 128. _fon_] i. e. fool.
v. 129. _daw_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 137. _hawkis bels_] i. e. the bells attached to the feet of the hawk.
v. 138. _losels_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellows,—the same as _lorels_,
which has several times occurred before (see note, p. 132. v. 488, &c.):
“Lorell or _losell_ or lurdeyn.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Lorrell or
_losell_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlv. (Table
of Subst.).
v. 142. _snappar_] i. e. stumble; but see note, p. 92. v. 4.
v. 144. _loke_] i. e. look.
Page 160. v. 146. _bokis_] i. e. books.
v. 149. _mayden Meed_] See the allegorical account of Meed in _Pierce
Plowman_; where we find,
“That is _mede the maid_, quod she, hath noyed me full oft.”
Sig. B iv. ed. 1561.
and again, “Saue _mede the mayde_,” &c. sig. C iii. “Now is _mede the
mayde_,” &c. ibid.
v. 158. _toke_] i. e. took.
v. 159. _this_] Perhaps for _thus_: compare v. 181.
v. 164. _Exodi_] i. e. the book of _Exodus_.
“In _Exodi_ ben these mencions.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf vii. ed. Wayland.
Page 160. v. 166. _Regum_] i. e. _The Third_, now called _The First, Book
of Kings_.
Page 161. v. 178. _the rode_] See note on v. 69. p. 206.
v. 181. _this_] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 183. _dowues donge_] i. e. pigeon’s dung.
v. 194. _croked_] i. e. crooked.
—— _Cacus_] See extract from _The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_, in
note, p. 213. v. 23.
v. 196. _Nother_] i. e. Neither.
—— _Olibrius_] Was “the provost” by whose order Saint Margaret, after
being put to sundry tortures, was beheaded at Antioch. _Golden Legende_,
fol. ccxiiii. sqq. ed. 1483. See also _The Legend of Seynt Mergrete_,
printed from the Auchinleck MS., in Turnbull’s _Legendæ Catholicæ_.
Most readers will recollect Mr. Milman’s dramatic poem, _The Martyr of
Antioch_.
v. 198.
—— _Phalary,_
_Rehersed in Valery_]
i. e. Phalaris, recorded in Valerius Maximus, lib. iii. cap. iii.
(where it is related that the Agrigentines, at the instigation of
Zeno Eleates, stoned the tyrant Phalaris to death. “’Tis plain,” says
Bentley, “he mistakes Phalaris for Nearchus.” _Diss. upon the Ep. of
Phalaris_,—_Works_, i. 241. ed. Dyce), and lib. ix. cap. ii.
v. 200. _Sardanapall_] So our early writers often spell his name;
“Last of all was _Sardanapall_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, Boke ii. leaf L. ed. Wayland.
Page 162. v. 204. _Egeas_] Is mentioned with various other evil
personages in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_,
“Herod thy uthir eme, and grit _Egeass_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 86. ed. Laing.
and in the Second Part of Marlowe’s _Tamburlaine_;
“The headstrong jades of Thrace Alcides tamed,
That King Egeus fed with humane flesh.”
Last sc. of act iv. sig. G 3. ed. 1606.
v. 205. _Syr Pherumbras_] See note, p. 178. v. 15.
v. 211. _poll by poll_] i. e. head by head,—one by one.
“And ye shall here the names _poll by poll_.”
_Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. B ii.
v. 212. _Arystobell_] i. e. (I suppose) Aristobulus,—who, having
succeeded his father Hyrcanus as high-priest and governor of Judea,
assumed the title of king,—cast his mother into prison, and starved her
to death,—caused his brother Antigonus to be assassinated,—and died
after reigning a year. See Prideaux’s _Connect_. Part ii. B. vi.
Page 162. v. 214. _miscreantys_] i. e. infidels. “These thre kynges were
the fyrst of _myscreauntes_ that byleued on cryst.” _The three kynges of
Coleyne_, sig. C ii. ed. 1526.
v. 216. _Sowden_] i. e. Soldan, Sultan.
v. 225. _pekysh_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 228. _crokid_] i. e. crooked.
v. 230. _this_] i. e. thus; as before, see v. 181.
—— _ouerthwarted_] i. e. cavilled, wrangled. “To hafte or _ouerthwarte_
in a matter, to wrangle.” Baret’s _Alvearie_ in v.
v. 231. _proces_] i. e. subject-matter; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p.
146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157.
Page 163. v. 233. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 234. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 239. _rehers_] i. e. tell, declare.
v. 240. _sentence_] i. e. meaning.
v. 241. _scholys_] i. e. schools.
v. 242. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 244. _Dawcocke_] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 164. v. 249. _fista_] i. e. fist.
v. 250. _you lista_] i. e. you please.
v. 260. _Dialetica_] i. e. Dialectica.
v. 264. _forica_] Is Latin for a public jakes; and compare vv. 62, 183:
but I cannot determine the meaning of it here.
v. 270. _Jacke Harys_] Must not be mistaken for the name of the person
who called forth this piece; we have been already told that he “shall
be nameless,” v. 38. So in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, Courtly Abusyon
terms Cloked Colusyon “cankard _Jacke Hare_.” v. 768. vol. i. 250. There
is a poem by Lydgate (at least attributed to him) concerning a personage
called _Jak Hare_, of which the first stanza is as follows:
“A froward knave plainly to discryve
And a sluggard plainly to declare
A precious knave that cast hym never to thryve
His mowth wele wet his slevis right thredebare
A tourne broche a boy for wat of ware
With louryng face noddyng and slombryng
Of newe cristened called _Jak Hare_
Whiche of a bolle can pluk out the lyneng.”
_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 14.
Since the above note was written, the ballad on Jack Hare has been
edited from _MS. Lansd._ 699. fol. 88. by Mr. Halliwell, among Lydgate’s
_Minor Poems_, p. 52 (printed for the _Percy Society_). “The original
of this,” says Mr. H. (p. 267), “is an Anglo-Norman poem of the 13th
century, in MS. Digb. Oxon. 86. fol. 94, entitled ‘De Maimound mal
esquier.’”
Page 164. v. 274. _federis_] i. e. feathers.
Page 165. v. 284. _fisty_] i. e. fist.
v. 290. _Apostata_] This form, as an English word, continued in use long
after the time of Skelton.
v. 291. _Nestorianus_] “_Nestoriani_ quidam heretici qui beatam mariam
non dei, sed hominis dicunt genitricem.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de
Worde, n. d.: but here _Nestorianus_ seems to be put for Nestorius, the
founder of the sect.
v. 300. _This_] i. e. Thus; as before, see v. 181.
v. 301. _Dys church ye thus deprauyd_] To _deprave_ generally means—to
vilify in words (as in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_, “_The Churche to
depraue_,” v. 515. vol. i. 330); but (and see the poem _Howe the douty
Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 191. vol. ii. 73) here _deprauyd_ must be
equivalent to—defiled.
v. 305. _Concha_] “_Concha_ recensetur vulgo inter vasa ac ministeria
sacra, cujus varii fuere usus.” Du Cange’s _Gloss_.
v. 306. _sonalia_] i. e. the bells attached to the hawk’s feet.
Page 166. v. 313.
_Et relis et ralis,_
_Et reliqualis_]
Occurs again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1216. vol. i. 410.
v. 315. _Galis_] i. e. Galicia.
v. 320. _chalys_] i. e. chalice.
v. 324. _Masyd_] i. e. Bewildered, confounded.
v. 325. _styth_] i. e. anvil.
v. 327. _daw_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 167. _Quod_] i. e. Quoth.
EPITAPHE, &c.
v. 3. _this_] i. e. these.
v. 4. _queed_] i. e. evil. The word is common in our earliest poetry:
“That euer schuld haue don him _qued_.”
_Arthour and Merlin_, p. 51. ed. Abbotsf.
A DEUOUTE TRENTALE, &c.
_trentale_] i. e. properly, a service of thirty masses for the dead,
usually celebrated on as many different days.
Page 170. v. 44. _I faith, dikkon thou crue_] See note, p. 115. v. 360.
v. 46. _knauate_] i. e. knave.
v. 47. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross; see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 53. _fote ball_] i. e. foot-ball.
Page 171. v. 61. _Wit[h], hey, howe, rumbelowe_] See note, p. 110. v. 252.
Page 172. v. 23.
_Crudelisque Cacus_
_barathro, peto, sit tumulatus_]
To readers of Skelton’s days Cacus was known not so much from the 8th
book of Virgil’s _Æneid_, as from _The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_,
(a translation by Caxton from the French of Raoul le Fevre), where his
story is related at considerable length, and with great variation from
the classical fable: “In the cyte of Cartagene, a kynge and geant regned.
named Cacus whiche was passyng euyll and full of tyrannye, and had slayn
by his cursidnes the kynges of Aragon and of Nauerre. their wyues and
their children And possessid her seignouryes and also helde in subieccion
alle the contrey into ytaly,” &c. Book ii. ed. 1471—about the middle of
the volume, which is printed without paging or signatures. His death is
afterwards thus described: “But hercules ranne after and retayned hym And
enbraced hym in his armes so harde that he myght not meue And brought hym
agayn And bare hym vnto a depe pytte that was in the caue where he had
caste in all ordures and filthe, hercules cam vnto this fowle pytte that
the grekes had founden And planted cacus there Inne. his heed dounward
from on hye vnto the ordure benethe, Than the ytaliens cam aboute the
pitte and caste so many stones vpon hym that he deyde there myserably.
Suche was the ende of the poure kynge Cacus. he deyde in an hooll full of
ordure and of styngkynge filthe.”
v. 28. _best_] i. e. beast.
Page 173. _Apud Trumpinton scriptum per Curatum ejusdem, &c._] A passage
wrongly understood by Skelton’s biographers: see _Account of his Life and
Writings_.
Page 174.
_Diligo rustincum cum portant bis duo quointum,_
_Et cantant delos est mihi dulce melos_]
The Rev. J. Mitford proposes to read—
Diligo rusticulum cum portat Dis duo quintum,
Et cantat Delos, est mihi dulce melos:
understanding _duo quintum_ to mean decimum, a tenth or tithe, and
explaining the whole, I like the peasant when he brings his tithe to Dis,
and sings “Delos,”—pays it from motives of devotion.
LAMENTATIO URBIS NORVICEN.
In 1507, the city of Norwich was “almost utterly defaced” by two dreadful
fires: the first broke out on 25th April, and lasted for four days;
the second began 4th June, and continued for two days and a night. See
Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, ii. 131. ed. fol.
IN BEDEL, &C.
Page 175.
_Mortuus est asinus,_
_Qui pinxit mulum_]
“_Mulum de asino pingere_, Dici potest, quando exemplar et res efficta
non multum inter se distant; vel quando ineptiæ ineptiis repræsentantur,
vel mendacia mendaciis astruuntur. Magna similitudo inter asinum et mulum
est. Tertullianus. [_Adv. Valent._ cap. xix.].” Erasmi _Adagia_, p. 1663.
ed. 1606.
EPITAPHIUM IN HENRICUM SEPTIMUM.
Page 178. Henry the Seventh died April 21st, 1509, in the 24th year of
his reign (see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Chron. of Hist._ pp. 333, 350. sec.
ed.), and in the 52d (according to some authorities, the 53d) year of his
age; and was interred in the splendid chapel which bears his name.
“Here lieth buried in one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe, both for
the Chappell, and for the Sepulchre, the body of Henry the seuenth....
This glorious rich Tombe is compassed about with verses, penned by that
Poet Laureat (as he stiles himselfe) and Kings Orator, Iohn Skelton: I
will take onely the shortest of his Epitaphs or Eulogiums, and most to
the purpose.
Septimus hic situs est Henricus, gloria Regum
Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt,
Ingenio atque opibus gestarum et nomine rerum,
Accessere quibus nature dona benigne:
Frontis honos, facies augusta, heroica forma,
Junctaque ei suauis coniux, perpulchra, pudica,
Et fecunda fuit: felices prole parentes,
Henricum quibus octauum terra Anglia debes.”
Weever’s _Anc. Fun. Mon._, p. 476. ed. 1631.
But the above lines are not in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_; nor
are they assigned to him in _Reges, Reginæ, Nobiles, et alii in Ecclesia
Collegiata B. Petri Westmonasterii sepulti_, &c. 1603,—where they occur,
sig. D.
—— _ad sinceram contemplationem reverendi in Christo patris ac domini,
domini Johannis Islippæ abbatis Westmonasteriensis_] So Skelton again in
his _Replycacion_, &c. “ad cujus auspicatissimam _contemplationem_, sub
memorabili prelo gloriosæ immortalitatis, præsens pagella felicitatur,
&c.” vol. i. 206; and in his _Garlande of Laurell_,—
“Of my ladys grace _at the contemplacyoun_,
Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose,
Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrinacioun,
He dyd translate,” &c.
v. 1219. vol. i. 410.
Compare also Hollinshed; “_At the contemplation_ of this cardinall, the
king lent to the emperour a great summe of monie.” _Chron._ (Hen. viii.)
vol. iii. 839. ed. 1587. Concerning the Abbot Islip, see _Account of
Skelton and his Writings_.
Page 179. v. 19. _sua_] Used for _ejus_.
—— _Leo candidior Rubeum necat ense Leonem_] _Leo candidior_, i. e. the
Earl of Surrey, whose badge was a White Lion: _Rubeum Leonem_, i. e. King
James the Fourth, slain at Flodden, who bore the royal arms of Scotland,
a Red Lion. See note on the poem _Against the Scottes_, p. 220. v. 135.
TETRASTICHON VERITATIS.
Page 181. v. 1. _cuprum_] i. e. _cupreum_. “The Tomb itself [principally
of black marble], with the metal statues which lie upon it, and the
beautiful casts in _alto-relievo_ [of copper gilt], which ornament the
sides, were executed by the celebrated Italian artist Pietro Torrigiano
... for the sum of 1500_l._ Its surrounding Screen, or ‘Closure’ [of
gilt brass and copper], which is altogether in a different style of
workmanship, though almost equally curious, was, most probably, both
designed and wrought by English artizans.” Neale’s _Account of Henry the
Seventh’s Chapel_, pp. 54, 59.
AGAINST THE SCOTTES.
The battle of Flodden, one of the most disastrous events in Scottish
history, has been rendered so familiar to readers of our own day by the
poem of _Marmion_, that a particular account of it here is unnecessary.
It took place on September 9th, 1513. The English army was commanded by
the Earl of Surrey [created Duke of Norfolk the February following]; the
Scottish by their rash and gallant monarch James the Fourth, who perished
in the field amid heaps of his slaughtered nobles and gentlemen.
Page 182. v. 2. _tratlynge_] i. e. prattling, idle talk.
v. 5. _Lo, these fonde sottes, &c._]—_fonde_, i. e. foolish. This
passage resembles a rhyme made in reproach of the Scots in the reign of
Edward the First:
“These scaterand Scottes
Holde we for sottes,” &c.
Fabyan’s _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 140. ed. 1559.
Page 182. v. 11. _Branxton more_] i. e. Brankston Moor.
v. 12. _stowre_] Means generally—hardy, stout; here perhaps it is
equivalent to—obstinate: but in Palsgrave we find “_Stowre_ of
conversation _estourdy_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xcvi.
(Table of Adiect.).
v. 22. _closed in led_] The body of James, disfigured with wounds,
was found the day after the battle; it was carried to Berwick, and
ultimately interred in the priory of Shene: see Weaver’s _Anc. Fun.
Mon._, p. 394. ed. 1631. After the dissolution of that house, according
to Stow’s account, the body, enclosed in lead, was thrown into one of
the lumber-rooms; and the head, which some workmen hewed off “for their
foolish pleasure,” was brought to London and buried in St. Michael’s
Church, Wood Street: _Survey_, B. iii. 81. ed. 1720.
Page 183. v. 26. _byllys_] i. e. bills,—a sort of beaked
pikes,—battle-axes.
v. 30. _Folys and sottys_] i. e. Fools and sots.
v. 32. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.
v. 33. _To face, to brace_] So Borde in his _Boke of knowlege_ introduces
a Scotchman saying,
“I wyll boost my selfe, I wyll _crake and face_.”
Sig. G 2. reprint.
Compare our author’s _Magnyfycence_;
“Cl. Col. By God, I tell you, I wyll not be _out facyd_.
By the masse, I warant thé, I wyll not be _bracyd_.”
v. 2247. vol. i. 299.
and his _Garlande of Laurell_;
“Some _facers_, some _bracers_, some make great crackis.”
v. 189. vol. i. 369.
In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find, “He _faceth_ the matter, and maketh
great crakes. _Tragice loquitur_, et ampullosa verba proiicit.” Sig. P
iiii. ed. 1530. “He is not aferde to _face or brace_ with any man of
worshyp. Nullius viri magnitudinem _allatrare_ dubitat.” Sig. O ii. And
in Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, “I _face_ as one dothe
that brauleth or falleth out with a nother to make hym a frayde, _Ie
contrefays des mines_ ... I dare nat passe by his dore he _faceth and
braceth_ me so: ... _il contrefait tellement des mines_.” fol. ccxxx.
(Table of Verbes). “I _Brace_ or _face_, _Ie braggue_. He _braced_ and
made _a bracyng_ here afore the dore as thoughe he wolde haue kylled....
_Il braggoyt_,” &c. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes).
Page 183. v. 36. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse, wrangling.
v. 41. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 51. _sumner_] i. e. summoner (it generally meant what we now call
apparitor).
v. 52. _greyth_] i. e. agreeth, suiteth.
v. 53. _Our kynge of Englande for to syght_]—_syght_, i. e. cite. While
Henry viii. was encamped before Terouenne, James iv. sent his chief
herald to him, with a letter (which may be found in Hall’s _Chron._
(_Hen. viii._), fol. xxix. ed. 1548), reckoning up the various injuries
and insults he had received from Henry, and containing what amounted
to a declaration of war, unless the English monarch should desist from
hostilities against the French king.
Page 184. v. 57. _kynge Koppynge_] Compare the _Coliphizacio_, where
Cayphas exclaims—
“Therfor I shalle the name that ever shalle rew the,
_Kyng Copyn_ in oure game,” &c.
_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 194,—
the Glossary informing us that “A coppin is a certain quantity of worsted
yarn wound on a spindle, and the spindle then extracted,”—which may be
true, though it does not explain the passage. Some game must be alluded
to.
v. 59. _Hob Lobbyn of Lowdean_] So again our author in _Speke, Parrot_;
“_Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon_ wald haue e byt of bred.”
v. 74. vol. ii. 5.
Perhaps there is an allusion to some song or ballad: _Lowdean_ is, I
apprehend, Lothian.
v. 60. _what good ye can_] See note, p. 190. v. 23.
v. 61. _Locrian_] i. e. Loch Ryan—a large bay in Wigtonshire, which by
approximating to the bay of Luce, forms the peninsula called the Rinns of
Galloway. It is mentioned by Barbour;
“And at _Lochriane_ in Galloway
He schippyt, with all his menye.”
_The Bruce_, B. xi. v. 36. ed. Jam.
In the poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. Skelton speaks of the
Scots
“Of _Locryan_,
And the ragged ray
Of _Galaway_.”
v. 21. vol. ii. 68.
and in his verses against Dundas, he calls him
“Dundas of _Galaway_.”
v. 29. vol. i. 193.
See too v. 109 of the present poem. Our author uses Scottish names at
random.
Page 184. v. 62. _sence_] i. e. cense.
v. 63. _Saint Ionis towne_] i. e. Perth. Compare Langtoft’s _Chronicle_,
p. 333. ed. Hearne; Minot’s _Poems_, p. 6. ed. Ritson; and Barbour’s
_Bruce_, B. ii. v. 53. ed. Jam. It is said that the Picts, after their
conversion to Christianity, or the Scots, after their king had succeeded
to the Pictish throne, consecrated the church and bridge of Perth to St.
John the Baptist; and that hence in process of time many persons gave to
the town the name of St. Johnston: see Jamieson’s note on the passage
last referred to.
v. 72. _tragedy_] See note, p. 194. v. 155.
v. 79. _enbybe_] i. e. wet.
v. 83. _Irysh keteringes_]—_Irysh_, i. e. Highlanders and Islesmen:
“Than gert he all the _Irschery_
That war in till his cumpany,
_Off Arghile, and the Ilis alsua_,” &c.
Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. xiii. v. 233. ed. Jam.
—_keteringes_ (see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v.
_Cateranes_), i. e. marauders who carried off cattle, corn, &c.
Page 185. v. 86. _armony_] i. e. harmony.
v. 89. _me adres_] i. e. apply myself.
v. 90. _proces_] i. e. story; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969.
p. 194. v. 157. p. 211. v. 231.
v. 91. _Jocky my jo_] Perhaps a fragment of some song or ballad. In
Scotch, _Jocky_ is the diminutive of _Jock_, the abbreviation of _John_:
_jo_ is sweetheart, dear, (_joy_.)
v. 92. _summond_] See note on v. 53, preceding page.
v. 97. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 98. _harrold_] i. e. herald: see note on v. 53.
v. 100. _pye_] i. e. magpie.
v. 101. _Syr skyrgalyard_] So again our author in his _Speke, Parrot_;
“With, _skyregalyard_, prowde palyard, vaunteperler, ye prate.”
v. 427. vol. ii. 21.
and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;
“Suche a _skyrgaliarde_.”
v. 168. vol. ii. 73.
“William Johnstone of Wamphray, called the _Galliard_, was a noted
freebooter.... His _nom de guerre_ seems to have been derived from the
dance called _The Galliard_. The word is still used in Scotland to
express an active, gay, dissipated character.” Scott’s _Minst. of the
Scott. Bord._ i. 305. ed. 1810. To _skir_ (under which Richardson in
his _Dict._ cites Skelton’s term “a skyrgaliarde”) is to scour, to move
rapidly.
Page 185. v. 101. _skyt_] i. e. hasty, precipitate.
v. 103. _layd_] “I _Laye_ for me or alledge to make my mater good.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxxv. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 104. _not worth a fly_] A common expression in our early poetry;
“The goos saide then al this _nys worth a file_.”
Chaucer’s _Ass. of Foules_,—_Workes_, fol. 235. ed. 1602.
v. 106. _brother_] James married Margaret sister of Henry the Eighth.
v. 109. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
—— _Syr Scot of Galawey_] See note on v. 61. p. 217.
v. 110. _fall_] i. e. fallen.
v. 111. _Male vryd_] i. e. ill-fortuned (Fr. _malheur_).
Page 186. v. 117. _Scipione_] i. e. Scipio.
v. 119. _Thoughe ye vntruly your father haue slayne_] James iii. was
slain by a ruffian whose name is not certainly known, under circumstances
of great atrocity, in 1488, in a miller’s cottage, immediately after his
flight from the battle of Sauchie-burn, where his son (then in his 17th
year) had appeared in arms against him. The mind of James iv. was haunted
by remorse for his father’s death; and he wore in penance an iron girdle,
the weight of which he every year increased.
v. 121. _Dunde, Dunbar_] Scottish names used at random: so again in our
author’s verses against Dundas, “_Dunde, Dunbar_,” v. 60. vol. i. 194;
and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. “_Dunbar, Dunde_,”
v. 24. vol. ii. 68.
v. 122. _Pardy_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 124. _shent_] i. e. destroyed, brought to disgrace or punishment.
v. 128. _checkmate_] See note, p. 96. v. 29.
v. 129. _the castell of Norram_] In taking the Castle of Norham, James
wasted some days, previous to the battle of Flodden, while he ought to
have employed his forces in more important enterprises.
v. 130. _to sone_] i. e. too soon.
v. 132. _bylles_] See note on v. 26. p. 216.
v. 133. _Agaynst you gaue so sharpe a shower_] _Shower_ is often applied
by our old writers to the storm, assault, encounter of battle:
“The _sharpe shoures_ and the cruel rage
Abyde fully of this mortall werre.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. Y iiii. ed. 1555.
“He was slawe yn _sharpe showre_.”
_Kyng Roberd of Cysylle_,—_MS. Harl._ 1701. fol. 94.
and see our author’s poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 240.
vol. ii. 75.
Page 186. v. 135.
_The Whyte Lyon, there rampaunt of moode,_
_He ragyd and rent out your hart bloode;_
_He the Whyte, and ye the Red_]
The White Lion was the badge of the Earl of Surrey, derived from his
ancestors the Mowbrays. His arms were Gules, on a bend between six cross
croslets, fitchy, argent: after the battle of Flodden, the king granted
to him “an honourable augmentation of his arms, to bear _on the bend
thereof_: _in an escutcheon Or, a demi Lion rampant, pierced through the
mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure flory and counterflory
Gules_; which tressure is the same as surrounds the royal arms of
Scotland.” Collins’s _Peerage_, i. 77. ed. Brydges.
“If Scotlands Coat no marke of Fame can lend,
That Lyon plac’d in our bright siluer-bend,
Which as a Trophy beautifies our shield,
Since Scottish bloud discoloured Floden-Field;
When the proud Cheuiot our braue Ensigne bare,
As a rich Jewell in a Ladies haire,
And did faire Bramstons neighbouring vallies choke
With clouds of Canons fire-disgorged smoke.”
_Epistle from H. Howard Earle of Surrey to Geraldine_,—Drayton’s
_Poems_, p. 86 [88], ed. 8vo. n. d.
“George Buchanan reporteth that the Earle of Surrey gaue for his badge
a Siluer Lion, which from Antiquitie belonged to that name, tearing in
pieces a Lion prostrate Gules; and withall, that this which hee termes
insolence, was punished in Him and his Posteritie,” &c. Drayton’s note on
the preceding passage.
—— _the Red_] The royal arms of Scotland.
v. 139. _quyt_] i. e. requited.
v. 141. _swete Sainct George, our ladies knyght_] “Our Lady’s knight” is
the common designation of St. George: so in a song written about the same
time as the present poem, _Cott. MS. Domit._ A. xviii. fol. 248; in _Sir
Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 102. Maitl. ed. &c. &c.
Page 186. v. 144. _His grace beyng out of the way_] i. e. Henry the
Eighth being in France: see note on v. 53. p. 217.
v. 148. _ye lost your sworde_] The sword and dagger, worn by James at the
battle of Flodden, are preserved in the college of Heralds. An engraving
of them is prefixed to Weber’s ed. of the poem, _Flodden Field_.
Page 187. v. 149. _buskyd_] i. e. hied.
—— _Huntley bankys_] So again in our author’s verses against Dundas;
“That prates and prankes
On _Huntley bankes_.”
v. 57. vol. i. 194.
and in his _Why come ye not to Courte_;
“They [the Scottes] play their olde pranckes
After _Huntley bankes_.”
v. 263. vol. ii. 35.
and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;
“Of the Scottes ranke
Of _Huntley banke_.”
v. 18. vol. ii. 68.
Here again Skelton uses a Scottish name at random. The _Huntly-bank_,
where, according to the charming old poem, Thomas the Rhymer met the
Queen of Faery, is situated on one of the Eldoun hills.
v. 153.
_Of the kyng of Nauerne ye might take heed,_
_Vngraciously how he doth speed:_
_In double delynge so he did dreme,_
_That he is kynge without a reme;_
_And, for example ye would none take_, &c.]
—_reme_, i. e. realm. In a letter despatched from the camp before
Terouenne, in answer to the epistle of the Scottish king (see note on v.
53. p. 217), Henry says; “And yf _the example of the kyng of Nauarre_
beynge excluded from his royalme for assistence gyuen to the Frenche kyng
cannot restrayne you from this vnnaturall dealynge, we suppose ye shall
haue lyke assistence of the sayde Frenche kynge as the kyng of Nauarre
hath nowe: _Who is a kynge withoute a realme_, &c.” Hall’s _Chron._
(_Henry viii._) fol. xxxi. ed. 1548. James, however, never received
this letter: he was slain before the herald who bore it could procure a
passage from Flanders.
v. 158. _brake_] See note, p. 168. v. 324.
v. 161. _Your beard so brym as bore at bay_]—_brym_, i. e.
fierce,—rugged, bristly. James wore “his Beerde somethynge longe.”
Lelandi _Collect._ iv. 285. ed. 1770.
v. 162. _Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay_] Lindsay of Pitscottie
informs us that when James was making preparations for his fatal
expedition against England “he had sewin great cannones out of the castle
of Edinburgh, quhilkis was called the _Sewin Sisteris_, castin be Robert
Borthik; and thrie maister gunneris, furnisched with pouder and leid
to thame at thair pleasure.” _Cron. of Scotl._ i. 266. ed. 1814. These
canons were named _Sisters_ because they were all of the same great size
and fine fabric. Concerning Borthwick, master of the artillery to James,
the following mention is made by Lesley: “Rex amplo stipendio Robertum
Borthuik, insignem tormenti fabricandi artificem donauit, vt tormenta
bellica maiora in arce Edinburgensi aliquamdiu conflaret: quorum permulta
hodie in Scotia reperiuntur, hoc versu incisa:
“Machina sum Scoto Borthuik fabricata Roberto.”
_De or. mor. et reb. gest. Scot._ p. 353. ed. 1578.
Page 187. v. 169. _The Popes curse gaue you that clap_]—_clap_, i.
e. stroke. James died under a recent sentence of excommunication for
infringing the pacification with England.
v. 170. _Of the out yles the roughe foted Scottes_] i. e. the
rough-footed Scots of the Hebrides: the epithet _rough-footed_ was given
to them, because they wore, during the frost, a rude sort of shoe, made
of undressed deer-skin, with the hairy side outwards; see MS. quoted in
Pinkerton’s _Hist. of Scotland_, ii. 397.
v. 171. _the bottes_] i. e. the worms.
v. 172. _dronken dranes_]—_dranes_, i. e. drones. The Editor of Skelton’s
_Workes_, 1736, printed “_dronken_ Danes;” and Weber (_Flodden Field_, p.
276) proposes the same alteration; but though the Danes (as the readers
of our early dramatists know) were notorious for deep potations, the
text is right. Our author has again, in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of
Albany_, &c.;
“We set nat a prane
By suche a _dronken drane_.”
v. 163. vol. ii. 72.
“_Drane._ Fucus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. And compare _Pierce Plowman’s
Crede_;
“And right as _dranes_ doth nought but _drinketh_ vp the huny.”
Sig. D i. ed. 1561.
v. 175. _sumner_] See note on v. 51. p. 217.
Page 188. v. 177. _to_] i. e. too.
_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.
_per desertum Sin_] “Profectique sunt de Elim, et venit omnis multitudo
filiorum Israel in _desertum Sin_, quod est inter Elim et Sinai,” &c.
_Exod._ xvi. l. (_Vulgate_).
VNTO DIUERS PEOPLE THAT REMORD THIS RYMYNGE, &c.
Page 188. _remord_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 7. _makynge_] i. e. composing, composition.
v. 8. _Their males therat shakynge_]—_males_, i. e. bags, wallets:
compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“I purpose to _shake oute_
All my _connyng bagge_.”
v. 50. vol. i. 313.
v. 14. _brother_] See note, p. 219. v. 106.
Page 189. v. 21. _pyketh mood_] i. e. grows angry, picks a quarrel.
v. 26. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant, false (the idea of _cowardice_ is
certainly not implied here).
v. 30. _died excomunycate_] See note, p. 222. v. 169.
v. 37. _ouerthwartes_] i. e. cross, perverse objections, cavils.
CHORUS DE DIS, &c.
_Dis_] Of which Skelton was rector; see _Account of his Life and
Writings_.
Page 190. vv. 17, 18. _Leo Candidus ... Leo tu Rubeus_] See note, p. 220.
v. 135.
CHORUS DE DIS, &c. SUPER TRIUMPHALI VICTORIA CONTRA GALLOS, &c.
These verses (placed immediately after the poems on the Battle of
Flodden, in the eds.) relate to an event which happened about the same
period. Henry viii. having in person invaded France, in conjunction with
the Emperor Maximilian, they proceeded to the siege of Terouenne. An
attempt on the part of Louis to relieve the town occasioned the Battle of
the Spurs, August 16, 1513, in which the Duke of Longueville, Clermont,
&c. were made prisoners. Terouenne surrendered to Henry on the 22d of
that month, and its defences were razed to the ground on the 27th. In
these dates I follow Lingard.
Page 191. v. 13. _Gloria Cappadocis, divæ milesque Mariæ_] i. e. St.
George, whom our author has before termed “our Ladies knyght,” see note,
p. 220. v. 141. During this war, the Emperor, to flatter Henry’s vanity,
wore his badge of the red rose, assumed the cross of St. George, and
accepted a hundred crowns daily as the soldier of the English king.
VILITISSIMUS SCOTUS DUNDAS, &c.
“Georgius Dundas, Græce Latineque doctissimus habitus, Equitum
Hierosolymitanorum intra Regnum Scotiæ præfectus, sed prius Aberdoniæ
Professor. Scripsit diligenter, et laboriose. _Historiam Equitum
Hierosolymitanorum_, lib. ii. Claruit anno MDXX.” Dempsteri _Hist.
Eccles. Gentis Scotorum_, &c. 1627, p. 234. This George Dundas was, I
apprehend, the person who excited the wrath of Skelton.
Page 192. v. 1.
_Anglicus a tergo_
_caudam gerit_, &c.]
These three hexameters are, it would seem, the composition of Dundas.
“After this saynt austyn entryd in to dorsetshyre, and came in to a towne
where as were wycked peple & refused his doctryne and prechyng vtterly
& droof hym out of the towne castyng on hym the tayles of thornback or
like fisshes, wherfore he besought almyghty god to shewe his jugement on
them, and god sente to them a shameful token, for the chyldren that were
borne after in that place had tayles as it is sayd, tyl they had repented
them. It is sayd comynly that thys fyl at strode in kente, but blessyd be
god at this day is no suche deformyte.” _The lyf of saynt Austyn,—Golden
Legende_, fol. clxxiiii. ed. 1483. See too _Nova Legenda Anglie_ (by
Capgrave), 1516. fol. xxx.
“_Anglos quosdam caudatos esse._
Svspicabar quod de Anglorum caudis traditur, nugatorium esse, nec
hoc meminissem loco, nisi ipsi Anglicarum rerum conditores id serio
traderent: nasci videlicet homines, instar brutorum animalium caudatos
apud Strodum Angliæ vicum, ad ripam fluuii Meduciæ, qui Roffensem, siue
Rocestrensem agrum alluit. Narrantque eius vici incolas, iumento quod
D. Thomas Canthuariensis episcopus insideret, per ludibrium caudam
amputasse, ob idque diuina vltione adnatas incolis eius loci caudas: vt
in hos fatidici regis carmen torqueri possit: Percussit eos (inquit) in
posteriora eorum, opprobrium sempiternum dedit illis. De huiusmodi caudis
quidam in hunc modum lusit:
Fertur equo Thomæ caudam obtruncasse Britannos,
Hinc Anglos caudas constat hubere breueis.”
_Anglicæ Descriptionis compendium, Per Gulielmum Paradinum
Cuyselliensem_, 1545. p. 69.
On the proverbial expression _Kentish Long-Tailes_, Fuller has the
following remarks. “Let me premise, that those are much mistaken who
first found this Proverb on a Miracle of Austin the Monk.... I say
they are much mistaken, for the Scæne of this Lying Wonder was not
laied in any Part of Kent, but pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in
Dorsetshire. To come closer to the sence of this Proverb, I conceive it
first of outlandish extraction, and cast by forraigners as a note of
disgrace on all the English, though it chanceth to stick only on the
Kentish at this Day. For when there happened in Palestine a difference
betwixt Robert brother of Saint Lewis King of France and our William
Longspee Earle of Salisbury, heare how the French-man insulted over our
nation:
Matthew Paris. Anno Dom. 1250. pag. 790.
O timidorum caudatorum formidolositas! quam beatus, quam mundus
præsens foret exercitus, si a caudis purgaretur et caudatis.
O the cowardliness of these fearful Long-tails! How happie, how
cleane would this our armie be, were it but purged from tails
and Long-tailes.
That the English were nicked by this speech appears by the reply of the
Earle of Salisbury following still the metaphor; The son of my father
shall presse thither to day, whither you shall not dare to approach his
horse taile. Some will have the English so called from wearing a pouch
or poake, (a bag to carry their baggage in) behind their backs, whilest
probably the proud Monsieurs had their Lacquies for that purpose. In
proof whereof they produce ancient pictures of the English Drapery and
Armory, wherein such conveyances doe appear. If so, it was neither sin
nor shame for the common sort of people to carry their own necessaries,
and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side, or
wholly behinde. If any demand how this nick-name (cut off from the rest
of England) continues still entaild on Kent? The best conjecture is,
because that county lieth nearest to France, and the French are beheld as
the first founders of this aspersion. But if any will have the Kentish
so called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them, which
afterwards they advanced above their heads and so partly cozened partly
threatned King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes,
I say, if any will impute it to this original, I will not oppose.”
_Worthies_ (_Kent_, p. 63), ed. 1662. The preceding passage of Fuller,
somewhat abridged, is copied by Ray into his _Proverbs_, p. 245. ed.
1768. For fanciful stories concerning the origin of Kentish long-tails,
see also _Cornv-copiæ, Pasquils Night-cap_, 1612, (attributed to S.
Rowlands), p. 42. sqq.; and the commencement of _Robin Good-fellow, His
mad Prankes and Merry Jests_, 1628, (a tract which originally appeared at
an earlier date).
Page 193. v. 1. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
v. 23. _Agayn_] i. e. Against.
v. 26. _dur_] i. e. door.
v. 28. _Go shake thy dog, hey_] In our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 306.
vol. i. 235, is,—
“_Go, shake the dogge, hay_, syth ye wyll nedys.”
and had the expression occurred only in these two passages of Skelton, I
should have felt confident that in the present one “thy” was a misprint
for “the,” and that both were to be explained—“Go shake thee, dog,” &c.;
but again, in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 159. vol.
ii. 72, we find,
“Twyt, Scot, _shake thy dogge, hay_!”
Page 194. v. 34. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 37. _A spectacle case, &c._] See note, p. 193. v. 133.
v. 40. _A tolman to blot_] A friend queries “tal man?” but _tolman_ is, I
believe, pen-man: compare our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_;
“Had ye gonne with me to scole,
And occupyed no better your _tole_ [i. e. pen],” &c.
v. 117. vol. i. 123.
also the commencement of the present piece,—
“Gup, Scot,
Ye _blot_.”
v. 41. _rough foted_] See note, p. 222. v. 170.
v. 43. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 44. _reame_] i. e. realm.
v. 56. _rankis_] i. e., perhaps, wrangles.
v. 58. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 60. _Dunde, Dunbar_] See note, p. 219. v. 121.
v. 63. _to far_] i. e. too far.
ELEGIA IN COMITISSAM DE DERBY.
This illustrious and excellent lady, born in 1441, was Margaret, the only
child of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Her first husband was Edmund,
Earl of Richmond, who died in 1456, a little more than a year after
their marriage, the sole issue of which was Henry, afterwards King Henry
the Seventh. Her second husband was Sir Henry Stafford, second son of
Humphrey, the great Duke of Buckingham. Her third husband was Thomas Lord
Stanley, afterwards the first Earl of Derby of his name. Having survived
him, as also her son King Henry, she died June 29, 1509, in her 69th
year, and was buried in the magnificent chapel then lately erected in
Westminster Abbey.
Page 195. v. 5. _polyandro_] _Polyandrum_ or _polyandrium_, (properly,
_multorum commune sepulchrum_—πολυάνδριον)—“Interdum et sæpius apud
ævi inferioris scriptores sumitur pro monumento aut sepulcro unius
hominis.” Du Cange’s _Gloss_.—Here it means, of course, the tomb of Henry
vii.—Whiting has anglicised the word in a poem appended to his _Albino
and Bellama_, 1638;
“King Ethelbert’s clos’d in his _Poliander_.”
Sig. H 7.
v. 7. _Titus hanc, &c._] i. e. Livy, who gives an account of Tanaquil,
wife of Tarquinius Priscus: see his _Hist._ i. 34, &c.—“Tanaquilem
Sidonius Apollinaris et Ausonius pro egregia uxore.” Cassellii _Var._
lib. i. c. xiii. p. 210 (Gruteri _Lampas_, iii.).
v. 19. _Abyron_] i. e. Abiram: see _Numbers_, ch. xvi.
Page 196. v. 25. _perituræ parcere chartæ_] Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 18.
—— _phagolœdoros_] i. e. (φαγολοιδόρους) _convicia et maledicta
devorantes_.
WHY WERE YE CALLIOPE, &c.
_were_, i. e. wear: concerning this dress, worn, it would seem, by
Skelton as Laureat, see _Account of his Life and Writings_.
Page 197. v. 16. _somdele sere_] i. e. somewhat dry, withered.
v. 17. _fayne_] i. e. glad, willing.
THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.
This piece is a paraphrase of three portions of Brant’s _Ship of Fools_:
see the Latin version by Locher, _Stultifera Nauis_, ed. 1497,—_Vxorem
ducere propter opes_, fol. lx., _De livore et inuidia_, fol. lxi., and
_De voluptate corporali_, fol. lviii.: the same sections will be found
accompanying Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, ed. 1570,—fol. 95, fol. 97, and
fol. 92.
Page 199. v. 3. _lygnage femynatyfe_] i. e. lineage feminine.
v. 9. _sythe_] i. e. since.
Page 200. l. 1. _boke_] i. e. book.
l. 2. _iyen_] i. e. eyes.
—— _loke_] i. e. look.
l. 3. _folysh_] i. e. foolish.
l. 4. _Pecunyous_] i. e. Money-loving.
—— _bee_] i. e. by.
l. 5. _wyddred_] i. e. withered.
l. 6. _nobles_] i. e. the gold coins so called.
l. 8. _habandoneth_] i. e. abandoneth.
Page 200. l. 9. _for to gather togyther the donge ... grese_] In the
Latin of Locher;
“Aruinam multi quærunt sub podice asselli:
Et cumulant trullas: stercora vana petunt.”
fol. lx. ed. 1497.
l. 18. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
l. 20. _debylyte_] i. e. debilitated.
l. 21. _vnpropyce_] i. e. unpropitious.
l. 23. _esperaunce_] i. e. hope, expectation.
—— _lygnage_] i. e. lineage.
l. 25. _demoraunce_] i. e. abiding.
l. 26. _leseth_] i. e. loseth.
l. 29. _hert_] i. e. heart.
l. 32. _cure_] i. e. care.
Page 201. l. 15. _conninge_] i. e. knowledge, learning, attainments.
l. 20. _whereas_] i. e. where.
l. 22. _pore_] i. e. poor.
l. 23. _corrompeth_] i. e. corrupteth,—destroyeth.
l. 30. _defende_] i. e. forbid.
Page 202. l. 3. _condycions_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
l. 4. _dyssypers_] i. e., I suppose, disperser.
l. 5. _brennest_] i. e. inflamest.
l. 6. _sleeth_] i. e. slayeth, (slayest).
l. 7. _traueyleth_] i. e. causeth travail (trouble) to.
l. 15. _reclaymeth_] i. e. proclaimeth.
l. 16. _courage_] i. e. heart, mind, disposition.
l. 17. _adnychell_] i. e. annihilate.
l. 22. _flambe_] i. e. flame.
l. 24. _where as_] i. e. where.
l. 25. _odyfferaunt_] i. e. odoriferous.
l. 27. _tho_] i. e. those.
l. 29. _dissolate_] i. e. dissolute.
Page 203. l. 6. _glauca_] Properly, I believe, _glaucus_.
—— _eyen beholdinge a trauers_] i. e., I suppose, eyes looking askance.
l. 7. _syntillously_] i. e. so as to emit sparks.
l. 14. _were delybered_] i. e. were advised, were minded.
l. 16. _domage_] i. e. damage, loss.
l. 20. _brenneth_] i. e. burneth.
l. 21. _edefyed_] i. e. built.
l. 24. _egally_] i. e. equally, justly.
l. 28. _incontinente_] i. e. immediately.
Page 203. l. 29. _Cayme_] i. e. Cain. So formerly the name was often
written:
“He was of _Kaymes_ kunrede.”
_Kyng Alisaunder_,—Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 84.
l. 32. _Thesius_] Should of course be _Thyestes_, as in Locher’s Latin:
yet Barclay in his version of the passage has,
“Atreus storye and _Theseus_ cruel.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 96 [99], ed. 1570.
Page 204. l. 4. _rested_] i. e. roasted.
—— _theim_] i. e., perhaps, (if it be not a misprint for “_him_”) the
guests: but the whole passage is scarcely intelligible.
l. 6. _Ethiocles_] So written in Locher’s Latin for Eteocles; and so
Lydgate,—
“But make youre myrroure of _Ethyocles_.”
_Storye of Thebes, Pars Prima_, sig. C v. ed. 4to. n. d.
l. 12. _collacion_] Equivalent here, I believe, to comparison.
l. 17. _cautellous_] i. e. crafty, wily.
l. 25. _pill_] i. e. strip.
l. 26. _mondayne_] i. e. worldly, gross.
l. 27. _cheseth_] i. e. chooseth.
Page 205. l. 7. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
l. 8. _lenger_] i. e. longer.
l. 17. _sith_] i. e. since.
l. 18. _asprely_] i. e. roughly, severely.
—— _enforce_] i. e. exert.
A REPLYCACION, &c.
Concerning the “yong scolers” against whom this piece was composed, I can
give no information.
Page 206. l. 9. _contemplationem_] See note, p. 214, title of Epitaph.
Page 207. l. 4. _remordyng_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
—— _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.
l. 5. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
l. 25. _enbolned_] i. e. swollen, puffed up.
l. 26. _pipplyng_] i. e. piping: compare our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_, v. 676. vol. i. 388.
l. 29. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable.
Page 208. l. 1. _sped_] i. e. versed.
l. 2. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 8.
—— _in the Uyntre_
_At the Thre Cranes_]
Here the tavern with the sign of the Three Cranes is meant: the _three
cranes_ were originally three strong cranes of timber, placed on the
Vintry-wharf, for lifting from the ships the vessels of foreign wine
which were landed there.
Page 208. v. 16. _enflamed_] i. e. burned.
last l. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.
—— _processe_] i. e. treatise; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969.
p. 195. v. 157; and compare v. 160 of this piece with the heading before
v. 343, where “_matter_” and “_processe_” are used as synonymous.
Page 209. l. 5. _tetrycall_] i. e. sour, sullen, gloomy.
l. 6. _friscaioly_] So in the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“Synge _frysha Joly_ with hey troly loly.”
Sig. B ii.
l. 7. _moche better bayned than brayned_] Does _bayned_ here mean—boned?
In (at least Scottish) poetry we frequently find the expression “_bayne_
[bone] and brayne:” see, for instance, Henry’s _Wallace_, B. vii. v. 596.
ed. Jam.
l. 9. _burblyng_] “I _Burbyll_ or spring vp as water dothe out of a
spring.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxix.
(Table of Verbes).
“And playd with _burbels_ of the water.”
_Marie Maudelein_, p. 239,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Cathol._ (from the
Auchinleck MS.)
“The _burbly_ wawes in vp boyling.”
Lydgate’s _Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147,—
where a word has dropt out of the line. (The ed. reprinted for the
Roxburgh Club has—
“The _burbill_ wawes in their vp boyllyng.”)
—— _blode_] i. e. blood.
l. 11. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
l. 15. _perihermeniall principles_] i. e. principles of interpretation.
“_Periermeniæ_, Interpretationes; vox Græcæ originis περὶ ἑρμηνείας.” Du
Cange’s _Gloss._
l. 17. _leudly_] i. e. ignorantly—or perhaps, wickedly.
l. 23. _surcudant_] i. e. presumptuous, arrogant.
l. 24. _popholy_] Occurs again several times in our author’s writings,
and with the more correct spelling,—_popeholy_. In _Pierce Plowman_ we
find,
“And none so singuler by him selfe, nor so _pope holy_.”
Sig. T ii. ed. 1561.
In Chaucer’s _Romaunt of the Rose_ is the following description;
“Another thing was doen their [there] write,
That seemed like an ipocrite,
And it was cleped _pope holy_,
That ilke is she that priuily
Ne spared neuer a wicked deed
When men of her taken none heed,
And maketh her outward precious,
With pale visage and piteous,
And seemeth a simple creature,” &c.
_Workes_, fol. 111. ed. 1602.
The original French of the preceding passage is,—
“Une autre imaige estoit escripte,
Qui sembloit bien estre ypocrite,
_Papelardie_ est appellée,” &c.
_Le Rom. de la Rose_, vol. i. 15. ed. 1735.
Roquefort (_Gloss. de la Langue Romaine_) cites these lines under
“_Papelardie_, papelardise: Hypocrisie, tromperie, subtilité, mauvaise
foi.” See too Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Papelardia_, _Papelardus_.
Compare also Lydgate;
“And for _popholy_ and uyce loke wel aboute.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 51.
and Barclay;
“Ouer sad or proude, disceitfull and _pope holy_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 57. ed. 1570.
and the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“For rather than I wolde vse suche foly
To pray to study or be _pope holy_
I had as lyf be ded.”
Sig. B ii.
Page 209. l. 33. _orgulyous_] i. e. proud, insolent.
Page 210. v. 22. _vnbrent_] i. e. unburnt.
v. 23. _content_] As the marginal note has _Convenio_, is it not a
misprint for “convent?”
v. 24. _leudly_] i. e. badly, wickedly.
v. 26. _disable_] i. e. disqualify, degrade, disparage: “_disablinge_
hymself in wordes, though his entent was otherwise.” Hall’s _Chron._
(Hen. _viii._) fol. lvii. ed. 1548.
v. 37. _ianglyng_] i. e. babbling, chattering,—noisy.
v. 38. _clawes_] i. e. clause.
v. 39. _poppyng dawes_] Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“_Poppynge_ folysshe _dawes_.”
v. 261. vol. ii. 35.
and v. 121 of the present piece;
“And porisshly _forthe popped_
Your sysmaticate sawes.”
“_Popping_, blabbing, like a popinjay or parrot.” _Gloss._ to _Exmoor
Scolding_: _dawes_, i. e. simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 210. v. 45. _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.
v. 48. _baudrie_] i. e. foul language: see note, p. 161. v. 90.
v. 50. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 211. v. 54. _confettred_] i. e. confederated.
v. 61. _attamed_] i. e. tamed.
v. 65. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 66. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 75. _Te he, &c._] Expressions of laughter;
“_Te he_, quod she, and clapt the window to.”
Chaucer’s _Milleres Tale_, v. 3738. ed. Tyr.
v. 76. _mo_] i. e. more.
Page 212. v. 87. _reny_] i. e. renounce, abjure.
v. 89. _brende_] i. e. burnt.
v. 92. _discured_] i. e. discovered.
v. 95.
_Ye are vnhappely vred._
_In your dialeticall, &c._]
The old (and unique) copy is without punctuation in this passage; but
that the first line closes the sense, and that Skelton did not mean that
these heretics were _unhappely ured in their dialectical_, &c. would
appear from a comparison of other passages:
“Agaynst these heretykes,
Nowe of late abiured,
Most _vnhappely vred_:
For be ye wele assured,” &c.
v. 403 of the present piece.
“But men nowe a dayes so _vnhappely be vryd_,
That nothynge than welth may worse be enduryd.”
_Magnyfycence_, v. 6. vol. i. 226.
“O Scottes pariured,
_Vnhaply vred_,
Ye may be assured,” &c.
_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 125. vol. ii. 71.
In our author’s _Colyn Cloute_ we find,
“Wherfore he hath good _vre_,” &c.
v. 1003. vol. i. 350.
in the note on which line I have cited various examples of _vre_ in the
sense of—hap, luck; and in his poem _Against the Scottes_,
“_Male vryd_ was your fals entent,”
v. 111. vol. i. 185.
which surely means—Ill-fortuned, &c. (Fr. _malheur_). Is _vnhappely
vred_ to be considered as nearly synonymous with _male vryd_, or is it to
be explained,—unhappily (evilly) _used_, practised, habituated?
Page 212. v. 98.
_If ye to remembrance call_
_Howe syllogisari_
_Non est ex particulari,_
_Neque negativis,_
_Recte concludere si vis_]
“_Nullus syllogismus categoricus communis, vel ex solis particularibus,
vel ex solis negativis constare potest._ Hanc [regulam] expresse tradit
Aristoteles libro primo Prior. capite 24. numero primo. Hinc metrum hoc
natum:
Ex _particulari_ non est syllogizari,
Neque _negativis_, recte concludere si vis.”
Crakanthorp’s _Logicæ Libri Quinque_, 1622. p. 279.
v. 107. _Your hertes than were hosed_] i. e. Your hearts were in your
hose (breeches): so again our author in his _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“Their _hertes be in thyr_ hose.”
v. 286. vol. ii. 35.
See too Ray’s _Proverbs_, (Scottish), p. 292. ed. 1768.
v. 113. _quosshons_] i. e. cushions.
v. 115. _Harpocrates_] The God of Silence.
Page 213. v. 120. _folysshly_] i. e. foolishly.
—— _fopped_] A singular example of the word as a verb.
v. 121. _porisshly_] In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ is
“_porisshly_ pynk iyde,” v. 626. vol. i. 386 (and Palsgrave has
“_Porisshly_, as one loketh that can nat se well”); see note on the
passage: but I cannot determine the meaning of the word here.
v. 124. _dawes_] i. e. simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 126. _elenkes_] i. e. elenchs (_elenchus_—in logic).
v. 132. _prouoke and tyse_] i. e. incite and entice.
v. 143. _exhibycion_] i. e. allowance of money.
v. 144. _skoles_] i. e. schools.
v. 145. _foles_] i. e. fools.
v. 147. _founde_] i. e. maintained.
Page 214. v. 156. _brute_] i. e. saying, proverb.
v. 165. _skyes_] i. e. clouds.
v. 168. _dawns_] i. e. dance.
v. 169. _ray_] See note, p. 194. v. 170.
v. 171. _lau_] i. e. law.
v. 172. _shayle_] See note, p. 97. v. 19.
Page 214. v. 175. _babyls_] i. e. baubles.
Page 215. v. 196. _face_] i. e. face out.
v. 199. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 204. _lollardy_] i. e. heretical; see note, p. 204. v. 145.
v. 206. _predycacion_] i. e. declaration,—or preaching.
v. 207. _knowlege_] i. e. acknowledge.
v. 212. _muse_] Is properly the opening in a fence or thicket, through
which a hare or other beast of sport, is accustomed to pass: see Nares’s
_Gloss._ in v. and Moor’s _Suff. Words_, in v. _Mewse_.
v. 215.
_With blowyng out your hornes,_
...
_With chatyng and rechatyng_]
Whatever Skelton may have meant by “chatyng,”—(perhaps he uses it for
_chatting_,—in the next line we have “pratyng”),—_rechatyng_ is properly
a hunting-term, and signifies sounding the _rechate_ or _recheat_ (Fr.),
a certain set of notes blown with the horn to recal the dogs.
v. 219. _pystels_] i. e. epistles.
Page 216. v. 220. _bremely_] i. e. fiercely, roughly.
v. 234. _lydder_] i. e. bad.
v. 247. _popeholy_] See note on prose of this piece, l. 24. p. 230.
Page 217. v. 260. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 264. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
v. 267. _the people of lay fee_] i. e. the laity; as again in our
author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“_The lay fee people_ rayles.”
v. 403. (where MS. omits “fee”) vol. i. 326:
_fee_, i. e. possessions; see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant.
Tales_, Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._, and Todd’s _Johnson’s
Dict._ in v.
v. 274. _snapper_] i. e. stumble; but see note, p. 92. v. 4.
—— _werkes_] i. e. works.
v. 280. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 281. _latria_] “Le culte que nous déférons à Dieu seul, nous
l’appellons _Latrie_ [λατρεία].” _Perroniana_, p. 312. ed. 1740.
v. 285.
_But, I trowe, your selfe ye ouerse_
_What longeth to Christes humanyte._
_If ye haue reed de hyperdulia,_
_Than ye knowe what betokeneth dulia_]
—_ouerse_, i. e. overlook: _longeth_, i. e. belongeth. “L’adoration
de _Superdulie_ est celle qui se défère à la Vierge, et elle est plus
eminente pour la grace qu’elle a reçu de Dieu, plus particuliere que les
autres Saints, pour avoir porté le Fils de Dieu en ses entrailles.”
_Perroniana_, p. 71. “Aux Saints nous déférons l’honneur qu’on appelle
_Dulie_.” _Id._ p. 312. ed. 1740. “_Dulia_ [δουλεία] enim adoratio est,
quæ etiam creaturæ exhibetur, quæ duas species habet, unam quæ hominibus
indifferenter, alteram quæ soli humanitati Christi exhibetur.” Gaufridus
Abbas in Epist. ad Albinum Cardinalem,—cited by Du Cange, _Gloss._ in v.
Page 218. v. 293. _mased_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 295. _brent_] i. e. burnt.
v. 296. _bvsynesse_] i. e. trouble.
v. 297. _vyse_] i. e. advise.
v. 298. _scoles_] i. e. schools.
v. 299. _foles_] i. e. fools.
Page 219. v. 303. _replycable_] i. e. such as can be replied to.
Page 220. v. 323. _remorded_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 225. _his pystell ad Paulinum_] i. e. his Epistle _ad Paulinum
presbyterum de omnibus divinæ historiæ libris_, prefixed to the Vulgate:
the passage quoted by Skelton is also to be found in Hieronymi _Opera_,
I. 1011. ed. 1609.
—— _Serenus_] The Scholium on this name in Hieronymi _Opera_ is: “Aulus
Serenus lyricus ipse etiam fuit, et, ut Terentianus est auctor, eleganti
ac facili ingenio, et ad jocos amoresque describendos accommodato:
Martianus Capella ac Nonius sæpius ejus carmina citant.” I. 1017. ed.
1609.—See also an account of Serenus, prefixed to his extant pieces, in
Wernsdorf’s _Poetæ Latini Minores_, tom. ii.
v. 337. _armony_] i. e. harmony.
Page 221. _processe_] See note, p. 230, on last line (prose) of p. 208.
v. 359.
_For if ye sadly loke,_
_And wesely rede the Boke_
_Of Good Aduertysement,_
_With me ye must consent, &c._]
—_sadly loke_, i. e. seriously look, consider. In the _Garlande of
Laurell_ Skelton mentions, as one of his own compositions,
“Item _Good Aduysement_, that brainles doth blame.”
v. 1186. vol. i. 409.
Qy. does he allude to it here?
Page 222. v. 395. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
Page 223. v. 399. _make_] i. e. compose.
v. 405. _vnhappely vred_] See note on v. 95. p. 232.
MAGNYFYCENCE.
“That this piece was composed subsequently to the year 1515, seems
evident from the mention made in one place [v. 283] of ‘Kynge Lewes of
Fraunce’ as an example of liberality [and as dead, v. 285]; and this
could only mean Louis xii., who died in that year, as his immediate
predecessor of that name [who died in 1483] was the most niggardly of
wretches.” _MS. note by Ritson on a transcript of_ Magnyfycence.
Page 226. v. 4. _probate_] In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ mention
is made of
“Macrobius that did trete
Of Scipions dreme what was the treu _probate_.”
v. 367. vol. i. 376.
where _probate_ is proof, meaning, or, perhaps, interpretation: but in
what sense Skelton uses the word here I cannot determine, the greater
part of this speech being beyond my comprehension.
v. 5. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 6. _vnhappely be vryd_] See note, p. 232. v. 95.
v. 9. _amense_] i. e., perhaps, amends.
v. 10. _by_] i. e. buy, acquire.
v. 16. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 17. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 22. _wonnys_] i. e. dwells.
—— _and a man wolde wyt_] i. e. if a man would know.
v. 24. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
Page 227. v. 33. _Ye, to knackynge ernyst what and it preue_]—i. e. Yea,
what if it prove mocking earnest: compare the preceding line, and see
Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scott. Lang._ in v. _Knack_.
v. 35. _in the mew_] i. e. in confinement,—properly, the place in which
hawks were kept, or in which fowls were fattened: see note on _Why come
ye nat to Courte_, v. 219.
v. 36. _a cue_] Is explained (see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict_. &c.)—a
farthing, as being merely the sound of _q̄_, the abbreviation of
_quadrans_. But Minsheu has; “_Cue_, halfe a farthing, so called because
they set down in the Battling or Butterie Bookes in Oxford and Cambridge
the letter q. for halfe a farthing, and in Oxford when they make that Cue
or q. a farthing, they say, Cap my q., and make it a farthing thus qͣ.
But in Cambridge,” &c. _Guide into Tongues_, ed. 1617.
v. 37. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 227. v. 39. _condyssende_] “I _Condescende_ I agre to a mater.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cxciiii. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 44. _countenaunce_] i. e. continence, restraint.
v. 45. _let_] i. e. hinder, restrain.
v. 47. _corage_] i. e. inclination, desires.
v. 56. _parcell_] i. e. part, portion.
v. 57. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 60.
_Somwhat I coulde enferre,_
_Your consayte to debarre_]
i. e. I could bring in somewhat to hinder, contravene, your conception of
the subject. So again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“Madame, your apposelle is wele _inferrid_,
And at your auauntage quikly it is
Towchid, and hard for to be _debarrid_.”
v. 141. vol. i. 367.
Page 228. v. 65. _fet_] i. e. fetch.
v. 72. _the surpluse of my sawe_] i. e. the remainder of my saying.
v. 74. _where as_] i. e. where.
v. 80. _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 86. _wonder_] I may observe that the Roxburgh reprint, without
authority, and against the sense, has “no _wonder_.”
v. 89. _ken_] i. e. instruct.
v. 90. _wonders_] i. e. wondrous.
v. 92. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 229. v. 94. _other_] i. e. either.
v. 95.
_To you I arecte it, and cast_
_Therof the reformacyon_]
So Skelton again;
“Syth vnto me formest this processe is _erectyd_.”
v. 2507 of the present drama.
“_Arrectinge_ vnto your wyse examinacion
How all that I do is vnder refformation.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 410. vol. i. 378.
He has also,
“_Arectyng_ my syght towarde the zodyake.”
_Id._ v. 1. p. 361.
“My supplycacyon to you I _arrect_.”
_Id._ v. 55. p. 363.
_Arect_ in our early writers frequently signifies—impute, a meaning
foreign to the present passages: in the two last cited, there can be no
doubt that it is used in the sense of—raise: in the others it seems to
mean—offer, refer.
Page 229. v. 103. _Come of, therfore, let se_] Compare Chaucer;
“—— _let see, come off_, and say.”
_Court of Loue_,—_Workes_, fol. 331. ed. 1602.
and _Reynard the Fox_; “Why tarye ye thus longe, _come of_.” Sig. b 7.
ed. 1481: and _Morte d’Arthur_; “_Come of_ thenne sayd they alle, and do
hit.” Book xx. cap. iiii. vol. ii. 394. ed. Southey.
v. 106. _reason and skyll_] An expression which Skelton has elsewhere;
but the words are nearly synonymous. “_Skyll_. Racio.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499.
v. 113. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.
v. 114. _intere_] i. e. entire.
v. 115. _Oracius to recorde_] i. e. Horace to witness.
v. 117. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 126. _Measure is treasure_] Lydgate mentions this as “an olde
prouerbe:” see his verses on Moderation, _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 29, and
his poem beginning “Men wryte of oold how _mesour is tresour.” Id._ 2255.
fol. 143.
—— _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
Page 230. v. 131. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 133. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 134. _renne_] i. e. run.
v. 137. _a rest_] i. e. a wrest—by which the strings of harps and other
musical instruments were drawn up.
v. 138. _All trebyllys and tenours be rulyd by a meyne_] “Intercentus, a
_meane_ of a songe.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the
notes on Shakespeare, in Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ &c., _mean_ is wrongly
explained—tenor: what the _mean_ was, depended entirely on the nature of
the composition.
v. 139. _beste_] i. e. beast.
v. 149. _skyll_] i. e. reason: see note on v. 106.
v. 150. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 151. _It is no maystery_] “_Maystry_ done by delyuernesse _ung tovr
de souplesse, appertise_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.); and see note, p. 113. v. 329.
“So me helpe God! queth Beues tho,
_Hit were no meistri_ me to slo,
For this is the ferthe dai agon
Mete ne drinke ne bot I non.”
_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 68. Maitl. ed.
“That is _lytel maystry_ sayd syre launcelot to slee myn hors.” _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. iiii. vol. ii. 369. ed. Southey.
Page 230. v. 153. _herdely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 231. v. 166. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 175. _Conuenyent_] i. e. Fit, suitable.
—— _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 178. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming,—a word very common in our
early poetry (altered unnecessarily to “fyttynge” in the Roxburgh reprint
of this piece).
v. 182. _his large_] i. e. his range.
v. 184. _hooly_] i. e. wholly.
v. 189. _sawe_] i. e. sow.
v. 190. _nother to_] i. e. neither too.
—— _lawe_] i. e. low: so again in v. 2541, “nowe hy, nowe _lawe_ degre.”
v. 193. _consayte_] i. e. conception.
Page 232. v. 202. _losyll so lyther_] i. e. scoundrel so wicked.
v. 209. _plenarly_] i. e. fully, entirely.
v. 213. _Had I wyste_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
v. 216. _to fer_] i. e. too far.
v. 219. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 226. _mone_] i. e. moon.
v. 230. _lyghtly_] “_Lightly_ or sone [i. e. soon]. Leuiter.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499: or, easily.
Page 233. v. 231. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 233. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 234. _a poppynge fole_]—_fole_, i. e. fool. “He is a _popte fole_
or a starke fole for the nones. Homo fatuitate monstrabilis.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. P iii. ed. 1530. And see note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 239. _delyaunce_] i. e. dalliance, delay.
v. 249. _endure_] i. e. remain, dwell.
v. 256. _Here is none forsyth whether you flete or synke_]—_forsyth_, i.
e. regardeth, careth: _flete_, i. e. float, swim. So Chaucer;
“Him _recketh neuer whether she flete or sinke_.”
_Annel. and Ar._,—_Workes_, fol. 244. ed. 1602.
v. 257. _lokyd_] i. e. looked.
v. 259. _hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
Page 234. v. 260. _iangelynge Jacke of the vale_] i. e. chattering, &c.;
see note, p. 104. v. 6.
v. 266. _Mary_] i. e. by the Virgin Mary.
v. 267. _largesse_] i. e. bounty, liberality.
v. 269. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 272. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 274. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 280. _hardely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 234. v. 280. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 283. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
—— _Kynge Lewes_] i. e. King Louis the twelfth: see note on title, p. 236.
v. 285. _syth_] i. e. since.
v. 290. _Jacke shall haue Gyl_] So Heywood;
“Come chat at home, all is well, _Jack shall haue Gill_.”
_Dialogue_, sig. F 3.—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 235. v. 295. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 296. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
—— _Dauncaster cuttys_] i. e. Doncaster horses.—_Cut_ was a term for a
common horse, from its having the tail cut short.
v. 297. _bolte_] i. e. arrow (for a description of it, see Nares’s
_Gloss._ in v.).
—— _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 298. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 300. _this checke if ye voyde canne_] “_Checke_ a mery taunt.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, fol. xxiii. (Table of Subst.). “I
_Voyde_ a thyng out of the way or out of syght, _Ie oste_.” _Id._ fol.
ccclxxxxix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 301. _to longe to scole_] i. e. too long to school.
v. 302. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 303. _pole_] i. e. pool, water.
v. 304. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 306. _Go, shake the dogge, hay_] See note, p. 226. v. 28.
v. 310. _to play with me checke mate_] In allusion to the king being put
in _check_ at the game of chess.
v. 311. _your noble estate_] Equivalent to—your noble lordship.
v. 312. _recorde_] i. e. testimony.
v. 314. _Sad_] i. e. Grave, serious, sober.
v. 318. _hele_] i. e. health.
v. 319. _commaunde_] i. e. commend.
v. 321. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 322. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 323. _kepe_] i. e. heed, care, attention.
Page 236. v. 325. _after none_] i. e. afternoon.
v. 327. _Whylest_] i. e. Until.
v. 333. _mynde_] i. e. fancy.
v. 336. _beholde_] i. e. beholden.
v. 341. _By lakyn_] i. e. by our Lady: _lakyn_ is the contraction of
_ladykyn_, little lady.
v. 346. _Pountesse_] i. e. Pontoise.
Page 236. v. 347. _taken me_] i. e. committed, consigned to me.
Page 237. v. 355. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 357. _They bare me in hande that I was a spye_] i. e. They accused me,
laid to my charge, that, &c.
“This false knight, that hath this treson wrought,
_Bereth hire in hond_ that she hath don this thing.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 5039. ed. Tyr.
“I _Beare in hande_ I threp vpon a man that he hath done a dede, or
make hym byleue so, _Ie fais accroyre_” ... “What crime or yuell mayest
thou _beare me in hande of: Quel crime ou mal me peulx tu mettre sus_.”
Palgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxii. (Table of
Verbes). “Many be _borne an hande_ of a faute, and punysshed therfore,
that were neuer gylty. Plerique facinoris _insimulantur_,” &c. Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. m ii. ed. 1530. This expression occurs with a different
shade of meaning in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_,—
“_He bereth the kyng on hand_,
That he must pyll his lande,” &c.
v. 449. vol. ii. 40.
v. 362.
_And wolde haue made me Freer Tucke,_
_To preche out of the pylery hole_]
Friar Tuck was one of Robin Hood’s merry companions. Concerning these
lines Ritson remarks that there is “an evident allusion to some game or
practice now totally forgotten and inexplicable.” _Robin Hood_, i. xxvi.
v. 364. _antetyme_] i. e. text. So in the absurd story of Skelton’s
preaching, _Merie Tales_, (reprinted in Appendix to _Account of his Life
and Writings_), “I say, as I said before in my _antethem, vos estis_.”
_Tale vii_.
v. 366. _moche warke_] i. e. much work, trouble.
v. 367. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 369. _made largesse as I hyght_] i. e. made donation of money
according to my name (Fancy’s assumed name being Largesse, see v. 272).
v. 375. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate or rank.
Page 238. v. 384. _ye_] i. e. yea.
v. 385. _mesure is a mery mene_] Heywood in his _Epigrammes vpon
Prouerbs_ has ten on “Measure is a mery meane.” Sig. N iiii.,—_Workes_,
ed. 1598.
v. 388. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 391. _oder_] i. e. other.
v. 405. _blunderyng_] i. e. disturbance. “I _Blonder, Ie perturbe_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxviii. (Table of
Verbes).
Page 238. v. 406. _betake_] i. e. commit, consign.
v. 411. _to put the stone_] i. e. to throw the stone above hand, from the
uplifted hand, for trial of strength.
Page 239. v. 413. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion, manner.
v. 417. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
v. 423. _lurdayne_] i. e. lumpish, lazy fellow, clown,—worthless person
in general.
v. 425. _tappyster_] i. e. woman presiding over the tap in a public house.
v. 429. _can_] i. e. know.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 430. _occupy_] i. e. use: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
—— _kayes_] i. e. keys.
v. 433. _at all assayes_] Occurs again in v. 2303. “_At all assayes, En
tous poynts_, or _a tous poynts_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxviii. (Table of Aduerbes). “He is a frende _at
all assayes_. _Omnium horarum_ amicus est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Y
iiii. ed. 1530.
v. 435. _mekyll_] i. e. much.
v. 444. _sleyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
Page 240. v. 446. _fayty bone geyte_] Perhaps corrupted French—_fait a
bon get_ or _geste_.
v. 449. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 453. _noppe is rughe_] i. e. nap is rough.
v. 455. _chafer_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 458. _The courtly gyse of the newe iet_] A somewhat pleonastic
expression,—the courtly guise of the new fashion. “_Gette_ a custome
_guise nouuelle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
xxxvi. (Table of Subst.).
“Yit a poynte _of the new gett_ to telle wille I not blyn.”
_Juditium_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 312.
v. 460. _ferre fet_] i. e. far fetched.
v. 461. _ymet_] i. e. met.
v. 462. _Margery Mylke Ducke_] See note, p. 172. v. 418.
—— _mermoset_] A kind of ape or monkey.
v. 465. _fresshe_] i. e. smart.
v. 469. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 470. _iet_] i. e. strut; see note, p. 94. v. 43.
v. 472. _pope holy_] See note, p. 230. l. 24.
v. 473. _sadnesse_] i. e. gravity, seriousness, soberness, discreetness.
Page 240. v. 475. _not worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 477. _occupy_] i. e. use; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 478. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
Page 241. v. 482. _tehe wehe_] See note, p. 232. v. 75.
v. 485. _knokylbonyarde_] Compare Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540; “Do I
raygne here on this facion, being a swynherde amongest swyne of Boeatia.
i. amongest a meyny of iacke holde my staues, or _knockyldeboynyardes_,
beinge but of late a kynge,” &c. Sig. Y iiii.; and Heywood’s _Dialogue_,
&c.,—
“He is a _knuckilbonyard_ very meete
To match a minion neither fayre nor sweete.”
Sig. D 4.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 486. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 488. _warke_] i. e. work, business, matter.
v. 489. _yarke_] i. e. strike, lash.
v. 490. _custrell_] “_Coustrell_ that wayteth on a speare
_covsteillier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
xxvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Coustillier_: An Esquire of the body; an
Armour-bearer unto a Knight; the servant of a man at Armes; also, a groom
of a stable, a horse-keeper.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 492. _this_] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38 (and so in the next
line).
—— _freers_] i. e. friars.
—— _famine_] “_Famen_, sermo, verbum.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
v. 506. _By God, I haue bene about a praty pronge_]—_praty_, i. e.
pretty: in the present line at least, _pronge_ seems to mean—prank (Dutch
_pronk_), whatever be its signification in the following passage of our
author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“And howe at _a pronge_
We tourne ryght into wronge.”
v. 1196. vol. i. 357.
Page 242. v. 510. _pagent_] i. e. part: see notes, p. 88. v. 85; p. 189.
v. 190.
v. 512. _by lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 513. _heyre parent_] i. e. heir apparent.
v. 514. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 516. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 518. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart (_Cock_, a corruption of _God_).
v. 521. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 526. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 529. _large_] A play on the meanings of the word,—big, and liberal.
Page 242. v. 533. _cofer kay_] i. e. coffer-key.
v. 535. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note, p. 109. v. 199.
Page 243. v. 539. _alowde_] i. e. approved.
v. 554. _in same_] i. e. in the same place (a pleonasm,—since “_togyder_”
precedes).
v. 561. _Can_] i. e. Know.
v. 562. _spedde_] i. e. versed.
v. 564. _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 568. _ouerwharte_] i. e. overthwart—cross, perverse, wrangling.
v. 569. _beshrowe_] i. e. curse.
v. 571. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
Page 244. v. 573. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 575. _my botes and my spores_] i. e. my boots and my spurs.
v. 578. _Cockes woundes_] i. e. God’s wounds; see note on v. 518,
preceding page.
v. 580. _loketh_] i. e. looketh.
v. 585. _iurde hayte_] Words (French perhaps) which I do not understand.
v. 591. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 592. _a leysshe of ratches to renne an hare_] i. e. a leash
of—three—hounds to run a hare.
v. 597. _prece_] i. e. press.
Page 245. v. 609. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 625. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 628. _do togyder_] i. e. put it together.
v. 629. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 633. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
v. 635. _a captyuyte_] Is rather, I suspect, a misprint for, than used in
the sense of—_in_: compare v. 2543.
Page 246. v. 639. _the playnesse_] i. e. the plain fact.
v. 644. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 658. _a pystell of a postyke_]—_pystell_, i. e. epistle, letter; but I
do not understand the expression.
v. 659. _fonnysshe_] i. e. foolish.
v. 666. _freke_] i. e. fellow: see notes, p. 109. v. 187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 667. _peke_] “I _Peke_ or prie.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. [—xv.] (Table of Verbes).
Page 247. v. 672. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 679. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 681. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 685. _By the armes of Calys_] See note, p. 118. v. 398.
v. 687. _slyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
v. 688. _fonde consayte_] i. e. foolish conceit,—fantasies.
Page 247. v. 690. _sadnesse_] See note on v. 473. p. 242.
v. 692. _Cockys body_] i. e. God’s body: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 695. _whylyst_] i. e. until.
v. 698. _quyte_] i. e. acquit.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
Page 248. v. 707. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 713. _geste_] i. e. guest.
v. 719. _hynder_] “_Hyndringe_ or harmynge. Dampnificacio.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499. “I _Hynder_ I hurte, _Ie porte dommage_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxii. (Table of Verbes).
“Lest the reporte in _hinderyng_ of his name,” &c.
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iii. sig. Q ii. ed. 1555.
v. 720. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 722. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 730. _lacke_] i. e. blame.
v. 732. _sped_] i. e. versed.
v. 733. _lytherly_] i. e. wickedly.
v. 734. _Paynte_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
Page 249. v. 737. _fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
—— _tyned_] i. e. pointed, pronged.
v. 745. _shrewdenes_] i. e. wickedness, evil.
v. 746. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate, or rank.
v. 748. _flery_] i. e. fleer.
—— _pretence_] i. e. intent.
v. 751. _bronde_] i. e. brand.
v. 752. _mase_] i. e. bewilder, confound.
—— _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 754. _bale_] i. e. sorrow, trouble.
v. 755. _Huffa, huffa_] See note, p. 181. v. 16.
v. 756. _a_] i. e. he.
v. 757. _Rutty bully_] See note, p. 94. v. 29.
—— _ioly rutterkyn, heyda_] Occurs in a song preserved in the Fairfax MS.
which once belonged to Ralph Thoresby, and is now among the Additional
MSS. in the British Museum (5465, fol. 114):
“Hoyda _joly rutterkyn hoyda_
Lyke a rutterkyn hoyda.
Rutterkyn is com vnto oure towne
In a cloke withoute cote or gowne
Save a raggid hode to kouer his crowne
Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn can speke no englissh
His tonge rennyth all on buttyrd fyssh
Besmerde with grece abowte his disshe
Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn shall bryng you all good luk
A stoup of bere vp at a pluk
Till his brayne be as wise as a duk
Like a rutter hoyda.
When rutterkyn from borde will ryse
He will piss a galon pott full at twise
And the ouerplus vndir the table of the newe gyse
Like a rutter hoyda.”
Sir John Hawkins printed the above song (with the music) and tells us
that it “is supposed to be a satire on those drunken Flemings who came
into England with the princess Anne of Cleve, upon her marriage with
king Hen. viii.” _Hist. of Music_, iii. 2. But if it be the very song
quoted in our text, it must allude to “rutterkyns” of a considerably
earlier period; and, as the Fairfax MS. contains two other pieces which
are certainly known to be from Skelton’s pen, there is a probability that
this also was composed by him.
_Court. Ab._ in his next speech but one says, “am not I a ioly _rutter_?”
and (v. 846)
“My robe russheth
So _ruttyngly_.”
_Rutter_, which properly means—a rider, a trooper (Germ. _reiter_,
_reuter_), came to be employed, like its diminutive _rutterkin_, as a
cant term, and with various significations, (see Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. q iii. ed. 1530; Drant’s _Horace His Arte of Poetrie, pistles_, &c.
sig. D ii. ed. 1567). When _Court. Ab._ asks “am not I a ioly _rutter_?”
he evidently uses the word in the sense of—dashing fellow, gallant,
alluding to his dress, on which he afterwards enlarges in a soliloquy. In
v. 805 _Cr. Con._ terms him “this ioly _ietter_.” Compare the following
passage of Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d.;
“And whan he is in suche aray
There goth _a rutter_ men wyll say
_a rutter huf a galand_.”
Sig. d ii.
Page 249. v. 759. _Decke your hofte, &c._.]—_hofte_, i. e. head. If I
rightly understand the passage, _Court. Ab._ desires _Cl. Col._ to put on
his hat, or cap: see note below the text.
v. 760. _Say vous, &c._] i. e. _Savez vous_, &c.: the last three words of
the line seem to be the beginning of some French song.
Page 249. v. 761. _Wyda_] i. e. _Oui da!_
v. 763. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
—— _stonde vtter_] i. e. stand out, back.
v. 765. _a betell or a batowe, or a buskyn lacyd_] In _Ortus Vocab._
fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d., besides “Feritorium. anglice a battynge
staffe a batyll dur or _a betyll_,” we find “Porticulus. anglice a lytell
handstaff or a _betyll_.” For “batowe” I have proposed in a note below
the text “_batone_” (baton), a conjecture which is somewhat supported by
the preceding word; but it seems more probable that the right reading is
“_botowe_,” i. e. boot, for the work above cited has “Ocree ... anglice
botis or _botwes_ [ed. 1514—_botowes_],” and _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499
gives “_Botewe_. Coturnus.”
Page 250. v. 768. _Jacke Hare_] See note, p. 211. v. 270.
—— _loke thou be not rusty_] i. e. look that thou be not cankered,
uncivil.
v. 769. _nother_] i. e. neither.
v. 770. _lusty_] See note, p. 183, heading of poem.
v. 773. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 775. _swap_] i. e. swop: see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. “I _Swappe_
I stryke.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxxi.
(Table of Verbes).
—— _fotys_] i. e. foots, footest.
v. 776. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 780. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 782. _a bole of newe ale in cornys_] i. e. a bowl, &c.: see note, p.
171. v. 378.
v. 784. _auysed_] i. e. purposed on consideration.
v. 786. _rome_] i. e. room, place, office.
Page 251. v. 789. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518.
p. 243.
v. 790. _for the armys of the dyce_] Some cant exclamation.
v. 793. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 795. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 796. _cayser_] i. e. Cæsar, or, as it is generally explained, emperor:
in the _Coventry Mysteries_, however, a distinction is made between these
terms;
“Bothe kynge and _caysere_ and grett _empere_.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 113.
v. 798. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 799. _tende_] i. e. attend.
v. 805. _ietter_] i. e. strutter,—gallant: see note, p. 94. v. 43, and
note on v. 757. p. 246.
Page 251. v. 806. _supplye_] i. e. supplicate.
v. 810. _I ne tell can_] i. e. I cannot tell.
Page 252. v. 818. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 819. _we wyll be aduysed twyse_] i. e. we will consider of it twice.
v. 821. _crake_] i. e. speak vauntingly.
v. 827. _bende_] i. e. band.
v. 830. _tawle_] i. e. brave, bold.
v. 832. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 833. _hawte_] i. e. haughty.
v. 834. _pose_] i. e. rheum in the head.
v. 839. _loketh_] i. e. looketh.
Page 253. v. 843. _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 844. _My heyre bussheth_]—_heyre_, i. e. hair. So Barclay, alluding to
the “newe fassions and disguised garmentes” of the time;
“To Ship, galants, come nere I say agayne,
With your set _bushes_ curling as men of Inde.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 8. ed. 1570.
v. 847. _ruttyngly_] i. e. dashingly, gallantly: see note on v. 757. p.
246.
v. 850. _To daunce delyght_] So afterwards, Magnyfycence, exulting in his
prosperity, says, “I dawnce all in delyte,” v. 1510.
v. 852. _poynte deuyse_] i. e. perfectly exact: see Gifford’s note on B.
Jonson’s _Works_, iv. 169.
v. 855. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 857. _route_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
v. 859. _My sleue is wyde_] So Barclay describes the young gallants of
the time with “Their _sleues_ blasing like to a Cranes winges.” _The
Ship of Fooles_, fol. 8. ed. 1570. Wide sleeves are also mentioned in
the following curious passage of Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d.
(written before the year 1500); the speaker is Pride:
“Behold the bonet vppon my hed
a staryng colour of scarlet red
I promyse you a fyne threde
and a soft wull
It cost me a noble at one pyche
The scald capper sware sythyche
That yt cost hym euen as myche
But there Pryde had a pull.
I loue yt well to haue syde here
Halfe a wote byneth myne ere
For euer more I stande in fere
That myne nek shold take cold
I knyt yt vp all the nyght
and the day tyme kemb yt down ryght
And then yt cryspeth and shyneth as bryght
as any pyrled gold.
My doublet ys on laced byfore
A stomacher of saten and no more
Rayn yt snow yt neuer so sore
Me thynketh I am to hote
Than haue I suche a short gown
Wyth _wyde sleues_ that hang a down
They wold make some lad in thys town
a doublet and a cote.
Som men wold thynk that this were pryde
But yt ys not so, ho ho abyde
I haue a dagger by my syde
yet therof spake not I
I bought thys dagger at the marte
A sharp poynt and a tarte
He that had yt in hys hart
Were as good to dye.
Than haue I a sworde or twayn
To bere theym my selfe yt were a payne
They ar so heuy that I am fayne
to puruey suche a lad
Though I say yt a praty boy
It ys halfe my lyues ioy
He maketh me laugh wyth many a toy
The vrchyn ys so mad.”
Sig. c ii.
Page 253. v. 861. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 866. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 871. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 872. _fon_] i. e. fool.
Page 254. v. 878. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 881. _to to_] So in v. 2121;
“To flatterynge, to smatterynge, _to to_ out of harre.”
Compare _M. Harry Whobals mon to M. Camel_, &c. (folio broadside among
the “flytings” of Churchyard and Camell);
“My master Harry Whoball, sur, is _to to_ shamefull wrothe.
...
... for drinke is _to to_ nappye.”
Ray gives “_Too too_ will in two. _Chesh._” _Proverbs_, p. 163. ed. 1768.
v. 884. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.
Page 254. v. 885. _I befoule his pate_] i. e. I befool, &c. (not
_befoul_), as it would seem from v. 1057, “I _befole_ thy face;” and v.
1829, “I _befole_ thy brayne pan.”
v. 886. _fonne iet_] i. e. foolish fashion (see note on v. 458. p. 242).
v. 887. _From out of Fraunce_] So Barclay;
“Reduce courtiers clerely vnto your remembraunce,
From whence _this disguising_ was brought wherin ye go,
As I remember _it was brought out of France_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 9. ed. 1570.
Borde, in his _Boke of knowledge_, introduces a Frenchman saying,
“I am ful of new inuencions
And dayly I do make new toyes and fashions
Al necions of me example do take
Whan any garment they go about to make.”
Sig. T. reprint.
v. 889. _purueaunce_] i. e. provision.
v. 907. _carlys_] i. e. churl’s.
v. 909. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
Page 255. v. 915. _slyue_] i. e. sleeve.
v. 918. _preue_] i. e. prove.
v. 919. _A Tyborne checke_] i. e. a rope.
—— _craynge, Stow, stow_]—_craynge_, i. e. crying. See note, p. 206. v.
73.
v. 921. _out of harre_] i. e. out of hinge, out of order: see Jamieson’s
_Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Suppl._ in v. _Har._ The expression
occurs again in v. 2121; and is found in the _Towneley Myst._ and G.
Douglas’s Virgil’s _Æn._
v. 923. _warre_] i. e. worse.
v. 932. _farly_] i. e. strange.
v. 933. _lokys_] i. e. looks.
v. 934. _an hawke of the towre_] So again our author in the _Garlande of
Laurell_;
“Ientill as fawcoun
Or _hawke of the towre_.”
v. 1006. vol. i. 402.
i. e., says Warton, “in the king’s mews in the Tower,” _Hist. of E.P._
ii. 355. ed. 4to: and the following lines occur in a poem called _Armony
of Byrdes_, n. d. (attributed without authority to Skelton), reprinted
entire in _Typograph. Antiq._ iv. 380. ed. Dibdin;
“The Haukes dyd syng
Their belles dyd ryng
Thei said _they came frō the tower_.
_We hold with the kyng_
_And wyll for him syng_
_To God, day, nyght, and hower.”_
p. 383.
But I apprehend that by a _hawke of the towre_ Skelton means—a hawk that
towers aloft, takes a station high in the air, and thence swoops upon her
prey. Juliana Berners mentions certain hawks which “ben _hawkes of the
toure_.” _Book of St. Albans_, sig. c. v.: and Turbervile says; “Shee
[the hobby] is of the number of those Hawkes that are hie flying and
_towre Hawks_.” _Booke of Falconrie_, p. 53. ed. 1611.
Page 255. v. 935. _the malarde_] i. e. the wild-drake.
v. 936. _becked_] i. e. beaked.
v. 938. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
Page 256. v. 940. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 947. _spere_] i. e. spire, shoot,—stripling. So in our author’s third
poem _Against Garnesche_, “But a slendyr _spere_.” v. 41. vol. i. 121.
v. 953. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 954. _in the dyuyls date_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
v. 956. _he playeth the state_] i. e. he playeth the person of
consequence.
v. 957. _pyke out of the gate_] “I _Pycke_ me forth out of a place or I
_pycke_ me hence, _Ie me tyre auant_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvi. (Table of Verbes).
v. 962. _out of consayte_] i. e. out of good opinion, favour.
v. 964. _a praty slyght_] i. e. a pretty trick, contrivance.
v. 971. _Cockes harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 973. _poynted after my consayte_] i. e. appointed, equipped according
to my fancy.
v. 974. _thou iettes it of hyght_] i. e. thou struttest it in high style:
see note, p. 94. v. 43.
Page 257. v. 975. _let vs be wyse_] Equivalent to—let us understand.
v. 977. _come of, it were done_] The expression “come of” has occurred
before; see note on v. 103. p. 238. Compare _Mary Magdalene_;
“_Cum_ of ȝe harlotts _that yt wer don_.”
_An. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 97. ed. Abbotsf.
_Magnus Herodes_;
“Hens now go youre way that ye _were_ thore.”
_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 147.
Still’s _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_;
“Sir knaue make hast diccon _were_ here.”
Sig. E 3. ed. 1575.
See too our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 243. vol. i. 371.
Page 257. v. 979. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 980. _Stowe_] See note, p. 206. v. 73.
v. 982. _There is many euyll faueryd, and thou be foule_] i. e. There is
many a one ill-looking, if thou be ugly: see note, p. 130. v. 442.
v. 985. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 987. _Jesse_] i. e. Jesus.
v. 992. _bent_] i. e. arched; see note, p. 146. v. 1014.
v. 993. _glent_] i. e. glancing, bright.
v. 1000. _Barbyd lyke a nonne_]—_nonne_, i. e. nun. “The feders vnder the
becke [of a hawk] ben callyd the _Barbe feders_.” _Book of Saint Albans_,
sig. a 5. _Barbe_ is explained by Tyrwhitt to mean a hood or muffler,
which covered the lower part of the face and the shoulders; _Gloss._
to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_: and he refers to Du Cange in v. _Barbuta_.
According to Strutt, it was a piece of white plaited linen, and belonged
properly to mourning: in an edict concerning “The order and manner of
apparell for greate estates of weomen in tyme of mourninge,” made by
the mother of Henry vii. in the 8th year of his reign, we find “Everye
one not beinge vnder the degree of a Baronesse to weare a _barbe_ aboue
[Strutt prints by mistake—”about“] the chinne. And all other: as knightes
wyfes, to weare yt vnder theire throtes, and other gentleweomen beneath
the throte goyll.” _MS. Harl._ 1354. fol. 12. See _Dress and Habits_, pp.
323, 325, 326, 368, and plate cxxxv.
v. 1002. _donne_] i. e. dun.
v. 1003. _Well faueryd bonne_] So in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v.
227, “my prety _bonny_;” see note, p. 166.
v. 1005. _rowte_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
Page 258. v. 1008. _prese_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 1009. _a hole mese_] i. e. a whole mess, set.
v. 1011. _I rede, we sease_] i. e. I advise that we cease.
v. 1012. _farly ... lokys_] i. e. strangely ... looks.
v. 1013. _becke ... crokys_] i. e. beak ... crooks.
v. 1014. _tenter hokys_] i. e. tenter-hooks.
v. 1015. _wokys_] i. e. weeks.
v. 1018. _The deuyll spede whyt_] So again in our author’s _Why come ye
nat to Courte_;
“For as for wytte,
_The deuyll spede whitte!_”
v. 1013. vol. ii. 58.
Page 258. v. 1020. _to_] i. e. too (as in the next two lines).
v. 1023. _solempne_] i. e. solemn.
v. 1027. _a pere_] i. e. a pear,—used frequently by our early writers for
a thing of no value. “Vayne glory of the world, the whiche is not worth
_a pere_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xv. cap. vi. vol. ii. 254. ed. Southey.
v. 1028. _lese_] i. e. lose.
v. 1030. _And I may tende_] i. e. If I may attend.
v. 1032. _halfe_] i. e. side.
v. 1035. _Fansy seruyce_] i. e. Fancy-service.
—— _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 1038. _theke_] i. e. thatch.
v. 1040. _Make a wyndmyll of a mat_] Compare v. 2 of our author’s third
set of verses _Against venemous Tongues_, vol. i. 132.
v. 1041. _and I wyst_] i. e. if I knew.
Page 259. v. 1049. _blunder_] See note on v. 405. p. 241.
—— _blother_] i. e. gabble; as in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_, v. 66.
vol. i. 313.
v. 1054. _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 1055. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
v. 1057. _fonnysshe_] i. e. foolish.
—— _I befole thy face_] See note on v. 885. p. 250.
v. 1058. _a foles case_] i. e. a fool’s habit.
v. 1059. _glede_] i. e. kite. Nares, _Gloss._ in v., observes that in the
common version of the Bible, _Deut._ xiv. 13, the _glede_ and _kite_ are
erroneously mentioned together as two distinct birds.
v. 1061. _thy lyppes hange in thyne eye_] So in _Thenterlude of Youth_,
n. d.;
“Faine of him I wolde haue a sight
But my _lyppes hange in my lyght_.”
Sig. A iiii.
See too Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 1066. _pylde_] i. e. bald—mangy: see note, p. 184. v. 68.
v. 1068. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1069. _Mackemurre_] A proper name, though not printed as such in the
old copy:
“The great Onele, and _Makmurre_ also,
And al the lordes and kynges of Ireland.”
Hardyng’s _Chronicle_, fol. cxlix. ed. 1543.
v. 1070. _budge furre_] “_Budge_ or Lambes furre.” Minsheu’s _Guide into
Tongues_. In an order respecting the scholastic habit in the University
of Cambridge, dated 1414, (quoted by Todd from Farmer’s papers, in a note
on Milton’s _Comus_, v. 707,) mention is made of “_furruris buggeis_ aut
agninis.”
Page 260. v. 1073. _thou wylte coughe me a dawe_]—_dawe_, i. e.
simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301. So in the fourth line after this,
“ye shall _coughe me a fole_:” and in Lilly’s _Mother Bombie_, 1594; “I
know hee will cough for anger that I yeeld not, but he shall _cough mee a
foole_ for his labour.” Sig. B 2.
v. 1074. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1079. _can_] i. e. know.
v. 1081. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 1082. _so hye fro me doth sprynge_] i. e. doth (dost) grow so much
taller than I.
v. 1088. _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 1089. _folysshe_] i e. foolish.
v. 1093. _flete_] i. e. float, flow, abound.
v. 1095. _by_] i. e. buy.
v. 1096. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1103. _syke_] i. e. such.
v. 1104. _a fole the tone_] i. e. a fool the one.
Page 261. v. 1107. _warke_] i. e. work, business.
v. 1108. _donnyshe_] i. e. dunnish.
v. 1109. _a fonde gest_] i. e. a foolish guest.
v. 1111. _so folysshe and so fonde_] i. e. so foolish and so silly (one
of Skelton’s pleonasms).
v. 1118. _beshrowe_] i. e. curse.
v. 1119. _do_] i. e. done.
v. 1120. _Here is nothynge but the bockyll of a sho_] Compare _The Bowge
of Courte_, v. 397. vol. i. 45.
v. 1121. _marke_] i. e. marks,—the coins so named.
v. 1123. _hyght_] i. e. is called.
v. 1124. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1126. _a botchment_] “_Botchement_. Additamentum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed.
1499.
v. 1127. _forfende_] i. e. prohibit, forbid.
v. 1128. _For Goddes cope_] So we find as an oath, “By gods blew _hood_.”
_Tom Tyler and his Wife_, p. 5. ed. 1661.
v. 1131. _be tyme_] i. e. by time.
v. 1134. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1136. _Aungey_] Does it mean Angers, or Anjou?
Page 262. v. 1142. _gate_] i. e. got.
v. 1143. _puddynges_] See note, p. 173. v. 443.
—— _wortes_] Is here, I suppose, equivalent to—cabbages.
v. 1147. _marmosete_] A kind of ape, or monkey.
v. 1148. _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
Page 262. v. 1150. _pultre_] i. e. poultry, fowl.
—— _catell_] i. e. beast.
v. 1154. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 1157. _nyfyls_] A word sufficiently explained by the context, and of
frequent occurrence. So in _A Mery Play between Johan the Husbande, Tyb
his Wyfe, and Syr Jhan the Preest_, 1533, attributed to Heywood;
“By God, I wolde ye had harde the tryfyls,
The toys, the mokkes, the fables, and the _nyfyls_,
That I made thy husbande to beleve and thynke.”
p. 21. reprint.
v. 1158. _canest_] i. e. knowest.
v. 1159. _mased_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 1165. _It forseth not_] i. e. It matters not.
v. 1168. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
—— _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 263. v. 1172. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1175. _a farle freke_] i. e. a strange fellow: see notes, p. 109. v.
187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 1176. _play well at the hoddypeke_]—_hoddypeke_ is a common term of
contempt or reproach (as in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_,
v. 326. vol. ii. 37), and is generally equivalent to—fool. The original
meaning of the word is altogether uncertain. Steevens (note on _Gammer
Gurtons Nedle_) explains it—hodmandod (shell-snail); and Nares (_Gloss._
in v.) is inclined to agree with him. In a passage of Dunbar’s _Dance of
the Sevin Deidly Synnis_ (_Poems_, i. 51. ed. Laing), “_hud-pykis_” has
been explained (on account of the context)—misers. In Cotgrave’s _Dict._
is “Noddy peke.”
v. 1182. _ne reckys_] i. e. recks not.
v. 1185. _mo folys_] i. e. more fools.
v. 1189. _kesteryll_] A sort of base-bred hawk.
v. 1190. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
—— _doteryll_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 1191. _In a cote thou can play well the dyser_] “_Dysoure_.
Bomolochus. Nugaculus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Dissar_ a scoffar
_saigefol_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxix.
(Table of Subst.). “He can play the _desarde_ with a contrefet face
properly. _Morionem_ scite representat.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. bb
iiii. ed. 1530. “One that were skylled in the crafte of _dysours_ or
skoffyng fellowes.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. H ii.
v. 1195. _gatte_] i. e. got.
v. 1200. _fon_] i. e. fool.
Page 264. v. 1205. _do mastryes_] See note on v. 151. p. 238.
v. 1206. _cocke wat_] See note, p. 108. v. 173.
v. 1211. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
—— _semblaunt_] i. e. semblance.
v. 1215. _lyste_] i. e. liest.
v. 1216. _moght ... lyste_] i. e. moth ... list.
v. 1220. _Johnn a Bonam_] One of the persons who figure in the old
metrical tale, _The Hunttyng of the Hare_, is called “Jac of Bonam:” see
Weber’s _Met. Rom._ iii. 279.
v. 1223. _Shyt_] i. e. Shut.
—— _dawe_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 265. v. 1230. _cayser_] See note on v. 796. p. 247.
v. 1232. _scoles_] i. e. schools,—teaching.
v. 1234. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1241. _renneth_] i. e. runneth.
v. 1242. _thefte and bryboury_]—_bryboury_, i. e. pilfering. “_Brybery_
or bribe. Manticulum.”—“_Briboure_. Manticulus.”—“_Bryben._ Latricino.
Manticulo.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “I _Bribe_ I pull I pyll, _Ie
bribe_. _Romant_, _ie derobbe_, ... and _ie emble_ ... He _bribeth_ and
he polleth and he gothe to worke: _Il bribe_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar.
de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxiiii. (Table of Verbes). “_Bribors_,
Cometh of the French _Bribeur_, i. e. Mendicus: It seemeth in a legal
Signification one that pilfereth other Mens Goods, as Cloaths out of a
Window, or the like. _Anno 28 Ed. 2. Stat. 1. cap. unico._” Cowel’s _Law
Dictionary, or The Interpreter_, &c. _augmented and improved_, &c. ed.
1727. So again our author;
“Thefte also and pety _brybery_.”
v. 1370 of the present drama.
“Some haue a name for thefte and _brybery_.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 183. vol. i. 369.
So too in _The Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, by Copland, n. d.;
“_Brybe_, and conuey, fro mayster and maystres.”
Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poet._ ii. 37.
and in _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without reason to
Heywood);
“For _brybe_ and stele euery thyng they wyll
If they may secretly come theruntyll.”
Sig. B iii.
Other passages might be cited from various poets. And see Tyrwhitt’s
_Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, and Richardson’s _Dict._
v. 1244. _a nysot_] In _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499 is “_Anysot_ or a folt.
Stolidus. Baburrus. Insons.” But in the present passage _nysot_ seems,
from the context, to be equivalent to—lazy jade: and in the work just
cited we find “_Nyce_. Iners.”—“_Nycehede_ or _nycete_. Inercia.”
Page 265. v. 1246. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 1247. _lyther_] i. e. wicked, evil.
v. 1249. _Bytwene the tappet and the wall_]—_tappet_, i. e. tapestry.
This line has occurred before, in our author’s fourth poem _Against
Garnesche_, v. 75. vol. i. 128.
v. 1252. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1254. _sorte_] i. e. set, company,—people.
v. 1257. _ferre_] i. e. far.
Page 266. v. 1258. _dawys_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1261.
_He frownyth fyersly, brymly browde,_
_The knaue wolde make it koy, and he cowde_]
—_fyersly_ and _brymly_ are nearly synonymous: _make it koy_ means
here—affect (not merely reserve, but) haughtiness;—and so in our author’s
_Bowge of Courte_,—
“He bote the lyppe, he loked passynge _coye_.”
v. 288. vol. i. 41.
v. 1265. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 1270. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 1275. _lese moche_] i. e. lose much.
v. 1278. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1280. _scolys_] i. e. schools.
v. 1281. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 1282. _lyther_] i. e. wicked,—rascals (as in the next line but
one—“these _lythers_”).
v. 1283. _Symkyn Tytyuell_] See note on _Colyn Cloute_, v. 418.
v. 1284. _lere_] i. e. learn.
v. 1289. _mykyll_] i. e. much.
Page 267. v. 1291. _dell_] i. e. part.
v. 1293. _shroudly_] i. e. shrewdly.
v. 1297. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 1299. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note, p. 109. v. 199.
v. 1301. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 1303. _rutters_] See note on v. 757. p. 245.
v. 1308. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
—— _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1309. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1312. _howe_] i. e. ho! stop!
“Ye shall haue ay quhill you cry _ho_.”
_Philotvs_, sig. B. ed. 1612.
“Greit God defend I suld be one of tho
Quhilk of thair feid and malice neuer _ho_.”
G. Douglas’s _Palice of Honour_, p. 30. Bann. ed.
Page 267. v. 1314. _scrat_] i. e. scratch.
v. 1315. _So how_] i. e. So ho.
v. 1317. _gadde_] Does it mean—gadding?
v. 1318. _brayne seke_] i. e. brain-sick.
v. 1319. _to shyre shakynge nought_] i. e. to sheer nothing. So in our
author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, (v. 466. vol. i. 110), that lady pronounces
a couple of stunted goslings to be “_shyre shakyng nought_,” i. e. sheer
worthless.
v. 1323. _perde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
—— _ryde or go_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
Page 268. v. 1324. _slyght_] i. e. contrivance.
v. 1325. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 1327. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
v. 1334. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1338. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1339. _whylest_] i. e. till.
v. 1341. _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 1342. _away the mare_] See note, p. 162. v. 110.
v. 1345. _a rome ... in euery route_] i. e. a place in every crowd,
assembly.
v. 1347. _face and brace_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1348. _fotyth_] i. e. footeth.
Page 269. v. 1353. _poyntmentys_] i. e. appointments.
v. 1356. _mykyll praty_] i. e. much pretty.
v. 1358. _an hoby can make larkys to dare_]—_to dare_, i. e. to be
terrified, to tremble,—(it also means—to lurk, lie hid; see note on the
poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 271). To _dare larks_ was an
expression applied to the catching of larks by terrifying them; and there
were several modes of _daring_ them. When the _hobby_ (a small hawk, see
note, p. 135. v. 567) was employed for that purpose, the larks lay still
in terror till a net was thrown over them.
v. 1360. _almesse_] i. e. alms.
v. 1363. _howe_] i. e. ho.
v. 1365. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1368. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 1370. _pety brybery_] See note on v. 1242. p. 256.
v. 1373. _be_] i. e. by.
Page 269. v. 1376. _trew_] i. e. honest.
v. 1378. _checke_] i. e. taunt: see note on v. 300. p. 240.
v. 1379. _weltyth_] To _welt_ means—to border: but qy. is _weltyth_ here
used for _weldyth_, i. e. wieldeth, directeth?
v. 1382. _sadnesse_] i. e. gravity, seriousness, soberness, discreetness.
Page 270. v. 1389. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 1390. _hokes vnhappy_]—_hokes_, i. e. hooks, a word frequently applied
to persons as a term of reproach. “_Vnhappy_ of maners _maluays_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xcviii. (Table of
Adiect.). So in _Jacke Jugelar_, n. d.;
“Loo yender cumithe that _vnhappye hooke_.”
p. 26. Roxb. ed.
and in Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.;
“Since thou art crosse sailde, auale _vnhappie hooke_.”
Sig. E,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 1395. _dawe_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1396. _occupyed_] i. e. used, employed; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 1397. _reason and skyll_] See note on v. 106. p. 238.
v. 1401. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1405. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1411. _Had I wyst_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
Page 271. v. 1416. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1421. _Ye haue eten sauce_] Compare our author’s _Bowge of Courte_, v.
72. vol. i. 33.
v. 1422. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 1425. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 1436. _repryuable_] i. e. reprovable.
Page 272. v. 1441. _menys of to moche_] i. e. means of too much.
v. 1442. _What, can ye agree thus and appose?_]—_and appose_, i. e. and
yet keep questioning, disputing: see note on _Colyn Cloute_, v. 267.
v. 1443. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 1444. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _Jacke a thrommys bybyll_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
—— _glose_] i. e. gloss.
v. 1446. _loke you vnder kay_] i. e. lock you under key.
v. 1456. _Take it in worthe_] See note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1458. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
—— _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 1467. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
Page 273. v. 1473. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
Page 273. v. 1474. _loke that ye occupye_] i. e. look that ye use; see
note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 1475. _For nowe, syrs, I am lyke as a prynce sholde be, &c._] This
speech of Magnyfycence is very much in the style of Herod in the old
miracle-plays: see, for instance, the _Coventry Mysteries_, _MS. Cott.
Vesp. D._ viii. fol. 92. sqq.
v. 1477. _abandune_] i. e. subject.
“For _abandonit_ will he noght be to berne that is borne.”
_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 142,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c.
“Till all to yow _abandownyt_ be.”
Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. iii. v. 883. ed. Jam.
v. 1481. _mene_] See note on v. 138. p. 238.
v. 1491. _syar_] i. e. sire, lord.
v. 1493. _ryall trone_] i. e. royal throne.
v. 1496. _spyll_] i. e. destroy.
Page 274. v. 1502. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1504. _dynt_] i. e. blow.
v. 1505. _the cane_] Does it mean—the khan?
v. 1507. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not, regard not.
—— _prane_] i. e. prawn.
v. 1508. _Ne_] i. e. Nor.
—— _rehersse_] i. e. mention.
v. 1513. _cache_] i. e. couch.
v. 1515. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1518. _to lowte man be sene_] i. e. (if the text be right; see
foot-note _ad l._) must be seen to bow, pay obeisance.
v. 1520. _brymme_] i. e. fierce, rugged, bristly.
v. 1521. _Basyan the bolde, for all his brybaunce_] _Basyan_ is, I
suppose, Antoninus Bassianus Caracalla (he is called “_Basian_” in
Robert of Gloucester’s _Chron_. p. 76. sqq.): _brybaunce_ would seem to
mean—plundering (properly, pilfering); see note on v. 1242. p. 256.
v. 1522. _Alerycus_] i. e. Alaric.
—— _the Gothyaunce_] i. e. the Goths.
—— _swerd_] i. e. sword.
v. 1524. _maysyd_] i. e. bewildered, confounded—stupid.
v. 1525. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1526. _Galba, whom his galantys garde for agaspe_] i. e. (I suppose)
Galba, whom his gallants (soldiers) made to gasp:—they assassinated
him:—see _gar_ in v. 1532.
v. 1527. _nother set by_] i. e. neither valued, regarded.
v. 1528. _Vaspasyan, that bare in his nose a waspe_] This passage is
explained by the following lines of a poem never printed, entitled _The
Sege of Jerusalem_:
“His fader Vaspasiane ferly bytydde
A byke of waspes bredde in his nose
Hyved vp in his hedde he hadde hem of thoght
And Vaspasiane is called by cause of his waspes.”
_MS. Cott. Calig. A._ ii. fol. 109.
Page 274. v. 1529. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 275. v. 1531. _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 1532. _I shall frounce them on the foretop_] To _frounce_ is—to
wrinkle, ruffle up, &c. In our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 1340. vol.
i. 92, Charon is described as having a “_frownsid_ fore top;” and in his
_Colyn Cloute_, v. 533. vol. i. 331, “foretop” means simply—head, pate.
—— _gar_] i. e. make, cause.
v. 1538. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 1539. _take it in degre_] Seems equivalent here to—“take it in gre”
(which occurs in v. 2005), i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1544. _ferre_] i. e. far.
v. 1547. _supprysed_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.
v. 1549. _Pullyshyd_] i. e. Polished.
—— _ornacy_] i. e. ornate diction.
v. 1551. _electe vtteraunce_] i. e. choice expression.
v. 1554. _feffyd and seasyd_] i. e. enfeoffed and seised,—law-terms.
v. 1556. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1557. _comon_] i. e. communing, discourse.
v. 1558. _Poynt deuyse_] See note on v. 852. p. 248.
Page 276. v. 1561. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 1564. _semynge_] i. e. beseeming, fitting.
v. 1568. _maystresse_] i. e. mistress.
v. 1569. _That quyckly is enuyued with rudyes of the rose_] i. e. That
is lively envived with hues, or complexion, of the rose. This somewhat
pleonastic expression is found again in our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_;
“_Enuyuid_ picturis well touchid and _quikly_.”
v. 1161. vol. i. 408.
v. 1570. _Inpurtured_] i. e. Portrayed, pictured,—adorned.
v. 1571. _The streynes of her vaynes_] i. e. The strains, runnings of her
veins.
“Rills rising out of euery banck,
In wilde meanders _strayne_.”
Drayton’s _Muses Elizium_, p. 2. ed. 1630.
Page 276. v. 1571. _as asure inde blewe_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 1573. _loke_] i. e. look.
—— _leyre_] i. e. complexion, skin.
v. 1576. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable.
v. 1578. _to brace and to basse_] i. e. to embrace and to kiss.
v. 1579. _by hym that hell dyd harowe_] i. e. by our Saviour: see note,
p. 150. v. 1291.
v. 1580. _a Phylyp sparowe_] See note, p. 121. v. 7.
v. 1581. _whylest my hede dyd warke_] i. e. until my head did work, ache.
“_Hedwerke_ sekenesse. Cephalia.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Wark_, to
ache.” Hunter’s _Hallam. Gloss_. “But I may not stonde, _myn hede werches
soo_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xxi. c. v. vol. ii. 440. ed. Southey.
v. 1582. _hobby for suche a lusty larke_] See note on v. 1358. p. 258.
The same metaphorical use of this expression occurs in our author’s
_Colyn Cloute_, v. 194. vol. i. 318.
v. 1584. _my flesshe wolde be wroken_]—_wroken_, i. e. wreaked, satiated.
“Whyles thou art yonge ...
_Wreke_ the with wiueryng, if thou wilt be excused.”
_Pierce Plowman_, sig. M iii. ed. 1561.
v. 1585. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, fancy.
v. 1586. _weryed I wolde be on_] i. e. I would worry, eagerly devour:
compare our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 29. vol. i. 52.
v. 1587. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1588. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1589. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1590. _to be sped_] i. e. to be made successful.
Page 277. v. 1592. _make suche one to the call_] A metaphor from falconry.
v. 1600. _a sawte_] i. e. an assault.
v. 1601. _prece_] i. e. press.
v. 1603. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1604. _intreted_] i. e. prevailed on by solicitation.
v. 1606. _broken_] Seems to mean here—tame, assuage.
v. 1610. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 1615. _it shall not gretely skyll_] i. e. it shall not make much
difference, it shall not much signify.
Page 278. v. 1620. _face it_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1621. _Frete_] i. e. Gnaw, fret.
v. 1626. _lust and lykynge_] See note, p. 98, v. 23.
Page 278. v. 1633. _your gorge_] i. e. what you have swallowed, the
contents of your stomach: see note, p. 207. v. 87.
v. 1636. _wambleth_] “I _Wamble_ as ones stomake dothe _Ie allecte_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccc. (Table of
Verbes). “Nauseo ... to _wamble_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde,
n. d.
v. 1638. _wonder_] i. e. wondrous.
v. 1640. _harte seke_] i. e. heart-sick.
—— _me lyst_] i. e. it pleases me.
v. 1641. _coryed_] i. e. curried, drubbed.
—— _blyst_] i. e. wounded,—thumped.
“Your lasy bones I pretende so to _blisse_,
That you shall haue small luste to prate any more.”
_The Triall of Treasure_, 1567. sig. A iiii.
v. 1642. _loute_] i. e. bow, pay obeisance.
Page 279. v. 1652. _at the contemplacyon_] See note, p. 214, heading of
Epitaph.
v. 1653. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 1657. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1664. _rowne_] i. e. whisper: see note, p. 120. v. 513.
v. 1671. _dyssayued_] i. e. deceived.
v. 1673. _wete_] i. e. know.
v. 1677. _I wyll haue hym rehayted and dyspysed_] Our early poets
frequently use _rehete_ in the sense of—revive, cheer; a meaning foreign
to the present passage. In the _Towneley Mysteries_, we find “_rehett_”
and “_rehete_,” pp. 143, 198, which the _Gloss._ explains “to threaten;”
qy. if rightly? In some copies of Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, B.
iii. 350, is “reheting;” of which, says Tyrwhitt (_Gloss._ to _Cant.
Tales_), “I can make no sense.” In G. Douglas’s Virgil’s _Æneidos_,
B. xiii. p. 467. l. 53. ed. Rudd., and in the _Flyting of Dunbar and
Kennedy_, Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 74, 80. ed. Laing, is “rehatoure,” which
has been referred to the French _rehair_: and perhaps _rehayted_ in our
text is—re-hated (Skelton afterwards in this piece, v. 2458, has the
uncommon word _inhateth_).
v. 1679. _rest_] i. e. remain.
Page 280. v. 1682. _supplyed_] i. e. supplicated.
v. 1687. _But for all that he is lyke to haue a glent_] _Glent_ is
frequently found in the sense of—glance; but its meaning here, as would
seem from the context, is—slip, fall: and in our author’s _Garlande of
Laurell_ we find,
“Go softly, she sayd, the stones be full _glint_ [i. e. slippery].”
v. 572. vol. i. 384.
Page 280. v. 1688. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1692. _What force ye_] i. e. What care ye.
v. 1695. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1698. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 1702. _woke_] i. e. week.
v. 1703. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1706. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1709. _comonynge_] i. e. communing, conversing.
v. 1711. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober, discreet.
Page 281. v. 1713. _doute_] i. e. fear.
v. 1715. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1718. _be lykelyhod_] i. e. by likelihood,—as it appeared.
v. 1719. _to fode_] i. e. to feed with words,—deceive. So in our author’s
_Bowge of Courte_;
“Than Fauell gan _wyth fayre speche me to fede_.”
v. 147. vol. i. 36.
v. 1723. _reserued_] i. e. retained.
v. 1725. _set a gnat By_] i. e. value at a gnat, care a gnat for.
v. 1738. _suche maystryes gan make_]—_suche maystryes_, i. e. such
disturbances from the consequence which you assumed: and see note on v.
151. p. 238.
Page 282. v. 1745. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 1748. _haynyarde_] A term of reproach which I do not understand: but
in our author’s _Bowge of Courte_, v. 327. vol. i. 42, _hayne_ seems to
mean—hind, slave, peasant.
v. 1749. _cast_] i. e. throw up.
v. 1751. _bolle_] i. e. bowl.
—— _Goddes brede_] i. e. God’s bread.
v. 1754. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1758. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1759. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1766. _ony_] i. e. any.
Page 283. v. 1772. _Where as_] i. e. Where.
v. 1775. _No force_] i. e. No matter.
v. 1776. _pollynge_] i. e. plundering.
v. 1778. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
—— _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1779. _vergesse_] i. e. verjuice.
v. 1782. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 1786. _taken_] i. e. committed, consigned.
v. 1802. _lowte_] i. e. bow, pay obeisance.
Page 284. v. 1813. _syth_] i. e. since.
v. 1817. _acquyte_] i. e. requite.
v. 1820. _solace_] i. e. pleasure.
v. 1821. _dyntes_] i. e. blows.
v. 1822. _Well were_] i. e. In good condition were.
v. 1824. _halse_] }
v. 1825. _clepe_] }
Both words signify—embrace; with this distinction, that the former means
properly—to throw the arms round the neck.
v. 1829. _I befole thy brayne pan_] i. e. I befool thy skull, head: see
note, p. 100. v. 31.
Page 285. v. 1830. _By our lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 1831. _My hawke is rammysshe_] “_Ramage_ is when a Hawk is wilde,
coy, or disdainfull to the man, and contrary to be reclamed.” Latham’s
_Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words of Art_), 1658.
v. 1833. _warne_] i. e. prevent.
v. 1835. _ronner_] i. e. runner.
—— _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1836. _iarfawcon_] See note, p. 134. v. 557.
v. 1838. _ydder_] i. e. udder.
v. 1840. _slydder_] i. e. slippery.
v. 1841. _for God auowe_] So presently, v. 1851, “I make God _auowe_:”
see note, p. 109. v. 199.
—— _chiydder_] i. e. shiver.
v. 1842. _Thy wordes hange togyder as fethers in the wynde_] An
expression which occurs again in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_, v. 295.
vol. ii. 14. So too in a comedy (before quoted), _The longer thou liuest,
the more foole thou art_, &c. _Newly compiled by W. Wager_, n. d.;
“A song much like thauthour of the same,
_It hangeth together like fethers in the winde_.”
Sig. D ii.
v. 1844. _carle_] i. e. churl.
v. 1848. _a losell lede a lurden_] i. e. one good-for-nothing fellow lead
another: see note, p. 209. v. 138, and note on v. 423 of the present
poem, p. 242.
v. 1849. _sowter_] i. e. shoemaker, cobbler.
v. 1850. _Cockes harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1853. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1854. _I shall gyue you a gaude of a goslynge that I gaue_] _Gaud_
is found in the sense of—jest, trick, toy, &c.: but the line (perhaps
corrupted) is beyond my comprehension.
v. 1856. _reue_] i. e. steward, bailiff.
v. 1858. _syke_] i. e. such.
Page 285. v. 1859. _Sadylgose_] i. e. Saddle-goose.
—— _Dawcocke_] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 286. v. 1860. _garre_] i. e. make, cause.
v. 1862. _bytter_] i. e. bittern.
v. 1864. _to grame_] i. e. to be angry,—or perhaps to grieve; the word
being found in both senses.
v. 1865. _snyte_] i. e. snipe.
v. 1868. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1871. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 1876. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1882. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1886. _payntyd_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
v. 1887. _demenour_] i. e. director: see note, p. 134. v. 553.
Page 287. v. 1891. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1892. _fondnesse_] i. e. folly.
v. 1896. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 1898. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 1899. _lokys_] i. e. looks.
v. 1900. _clokys_] i. e. claws—clutches; see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of
Scot. Lang._ in v. _Cleuck_.
v. 1903. _quyte_] i. e. requite.
v. 1904. _velyarde_] i. e. old man, dotard.
—— _dynt_] i. e. blow.
v. 1906. _losell_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 1908. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 1910. _rughly_] i. e. roughly.
v. 1912. _lust_] i. e. pleasure, liking.
v. 1913. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 1915. _set by hym a flye_] i. e. value him at a fly, care a fly for
him.
v. 1916. _brace_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1917. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1918. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 288. v. 1928. _carbuckyls_] i. e. carbuncles.
v. 1930. _lyppers_] i. e. lepers.
v. 1932. _Some with the marmoll to halte I them make_]—_marmoll_, i.
e. old sore, ulcer, gangrene. “_Marmoll_ a sore _lovp_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvii. (Table of Subst.). Skelton
recollected Chaucer;
“But gret harm was it, as it thoughte me,
That _on his shinne a mormal_ hadde he.”
_Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 387.
on which passage see Tyrwhitt’s note.
Page 288. v. 1934. _brennynge_] i. e. burning.
v. 1936. _walter_] i. e. tumble, roll. “I _Walter_ I tumble, _Ie me
voystre_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccc.
(Table of Verbes).
v. 1939. _sle_] i. e. slay.
v. 1945. _Lydderyns_] i. e. _Lydder_, wicked, persons: so in our author’s
_Garlande of Laurell_, “Some _lidderons_, some losels,” &c. v. 188. vol.
i., 369.
—— _set by_] i. e. value, regard.
Page 289. v. 1958. _franesy_] i. e. frensy.
v. 1960. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 1961. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1962. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1966. _sadly_] i. e. gravely, seriously, soberly, discreetly.
v. 1967. _preposytour_] i. e. a scholar appointed by the master to
overlook the rest. “I am _preposyter_ of my boke. Duco classem.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. R viii. ed. 1530.
v. 1968. _theyr wanton vagys_]—_vagys_, i. e. vagaries, strayings.
Richardson in his _Dict._ gives an example of this substantive (_vagues_)
from Holinshed.
v. 1977. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1979. _Howe_] i. e. Ho.
v. 1980. _lore_] i. e. teaching.
v. 1984. _vnlykynge_] i. e. in poor condition of body. “The strength and
lustinesse, or _well lykyng_ of my body.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540.
sig. U iiii. “I am withered,” says Falstaff, “like an old apple-John.
Well, I’ll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some _liking_.”
Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._ Part i. act iii. sc. 3.
Page 290. v. 1989. _enuy_] i. e. ill-will, grudge.
v. 1993. _golde and fe_] See note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 1995. _thought_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
v. 2004. _syth_] i. e. since.
—— _no nother_] A not unfrequent form in our early writers,—i. e. none
other.
v. 2005. _take it in gre_] i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95, v. 68.
v. 2006. _a noble estate_] i. e. a person of noble estate or rank.
v. 2014. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
Page 291. v. 2026. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2034. _cawdels_] According to the custom of great persons. So in the
ballad of _Glasgerion_;
“He harped in the kinges chambere,
Where cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.”
Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._, iii. 43. ed. 1794.
Page 291. v. 2035. _mamockes_] “_Mammocks_, leavings, wasted fragments.”
Forby’s _Vocab. of East Anglia_.
v. 2037. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 2038. _pomped_] In our text at least is equivalent to—pampered.
“The _pomped_ clerkes with foles [fodes] delicous
Erth often fedeth,” &c.
Hawes’s _Pastime of Pleasure_, sig. B b iiii. ed. 1555.
v. 2040. _to be drawe_] i. e. to be drawn over, covered.
v. 2042. _shertes of Raynes_] i. e. shirts made of the delicate species
of linen manufactured at Rennes in Brittany.
v. 2044. _happed_] i. e. covered.
Page 292. v. 2054. _sykernesse_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 2061. _plete_] i. e. plead.
v. 2064. _lyther_] i. e. bad,—inactive.
v. 2066. _leuer_] i. e. more willingly.
v. 2070. _they rynne to in manus tuas queche_]—_rynne_, i. e. run,—they
quickly come to be hanged, when they say _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo
spiritum meum_.
v. 2072. _mary_] i. e. by the Virgin Mary.
—— _mote_] i. e. may.
v. 2073. _too_] i. e. toe.
v. 2077. _rydlesse_] In v. 2445 is “_redlesse_,” which properly
means—devoid of counsel: but Skelton seems to use both forms in the sense
of—unavailing.
v. 2080. _bloo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
Page 293. v. 2093. _I garde her gaspe, I garde her gle_]—_garde_, i. e.
made, caused: _gle_, i. e., perhaps, squint; see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of
Scot. Lang._ in v. _Gley_.
v. 2094. _daunce on the le_] A fragment, it would seem, of some song:
_le_, i. e. lea.
v. 2095. _bassed_] i. e. kissed.
v. 2096. _the bote of all my bale_] i. e. the remedy or help of all my
evil or sorrow.
“God send every good man _bote of his bale_.”
Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16949. ed. Tyr.
v. 2097. _farre fet_] i. e. far-fetched.
v. 2098. _louesome_] i. e. lovely one.
Page 293. v. 2098. _let_] i. e. leave, desist.
v. 2100. _patlet_]—or _partlet_,—i. e. a sort of ruff, or rather
neck-kerchief: see Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 368.
v. 2104. _lust and lykynge_] See note, p. 98. v. 23.
v. 2106. _me lyst_] i. e. pleases me.
Page 294. v. 2113. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 2114. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 2115. _not worth an hawe_] A common expression in our early poetry;
“Your wo appease which is _not worth an haw_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. I iiii. ed. 1555.
v. 2116. _to free of the dawe_] Equivalent, I suppose, to—too much
fooling: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 2117. _sad_] See note on v. 1966. p. 267.
v. 2121. _to to out of harre_] See notes on v. 881. p. 249, and v. 921.
p. 250.
v. 2123. _iettynge_] i. e. strutting: see note, p. 94. v. 43.
—— _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 2124. _mowynge_] i. e. making mouths, grimacing.
—— _iackenapes_] i. e. monkey.
v. 2132. _brothell_] Was formerly applied as a term of reproach to the
worthless of either sex:
“Of this daye gladde was many a _brothell_
That myght haue an ore with Cocke Lorell.”
_Cocke Lorelles bote_, n. d. sig. C ii.
v. 2135. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518, p. 243.
v. 2138. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 2141. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 2143. _conuenyent_] i. e. fit, suitable.
Page 295. v. 2148. _poddynge prycke_] i. e. skewer that fastens the
pudding-bag.
v. 2150. _pot sharde_] i. e. potsherd.
v. 2151. _the spence of a noble_] i. e. the expense or spending of a
noble,—the gold coin so called.
v. 2152. _c. s._ i. e. a hundred shillings.
v. 2155. _occupyed_] Though our author, according to his occasionally
pleonastic style, has in the next line but one, “_occupyed_ and vsyd,”
the words are synonymous: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 2156. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2159. _retchlesse_] i. e. reckless.
Page 285. v. 2162. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 2164. _it shall not gretly skyll_] See note on v. 1615. p. 262.
v. 2165. _spyll_] i. e. destroy.
v. 2166. _some fall prechynge at the Toure Hyll_] So in _Thenterlude of
Youth_, n. d.;
“By our Lady he dyd promote the
To make the _preche_ at the galowe tre.”
Sig. B i.
v. 2168. _nother they set by_] i. e. neither they value, regard.
v. 2171. _lusty to loke on_] i. e. pleasant to look on.
v. 2172. _nonnes_] i. e. nuns.
—— _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 2173. _Freers_] i. e. Friars.
—— _fayne_] i. e. glad, joyful.
v. 2177. _rechate_] See note, p. 234. v. 215.
Page 296. v. 2186. _brast_] i. e. burst.
v. 2187. _spewe and cast_] One of Skelton’s pleonasms.
v. 2188. _gotted ... to thy share_]—_gotted_, i. e. gotten.
v. 2193. _ye_] i. e. yea.
v. 2194. _to wed_] i. e. for a pawn, pledge.
v. 2195. _a daggeswane_] i. e. a rough sort of coverlet. “_Dagswayne._
Lodex.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “My bedde is couered with a
_daggeswayne_ and a quylte ... _gausape_ ...”—“Some _daggeswaynes_ haue
longe thrummes & iagges on bothe sydes: some but on one.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. g iii. ed. 1530.
—— _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 2196. _metely well_] _“Metely: Moyennement. Assez,”_ &c. Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxliii. (Table of Aduerbes).
“He is _metely_ lerned. _Mediocriter_ doctus est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. R viii. ed. 1530.
v. 2197. _dele_] i. e. part, bit.
v. 2198. _in the deuyls date_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
v. 2201. _the messe_] i. e. the Mass.
Page 297. v. 2204. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 2207. _skelpe_] i. e. slap, strike: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot.
Lang._
v. 2208. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2209. _Cockes bones_] i. e. God’s bones: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
—— _blysse_] See note on v. 1641. p. 263.
v. 2210. _dynge the deuyll_]—_dynge_, i. e. strike, knock. So again in
our author’s poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;
“And _the deuill downe dynge_.”
v. 210. vol. ii. 74.
Compare _The Droichis Part of the Play_, attributed to Dunbar;
“That _dang the devill_, and gart him yowle.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 38. ed. Laing.
Page 297. v. 2210. _holde_] i. e. holden, held.
v. 2211. _rede_] i. e. advice.
v. 2214. _wrynge thy be in a brake_] Some cant expression: _brake_, see
note, p. 168. v. 324, and note on _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 980.
v. 2215. _dawe_] i. e. simpleton: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 2216. _fawchyn_] i. e. cut.
v. 2217. _cauell_] “_Kevil, Kephyl_, A horse, contemptuously applied to
a person, ‘thou girt _kevil_.’” _The Dialect of Craven_, &c. Compare
Lydgate’s verses, entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to keep
a guard over their tongues_;
“I saugh a _kevell_ corpulent of stature,
Lyk a materas redlyd was his coote,” &c.
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 132.
v. 2218. _iauell_] “_Iauell_. Ioppus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. Of
this common term of contempt (which Skelton uses in other passages) the
meaning and etymology are uncertain. Todd (Johnson’s _Dict._ in v.)
explains it “A wandering or dirty fellow;” shews that it is sometimes
written _jabel_; and would derive it from the verb, _javel_, _jable_,
or _jarble_, to bemire, to bedew. Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) refers it to
the French _javelle_, which sometimes means “a faggot of brush-wood or
other worthless materials.” The compiler of the _Gloss._ to _The Towneley
Mysteries_ (under _Hawvelle_) considers it equivalent to—jabberer.
Page 298. v. 2223. _iche_] i. e. I.
v. 2224. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 2229. _all one_] i. e. all agreed.
v. 2233. _rode_] i. e. road, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 2234. _blode_] i. e. blood.
v. 2235. _By our lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 2242. _acomberyd_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
v. 2243. _Goddys fote_] i. e. God’s foot.
v. 2244. _facyd_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 2246. _condycyons_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
Page 299. v. 2248. _bracyd_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 2249. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 2250. _to haute_] i. e. too haughty.
v. 2252. _pratyer_] i. e. prettier.
v. 2258. _gardeuyaunce_] In a note on Dunbar’s _Freir of Tungland_,
Lord Hailes observes that _gardyvians_ is “literally _garde de viande_,
or cupboard; but there it implies his cabinet;” and Mr. D. Laing adds,
“rather, a portable cabinet.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 243. Skelton appears
to use the word in the sense of—trunk: and Palsgrave has “_Gardeuyans
bahus_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxv. (Table of Subst.)
Page 299. v. 2259. _bowget_] i. e. budget.
v. 2260. _male_] i. e. bag, wallet.
v. 2262. _Your trymynge and tramynge by me must be tangyd_] The reader
will hardly expect that I should attempt any precise explanation of this
line.
v. 2264. _When we with Magnyfycence goodys made
cheuysaunce_]—_cheuysaunce_, i. e. booty: see note, p. 107. v. 100.
Compare Gower;
“Right as a thefe _maketh his cheuesance_,
And robbeth mens gooddes aboute,” &c.
_Conf. Am._ B. v. fol. cxvi. ed. 1554.
v. 2265. _wengaunce_] i. e. vengeance.
v. 2266. _banne and wary_] “I _warrye_, I _banne_ or curse, _Ie
mauldis_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccci.
(Table of Verbes). Barclay is even more pleonastic than Skelton;
“And your vnkindnes _weray, ban and curse_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 22. ed. 1570.
v. 2268. _Cockys bonys_] i. e. God’s bones; see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 2270. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2275. _gaure_] i. e. stare: see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s
_Cant. Tales_. Yet Palsgrave has “I _Gaure_ I krye, _Ie hue_. Howe he
_gaureth_ after his hauke: _Cōment il heue apres son oyseau._” _Lesclar.
de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxliiii. (Table of Verbes).
Page 300. v. 2276. _yll hayle_] See note, p. 176. v. 617.
v. 2283. _the gowte and the gyn_] If _gyn_ means (as the context seems to
prove) some bodily ailment, I know not what it is.
v. 2287. _murre_] i. e. severe cold with hoarseness.
—— _pose_] i. e. rheum in the head.
v. 2288. _requiem æternam groweth forth of his nose_] Heywood has a
similar expression;
“Hunger droppeth _euen out of both their noses_.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. D 4.—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
And Cotgrave; “_Chishe-face_ ... one _out of whose nose_ hunger drops.”
_Dict._
v. 2291. _the halfe strete_] On the Bank-side, Southwark,—where the
stews were: it is mentioned in the following curious passage of _Cocke
Lorelles bote_, n. d. (where the “wynde fro wynchester” alludes to the
temporary suppression of the Southwark stews at the intercession of the
Bishop of Winchester);
“Syr this pardon is newe founde
By syde London brydge in a holy grounde
Late called the stewes banke
Ye knowe well all that there was
Some relygyous women in that place
To whome men offred many a franke
And bycause they were so kynde and lyberall
A merueylous auenture there is be fall
Yf ye lyst to here how
There came suche a wynde fro wynchester
That blewe these women ouer the ryuer
In wherye as I wyll you tell
Some at saynt Kateryns stroke a grounde
And many in holborne were founde
Some at saynt Gyles I trowe
Also in aue maria aly and at westmenster
And some in shordyche drewe theder
With grete lamentacyon
And by cause they haue lost that fayre place
They wyll bylde at colman hedge in space
Another noble mansyon
Fayrer and euer _the halfe strete_ was
For euery house newe paued is with gras
Shall be full of fayre floures
The walles shall be of hauthorne I wote well
And hanged wᵗ whyte motly yᵗ swete doth smell
Grene shall be the coloures
And as for this olde place these wenches holy
They wyll not haue it called the stewys for foly
But maketh it strabery banke.”
Sig. B iv.
Page 300. v. 2293. _motton_] Long after Skelton’s time, as the readers of
our early dramatists will recollect, _mutton_ was a favourite cant term
for a prostitute.
v. 2294. _Ye ... to_] i. e. Yea ... too.
v. 2295. _queysy mete_] “_Quaisy_ as meate or drike is, _dangereux_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of
Adiect.). Compare _Jyl of Braintfords Testament_, n. d.;
“I pray you fil you not to much of the _mutton_
I promise you that it is very _queisy_.”
Sig. A.
Page 300. v. 2297. _In fay_] i. e. In faith.
—— _froty_] Is frequently, as here, used by our early writers for—_forty_.
v. 2303. _at all assayes_] See note on v. 433. p. 242.
Page 301. v. 2311. _sleeth_] i. e. slayeth.
v. 2315. _bronde_] i. e. brand.
v. 2316. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
v. 2319. _lewdly_] i. e. vilely, basely (but here it seems to be used as
an adjective).
v. 2320. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2322. _fer_] i. e. far.
v. 2324. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2330. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 302. v. 2332. _wyte_] i. e. blame.
v. 2333. _rede_] i. e. counsel.
v. 2335. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _ryd thy selfe_] i. e. set free thyself,—despatch thyself.
v. 2336. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2340. _honge_] i. e. hang.
v. 2342. _tonge_] i. e. thong.
v. 2343. _throte bole_] i. e. throat-bowl,—protuberance of the throat.
“Throte gole or _throte bole_, _neu de la gorge_, _gosier_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxx. (Table of Subst.). In _Ortus
Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. is “Epiglotum, _a throte bolle_.”—“It
is not impossible,” says Warton, alluding to this passage, “that Despare
[Myschefe] offering the knife and the halter, might give a distant hint
to Spenser.” _Hist. of E. P._ (Em. and Ad. to p. 363 of vol. ii.) ed.
4to. See _The Faerie Queene_, i. ix. 50.
—— _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 2351. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2352. _Out, harowe_]—_harowe_ (variously spelt) is common in our early
poetry as an exclamation of alarm or sudden distress, or an outcry for
help. “Interiectyons of outkrye: _Haro._ as Haro alarme _trahy trahy_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, last folio. On the origin
of the word see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Haro_, _Haroep_; Tyrwhitt’s
note on v. 3286 of Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_; Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of
Scot. Lang._ in v. _Harro_; and Roquefort’s _Gloss. to La Lang. Rom._ in
v. _Harau_.
—— _hyll_] i. e. hell.
v. 2353. _combred_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
v. 2354. _sloo_] i. e. slay.
—— _nature and kynde_] A pleonastic expression.
Page 303. v. 2357. _sautes_] i. e. assaults.
v. 2361. _soner_] i. e. sooner.
v. 2362. _luge_] i. e. (I suppose) lodge, abode.
v. 2365. _wanhope_] i. e. want of hope,—despair. “Desperatio. _wanhope_.”
_Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. “_Wanhope desespoir_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxiii. (Table of
Subst.). In some of our early writers, however, we find a distinction
made between _wanhope_ and _despair_.
v. 2370. _dysease_] i. e. uneasiness, pain.
v. 2373. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 2375. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 2383. _lectuary_] i. e. electuary.
v. 2387. _gommes goostly_] i. e. gums ghostly, spiritual.
—— _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 2388. _To thanke God of his sonde_]—_his sonde_, i. e. his
sending,—his providential dispensation.
Page 304. v. 2392. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 2394. _mode_] i. e. mood.
v. 2398. _dyscryue_] Signifies—describe; but in the present passage it
would seem to mean—discover, search, try.
v. 2406. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2411. _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 305. v. 2430. _apayed_] i. e. satisfied, pleased.
v. 2433. _abylyment_] i. e. habiliment.
v. 2434. _aduysement_] i. e. consideration, heed.
v. 2435. _confyrmable_] i. e. conformable.
v. 2444. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2445. _redlesse_] See note on v. 2077. p. 268.
v. 2449. _to accompte you the contynewe of my consayte_] i. e. to tell
you the continuation, the rest, of my conceit, conception.
Page 306. v. 2455. _sad_] See note on v. 1711. p. 264.
v. 2457. _that is no nay_] i. e. that is not to be denied.
v. 2458. _inhateth_] Skelton’s fondness for compound words has been
already noticed (see note, p. 105. v. 31); and here most probably
_inhateth_ was not intended to convey a stronger meaning than—hateth.
—— _rennynge_] i. e. running.
v. 2460. _ne can_] i. e. can not.
v. 2465. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 2467. _thorowly ingrosed_] i. e. (as the context would seem to shew)
fully written out.
v. 2468. _Pountes_] i. e. Pontoise.
Page 306. v. 2469. _hyght_] i. e. is called.
v. 2474. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 307. v. 2479. _ouerthrow_] i. e. overthrown.
v. 2481. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2485. _hafters_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
—— _forfende_] i. e. forbid, prohibit.
v. 2493. _sentence_] i. e. meaning.
v. 2494. _corage_] i. e. heart, affection.
—— _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 2499. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 2500. _sadnesse_] See note on v. 1382. p. 259.
Page 308. v. 2503. _I wyll refrayne you ferther, or we flyt_] i. e. I
will question you farther before we remove (_refrayne_ being here, it
would seem, according to Skelton’s use of such compounds, equivalent to
the simple, and not uncommon word,—_frayne_).
v. 2506. _processe_] i. e. relation, discourse: see notes, p. 143. v.
735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157, &c.
v. 2507. _Syth_] i. e. Since.
—— _erectyd_] See note on v. 95. p. 237.
v. 2508. _aforse me_] i. e. exert myself, do my endeavour.
v. 2510. _warkys_] i. e. works.
v. 2513. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
—— _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2517. _the nygarde nor the chyncherde_] Synonymous terms. “_Chynche_
or _chynchare_. Preparcus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 2518. _negarship_] i. e. niggardship.
v. 2522. _fumously adresse you with magnanymyte_] i. e. hotly, vigorously
provide, furnish yourself with, &c.
v. 2525. _affyaunce_] i. e. trust.
v. 2534. _this processe_] i. e. this drama of _Magnyfycence:_ (so
presently, “this interlude” v. 2548, “this treatyse” v. 2562, “this
mater” v. 2576:) see note on v. 2506, above.
Page 309. v. 2539. _seke[r]nesse_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 2541. _lawe_] i. e. low; as in v. 190.
v. 2544. _leue_] i. e. willing.
v. 2550. _auaunsyd_] i. e. advanced.
v. 2557. _lacke_] i. e. fault, blame.
v. 2563. _comberyd_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
Page 310. v. 2573. _maysterfest_] i. e. master-fast.
v. 2577. _Precely purposyd vnder pretence of play_]—_Precely_, i. e.
Pressly, seems to mean here—seriously (rather than—expressly).
Page 310. v. 2583. _the terestre rechery_] If “_rechery_” be the right
reading, I know not what it means. Qy. “trechery?” as before, v. 2046,
“Fye on _this worlde, full of trechery_.”
—— _flode_] i. e. flood.
v. 2585. _Ensordyd_] Could only, I presume, mean—defiled: but qy., as the
context seems to require, “Ensorbyd,” i. e. sucked in, swallowed?
—— _wawys_] i. e. waves.
—— _wode_] i. e. mad, raging.
v. 2586. _brast_] i. e. burst,—break.
v. 2588. _hym_] Must be an error of the press for “hymselfe;” compare v.
2581.
v. 2590. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 2591. _ryalte_] i. e. royalty.
v. 2593. _indeuer_] i. e. endure, continue, dwell.
COLYN CLOUTE.
This powerful and original poem must have been circulated in MS.,
probably for a considerable time, before it was given to the press; for
from a passage towards the conclusion, v. 1239, we learn that those
against whom its satire was directed would not “suffer it to be printed.”
In _Colyn Cloute_ Skelton appears to have commenced his attacks on Wolsey.
“I could never conceive, Mr. Warton, to what Drayton alludes, in the
preface to his Eclogues, where he says, that ‘the Colin Clout of SCOGAN,
under Henry the seventh, is pretty.’ He is speaking of pastoral poetry;
and adds, that ‘Barklays ship of fools hath twenty wiser in it.’ You
somewhere say [_Hist. of E. P._ iii. 76, note, ed. 4to], ‘he must mean
SKELTON;’ but what PASTORAL did HE write?” Ritson’s _Obs. on Warton’s
Hist. of E. P._, p. 20 (note); see too his _Bibl. Poet._, p. 99. I
believe that Drayton did mean Skelton. _Colyn Cloute_ is surely as much
a _pastoral_ as Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_,—as much perhaps as even
Barclay’s _Egloges_.
—— _Quis consurget mecum, &c._] _Vulg. Psal._ xciii. 16, where “Quis
consurget _mihi_,” &c.
—— _Nemo, Domine_] _Id. Joan_. viii. 11.
Page 311. v. 1.
_What can it auayle_
_To dryue forth a snayle_]
So in _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without grounds to
Heywood);
“In effect it shall no more _auayle_
Than with a whyp _to dryfe a snayle_.”
Sig. C ii.
Page 311. v. 9. _bokes_] i. e. books.
Page 312. v. 20. _He pryeth and he peketh_] See note, p. 244. v. 667. So
Gascoigne;
“That other _pries and peekes_ in euerie place.”
_The Steele Glasse_, fol. 301,—_Workes_, ed. 1587.
v. 28. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 29. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 30. _a thre foted stole_] i. e. a three-footed stool.
v. 36. _The deuyll, they say, is dede_] Heywood has six Epigrams on this
proverbial expression,—_Workes_, sig. N 2. ed. 1598. Ray gives, “Heigh
ho, _the Devil is dead_.” _Proverbs_, p. 55. ed. 1768.
Page 313, v. 51. _connyng bagge_] i. e. bag, store, of knowledge or
learning.
v. 52. _hagge_] See note, p. 99. v. 19.
v. 53. _though my ryme be ragged_] So Sir D. Lyndsay; “my rural _raggit_
vers.” _Prol. to Monarchie_,—_Works_, ii. 330. ed. Chalmers; and Spenser,
“My _ragged rimes_.” _F. Queene_, i. xii. 23.
v. 54. _iagged_] See note, p. 163. v. 124.
v. 56. _moughte eaten_] i. e. moth-eaten.
v. 66. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 67. _The tone agayng_] i. e. The one against.
v. 68. _shoder_] i. e. shudder.
v. 69. _hoder moder_] i. e. hugger-mugger.
Page 314. v. 70. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 71. _ben so haut_] i. e. be so haughty.
v. 72. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 77. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 79. _wull_] i. e. wool.
v. 80. _Vnethes_] i. e. Scarcely.
v. 82. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 83, _A glommynge_] i. e. A glumming, a looking gloomy, sour.
—— _a mummynge_] Compare our author elsewhere;
“Men of suche maters make but a _mummynge_.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 200. vol. i. 370.
“Thhere was amonge them no worde then but _mum_.”
_Id_. v. 1118. p. 406.
“But play scylens and glum,
Can say nothynge but _mum_.”
v. 906 of the present poem.
v. 84. _iape_] i. e. jest, joke.
v. 87. _hole_] i. e. whole.
Page 314. v. 89. _the forked cap_] i. e. the mitre.
“No wise man is desirous to obtayne
_The forked cappe_ without he worthy be.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 236. ed. 1570.
v. 90. _to lewd_] i. e. too wicked, vile.
v. 91. _all beshrewd_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 99. _For other mennes skyll_]—_skyll_, i. e. reason: the line seems to
mean—Notwithstanding other men’s reasons.
Page 315. v. 107. _solfa so alamyre_]—_alamire_ is the lowest note but
one in Guido Aretine’s scale of music: Gayton, in his _Notes upon Don
Quixote_, 1654, says (metaphorically) that Maritornes “plaid her part
so wel, that she run through all the keyes from _A-la-mi-re_ to double
Gammut,” &c. p. 83.
v. 108. _premenyre_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 115. _heedes_] i. e. heads.
v. 119. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 316. v. 137.
_A great parte is for slouth,_
_But the greattest parte_
_Is for they haue but small arte_
_And ryght sklender connyng_
_Within theyr heedes wonnyng_]
—— _sklender connyng_, i. e. slender knowledge, learning: _wonnyng_, i.
e. dwelling. The meaning of the passage is—a great part of this is owing
to their laziness, but it is chiefly to be attributed to their ignorance,
&c.
Page 317. v. 151. _werkes_] i. e. works.
v. 152. _Ure_] i. e. Urias.
v. 154. _werryn_] i. e. hinder, ward off.
v. 159. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 160. _Set nought by_] i. e. Value not.
—— _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 162. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 163.
_loth to hang the bell_
_Aboute the cattes necke_]
So Heywood;
“And I will _hang the bell about the cats necke_:
For I will first breake and ieoperd the first checke.”
_Dialogue, &c._ sig. D 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See _Pierce Plowman_, where one of the rats proposes that a bell should
be hung about the cat’s neck. Sig. A iii. ed. 1561; and Ray’s _Proverbs_,
p. 85. ed. 1768.
Page 317. v. 166. _to play deuz decke_] An allusion, I suppose, to some
game.
v. 167. _for the becke_] i. e. to obey the nod of command.
v. 169. _Moche herted_] i. e. Much hearted.
v. 178. _combred_] i. e. encumbered.
Page 318. v. 181. _Sho the mockysshe mare_] So in our author’s _Why come
ye nat to Courte_;
“And _Mocke_ hath lost her shoo.”
v. 83. vol. ii. 29.
v. 182. _wynche and keke_] i. e. wince and kick.
v. 183. _not worth a leke_] An expression not uncommon in our early
poetry:
“No fallow _wourth ane leik_.”
G. Douglas’s _King Hart_,—Pinkerton’s _An._ _Scot. Poems from Maitl.
MSS._ i. 42.
“Such loue I preise not _at a leke_.”
Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_, fol. 130,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
v. 190.
_Amende whan ye may,_
_For, usque ad montem Sare,_
_Men say ye can not appare_]
—_appare_, i. e. impair. The meaning of this passage,—in which (as I
have already noted _ad loc._) it seems probable from a comparison of
the MS. and the printed copies, that Skelton used the forms “Seire” and
“appeire,”—is—Amend when ye may, for it is said by every body, even as
far as Mount Seir, that ye cannot be worse than ye are. The Latin words
are a quotation from the Vulgate: “Et circuit de Baala contra occidentem,
_usque ad montem Seir_.” _Josue_, xv. 10.
v. 194. _hauke on hobby larkes_] See notes, p. 258. v. 1358. p. 262. v.
1582.
v. 195. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 198. _The gray gose for to sho_] Hoccleve uses this proverbial
expression;
“Ye medle of al thyng, ye moot _shoo the goos_.”
_Poems_, p. 13. ed. 1796.
and Heywood has the following Epigram;
“_Of common medlers._
”He that medleth with all thing, may _shoe the gosling_.
If all such medlers were set to goose shoing,
No goose need go barefoote betweene this and Greece,
For so we should haue as many goose shoers as geese.”
Sig. P 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See also Davies’s _Scourge of Follie (Prouerbs)_, n. d. p. 175.
Page 319. v. 209. _pranes_] i. e. prawns.
v. 211. _werynge_] i. e. wearing.
v. 213. _ne peason_] i. e. nor peas.
v. 214. _loke to be let lose_] i. e. look to be let loose.
v. 215. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 216.
_Your gorge not endewed_
_Without a capon, &c._]
Equivalent to—You not digesting any thing except, &c.: see notes, p. 207.
v. 78. and v. 87.
v. 218. _a stewed cocke_] Compare the following passage in the _Interlude
of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“_Tauerner._ Though all capons be gone what than
yet I can get you _a stewed hen_
That is redy dyght.
_Humanyte._ yf she be fat yt wyll do well.
_Tauerner._ Fat or lene I cannot tell
But as for this I wot well
She lay at the stewes all nyght.”
Sig. B. vi.
v. 219.
_To knowe whate ys a clocke_
_Vnder her surfled_ [MS. _surfuld_] _smocke_]
Compare Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.;
“Howbeit suddenly she minded on a day,
To pick the chest locke, wherein this bagge lay:
...
But streight as she had forthwith opened the locke,
And look’t in the bagge, _what it was a clocke_,” &c.
Sig. K 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ we find,
“With burris rowth and bottons _surffillyng_ [MS. _surfullinge_].”
v. 803. vol. i. 394.
which is cited (_Dict._ in v. _Surfel_) by Richardson, who, after quoting
from Gifford that “To _surphule_ or _surfel_ the cheeks, is to wash them
with mercurial or sulphur water,” &c., adds that Gifford’s “explanation
does not extend to the passage from Skelton.” The fact seems to be that
Skelton uses _surfle_ for _purfle_, i. e. border, embroider: and I may
notice that Brathwait, on the other hand, seems to employ _purfle_ for
_surfle_;
“With painting, _purfling_, and a face of Art.”
_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615. p. 150.
Page 319. v. 222.
_And howe whan ye gyue orders_
_In your prouinciall borders,_
_As at Sitientes, &c._]
_Sitientes_ is the first word of the Introit of the Mass for Passion
Sunday (_“Sitientes, venite ad aquas, dicit Dominus,” &c._, _Isaiah_ lv.
1). For this note I am indebted to W. Dyce, Esq., who further observes
that _Sitientes_ Saturday was of old, and is now abroad, the Saturday
before Passion Sunday.
Page 320. v. 233. _renne they in euery stede_] i. e. run they in every
place.
v. 234. _nolles_] i. e. heads.
v. 239. _Pystle_] i. e. Epistle.
v. 243. _prymes and houres_] i. e. the devotions so named.
v. 248. _vagabundus_] i. e. vagabonds.
v. 251. _ale stake_] i. e. stake set up before an ale-house by way of
sign.
v. 252. _welcome hake and make_] An expression which I have not elsewhere
met with. Ray gives among _North Country words_, “To _hake_, To sneak,
or loiter:” in Hunter’s _Hallam. Gloss._ is “A _haking_ fellow, an
idle loiterer;” and in a song cited by Mr. J. P. Collier (_Hist. of
Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 472) from a MS. drama called _Misogonus_ by T.
Richards, we find,—
“With Bes and Nell we love to dwell
In kissinge and in _hakinge_.”
—_make_ is common in the sense of—mate, companion.
Page 321. v. 262. _stylla_] i. e. still.
v. 263. _wylla_] i. e. will.
v. 264. _pekes_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 266. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 267. _apposed_] i. e. questioned, examined. “He was _apposed_,
or examyned of his byleue. De religione _appellatus est_.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. D ii. ed. 1530.
v. 269. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
Page 322. v. 284. _Tom a thrum_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
v. 293.
_There shall no clergy appose_
_A myter nor a crose,_
_But a full purse_]—_clergy_, i. e. erudition.
“Androgeus by kyng Mynos was sent,
For he should profite in _cleargy_,
To Athens.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. I. leaf xii. ed. Wayland.
—_appose_ seems to be used in a different sense from that in which we
have just had it (v. 267), and to be equivalent to—procure: _crose_, i.
e. crosier.
Page 322. v. 299. _a hermoniake_] A term I am unable to explain.
v. 303. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.
—— _the foresayd laye_] i. e. the above-mentioned laity.
v. 305. _anker_] i. e. anchorite.
v. 310.
_To ryde vpon a mule_
_With golde all betrapped_]
Perhaps, as Warton thinks (note on _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to),
an allusion to Wolsey: afterwards in this poem, the Cardinal appears to
be pointed at more plainly.
Page 323. v. 312. _purple and paule_] An expression which frequently
occurs, more particularly in ballad-poetry (considered by Percy and
others as equivalent to—purple robe): _paule_, i. e. pall, rich or fine
cloth.
v. 316. _Raynes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2042.
v. 317. _morowes mylke_] i. e. morning’s milk.
v. 318. _tabertes_] _Tabards_,—jackets or coats, without sleeves, close
before and behind, and open at the sides, are still worn by heralds:
but those mentioned in the text were longer,—a sort of riding-cloaks.
“_Tabard_ a garmêt _mâteau_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. lxviii. (Table of Subst.). And see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in v.
_Tabartum_; Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Tabar_; and Strutt’s _Dress and
Habits_, &c. ii. 301.
v. 319. _Theyr styrops of myxt gold begared_]—_begared_, or _begarded_,
means—faced, bordered,—adorned. The line, I suspect, (see various
readings _ad l._) ought to stand,—
“Theyr styrops _with_ gold begared.”
v. 321. _moyles_] i. e. mules.
v. 323.
_What care they though Gil sweate,_
_Or Jacke of the Noke_]
So afterwards, v. 857, the same terms are used to signify the labouring
poor of both sexes. _Jacke of the Noke_, i. e. (I suppose) Jack of the
Nook: see “_Nocata terræ_” in Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
v. 325. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 331. _farly_] i. e. strange.
v. 332. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
v. 335. _all to-mangle_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
Page 324. v. 337. _ascrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v.
903. p. 152. v. 1358.
v. 341. _Ware_] i. e. Were. (MS. “Was:” see note _ad loc._)
v. 342. _Poules_] i. e. Paul’s.
Page 324. v. 346. _trones_] i. e. thrones.
v. 347. _Lyke prynces aquilonis_] i. e. Like so many Lucifers.
v. 352. _For prestes and for lones_]—_prestes_, i. e. sums in advance.
“_Prest_ and _loan_,” Sir H. Nicolas observes to me, “seem to have been
used in nearly, if not precisely, the same sense in the 16th century.
Perhaps, strictly, _prest_ meant a compulsory advance. In fiscal records
it has much the meaning of _charge_ or _imprest_.”
v. 356. _tonge tayde_] i. e. tongue-tied.
v. 360. _shrewd_] i. e. evil.
v. 362. _poollynge_] i. e. polling, plundering.
Page 325. v. 365. _Ye make monkes to haue the culerage, &c._] A passage
which I do not understand: but _culerage_ perhaps has here the meaning
which it conveys as the name of an herb, “Arse-smart. _Cul-rage._”
Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 373. _ouerthwarted_] Has been explained before (p. 211. v.
230)—cavilled, wrangled: but here it seems to mean—crossly, perversely
opposed or controlled.
v. 376. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 379. _corum_] i. e. quorum.
v. 388. _apostataas_] See note, p. 212. v. 290.
Page 326. v. 391. _sely nonnes_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless nuns.
v. 392. _ronnes_] i. e. runs.
v. 396. _quere_] i. e. quire.
v. 397. _heuy chere_] “_Heavy chear_, Tristitia, Mœstitia.” Cole’s _Dict._
v. 399. _fucke sayles_] So in a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar;
“The dust upskaillis, mony fillok wiih _fuk saillis_.”
_Poems_, ii. 27. ed. Laing.
and in another by Sir R. Maitland;
“Of fynest camroche thair _fuk saillis_.”
_Anc. Scot. Poems from Maitland MSS._, ii. 326. ed. Pink.
_Focke_, a foresail, German. In the Expenses of Sir John Howard, first
Duke of Norfolk, we find, “Item, the same day my mastyr paid to the said
Clayson, for a _fuk_ maste for the said kervelle, iij_s._ iiij_d._”
_Manners and Household Expenses of England_, &c., p. 206. ed. Roxb.
v. 401. _shales_] See note, p. 97. v. 19.
v. 403. _The lay fee people_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 404. _fawte_] i. e. fault.
v. 409. _Boke and chalys_] i. e. Book and chalice.
Page 327. v. 417. _melles_] i. e. meddles.
v. 418. _tytyuelles_] This word occurs not unfrequently, and with some
variety of spelling, in our early writers. So Lydgate;
“_Tytyuylles_ tyrauntes with tormentoures.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. c i. n. d. 4to.
and Heywood;
“There is no moe such _titifyls_ in Englandes ground,
To hold with the hare, and run with the hound.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. C,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Some have considered the word as derived from the Latin, _titivilitium_,
a thing of no worth. Jamieson “suspects that it is a personal
designation,” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Tutivillaris_. In
_Juditium, Towneley Mysteries_, p. 310, _Tutivillus_ is a fiend; and in
the Moral Play of _Mankind_ he represents the sin of the flesh, _Hist. of
Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 297, by Mr. J.P. Collier, who says (ii. 223) that
“the name afterwards came to mean any person with evil propensities,”
and refers to the comedy of _Rauf Royster Doyster_, Skelton’s Works, and
the Enterlude of _Thersytes_: when he objected to the derivation of the
word from _titivilitium_ and proposed “the more simple etymology, _totus_
and _vilis_,” he was probably not aware that some writers (wrongly)
“_totivillitium_ volunt, quasi _totum vile_:” see Gronovius’s note on the
_Casina_ of Plautus, ii. 5, 39. ed. Var.
Page 327. v. 421. _Of an abbay ye make a graunge_] A proverbial
expression.
“Our changes are soch that _an abbeye turneth to a graunge_.”
Bale’s _Kynge Iohan_, p. 23. Camd. ed.
“To bring _an Abbey to a Grange_.” Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 174. ed. 1768.
v. 424. _beade rolles_] i. e. prayers,—properly, lists of those to be
prayed for.
v. 429.
_But where theyr soules dwell,_
_Therwith I wyll not mell_]
—_mell_, i. e. meddle. So Dunbar;
“Now _with thair sawle we will nocht mell_.”
_Poems_, ii. 52. ed. Laing.
v. 434. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
v. 440. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
Page 328. v. 447.
_splendore_
_Fulgurantis hastæ_]
From the Vulgate. “Ibunt in _splendore fulgurantis hastæ_ tuæ.” _Habac._
iii. 11. “Et micantis gladii, et _fulgurantis hastæ_.” _Nahum_, iii. 3.
v. 456. _eysell_] i. e. vinegar.
v. 458. _ypocras_] Was a favourite medicated drink, composed of wine
(usually red), with spices and sugar. It is generally supposed to have
been so named from Hippocrates (often contracted, as in our author’s
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1426. vol. i. 417, to “Ipocras”); perhaps
because it was strained,—the woollen bag used by apothecaries to strain
syrups and decoctions for clarification being termed _Hippocrates’s
sleeve_.
Page 328. v. 459. _Let the cat wynke_] See note, p. 168. v. 305.
v. 460. _Iche wot_] Seems to mean here—Each knows (not, I know); and
therefore in the remainder of the line the reading of Kele’s ed., “yche,”
ought not to have been rejected.
v. 467. _theologys_] i. e. theologians.
v. 468. _astrologys_] i. e. astrologers.
Page 329. v. 469. _Ptholome_] See note, p. 133. v. 503.
v. 474. _pretendynge_] Equivalent to—portending.
“What misfortune, aduersitie, or blame,
Can all the planets to man or childe _pretende_,
If God most glorious by his might vs defende?”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 129. ed. 1570.
Here Skelton seems to allude to Wolsey; and from these lines (called in
the Lansdown MS., see note _ad loc._, “The profecy of Skelton”) perhaps
originated the story of our poet having prophesied the downfal of the
Cardinal.
v. 476. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 479. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
Page 330. v. 489. _bruted_] i. e. reported, talked of.
v. 492. _wrest vp_] i. e. screw up: see note, p. 238. v. 137.
v. 493. _twynkyng_] i. e. tinking, tinkling.
v. 498. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 504. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 515. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
Page 331. v. 523. _resydeuacyon_] i. e. recidivation, backsliding.
v. 528. _ipostacis_] i. e. hypostasis.
v. 533. _fore top_] i. e. (as the context shews) simply,—head, pate.
v. 535. _knowe and ken_] A pleonasm,—unless _ken_ be explained—see.
v. 542.
_And some haue a smacke_
_Of Luthers sacke_]
Concerning the wine called _sack_ (about which so much has been written)
see Henderson’s _Hist. of Anc. and Mod. Wines_, p. 298.
v. 544. _brennyng_] i. e. burning.
v. 545. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 332. v. 549. _carpe_] i. e. talk, prate.
v. 551. _Called Wicleuista_] From Wicliffe.
v. 553. _Hussyans_] i. e. followers of Huss.
v. 554. _Arryans_] i. e. followers of Arius.
v. 555. _Pollegians_] i. e. Pelagians,—followers of Pelagius.
v. 559. _to mykel_] i. e. too much.
Page 332. v. 564. _tryalytes_] i. e. three benefices united.
v. 565. _tot quottes_] So Barclay;
“Then yf this lorde haue in him fauour, he hath hope
To haue another benefyce of greater dignitie,
And so maketh a false suggestion to the pope
For a _tot quot_, or els a pluralitie.”
_Ship of Fooles_, fol. 60. ed. 1570.
Page 333. v. 572. _persons and vycaryes_] i. e. parsons and vicars.
v. 576. _loselles_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 577. _lewdely_] i. e. wickedly, vilely.
v. 578. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 581. _mought_] i. e. might.
v. 582. _so dysgysed_] See note, p. 205. v. 22.
Page 334. v. 597. _lokes_] i. e. looks.
v. 598. _bokes_] i. e. books.
v. 600. _wroken_] i. e. wreaked.
v. 602. _iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 604. _face_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
—— _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 606. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 607. _layser_] i. e. leisure.
v. 619. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
Page 335. v. 624. _dykes_] i. e. ditches.
“Where the blinde leadeth the blinde, both fall in the _dyke_.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, ed. 1598, sig. G 2.
v. 625. _Set nothyng by_] i. e. Value not, regard not.
v. 637. _ye, shall_] i. e. yea, I shall.
v. 648. _shule_] i. e. shovel.
Page 336. v. 654. _mamockes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2035.
v. 663. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 664. _Many one ye haue vntwynde_] The reading of the MS., which at
least gives a sense to the line: _vntwynde_, i. e. destroyed; see note,
p. 127. v. 284.
v. 668. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 672. _in the deuyll way_] A common expression in our early writers.
“Our Hoste answerd: Tell on _a devil way_.”
Chaucer’s _Milleres Prol._, v. 3136. ed. Tyr.
“In the _twenty deuyll way, Au nom du grant diable_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlii. (Table of Aduerbes).
“What reason is that, _in the twenty deuell waye_, that he shulde bere
suche a rule? Quænam (_malum_) ratio est,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig.
dd iii. ed. 1530.
Page 337. v. 673. _ouer_] i. e. besides.
v. 675. _hear_] i. e. hair.
v. 679. _tonsors_] i. e. tonsures.
v. 688. _the male dothe wrye_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
Page 338. v. 692. _Ye bysshops of estates_]—_of estates_, i. e. of great
estate, rank, dignity.
v. 698. _awtentyke_] i. e. authentic.
v. 704. _intoxicate_] i. e. poison (Lat. _intoxico_).
v. 705. _conquinate_] i. e. coinquinate,—pollute, defile, defame.
v. 710. _The Churchis hygh estates_] i. e. the dignitaries of the Church.
Page 339. v. 728. _marke_] i. e. marks,—the coins so called.
v. 730. _werke_] i. e. work.
v. 734. _sawe_] i. e. saying,—branch of learning.
v. 737. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 739. _frere_] i. e. friar.
Page 340. v. 747.
_of the order_
_Vpon Grenewyche border,_
_Called Obseruaunce_]
The statement that Edward the Third founded a religious house at
Greenwich in 1376 appears to rest on no authority. A grant of Edward
the Fourth to certain Minorites or Observant Friars of the order of St.
Francis of a piece of ground which adjoined the palace at Greenwich, and
on which they had begun to build several small mansions, was confirmed
in 1486 by a charter of Henry the Seventh, who founded there a convent
of friars of that order, to consist of a warden and twelve brethren at
the least; and who is said to have afterwards rebuilt their convent
from the foundation. The friars of Greenwich were much favoured by
Katherine, queen of Henry the Eighth; and when, during the question of
her divorce, they had openly espoused her cause, the king was so greatly
enraged that he suppressed the whole order throughout England. The
convent at Greenwich was dissolved in 1534. Queen Mary reinstated them in
their possessions, and new-founded and repaired their monastery. Queen
Elizabeth suppressed them, &c. See Lysons’s _Environs of London_, iv.
464. ed. 1796.
v. 754. _Babuell besyde Bery_] When by an order of Pope Urban the Fourth,
the Grey Friars were removed out of the town and jurisdiction of Bury St.
Edmund, in 1263, “they retired to a place just without the bounds, beyond
the north gate, called Babwell, now the Toll-gate, which the abbat and
convent generously gave them to build on; and here they continued till
the dissolution.” Tanner’s _Not. Mon._ p. 527. ed. 1744.
Page 340. v. 755. _To postell vpon a kyry_] i. e. to comment upon a Kyrie
eleison: (a _postil_ is a short gloss, or note).
v. 757. _coted_] i. e. quoted.
Page 341. v. 779. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 780.
_make a Walshmans hose_
_Of the texte and of the glose_]
So again our author in his _Garlande of Laurell_;
“And after conueyauns as the world goos,
It is no foly to vse _the Walshemannys hose_.”
v. 1238. vol. i. 411.
Compare _The Legend of the Bischop of St Androis_;
“Of omnigatherene now his glose,
He _maid it lyk a Wealchman hose_.”
_Scot. Poems of the Sixteenth Century_, (by Dalyell), p. 332.
“WELCHMAN’S HOSE. Equivalent, I imagine, to the breeches of a Highlander,
or the dress of a naked Pict; upon the presumption that Welchmen had no
hose.” Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. Unfortunately, however, for this ingenious
conjecture, the expression is found varied to “_shipman’s hose_,”—which
certainly cannot be considered as a non-entity. “Hereunto they adde also
a Similitude not very agreeable, how the Scriptures be like to a Nose
of Waxe, or _a Shipmans Hose_: how thei may be fashioned, and plied al
manner of waies, and serue al mennes turnes.” Jewel’s _Defence of the
Apologie_, &c. p. 465. ed. 1567. “And not made as _a shippe mans hose_ to
serue for euery legge.” Wilson’s _Arte of Rhetorike_, p. 102. ed. 1580.
Surely _Welshman’s hose_ (as well as shipman’s) became proverbial from
their pliability, power of being stretched, &c.
v. 784. _broke_] i. e. brook.
v. 785. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 786. _boke_] i. e. book.
Page 342. v. 800. _the brode gatus_] Means perhaps, Broadgates Hall,
Oxford, on the site of which Pembroke College was erected.
v. 801. _Daupatus_] i. e. Simple-pate: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 803. _Dronhen as a mouse_] So Chaucer;
“We faren as he that _dronke is as a mous_.”
_The Knightes Tale_, v. 1263. ed. Tyr.
v. 805. _his pyllyon and his cap_]—_pyllyon_, from Lat. _pileus_. Compare
Barclay;
“Mercury shall geue thee giftes manyfolde,
His _pillion_, scepter, his winges, and his harpe.”
_Fourth Egloge_, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.
and Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_; “and upon his head a round _pillion_,
with a noble of black velvet set to the same in the inner side” [where
surely we ought to read, “and upon his head a round _pillion_ of black
velvet, with a noble set to the same in the inner side”]. p. 105. ed.
1827.
Page 342. v. 811. _As wyse as Waltoms calfe_] So Heywood;
“And thinke me _as wise as Waltams calfe_, to talke,” &c.
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Ray gives, “_As wise as Waltham’s calf_, that ran nine miles to suck a
bull.” _Proverbs_, p. 220. ed. 1768.
v. 812. _a Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.
v. 817. _scole matter_] i. e. school-matter.
Page 343. v. 820. _elenkes_] i. e. elenchs (_elenchus_—in logic).
v. 822. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 826. _neuen_] i. e. name.
v. 831. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 836. _Lymyters_] i. e. Friars licensed to beg within certain districts.
v. 840. _Flatterynge, &c._] Compare Barclay;
“We geue wooll and _cheese_, our wiues coyne and egges,
When _freers flatter_ and prayse their proper legges.”
_Fifth Egloge_, sig. D v. ed. 1570.
v. 843. _lese_] i. e. lose.
Page 344. v. 846. _bacon flycke_] i. e. flitch of bacon.
v. 849. _couent_] i. e. convent.
v. 852. _theyr tonges fyle_]—_fyle_, i. e. smooth, polish: the expression
occurs in earlier and in much later writers.
v. 854.
_To Margery and to Maude,_
_Howe they haue no fraude_]
As we find the name “Mawte” in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 159.
vol. i. 100, and as in the second of these lines the MS. (see note _ad
l._) has “fawte” (i. e. fault), the right reading is probably,
“To Margery and to _Mawte_,
Howe they haue no _fawte_.”
v. 856. _prouoke_] i. e. incite.
v. 857. _Gyll and Jacke at Noke_] See note on v. 323. p. 283.
v. 861. _In open tyme_] i. e. In the time when no fasts are imposed.
v. 864. _an olde sayd sawe_] “_Oulde sayd sawe prouerbe_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. li. (Table of Subst.).
Page 344. v. 866. _Some walke aboute in melottes_] “Circuierunt in
melotis.” _Vulgate_,—_Heb._ xi. 37. “_Melotes_,” as Mr. Albert Way
observes to me, “is explained in the _Catholicon_ to be a garment used by
the monks during laborious occupation, made of the skin of the badger,
and reaching from the neck to the loins,” and according to other early
dictionaries, it was made of the hair or skin of other animals. So
the original Greek word, μηλωτή, which properly means _pellis ovina_,
signifies also _pellis quævis_.
v. 867. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 868. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 869. _in remotes_] i. e. in retired places.
Page 345. v. 874.
_And by Dudum, theyr Clementine,_
_Agaynst curates they repyne;_
_And say propreli they ar sacerdotes,_
_To shryue, assoyle, and reles_
_Dame Margeries soule out of hell_]
—_shryue, assoyle_, i. e. confess, absolve.—“On a de Clément V une
compilation nouvelle, tant des décrets du concile général de Vienne,
que de ses épîtres ou constitutions. C’est ce qu’on appelle les
_Clémentines_.” _L’Art de vérifier les Dates, &c. (depuis la naissance de
Notre-seigneur_), iii. 382. ed. 1818. Skelton alludes here to _Clement._
lib. iii. tit. vii. cap. ii. which begins, “_Dvdum_ à Bonifacio Papa
octauo prædecessore nostro,” &c., and contains the following passages.
“Ab olim siquidem inter Prælatos & Rectores, seu Sacerdotes ac Clericos
parochialium Ecclesiarum per diuersas Mundi prouincias constitutos ex
vna parte, & Prædicatorum & Minorum ordinum fratres ex altera (pacis
æmulo, satore zizaniæ procurante), grauis & periculosa discordia
extitit, suscitata super prædicationib. fidelium populis faciendis,
eorum confessionibus audiendis, pœnitentiis iniungendis eisdem, &
tumulandis defunctorum corporibus, qui apud fratrum ipsorum Ecclesias
siue loca noscuntur eligere sepulturam.... Statuimus etiam & ordinamus
auctoritate prædicta, vt in singulis ciuitatibus & diœcesibus, in quibus
loca fratrum ipsorum consistere dignoscuntur, vel in ciuitatibus &
diœcesibus locis ipsis vicinis, in quibus loca huiusmodi non habentur,
Magistri, Priores prouinciales Prædicatorum, aut eorum Vicarij &
Generales, et Prouinciales Ministri & custodes Minorum & ordinum
prædictorum ad præsentiam Prælatorum eorundem locorum se conferant per
se, vel per fratres, quos ad hoc idoneos fore putauerint, humiliter
petituri, vt fratres, qui ad hoc electi fuerint, in eorum ciuitatibus
& diœcesibus confessiones subditorum suorum confiteri sibi volentium
audire liberè valeant, & huiusmodi confitentibus (prout secundùm Deum
expedire cognouerint) pœnitentias imponere salutares, atque eisdem
absolutionis beneficium impendere de licentia, gratia, & beneplacito
eorundem: Ac deinde præfati Magistri, Priores, Prouinciales, & Ministri
ordinum prædictorum eligere studeant personas sufficientes, idoneas, vita
probatas, discretas, modestas, atque peritas, ad tam salubre ministerium
et officium exequendum: quas sic ab ipsis electas repræsentent,
vel faciant præsentari Prælatis, vt de eorum licentia, gratia, &
beneplacito in ciuitatib. & dioecesibus eorundem huiusmodi personæ
sic electæ confessiones confiteri sibi volentium audiant, imponant
pœnitentias salutares, & beneficium absolutionis (in posterum) impendant,
prout superiùs est expressum: extra ciuitates & diœceses, in quibus
fuerint deputatæ, per quas eas volumus & non per prouincias deputari,
confessiones nullatenus audituræ. Numerus autem personarum assumendarum
ad huiusmodi officium exercendum esse debet, prout vniuersitas cleri &
populi, ac multitudo vel paucitas exigit eorundem. Et si iidem Prælati
petitam licentiam confessionum huiusmodi audiendarum concesserint: illam
præfati Magistri, Ministri, & alij cum gratiarum recipiant actione,
dictæque personæ sic electæ commissum sibi officium exequantur. Quòd si
fortè iam dicti Prælati quenquam ex dictis fratribus præsentatis eisdem
ad huiusmodi officium nollent habere, vel non ducerent admittendum: eo
amoto, vel subtracto loco ipsius similiter eisdem præsentandus Prælatis
possit, & debeat alius surrogari. Si verò iidem Prælati præfatis
fratribus ad confessiones (vt præmittitur) audiendas electis, huiusmodi
exhibere licentiam recusârint, nos ex nunc ipsis, vt confessiones sibi
confiteri volentium liberè licitèque audire valeant, & eisdem pœnitentias
imponere salutares, atque eisdem beneficium absolutionis impertiri,
gratiosè concedimus de plenitudine Apostolicæ potestatis. Per huiusmodi
autem concessionem nequaquam intendimus personis, seu fratribus ipsis ad
id taliter deputatis, potestatem in hoc impendere ampliorem quàm in eo
curatis vel parochialibus Sacerdotib. est à iure concessa: nisi forsan
eis Ecclesiarum Prælati vberiorem in hac parte gratiam specialiter
ducerent faciendam.” Pp. 184-190. (_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600.)
Page 345. v. 879.
_But when the freare fell in the well,_
_He coud not syng himselfe therout_
_But by the helpe of Christyan Clout_]
The name “_Cristian Clowte_” has occurred before in our author’s
_Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale_, vol. i. 28. The story alluded to in this
passage appears to be nearly the same as that which is related in a
comparatively modern ballad, entitled,
“_The Fryer Well-fitted:
or,
A Pretty Jest that once befel,
How a Maid put a Fryer to cool in the Well.
To a merry new Tune. Licens’d and Enter’d according to Order._”
The Friar wishes to seduce the Maid;
“But she denyed his Desire,
And told him, that she feared Hell-fire;
_fa, la_, &c.
Tush, (quoth the Fryer) thou needst not doubt,
_fa, la_, &c.
If thou wert in Hell, I could sing thee out;
_fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid then tells him that he “shall have his request,” but only on
condition that he brings her “an angel of money.” While he is absent,
“She hung a Cloth before the Well;” and, when he has returned, and given
her the angel,—
“Oh stay, (quoth she) some Respite make,
My Father comes, he will me take;
_fa, la_, &c.
Alas, (quoth the Fryer) where shall I run,
_fa, la_, &c.
To hide me till that he be gone?
_fa, la_, &c.
Behind the Cloth run thou (quoth she),
And there my Father cannot thee see;
_fa, la_, &c.
Behind the Cloth the Fryer crept,
_fa, la_, &c.
And into the Well on sudden he leapt,
_fa, la_, &c.
Alas, (quoth he) I am in the Well;
No matter, (quoth she) if thou wert in Hell;
_fa, la_, &c.
Thou say’st thou could’st sing me out of Hell,
_fa, la_, &c.
Now prithee sing thyself out of the Well,
_fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid at last helps him out, and bids him be gone; but when he asks
her to give him back the angel,—
“Good Sir, (said she) there’s no such matter,
I’ll make you pay for fouling my Water;
_fa, la_, &c.
The Fryer went along the Street,
_fa, la_, &c.
Drapping wet, like a new-wash’d Sheep,
_fa, la_, &c.
Both Old and Young commended the Maid,
That such a witty Prank had plaid;
_fa, la, la, la, la,_
_fa, la, la, lang-tree down-dily._”
_Ballads_, Brit. Mus. 643. m.
Page 345. v. 882.
_Another Clementyne also,_
_How frere Fabian, with other mo,_
_Exivit de Paradiso_]
—_mo_, i. e. more. Some corruption, if not considerable mutilation of the
text, may be suspected here. There seems to be an allusion to _Clement_,
lib. v. tit. xi. cap. i., which begins, “_Exiui de paradiso_, dixi,
rigabo hortum plantationum, ait ille cœlestis agricola,” &c. P. 313.
(_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600).
v. 892. _abiections_] i. e. objections.
Page 346. v. 901. _hertes_] i. e. hearts.
v. 903. _coueytous_] i. e. covetise, covetousness.
v. 906. _play scylens and glum, &c._] See note on v. 83. p. 278.
v. 911. _leuer_] i. e. more willingly, rather.
v. 914. _Worsshepfully_] i. e. According to their honour, or dignity.
Page 347. v. 922. _payntes_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
v. 924. _them lyke_] i. e. please them.
v. 931. _crosse_] See note, p. 116. v. 363.
v. 932. _predyall landes_] i. e. farm-lands.
v. 943. _palles_] See note on v. 312. p. 283.
v. 944. _Arras_] i. e. tapestry: see note, p. 192. v. 78.
v. 947. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable,—beautiful.
Page 348. v. 950. _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 951. _tyrly tyrlowe_] This passage was strangely misunderstood by
the late Mr. Douce, who thought that “_tyrly tyrlowe_” alluded to the
note of the crow, that bird being mentioned in the preceding line!
_Illust. of Shakespeare_, i. 353. The expression has occurred before,
in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 292. vol. i. 104: here it is
equivalent to the modern _fa, la, la_, which is often used with a sly or
wanton allusion,—as, for instance, at the end of each stanza of Pope’s
court-ballad, _The Challenge_.
Page 348. v. 953. _a lege de moy_] See note, p. 176. v. 587.
v. 956. _With suche storyes bydene_]—_bydene_, that is “by the dozen,”
says Warton, erroneously, quoting this passage, _Hist. of E. P._, ii.
343. ed. 4to (note). The word occurs frequently in our early poetry, with
different significations: here it may be explained—together—(with _a
collection of_ such stories); so in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;
“Now cryst ...
...
Saue all this company that is gathered here _bydene_.”
Sig. C iiii.
v. 957. _Their chambres well besene_]—_well besene_, i. e. of a good
appearance,—well-furnished, or adorned: see note, p. 112. v. 283.
v. 962. _Nowe all the worlde stares, &c._] “This is still,” as Warton
observes (_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 343. ed. 4to, note), “a description of
tapestry.”
v. 963. _chares_] i. e. chariots.
v. 964. _olyphantes_] i. e. elephants.
v. 965, _garlantes_] i. e. garlands.
v. 974. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.
v. 975. _courage_] i. e. heart, affections.
v. 977.
_Theyr chambres thus to dresse_
_With suche parfetnesse_]
—_parfetnesse_, i. e. perfectness. “We should observe,” says Warton,
after citing the passage, “that the satire is here pointed at the subject
of these tapestries. The graver ecclesiastics, who did not follow the
levities of the world, were contented with religious subjects, or such as
were merely historical.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 344. ed. 4to.
Page 349. v. 983. _remorde_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 987. _mellyng_] i. e. meddling.
v. 990. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 991. _For one man to rule a kyng_] An allusion, I apprehend, to
Wolsey’s influence over Henry the Eighth: so again our author speaking
of Wolsey, in the Latin lines at the end of _Why Come ye nat to Courte_,
“Qui regnum _regemque regit_.” Vol. ii. 67. I may observe too in further
confirmation of the reading “_kyng_” instead of “gyng” (see note _ad
loc._), that we have had in an earlier passage of the present poem,
“_To rule_ bothe _kyng_ and kayser.”
v. 606.
v. 996. _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 998. _quysshon_] i. e. cushion.
v. 1000. _Cum regibus amicare_] “_Amico_, to be frend.” _Medulla
Gramatice_, MS. (now in the possession of Mr. Rodd).
Page 349. v. 1002. _pravare_] In _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de. Worde,
n. d., is “_Prauo_ ... prauum facere. _or to shrewe_,” and “Tirannus.
_shrewe_ or tyrande.” The meaning therefore of _pravare_ in our text may
be—to play the tyrant.
Page 350. v. 1003. _vre_] “_Evr_ happe or lucke with his compoundes
_bonevr_ and _malevr_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. vi. (Thirde Boke).
“My goddesse bright, my fortune, and my _vre_.”
Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_, fol. 330,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
“The grace and _ewer_ and hap of olde fortune.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. Z v. cd. 1555.
“But wayte his death & his fatall _eure_.”
_Id_. sig. A a i.
“And fortune which hath the such _vre_ y sent.”
_Poems by C. Duke of Orleans,—MS. Harl._ 682, fol. 24.
v. 1014. _played so checkemate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in
_check_ at the game of chess.
v. 1017. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1019. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 1020. _at the playsure of one, &c._] Meaning, surely, Wolsey.
v. 1025. _not so hardy on his hede_] An elliptical expression; compare v.
1154. In the _Morte d’Arthur_ when Bors is on the point of slaying King
Arthur, “_Not soo hardy_ sayd syr launcelot _vpon payn of thy hede_, &c.”
B. xx. c. xiii. vol. ii. 411. ed. Southey.
v. 1026. _To loke on God in forme of brede_]—_loke_, i. e. look: _brede_,
i. e. bread. A not unfrequent expression in our early writers.
“Whan I sacred our lordes body
Chryste Jesu _in fourme of brede_.”
_The Lyfe of saint Gregoryes mother_, n. d. sig. A v.
See too Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 84; and Hartshorne’s _An. Met.
Tales_, p. 134.
Page 351. v. 1030. _sacryng_] “_Sacryng_ of the masse _sacrement_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lx. (Table of Subst.).
And see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 1041. _preas_] i. e. press.
v. 1047. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 1050. _warke_] i. e. work, business.
Page 352. v. 1051. _this_] Perhaps for—thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 1054. _vncouthes_] i. e. strange matters.
v. 1055. _ken_] i. e. know.
v. 1070. _premenire_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 1074. _fotyng_] i. e. footing.
Page 352. v. 1075. _motyng_] i. e. mooting. “Certamen ... anglice
flytynge chydynge or _motynge.” Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 1076. _totyng_] i. e. prying, peeping.
Page 353. v. 1084. _hole route_] i. e. whole crowd, set.
v. 1098. _escrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p.
152. v. 1358. p. 283. v. 337.
v. 1102. _werke_] i. e. work.
Page 354. v. 1106. _hynderyng_] See note, p. 245. v. 719.
—— _dysauaylyng_] “I _Disauayle_ one, I hynder his auauntage, _Ie luy
porte dom̄aige_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 1116. _to be gramed_] i. e. to be angered: _gramed_ is doubtless
the right reading here, though the eds. have “greued” and the MS.
“grevyd”—(_grame_ has already occurred in _Magnyfycence_, v. 1864).
Page 355. v. 1134. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 1154. _Not so hardy on theyr pates_] See note on v. 1025, preceding
page.
v. 1155. _losell_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 1156. _wesaunt_] i. e. weasand.
v. 1157. _syr Guy of Gaunt_] See note, p. 184. v. 70.
v. 1158. _lewde_] i. e. wicked, vile.
Page 356. v. 1159. _doctour Deuyas_] See note, p. 95. v. 55.
v. 1162. _dawcocke_] i. e. simpleton: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
—— _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1164. _Allygate_] i. e. Allege.
v. 1170. _lurdeyne_] See note, p. 242. v. 423.
v. 1171. _Lytell Ease_] “_Little Ease_ (prison), mala mansio, arcæ
robustæ.” Coles’s _Dict._—“LITTLE-EASE. A familiar term for a pillory, or
stocks; or an engine uniting both purposes, the bilboes.” Nares’s _Gloss._
v. 1178. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
Page 357. v. 1184. _Poules Crosse_] i. e. Paul’s Cross.
v. 1186. _Saynt Mary Spyttell_] In Bishopsgate Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_,
B. ii. 97. ed. 1720.
v. 1187. _set not by vs a whystell_] i. e. value us not at a whistle,
care not a whistle for us. Compare Lydgate;
“For he _set not by_ his wrethe _a whistel_.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 45.
v. 1188. _the Austen fryers_] In Broad-street Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_,
B. ii. 114, ed. 1720.
Page 357. v. 1190. _Saynt Thomas of Akers_] Concerning the “Hospital
intituled of S. Thomas of Acon or Acars [Acre in the Holy Land], near to
the great Conduit in Cheape,” see Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 37. ed. 1720,
and Maitland’s _Hist. of London_, ii. 886. ed. 1756.
v. 1191. _carpe vs_] Is explained by the various reading of the
MS.,—“clacke of us.”
—— _crakers_] i. e., as the context shews, (not—vaunters, but) noisy
talkers.
v. 1193. _reason or skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 1196. _at a pronge_] See note, p. 243. v. 506.
v. 1199. _fonge_] i. e. take, get.
v. 1201. _the ryght of a rambes horne_] An expression which our author
has again in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 498. vol. ii. 24. So in a metrical
fragment, temp. Edward ii.;
“As _ryt as ramis orn._”
_Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), ii. 19.
And Lydgate has a copy of verses, the burden of which is,—
“Conveyede by lyne _ryght as a rammes horne_.”
_MS. Harl._ 172. fol. 71.
See too Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 225. ed. 1768.
v. 1206. _yawde_] i. e. hewed, cut down. “To _Yaw_, to hew.” Gloss.
appended to _A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect_, 1837.
Page 358. v. 1208. _Ezechyas_] Ought to be “Isaias;” for, according to
a Jewish tradition, Isaiah was cut in two with a wooden saw by order of
King Manasseh.
v. 1216. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 1223. _cough, rough, or sneuyll_]—_rough_, i. e., perhaps, _rout_,
snore, snort. I may just observe that Palsgrave not only gives “_rowte_”
in that sense, but also “I _Rowte_ I belche as one dothe that voydeth
wynde out of his stomacke, _Ie roucte_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. cccxliiii. (Table of Verbes); and that Coles has “To _rout_,
Crepo, pedo.” _Dict._
v. 1224. _Renne_] i. e. Run.
v. 1227. _set not a nut shell_] i. e. value not at a nut-shell, care not
a nut-shell for.
v. 1229. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
Page 359. v. 1232. _sayd sayne_] A sort of pleonastic
expression,—equivalent to—called commonly or proverbially: see note on v.
864. p. 290.
v. 1235. _domis day_] i. e. doomsday.
Page 359. v. 1239. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1240. _By hoke ne by croke_] i. e. By hook nor by crook.
v. 1244. _nolles_] i. e. heads.
v. 1245. _noddy polles_] i. e. silly heads.
v. 1246. _sely_] i. e. silly.
v. 1248. _great estates_] i. e. persons of great estate, or rank.
v. 1255. _wawes wod_] i. e. waves mad, raging.
v. 1257. _Shote_] i. e. Shoot, cast.
v. 1258. _farre_] i. e. farther:
“I wyl no _farr_ mell.”
_Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without grounds to Heywood),
sig. C ii.
Page 360. v. 1262. _the porte salu_] i. e. the safe port. Skelton has the
term again in his _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 541. vol. i. 383. Compare
Hoccleve;
“whether our taill
Shall soone make us with our shippes saill
To _port salu_.”
_Poems_, p. 61. ed. 1796,—
where the editor observes, “_Port salut_ was a kind of proverbial
expression, and so used in the translation of _Cicero de senectute_
printed by Caxton.”
A RYGHT DELECTABLE TRATYSE VPON A GOODLY GARLANDE OR CHAPELET OF LAURELL
... STUDYOUSLY DYUYSED AT SHERYFHOTTON CASTELL, IN THE FORESTE OF
GALTRES, &c.
Sheriff-Hutton Castle “is situated in the Wapentake of Bulmer, and is
distant ten miles north-east from York ... The slender accounts of it
that have reached our times, ascribe its origin to Bertram de Bulmer, an
English Baron, who is recorded by Camden to have built it in the reign
of King Stephen, A.D. 1140 ... From the Bulmers it descended by marriage
to the noble family of the Nevilles, and continued in their possession
upwards of 300 years, through a regular series of reigns, until seized
by Edward iv. in 1471, who soon after gave the Castle and Manor to his
brother the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard iii. In 1485, in
consequence of the death of Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field, it
became the property of King Henry vii., and continued in the hands of the
Crown, until James the First granted it to his son, Prince Charles, about
1616. The Castle and Manor were subsequently granted (also by King James,
according to Camden, and the original grant confirmed by Prince Charles
after he ascended the throne) to the family of the Ingrams, about 1624-5,
and are now in possession of their lineal descendant, the present
Marchioness of Hertford.” _Some Account of Sheriff-Hutton Castle_, &c.
pp. 3-5, York, 1824.
Leland (who says, erroneously it would seem, that Sheriff-Hutton Castle
“was buildid by Rafe Nevill of Raby the fyrst Erl of Westmerland of
the Nevilles,”) gives the following description of it. “There is a
Base Court with Houses of Office afore the Entering of the Castelle.
The Castelle self in the Front is not dichid, but it stondith _in loco
utcunque edito_. I markid yn the fore Front of the first Area of the
Castelle self 3. great and high Toures, of the which the Gate House was
the Midle. In the secunde Area ther be a 5. or 6. Toures, and the stately
Staire up to the Haul is very Magnificent, and so is the Haul it self,
and al the residew of the House: in so much that I saw no House in the
North so like a Princely Logginges. I lernid ther that the Stone that
the Castel was buildid with was fetchid from a Quarre at Terington a 2.
Miles of. There is a Park by the Castel. This Castel was wel maintainid,
by reason that the late Duke of Northfolk lay ther x. Yers, and sins the
Duk of Richemond. From Shirhuten to York vij. Miles, and in the Forest of
Galtres, wherof 4. Miles or more was low Medowes and Morisch Ground ful
of Carres, the Residew by better Ground but not very high.” _Itin._ i.
67. ed. 1770.
“Report asserts, that during the civil wars in the time of Charles the
First, it [the Castle] was dismantled, and the greater part of its walls
taken down, by order of the Parliament. But this is certainly not the
fact, as will be seen by reference to the ‘Royal Survey’ made in 1624 ...
From this Survey it will appear evident, that the Castle was dismantled
and almost in total ruin in the time of James I.,—how long it had been
so, previous to the Survey alluded to, is now difficult to say. From
the present appearance of the ruins, it is plain that the Castle was
purposely demolished and taken down by workmen, (probably under an order
from the Crown, in whatever reign it might happen,) and not destroyed by
violence of war. However, since this devastation by human hands, the yet
more powerful and corroding hand of Time has still further contributed to
its destruction.... The Castle stands upon a rising bank or eminence in
front of the village, and its ruins may be seen on every side at a great
distance.” _Some Account_, &c. (already cited), pp. 5, 6. The vast forest
of Galtres formerly extended nearly all round Sheriff-Hutton.
When Skelton wrote the present poem, Sheriff-Hutton Castle was in
possession of the Duke of Norfolk, to whom it had been granted by the
crown for life: see note on v. 769.
Page 361. v. 1. _Arectyng_] i. e. Raising.
Page 361. v. 6. _plenarly_] i. e. fully—at full.
v. 9. _somer flower_] i. e. summer-flower.
v. 10. _halfe_] i. e. side, part.
Page 362. v. 15. _dumpe_] “I Dumpe I fall in a _dumpe_ or musyng vpon
thynges.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxxii.
(Table of Verbes).
v. 16. _Encraumpysshed_] i. e. encramped. Skelton’s fondness for
compounds of this kind has been already noticed. The simple word occurs
in other writers:
“_Crampisheth_ her limmes crokedly.”
Chaucer’s _Annel. and Ar_.,—_Workes_, fol. 244. ed. 1602.
“As marbyll colde her lymmes _craumpishing_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. X v. ed. 1555.
—— _conceyte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 20. _boystors_] i. e. boisterous.
v. 22.
_Thus stode I in the frytthy forest of Galtres,_
_Ensowkid with sylt of the myry mose_]
—_stode_, i. e. stood: _frytthy_, i. e. woody: _ensowkid_, i. e.
ensoaked: _sylt_, i. e. mud: _mose_, i. e. moss. The forest of Galtres
(which, as already noticed, extended nearly all round Sheriff-Hutton)
was, when Camden wrote, “in some places shaded with trees, _in others
swampy_.” _Britannia_ (by Gough), iii. 20.
v. 24. _hartis belluyng_] In the _Book of Saint Albans_, Juliana Berners,
treating “Of the cryenge of thyse bestys,” says,
“_An harte belowyth_ and a bucke groynyth I fynde.”
Sig. d ii.
—— _embosyd_] “When he [the hart] is foamy at the mouth, we say that he
is _embost_.” Turbervile’s _Noble Art of Venerie_, p. 244. ed. 1611.
v. 26. _the hynde calfe_] “Ceruula. a _hynde calfe.” Ortus Vocab._ fol.
ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the _Book of Saint Albans_ we are told;
“And for to speke of the harte yf ye woll it lere:
Ye shall hym a _Calfe_ call at the fyrste yere.”
Sig. C vi.
v. 27. _forster_] i. e. forester.
—— _bate_] Does it mean—set on, or train?
v. 28. _torne_] i. e. turn.
v. 32. _superflue_] i. e. superfluous.
“Ye blabbering fooles _superflue_ of language.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 38. ed. 1570.
v. 35. _wele_] i. e. well.
Page 363. v. 38. _disgysede_] i. e. decked out in an unusual manner.
“Of his straunge aray merueyled I sore
...
Me thought he was gayly _dysgysed_ at that fest.”
Lydgate’s _Assemble de dyeus_, sig. b ii. n. d. 4to.
Page 363. v. 39. _fresshe_] “_Fresshe_, gorgyouse, gay.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of
Adiect.),—which I ought to have cited earlier for the meaning of this
word.
v. 40. _Enhachyde with perle, &c._] i. e. Inlaid, adorned with pearl,
&c. Our author in his _Phyllyp Sparowe_ tells us that a lady had a
wart (or as he also calls it, a scar) “_enhached_ on her fayre skyn,”
v. 1078. vol. i. 84. Gifford observes that “literally, to _hatch_ is
to inlay [originally, I believe, to cut, engrave, mark with lines];
metaphorically, it is to adorn, to beautify, with silver, gold, &c.”
Note on Shirley’s _Works_, ii. 301. “The ladies apparell was after the
fashion of Inde, with kerchifes of pleasance, _hatched_ with fine gold.”
Holinshed’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 849. ed. 1587. “_Hatching_,
is to Silver or gild the Hilt and Pomell of a Sword or Hanger.” R.
Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. iii. p. 91.
v. 41. _The grounde engrosyd and bet with bourne golde_]—_grounde_, i. e.
(not floor, but) ground-work; as in Lydgate’s verses entitled _For the
better abyde_;
“I see a rybaun ryche and newe
...
The _grownde_ was alle of brent golde bryght.”
_MS. Cott. Calig. A_ ii. fol. 65.
_engrosyd_, i. e. thickened, enriched: _bet_ has here the same meaning as
in _Le Bone Florence of Rome_;
“Hur clothys wyth bestes and byrdes wer _bete_.”
_Met. Rom_. iii. 9. ed. Ritson,
who somewhat copiously explains it “beaten, plaited, inlay’d,
embroider’d:” _bourne_, i. e. burnished.
v. 44. _abylyment_] i. e. habiliment.
v. 45. _estates_] i. e. persons of estate or rank.
v. 49. _supplyed_] i. e. supplicated.
v. 50. _pusant_] i. e. puissant, powerful, mighty.
v. 52. _of very congruence_] i. e. of very fitness.
“Such ought of duetie and _very congruence_,” &c.
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 188. ed. 1570.
v. 54. _astate_] i. e. estate, rank, dignity.
—— _most lenen_] i. e. must lean, bend, bow.
v. 55. _arrect_] i. e. raise.
v. 58. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
Page 364. v. 65. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 66. _embesy_] i. e. embusy.
—— _holl corage_] i. e. whole heart.
v. 68. _were_] i. e. wear.
v. 69. _wonder slake_] i. e. wonderfully slack.
v. 70. _lake] i. e._ lack, fault.
v. 71. _ne were_] i. e. were it not.
v. 72. _bokis ... sone ... rase_] i. e. books ... soon ... erase.
v. 73. _sith_] i. e. since.
v. 74. _Elyconis_] i. e. Helicon’s.
v. 75. _endeuour hymselfe_] i. e. exert himself (compare v. 936).
v. 77. _sittynge_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 79. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 80. _comprised_] Compare our author in _Lenuoy_ to Wolsey;
“And hym moost lowly pray,
In his mynde to _comprise_
Those wordes,” &c.
vol. ii. 84.
v. 81. _rin_] i. e. run.
Page 365. v. 83. _pullishe_] i. e. polish.
v. 86. _remorde_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 94. _mo ... enduce_] i. e. more ... bring in, adduce.
v. 95. _parde for to kyll_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily, for to be killed.
v. 96. _enuectyfys_] i. e. invectives.
v. 101. _the grey_] i. e. the badger. Juliana Berners says;
“That beest a bausyn hyght: a brok or a _graye_:
Thyse thre names he hath the soth for to saye.”
_The Book of St. Albans_, sig. D vi.
v. 102. _gose ... oliphaunt_] i. e. goose ... elephant.
v. 103. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
Page 366. v. 110. _confecture_] i. e. composition.
v. 111. _diffuse is to expounde_] i. e. is difficult to expound: see
note, p. 144. v. 768.
v. 112. _make ... fawt_] i. e. compose ... fault.
v. 114. _motyue_] i. e. motion. So in the next line but one is
“promotyue,” i. e. promotion: and so Lydgate has “ymaginatyfe”
for—imagination. _Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxvii. ed. Wayland.
v. 115. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 116. _rowme_] i. e. room, place.
v. 121. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 122. _iche man doth hym dres_] i. e. each man doth address, apply,
himself.
v. 124. _bokis_] i. e. books.
Page 366. v. 127. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 129. _mo_] i. e. more.
Page 367. v. 133. _Ageyne_] i. e. Against.
v. 136. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 137. _rasid_] i. e. erased.
v. 140. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
—— _defaut_] i. e. default, want.
—— _konnyng_] i. e. (not so much—knowledge, learning, as) skill, ability.
v. 141. _apposelle_] i. e. question.
“And to pouert she put this _opposayle_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iii. leaf lxvi. ed. Wayland.
“Made vnto her this vncouth _apposayle_:
Why wepe ye so,” &c.
_Id._ B. v. leaf cxxviii.
—— _wele inferrid_] i. e. well brought in.
v. 142.
_quikly it is_
_Towchid_]
i. e. it is lively, subtly expressed: compare v. 592 and v. 1161, where
the words are applied to visible objects.
—— _debarrid_] See note, p. 237. v. 60; and compare _Gentylnes and
Nobylyte_ (attributed without grounds to Heywood) n. d.;
“That reason is so grete no man can _debarr_.”
Sig. C iii.
Page 368. v. 149. _sittyng_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 152. _corage_] i. e. encourage.
v. 153. _fresshely_] i. e. elegantly: see note on v. 39. p. 302.
v. 155. _bruitid_] i. e. reported, spoken of.
v. 156. _outray_] See note, p. 123. v. 87, where this passage is examined.
v. 162. _Ierome, in his preamble Frater Ambrosius, &c._] The Epistle of
Jerome to Paulinus, prefixed to the Vulgate, begins, “_Frater Ambrosius_
tua mihi munuscula perferens,” &c., and contains this passage: “Unde et
Æschines, cum Rhodi exularet, et legeretur illa Demosthenis oratio, quam
adversus eum habuerat, mirantibus cunctis atque laudantibus, suspirans
ait, Quid, si ipsam audissetis bestiam sua verba resonantem?” It may be
found also in _Hieronymi Opp. I._ 1005. ed. 1609.
Page 369. v. 172. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 180. _wele ... avaunce_] i. e. well ... advance.
v. 183. _thefte and brybery_] See note, p. 256. v. 1242.
v. 184. _pyke_] i. e. pick.
Page 369. v. 186. _cokwoldes_] i. e. cuckolds.
v. 187. _wetewoldis_] i. e. wittols, tame cuckolds.
“_Wetewoldis_ that suffre synne in her syghtes.”
Lydgate’s _Assemble de dyeus_, sig. c i. n. d. 4to.
v. 188. _lidderons_] So before, _lydderyns_; see note, p. 267. v. 1945:
but here, it would seem, the word is used in the more confined sense
of—sluggish, slothful, idle fellows.
—— _losels_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
—— _noughty packis_] See note, p. 203. v. 58.—If Skelton had been
required to distinguish exactly between the meanings of these terms of
reproach, he would perhaps have been nearly as much at a loss as his
editor.
v. 189. _Some facers, some bracers, some make great crackis_] See note,
p. 216. v. 33.
v. 192. _courte rowlis_] i. e. court-rolls.—Warton cites this and the
next two verses as “nervous and manly lines.” _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 354.
ed. 4to.
v. 196. _rinne_] i. e. run.
Page 370. v. 198. _cunnyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 200. _a mummynge_] See note, p. 278. v. 83.
v. 201. _sadnesse_] See note, p. 259. v. 1382.
v. 203. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 204. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 205. _can ... scole_] i. e. knows ... school.
v. 207. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 208. _stole_] i. e. stool.
v. 209. _Iacke a thrummis bybille_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
v. 211. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 212. _dwte_] i. e. duty.
v. 218. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 371. v. 223. _lay_] See note, p. 219. v. 103.
—— _werkis_] i. e. works.
v. 227. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 232. _condiscendid_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
v. 233. _clarionar_] Is used here for—trumpeter: but the words properly
are not synonymous;
“Of _trumpeters_ and eke of _clarioneres_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. i. sig. C v. ed. 1555.
and Skelton himself has afterwards in the present poem, “_trumpettis_ and
_clariouns_.” v. 1507.
v. 235. _Eolus, your trumpet_] i. e. Æeolus, your trumpeter.
“A _trumpet_ stode and proudly gan to blowe,
Which slayne was and fro the tre doun throw.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxxx. ed. Wayland.
So Chaucer makes Æolus trumpeter to Fame: see _House of Fame_, B. iii.
Page 371. v. 236. _mercyall_] i. e. martial.
v. 239. _prease_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 240. _hole rowte_] i. e. whole crowd, assembly.
v. 243. _this trumpet were founde out_] See note, p. 251. v. 977.
v. 244. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 245. _eyne_] i. e. eyes.
Page 372. v. 248. _presid ... to_] i. e. pressed ... too.
v. 250. _Some whispred, some rownyd_] See note, p. 120. v. 513.
v. 255. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 258. _plumpe_] i. e. cluster, mass. “Stode stille as hit had ben a
_plompe_ of wood.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. i. cap. xvi. vol. i. 27. ed.
Southey. Dryden has the word; and the first writer perhaps after his time
who used it was Sir W. Scott.
v. 260. _timorous_] i. e. terrible.
v. 264. _rowte_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
v. 265. _girnid_] i. e. grinned.
v. 266. _peuysshe_] i. e. silly, foolish.
—— _masyd_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 267. _whyste_] i. e. still.
—— _the nonys_] i. e. the occasion.
v. 268. _iche ... stode_] i. e. each ... stood.
v. 269. _wonderly_] i. e. wonderfully.
v. 270. _A murmur of mynstrels_] So in many of our early English dramas
“a noise of musicians” is used for a company or band of musicians.
v. 272. _Traciane_] i. e. Thracian.
—— _herped meledyously_] i. e. harped melodiously.
Page 373. v. 274. _armony_] i. e. harmony.
v. 275. _gree_] i. e. agree.
v. 278. _gle_] i. e. music.
v. 279. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 282. _Sterte ... fote_] i. e. Started ... foot.
v. 285.
———— _lake_
_Of_]
i. e. lack of,—less than.
v. 288. _cronell_] i. e. coronal, garland.
Page 373. v. 289. _heris encrisped_] i. e. hairs formed into curls,
curling.
v. 290. _Daphnes_] i. e. Daphne. So our early poets wrote the name;
“A maiden whilom there was one
Which _Daphnes_ hight.”
Gower’s _Conf. Am._ B. iii. fol. lvi. ed. 1554.
“Her name was _Daphnys_ which was deuoyed of loue.”
_The Castell of pleasure_, (by Nevil, son of Lord Latimer), sig.
A iii. 1518.
So afterwards in the present poem we find _Cidippes_ for Cydippe, v. 885;
and see note, p. 123. v. 70.
—— _the darte of lede_] From Ovid, _Met._ i. 471.
v. 291. _ne wolde_] i. e. would not.
v. 292. _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 295. _Meddelyd with murnynge_] i. e. Mingled with mourning.
v. 296. _O thoughtfull herte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
v. 298. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 300.
_the tre as he did take_
_Betwene his armes, he felt her body quake_]
From Ovid, _Met._ i. 553.
Page 374. v. 302. _he assurded into this exclamacyon_]—_assurded_, i. e.
broke forth—a word which I have not elsewhere met with, but evidently
formed from the not uncommon verb _sourd_, to rise. “Ther withinne
_sourdeth_ and spryngeth a fontayne or welle.” Caxton’s _Mirrour of
the world_, 1480. sig. e v.: in that work, a few lines after, occurs
“_resourdeth_.”
v. 306. _adyment_] i. e. adamant.
v. 307. _ouerthwhart_] i. e. cross, perverse, adverse.
v. 310. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
v. 314. _gresse_] i. e. grass. This stanza is also imitated from Ovid,
_Met._ i. 521.
v. 315. _axes_] See note, p. 100. v. 9.
v. 317. _raist_] i. e. arrayest: see note on title of poem, p. 197.
v. 318. _But sith I haue lost, &c._] Again from Ovid, _Met._ i. 557.
v. 324. _poetis laureat, &c._] It must be remembered that formerly
a _poet laureat_ meant a person who had taken a degree in grammar,
including rhetoric and versification: and that the word _poet_ was
applied to a writer of prose as well as of verse; “_Poet_ a connyng man.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lv. (Table of Subst.).
“And _poetes_ to preoven hit. Porfirie and Plato
Aristotle, Ovidius,” &c.
_Peirs Plouhman_, p. 210. ed. Whit.
“Nor sugred deties [ditties] of Tullius Cicero.”
Lydgate’s _Lyfe and passion of seint Albon_, sig. B ii. ed. 1534.
Page 374. v. 328. _Esiodus, the iconomicar_] i. e. Hesiod, the writer
on husbandry (the eds. by a misprint have “icononucar,”—which Warton
says he “cannot decypher.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 352 (note), ed. 4to.)
Among _MSS. Dig. Bod._ 147. is “Carmen Domini Walteri de Henleye quod
vocatur _Yconomia_ sive Housbundria:” compare Cicero; “quam copiose ab
eo [Xenophonte] agricultura laudatur in eo libro, qui est de tuenda re
familiari, qui _Œconomicus_ inscribitur.” _Cato Major_, c. 17.
v. 329. _fresshe_] i. e. elegant: see note, p. 302. v. 39.
Page 375. v. 335. _engrosyd_] i. e. plumped up, swollen.
—— _flotis_] i. e. flowings,—drops: various reading, “droppes;” see note
_ad l._ (“_Flotyce._ Spuma.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499, is a distinct
word.)
v. 338. _Percius presed forth with problemes diffuse_]—_presed_, i. e.
pressed: _diffuse_, i. e. difficult to be understood; see note, p. 144.
v. 768. “Skelton, undoubtedly a man of learning, calls Persius (not
unhappily for his mode of thinking) _a writer of problems diffuse_.”
Gifford’s Introd. to _Persius_, p. xxxi. ed. 1817.
v. 340. _satirray_] Is this word to be explained—satirist, or satirical?
v. 344. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 345. _mengith_] i. e. mingleth.
v. 347. _wrate ... mercyall_] i. e. wrote ... martial.
v. 352. _Orace also with his new poetry_] “That is, Horace’s _Art of
Poetry_. Vinesauf wrote _De Nova Poetria_. Horace’s _Art_ is frequently
mentioned under this title.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 353 (note),
ed. 4to.
Page 376. v. 359. _Boyce_] i. e. Boethius.
—— _recounfortyd_] i. e. recomforted,—comforted.
v. 360.
_Maxymyane, with his madde ditiis,_
_How dotynge age wolde iape with yonge foly_]
—_iape_, i. e. jest, joke. The _Elegiarum Liber_ of Maximianus, which
has been often printed as the production of Cornelius Gallus, may be
found, with all that can be told concerning its author, in Wernsdorf’s
_Poetæ Latini Minores, tomi sexti pars prior_. In these six elegies
Maximianus deplores the evils of old age, relates the pursuits and loves
of his youth, &c. &c. Perhaps the line “_How dotynge age wolde iape with
yonge foly_” (in which case _iape_ would have the same meaning here as
in our author’s _Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale_, v. 20. vol. i. 28) is
a particular allusion to Elegy v., where Maximianus informs us, that,
having been sent on an embassy, at an advanced period of life, he became
enamoured of a “Graia puella,” &c., the adventure being described in the
grossest terms.
Page 376. v. 365. _Johnn Bochas with his volumys grete_] In Skelton’s
time, the _De Genealogia Deorum_, the _De Casibus Virorum et Fœminarum
Illustrium_, and other now-forgotten works of Boccaccio, were highly
esteemed,—more, perhaps, than the _Decamerone_.
v. 366. _full craftely that wrate_] i. e. that wrote full skilfully.
v. 368. _probate_] See note, p. 236. v. 4.
v. 372. _Poggeus ... with many a mad tale_] When this poem was written,
the _Facetiæ_ of Poggio enjoyed the highest popularity. In _The Palice of
Honour_, Gawen Douglas, enumerating the illustrious writers at the Court
of the Muses, says,
“Thair was Plautus, _Poggius_, and Persius.”
p. 27. ed. Ban. 1827.
v. 374. _a frere of Fraunce men call sir Gagwyne, &c._]—_frere_, i. e.
friar: concerning Gaguin, see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 376. _bote is of all bale_] See note, p. 268. v. 2096.
Page 377. v. 380. _Valerius Maximus by name_] i. e. Valerius who has the
name Maximus (to distinguish him from Valerius Flaccus).
v. 381. _Vincencius in Speculo, that wrote noble warkis_]—_warkis_, i.
e. works. The _Speculum Majus_ of Vincentius Bellovacensis (_naturale,
morale, doctrinale, et historiale_), a vast treatise in ten volumes
folio, usually bound in four, was first printed in 1473. See the _Biog.
Univ._, and Hallam’s _Introd. to the Lit. of Europe_, i. 160.
v. 382. _Pisandros_] “Our author,” says Warton, “got the name of
Pisander, a Greek poet, from Macrobius, who cites a few of his verses.”
_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 353 (note), ed. 4to. A mistake: Macrobius (_Sat._
v. 2.) mentions, but does not cite, Pisander.
v. 383. _blissed Bachus, that mastris oft doth frame_]—_mastris_, i. e.
disturbances, strifes: see note, p. 264. v. 1738.
v. 386. _sadly ... auysid_] i. e. seriously, earnestly ... considered,
observed.
v. 389. _fresshely be ennewed_] See notes, p. 144. v. 775. p. 302. v. 39.
v. 390.
_The monke of Bury ..._
_Dane Johnn Lydgate_]
—_Dane_, equivalent to _Dominus_. So at the commencement of his _Lyfe of
our Lady_, printed by Caxton, folio, n. d.; “This book was compyled by
_dan John lydgate monke of Burye_,” &c. He belonged to the Benedictine
abbey of Bury in Suffolk.
Page 377. v. 391. _theis Englysshe poetis thre_] “That only these three
English poets [Gower, Chaucer, Lydgate] are here mentioned, may be
considered as a proof that only these three were yet thought to deserve
the name.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 354. ed. 4to. So the Scottish
poets of Skelton’s time invariably selected these three as most worthy of
praise: see Laing’s note on Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 355.
v. 393. _Togeder in armes, as brethern, enbrasid_] So Lydgate;
“_Embraced in armes_ as they had be knet
_Togyder_ with a gyrdell.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. d iii. n. d.
v. 395. _tabers_] i. e. tabards: see the earlier portion of note, p. 283.
v. 318.
v. 397. _Thei wantid nothynge but the laurell_] Meaning,—that they were
not poets laureate: see note on v. 324. p. 307.
v. 398. _godely_] i. e. goodly.
v. 402. _enplement_] i. e. employment, place.
Page 378. v. 405. _The brutid Britons of Brutus Albion_]—_brutid_, i. e.
famed. So Lydgate;
“Reioyse ye folkes that borne be in Bretayne,
Called otherwise _Brutus Albion_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. viii. fol. viii. ed. Wayland.
v. 410. _Arrectinge vnto your wyse examinacion_] See note, p. 237. v. 95.
v. 414. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 417. _hooll_] i. e. whole.
v. 420. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.
v. 421. _pullisshyd_] i. e. polished.
v. 425. _mowte_] i. e. might.
Page 379. v. 428. _preuentid_] i. e. anticipated.
v. 429. _meritory_] i. e. deserved, due.
v. 431. _regraciatory_] i. e. return of thanks.
v. 432. _poynt you to be prothonatory_] i. e. appoint you to be
prothonotary.
v. 433. _holl_] i. e. whole.
v. 434. _Auaunced_] i. e. Advanced.
v. 439. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 444. _I made it straunge_] i. e. I made it a matter of nicety, scruple.
v. 445. _presed_] i. e. pressed.
Page 380. v. 455. _prese_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 460. _Engolerid_] i. e. Engalleried.
v. 466. _turkis and grossolitis_] i. e. turquoises and chrysolites.
Page 380. v. 467. _birrall enbosid_] i. e. beryl embossed.
v. 469.
_Enlosenged with many goodly platis_
_Of golde_]
i. e. Having many goodly plates of gold shaped like lozenges
(quadrilateral figures of equal sides, but unequal angles).
—— _entachid with many a precyous stone_]—_entachid_ may be used in the
sense of—tacked on; but qy. is the right reading “_enhachid?_” as in v.
40 of the present poem, “_Enhachyde_ with perle,” &c., (and v. 1078 of
_Phyllyp Sparowe_,) see note, p. 302.
v. 472. _whalis bone_] In our early poetry “white as whales bone” is a
common simile; and there is reason to believe that some of our ancient
writers supposed the ivory then in use (which was made from the teeth of
the horse-whale, morse, or walrus) to be part of the bones of a whale.
Skelton, however, makes a distinction between “whalis bone” and the real
ivory (see v. 468). The latter was still scarce in the reign of Henry the
Eighth; but, before that period, Caxton had told his readers that “the
tooth of an olyfaunt is yuorye.” _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig. f i.
v. 474. _The carpettis within and tappettis of pall_]—_tappettis of
pall,_ i. e. coverings of rich or fine stuff (perhaps table-covers): that
_tappettis_ does not here mean tapestry, is proved by the next line; and
compare v. 787,
“With that the _tappettis_ and carpettis were layd,
Whereon theis ladys softly myght rest,
The saumpler to sow on,” &c.
Page 381. v. 475. _clothes of arace_] See note, p. 192. v. 78.
v. 476. _Enuawtyd ... vawte_] i. e. Envaulted ... vault.
v. 477. _pretory_] Lat. prætorium.
v. 478. _enbulyoned_] i. e. studded; see note on v. 1165.
—— _indy blew_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 480. _Iacinctis and smaragdis out of the florthe they
grew_]—_Iacinctis_, i. e. Jacinths: _smaragdis_, i. e. emeralds (but see
note, p. 102. v. 20): “_Vng planché_, a plancher or a _florthe_ that is
boorded.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. iii. (Thirde
Boke). “_Florthe_ of a house _astre_.”—“Gyst that gothe ouer the _florthe
soliue, giste._” _Id._ fols. xxxiiii. xxxvi. (Table of Subst.). “I
Plaster a wall or _florthe_ with plaster ... I wyl plaster the _florthe_
of my chambre to make a gernyer there, _Ie plastreray latre de ma chābre
pour en faire vng grenier_.” _Id._ fol. cccxviii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 483. _most rychely besene_] i. e. of a most rich appearance,—most
richly arrayed: see notes, p. 112. v. 283, p. 295. v. 957.
v. 484. _cloth of astate_] i. e. cloth of estate,—canopy.
v. 487. _ryally_] i. e. royally.
Page 381. v. 489. _enuyrowne_] i. e. in compass, about.
v. 490. _stode_] i. e. stood.
v. 492. _presid_] i. e. pressed.
v. 493. _Poyle ... Trace_] i. e. Apulia ... Thrace.
v. 499. _metely wele_] See note, p. 270. v. 2196.
Page 382. v. 502. _a kyby hele_] See note, p. 174. v. 493.
v. 503. _salfecundight_] i. e. safe-conduct.
v. 504. _lokyd ... a fals quarter_]—_lokyd_, i. e. looked: “The _false
quarters_ is a soreness on the inside of the hoofs, which are commonly
called quarters, which is as much as to say, crased unsound quarters,
which comes from evil Shooing and paring the Hoof.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 152.
v. 505. _I pray you, a lytyll tyne stande back_] So Heywood;
“For when prouender prickt them _a little tine_,” &c.
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. D,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 514. _the ballyuis of the v portis_] i. e. the bailiffs of the Cinque
Ports.
v. 519. _besines_] i. e. business.
v. 520. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 521. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
v. 523. _sufferayne_] i. e. sovereign.
v. 525. _And we shall se you ageyne or it be pryme_] I have my doubts
about what hour is here meant by _pryme_. Concerning that word see Du
Cange’s _Gloss._ in _Prima_ and _Horæ Canonicæ_, Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to
Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, Sibbald’s _Gloss._ to _Chron. of Scot. Poetry_,
and Sir F. Madden’s _Gloss._ to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.
Page 383. v. 531. _kest ... loke_] i. e. cast ... look.
v. 532. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 537. _supprysed_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.
v. 541. _the port salu_] See note, p. 299. v. 1262.
v. 547. _hertely as herte_] i. e. heartily as heart.
v. 548. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 550. _aquyte_] i. e. discharge, pay.
Page 384. v. 554. _moche_] i. e. much.
v. 555. _Affyaunsynge her myne hole assuraunce_] i. e. Pledging her my
whole, &c.
v. 559. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
v. 560. _toke ... honde_] i. e. took ... hand.
v. 566. _iangelers_] i. e. babblers, chatterers.
v. 570. _moche costious_] i. e. much costly.
v. 572. _the stones be full glint_]—_glint_ must mean here—slippery: see
note, p. 263. v. 1687.
v. 574. _yatis_] i. e. gates.
Page 385. v. 585. _carectis_] i. e. characters.
v. 586. _where as I stode_] i. e. where I stood.
v. 590. _a lybbard_] i. e. a leopard.—“There is,” says Warton, who quotes
the stanza, “some boldness and animation in the figure and attitude of
this ferocious animal.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 352. ed. 4to.
v. 592. _As quikly towchyd_] i. e. touched, executed, as much to the life.
v. 595. _forme foote_] i. e. fore-foot.
—— _shoke_] i. e. shook.
v. 597.
_Unguibus ire parat loca singula livida curvis_
_Quam modo per Phœbes nummos raptura Celæno_]
The whole of this “Cacosyntheton ex industria” is beyond my
comprehension. Here Skelton has an eye to Juvenal;
“Nec per conventus nec cuncta per oppida _curvis_
_Unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celæno_.”
_Sat._ viii. 129.
v. 601. _Spreto spineto cedat saliunca roseto_] Here he was thinking of
Virgil;
“Lenta salix quantum pallenti _cedit_ olivæ,
Puniceis humilis quantum _saliunca rosetis_.”
_Ecl._ v. 16.
v. 602. _loked_] i. e. looked.
v. 603. _presed_] i. e. pressed, thronged.
v. 604. _Shet_] i. e. Shut.
v. 605. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 606. _astate_] i. e. estate, condition.
v. 607. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
—— _haskardis_] “_Haskerdes_ went in the queste: not honeste men.
_Proletarii & capite censi_: non classici rem trāsegerunt.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. n iiii. ed. 1530.
“Wyne was not made for euery _haskerde_.”
Copland’s _Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, _Early Pop. Poetry_, ii. 33.
ed. Utterson,
who in the Gloss. queries if _haskerde_ mean “dirty fellow? from the
Scotch _hasky_.” The latter word is explained by Jamieson “dirty,
slovenly.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._
—— _rebawdis_] i. e. ribalds.
v. 608. _Dysers, carders_] Dicers, card-players.
—— _gambawdis_] i. e. gambols.
Page 386. v. 609. _Furdrers of loue_] i. e. Furtherers of love—pimps,
pandars.
v. 610. _blow at the cole_] A friend suggests that there is an allusion
here to alchemists; but I believe he is mistaken. It is a proverbial
expression. So our author again;
“We may _blowe at the cole_.”
_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 81. vol. ii. 29.
The proverb given by Davies of Hereford;
“_Let them that bee colde, blow at the cole._
So may a man do, and yet play the foole.”
_Scourge of Folly_,—_Prouerbes_, p. 171.
and by Ray, _Proverbs_, p. 90. ed. 1768, seems to have a quite different
meaning.
Page 386. v. 611. _kownnage_] i. e. coinage,—coining.
v. 612. _Pope holy ypocrytis_] i. e. Pope-holy hypocrites: see note, p.
230. l. 24 (prose).
—— _as they were golde and hole_]—_hole_, i. e. whole. Heywood also has
this expression;
“In words _gold and hole_, as men by wit could wish,
She will [lie] as fast as a dog will lick a dish.”
_Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, sig. H 2, ed. 1598.
v. 613. _Powle hatchettis_] See note, p. 98. v. 28.
—— _ale pole_] i. e. pole, or stake, set up before an ale-house by way of
sign.
v. 614. _brybery, theft_] See note, p. 256. v. 1242.
v. 615. _condycyons_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
v. 616. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 618. _dysdanous dawcokkis_] i. e. disdainful simpletons, empty
fellows: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 619. _fawne thé_] i. e. fawn on thee.
—— _kurris of kynde_] i. e. curs by nature.
v. 620. _shrewdly_] i. e. evilly.
v. 625. _broisid_] i. e. bruised, broke.
v. 626. _peuysshe_] i. e. foolish, silly.
—— _porisshly pynk iyde_] “_Porisshly_, as one loketh yᵗ can nat se
well, _Louchement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccccxliiii. (Table of Aduerbes): _pynk iyde_, i. e. pink-eyed; “Some haue
myghty eyes, and some be _pynkeyed ... peti_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig.
G vi. ed. 1530; and see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.
v. 627. _aspyid_] i. e. espied, marked.
v. 629. _a gun stone_] After the introduction of iron shot (instead of
balls of stone) for heavy artillery, the term _gunstone_ was retained
in the sense of—bullet: “_Gonne stone_, _plombee_, _boulet_, _bovle de
fonte_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxvii.
(Table of Subst.).
—— _all to-iaggid_] See notes, p. 100. v. 32. p. 163. v. 124.
v. 630. _daggid_] See note, p. 163. v. 123.
v. 631. _byrnston_] i. e. brimstone.
Page 386. v. 632. _Masid_] i. e. Bewildered, confounded.
—— _a scut_] “_Scut_ or hare. Lepus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 635. _dysour_] See note, p. 255. v. 1191.
—— _a deuyl way_] See note, p. 287. v. 672.
Page 387. v. 637. _peuisshenes_] i. e. foolishness, silliness: compare v.
626.
v. 639. _foisty bawdias_] See note, p. 192. v. 76.
v. 641. _Dasyng after dotrellis, lyke drunkardis that dribbis_]—_Dasying_
i. e. gazing with a stupified look: _dotrellis_; see note, p. 129. v.
409: _dribbis_, i. e. drip, drivel, slaver.
v. 642. _titiuyllis_] See note, p. 284. v. 418.
—— _taumpinnis_] i. e. tampions,—wooden stoppers, put into the mouths of
cannon to keep out rain or sea-water. In _The foure P. P._ by Heywood,
the Poticary tells a facetious story about “a thampyon.” Sig. D i. ed. n.
d. (Fr. _tampon_).
v. 643. _I hyght you_] i. e. I assure you.
v. 644. _mone light_] i. e. moonlight.
v. 648. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 649. _auenturis_] i. e. adventure.
v. 652. _herber_] See note, p. 101. v. 13.
v. 653. _brere_] i. e. briar.
v. 654. _With alys ensandid about in compas_] “i. e. it was surrounded
with sand-walks.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 350 (note), ed. 4to. So
the garden, in which Chaucer describes Cressid walking, was “_sonded_ all
the waies.” _Troilus and Creseide_, B. ii. fol. 152, —_Workes_, ed. 1602:
and compare Lydgate;
“Alle the _aleis_ were made playne with _sond_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird,—MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147.
v. 655. _with singular solas_] i. e. in a particularly pleasant manner.
v. 656. _rosers_] i. e. rose-bushes.
v. 658. _coundight_] i. e. conduit.
—— _coryously_] i. e. curiously. So Lydgate;
“_Coriously_ and craftly to endyte.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 47.
v. 662. _ensilured again the son beames_] i. e. ensilvered against the
sunbeams.
Page 388. v. 664. _reuolde_] i. e. revolved, turned.
v. 669. _bet vp a fyre_] See note, p. 146. v. 930.
v. 671. _flagraunt flower_]—_flagraunt_, i. e. fragrant. Compare v. 978.
So Hawes;
“Strowed with _floures flagraunte_ of ayre.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. A a iiii. ed. 1555.
Page 388. v. 673. _baratows broisiours_] i. e. contentious
bruisers,—unless (as the context seems rather to shew) _broisiours_
means—bruisures, bruises.
v. 674. _passid all bawmys_] i. e. surpassed all balms.
v. 676. _gardynge_] i. e. garden.
—— _piplyng_] i. e. piping; as in our author’s _Replycacion_, &c. vol. i.
207. l. 26 (prose).
v. 680. _the nyne Muses, Pierides by name_] So Chaucer;
“_Muses, that men clepe Pierides._”
_The Man of Lawes Prol._ v. 4512 (but see Tyrwhitt’s note).
v. 681. _Testalis_] i. e. Thestylis. So Barclay;
“Neera, Malkin, or lustie _Testalis_.”
_Second Egloge_, sig. B ii. ed. 1570.
v. 682. _enbybid_] i. e. made wet, soaked.
v. 683. _moche solacyous_] i. e. much pleasant, mirthful.
v. 686. _somer_] i. e. summer.
—— _fotid_] i. e. footed.
v. 687. _twynklyng upon his harpe stringis_]—_twynklyng_, i. e. tinkling.
So, at a much later period, Dekker; “Thou (most cleare throated singing
man,) with thy Harpe, (to the _twinckling_ of which inferior Spirits
skipt like Goates ouer the Welsh mountaines),” &c. _A Knights Coniuring_,
1607. sig. D 2.
Page 389. v. 688. _And Iopas, &c._] Here, and in the next two stanzas,
Skelton has an eye to Virgil;
“Cithara crinitus Iopas
Personat aurata, docuit quæ maxumus Atlas.
Hic canit errantem lunam, solisque labores;
Unde hominum genus, et pecudes; unde imber, et ignes;
Arcturum, pluviasque Hyadas, geminosque Triones;
Quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles
Hiberni, vel quæ tardis mora noctibus obstet.”
_Æn._ i. 740.
—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 691. _mone_] i. e. moon.
v. 694. _spere_] i. e. sphere.
v. 697. _prechid_] i. e. discoursed, told.
—— _chere_] i. e. countenance, look.
v. 699. _aspy_] i. e. espy.
v. 705. _counteryng_] See note, p. 92.
Page 389. v. 709. _pleasure, with lust and delyte_] One of our author’s
pleonastic expressions.
v. 712. _conuenable_] i. e. fitting.
Page 390. v. 718. _wele were hym_] i. e. he were in good condition.
v. 720. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
v. 725. _losyd ful sone_] i. e. loosed full soon.
v. 731. _That I ne force what though it be discurid_] i. e. That I do not
care although it be discovered, shewn.
v. 733. _ladyn of liddyrnes with lumpis_]—_liddyrnes_, i. e.
sluggishness, slothfulness (the construction is—ladyn with lumpis of
liddyrness).
v. 734. _dasid_] i. e. stupified.
—— _dumpis_] See note on v. 15. p. 301: but here the word implies greater
dulness of mind.
v. 735. _coniect_] i. e. conjecture.
v. 736. _Gog_] A corruption of the sacred name.
Page 391. v. 737. _be_] i. e. by.
v. 741. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 742. _Tressis agasonis species prior, altera Davi_] “Hic Dama est non
_tressis agaso_.” Persius, _Sat._ v. 76. _Davus_ is a slave’s name in
Plautus, Terence, &c.
v. 748. _tacita sudant præcordia culpa_] From Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 167.
v. 751. _Labra movens tacitus_] “_Labra_ moves _tacitus_.” Persius,
_Sat._ v. 184.
—— _rumpantur ut ilia Codro_] From Virgil, _Ecl._ vii. 26.
v. 753. _hight_] i. e. is called.
v. 754. _and ye wist_] i. e. if ye knew.
Page 392. v. 758. _hole reame_] i. e. whole realm.
v. 762. _smerke_] i. e. smirk.
v. 763. _leue warke whylis it is wele_] i. e. leave work while it is well.
v. 764. _towchis_] i. e. touches, qualities.
—— _to_] i. e. too.
v. 768. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 769. _Cowntes of Surrey_] Was Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter
of Edward Duke of Buckingham, and second wife of Thomas Howard, Earl
of Surrey, who afterwards (on the death of his father in 1524) became
the third Duke of Norfolk. She had previously been attached and engaged
to the Earl of Westmoreland with the consent of both families; but her
father, having broken off the intended match, compelled her to accept the
hand of lord Thomas Howard in 1513. She was twenty years younger than her
husband. After many domestic quarrels, they separated about 1533. Of
their five children, one was Henry Howard, the illustrious poet. She died
in 1558. See _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c. by H. Howard, 1834,
folio.
The Countess of Surrey appears to have been fond of literature; and,
as she calls Skelton her “clerk,” we may suppose that she particularly
patronised him. The probability is, that the present poem was really
composed at Sheriff-Hutton Castle, which (as already noticed, p. 300) had
been granted by the king to the Duke of Norfolk for life, and that the
Countess was residing there on a visit to her father-in-law.
The _Garlande of Laurell_ was written, I apprehend, about 1520, or
perhaps a little later: in v. 1192 Skelton mentions his _Magnyfycence_,
which was certainly produced after 1515,—see note on title of that piece,
p. 236.
Page 392. v. 771. _beue_] i. e. bevy.
v. 774. _warhe_] i. e. work.
v. 775. _asayde_] i. e. tried, proved.
Page 393. v. 776. _cronell_] i. e. coronal, garland.
v. 786. _of there lewdnesse_] May mean (as Nott explains it, Surrey’s
_Works_, i.—Append. p. ix.)—of their ignorance, ignorantly; but I rather
think the expression is here equivalent to,—evilly, impudently.
v. 787. _tappettis and carpettis_] See note on v. 474. p. 311.
v. 790. _To weue in the stoule_] So Chaucer;
“And _weauen in stole_ the radevore.”
_Leg. of Philomene_, fol. 195.—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
and Hall; “On their heades bonets of Damaske syluer flatte _wouen in the
stole_, and therupon wrought with gold,” &c. _Chron._ (_Hen. viii._) fol.
vii. ed. 1548.—Mr. Albert Way observes to me that in _Prompt. Parv. MS.
Harl._ 221, is “Lyncent werkynge instrument for sylke women. Liniarium,”
while the ed. of 1499 has “Lyncet workinge _stole_;” and he supposes the
_stole_ (i. e. stool) to have been a kind of frame, much like what is
still used for worsted work, but, instead of being arranged like a cheval
glass, that it was made like a stool,—the top being merely a frame or
stretcher for the work.
—— _preste_] i. e. ready.
v. 791. _With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest_]—_slaiis_,
i. e. sleys, weavers’ reeds: _tauellis_, see note, p. 94. v. 34:
“_Heddles_, _Hedeles_, _Hiddles_. The small cords through which the warp
is passed in a loom, after going through the reed.” _Et. Dict. of Scot.
Lang._ by Jamieson, who cites from G. Douglas’s _Æneid_;
“With subtell slayis, and hir _hedeles_ slee,
Riche lenze wobbis naitly weiffit sche.”
B. vii. p. 204. 45. ed. Rudd.
Page 393. v. 793. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 794. _to enbrowder put them in prese_] i. e. put themselves in press
(applied themselves earnestly) to embroider.
v. 795. _glowtonn_] Does it mean—ball, clue? or, as Mr. Albert Way
suggests,—a sort of needle, a stiletto as it is now called,—something by
which the silk was to be inwrought?
v. 796. _pirlyng_] “I _Pyrle_ wyer of golde or syluer I wynde it vpon a
whele as sylke women do.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. cccxvii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 798. _tewly sylk_] Richardson in his _Dict._ under the verb _Tew_
places _tewly_, as derived from it, and cites the present passage. But
_tewly_ seems to have nothing to do with that verb. “_Tuly_ colowre.
Puniceus vel punicus.” _Prompt. Parv. MS. Harl._ 221. In _MS. Sloane_,
73. fol. 214, are directions “for to make bokerham _tuly_ or _tuly_
thred,” where it appears that this colour was “a manere of reed colour
as it were of croppe mader,” that is, probably, of the tops or sprouts
of the madder, which would give a red less intense or full: the dye was
“safflour” (saffron?) and “asches of wyn [whin] ballis ybrent;” and a
little red vinegar was to be used to bring the colour up to a fuller
red.—For this information I am indebted to Mr. Albert Way.
v. 799. _botowme_] “I can make no _bottoms_ of this threde ...
_glomera_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. t i. ed 1530.
v. 801. _warkis_] i. e. works.
Page 394. v. 803. _With burris rowth and bottons surffillyng_]—_burris
rowth_, i. e. burrs rough: _bottons_, i. e. buds: _surffillyng_, see
note, p. 281. v. 219.
v. 804. _nedill wark_] i. e. needle-work.
v. 805. _enbesid_] i. e. embusied.
v. 814. _conseyt_] i. e. conceit.
v. 815. _captacyons of beneuolence_] Todd gives “_Captation_ (old
Fr. _captation_, ruse, artifice). The practice of catching favour or
applause; courtship; flattery.” _Johnson’s Dict._ Richardson, after
noticing the use of the verb _captive_ “with a subaudition of gentle,
attractive, persuasive means or qualities,” adds that in the present
passage of Skelton _captation_ is used with that subaudition. _Dict._ in
v.
v. 816. _pullysshid_] i. e. polished.
v. 817.
_Sith ye must nedis afforce it by pretence_
_Of your professyoun vnto vmanyte_]
i. e. Since you must needs attempt, undertake, it by your claim to the
profession of humanity,—_humaniores literæ_, polite literature.
Page 394. v. 819. _proces_] i. e. discourse; see notes, p. 143. v. 735.
p. 230 (first note on prose), p. 276. v. 2506, &c.
v. 820. _iche_] i. e. each.
v. 821. _sentence ... couenable_] i. e. meaning ... fitting.
v. 822. _Auaunsynge_] i. e. Advancing.
v. 824. _arrectyng_] i. e. raising.
Page 395. v. 825. _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with
“informe,” as in v. 1428).
v. 828. _dredfull_] i. e. full of dread, timorous.
v. 830. _bestad_] i. e. bested, circumstanced.
v. 833. _gabyll rope_] i. e. cable-rope. “A _Gable_, Rudens.” Coles’s
_Dict._
v. 835. _beseke_] i. e. beseech.
—— _Countes of Surrey_] See note on v. 769. p. 317.
v. 838. _reconusaunce_] i. e. acknowledgment.
v. 841. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 842. _honour and worshyp_] Terms nearly synonymous: _worshyp_, i. e.
dignity.
—— _formar_] i. e. first, highest: see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
_Former_.
v. 843. _Argyua_] i. e. Argia.
v. 844. _Polimites_] i. e. Polynices;
“his fellaw dan _Polimites_,
Of which the brother dan Ethiocles,” &c.
Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, B. v. fol. 180,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
“Lete _Polymyte_ reioyse his herytage.”
Lydgate’s _Storye of Thebes, Pars tert._ sig. i v. ed. 4to. n. d.
v. 847. _counterwayng_] i. e. counter-weighing.
Page 396. v. 850. _Pamphila_] “Telas araneorum modo texunt ad vestem
luxumque fœminarum, quæ bombycina appellatur. Prima eas redordiri,
rursusque texere invenit in Ceo mulier _Pamphila_, Latoi filia, non
fraudanda gloria excogitatæ rationis ut denudet fœminas vestis.” Plinii
_Nat. Hist._ lib. xi. 26.
—— _quene of the Grekis londe_]—_londe_, i. e. land: qy. does any writer
except Skelton call her a queen?
v. 852.
_Thamer also wrought with her goodly honde_
_Many diuisis passynge curyously_]
It is plain that Skelton, while writing these complimentary stanzas,
consulted Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_: there this lady is called
_Thamyris_ (see, in that work, “De _Thamyri_ Pictrice,” cap. liiii. ed.
1539). Her name is properly _Timarete_; she was daughter to Mycon the
painter; vide Plinii _Nat. Hist.: honde_, i. e. hand: _diuisis_, i. e.
devices.
Page 396. v. 857. _toke_] i. e. took.
v. 860. _corage ... perfight_] i. e. heart, affection ... perfect.
—— _lady Elisabeth Howarde_] Was the third daughter of the second Duke of
Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tylney, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney,
and sister and heir to Sir Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight
(I follow Howard’s _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c.; Collins says
“daughter of Hugh Tilney”). Lady Elizabeth married Henry Ratcliff, Earl
of Sussex.
v. 865. _Aryna_] i. e. perhaps—Irene. In the work of Boccaccio just
referred to is a portion “De _Hyrene_ C[r]atini filia,” cap. lvii.; and
Pliny notices her together with the above-mentioned Timarete.
v. 866. _konnyng_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 867. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 868. _enbewtid_] i. e. beautified.
v. 870. _lusty ... loke_] i. e. pleasant ... look.
v. 871. _Creisseid_] See Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_.
—— _Polexene_] i. e. Polyxena, the daughter of Priam.
v. 872. _enuyue_] i. e. envive, enliven, excite.
Page 397. v. 874. _hole_] i. e. whole.
—— _lady Mirriell Howarde_] Could not have been Muriel, daughter of the
second Duke of Norfolk; for she, after having been twice married, died in
1512, anterior to the composition of the present poem. Qy. was the Muriel
here celebrated the Duke’s grandchild,—one of those children of the Earl
and Countess of Surrey, whose names, as they died early, have not been
recorded? Though Skelton compares her to Cidippe, and terms her “madame,”
he begins by calling her “mi _litell_ lady.”
v. 880. _curteyse_] i. e. courteous.
v. 881. _Whome fortune and fate playnly haue discust_]—_discust_, i. e.
determined. So again our author in _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“Allmyghty God, I trust,
Hath for him _dyscust_,” &c.
v. 747. vol. ii. 50.
and Barclay;
“But if thou iudge amisse, then shall Eacus
(As Poetes saith) hell thy iust rewarde _discusse_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 4. ed. 1570.
v. 882. _plesure, delyght, and lust_] One of Skelton’s pleonastic
expressions.
Page 397. v. 885.
_Cidippes, the mayd,_
_That of Aconcyus whan she founde the byll, &c._]
—_Cidippes_, i. e. Cydippe; see note on v. 290. p. 307: _the byll_; i. e.
the writing,—the verses which Acontius had written on the apple.
v. 888. _fyll_] i. e. fell.
—— _lady Anne Dakers of the Sowth_] The wife of Thomas Lord Dacre, was
daughter of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners and of
Elizabeth Tylney, who (see note on v. 399) afterwards became the first
wife of the second Duke of Norfolk.
v. 893. _his crafte were to seke_] i. e. his skill were at a loss.
Page 398. v. 897. _Princes_] i. e. Princess.
v. 898. _conyng_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 899. _Paregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).
v. 901. _surmountynge_] i. e. surpassing.
v. 902. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 903. _lusty lokis_] i. e. pleasant looks.
—— _mastres Margery Wentworthe_] Perhaps the second daughter of Sir
Richard Wentworth, afterwards married to Christopher Glemham of Glemham
in Suffolk.
v. 906. _margerain ientyll_] “Marierome is called ... in English, Sweet
Marierome, Fine Marierome, and _Marierome gentle_; of the best sort
Marjerane.” Gerard’s _Herball_, p. 664. ed. 1633.
v. 907. _goodlyhede_] i. e. goodness.
v. 908. _Enbrowdred_] i. e. Embroidered.
v. 912. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 918. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.
Page 399.—— _mastres Margaret Tylney_] A sister-in-law, most probably,
of the second Duke of Norfolk. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter
and heir of Sir Frederick Tylney of Ashwell-Thorpe, Norfolk, knight, and
widow of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners: his second
wife was Agnes, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney, and sister and heir to Sir
Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight; see third note, preceding
page.
v. 928. _besy cure_] i. e. busy care.
v. 933.
_As Machareus_
_Fayre Canace_]
Their tale is told in the _Conf. Am._ by Gower; he expresses no horror at
their incestuous passion, but remarks on the cruelty of their father, who
“for he was to loue strange,
He wolde not his herte change
To be benigne and fauourable
To loue, but vnmerciable!”
B. iii. fol. xlviii. ed. 1554.
(and see the lines cited in note on v. 1048. p. 324). Lydgate (_Fall of
Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxv. ed. Wayland) relates the story with a somewhat
better moral feeling.
Page 399. v. 935. _iwus_] Or _i-wis_ (adv.),—i. e. truly, certainly.
v. 936. _Endeuoure me_] i. e. Exert myself.
v. 941. _Wele_] i. e. Well.
v. 942. _Intentyfe_] “_Intentyfe_ hedefull.”—“_Ententyfe_, busy to do a
thynge or to take hede to a thyng.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fols. lxxxx. lxxxvii. (where both are rendered by the Fr.
_ententif_).
v. 948. _Perle orient_] In allusion to her Christian name just mentioned,
“Margarite.”
v. 949. _Lede sterre_] i. e. Load-star.
v. 950. _Moche_] i. e. Much.
Page 400.—— _maystres Iane Blenner-Haiset_] Perhaps a daughter of Sir
Thomas Blennerhasset, who was executor (in conjunction with the Duchess)
to the second Duke of Norfolk: see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Test. Vet._ ii. 604.
v. 955. _smale lust_] i. e. small liking.
v. 958. _prese_] i. e. press, band.
v. 962. _ententifly_] See above, note on v. 942.
v. 963. _stellyfye_] “I _Stellifye_ I sette vp amongest the starres.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxiii. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 965. _ne swarue_] i. e. swerve not.
v. 968. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
v. 972, _Laodomi_] i. e. Laodamia.
v. 975. _godely_] i. e. goodly.
Page 401. v. 977. _Reflaring rosabell_] i. e. odorous fair-rose: see
note, p. 134. v. 524.
v. 978. _flagrant_] See note on v. 671. p. 315.
v. 979. _The ruddy rosary_]—_rosary_ must mean here—rose-bush, not
rose-bed.
v. 981. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 982. _nepte_] “Cats mint or _nept_ is a kind of calamint,” &c. _The
Countrie Farme_, p. 320. ed. 1600.
v. 983. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 984. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
v. 985, _Enuwyd_] See note, p. 144. v. 775.
Page 402. v. 1006. _Ientill as fawcoun_] The _Falcon gentle_, says
Turbervile, is so called “for her _gentle_ and courteous condition and
fashions.” _The Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 26. ed. 1611.
v. 1007. _hawke of the towre_] See note, p. 250. v. 934.
v. 1025. _fayre Isaphill_] The Hypsipyle of the ancients.
“_Isiphile_
...
She that dyd _in fayrnesse so excell_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces,_ B. i. leaf xviii. ed. Wayland.
She figures in the _Storye of Thebes_ by the same indefatigable
versifier, who there says,
“But to knowe. the auentures all
Of this lady. _Isyphyle the fayre_,”
(Pars tert. sig. h iiii. n. d. 4to.)
we must have recourse to Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_ (see that work,
cap. xv. ed. 1539).
v. 1027. _pomaunder_] Was a composition of perfumes, wrought into the
shape of a ball, or other form, and worn in the pocket, or about the
neck (Fr. _pomme d’ambre_). In the following entry from an unpublished
_Boke of Kyngs Paymentis from i to ix of Henry viii_, preserved in the
Chapter-House, Westminster, _pomaunder_ means a case for holding the
composition;
“Item to the frenche quenes seruaunt, that brought } xx. s.” (9th year
_a pomaunder of gold_ to the princes, in Re[ward] } of reign).
v. 1030. _Wele_] i. e. Well.
v. 1033. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.
Page 403. v. 1048. _Pasiphe_] Lest the reader should be surprised
at finding Skelton compare Mistress Statham to Pasiphae, I cite the
following lines from Feylde’s _Contrauersye bytwene a Louer and a Iaye_
(printed by W. de Worde), n. d., in which she and Taurus are mentioned as
examples of true love;
“Phedra and Theseus
Progne and Thereus
_Pasyphe and Taurus_
Who lyketh to proue
Canace and Machareus
Galathea and Pamphylus
Was neuer more dolorous
_And all for true loue_.”
Sig. B iiii.
I may add too a passage from Caxton’s _Boke of Eneydos_, &c. (translated
from the French), 1490; “The wyffe of kynge Mynos of Crete was named
Pasyfa that was a grete lady and a fayr aboue alle other ladyes of the
royame.... The quene Pasyfa _was wyth chylde by kynge Mynos_, and whan
her tyme was comen she was delyuered of a creature that was halfe a man
and halfe a bulle.” Sig. h 6.
Page 403. v. 1062. _aquyte_] i. e. requite.
Page 404. v. 1068. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 1074. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 1076.
_Galathea, the made well besene, &c._
...
_By Maro_]
—_the made well besene_, i. e. the maid of good appearance, fair to see:
the expression applied, as here, to personal appearance, independent of
dress, is, I apprehend, very unusual; see notes, p. 112. v. 283. p. 295.
v. 957. p. 311. v. 483: _By Maro_; vide _Ecl_. i. and iii.
v. 1082. _leyser_] i. e. leisure.
Page 405. v. 1094. _ich_] i. e. each.
v. 1102. _curteisly_] i. e. courteously.
v. 1103. _where as_] i. e. where.
v. 1109. _Wele was hym_] i. e. He was in good condition.
v. 1114. _astate_] i. e. estate,—meaning here—state, raised chair or
throne with a canopy: compare v. 484.
Page 406. v. 1117. _loked ... a glum_] i. e. looked ... a gloomy, sour
look.
v. 1118. _There was amonge them no worde then but mum_] See note, p. 278.
v. 83.
v. 1121. _sith_] i. e. since.
v. 1124. _pretence_] i. e. pretension, claim.
v. 1128. _princes of astate_] i. e. princess of estate, rank, dignity.
v. 1132. _condiscendyng_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
Page 407. v. 1135. _enduce_] i. e. bring in, adduce.
v. 1136. _lay_] See note, p. 219. v. 103.
v. 1139. _bokis_] i. e. books.
v. 1143. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.
v. 1144. _presid_] i. e. pressed.
v. 1150. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1154. _wote wele_] i. e. know well.
v. 1156. _losende_] i. e. loosened, loosed.
v. 1158. _byse_] Hearne in his Gloss. to _Langtoft’s Chron._ has “_bis_,
grey, black,” with an eye, no doubt, to the line at p. 230,
“In a marble _bis_ of him is mad story.”
and Sir F. Madden explains the word “white or grey” in his Gloss. to _Syr
Gawayne_, &c., referring to the line “Of golde, azure, and _byse_” in
_Syre Gawene and The Carle of Carelyle_, p. 204. But we also find “_Byce_
a colour _azur_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. xx.
(Table of Subst.). “Scryueners wryte with blacke, red, purple, grene,
_blewe or byce_, and suche other.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q i. ed.
1530. “_Bize_ Blew Byze, a delicate Blew.” Holme’s _Acad. of Arm._, 1688.
B. iii. p. 145.
Page 407. v. 1158. _gressoppes_] i. e. grasshoppers: see note, p. 125. v.
137.
Page 408. v. 1159. _fresshe_] i. e. gay, gorgeous: see note on v. 39. p.
302.
v. 1160. _Enflorid_] i. e. Enflowered (embellished, for it applies partly
to the “snaylis”).
v. 1161. _Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly_]—_Enuyuid_, i. e.
envived: _quikly_, livelily, to the life; a somewhat pleonastic line, as
before, see note, p. 261. v. 1569.
v. 1162. _hole ... be ... sekely_] i. e. whole ... been ... sickly.
v. 1163. _garnysshyd_] }
...
v. 1165. _bullyons_] }
“I hadde leuer haue my boke sowed in a forel [_in cuculli involucro_]
than bounde in bourdes, and couered and clasped, and _garnyshed with
bolyons_ [_vmbilicis_].” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q iiii. ed. 1530:
_bullyons_, i. e. bosses, studs.
—— _worth a thousande pounde_] An expression found in other early poets;
“And euery bosse of bridle and paitrell
That they had, was _worth_, as I would wene,
_A thousand pound_.”
Chaucer’s _Floure and Leafe_,—_Workes_, fol. 345. ed. 1602.
v. 1166. _balassis_] Tyrwhitt (Gloss, to _Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_)
explains _Bales_ to be “a sort of bastard Ruby.” Du Cange _(Gloss._) has
“_Balascus_, Carbunculus, cujus rubor et fulgor dilutiores sunt ... a
Balascia Indiæ regione ... dicti ejusmodi lapides pretiosi.” Marco Polo
tells us, “In this country [_Balashan_ or _Badakhshan_] are found the
precious stones called _balass_ rubies, of fine quality and great value.”
_Travels_, p. 129, translated by Marsden, who in his learned note on the
passage (p. 132) observes that in the Latin version it is said expressly
that these stones have their name from the country. See too Sir F.
Madden’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 209.
v. 1167. _aurum musicum_] i. e. _aurum musaicum_ or _musivum_,—mosaic
gold.
v. 1172. _Boke of Honorous Astate_] i. e. Book of Honourable Estate.
Like many other of the pieces which Skelton proceeds to enumerate, it is
not known to exist. When any of his still extant writings are mentioned
in this catalogue, I shall refer to the places where they may be found in
the present volumes.
Page 408. v. 1176. _to lerne you to dye when ye wyll_] A version probably
of the same piece which was translated and published by Caxton under the
title of _A lityll treatise shorte and abredged spekynge of the arte and
crafte to knowe well to dye_, 1490, folio. Caxton translated it from the
French: the original Latin was a work of great celebrity.
v. 1178. _Rosiar_] i. e. Rose-bush.
—— _Prince Arturis Creacyoun_] Arthur, the eldest son of King Henry the
Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, 1st Oct. 1489:
see Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 475. ed. 1707.
Page 409. v. 1183. _Bowche of Courte_] In vol. i. 30.
v. 1185. _Of Tullis Familiars the translacyoun_] Is noticed with praise
in Caxton’s Preface to _The Boke of Eneydos_, &c. 1490: see the passage
cited in _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 1187. _The Recule ageinst Gaguyne of the Frenshe nacyoun_]—_Recule_,
Fr. _recueil_, is properly—a collection of several writings: it occurs
again in v. 1390; and in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 232. vol. ii. 11. Concerning
Gaguin, see _Account of Shelton and his Writings_.
v. 1188.
_the Popingay, that hath in commendacyoun_
_Ladyes and gentylwomen suche as deseruyd,_
_And suche as be counterfettis they be reseruyd_]
—_Popingay_, i. e. Parrot: “_Reserved_ excepte _sauf_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciiii. (Table of Adiect.).—No
part of _Speke, Parrot_ (in vol. ii. 1), answers to this description: but
“_the Popingay_” is certainly only another name for _Speke, Parrot_ (see
v. 280. vol. ii. 14); and Skelton must allude here to some portion, now
lost, of that composition.
v. 1192. _Magnyfycence_] In vol. i. 225.
v. 1193. _new get_] See note, p. 242. v. 458.
v. 1196. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 1198. _Of manerly maistres Margery Mylke and Ale, &c._] In vol. i. 28.
is one of the “many maters of myrthe” which Skelton here says that he
“wrote to her.”
v. 1202. _Lor_] A corruption of _Lord_.
v. 1203. _Gingirly, go gingerly_] “_Gyngerly: A pas menus_, as _Allez a
pas menu ma fille_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccccxli. (Table of Aduerb.).
Page 410. v. 1206. _This fustiane maistres and this giggisse gase_]
_maistres_, i. e. mistress: _giggisse_, i. e. giggish,—which Forby gives,
with the sense of—trifling, silly, flighty (_Vocab. of East Anglia_);
but here perhaps the word implies something of wantonness: _gase_, i. e.
goose.
Page 410. v. 1207. _wrenchis_] See note, p. 100. v. 25.
v. 1209. _shuld not crase_] i. e. that it should not break.
v. 1210. _It may wele ryme, but shroudly it doth accorde_]—_wele_,
i. e. well: _shroudly_, i. e. shrewdly, badly. A copy of verses on
Inconsistency by Lydgate has for its burden,
“_It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought._”
_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 26.
v. 1211. _pyke ... potshorde_] i. e. pick ... potsherd.
v. 1218. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1219.
_Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun,_
_Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose,_
_Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrynacioun,_
_He did translate, enterprete, and disclose_]
—_at the contemplacyoun_; see note on heading of Epitaph, p. 214: _my
ladys grace_ means perhaps the mother of Henry the Seventh, the Countess
of Derby; see note on title of Elegy, p. 226. Warton says that this
piece was “from the French, perhaps, of Guillaume [de Guilleville] prior
of Chalis. But it should be observed that Pynson printed _Peregrinatio
humani generis_, 1508. 4to.” _Hist, of E. P._, ii. 337 (note), ed. 4to.
_The Pylgremage of the Soule translatid oute of Frensshe in to Englysshe
with somwhat of additions, the yere of our lord M.CCCC & thyrten, and
endeth in the Vigyle of seynt Bartholomew Emprynted at Westmestre by
William Caxton, And fynysshed the sixth day of Juyn, the yere of our
lord, M.CCCC.LXXXIII And the first yere of the regne of kynge Edward the
fyfthe_. fol., was taken from the French of Guillaume de Guilleville (see
_Biog. Univ._ xix. 169); but, though Skelton was in all probability an
author as early as 1583, there is no reason for supposing that the volume
just described had received any revision from him. _Peregrinatio Humani
Generis_, printed by Pynson in 4to., 1508, is, according to Herbert
(_Typ. Ant._ ii. 430. ed. Dibdin), “in ballad verse, or stanzas of seven
lines:” it cannot therefore be the piece mentioned here by Skelton, which
he expressly tells us was in “_prose_.”
v. 1226. _creauncer_] See note, p. 193. v. 102.
Page 411. v. 1229. _Speculum Principis_] A piece by Skelton entitled
_Methodos Skeltonidis Laureati_, sc. _Præcepta quædam moralia Henrico
principi, postea Hen. viii. missa. Dat. apud Eltham. A.D. MDI._ was once
among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, but is now marked
as missing in the Catalogue of that collection, and has been sought for
in vain. Whether it was the same work as that mentioned in the present
passage, I am unable to determine.
Page 411. v. 1229. _honde_] i. e. hand.
v. 1231. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 1233. _the Tunnynge of Elinour Rummyng_] In vol. i. 95.
v. 1234. _Colyn Clowt_] In vol. i. 311.
—— _Iohnn Iue, with Ioforth Iack_] In 1511, a woman being indicted for
heresy, “her husband deposed, that in the end of the reign of King Edward
the Fourth, one _John Ive_ had persuaded her into these opinions, in
which she had persisted ever since.” Burnet’s _Hist. of the Reform._ i.
51. ed. 1816. The words “with _Ioforth, Iack_,” were perhaps a portion of
Skelton’s poem concerning this John Ive: _ioforth_ is an exclamation used
in driving horses;
“Harrer, Morelle, _iofurthe_, hyte.”
_Mactacio Abel_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 9.
v. 1235. _make ... konnyng_] i. e. compose ... knowledge, skill, ability.
v. 1236. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 1238. _conueyauns_] See the long speech of Crafty Conueyaunce in our
author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1343 sqq. vol. i, 268.
v. 1239. _the Walshemannys hoos_] See note, p. 289. v. 780.
v. 1240. _vmblis_] i. e. parts of the inwards of a deer. “_Noumbles_ of
a dere or beest _entrailles_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. 1. (Table of Subst.). And see Sir F. Madden’s note, _Syr
Gawayne_, &c. p. 322.
———— _the botell of wyne,_
_To fayre maistres Anne that shuld haue be sent_]
Such a present seems to have been not uncommon;
“Beddes, brochys, and _botelles of wyen he to the lady sent_.”
Lydgate’s _Ballad of A Prioress and her three Wooers_,—_MS. Harl._ 78.
fol. 74.
The “maistres Anne” here mentioned is doubtless the lady to whom the
lines in vol. i. 20 are addressed.
v. 1242. _wrate ... praty_] i. e. wrote ... pretty.
v. 1246. _longyth_] i. e. belongeth.
v. 1247.
_Of one Adame all a knaue_
...
_He wrate an Epitaph, &c._]
In vol. i. 171.
v. 1250. _agerdows_] i. e. eager, keen, severe.
v. 1254. _Phillip Sparow_] In vol. i, 51.
Page 412. v. 1257. _Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce_] See
notes, p. 149 sqq., where will be found illustrations of the portion of
_Phyllyp Sparowe_ which is inserted in the present poem.
Page 415. v. 1376. _The Gruntyng and the groynninge of the gronnyng
swyne_] See note, p. 180. v. 2.
v. 1377. _the Murnyng of the mapely rote_]—_mapely rote_, i. e.
maple-root.—In Ravenscroft’s _Pammelia_, 1609, part of a nonsensical song
(No. 31) is as follows;
“My Ladies gone to Canterbury,
S. Thomas be her boote.
Shee met with Kate of Malmsbury,
_Why weepst thou maple roote?_”
a recollection perhaps of Skelton’s lost ballad.
Page 416. v. 1378. _pine_] i. e. pain, grief.
v. 1379. _a cote_] i. e. a coot (water-fowl).
v. 1380. _birdbolt_] i. e. a blunt arrow used to kill birds; see Nares’s
_Gloss._ in v. and in v. _Bolt_.
—— _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.
v. 1381. _Moyses hornis_] So Lydgate;
“_Moyses_
With _golden hornes_ liche phebus beames bright.”
_Process. of Corpus Christi_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 251.
“Cumque descenderet Moyses de monte Sinai ... ignorabat quod _cornuta_
esset facies sua ex consortio sermonis Domini.” Vulgate,—_Exod._ xxxiv.
29.
v. 1382. _merely, medelyd_] i. e. merrily, mingled.
v. 1383. _Of paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde_] Bale, in
his enumeration of Skelton’s writings, alluding to this line (as is
evident from his arrangement of the pieces), gives “_Theatrales ludos_.”
_Script. Illust. Bryt._ p. 652. ed. 1557: and Mr. J. P. Collier states
that “one of Skelton’s earlier works had been a series of pageants,
‘played in Joyous Garde,’ or Arthur’s Castle.” _Hist. of Engl. Dram.
Poet._ ii. 142. But, assuredly, in the present line, _paiauntis_, i. e.
pageants, means nothing of a dramatic nature. The expression to “play a
pageant” has occurred several times already in our author’s poems; “I
haue _played_ my _pageyond_” (my part on the stage of life), see note,
p. 88. v. 85; “Suche pollyng _paiaunttis_ ye _pley_” (such thievish
pranks), see note, p. 189. v. 190: and though it may be doubted whether
the _paiauntis that were played IN Ioyows Garde_,—i. e. in the Castle
of Sir Launcelot, according to the romances,—are to be understood as
connected with feats of arms, I cite the following passage in further
illustration of the expression; “The fyrste that was redy to Juste was
sir Palomydes and sir Kaynus le straunge a knyghte of the table round.
And soo they two encountred to gyders, but sire Palomydes smote sir
Kaynus soo hard that he smote hym quyte ouer his hors croupe, and forth
with alle sir Palomydes smote doune another knyght and brake thenne
his spere & pulled oute his swerd and did wonderly wel. And thenne the
noyse beganne gretely vpon sir palomydes. Ioo said Kynge Arthur yonder
palomydes begynneth _to play his pagent_. So god me help said Arthur he
is a passynge good knyght. And ryght as they stood talkyng thus, in came
sir Tristram as thonder, and he encountred with syre Kay the Seneschall,
and there he smote hym doune quyte from his hors, and with that same
spere sir Tristram smote doune thre knyghtes moo, and thenne he pulled
oute his swerd and dyd merueyllously. Thenne the noyse and crye chaunged
from syr Palomydes and torned to sir Tristram and alle the peple cryed O
Tristram, O Tristram. And thenne was sir Palomydes clene forgeten. How
now said Launcelot vnto Arthur, yonder rydeth a knyght _that playeth his
pagents_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. x. cap. lxxix. vol. ii. 140. ed. Southey.
Page 416. v. 1384. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
—— _muse_] See note, p. 234. v. 212.
v. 1385. _do_] i. e. doe.
v. 1386. _parker ... with all_] i. e. park-keeper ... withal.
v. 1387. _Castell Aungell_] “And the pope fled unto _Castle Angell_.”
Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 143. ed. 1827.
—— _fenestrall_] In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, we find
“_Fenestrall chassis de toille ou de paupier_.” fol. xxxiii. (Table of
Subst.); and in Hormanni _Vulgaria_, “Paper, or lyn clothe, straked a
crosse, with losynges: make _fenestrals in stede of glasen wyndowes_.”
Sig. v ii: but see the next lines of our text.
v. 1389. _eyn dasild and dasid_]—_eyn_, i. e. eyes: _dasid_, i. e. dulled.
v. 1390. _The Repete of the recule of Rosamundis bowre_]—_Repete_, i. e.
Repetition, Recital: _recule_; see note on v. 1187. p. 327.
v. 1392. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
—— _ieloffer flowre_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 1393. _to reckeles_] i. e. too reckless.
v. 1396. _Mok there loste her sho_] A proverbial expression, which occurs
again in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 83. vol. ii. 29: in
his _Colyn Cloute_ we find
“Sho the _mockysshe_ mare.”
v. 181. vol. i. 318.
v. 1397. _barbican_] “A _Barbican_, antemurale, promurale, tormentorum
bellicorum sedes, locus.” Coles’s _Dict._ “It was generally,” says Nares
(referring to King on Anc. Castles, _Archael._), “a small round tower,
for the station of an advanced guard, placed just before the outward gate
of the castle yard, or ballium.” _Gloss._ in v. And see Richardson’s
_Dict._ in v.
Page 416. v. 1398. _sawte_] i. e. assault.
v. 1399. _blo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 1400. _Of Exione, her lambis, &c._] See note _ad loc._ If the reader
understands the line, it is more than I do.
Page 417. v. 1407. _forster_] i. e. forester.
v. 1409. _to yerne and to quest_] Coles renders both these hunting-terms
by the same word, “_nicto_” (i. e. open, give tongue). _Dict._
Turbervile, enumerating “the sundry noyses of houndes,” tells us that
“when they are earnest eyther in the chace or in the earth, we say _They
yearne_.” _Noble Art of Venerie_, &c. p. 242. ed. 1611. “_Quest_, united
cry of the hounds.” Sir F. Madden’s Gloss. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.
v. 1410. _With litell besynes standith moche rest_]
“_Great rest standeth in little businesse_.”
_Good Counsaile_,—Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 319. ed. 1602.
v. 1411. _make_] i. e. mate, wife.
v. 1412. _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.
v. 1413. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 1416. _Some_] i. e. Soham.
v. 1418. _Wofully arayd_] In vol. i. 141.
v. 1419. _making_] i. e. composing.
v. 1420. _Vexilla regis_] In vol. i. 144.
v. 1421. _Sacris solemniis_] As the still-extant piece mentioned in the
preceding line, and headed _Vexilla regis_, &c., is not a translation
of that hymn, so we may with probability conclude that this was not a
version of the hymn beginning “_Sacris solemniis_ juncta sint gaudia,”
which may be found in _Hymni Ecclesiæ e Breviario Parisiensi_, 1838. p.
94.
v. 1424. _sadnes_] i. e. seriousness.
v. 1425. _Galiene_ }
v. 1426. _Ipocras_ }
i. e. Galen, Hippocrates.
“Old _Hippocras_, Hali, and _Gallien_.”
Chaucer’s _Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 433. ed. Tyr.
“For _Ipocras_ nor yet _Galien_.”
_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 103.
—— _Auycen_] An Arabian physician of the tenth century.
Page 418. v. 1428. _Albumasar_] See note, p. 133. v. 501.
—— _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with “enforme,” as in v.
825).
v. 1430. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 1432. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
v. 1433. _Dun is in the myre_] A proverbial expression, which occurs
in Chaucer’s _Manciples Prol._ v. 16954. ed. Tyrwhitt (who conjectured
that _Dun_ was a nickname given to the ass from his colour), and is
common in writers long after the time of Skelton. Gifford was the first
to shew that the allusion is to a Christmas gambol, in which _Dun_ (the
cart-horse) is supposed to be stuck _in the mire_; see his note on
Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 283.
v. 1434. _rin_] i. e. run.
v. 1435. _spar the stable dur_] i. e. fasten, shut the stable-door; see
note, p. 207. v. 91.
v. 1437. _sone aspyed_] i. e. soon espied.
v. 1438. _wele wotith_] i. e. well knoweth.
v. 1439. _lucerne_] i. e. lamp. So in the _Lenvoye_ to Chaucer’s _Cuckow
and Nightingale_;
“Aurore of gladnesse, and day of lustinesse,
_Lucerne_ a night with heauenly influence
Illumined.”
_Workes_, fol. 318. ed. 1002.
v. 1442. _wedder_] i. e. weather.
v. 1443. _cokwolde_] i. e. cuckold.
v. 1445. _vntwynde_] See note, p. 127. v. 284.
v. 1446. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 1447. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1450. _all to-fret_] i. e. altogether eaten up, consumed: see note, p.
100. v. 32.
Page 419. v. 1451.
_But who may haue a more vngracyous lyfe_
_Than a chyldis birds and a knauis wyfe_]
This proverbial expression occurs in Lydgate;
“Vnto purpos this prouerd is full ryfe
Rade and reported by olde remembraunce
_A childes birdde and a knavis wyfe_
Haue often sieth gret sorowe and myschaunce.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151.
v. 1454. _byll_] i. e. writing.
v. 1455. _By Mary Gipcy_] In much later writers we find, as an
interjection, _marry gep_, _marry gip_, _marry guep_, _marry gup_. v.
1456. _Quod scripsi, scripsi_] From the Vulgate, _Joan._ xix. 22.
Page 419. v. 1460. _Secundum Lucam, &c._] Skelton seems to allude to the
Vulgate, _Luc._ i. 13, “_Et uxor tua_ Elizabeth,” &c.
v. 1461.
_the Bonehoms of Ashrige besyde Barkamstede,_
...
_Where the sank royall is, Crystes blode so rede_]
The college of the Bonhommes, completed in 1285, was founded by Edmund,
Earl of Cornwall, son and heir of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who was King
of the Romans and brother of Henry the Third, for a rector and twenty
brethern or canons, of whom thirteen were to be priests. It was founded
expressly in honour of the blood of Jesus, (“_the sank royall_”), which
had once formed part of the precious reliques belonging to the German
emperors, and which Edmund had brought over from Germany to England. See
Todd’s _History of the College of Bonhommes at Ashridge_, 1823. p. 1-3.
The pretended blood of Christ drew to Ashridge many persons of all
ranks, greatly to the enrichment of the society. “But,” Speed tells us,
“when the sunne-shine of the Gospell had pierced thorow such cloudes
of darkenesse, it was perceiued apparantly to be onely hony clarified
and coloured with Saffron, as was openly shewed at Paules Crosse by the
Bishop of Rochester, the twentie foure of Februarie, and yeare of Christ
1538.” _A Prospect of The Most Famous Parts of the World_, 1631, (in
_Buck._ p. 43).
v. 1466. _Fraxinus in clivo, &c._] “As to the name _Ashridge_” says
Kennett, “it is no doubt from a hill set with Ashes; the old word was
_Aescrugge, Rugge_, as after _Ridge_, signifying a hill or steep place,
and the Ashen-tree being first _Aesc_, as after _Ashche_, &c.” _Parochial
Antiquities_, p. 302. ed. 1695.
v. 1470. _The Nacyoun of Folys_] Most probably _The Boke of Three
Fooles_, in vol. i. 199.
v. 1471. _Apollo that whirllid vp his chare_] Concerning the piece, of
which these were the initial words, a particular notice will be found
in _The Account of Skelton and his Writings_: _chare_, i. e. chariot;
compare the first of the two lines, which in the old eds. and some MSS.
of Chaucer stand as the commencement of a third part of _The Squieres
Tale_;
“_Apollo whirleth vp his chare_ so hie.”
_Workes_, fol. 25. ed. 1602.
and the opening of _The Floure and the Leafe_;
“When that _Phebus his chaire_ of gold so hie
Had _whirled_ vp the sterye sky aloft.”
_Id._ fol. 344.
See also _Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans, _MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 47.
v. 1472. _snurre_] i. e. snort.
Page 420. v. 1475. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1477. _stode_] i. e. stood.
v. 1478. _Suppleyng_] i. e. Supplicating.
v. 1480. _bokis ... rase_] i. e. books ... erase.
v. 1483. _rin_] i. e. run.
v. 1487. _take it in gre_] i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1490. _ragman rollis_] The collection of deeds in which the Scottish
nobility and gentry were compelled to subscribe allegiance to Edward I.
of England in 1296, and which were more particularly recorded in four
large rolls of parchment, &c., was known by the name of _Ragman’s Roll_:
but what has been written on the origin of this expression appears to be
so unsatisfactory that I shall merely refer the reader to Cowel’s _Law
Dictionary_, &c., ed. 1727, in v., Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._
in v., Nares’s _Gloss._ in v., Gloss. to _The Towneley Myst._ in v., and
Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Rigmarole_.
v. 1491. _lenger_] i. e. longer.
v. 1495. _Counforte_] i. e. Comfort.
v. 1498.
_Diodorus Siculus of my translacyon_
_Out of fresshe Latine, &c._]
—_fresshe_, i. e. elegant: see note, p. 302. v. 39. This translation from
the Latin of Poggio is mentioned with praise in Caxton’s Preface to _The
Boke of Eneydos_, &c. 1490, and is still preserved in MS. among Parker’s
Collection, in Corpus Ch. College, Cambridge: see _Account of Skelton and
his Writings_, and _Appendix_ ii.
Page 421. v. 1505. _dome_] i. e. judgment, thinking.
v. 1507. _the noyse went to Rome_] So Chaucer;
“And there came out so great _a noyse_,
That had it stonde vpon Oyse,
_Men might haue heard it easely_
_To Rome_, I trowe sikerly.”
_House of Fame_, B. iii.—_Workes_, fol. 270. ed. 1602.
v. 1508. _shoke_] i. e. shook.
v. 1510. _shett ... boke_] i. e. shut ... book.
v. 1512. _somdele_] i. e. somewhat.
v. 1514. _sperycall_] i. e. spherical.
v. 1515. _Ianus, with his double chere_]—_chere_, i. e. visage,
countenance.
v. 1517. _He turnyd his tirikkis, his voluell ran fast_] What is meant by
_tirikkis_, I know not: it occurs again in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_;
“Some trete of theyr _tirykis_, som of astrology.”
v. 139. vol. ii. 7.
For the following note I am indebted to W. H. Black, Esq. “The volvell
is an instrument, called _volvella_ or _volvellum_, in the Latin of the
middle age, consisting of graduated and figured circles drawn on the
leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one moveable circle
or more, in the form of what is called a geographical clock. There is a
very fine one, of the fourteenth century, in the Ashmolean MS. 789. f.
363, and others exist in that collection, which affords likewise, in an
Introduction to the Knowledge of the Calendar, (in the MS. 191. iv. art.
2. f. 199,) written in old English of the fifteenth century, a curious
description of the volvell, with directions for its use. The passage is
entitled ‘The Rewle of the Volvelle.’—‘Now folowith here the _volvelle_,
that sum men clepen a _lunarie_; and thus most ghe governe ghou ther
ynne. First take the grettist cercle that is maad in the leef, for that
schewith the 24 houris of the day naturel, that is of the nyght and day,
of the whiche the firste houre is at noon bitwene 12 and oon. Thanne
above him is another cercle, that hathe write in hem the 12 monthis withe
here dayes, and 12 signes with here degrees; and with ynne that, ther is
writen a rewle to knowe whanne the sunne ariseth and the mone bothe; if
ghe biholde weel these noumbris writen in reed, 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. ✠. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8.’ The rule proceeds to shew that there is another row of the same
figures in black, and that the red cross stands in the place of Cancer,
the black at Capricorn: the red figures were used to shew the rising of
the sun and moon, the black for their setting. Over this is ‘another
cercle that hath a tunge,’ (tongue, or projecting angle to point with,)
the figure of the sun on it, and 29½ days figured, for the age of the
moon. Upon this is the least circle, ‘which hath a tunge with the figure
of the moon on it, and with ynne it is an hole, the whiche schewith bi
symylitude howe the moone wexith and wansith.’ It was used by setting
‘the tunge of the moone’ to the moon’s age, and ‘the tunge of the sunne’
to the day of the month, then moving the circle of months and signs to
bring the hour of the day to the last named ‘tunge,’ whereby might be
found ‘in what signe he’ (the _moon_, masculine in Anglo-Saxon) ‘sittith
and the sunne also, and in what tyme of the day thei arisen, eny of hem,
either goone downe, and what it is of the watir, whether it be flood or
eb.’ The rule concludes by observing that the wind sometimes alters the
time of the tide ‘at Londone brigge.’”
Page 422. v. 1533. _quaire_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 1536. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
Page 422. v. 1542. _warkis_] i. e. works.
v. 1546. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1547. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1552. _brede_] i. e. breadth.
Page 423. v. 1556. _harnnes_] i. e. armour.
v. 1558. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
v. 1563. _derayne_] i. e. contest.
v. 1569. _curteisly_] i. e. courteously.
v. 1575. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 1581. _Any worde defacid_] i. e. Any disfigured, deformed, unseemly
word.
v. 1582. _rasid_] i. e. erased.
Page 424.—— _Lautre Enuoy, &c._] Concerning this curious Envoy, see
_Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 1597. _sekernes_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 1598. _rede_] i. e. conceive, consider.
OWT OF LATYNE INTO ENGLYSSHE.
Page 426. v. 5. _kepe_] i. e. heed, regard, care.
v. 7. _Gone to seke hallows_]—_hallows_, i. e. saints.
“On pilgremage then must they go,
To Wilsdon, Barking, or to some _hallowes_.”
_The Schole House of Women_, 1572,—Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poetry_,
ii. 66.
But “to seek hallows” seems to have been a proverbial expression;
“O many woman hath caught be in a trayne,
By goyng out such _halowes for to seke_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. I ii. ed. 1555.
Page 427. v. 13. _withholde_] i. e. withheld.
v. 14. _sayne_] i. e. say.
NOTES TO VOLUME II.
SPEKE, PARROT.
That the extant portions of this very obscure production were written
at intervals, is not to be doubted; and that we do not possess all that
Skelton composed under the title of _Speke, Parrot_ is proved by the
following passage of the _Garlande of Laurell_, where, enumerating his
various works, he mentions
“_the Popingay_, that hath in commendacyoun
Ladyes and gentylwomen suche as deseruyd,
And suche as be counterfettis they be reseruyd.”
v. 1188. vol. i. 409.
a description which, as it answers to no part of the existing poem (or
poems), must apply to some portion which has perished, and which, I
apprehend, was of an earlier date. “_The Popingay_” is assuredly only
another name for _Speke, Parrot_;
“Go, litell quayre, _namyd the Popagay_.”
_Speke, Parrot_, v. 280.
Page 1. v. 3. _Parrot, a byrd of paradyse_] So Lydgate (in a poem,
entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to keep a guard over their
tongues_);
“_Popyngayes froo paradys_ comyn al grene.”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 133.
“Than spake _the popynge Jay of paradyse_.”
_Parlyament of Byrdes_, sig. A ii. n. d.
v. 5. _Dyentely_] i. e. Daintily.
v. 6. _flode_] i. e. flood.
Page 2. v. 8. _estate_] i. e. state, rank.
v. 9. _Then Parot must haue an almon_] In Jonson’s _Magnetic Lady_, act
v. sc. 5, we find,—
“Pol is a fine bird! O fine lady Pol!
_Almond for Parrot_, Parrot’s a brave bird;”—
and Gifford, citing the present line (he ought rather to have cited v.
50), observes that Jonson was indebted to Skelton for “most of this
jargon.” _Works_, vi. 109.
v. 11. _couertowre_] i. e. shelter.
Page 2. v. 12. _toote_] i. e. peep.
v. 16. _popagey_] i. e. parrot.
v. 17. _becke_] i. e. beak.
v. 18. _My fedders freshe as is the emrawde grene_]—_emrawde,_ i. e.
emerald. So Ovid in his charming verses on Corinna’s parrot;
“Tu poteras virides pennis hebetare smaragdos.”
_Am._ lib. ii. vi. 21.
v. 20. _fete_] i. e. well made, neat.
v. 22. _My proper Parrot, my lytyll prety foole_]—_proper_, i. e. pretty,
handsome (elsewhere Skelton uses “proper” and “prety” as synonymes: see
note, p. 125. v. 127).
“I pray thee what hath ere the Parret got,
And yet they say he talkes in great mens bowers?
...
A good _foole_ call’d with paine perhaps may be.”
Sidney’s _Arcadia_, lib. ii. p. 229. ed. 1613.
v. 23. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 26. _mute_] i. e. mew: see note _ad l._
v. 30. _Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaire_]—_chaire_—ΧΑΙΡΕ. From
Persius, _Prol._ 8.
Page 3. v. 31. _Dowse French of Parryse_] _Dowse_, i. e. sweet, soft.
Chaucer’s Prioress spoke French
“After the scole of Stratford atte bowe,
For _Frenche of Paris_ was to hire unknowe.”
_Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 125. ed. Tyr.
v. 35. _supple_] i. e. supplicate, pray.
v. 38. _ryall_] i. e. royal. In the marginal note on this line, “Katerina
universalis vitii ruina, Græcum est” is an allusion to the Greek καθαρίζω
or καθαρός.
v. 39. _pomegarnet_] i. e. pomegranate.
v. 40. _Parrot, saves habler Castiliano_] See note _ad l._ “Parrot, can
you speak Castilian?” is a question which Spanish boys at the present day
frequently address to that bird.
v. 41. _With fidasso de cosso in Turkey and in Trace_]—_fidasso de cosso_
is perhaps lingua franca,—some corruption (see marginal note on the line)
of the Italian _fidarsi di se stesso_: _Trace_, i. e. Thrace.
v. 42. _Vis consilii expers ..._] }
v. 43. _Mole ruit sua_] }
From Horace, _Carm._ iii. iv. 65 (where “consilî”).
—— _dictes_] i. e. sayings.
v. 45. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
Page 4. v. 50. _An almon now for Parrot_] I know not if these words occur
in any writer anterior to the time of Skelton; but they afterwards became
a sort of proverbial expression.
Page 4. v. 51. _In Salve festa dies, toto theyr doth best_]—_theyr_, i.
e. there. Skelton has two copies of verses, which begin “Salve, festa
dies, toto,” &c.: see vol. i. pp. 190, 191.
v. 54. _Myden agan_] i. e. Μηδὲν ἄγαν.
v. 59. _Besy_] i. e. Busy.
v. 63. _To_] i. e. Too.
v. 67. _Iobab was brought vp in the lande of Hus_] “Verisimile est
Jobum eumdem esse cum Jobabo, qui quartus est ab Esaü ... Duces in ista
opinione sequimur omnes fere antiquos Patres quos persuasit, ut ita
sentirent, additamentum in exemplaribus Græcis, Arabicis et in antiqua
Vulgata Latina appositum: ‘Job vero habitabat in terra Hus, inter
terminos Edom et Arabiæ, et antea vocabatur Jobab,’” &c. _Concordantiæ
Bibl. Sacr. Vulg. Ed._ by Dutripon, in v. _Job. ii._
Page 5. v. 71. _Howst thé, lyuer god van hemrik, ic seg_]—_Howst thé_
is (I suppose) Hist thee: what follows is German,—_lieber Got von
Himmelsreich, ich sage_—Dear God of heaven’s kingdom, I say,—spoken by
way of oath.
v. 72. _In Popering grew peres_] From _Popering_, a parish in the Marches
of Calais (see Tyrwhitt’s note on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v. 13650),
the _poprin_, _poperin_, or _popperin_ pear, frequently mentioned in our
early dramas, was introduced into this country.
v. 73. _Ouer in a whynny meg_] The initial words of a ballad or song.
Laneham (or Langham) in his strange _Letter_ concerning the entertainment
to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575, mentions it as extant
in the collection of Captain Cox, who figured in the shows on that
occasion: “What shoold I rehearz heer what a bunch of Ballets and songs
all auncient: Az Broom broom on hill, So wo iz me begon, troly lo, _Over
a whinny Meg_,” &c. See Collier’s _Bridgewater-House Catalogue_, p. 164.
v. 74. _Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon_] See note, p. 217. v. 59.
v. 75. _The iebet of Baldock_] Is mentioned again in our author’s _Why
come ye nat to Courte_, v. 953. vol. ii. 56. “And in Caldee the chief
Cytee is _Baldak_.” _Voiage and Travaile of Sir J. Maundevile_, p. 51.
ed. 1725.
v. 78. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 80. _erstrych fether_] i. e. ostrich-feather.
v. 81. _Beme_] i. e. Bohemia.
v. 82. _byrsa_] An allusion to Virgil;
“Mercatique solum, facti de nomine _Byrsam_,
Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.”
_Æn._ i. 367.
Perhaps too Skelton recollected a passage in Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_,
B. ii. leaf xlviii. ed. Wayland.
Page 5. v. 84. _Colostrum_] i. e. the biesting,—the first milk after
the birth given by a cow (or other milch animal). This form of the word
occurs in the title of an epigram by Martial, lib. xiii. 38, and in
Servius’s commentary on Virgil, _Ecl._ ii. 22.
v. 85. _shayle_] See note, p, 97. v. 19.
v. 87. _Moryshe myne owne shelfe, the costermonger sayth_] From the next
line it would seem that “Moryshe” is meant for the Irish corruption of
some English word; but of what word I know not.
v. 88. _Fate, fate, fate, ye Irysh waterlag_] Mr. Crofton Croker
obligingly observes to me that he has no doubt of “fate” being intended
for the Irish pronunciation of the word _water_.—“There is rysen a
fray amonge _the water laggers_. Coorta est rixa inter _amphorarios_.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. q vi. ed. 1530.
Page 6. v. 91. _Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with syr Delarag_] See note, p.
189. v. 186. p. 194. v. 149.
v. 93. _Pawbe une aruer_] Either _Paub un arver_, Every one his manner,
or _Paub yn ei arver_, Every one in his manner.
v. 95. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 97. _conseyt_] i. e. conceit.
v. 104. _how_] i. e. ho!
v. 106. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.
v. 108. _praty popigay_] i. e. pretty parrot.
v. 109. _pyke ... too_] i. e. pick ... toe.
v. 110. _solas, pleasure, dysporte, and pley_] One of Skelton’s pleonasms.
v. 112. _Parot can say, Cæsar, ave, also_] “Ut plurimum docebantur hæ
aves salutationis verba ... interdum etiam plurium vocum versus aut
sententias docebantur: ut illi corvi, qui admirationi fuerunt Augusto ex
Actiaca victoria revertenti, quorum alter institutus fuerat dicere, _Ave,
Cæsar_,” &c. Casaubonus _ad Persii Prol._ v. 8.
v. 116. _ruly doth loke_] i. e. ruefully doth look.
Page 7. v. 118. _vndertoke_] i. e. undertook.
v. 119. _of Judicum rede the boke_] i. e. read the Book of Judges.
“In _Iudicum_ the storye ye may rede.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xiv. ed. Wayland.
v. 122.
_O Esebon, Esebon! to thé is cum agayne_
_Seon, the regent Amorræorum,_
_And Og, that fat hog of Basan, doth retayne,_
_The crafty coistronus Cananæorum_]
—_coistronus_ is a Latinised form of _coistroun_, see note on title of
poem, p. 92. Though in an earlier part of _Speke, Parrot_ we find “Cryst
saue Kyng Henry the viii, our royall kyng,” &c. v. 36, yet it would
almost seem that he is alluded to here under the name of Seon. Og must
mean Wolsey. This portion of the poem is not found in _MS. Harl._ (see
note on v. 59 _ad l._); and there can be no doubt that _Speke, Parrot_ is
made up of pieces composed at various times. After Skelton’s anger had
been kindled against Wolsey, perhaps the monarch came in for a share of
his indignation.
Page 7. v. 126. _asylum, whilom refugium miserorum, &c._]—_whilom_, i.
e. once, formerly. So afterwards in this piece, v. 496, among the evils
which Skelton attributes to Wolsey, mention is made of “myche sayntuary
brekyng,” i. e. much sanctuary-breaking; and in _Why come ye nat to
Courte_ he says of the Cardinal that
“all priuileged places
He brekes and defaces,” &c.
v. 1086. vol. ii. 60.
v. 130. _trym tram_] See note, p. 161. v. 76.
v. 131. _chaffer far fet_] i. e. merchandise far fetched.
v. 133. _Scarpary_] In Tuscany. So afterwards, “Over Scarpary,” v. 408;
and in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, “Mont Scarpry.” Dunbar’s
_Poems_, ii. 82. ed. Laing.
v. 134. _ich wot_] i. e. I know.
v. 136. _Tholomye and Haly_] See notes, p. 133. vv. 503, 505.
v. 137. _volvell_] }
v. 139. _tirykis_] }
See note, p. 335, v. 1517.
v. 142. _ren_] i. e. run.
Page 8. v. 143. _Monon calon agaton_] i. e. Μόνον καλὸν ἀγαθόν.
v. 144. _Quod Parato_] i. e. Quoth Parrot.
v. 149. _in scole matter occupyed_] i. e. used in school-matter: see
note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 152. _How_] i. e. Ho!
v. 153. _a silogisme in phrisesomorum_] “Sic [indirecte] in prima
figura concludunt quinque illi modi, qui ab interpretibus fere omnibus
(excepto Zabarella) pro legitimis agnoscuntur, quique hoc versu
comprehendi solent, _Celantes_, _Baralip_, _Dabilis_, _Fapesmo_,
FRISESOM.” Crakanthorp’s _Logicæ Libri Quinque_, 1622. p. 275. Aldrich
gives “Bramantip, Camenes, Dimaris, Fesapo, _Fresison_.” _Artis Logicæ
Compend._, 1691. p. 19.
v. 165. _Jack Raker_] See note, p. 186. v. 108.
v. 106. _maker_] i. e. composer.
Page 9. v. 170. _Sturbrydge fayre_] The fair kept annually in the
neighbourhood of Cambridge, and so named from the rivulet _Stour_ and
_bridge_.
Page 9. v. 171. _Tryuyals and quatryuyals_] The _trivials_ were the first
three sciences taught in the schools, viz. Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic;
the _quatrivials_ were the higher set, viz. Astrology (or Astronomy),
Geometry, Arithmetic, and Music. See Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv.
_Trivium_, _Quadrivium_; and Hallam’s _Introd. to the Lit. of Europe_, i.
4.
—— _appayre_] i. e. impair, are impaired, come to decay.
v. 174. _Albertus de modo significandi_] “Albertus,” says Warton,
after citing this stanza, “is the author of the _Margarita Poetica_, a
collection of _Flores_ from the classics and other writers, printed at
Nurenberg, 1472, fol.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to. The
work mentioned here by Skelton is stated to have been first printed in
1480. The title of an edition by Wynkyn de Worde, dated 1515, is as
follows; _Modi significādi Alberti sine quibus grammaticæ notitia haberi
nullo pacto potest_: there is said to be another edition n. d. by the
same printer: see _Typ. Ant._, ii. 208. ed. Dibdin.
v. 175. _Donatus_] i. e. the work attributed to Ælius Donatus, the Roman
grammarian: see the _Bibliog. Dictionary_ of Dr. Clarke (iii. 144), who
observes; “It has been printed with several titles, such as _Donatus_;
_Donatus Minor_; _Donatus pro puerulis_, _Donati Ars_, &c., but the
work is the same, viz. Elements of the Latin Language for the Use of
Children.” See too Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, i. 281 (note), ed. 4to.
—— _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 177. _Inter didascolos_] “_Interdidascolos_ is the name of an old
grammar.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to. Warton may
be right: but I have never met with any grammar that bears such a title.
—— _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 178. _Alexander_] i. e. Alexander de Villa Dei, “author of the
_Doctrinale Puerorum_, which for some centuries continued to be the
most favourite manual of grammar used in schools, and was first printed
at Venice in the year 1473 [at Treviso, in 1472: see _Typ. Ant._, ii.
116. ed. Dibdin]. It is compiled from Priscian, and in Leonine verse.
See Henr. Gandav. _Scriptor. Eccles._ cap. lix. This admired system has
been loaded with glosses and lucubrations; but, on the authority of an
ecclesiastical synod, it was superseded by the _Commentarii Grammatici_
of Despauterius, in 1512. It was printed in England as early as the year
1503 by W. de Worde. [The existence of this ed. has been questioned. The
work was printed by Pynson in 1505, 1513, 1516: see _Typ. Ant._, ii. 116,
426, 427, ed. Dibdin, and Lowndes’s _Bibliog. Man._, i. 27]. Barklay,
in the _Ship of Fooles_, mentions Alexander’s book, which he calls ‘The
_olde Doctrinall_ with his diffuse and vnperfite breuitie.’ fol. 53. b
[ed. 1570].” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to.
Page 9. v. 178. _Menanders pole_] See note, p. 130. v. 434: _pole_, i. e.
pool.
v. 179. _Da Cansales_] “He perhaps means _Concilia_, or the canon law.”
Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to.
v. 180. _Da Rationales_] “He seems to intend _Logic_.” _Id. ibid._
v. 183. _Pety Caton_] _Cato Parvus_ (a sort of supplement to _Cato
Magnus_, i. e. _Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus_) was written by
Daniel Churche, or Ecclesiensis, a domestic in the court of Henry the
Second: see Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 170, and Dibdin’s ed. of _Typ.
Ant._, i. 120.
v. 187. _scole maters_] i. e. school-matters.
—— _hole sentens_] i. e. whole meaning.
v. 188. _gariopholo_] So, I believe, Skelton wrote, though the classical
form of the word is _garyophyllo_.
v. 189. _pyke_] i. e. pick.
v. 190. _synamum styckis_] i. e. cinnamon-sticks.
v. 191. _perdurable_] i. e. everlasting.
v. 192. _fauorable_] i. e. well-favoured, beautiful.
Page 10. v. 195. _tote_] i. e. peep.
v. 198. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 199. _freshe humanyte_] i. e. elegant literature: see notes, p. 302.
v. 39. p. 319. v. 817.
v. 201. _chekmate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in _check_ at the
game of chess.
v. 205. _processe_] i. e. discourse; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 230
(first note on prose), p. 276. v. 2506, &c.
v. 207. _with all_] i. e. withal.
v. 208. _pauys_] See note, p. 90. v. 48.
v. 209. _flekyd pye_] i. e. spotted, variegated magpie.
v. 210. _pendugum, that men call a carlyng_]—“_pendugum_,” says the
Rev. J. Mitford, “is penguin;” and he supposes that _carlyng_ has some
connexion with the term gair-fowl, which is another name for the penguin.
Page 11. v. 219. _Ye ... torne_] i. e. Yea ... turn.
v. 222. _moche ... popegay ryall_] i. e. much ... parrot royal.
v. 226. _amonge_] i. e. together, at the same time.
v. 228. _worldly lust_] i. e. worldly pleasure.
v. 232. _recule_] See note, p. 327. v. 1187.
—— _Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis_] From the Vulgate, 1
_Thess._ iv. 17.
Page 12. v. 239. _when Pamphylus loste hys make_]—_make_, i. e.
mate. As the heading “_Galathea_” precedes this couplet, there is an
allusion to a once popular poem concerning the loves of Pamphilus and
Galathea,—_Pamphili Mauriliani Pamphilus, sive De Arte Amandi Elegiæ_.
It is of considerable length, and though written in barbarous Latin, was
by some attributed to Ovid. It may be found in a little volume edited by
Goldastus, _Ovidii Nasonis Pelignensis Erotica et Amatoria Opuscula_, &c.
1610. See too the lines cited in note, p. 324. v. 1048.
Page 12. v. 240. _propire_] i. e. handsome, pretty.
v. 241. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 245. _herte hyt ys_] i. e. heart it is.
Page 13. v. 262. _Be_] i. e. By.
v. 265. _reclaymed_] See note, p. 148. v. 1125.
v. 269. _kus_] i. e. kiss: see note, p. 128. v. 361.
v. 270. _mus_] i. e. muzzle, mouth.
—— _Zoe kai psyche_] i. e. Ζωή καὶ ψυχή.
Page 14. v. 274. _spuria vitulamina_] From the Vulgate, “_Spuria
vitulamina_ non dabunt radices altas.” _Sap._ iv. 3.
v. 280. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.—From this _Lenuoy primere_
inclusive to the end of _Speke, Parrot_, with the exception of a few
stanzas, the satire is directed wholly against Wolsey. The very obscure
allusions to the Cardinal’s being employed in some negotiation abroad
are to be referred probably to his mission in 1521. That _Speke, Parrot_
consists of pieces written at various periods has been already noticed:
and “Pope Julius,” v. 425, means, I apprehend, (not Julius ii., for
_he_ died in 1513, but) Clement vii., Julius de Medici, who was elected
Pope in 1523. With respect to the dates which occur after the present
_Lenuoy_,—“_Penultimo die Octobris_, 33ᵒ,” “_In diebus Novembris_, 34,”
&c., if “33ᵒ” and “34” stand for 1533 and 1534 (when both Skelton and the
Cardinal were dead), they must have been added by the transcriber; and
yet in the volume from which these portions of _Speke, Parrot_ are now
printed (_MS. Harl._ 2252) we find, only a few pages before, the name
“John Colyn mercer of London,” with the date “1517.”
v. 285. _lyclyhode_] i. e. likelihood.
v. 288. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 289. _tonsan_] i. e. _toison_.
v. 291. _Lyacon_] Occurs again in v. 393: is it—Lycaon?
v. 294. _folys_] i. e. fools.
—— _knakkes_] “_Knacke_ or toye _friuolle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xliii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 295. _hang togedyr as fethyrs in the wynde_] See note, p. 265. v.
1842.
Page 15. v. 296. _lewdlye ar they lettyrd that your lernyng lackys_] i.
e. badly, meanly, are they lettered that find fault with your learning.
v. 297. _currys of kynde_] i. e. curs by nature.
v. 298. _lohythe ... warkys_] i. e. looketh ... works.
v. 300. _Agayne all remordes_] i. e. Against all blamings, censures,
carpings: see note, p. 193. v. 101: but as in v. 368, where MS. has
“remordes,” the sense absolutely requires “remorders,” there is perhaps
the same error here.
—— _Morda puros mal desires_] This strange gibberish (which occurs twice
afterwards) seems to mean,—To bite the pure, is an evil desire.
v. 304. _sadde_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 305. _ower soleyne seigneour Sadoke_]—_soleyne_, i. e. sullen: in
applying the name _Sadoke_ to Wolsey, Skelton alludes to the high-priest
of Scripture, not to the knight of the Round Table.
v. 306. _nostre dame de Crome_] So in _A Mery Play between Johan the
Husbande, Tyb his Wyfe, and Syr Jhan the Preest_, 1533, attributed to
Heywood;
“But, by goggis blod, were she come home
Unto this my house, by _our lady of Crome_,
I wolde bete her or that I drynke.”
p. 1. reprint.
v. 307. _assone_] i. e. as soon.
v. 308. _to exployte the man owte of the mone_] i. e. to achieve the feat
of driving the man out of the moon.
v. 309.
_With porpose and graundepose he may fede hym fatte,_
_Thowghe he pampyr not hys paunche with the grete seall_]
—_porpose and graundepose_, i. e. porpoise and grampus. The pun in the
second line is sufficiently plain.
v. 311. _lokyd_] i. e. looked.
v. 313. _every deall_] i. e. every part.
Page 16. v. 319. _nodypollys_] i. e. silly-heads.
—— _gramatolys_] i. e. smatterers.
v. 320. _To ... sentence_] i. e. Too ... meaning.
v. 326. _sadlye_] See note, p. 267. v. 1966.
—— _Sydrake_] So Wolsey is termed here in allusion to a romance
(characterised by Warton as “rather a romance of Arabian philosophy than
of chivalry,” _Hist. of E. P._, i. 143. ed. 4to), which was translated
from the French by Hugh of Caumpeden, and printed in 1510, under the
title of _The Historie of King Boccus and Sydracke_, &c.
v. 327. _coniecte_] i. e. conjecture.
v. 328. _mellis_] i. e. meddles.
Page 16. v. 330. _Hyt_] i. e. It.
v. 331. _a cheryston pytte_] An allusion to a game played with
cherry-stones;
“I can playe at the _chery pytte_
And I can wystell you a fytte
Syres in a whylowe ryne.”
_The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522. sig. A iii.
v. 332. _sterrys_] i. e. stars.
v. 337. _syn_] i. e. since.
v. 339. _Non sine postica sanna_] “—— _posticæ_ occurrite _sannæ_.”
Persius, _Sat._ i. 65.
Page 17. v. 354. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 355. _popagay_] i. e. parrot.
Page 18. v. 356. _propyr_] i. e. pretty, handsome.
v. 358. _supply_] i. e. supplicate.
v. 360. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 362. _slaundrys obliqui_] i. e. slanderous obloquy.
v. 365. _jacounce_] i. e. jacinth.
v. 366. _balas_] See note, p. 326. v. 1166.
v. 367. _eyndye sapher_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 368. _remorde[r]s_] i. e. blamers, censurers: see note, p. 193. v. 101.
Page 19.—— _votorum meorum omnis lapis, lapis pretiosus operimentum
tuum_] From the Vulgate, “Omnis lapis pretiosus operimentum tuum.”
_Ezech._ xxviii. 13.
v. 374. _myche_] i. e. much.
v. 378. _on and hothyr_] i. e. one and other.
v. 380. _recheles_] i. e. reckless.
v. 382. _prosses_] Equivalent here to—matter: see p. 230 (first note on
prose).
v. 383. _cowardes_] i. e. cowardice.
v. 385. _connyng_] i. e. knowing, learned.
v. 386. _postyll_] See note, p. 289. v. 755.
Page 20. v. 393. _Lyacon_] See note on v. 291. p. 345.
v. 394. _Racell, rulye_] i. e. Rachel, ruefully; compare v. 116.
v. 395. _mawmett_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 407. _For passe a pase apase ys gon to cache a molle_] Qy. is there an
allusion here to Secretary Pace?
v. 408. _Scarpary_] See note on v. 133. p. 342.
—— _sliddyr_] i. e. slippery.
v. 409. _pendugims_] See note on v. 210. p. 344.
Page 21. v. 412. _Difficille hit ys_] i. e. Difficult it is.
v. 415. _raye_] i. e. array.
v. 416. _Agayne_] i. e. Against.
v. 417. _ensembyll_] i. e. together. (Fr.)
v. 418. _The nebbis of a lyon they make to trete and trembyll_]—_nebbis_,
i. e. neb, nib, nose: _to trete_, i. e. (I suppose) to become tractable.
v. 419. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 420. _to play cowche quale_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“Howe I haue made the knaues for _to play cowch quaile_.”
p. 42. Roxb. ed.
“And thou shalt make him _couche as doth a quaille_.”
_The Clerkes Tale_, v. 9082. ed. Tyr.
v. 421. _polys_] i. e. pools.
v. 422. _babylles_] i. e. (fools’) bawbles.
v. 424. _He facithe owte at a fflusshe_] Compare _The Bowge of Courte_,
v. 315.
“And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.”
v. 315. vol. i. 42.
_fflusshe_, i. e. a hand of cards all of a sort.
v. 425. _cardys_] i. e. cards.
v. 427. _skyregalyard_] See note, p. 218. v. 101.
—— _prowde palyard_] So, afterwards, the Duke of Albany is termed by
Skelton in his tirade against that nobleman, v. 170. vol. ii. 73.
“_Paillard._ A lecher, wencher, whoremunger, whorehunter; also, a knave,
rascall, varlet, scoundrell, filthy fellow.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
—— _vaunteperler_] “_Avant-parleur._ A forespeaker; or one that is too
forward to speak.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “Whiche bee the _vauntperlers_ and
heddes of thair faction.” _Letter of Bedyll to Crumwell_,—_State Papers_
(1830), i. 424.
v. 428. _woluys hede_] i. e. wolf’s head.
—— _bloo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 429. _Hyt ys to fere_] i. e. It is to fear,—be feared.
v. 430. _Peregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).
v. 431. _regiment_] i. e. rule.
v. 432. _quod ex vi bolte harvi_]—_quod_, i. e. quoth: of the rest, the
reader may make what he can.
v. 435. _groynyd at_] i. e. grumbled at.
Page 22. v. 436.
_Grete reysons with resons be now reprobitante,_
_For reysons ar no resons, but resons currant_]
Perhaps this is the earliest instance of a quibble between _raisins_
and _reasons_. The same pun is used by Shakespeare in _Much ado about
Nothing_, act v. sc. 1, and (though Steevens thinks not) in _Troilus and
Cressida_, act ii. sc. 2: compare also Dekker; “_Raisons_ will be much
askt for, especially in an action of iniury.” _The Owles Almanache_ 1618.
p. 36.
Page 22. v. 438. _Ryn_] i. e. Run.
v. 439. _the date of the Devyll_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
—— _shrewlye_] i. e. shrewdly, badly.
—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 442. _So many morall maters, &c._] There is a considerable resemblance
between this concluding portion of _Speke, Parrot_, and a piece
attributed to Dunbar, entitled _A General Satyre_; see his _Poems_, ii,
24. ed. Laing.
v. 443. _So myche newe makyng_] i. e. So much new composing.
v. 457. _stondythe_] i. e. standeth.
Page 23. v. 460. _on dawys hedd_] i. e. one daw’s head: see note, p. 113.
v. 301.
v. 467. _dowȝtfull daunger_] i. e. doubtful danger,—danger that ought to
cause dread.
v. 471. _not worthe an hawe_] See note, p. 269. v. 2115.
v. 472. _So myche papers weryng for ryghte a smalle exesse_]—_exesse_,
i. e. excess, offence. “And for a truthe he [the Cardinal] so punyshed
periurye with open punyshment & _open papers werynge_, that in his tyme
it was lesse vsed.” Hall’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.), fol. lix. ed. 1548.
v. 473. _pelory pajauntes_] i. e. pillory-pageants.
v. 474. _the cooke stole_] See note, p. 183. v. 38.
—— _guy gaw_] i. e. gewgaw, trifle.
v. 478.
_So bolde a braggyng bocher...._
...
_So mangye a mastyfe curre, the grete grey houndes pere_]
Again, in his _Why come ye nat to Courte_, Skelton alludes to the report
that Wolsey was the son of a butcher, vv. 295. 491. vol. ii. 36. 42.
Compare too Roy’s satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe,_
&c.;
“_The mastif curre_, bred in Ypswitch towne.
...
_Wat._ He commeth then of some noble stocke?
_Jeff._ His father coulde snatche a bullock,
A butcher by his occupacion.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 3. 31. ed. Park.
and a poem _Of the Cardnalle Wolse_;
“To se a churle _a Bochers curre_
To rayne & rule in soche honour,” &c.
_MS. Harl._ 2252. fol. 156.
Cavendish says that Wolsey “was an honest poor man’s son;” and the will
of his father (printed by Fiddes) shews that he possessed some property;
but, as Mr. Sharon Turner observes, that Wolsey was the son of a butcher
“was reported and believed while he lived.” _Hist, of Reign of Hen. the
Eighth_, i. 167. ed. 8vo.
With the second line of the present passage compare our author’s _Why
come ye nat to Courte_, where he wishes that “that mastyfe” Wolsey, may
... “neuer confounde
The gentyll _greyhownde_.”
v. 775. vol. ii. 50.
By the _greyhound_ seems to be meant Henry viii., in allusion to the
royal arms.
Page 23. v. 481. _So bygge a bulke of brow auntlers cabagyd that yere_]
“_Cabusser._ To cabbidge; to grow to a head,” &c.—“The Cabbage of the
Deeres head. _Meule de cerf._” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “I Kabage a deere, _Ie
cabaiche_ ... I wyll kabage my dere and go with you: _Ie cabacheray_,”
&c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxx. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 485. _banketyng_] i. e. banqueting.
Page 24. v. 487. _howgye_] i. e. hugy, huge.
v. 488. _apon_] i. e. upon.
—— _suche pyllyng and pollyng_] i. e. such stripping and plundering
(exactions of various kinds).
v. 489. _reson and skylle_] See note, p. 238, v. 106.
v. 496. _So myche sayntuary brekyng_] See note on v. 126. p. 342.
v. 497. _lyerd_] i. e. learned.
v. 498. _ryghte of a rammes horne_] See note, p. 298. v. 1201.
v. 501. _lokes ... dysdayneslye_] i. e. looks ... disdainfully.
v. 503. _ffylty gorgon_] i. e. filthy Gorgon. See note _ad loc._
v. 506. _loselles ... lewde_] i. e. worthless fellows, scoundrels ...
bad, evil, (or perhaps, lascivious).
v. 507. _myday sprettes_] i. e. mid-day sprites.
Page 25. v. 508. _puplysshyd_] i. e. published.
v. 509. _all beshrewde_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 510. _Suche pollaxis and pyllers, suche mvlys trapte with
gold_]—_mvlys_, i. e. mules. So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede
me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“_Wat._ Doth he use then on mules to ryde?
_Jeff._ Ye; and that with so shamfull pryde
That to tell it is not possible:
More lyke a god celestiall
Then eny creature mortall,
With worldly pompe incredible.
Before him rydeth two prestes stronge,
And they beare two crosses ryght longe,
Gapynge in every mans face:
After theym folowe two laye-men secular,
And eache of theym holdynge a pillar
In their hondes, steade of a mace.
Then foloweth my lorde on his mule,
Trapped with golde under her cule,
In every poynt most curiously;
On each syde a pollaxe is borne,
Which in none wother use are worne,
Pretendynge some hid mistery.
Then hath he servauntes fyve or six score,
Some behynde and some before,
A marvelous great company:
Of which are lordes and gentlemen,
With many gromes and yemen,
And also knaves amonge.
Thus dayly he procedeth forthe,” &c.
_Harl. Miscell._, ix. 29. ed. Park.
“Then,” says Cavendish, “had he two great crosses of silver, whereof
one of them was for his Archbishoprick, and the other for his Legacy,
borne always before him whither soever he went or rode, by two of the
most tallest and comeliest priests that he could get within all this
realm.” _Life of Wolsey_, 94. ed. 1827. “And as soon as he was entered
into his chamber of presence, where there was attending his coming to
await upon him to Westminster Hall, as well noblemen and other worthy
gentlemen, as noblemen and gentlemen of his own family; thus passing
forth with two great crosses of silver borne before him; with also two
great pillars of silver, and his pursuivant at arms with a great mace of
silver gilt: Then his gentlemen ushers cried, and said, ‘On, my lords and
masters, on before; make way for my Lord’s Grace!’ Thus passed he down
from his chamber through the hall; and when he came to the hall door,
there was attendant for him his mule, trapped all together [altogether]
in crimson velvet, and gilt stirrups. When he was mounted, with his
cross bearers, and pillar bearers, also upon great horses trapped with
[fine] scarlet: Then marched he forward, with his train and furniture
in manner as I have declared, having about him four footmen, with gilt
pollaxes in their hands; and thus he went until he came to Westminster
Hall door.” _Id._ 106. See also Cavendish’s _Metrical Legend of Wolsey_,
p. 533. _ibid._ The pillars implied that the person before whom they were
carried was a pillar of the church. That the Cardinal had a right to the
“ensigns and ornaments” which he used, is shewn by Anstis in a letter to
Fiddes,—Appendix to Fiddes’s _Life of Wolsey_.
Page 25.—_quod_] i. e. quoth.
WHY COME YE NAT TO COURTE?
This poem appears to have been produced (at intervals perhaps) during
1522 and part of the following year.
—— _sadly_] See note, p. 267. v. 1966: _loke_, i. e. look.
Page 26. v. 3. _To_] i. e. Too (as in the next seven lines).
v. 5. _scarce_] i. e. sparing.
v. 6. _large_] i. e. liberal.
v. 8. _haute_] i. e. haughty.
Page 27. v. 23. _appall_] i. e. make pale, make to decay.
v. 33. _rage_] i. e. toy wantonly (see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s
_Cant. Tales_).
v. 34. _basse_] i. e. kiss.
v. 37. _corage_] i. e. desire, inclination.
Page 28. v. 39. _ouerage_] Seems here to be—over-age (excessive age);
while, again, in our author’s poem _Howe the douty duke of Albany_, &c.,
it appears to be—over-rage (excessive rage);
“It is a rechelesse rage,
And a lunatyke _oueraye_.”
v. 417. vol. ii. 80.
v. 43. _a graunt domage_] Meant for French perhaps.
v. 44. _set by_] i. e. valued, regarded.
v. 46. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 50. _boskage_] i. e. thicket, wood.
v. 56. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 58. _theyr hedes mew_] i. e. hide their heads; see note on v. 219.
v. 62. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 63. _In faythe, dycken, thou krew_] See note, p. 115. v. 360.
Page 29. v. 68. _banketynge_] i. e. banqueting.
v. 69. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 70. _gambaudynge_] i. e. gambolling.
v. 74. _The countrynge at Cales_]—_countrynge_ does not, I apprehend,
mean—encountering, but is a musical term (see note on heading of poem, p.
92) used here metaphorically, as in other parts of Skelton’s works. The
allusion seems to be to the meeting between Henry the Eighth and Francis
in 1520, when (as perhaps few readers need be informed) Henry went over
to Calais, proceeded thence to Guisnes, and met Francis in the fields
between the latter town and Ardres. If “_Cales_” is to be understood
as—Cadiz (see note, p. 195. last v.) I know not any occurrence there of
sufficient consequence to suit the present passage.
Page 29. v. 75. _Wrang vs on the males_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
v. 77. _grouchyng_] i. e. grudging.
v. 79. _talwod_] “_Tallwodde_ pacte wodde to make byllettes of
_taillee_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxix.
(Table of Subst.). “Talshide or _Talwood_ (Taliatura) is Fire-wood, cleft
and cut into Billets of a certain Length.... This was anciently written
_Talghwode_.” Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
—— _brent_] i. e. burned.
v. 81. _We may blowe at the cole_] See note, p. 313. v. 610.
v. 83. _Mocke hath lost her sho_] See note, p. 331. v. 1396.
v. 87. _As ryght as a rammes horne_] See note, p. 298. v. 1201.
v. 90. _all to-torne_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
v. 92. _Fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
v. 93, _Iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 94. _Hauell_] Which occurs again in v. 604, is a term of reproach
found less frequently than _javel_ in our early writers: whether it
be connected with _haveril_,—one who _havers_ (see the Gloss. to _The
Towneley Myst._ in v. _Hawvelle_) I cannot pretend to determine.
—— _Haruy Hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 97. _pollynge and shauynge_]—_pollynge_, i. e. shearing,
clipping,—plundering.
v. 99. _reuynge_] i. e. reaving.
Page 30. v. 101. _vayleth_] i. e. availeth.
v. 105. _reason and ... skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 106. _garlycke pyll_] i. e. peel garlic.
v. 108. _shyll_] i. e. shell.
v. 109. _rost a stone_] So Heywood;
“I doe but _roste a stone_
In warming her.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 110. _no man but one_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 114. _cammocke_] See note, p. 179. v. 30.
v. 115. _This byll well ouer loked_] i. e. This writing being well
overlooked, examined.
v. 117. _There went the hare away_] A proverbial expression:
“_Man._ By my fayth a lytell season
I folowed the counsell and dyet of reason.
_Gloto._ There went the hare away
Hys dyet quod a,” &c.
Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d., sig. g ii.
“heere’s the King, nay stay:
And heere, I heare [ay, here]: _there goes the Hare away_.”
_The Spanish Tragedie_ (by Kyd), sig. G 3. ed. 1618.
Page 30. v. 118. _the gray_] i. e. the badger: see note, p. 303. v. 101.
v. 119. _the buck_] Qy. does Skelton, under these names of animals,
allude to certain persons? If he does, “the buck” must mean Edward Duke
of Buckingham, who, according to the popular belief, was impeached and
brought to the block by Wolsey’s means in 1521: so in an unprinted poem
against the Cardinal;
“Wherfor nevyr looke ther mowthes to be stoppyd
Tyll ther money be restoryd thow sum hedes be of choppyd
As thowe dyd serue _the Buckke_
For as men sey by the that was done
That sens had this lande no good lucke.”
_MS. Harl._ 2252. fol. 158.
v. 123. _Ge hame_] Scottice for—Go home.
v. 125. _tot quot_] See note, p. 287. v. 565.
v. 127. _lome_] i. e. loom.
v. 128. _lylse wulse_] i. e. linsey-woolsey,—an evident play on the
Cardinal’s name.
v. 130. _cule_] i. e. fundament.
v. 132. _warse_] i. e. worse.
Page 31. v. 136. _Bothombar_] I know not what place is meant here.
v. 139. _gup, leuell suse_]—_gup_ has occurred frequently before: see
note, p. 99. v. 17; the rest of this slang I do not comprehend.
v. 145. _nat worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 150.
_Yet the good Erle of Surray,_
_The Frenche men he doth fray, &c._]
This nobleman (before mentioned, see note, p. 317. v. 769), Thomas Howard
(afterwards third Duke of Norfolk), commanded, in 1522, the English force
which was sent against France, when Henry the Eighth and the Emperor
Charles had united in an attack on that kingdom. In Stow’s _Annales_,
p. 517. ed. 1615, the marginal note “Earle of Surrey brent Morles in
Brytaine. I. Skelton,” evidently alludes to the present passage of our
poem. Both Turner and Lingard in their _Histories of Engl._ mistake this
nobleman for his father.
Page 31. v. 158. _mated_] i. e. confounded (I may just observe that
Palsgrave, besides “I _Mate_ at the chesses, _Ie matte_,” gives “I _Mate_
or ouercome, _Ie amatte_.”) _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxcix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 163. _vrcheons_] i. e. hedge-hogs.
Page 32. v. 166. _ouer shote_] i. e. over-shoot.
v. 167. _scutus_] “_Scutum_, Moneta Regum Francorum, ita appellata quod
in ea descripta essent Franciæ insignia in scuto.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
(Ital. _scudo_, Fr. _écu_).
v. 170. _wonders warke_] i. e. work of wonder.
v. 175. _They shote at him with crownes, &c._] On the immense gifts and
annuities which Wolsey received from foreign powers, see Turner’s _Hist.
of Reign of Hen. the Eighth_, i. 236. ed. 8vo.
v. 178. _his eyen so dased_]—_dased_, i. e. dazzled, or, according to
Skelton’s distinction—dulled; for in his _Garlande of Laurell_ we find
“eyn dasild and _dasid_.” v. 1389. vol. i. 416.
v. 179. _ne se can_] i. e. can not see.
v. 185. _the Chambre of Starres_] i. e. the Star-Chamber.
v. 190. _renayenge_] i. e. contradicting.
v. 194. _Good euyn, good Robyn Hood_] “Good even, good Robin Hood,”
was, as Ritson observes, a proverbial expression; “the allusion is to
_civility_ extorted by _fear_.” _Robin Hood_, i. lxxxvii. Warton mistook
the meaning of this line, as is proved by his mode of pointing it: see
_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346. ed. 4to.
Page 33. v. 197. _thwartyng ouer thom_] i. e. overthwarting them,
perversely controlling them.
v. 202. _With, trompe vp, alleluya_] i. e., says Warton, “the pomp in
which he celebrates divine service.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346 (note),
ed. 4to. Compare Wager’s _Mary Magdalene_, 1567;
“Ite Missa est, _with pipe vp Alleluya_.”
Sig. A iii.
v. 203. _Philargerya_] i. e. Φιλαργυρία, argenti amor, pecuniæ cupiditas.
She was one of the characters in Skelton’s lost drama, _The Nigramansir_.
v. 204. _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 206. _Asmodeus_] The name of the evil spirit in the Book of _Tobit_.
v. 208. _Dalyda_] i. e. Dalilah.
“Unto his lemman _Dalida_ he told,
That in his heres all his strengthe lay.”
Chaucer’s _Monkes Tale_, v. 14069. ed. Tyr.
See too Gower’s _Conf. Am._, Lib. viii. fol. clxxxix. ed. 1554, and
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxiii. ed. Wayland.
Page 33. v. 208. _mell_] i. e. meddle (in sensu obsc.).
v. 212. _Simonia_] i. e. Simony.
v. 213. _Castrimergia_] “The true reading is CASTRIMARGIA, or _Gulæ
concupiscentia_, Gluttony. From the Greek, Γαστριμαργία, ingluvies,
helluatio. Not an uncommon word in the monkish latinity. Du Cange cites
an old Litany of the tenth century, ‘A spiritu CASTRIMARGIÆ _Libera
nos_, domine!’ Lat. Gloss. i. p. 398. Carpentier adds, among other
examples, from the statutes of the Cistercian order, 1375 [1357], ‘Item,
cum propter detestabile CASTRIMARGIÆ vitium in labyrinthum vitiorum
descendutur, &c.’ Suppl. tom. i. p. 862.’” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii.
346 (note), ed. 4to.
v. 215. _ypocras_] See note, p. 285. v. 458.
v. 217. _In Lent for a repast, &c._] So Roy in his satire against Wolsey,
_Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“_Wat._ Whatt abstinence useth he to take?
_Jeff._ _In Lent_ all fysshe he doth forsake,
_Fedde with_ partriges and plovers.
_Wat._ He leadeth then a Lutheran’s lyfe?
_Jeff._ O naye, for he hath no wyfe,
But whoares that be his lovers.”
_Harl. Miscel._ ix. 32. ed. Park.
v. 219. _partriche mewed_]—_mewed_, i. e. cooped up. “I kepe _partryches
in a mewe_ agaynst your comyng.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. e ii. ed. 1530.
v. 222. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 223. _a postels lyfe_] i. e. an apostle’s life.
v. 224. _herte_] i. e. heart.
Page 34. v. 232. _kues_] See note, p. 236. v. 36.
v. 235. _The sygne of the Cardynall Hat_] “These allowed Stew-houses [in
Southwark] had Signs on their Fronts, towards the Thames, not hanged out,
but painted on the Walls, as a Boar’s-Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the
Castle, the Crane, _the Cardinal’s Hat_,” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iv. 7.
ed. 1720.
v. 236. _shyt_] i. e. shut.
v. 237. _gup_] }
...
v. 239. _iast_] }
See note, p. 99. v. 17.
v. 240. _Wyll ye bere no coles_] Steevens, in his note on the opening
of Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_, cites the present line among the
examples which he gives of the expression to _bear_ or _carry coals_,
i. e. to bear insults, to submit to degradation. In the royal residences
and great houses the lowest drudges appear to have been selected to carry
coals to the kitchens, halls, &c.; see note on Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 169,
by Gifford, who afterwards (p. 179) observes, “From the mean nature of
this occupation it seems to have been somewhat hastily concluded, that a
man who would carry coals would submit to any indignity.”
Page 34. v. 241. _A mayny of marefoles_] i. e. (as appears from the
expressions applied to horses four lines above) a set of mare-foals,
fillies.
Page 35. v. 257. _next_] i. e. nearest.
v. 261. _Poppynge folysshe dawes_] See note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 262. _pyll strawes_]—_pyll_, i. e. peel.
v. 264. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 269. _Lorde Dakers_] Thomas Lord Dacre (of Gillesland, or of the
North) was warden of the West Marches. The accusation here thrown out
against him (because, perhaps, he was on the best terms with Wolsey) of
“agreeing too well with the Scots” is altogether unfounded. He was for
many years the able and active agent of Henry in corrupting by gold and
intrigues the nobles of Scotland, and in exciting ceaseless commotions in
that kingdom, to the destruction of its tranquillity and good government.
He died in 1525. And see notes on vv. 283, 353.
v. 270. _Jacke Rakers_] See note, p. 186. v. 108.
v. 271. _crakers_] i. e. vaunters, big-talkers.
v. 273. _Stronge herted_] i. e. Strong-hearted.
v. 275. _To_] i. e. Too.
v. 278. _the red hat_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 280. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 281. _cure_] i. e. care.
v. 283. _Lorde Rose_] i. e. Thomas Manners, Lord Roos. In 14 Henry viii.
he was constituted warden of the East Marches towards Scotland; and by
letters patent in 17 Henry viii. he was created Earl of Rutland. He died
in 1543. See Collins’s _Peerage_, i. 465. sqq. ed. Brydges. Hall makes
the following mention of him: “In this sommer [xiiii yere of Henry the
VIII] the lorde Rosse and the lorde Dacres of the North whiche were
appointed to kepe the borders against Scotland did so valiantly that they
burned the good toune of Kelsy and lxxx. villages and ouerthrew xviii.
towers of stone with all their Barnkyns or Bulwerkes.” _Chron._ fol. ci.
ed. 1548.
v. 285. _a cockly fose_] A term which I do not understand.
Page 35. v. 286. _Their hertes be in thyr hose_] See note, p. 233. v.
107,—where, however, I neglected to observe that we find in _Prima
Pastorum_,
“A, _thy hert is in thy hose_.”
_Towneley Myst._, p. 95.
Page 36. v. 287. _The Erle of Northumberlande, &c._] i. e. Henry Algernon
Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland. In 14 Henry viii. he was made warden
of the whole Marches, a charge which for some reason or other he soon
after resigned: _vide_ Collins’s _Peerage_, ii. 305. ed. Brydges. That he
found himself obliged to pay great deference to the Cardinal, is evident
from Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, where (pp. 120-128. ed. 1827) see
the account of his being summoned from the north, &c. when his son Lord
Percy, (who was then, according to the custom of the age, a “servitor”
in Wolsey’s house) had become enamoured of Anne Boleyn. This nobleman,
who encouraged literature, and appears to have patronised our poet (see
_Account of Skelton_, &c.), died in 1527.
v. 291. _Rynne_] i. e. Run.
v. 292. _mayny of shepe_] i. e. flock of sheep.
v. 293. _loke ... dur_] i. e. look ... door.
v. 294. _mastyue cur_] }
v. 295. _bochers dogge_] }
i. e. Wolsey: see note, p. 349. v. 478.
v. 296. _wyrry_] i. e. worry.
v. 297. _gnar_] i. e. snarl, growl.
v. 300. _blode_] i. e. blood.
v. 301. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 308. _astate_] i. e. estate, state, rank, dignity.
v. 312. _foles and dawes_] i. e. fools and simpletons; see note, p. 113.
v. 301.
v. 313. _eke_] i. e. also.
v. 315. _pletynge_] i. e. pleading.
v. 316. _Commune Place_] i. e. Common Pleas.
Page 37. v. 326. _huddypeke_] See note, p. 255. v. 1176.
v. 327. _Thy lernynge is to lewde_]—_to lewde_, i. e. too bad, too mean.
So in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_ we find “_lewdlye_ ar they _lettyrd_.”
v. 296. vol. ii. 15.
v. 328. _well thewde_] i. e. well mannered.
v. 338. _rowte_] See note, p. 298. v. 1223.
v. 343. _the Scottysh kynge_] i. e. James the Fifth.
v. 346. _stalworthy_] i. e. strong, stout.
v. 347. _whipling_] Perhaps the same as—_pipling_: see note on l. 26
(prose), p. 229.
Page 38. v. 352. _calstocke_] “_Calstoke_. Maguderis.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499. “_Calstocke pie de chov_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 353.
_There goth many a lye_
_Of the Duke of Albany, &c._]
This passage relates to the various rumours which were afloat concerning
the Scottish affairs in 1522, during the regency of John Duke of Albany.
(The last and disastrous expedition of Albany against England in 1523
had not yet taken place: its failure called forth from Skelton a long
and furious invective against the Duke; see vol. ii. 68.) In 1522, when
Albany with an army eighty thousand strong had advanced to Carlisle, Lord
Dacre by a course of able negotiations prevailed on him to agree to a
truce for a month and to disband his forces: see _Hist. of Scot._, v. 156
sqq. by Tytler,—who defends the conduct of Albany on this occasion from
the charge of cowardice and weakness.
v. 356. _quycke_] i. e. alive.
v. 358. _The mountenaunce of two houres_] “_Mowntenaunce._ Quantitas.
Estimata mensura.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“And largely _the mountenaunce of an houre_
They gonne on it to reden and to poure.”
Chaucer’s _Troil. and Cres._, B. ii. fol. 157. _Workes_, ed. 1602.
“Racynge and foynynge to _the mountenaunce of an houre_.” _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. vii. cap. iiii. vol. i. 191. ed. Southey.
v. 359. _sayne_] i. e. say.
v. 367. _Burgonyons_] i. e. Burgundians.
v. 373.
_God saue my lorde admyrell!_
_What here ye of Mutrell?_]
—_Mutrell_ is Montreuil; and the allusion must be to some attack intended
or actual on that town, of which I can find no account agreeing with the
date of the present poem. To suppose that the reference is to the siege
of Montreuil in 1544, would be equivalent to pronouncing that the passage
is an interpolation by some writer posterior to the time of Skelton.
v. 375. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 380.
_For drede of the red hat_
_Take peper in the nose_]
i. e. For dread that the Cardinal, Wolsey, take offence.
“Hee _taketh pepper in the nose_, that I complayne
Vpon his faultes.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. G.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 38. v. 383. _Of by the harde arse_] Compare the _Interlude of the
iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“Ye but yet I seruyd another wors
I smot _of_ his legge _by the hard ars_
As sone as I met hym there.”
Sig. E i.
v. 384. _trauarse_] i. e. thwarting contrivance.
Page 39. v. 386. _makys our syre to glum_] i. e. makes our lord (Wolsey)
have a gloomy or sour look.
v. 391. _go or ryde_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
v. 397. _frayne_] i. e. ask, inquire.
v. 401. _Hampton Court_] The palace of Wolsey; which he afterwards, with
all its magnificent furniture, presented to the King.
v. 407. _Yorkes Place_] The palace of Wolsey, as Archbishop of York,
which he had furnished in the most sumptuous manner: after his disgrace,
it became a royal residence under the name of Whitehall.
v. 409.
_To whose magnifycence, &c._
...
_Embassades of all nacyons_]
—_Embassades_, i. e. Embassies. “All ambassadors of foreign potentates
were always dispatched by his discretion, to whom they had always access
for their dispatch. His house was also always resorted and furnished with
noblemen, gentlemen, and other persons, with going and coming in and
out, feasting and banqueting all ambassadors diverse times, and other
strangers right nobly.” Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 112. ed. 1827.
Page 40. v. 417. _tancrete_] “_Tancrit_: Transcrit, copié.” Roquefort’s
_Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._
v. 418. _obstract_] i. e. abstract.
v. 425. _Whan him lyst_] i. e. When it pleases him.
v. 434. _vndermynde_] i. e. undermine.
v. 435. _sleyghtes_] i. e. artful contrivances.
v. 438. _coarted_] i. e. coarcted, confined.
v. 440. _nutshales_] i. e. nutshells.
v. 444. _taken in gre_] i. e. taken kindly, in good part: see note, p.
95. v. 68.
v. 449.
_He bereth the kyng on hand,_
_That he must pyll his lande_]
—_bereth on hand_, i. e. leads on to a belief, persuades.
“Lordings, right thus, as ye han understond,
_Bare_ I stifly min old husbondes _on hond_,
That thus they saiden in hir dronkennesse.”
Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._, 5961. ed. Tyr.
“He is my countre man: as he _bereth me an hande_,—vti mihi vult
persuasum.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. X viii. ed. 1530. The expression
occurs in a somewhat different sense in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, see
note, p. 241. v. 357: _pyll_, i. e. strip, spoil.
Page 41. v. 463. _a cæciam_] “_Cæcia_, σκοτοδινία [a vertigo with loss
of sight].” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ See note _ad loc._ Qy. is “accidiam” the
right reading (“_Acedia_, _Accidia_ ... tædium ... tristitia, molestia,
anxietas,” &c. (Gr. ἀκηδία): see _Du Cange_)?
v. 476. _a Mamelek_] i. e. a Mameluke. Compare _The Image of Ipocrisy_,
(a poem in imitation of Skelton, which is appended to the present
edition);
“And crafty inquisitors,
Worse then _Mamalokes_.”
Part Four.
v. 478. _potshordes_] i. e. potsherds.
Page 42. v. 483. _God to recorde_] i. e. God to witness.
v. 485. _reason or skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 486.
_the primordyall_
_Of his wretched originall_]
—_primordyall_, i. e. first beginning.
v. 490. _sank_] i. e. blood.
v. 491. _bochers_] i. e. butcher’s: see note, p. 349. v. 478.
v. 495. _rowme_] i. e. room, place, office.
v. 505. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 508. _saw_] i. e. saying,—branch of learning. So in our author’s
_Colyn Cloute_;
“Some lernde in other _sawe_.”
v. 734. vol. i. 339.
v. 511. _quatriuials_] }
v. 512. _triuials_] }
See note, p. 343. v. 171. This depreciation of Wolsey’s acquirements
is very unjust: his learning, there is reason to believe, was far from
contemptible.
Page 43. v. 517. _worth a fly_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 518. _Haly_] }
v. 519. _Ptholomy_] }
v. 520. _Albumasar_] }
See notes, p. 133. vv. 501. 503. 505.
v. 522. _mobyll_] i. e. moveable.
v. 526. _humanyte_] i. e. _humaniores literæ_, polite literature.
v. 533. _our processe for to stable_]—_processe_, i. e. story, account;
see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969, &c. and compare our author’s
Fourth Poem _Against Garnesche_, “But now my _proces for to saue_,” v.
157. vol. i. 131.
v. 538. _conceyght_] i. e. conceit,—good opinion, favour.
v. 540. _exemplyfyenge_] i. e. following the example of.
Page 44. v. 550. _A wretched poore man, &c._] i. e. Abdalonimus (or
Abdolonimus) whom Alexander made king of Sidon: see Justin, xi. 10.
Cowley touches on the story at the commencement of _Plant. Lib. iv._;
and in his English version of that commencement, under the title of _The
Country Life_, he has greatly improved the passage.
v. 557. _occupyed a showell_] i. e. used a shovel: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 566. _renowme_] i. e. renown.
v. 569. _with lewde condicyons cotyd_] i. e. quoted, noted, marked, with
evil qualities: see note, p. 183. v. 12.
v. 570. _ben_] i. e. be.
v. 573. _Couetys_] i. e. Covetise, covetousness.
v. 575. _wode_] i. e. mad.
v. 576. _mode_] i. e. mood, passion.
v. 577. _swerde_] i. e. sword.
v. 579. _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 45. v. 583. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 584. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or rank.
v. 585. _play checke mate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in
_check_ at the game of chess.
v. 586. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 591. _fynd_] i. e. fiend.
v. 594. _Lyke Mahounde in a play_] In none of the early miracle-plays
which have come down to us is Mahound (Mahomet) a character, though he is
mentioned and sworn by.
v. 601. _rebads_] i. e. ribalds.
v. 602. _beggers reiagged_] i. e. beggars all-tattered.
v. 603. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant.
v. 604. _hauell_] See note on v. 94. p. 353.
v. 605. _Rynne_] i. e. Run.
—— _iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 606. _peuysshe pye_] i. e. silly magpie.
v. 607. _losell_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow, scoundrel.
v. 613. _Iacke breche_] i. e. Jack-ass (-arse).
Page 46. v. 618. _shrewdly_] i. e. badly.
v. 621. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 622.
_My lorde is nat at layser;_
_Syr, ye must tary a stounde, &c._]
—_layser_, i. e. leisure: _a stounde_, i. e. a time, a while. Compare
_A Character of the insolent behaviour of Cardinal Wolsey as given by
Thomas Allen Priest and Chaplain to the Earl of Shrewsbury in a Letter
to his Lordshyp about Apr._ 1517, among Kennett’s Collections,—_MS.
Lansd._ 978. fol. 213. “Pleseth your Lordshyp to understande upon Monday
was sennight last past I delivered your Letter with the examinacyon to
my Lord Cardynall at Guilford, whence he commanded me to wait on him to
the Court. I followed him and there gave attendance and could have no
Answer. Upon ffriday last he came from thence to Hampton Court, where he
lyeth. The morrow after I besought his Grace I might know his plesure;
I could have no Answer. Upon Mondaye last as he walked in the parke at
Hampton Court, I besought his Grace I might knowe if he wolde command me
anye servyce. He was not content with me that I spoke to hym. So that who
shall be a Suitour to him may have no other busynesse but give attendance
upon his plesure. He that shall so doe, it is needfull shuld be a wyser
man then I am. I sawe no remedy, but came without Answere, except I wolde
have done as my Lord Dacre’s Servaunt doth, who came with Letters for the
Kynges servyce five moneths since and yet hath no Answere. And another
Servaunt of the Deputy of Calais likewyse who came before the other to
Walsyngham, I heard, when he aunswered them, ‘If ye be not contente to
tary my leysure, departe when ye wille.’ This is truthe, I had rather
your Lordshyp commaunded me to Rome then deliver him Letters, and bring
Aunswers to the same. When he walketh in the Parke he will suffer no
Servaunt to come nyghe him, but commands them awaye as farre as one might
shoote an arrowe.”
Page 46. v. 631. _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 635. _neuer the nere_]—_nere_, i. e. nearer.
“That they were early vp, and _neuer the neere_.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. A 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 636. _daungerous dowsypere_] “He hath a _daungerous_ loke. Atollit
supercilium, adducit, contrahit supercilia.”—“I can not away with
suche _daungorous_ felowes. Ferre non possum horum supercilium, vel
superciliosos, arrogantes, fastuosos, vel arrogantiam, aut fastum
talium.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sigs. L i, P iiii. ed. 1530:—_dowsypere_,
i. e. lord, noble (properly, one of the _Douze-Pairs_ of France);
“Erll, duke, and _douch-spere_.”
_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 182,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c. ed. Madden.
See too Spenser’s _F. Queene_, iii. x. 31.
v. 642. _With a poore knyght_] “He [Wolsey] fell in acquaintance with
one Sir John Nanphant, a very grave and ancient knight, who had a great
room in Calais under King Henry the Seventh. This knight he served,
and behaved him so discreetly and justly, that he obtained the especial
favour of his said master; insomuch that for his wit, gravity, and just
behaviour, he committed all the charge of his office unto his chaplain.
And, as I understand, the office was the treasurership of Calais, who
was, in consideration of his great age, discharged of his chargeable
room, and returned again into England, intending to live more at quiet.
And through his instant labour and especial favour his chaplain was
promoted to the king’s service, and made his chaplain.” Cavendish’s _Life
of Wolsey_, p. 70. ed. 1827. According to Nash, it was Sir _Richard_
Nanfan (father of Sir John) who was “captain of Calais, made a knight,
and esquire of the body to Henry vii.” _Hist. of Worcestershire_, i. 85.
Page 46. v. 643. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 646. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 649. _doddypatis_] i. e. thick-heads.
Page 47. v. 651. _iack napis_] i. e. jackanapes, ape, monkey.
v. 652. _bedleme_] i. e. bedlamite.
v. 653. _reame_] i. e. realm.
v. 661. _loselry_] i. e. wickedness, evil practice.
v. 664. _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.
v. 665. _kote_] i. e. coot (water-fowl).
v. 668. _he wyll tere it asonder_] So Roy, in his satire against Wolsey,
_Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“His power he doth so extende,
That _the Kyngis letters to rende_
He will not forbeare in his rage.”
_Harl. Miscell._, ix. 69. ed. Park.
v. 670. _hoddypoule_] i. e. dunder-head.
v. 674. _settys nat by it a myte_] i. e. values it not at a mite, cares
not a mite for it.
v. 679. _demensy_] i. e. madness.
Page 48. v. 682. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 683. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 684. _How Frauncis Petrarke, &c._] “Vidi Aquensem Caroli sedem,
& in templo marmoreo verendum barbaris gentibus illius principis
sepulchrum, vbi fabellam audiui, non inamœnam cognitu, a quibusdam
templi sacerdotibus, quam scriptam mihi ostenderunt, & postea apud
modernos scriptores accuratius etiam tractatam legi, quam tibi quoque ut
referam incidit animus: ita tamen, ut rei fides non apud me quæratur,
sed (vt aiunt) penes auctores maneat. Carolum Regem quem Magni nomine
[_ed. Bas._ cognomine] æquare Pompeio & Alexandro audent, mulierculam
quandam perdite & efflictim amasse memorant, eius blanditiis eneruatum,
neglecta fama (cui plurimum inseruire consueuerat) & posthabitis regni
curis, aliarum rerum omnium & postremo suiipsius oblitum, diu nulla
prorsus in re nisi illius amplexibus acquieuisse, summa cum indignatione
suorum ac dolore. Tandem cum iam spei nihil superesset (quoniam aures
regias salutaribus consiliis insanus amor obstruxerat), fœminam ipsam
malorum causam insperata mors abstulit, cuius rei ingens primum in regia
sed latens gaudium fuit: deinde dolore tantum priore grauiore, quantum
fœdiori morbo correptum regis animum videbant, cuius nec morte lenitus
furor, sed in ipsum obscœnum cadauer & exangue translatus est, quod
balsamo & aromatibus conditum, onustum gemmis, & velatum purpura, diebus
ac noctibus tam miserabili quam cupido fouebat amplexu. Dici nequit quam
discors & quam male se compassura conditio est amantis ac regis: nunquam
profecto contraria sine lite iunguntur. Quid est autem regnum, nisi iusta
& gloriosa dominatio? Contra quid est amor, nisi fœda seruitus & iniusta?
Itaque cum certatim ad amantem (seu rectius ad amentem) Regem, pro summis
regni negotiis legationes gentium, præfectique & prouinciarum præsides
conuenirent, is in lectulo suo miser, omnibus exclusis & obseratis
foribus, amato corpusculo cohærebat, amicam suam crebro, velut spirantem
responsuramque compellans, illi curas laboresque suos narrabat, illi
blandum murmur & nocturna suspiria, illi semper amoris comites lachrymas
instillabat, horrendum miseriæ solamen, sed quod vnum ex omnibus Rex
alioquin (vt aiunt) sapientissimus elegisset. Addunt fabulæ quod ego
nec fieri potuisse nec narrari debere arbitror. Erat ea tempestate in
aula Coloniensis Antistes, vir, vt memorant, sanctitate & sapientia
clarus, necnon comis, et consilii Regii prima vox, qui domini sui statum
miseratus, vbi animaduertit humanis remediis nihil agi, ad Deum versus,
ilium assidue precari, in illo spem reponere, ab eo finem mali poscere
multo cum gemitu: quod cum diu fecisset, nec desiturus videretur, die
quodam illustri miraculo recreatus est: siquidem ex more sacrificanti, &
post deuotissimas preces pectus & aram lachrymis implenti, de cœlo vox
insonuit, Sub extinctæ mulieris lingua furoris Regii causam latere. Quo
lætior, mox peracto sacrificio, ad locum vbi corpus erat se proripuit,
& iure notissimæ familiaritatis regiæ introgressus, os digito clam
scrutatus, gemmam perexiguo annulo inclusam sub gelida rigentique
lingua repertam festinabundus auexit. Nec multo post rediens Carolus, &
ex consuetudine ad optatum mortuæ congressum properans, repente aridi
cadaueris spectaculo concussus, obriguit, exhorruitque contactum,
auferri eam quantocius ac sepeliri iubens. Inde totus in Antistitem
conuersus, illum amare, illum colere, illum indies arctius amplecti.
Denique nihil nisi ex sententia illius agere, ab illo nec diebus nec
noctibus auelli. Quod vbi sensit vir iustus ac prudens, optabilem forte
multis sed onerosam sibi sarcinam abiicere statuit, veritusque ne si
vel ad manus alterius perueniret, vel flammis consumeretur, domino suo
aliquid periculi afferret, annulum in vicinæ paludis præaltam voraginem
demersit. Aquis forte tum rex cum proceribus suis habitabat, ex eoque
tempore cunctis ciuitatibus sedes illa prælata est, in ea nil sibi palude
gratius, ibi assidere & illis aquis mira cum voluptate, illius odore
velut suauissimo delectari. Postremo illuc regiam suam transtulit, & in
medio palustris limi, immenso sumptu, iactis molibus, palatium templumque
construxit, vt nihil diuinæ vel humanæ rei eum inde abstraheret.
Postremo ibi vitæ suæ reliquum egit, ibique sepultus est: cauto prius vt
successores sui primam inde coronam & prima imperii auspicia capescerent,
quod hodie quoque seruatur, seruabiturque quam din Romani frena imperii
Theutonica manus aget.” Petrarchæ _Fam. Epist._, lib. i. Ep. iii. p. 10,
_et seq._, ed. 1601.—On this story, which he found in a French author,
Mr. Southey has composed a ballad: see his _Minor Poems_.
Page 48. v. 694. _carectes_] i. e. characters, magical inscriptions.
v. 703. _Acon_] i. e. Aix la Chapelle: “_Acon_ in Almayne whyche is a
moche fayr cytee, where as kyng charles had made his paleys moche fayr &
ryche and a ryght deuoute chapel in thonour of our lady, wherin hymself
is buryed.” Caxton’s _History and Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c. 1485.
sig. b 7.
v. 709. _obsolute_] i. e. absolute, absolved.
v. 710. _practyue_] i. e. practise.
—— _abolete_] i. e. antiquated, abolished.
Page 49. v. 713.
_But I wyll make further relacion_
_Of this isagogicall colation_]
—_isagogicall colation_ seems to be equivalent here to—comparison
introduced, or discourse introduced for the sake of comparison.
v. 715. _How maister Gaguine, &c._] Concerning Gaguin see the _Account
of Skelton’s Life_, &c. The passage here alluded to, will be found in
_Roberti Gaguini ordinis sanctæ trinitatis ministri generalis de origine
et gestis francorum perquamutile compendium_, lib. x. fol. cxiiii. (where
the marginal note is “Balluæ cardinalis iniquitas”), ed. 1497. Cardinal
Balue (whom the reader will probably recollect as a character in Sir W.
Scott’s _Quentin Durward_) was confined by order of Louis xi. in an iron
cage at the Castle of Loches, in which durance he remained for eleven
years. But there is no truth in Skelton’s assertion that he “was hedyd,
drawen, and quarterd,” v. 737; for though he appears to have deserved
that punishment, he terminated his days prosperously in Italy.
Page 49. v. 720. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or
rank.
v. 728. _so wele apayd_] i. e. so well satisfied, pleased.
v. 731. _him lyst_] i. e. pleased him.
v. 732. _cheked at the fyst_] Seems to be equivalent here to—attacked,
turned against the hand which fed him. “_Check_ is when Crowes, Rooks,
Pyes, or other birds comming in the view of the Hawk, she forsaketh her
naturall flight to fly at them.” Latham’s _Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words
of Art_), 1658.
v. 733. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 50. v. 748. _dyscust_] See note, p. 321. v. 881.
v. 752. _rote_] i. e. root.
v. 753.
_Yet it is a wyly mouse_
_That can bylde his dwellinge house_
_Within the cattes eare_]
This proverbial saying occurs in a poem attributed to Lydgate;
“An hardy _mowse that is bold to breede_
_In cattis eeris_.”
_The Order of Foles_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 304.
And so Heywood;
“I haue heard tell, it had need to bee
_A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare_.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. G 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 766. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 768. _heale_] i. e. health.
v. 774.
_that mastyfe ..._
_Let him neuer confounde_
_The gentyll greyhownde_]
See note, p. 349. v. 478.
Page 51. v. 782. _borde_] i. e. jest.
v. 783. _stede_] i. e. place.
v. 784. _maister Mewtas_] John Meautis was secretary for the French
language to Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth. It appears from
Rymer’s _Fœdera_ that he was allowed, in consideration of his services,
to import Gascon wine and to dispose of it to the best advantage, T. v.
P. iv. p. 78 (anno 1494), T. vi. P. i. p. 146 (anno 1518), ed. Hagæ;
and that he was occasionally employed on business with foreign powers,
T. v. P. iv. pp. 110, 113 (anno 1497). Among some, says Ashmole, who
became Poor Knights of Windsor “probably out of devotion, rather than
cause of poverty,” was “John Mewtes Secretary of the French Tongue (Pat.
18. H. 7. p. 1).” _Order of the Garter_, p. 161. Several unimportant
entries concerning this person occur in the unpublished Books of Payments
preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster.
Page 51. v. 795. _a bull vnder lead_]—_lead_, i. e. a leaden seal.
v. 798. _Dymingis Dale_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“Mother bryce of oxforde and greate Gyb of hynxey
Also mawde of thrutton and mable of chartesey
And all other wytches that walke in _dymminges dale_
Clytteringe and clatteringe there youre pottes with ale.”
p. 68. Roxb. ed.
v. 799. _Portyngale_] i. e. Portugal.
v. 806. _calodemonyall_] i. e. consisting of good angels.
v. 807. _cacodemonyall_] i. e. consisting of evil angels.
v. 808. _puruey_] i. e. provide.
Page 52. v. 831. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
v. 838. _rewth_] i. e. pity.
v. 845. _recorde_] i. e. witness, evidence.
Page 53. v. 856. _set by_] i. e. valued, regarded.
v. 867. _askrye_] i. e. a shout. The verb has occurred several times
before: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358. p. 191. v. 66.
v. 877. _haute ... base_] i. e. high ... low.
v. 880.
_Marke me that chase_
_In the tennys play_]
See the latter part of note, p. 205. v. 62. “_Marquez bien cette chasse._
Heed well that passage, marke well the point, whereof I have informed
you.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ in v. _Chasse_.
Page 54. v. 883. _a tall man_] “_Tall_ or semely.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed.
1499.
v. 885. _Hay, the gye and the gan_] In one of his copies of verses
_Against Venemous Tongues_, Skelton has,
“Nothing to write, but _hay the gy of thre_.”
v. 13. vol. i. 134,
where there seems to be some allusion to the dance called _heydeguies_.
In the present passage probably there is a play on words: _gye_ may
mean—goose; and _gan_ gander.
v. 886. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 887. _The waters wax wan_] Horne Tooke in his _Div. of Purley_, Part
ii. p. 179. ed. 1805, citing this line from the ed. of Skelton’s _Works_,
1736, thus,
“The waters _were_ wan,”
considers “wan” as the past participle of the verb “wane,”—_wand_,
decreased; and he is followed by Richardson, _Dict._ in v. _Wan_. But
“were” is merely a misprint of ed. 1736; and that “wan” is here an
adjective expressing the colour of the water, is not to be doubted. So
Skelton elsewhere;
“For worldly shame I _wax_ bothe _wanne_ and bloo.”
_Magnyfycence_, v. 2080. vol. i. 292.
“The ryuers rowth, the _waters wan_.”
_Balett_, v. 15. vol. i. 22.
So too in Henry’s _Wallace_;
“Bot rochis heich, and _wattir_ depe and _wan_.”
B. vii. 814. ed. Jam.
Page 54. v. 888. _ban_] i. e. curse.
v. 891. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 896. _Sem ... Cam_] i. e. Shem ... Ham.
v. 898. _cupbord_] “_Cupborde of plate_ or to sette plate vpon _buffet_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxviii. (Table of
Subst.). It had a succession of “desks” or stages, on which the plate
was displayed: see the description of a magnificent entertainment in
Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 195. ed. 1827, and the editor’s note.
v. 904. _alcumyn_] i. e. a sort of mixed metal.
v. 905. _A goldsmyth your mayre_] “A.D. 1522 ... Maior, Sir John Mundy,
Goldsmith, Son to William Mundy of Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.” Stow’s
_Survey_, B. v. 129. ed. 1720.
v. 908. _trotters_] “_Trotters_ shepes fete.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 909. _potshordis_] i. e. potsherds.
v. 910. _shrewdly_] i. e. badly.
Page 55. v. 914. _syr Trestram_] See note, p. 137. v. 634. The name is,
of course, used here for a person of rank generally.
v. 916. _Cane_] i. e. Caen, in Normandy.
v. 917. _wane_] i. e. decreased.
v. 918. _royals_] }
v. 919. _nobles_] }
The coins so called.
v. 920. _Burgonyons_] i. e. Burgundians.
v. 928. _With, laughe and lay downe_] A punning allusion to the game at
cards so called.
v. 930. _Sprynge of Lanam_]—_Lanam_, i. e. Langham in Essex. In the
Expenses of Sir John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, we find, under the
year 1463, “Item, Apylton and _Sprynge off Lanam_ owyth my mastyr, as
James Hoberd and yonge Apylton knowyth wele [a blank left for the sum].”
_Manners and Household Expenses of England_, &c. p. 180. ed. Roxb. It
seems probable, however, from the early date, that the person mentioned
in the entry just cited was the father (or some near relative) of the
Spring noticed by Skelton. But Stow certainly alludes to the clothier of
our text, where he records that, during the disturbances which followed
the attempt to levy money for the king’s use in 1525, when the Duke of
Norfolk inquired of the rebellious party in Suffolk “what was the cause
of their disquiet, and who was their captaine?... one Iohn Greene a
man of fiftie yeeres olde answered, that pouertie was both cause and
captaine. For the rich clothiers _Spring of Lanam_ and other had giuen
ouer occupying, whereby they were put from their ordinarie worke and
liuing.” _Annales_, p. 525. ed. 1615. Neither Hall nor Holinshed, when
relating the same circumstance, make any mention of Spring.
Page 55. v. 935. _He must tax for his wull_] i. e. He must pay tax for
his wool.
Page 56. v. 952. _the streytes of Marock_] i. e. the straits of Morocco.
“Thurghout the see of Grece, unto _the straite_
_Of Maroc_.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 4884. ed. Tyr.
v. 953. _the gybbet of Baldock_] See note, p. 340. v. 75.
v. 958. _mellys_] i. e. meddles.
v. 972. _fendys blake_] i. e. fiends black.
v. 974. _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 975.
_he wolde than make_
_The deuyls to quake_]
So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“Yf he be as thou hast here sayde,
I wene the devils will be afrayde
To have hym as a companion;
For what with his execracions,
And with his terrible fulminacions,
He wolde handle theym so,
That for very drede and feare,
All the devils that be theare
Wilbe glad to let hym go.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 29. ed. Park.
v. 978. _fyer drake_] i. e. fiery dragon.
v. 979. _a cole rake_] “_Colerake ratissover_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de
la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxv. (Table of Subst.).
Page 57. v. 980. _Brose them on a brake_]—_Brose_, i. e. bruise, break:
_brake_ (which has occurred before in a different sense, see note, p.
168. v. 324) means here an engine of torture: “I Brake on _a brake_ or
payne bauke as men do mysdoers to confesse the trouthe.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes). In the
Tower was a celebrated _brake_ known by the nick-name of the Duke of
Exeter’s Daughter: see the woodcut in Steevens’s note on _Measure for
Measure_,—_Shakespeare_ (by Malone and Boswell), ix. 44.
Page 57. v. 984. _a grym syer_]—_syer_, i. e. sire, lord.
“Ryght _a grym syre_ at domys day xal he be.”
_Coventry Mysteries_,—_MS. Cott. Vesp. D_ viii. fol. 37.
v. 985. _potestolate_] Equivalent, I suppose, to—legate.
v. 986. _potestate_] “_Potestat._ A Potestat, principall Officer, chiefe
Magistrate.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 989. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 990. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 996. _Folam peason_] i. e. Fulham pease.
v. 997. _geson_] i. e. scarce, rare.
v. 1000. _herbers_] See note, p. 101. v. 13.
v. 1001. _bryght and shene_] Are synonymous: yet Spenser also has;
“Her garment was so _bright_ and wondrous _sheene_,” &c.
_The Faerie Queene_,—_Mutabilitie_, vii. 7.
Page 58. v. 1014. _The deuyll spede whitte_] See note, p. 252. v. 1018.
v. 1016. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 1019. _bended_] i. e. banded. “A knotte or a _bende_ of felowes.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Z viii. ed. 1530.
v. 1020. _condyscended_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
Page 59. v. 1055. _Remordynge_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 1056. _flytynge_] i. e. scolding, rating.
v. 1058. _dawis_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1059. _sawis_] i. e. sayings, texts.
v. 1060. _gygawis_] i. e. gewgaws, trifles.
v. 1066. _let_] i. e. hinder, obstruct.
v. 1067. _maumet_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
v. 1070. _crakynge_] i. e. vaunting, talking bigly.
Page 60. v. 1077. _him lykys_] i. e. pleases him.
v. 1086. _For all priuileged places, &c._.] See note, p. 342. v. 126.
v. 1094. _Saint Albons to recorde, &c._.] Wolsey, at that time Archbishop
of York and Cardinal, was appointed to hold the abbacy of St. Alban’s _in
commendam_; and is supposed to have applied its revenues to the expensive
public works in which he was then engaged, the building of his colleges
at Oxford and Ipswich, &c.,—a great infraction, as it was considered, of
the canon law.
Page 60. v. 1100. _legacy_] i. e. legatine power.
v. 1104. _ben_] i. e. be.
v. 1105. _take_] i. e. took.
Page 61. v. 1113. _He is periured himselfe, &c._] “And York [Wolsey]
perceiving the obedience that Canterbury [Warham] claimed to have of
York, intended to provide some such means that he would rather be
superior in dignity to Canterbury than to be either obedient or equal
to him. Wherefore he obtained first to be made Priest Cardinal, and
_Legatus de Latere_; unto whom the Pope sent a Cardinal’s hat, with
certain bulls for his authority in that behalf.” ... “Obtaining this
dignity, [he] thought himself meet to encounter with Canterbury in
his high jurisdiction before expressed; and that also he was as meet
to bear authority among the temporal powers, as among the spiritual
jurisdictions. Wherefore remembering as well the taunts and checks before
sustained of Canterbury, which he intended to redress, having a respect
to the advancement of worldly honour, promotion, and great benefits, [he]
found the means with the king, that he was made Chancellor of England;
and Canterbury thereof dismissed, who had continued in that honourable
room and office, since long before the death of King Henry the Seventh.”
Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, pp. 90, 92. ed. 1827. It appears, however,
from the contemporary testimonies of Sir Thomas More and Ammonius,
that this statement was founded on false information, and that Wolsey
did not employ any unfair means to supersede Warham. The latter had
often requested permission to give up the chancellorship before the
king would receive his resignation. When the seals were tendered to the
Cardinal, either from affected modesty, or because he thought the office
incompatible with his other duties, he declined the offer, and only
accepted it after the king’s repeated solicitations. See Singer’s note on
Cavendish, _ubi supra_, and Lingard’s _Hist. of Engl._ vi. 57. ed. 8vo.
v. 1127.
_he setteth neuer a deale_
_By his former othe_]
i. e. he values not a bit, regards not a bit, his former oath.
v. 1130. _pretens_] i. e. pretension, claim.
v. 1131. _equipolens_] i. e. equality of power.
v. 1137. _pore_] i. e. poor.
Page 62. v. 1151.
_That wyll hed vs and hange vs,_
...
_And he may fange vs_]
—_fange_, i. e. catch, lay hold of. Compare Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Satyre of
the Three Estaitis_, Part ii.;
“Sum sayis ane king is cum amang us,
That purposis _to hede and hang us_:
Thare is na grace, _gif he may fang us_,
But on an pin.”
_Works_, ii. 81. ed. Chalmers.
Page 62. v. 1163. _Naman Sirus_] i. e. Naaman the Syrian.
“And _Naaman Syrus_ thu pourgedest of a leprye.”
Bale’s _Promyses of God_, &c. 1538. sig. E i.
v. 1167. _pocky_] So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be
nott wrothe_, &c.;
“He had the pockes, without fayle,
Wherfore people on hym did rayle
With many obprobrious mockes.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 32. ed. Park.
This was one of the charges afterwards brought against Wolsey in
parliament.
Page 63. v. 1178. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse.
v. 1181. _Balthasor_] “Balthasar de Guercis was Chirurgeon to Queen
Catharine of Arragon, and received letters of naturalization, dated
16 March, 13 Hen. 8. [1521-2]. See Rymer’s _Collect. ined._ MS. Add.
Brit. Mus. 4621. 10.” Sir F. Madden’s additional note on _Privy Purse
Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 281. He is mentioned in the following
letter (now for the first time printed) from Wolsey’s physician,
Dr. Augustine (Augustinus de Augustinis, a Venetian), to Cromwell,
requiring medical assistance for the Cardinal: “Honᵈᵒ Mr Crumweƚƚ, dopo
le debite raccomadatione, ui mādo el prȩsente messo a posta, qual è
un mio seruitore, per pregarui si da ꝑte de Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ si da parte mia
instantemēte cħ ad ogni modo uogliati operar cħ mᵒ buths [Dr. Butts]
& mᵒ Walter [Cromer] siano qui auāti nocte, se nō ambidoi almeno uno
de loro, & l’altro potra uenir dimane, ꝑcħ res multū urget; prudēti &
amico pauca. Item uorria uolontieri parlasti a mᵒ Balthasar, cħ trouasse
o facesse trouare (se ꝑho in Londra nō ce ne fusse) di bona sorte di
sanguisuge seu hyrudine, accio bisognādo per Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ antedetto fusseno
preste & preparate, i. famelice etc & se ꝑ caso mᵒ Balthasar nō potesse
o nō uolesse trouare ditte sanguisuge, & qui uenir ad administrarle (se
bisognera) ui piaccia parlar a mᵒ Nicolas genero de mᵒ Marcellus, alquale
ho fatto ne li tempi passati administrarle, si cħ cū l’uno o l’altro
fati le cose siano in ordine, accio poi nō si perda tempo: q̃a periculū
est in mora. Aspetto ur̃a risposta per el pñte almeno in inglese ma
uoi medemo dimane Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ ad ogni modo ui aspetta. ditte prȩterea a
li prȩfati doctori cħ portino seco qualche electó uomitiuo de piu sorte
cioe debile, mediocre, & forte, accio, bisognādo, se ueggia el meglio, et
nō si p̃di tempo in mādar a Londra. per el mio seruitore etiā o uero p̃
un de prȩfati doctori mādati la manna da bonuisi o da qualcħ un’ altro
doue meglio se atrovera. Xp̃o da mal ui guardi. in Asher. 1529. ad. 19.
gennaio. mādati etiā qualche granati & arācij
a ūri cōmādi Aug.ᵒ augⁱ.”
_MS. Cott. Tit._ B i. fol. 365.
Page 63. v. 1182. _wheled_] i. e. whealed, wealed, or waled.
v. 1185. _It was nat heled alderbest_]—_alderbest_, i. e. best of
all,—thoroughly.
v. 1187. _Domyngo Lomelyn, &c._] In _The Privy Purse Expenses of King
Henry the Eighth_ are several entries, relating to payments of money won
by this Lombard from the King at cards and dice, amounting, in less than
three years, to above 620 _l._: see pp. 17, 32, 33, 37, 190, 204, 205,
267, 270 of that work, edited by Sir H. Nicolas, who observes (p. 316)
that Domingo “was, like Palmer and others, one of Henry’s ‘diverting
vagabonds,’ and seems to have accompanied His Majesty wherever he went,
for we find that he was with him at Calais in October, 1532.”
v. 1192. _puskylde pocky pose_]—_puskylde_, i. e. pustuled: _pose_, i. e.
defluxion.
v. 1197. _neder_] i. e. nether, lower.
v. 1201. _toke ... warke_] i. e. took ... work.
Page 64. v. 1209. _To wryght of this glorious gest, &c._] If the text
be right, _gest_ must mean—guest: so in _Magnyfycence_; “thou art a
fonde _gest_.” v. 1109. vol. i. 261. But perhaps the true reading of the
passage is,
“To wryght this glorious gest
Of this vayne gloryous best,”
in which case, _gest_ would signify—story: see note, p. 177. v. 622.
v. 1210. _best_] i. e. beast.
v. 1213. _Quia difficile est, &c._] From Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 30.
v. 1221. _ouerse_] i. e. overlook.
v. 1224. _Omne animi vitium, &c._] From Juvenal, _Sat._ viii. 140.
v. 1226. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 1227. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or rank.
v. 1233. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 1234. _can_] i. e. know.
v. 1235. _conuenyent_] i. e. fitting.
Page 64. v. 1238. _sadnesse_] See note, p. 259. v. 1382.
Page 65. v. 1239. _lack_] i. e. fault, blame.
v. 1246. _it shall nat skyl_] See note, p. 262. v. 1615.
v. 1247. _byl_] i. e. writing.
v. 1248. _daucock_] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
EPITOMA, &c.
—— _Polyphemo_] In allusion to what Skelton has before said,—that the
cardinal had the use of only one eye.
v. 2. _Pandulphum_] So he terms Wolsey, because Pandulph was legate from
the Pope in the time of King John.
Page 66. v. 27. _Mauri_] i. e. Terentianus Maurus.
DECASTICHON, &c.
v. 1. _maris lupus_] A wretched play on words,—sea-wolf—wolf-sea—Wolsey.
v. 8. _mulus_] See note, p. 350. v. 510.
HOWE THE DOUTY DUKE OF ALBANY, LYKE A COWARDE KNYGHT, RAN AWAYE
SHAMFULLY, &c.
Page 68.—— _tratlande_] i. e. prattling, idle-talking.
John duke of Albany (son of Alexander duke of Albany, the brother of
James the Third) was regent of Scotland during the minority of James the
Fifth; and this poem relates to his invasion of the borders in 1523; an
expedition, which, according to Pinkerton, “in its commencement only
displays the regent’s imprudence, and in its termination his total
deficiency in military talents, and even in common valour.” _Hist. of
Scot._, ii. 230. Mr. Tytler, however, views the character and conduct
of Albany in a very different light; and his account of the expedition
(_Hist. of Scot._, v. 166 sqq.) may be thus abridged. Albany’s army
amounted in effective numbers to about forty thousand men, not including
a large body of camp-followers. With this force,—his march impeded by
heavy roads, the nobles corrupted by the gold and intrigues of England,
they and their soldiers jealous of the foreign auxiliaries, and symptoms
of disorganisation early appearing,—the regent advanced as far as
Melrose. Having vainly endeavoured to persuade his discontented army
to cross the Tweed, he encamped on its left bank, and laid siege to
Wark Castle with his foreign troops and artillery. There the Frenchmen
manifested their wonted courage; but the assaulting party, receiving no
assistance from the Scots, and fearing that the river flooded by rain and
snow would cut off their retreat, were obliged to raise the siege, and
join the main body. The Earl of Surrey (see notes, p. 317. v. 769. p.
354. v. 150), who had in the mean while concentrated his troops, hearing
of the attack on Wark Castle, now advanced against the enemy. At the news
of his approach, the Scottish nobles being fixed in their resolution not
to risk a battle, Albany retreated to Eccles, (a monastery six miles
distant from Wark,) with his foreign auxiliaries and artillery; and the
rest of his forces dispersed, rather with flight than retreat, amidst
a tempest of snow. From Eccles Albany retired to Edinburgh, and, soon
after, finally withdrew to France. His army had been assembled on the
Burrow-Muir near Edinburgh towards the end of October; and its dispersion
took place at the commencement of the following month.
Page 68. v. 19. _Huntley banke_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 20. _Lowdyan_] See note, p. 217. v. 59.
v. 21. _Locryan_] See note, p. 217. v. 61.
v. 22. _the ragged ray_]—_ray_ seems here to be merely—array; but Skelton
in his _Replycacion_, &c., has,
“ye _dawns_ all in a sute
The heritykes _ragged ray_.”
v. 168. vol. i. 214:
and see note, p. 194. v. 170.
v. 24. _Dunbar, Dunde_] See note, p. 219. v. 121.
Page 69. v. 37. _With, hey, dogge, hay_] This line has occurred before,
in _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 168. vol. i. 100.
v. 38. _For Sir William Lyle, &c._] “And the seid mondaye at iij a clok
at aftir none, the water of Twede being soo high that it could not be
riden, the Duke sente ouer ij mˡ Frenchemen in bootis [boats] to gif
assaulte to the place, who with force entred the bas courte, and by Sir
William Lizle captain of the castell with c with hym were right manfully
defended by the space of one houre and an half withoute suffring theym
tentre the inner warde; but fynally the seid Frenchemen entred the inner
warde, whiche perceiued by the seid Sir William and his company frely set
vpon theym, and not onely drove theym oute of the inner warde, but alsoo
oute of the vttir warde, and slewe of the seid Frenchemen x personys.
And so the seid Frenchemen wente ouer the water,” &c. Letter from Surrey
to Henry the Eighth,—_MS. Cott. Calig. B._ vi. fol. 304. Mr. Tytler says
that the assaulting party left “three hundred slain, of which the greater
number were Frenchmen.” _Hist. of Scot._, v. 169.
v. 45. _lacke_] i. e. blame, reproach.
Page 69. v. 52. _reculed_] i. e. recoiled, retreated.
v. 55. _That my lorde amrell, &c._]—_amrell_, i. e. admiral,—Surrey.
Page 70. v. 63. _With sainct Cutberdes banner_] An earlier passage of the
letter just cited is as follows. “At whiche tyme I being at Holy Island,
vij myles from Berwike, was aduertised of the same [Albany’s attack on
Wark Castle] at v a clok at night the seid sondaye; and incontynente
sente lettres to my lord cardynallis company, my lord of Northumbreland,
my lord of Westmereland at Sainte Cutbertes baner lying at Anwike and
thereaboutes, and in likewise to my lord Dacre and other lordes and
gentilmen lying abrode in the contre too mete me at Barmer woode v myles
from Werk on mondaye, whoo soo dede.”
v. 68. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.
v. 73. _ascry_] i. e. call out against, raise a shout against—assail; see
notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358, &c.
v. 78. _stoutty_] i. e. stout.
v. 91. _But ye meane a thyng, &c._] That Albany aimed at the destruction
of James v. was a popular rumour, but, according to Mr. Tytler, entirely
without foundation.
Page 71. v. 101. _cast_] i. e. contrivance, stratagem.
v. 110. _beyght_] i. e., perhaps, (not bait, but) noose. _Beight, bight_,
or _bought_, is any thing bent, folded: in Markham’s _Masterpiece_ (as
Stevenson observes, Additions to Boucher’s _Gloss._ in v.) it is used
both to express a noose formed of a rope, and the bent or arched part of
a horse’s neck. In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find “_Boughtes_.... Chartæ
complicatæ.” Sig. Q iii. ed. 1530.
v. 115. _recrayd_] i. e. recreant.
v. 120. _puaunt_] i. e. stinking.
v. 126. _Vnhaply vred_] See note, p. 232. v. 95.
v. 128. _discured_] i. e. discovered.
Page 72. v. 132. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 135. _flery_] i. e. fleer.
v. 146. _Mell nat_] i. e. Meddle not.
v. 152. _byrne_] i. e. burn.
v. 155. _at ylke mannes hecke_] i. e. at each man’s hatch, door.
v. 156. _fynde_] i. e. fiend.
v. 159. _shake thy dogge, hay_] See note, p. 226. v. 28.
v. 161.
_We set nat a flye_
_By, &c._]
i. e. We value not at a fly, care not a fly for.
v. 163. _prane_] i. e. prawn.
Page 72. v. 164. _dronken drane_] See note, p. 222. v. 172.
Page 73. v. 165. _We set nat a myght_] So Chaucer;
“I nolde _setten_ at his sorow _a mite_.”
_Troilus and Creseide_, B iii.—_Workes_, fol. 161. ed. 1602.
v. 167. _proude palyarde_] See note, p. 348. v. 427.
v. 168. _skyrgaliarde_] See note, p. 218. v. 101.
v. 171. _coystrowne_] See note on title of poem, p. 92.
v. 172. _dagswayne_] See note, p. 270. v. 2195. I know not if the word
was ever used as a term of reproach by any writer except Skelton.
v. 182. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 189.
_Right inconuenyently_
_Ye rage and ye raue,_
_And your worshyp depraue_]
—_inconuenyently_, i. e. unsuitably, unbecomingly: _your worshyp
depraue_, i. e. debase, degrade, lower your dignity. “I am also
aduertised that he [Albany] is so passionate that and he bee aparte
amongis his familiers and doth here any thing contrarius to his myende
and pleasure, his accustumed maner is too take his bonet sodenly of his
hed and to throwe it in the fire, and no man dare take it oute but let
it to bee brent. My lord Dacre doth affirme that at his last being in
Scotland he ded borne aboue a dosyn bonettes aftir that maner.” Letter
from Lord Surrey to Wolsey,—_MS. Cott., Calig. B_ vi. fol. 316.
v. 192. _Duke Hamylcar_] }
v. 195. _Duke Hasdruball_] }
—_Duke_, i. e. leader, lord. So Lydgate;
“_Duke_ whylom of Cartage
Called _Amylchar_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxxvi. ed. Wayland.
“_Duke Hasdrubal_, whome bokes magnify.”
_Ibid._ B. ii. leaf xlv.
v. 198. _condicions_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
Page 74. v. 209. _Howe ye wyll beres bynde_]—_beres_, i. e. bears.
Compare;
“With mede men may _bynde berys_.”
_Coventry Mysteries_,—_MS. Cott. Vesp. D viii._ fol. 195.
“Som man is strong _berys for to bynde_.”
Lydgate’s verses _Against Self-love_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 10.
“That with the strenth of my hand
_Beres may bynd_.”
_The Droichis Part of the Play_, attributed to Dunbar,—_Poems_,
ii. 37. ed. Laing.
“Makynge the people to beleve he coulde _bynde bears_.”
Bale’s _Kynge Johan_, p. 72. ed. Camd.
Page 74. v. 210. _the deuill downe dynge_] See note, p. 270. v. 2210.
v. 227. _entrusar_] i. e. intruder.
“But an _intrusour_, one called Julyan.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. viii. leaf ii. ed. Wayland.
v. 230. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 75. v. 237. _lorde amrell_] i. e. lord admiral (Surrey).
v. 240. _marciall shoure_] See note, p. 219. v. 133.
v. 243. _derayne_] i. e. contest.
v. 248. _keteryng_] See note, p. 218. v. 83.
v. 250. _hert_] i. e. heart.
v. 251. _The fynde of hell mot sterue the_] i. e. May the fiend of hell
cause thee to die, destroy thee. (To _sterue_ in our old writers is
common in the sense of—die, perish.)
v. 255. _Caried in a cage, &c._] In no historian can I find any allusion
to the strange vehicle here mentioned.
v. 257. _mawment_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
Page 76. v. 268. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 270.
_Therin, lyke a royle,_
_Sir Dunkan, ye dared_]
Compare;
“By your reuellous riding on euery _royle_,
Welny euery day a new mare or a moyle.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. H 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
“_Nulla in tam, magno est corpore mica salis_, There is not one crum
or droppe of good fashion in al that great _royls_ bodye. For Catullus
ther speaketh of a certaine mayden that was called Quintia,” &c. Udall’s
_Flowers, or Eloquent Phrases of the Latine speach_, &c. sig. G 5. ed.
1581. Grose gives “_Roil_ or _royle_, a big ungainly slamakin, a great
awkward blowze or hoyden.” _Prov. Gloss._:—_Sir Dunkan_ is a Scottish
name used here at random by Skelton, as he elsewhere uses other Scottish
names, see note, p. 219. v. 121: _dared_, see note, p. 258. v. 1358; and
compare; “_Daren_ or preuyly ben hyd. Latito.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“Vnder freshe floures sote and fayre to se,
The serpent _dareth_ with his couert poyson.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iv. leaf cvii. ed. Wayland.
“the snayl goth lowe doun,
_Daryth_ in his shelle.”
Poem by Lydgate (entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to
keep a guard over their tongues_),—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 133.
Page 76. v. 274. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 282. _It made no great fors_] i. e. It was no great matter, it
mattered not greatly.
v. 285. _a gon stone_] See note, p. 314. v. 629.
v. 287. _sir Topias_] See note, p. 180. v. 40.
v. 288. _Bas_] The _Bass_ is an island, or rather rock, of immense height
in the Firth of Forth, about a mile distant from the south shore.
v. 290. _[l]as_] I may just notice, in support of this reading, that “a
lusty _lasse_” occurs in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1577. vol. i.
276.
v. 292. _I shrewe_] i. e. I beshrew, curse.
—— _lugges_] i. e. ears.
v. 293. _munpynnys_] Compare;
“Syrs, let us cryb furst for oone thyng or oder,
That thise wordes be purst, and let us go foder
Our _mompyns_.”
_Prima Pastorum_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 89
(a passage which the writer of the _Gloss._ altogether misunderstands),
and;
“Thy _mone pynnes_ bene lyche olde yuory,
Here are stumpes feble and her are none,” &c.
Lydgate, _The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 45.
_Munpynnys_ is, I apprehend, mouth-pins, teeth. Ray gives “The _Munne_,
the Mouth.” _Coll. of Engl. Words_, &c.—Preface, p. x. ed. 1768: and
Jamieson has “_Munds_. The mouth.”—“_Muns._ The hollow behind the
jaw-bone.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Suppl._
—— _crag_] i. e. neck, throat.
v. 295. _hag_] See note, p. 99. v. 19.
v. 296. _sir Wrig wrag_] }
v. 297. _sir Dalyrag_] }
See note, p. 189. v. 186.
Page 77. v. 298. _mellyng_] i. e. meddling.
v. 301. _huddypeke_] See note, p. 255. v. 1176.
v. 303. _a farly freke_] i. e. a strange fellow: see notes, p. 109. v.
187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 304. _an horne keke_] A term which I am unable to explain.
v. 308. _swerde_] i. e. sword.
v. 309. _the Lyon White_] See note, p. 220. v. 135.
v. 316. _render the_] i. e. consign thee.
v. 317. _the flingande fende_] i. e. the flinging fiend. So in Ingelend’s
_Disobedient Child_, n. d.;
“_The flyings and_ [sic] _fiende_ go with my wyfe.”
Sig. F ii.
Northern readers at least need not be informed that to _fling_ means—to
throw out the legs;
“Sumtyme, in dansing, feirelie I _flang_.”
Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Epistill_ before his _Dreme_,—_Workes_, i. 187. ed.
Chalmers.
v. 319. _borde_] i. e. jest.
v. 322. _parbrake_] i. e. vomit.
v. 323. _auauns_] i. e. vaunts. “The braging _avaunts_ of the Spaniards
be so accalmed,” &c. _Letter of Wolsey_,—Burnet’s _Hist. of the Reform._,
iii. P. ii. 9. ed. 1816.
v. 324. _wordes enbosed_] i. e. swollen, big words.
v. 329. _lewde_] i. e. evil, vile.
v. 330. _Sir Dunkan_] See note on v. 270. p. 379.
—— _in the deuill waye_] See note, p. 287. v. 672.
Page 78. v. 336. _lurdayne_] See note, p. 242. v. 423.
v. 341. _varry_] i. e. fall at variance, contend.
v. 344. _stownde_] i. e. moment.
v. 348. _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 352. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 353. _defoyle_] i. e. defile.
v. 360. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 366. _bace_] i. e. low.
Page 79. v. 375. _cordylar_] i. e. cordelier,—a Franciscan friar, whose
cincture is a _cord_.
v. 377. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 380. _daucockes_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 381. _reme_] i. e. realm.
v. 382. _Ge heme_] Scottice for—Go home (as before in _Why come ye nat to
Courte_, v. 123. vol. ii. 30).
v. 383. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
Page 79. v. 386. _mate you with chekmate_] In allusion to the king’s
being put in _check_ at the game of chess. And see note, p. 355. v. 158.
v. 389. _pype in a quibyble_] The word _quibyble_, as far as I am aware,
occurs only in Skelton. Chaucer has a well-known passage,
“And playen songes on a small ribible;
Therto he song somtime a loud _quinible_.”
_The Milleres Tale_, v. 3331, where Tyrwhitt (apparently against the
context) supposes _quinible_ to be an instrument: and I may notice that
Forby gives “_Whybibble_, a whimsy; idle fancy; silly scruple, &c.” _Voc.
of East Anglia._
v. 398. _faytes_] i. e. facts, doings.
v. 399. _me dresse_] i. e. address, apply myself.
Page 80. v. 406. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 410. _nobles_] i. e. noblesse, nobleness.
v. 417. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 418. _a lunatyke ouerage_] See note, p. 352. v. 39.
v. 420. _ennewde_] See note, p. 144. v. 775.
v. 431. _Lyke vnto Hercules_] Barclay goes still farther in a compliment
to the same monarch;
“_He passeth Hercules_ in manhode and courage.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 205. ed. 1570.
v. 436. _foy_] i. e. faith.
Page 81. v. 439. _Scipiades_] i. e. Scipio.
v. 442. _Duke Iosue_]—_Duke_, i. e. leader, lord. So Hawes;
“And in lyke wyse _duke Iosue_ the gente,” &c.
_The Pastime of Pleasure_, sig. c ii. ed. 1555.
v. 448. _animosite_] i. e. bravery.
v. 457. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 459. _losels_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellows, scoundrels.
v. 461. _astate_] i. e. estate, high dignity.
v. 468. _domage_] i. e. damage.
v. 470. _rydes or goos_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
Page 82. v. 475. _a knappishe sorte_] “_Knappish._ Proterve, pervers,
fascheux.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Knappish_. Tart, testy, snappish.”
Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._: _sorte_, i. e. set.
v. 477. _enbosed iawes_] See note, p. 301. v. 24.
v. 478. _dawes_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 479. _fende_] i. e. fiend.
v. 487. _hart blode_] i. e. heart-blood.
v. 488. _gode_] i. e. good,—goods.
v. 494. _faytour_] See note, p. 195. v. 2.
Page 82. v. 495. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant.
v. 500. _rede ... loke_] i. e. advise ... look.
Page 83. v. 506. _Sainct George to borowe_] i. e. St. George being my
surety or pledge: the expression is common in our early poetry.
v. 508. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 523. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
—— _Lenuoy_] Concerning this second _L’envoy_, which, I believe, does not
belong to the poem against Albany, see _Account of Skelton_, &c.
Page 84. v. 9. _ammas_] i. e. amice: see note, p. 134. v. 560.
—— _Ie foy enterment, &c._] i. e. Je fie entièrement, &c.
POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO SKELTON.
VERSES PRESENTED TO KING HENRY THE SEVENTH[273] AT THE FEAST OF ST.
GEORGE CELEBRATED AT WINDSOR IN THE THIRD YEAR OF HIS REIGN.
O moste famous noble king! thy fame doth spring and spreade,
Henry the Seventh, our soverain, in eiche regeon;
All England hath cause thy grace to love and dread,
Seing embassadores seche fore protectyon,
For ayd, helpe, and succore, which lyeth in thie electyone.
England, now rejoyce, for joyous mayest thou bee,
To see thy kyng so floreshe in dignetye.
This realme a seasone stoode in greate jupardie,
When that noble prince deceased, King Edward,
Which in his dayes gate honore full nobly;
After his decesse nighe hand all was marr’d;
Eich regione this land dispised, mischefe when they hard;
Wherefore rejoyse, for joyous mayst thou be,
To see thy kynge so floresh in high dignetye.
Fraunce, Spayne, Scoteland, and Britanny, Flanders also,
Three of them present keepinge thy noble feaste
Of St. George in Windsor, ambassadors comying more,[274]
Iche of them in honore, bothe the more and the lesse,[275]
Seeking thie grace to have thie noble begeste:
Wherefore now rejoise, and joyous maiste thou be,
To see thy kynge so florishing in dignetye.
O knightly ordere, clothed in robes with gartere!
The queen’s grace and thy mother clothed in the same;
The nobles of thie realme riche in araye, aftere,
Lords, knights, and ladyes, unto thy greate fame:
Now shall all embassadors know thie noble name,
By thy feaste royal; nowe joyeous mayest thou be,
To see thie king so florishinge in dignety.
Here this day St. George, patron of this place,
Honored with the gartere cheefe of chevalrye;
Chaplenes synging processyon, keeping the same,
With archbushopes and bushopes beseene nobly;
Much people presente to see the King Henrye:
Wherefore now, St. George, all we pray to thee
To keepe our soveraine in his dignetye.
[273] _Verses presented to King Henry the Seventh, &c._] Ashmole, who
first printed these lines from “_MS. penes Arth. Com. Anglesey, fol._
169,” thinks that they were probably by Skelton: see _Order of the
Garter_, p. 594.
[274] _more_] The rhyme requires “mo.”
[275] _lesse_] The rhyme requires “leste.”
THE EPITAFFE OF THE MOSTE NOBLE AND VALYAUNT JASPAR LATE DUKE OF
BEDDEFORDE.[276]
[Sidenote: Color Ficcio.]
Bydynge al alone, with sorowe sore encombred,
In a frosty fornone, faste by Seuernes syde,
The wordil beholdynge, wherat moch I wondred
To se the see and sonne to kepe both tyme and tyde,
The ayre ouer my hede so wonderfully to glyde,
And howe Saturne by circumference borne is aboute;
Whiche thynges to beholde, clerely me notyfyde,
One verray God to be therin to haue no dowte.
And as my fantasy flamyd in that occupacyon,
Fruteles, deuoyde of all maner gladnes,
Of one was I ware into greate desolacyon,
To the erthe prostrate, rauyuge for madnes;
By menys so immoderate encreased was his sadnes,
That by me can not be compyled
His dedly sorowe and dolorous dystres,
Lyfe in hym by deth so ny was exiled.
Hym better to beholde, so ferre oute of frame,
Nerre I nyghed, farsyd with fragyllyte;
Wherwith Smert I perceyued he called was by name,
Which ouer haukes and houndes had auctoryte;
Though the roume vnmete were for his pouer degre,
Yet fortune so hym farthered to his lorde;
Wherfore him to lye in soch perplexite,
What it myghte mene I gan to mysylfe recorde.
I shogged him, I shaked him, I ofte aboute him went,
And al to knowe why so care his carayn hyued;
His temples I rubbyd, and by the nose him hente;
Al as in vayne was, he coude nat be reuyued;
He waltered, he wende, and with himsilfe stryued,
Such countenaunce contynuyng; but or I parte the place,
Vp his hede he caste; whan his woful goste aryued,
Those wordes saynge with righte a pytous face:
[Sidenote: Metricus primus. Color repeticio.]
O sorowe, sorowe beyonde al sorowes sure!
All sorowes sure surmountynge, lo!
Lo, which payne no pure may endure,
Endure may none such dedely wo!
Wo, alas, ye inwrapped, for he is go!
Go is he, whose valyaunce to recounte,
To recounte, all other it dyd surmounte.
[Sidenote: Metricus secundus. C. recitacio simplex.]
Gone is he, alas, that redy was to do
Eche thynge that to nobles required!
Gone is he, alas, that redy was to do
Eche thynge that curtesye of him desyred!
Whose frowarde fate falsely was conspyred
By Antraphos vnasured and her vngracyous charmys;
Jaspar I mene is gone, Mars son in armys.
[Sidenote: M. iii. C. narracio.]
He that of late regnyd in glory,
With grete glosse buttylly glased,
Nowe lowe vnder fote doth he ly,
With wormys ruly rente and rasyd,
His carayne stynkynge, his fetures fasyd;
Brother and vncle to kynges yesterday,
Nowe is he gone and lafte vs as mased;
Closed here lyeth he in a clote of clay:
Shall he come agayne? a, nay, nay!
Where is he become, I can nat discusse:
Than with the prophet may we say,
_Non inuentus est locus eius_.
[Sidenote: Metricus quartus et retrogradiens. Color. discripcio.]
Restynge in him was honoure with sadnesse,
Curtesy, kyndenesse, with great assuraunce,
Dispysynge vice, louynge alway gladnesse,
Knyghtly condicyons, feythful alegeaunce,
Kyndely demenoure, gracyous vtteraunce;
Was none semelyer, feture ne face;
Frendely him fostered quatriuial aliaunce;
Alas, yet dede nowe arte thou, Jaspar, alas!
[Sidenote: Metricus quintus.]
Wherfore sorowe to oure sorowe none can be founde,
Ne cause agayne care to mollyfy oure monys:
Alas, the payne!
For his body and goste,
That we loued moste,
In a graue in the grounde
Deth depe hath drounde
Among robel and stonys:
Wherfore complayne.
[Sidenote: M. vi.]
Complayne, complayne, who can complayne;
For I, alas, past am compleynte!
To compleyne wyt can not sustayne,
Deth me with doloure so hath bespraynte;
For in my syghte,
Oure lorde and knyghte,
Contrary to righte,
Deth hath ateynte.
[Sidenote: M. vii. C. iteracio.]
As the vylest of a nacyon,
Deuoyde of consolacyon,
By cruel crucyacyon,
He hath combryd hym sore;
He hath him combryd sore,
That Fraunce and Englonde bere byfore
Armys of both quarteryd,
And with _hony soyte_ was garteryd,
Se howe he is nowe marteryd!
Alas for sorowe therfore,
Alas for sorowe therfore!
Oute and weleaway,
For people many a score
For him that yel and rore,
Alas that we were bore
To se this dolorous day!
With asshy hue compleyne also, I cry,
Ladyes, damosels, mynyonat and gorgayse;
Knyghtes aunterus of the myghty monarchy,
Complayne also; for he that in his dayes
To enhaunce wonte was your honoure, youre prayse,
Now is he gone, of erthly blysse ryfyld;
For dredeful Deth withouten delayse
Ful dolorously his breth hath stifild.
[Sidenote: C. transsumpcio.]
Terys degoutynge, also complayne, complayne,
Houndes peerles, haukes withoute pereialyte,
Sacris, faucons, heroners hautayne;
For nowe darked is youre pompe, youre prodogalyte,
Youre plesures been past vnto penalyte;
Of with your rich caperons, put on your mourning hodes;
For Iaspar, your prynce by proporcyon of qualyte,
Paste is by Deth those daungerous flodys.
[Sidenote: M. viii.]
He that manhode meyntened and magnamynite,
His blasynge blys nowe is with balys blechyd;
Through Dethes croked and crabbed cruelte,
In doloure depe nowe is he drowned and drechyd;
His starynge standerde, that in stoures strechyd
With a sable serpent, nowe set is on a wall,
His helme heedles, cote corseles, woful and wrechyd,
With a swerde handeles, there hange they all.
[Sidenote: M. ix.]
Gewellys of late poysyd at grete valoyre,
He ded, they desolate of every membre,
Stykynge on stakes as thynges of none shaloyre;
For the corse that they couched cast is in sendre,
By cruel compulsyon caused to surrendre
Lyfe vp to Deth that al ouerspurneth:
O, se howe this worlde tourneth!
Some laugheth, some mourneth:
Yet, ye prynces precyous and tendre,
Whyle that ye here in glory soiourneth,
The deth of our mayster rue to remembre.
[Sidenote: C. exclamacio.]
O turmentoure, traytoure, torterous tyraunte,
So vnwarely oure duke haste thou slayne,
That wyt and mynde are vnsuffycyaunte
Agayne thy myschyf malyce to mayntayne!
We that in blysse wonte were to bayne,
With fortune flotynge moste fauourably,
Nowe thorow thrylled and persyd with payne,
Langoure we in feruente exstasy.
[Sidenote: C. reprobacio.]
O murtherer vnmesurable, withouten remors,
Monstruus of entrayle, aborryd in kynde,
Thou haste his corse dystressed by force,
Whos parayle alyue thou can not fynde!
Howe durst thou his flessh and spyryte vntynde,
Dissendynge fro Cyzyle, Jerusalem, and Fraunce?
O bazalyke bryboure, with iyes blynde,
Sore may thou rue thy vtterquidaunce!
Thou haste berafte, I say, the erthly ioye
Of one, broder and vncle to kynges in degre,
Lynyally descendynge fro Eneas of Troye,
Grete vncle and vncle to prynces thre,
Brother to a saynte by way of natyuyte,
Vncle to another whom men seketh blyue,
Blynde, croked, lame, for remedyes hourly;
Thus God that bromecod had gyuen a prerogatyue.
[Sidenote: C. newgacio.]
And yet thou, dolorous Deth, to the herte hast him stynged:
Wenest thou, felon, such murther to escape?
I say, the brewtors of Wales on the wyl be reuenged
For thy false conspyracy and frowarde fate:
We his seruantes also sole disconsolate
Haste thou lafte; so that creatures more maddyr
In erthe none wandreth atwene senit and naddyr.
[Sidenote: M. x.]
Wherfore, to the felde, to the felde, on with plate and male,
Beest, byrde, foule, eche body terrestryal!
Seke we this murtherer him to assayle;
Vnafrayde ioyne in ayde, ye bodyes celestyal;
Herry saynt, with iyes faynte to the also I cal,
For thy brothers sake, help Deth to take, that al may on him wonder;
For and he reyne, by drift sodeyne he wil ech kynd encumbre.
_Dethe._
[Sidenote: C. prosopopeya. M. xi.]
Fouconer, thou arte to blame,
And oughte take shame
To make suche pretense;
For I Deth hourly
May stande truly
At ful lawful defence:
Deth hath no myghte,
Do wronge no righte,
Fauoure frende ne fo,
But as an instrumente
At commaundemente
Whether to byde or go.
I am the instromente
Of one omnipotente,
That knowest thou fyrme and playne;
Wherfore fro Dethe
Thy wo and wreth
I wolde thou shulde reteyne,
And agayne God
For thy bromecod
Batayle to darayne.
[Sidenote: M. xii. C. Introductio.]
Than, if it be ryghte, most of myght, thy godhed I acuse,
For thy myght contrary to right thou doste gretly abuse;
Katyffes vnkind thou leuest behind, paynis, Turkes, and Iewis,
And our maister gret thou gaue wormes to ete; wheron gretly I muse:
Is this wel done? answer me sone; make, Lorde, thyn excuse.
[Sidenote: M. xiii. C. onomotopeya.]
Dyd thou disdayne that he shuld rayne? was that els the cause?
In his rayne he was moste fayne to mynester thy lawes;
Than certayn, and thou be playn and stedfaste in thy sawes,
Euery knyght that doth right, ferynge drede ne awes,
Of thy face bryghte shall haue syghte,
After this worldly wawes:
Than, gode Lorde, scripture doth record, verefieng that cause,
That our bromcod with the, gode God, in heuen shal rest and pause.
[Sidenote: M. xiiii. C. probacio.]
For first of nought thou him wroght of thy special grace,
And wers than noght him also boght in Caluery in that place;
Thou by thoght oft he were broght with Satanas to trace,
Yet, Lorde, to haue pyte thou oght on the pycture of thy face.
[Sidenote: M. xv.]
We neyther he dampned to be, willyngly thou wilt noght;
Yet dampned shal he and we be, if thy mercy helpe nought:
Discrecion hast thou gyuen, yde [Lorde?]; what wold we more ought?
After deth to lyue with the, if we offende nought.
[Sidenote: M. xvi.]
There is a cause yet of oure care, thou creatoure alofte,
That thy gospel doth declare, whiche I forgete noughte;
Howe vnwarly our welfare fro vs shal be broughte
By Deth that none wyl spare, Lorde, that knowe we noughte:
In syn drowned if we dare, and so sodenly be coughte,
Than of blysse ar we bare; that fylleth me ful of thoughte.
[Sidenote: C. degressio. M. xvii.]
Thou knowest, Lorde, beste thysylfe,
Man is but duste, stercorye, and fylthe,
Of himsylfe vnable,
Saue only of thy specyal grace,
A soule thou made to occupye place,
To make man ferme and stable;
Which man to do as thou ordeyned,
With fendes foule shal neuer be payned,
But in blysse be perdurable;
And if he do the contrarye,
After this lyfe than shal he dye,
Fendes to fede vnsaciable;
For which fendys foule thou made a centre,
In which centre thou made an entre,
That such that to breke thy commaundementes wolde auenter
Theder downe shulde dessende;
But oure maister, whan Deth hym trapte,
In pure perseueraunce so was wrapte,
That thou inuisyble his speryte thyder rapte
Where thy sheltrons him shal defende.
[Sidenote: M. quatrinalis. C. transuersio.]
If we nat offende,
He wyl purchace
A gloryous place
At oure laste ende;
To se his face
We shal assende,
By his grete grace,
If we nat offende.
Thou haste enuapored, I say, alofte
The soule of Jaspar, that thou wroughte,
Seruyce to do latrial:
And why, Lorde, I dyd the reproue,
Was for perfyte zele and loue,
To the nat preiudicyal;
For, Lorde, this I knowe expresse,
This worldly frute is bytternesse,
Farcyd with wo and payne,
Lyfe ledynge dolorously in distresse,
Shadowed with Dethes lykenesse,
As in none certayne.
[Sidenote: C. neugacio.]
Yet, me semeth so, thou art non of tho that vs so shuld begyle:
He is nat yet ded; I lay my hed, thou hast him hid for a while;
And al to proue who doth him loue and who wil be vnkynd,
Thou hast in led layde him abed, this trow I in my mynd;
For this we trow, and thou dost know, as thy might is most,
That him to dye, to lowe and hye it were to grete a lost.
[Sidenote: C. excusacio.]
And he be dede, this knowe I very right;
Thou saw, Lorde, this erth corrupt with fals adulacyon,
And thought it place vnmete for Jaspar thy knyght;
Wherfore of body and soule thou made seperacyon,
Preantedate seynge by pure predestynacyon
Whan his lyfe here shulde fyne and consum;
Wherfore, Lorde, thus ende I my dolorous exclamacyon,
Thy godenes knewe what was beste to be done.
[Sidenote: M. xviii. C. conclusio.]
As a prynce penytente and ful of contricion,
So dyed he, we his seruauntes can recorde:
And that he may haue euerlastynge fruicyon,
We the beseche, gloryous kynge and lorde!
For the laste leson that he dyd recorde,
To thy power he it aplyed, saynge _tibi omnes_,
As a hye knyghte in fidelyte fermely moryd,
_Angeli celi et potestates_;
Wherwith payne to the hert him boryd,
And lyfe him lefte, gyuynge deth entres.
Whiche lyfe, in comparyson of thyne,
Is as poynt in lyne, or as instant in tyme;
For thou were and arte and shal be of tyme,
In thy silfe reynynge by power diuyne,
Makynge gerarcyüs thre and orders nyne,
The to deifye:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
[Sidenote: M. xix. C. prolongacio.]
And than [?] moste craftely dyd combyne
Another heuen, called cristalline,
So the thyrde stellyferal to shyne
Aboue the skye:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
Moreouer in a zodiake pure and fyne
Synys xii. thou set for a tyme,
And them nexte, in cercle and lyne,
Saturne thou set, Iupiter, and Mars citryne,
Contect and drye:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
Than, to peryssh, thorouthryll, and myne
The mystes blake and cloudes tetryne,
Tytan thou set clerely to shyne,
The worldes iye:
Wherfore we crye, _vt supra_.
Yet in their epycercles to tril and twyne,
Retrograte, stacyoner, directe, as a syne,
Uenus thou set, Marcury, and the Mone masseline;
Nexte fyre and ayre, so sotyl of engyne,
The to gloryfye:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
Water, and erth with braunch and vine;
And so, thy werkes to ende and fyne,
Man to make thou dyd determyne,
Of whome cam I:
Wherfore I cry and the supplye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
With him, to comford at all tyme,
Thou ioyned the sex than of frayle femynyne,
Which by temptacyon serpentyne
Theyre hole sequele broughte to ruyne
By ouergrete folye:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer not Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
Than, of thy godenes, thou dyd enclyne
Flessh to take of thy moder and virgyne,
And vs amonge, in payne and famyne,
Dwalte, and taughte thy holy doctryne
Uulgarly:
Wherfore we crye,
Suffer nat Jaspar to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
Tyl a traytoure, by false couyne,
To Pylat accused the at pryme;
So taken, slayne, and buryed at complyne,
Rose agayne, of Adam redemynge the lyne
By thy infynyte mercy:
For whych mercy,
Incessantly we crye,
And the supplye,
Suffer nat our lorde to dye,
But to lyue;
For eternally that he shal lyue
Is oure byleue.
[Sidenote: M. xx.]
Kynges, prynces, remembre, whyle ye may,
Do for yoursilfe, for that shal ye fynde
Executours often maketh delay,
The bodye buryed, the soule sone oute of mynde;
Marke this wel, and graue it in youre mynde,
Howe many grete estates gone are before,
And howe after ye shal folowe by course of kynde:
Wherfore do for youresilfe; I can say no more.
Though ye be gouernours, moste precious in kynde,
Caste downe your crounes and costely appareyle,
Endored with golde and precyous stones of Ynde,
For al in the ende lytyl shal auayle;
Whan youre estates Deth lyketh to assayle,
Your bodyes bulgynge with a blyster sore,
Than withstande shal neyther plate ne mayle:
Wherfore do for youresilfe; I can say no more.
There is a vertue that moost is auaunsed,
Pure perseueraunce called of the porayle,
By whome al vertues are enhaunsed,
Which is not wonne but by diligente trauayle:
Ware in the ende; for and that vertue fayle,
Body and soule than are ye forlore:
Wherfore, if ye folowe wyll holsom counsayle,
Do for youresilfe; I can say no more.
Kynges, prynces, moste souerayne of renoune,
Remembre oure maister that gone is byfore:
This worlde is casual, nowe vp, nowe downe;
Wherfore do for yoursilfe; I can say no more.
Amen.
_Honor tibi, Deus, gloria, et laus!_
Smerte, _maister de ses ouzeaus_.
[276] _The Epitaffe of the moste noble and valyaunt Jaspar late duke of
Beddeforde_] The old ed. is a quarto, n. d. Above these words, on the
title-page, is a woodcut, exhibiting the author (with a falcon on his
hand) kneeling and presenting his work to the king. On the reverse of the
last leaf is Pynson’s device.
If not really written by Smert (or Smart), the duke’s falconer, (see
stanza 3, and the subscription at the conclusion, “_Smert, maister de
ses ouzeaus_”) this curious poem was not, at all events, as the style
decidedly proves, the composition of Skelton, to whom it was first
attributed by Bishop Tanner.
I now print it from a transcript of the (probably unique) copy in the
Pepysian library,—a transcript which appears to have been made with the
greatest care and exactness; but I think right to add, that have not had
an opportunity of seeing the original myself.
Jasper Tudor, second son of Owen Tudor by Katherine widow of King Henry
the Fifth, was created Earl of Pembroke, in 1452, by his half-brother,
King Henry the Sixth. After that monarch had been driven from the throne
by Edward, Jasper was attainted, and his earldom conferred on another. He
was again restored to it, when Henry had recovered the crown; but being
taken prisoner at the battle of Barnet, he lost it a second time. After
the battle of Bosworth, Henry the Seventh not only reinstated Jasper (his
uncle) in the earldom of Pembroke, but also created him Duke of Bedford,
in 1485; subsequently appointed him Lieutenant of Ireland for one year,
and granted to him and his heirs male the office of Earl Marshal of
England with an annuity of twenty pounds. The duke married Katherine,
daughter of Richard Wydevile Earl Rivers, and widow of Henry Stafford
Duke of Buckingham. He died 21st Dec. 1495, and, according to his own
desire, expressed in his will, was buried in the abbey of Keynsham, where
he founded a chantry for four priests to sing mass for the souls of
his father, his mother, and his elder brother Edmond Earl of Richmond.
He left no children except a natural daughter. See Sandford’s _Geneal.
Hist._ p. 292. ed. 1707.
ELEGY ON KING HENRY THE SEVENTH.[277]
... orlde all wrapped in wretchydnes,
... hy pompes so gay and gloryous,
... easures and all thy ryches
... y be but transytoryous;
... to moche pyteous,
... e that eche man whylom dred,
... by naturall lyne and cours,
... s, alas, lyeth dede!
... ryall a kynge,
... ianer the prudent Salamon;
... sse and in euery thynge,
... 10 Crysten regyon,
... not longe agone,
... his name by fame spr[e]de;
... te nowe destytute alone,
... as, alas, lyeth dede!
... ater we wretchyd creatures,
... es and tryumphaunt maiestye,
... pastymes and pleasures,
... thouten remedye;
... o wyll the myserable bodye
... n heuy lede,
... lde but vanyte and all vanytye,
... h alas, alas, lyeth dede!
... is subgectes and make lamentacyon
... o noble a gouernoure;
... ayers make we exclamacyon,
... de to his supernall toure:
... dly rose floure,
... yally all aboute spred,
... iated where is his power?
... alas, alas, lyeth dede!
Of this moost Crysten kynge in vs it lyeth not,
His tyme passed honour suffycyent to prayse;
But yet though that that thyng envalue we may not,
Our prayers of suertye he shall haue alwayes;
And though that Atropose hathe ended his dayes,
His name and fame shall euer be dred
As fer as Phebus spredes his golden rayes,
Though Henry the Seuenth, alas, alas, lyeth dede!
But nowe what remedye? he is vncouerable,
Touchyd by the handes of God that is moost just;
But yet agayne a cause moost confortable
We haue, wherin of ryght reioys we must,
His sone on lyue in beaute, force, and lust,
In honour lykely Traianus to shede;
Wherfore in hym put we our hope and trust,
Syth Henry his fader, alas, alas, lyeth dede!
And nowe, for conclusyon, aboute his herse
Let this be grauyd for endeles memorye,
With sorowfull tunes of Thesyphenes verse;
Here lyeth the puyssaunt and myghty Henry,
Hector in batayll, Vlyxes in polecy,
Salamon in wysdome, the noble rose rede,
Creses in rychesse, Julyus in glory,
Henry the Seuenth ingraued here lyeth dede!
[277] _Elegy on King Henry the Seventh_] From an imperfect broadside in
the Douce Collection, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. This unique
piece formerly belonged to Dr. Farmer, who has written on it, “Qu. the
author of this Elegy? Per _J. Skelton_, tho’ not in his works?” to which
Douce has added, “The Doctor is probably right in what he says concerning
the Elegy on Henry the Seventh, which is a singular curiosity.”
At the top of the original is a woodcut, representing the dead king,
lying on a bed or bier, crowned and holding his sceptre; on one side the
royal arms, on the other the crown resting on a full-blown rose, which
has the king’s initials in its centre.
Henry died April 21st, 1509: see note, p. 214.
VOX POPULI, VOX DEI.[278]
Mr. Skeltone, poete.[279]
To the Kinges moste Exellent Maiestie.[280]
I pray yow, be not wrothe
For tellyng of the trothe;
For this the worlde yt gothe
Both to lyffe and[281] lothe,
As God hymselffe he knothe;[282]
And, as all men vndrestandes,
Both lordeshipes[283] and landes
Are nowe in fewe mens handes;
Bothe substance and bandes
Of all the hole realme
As most men exteame,
Are nowe[284] consumyd cleane
From the fermour and the poore
To the towne and the towre;
Whiche makyth theym to lower,
To see that in theire flower
Ys nother malte nor meale,
Bacon, beffe, nor[285] veale,
Crocke mylke nor kele,
But readye for to steale
For very pure neade.
Your comons saye indeade,
Thei be not able to feade
In theire stable scant a steade,
To brynge vp nor to breade,
Ye,[286] scant able to brynge
To the marckytt eny thynge
Towardes theire housekeping;
And scant have a cowe,
Nor[287] to kepe a poore sowe:
This[288] the worlde is nowe.
And[289] to heare the relacyon
Of the poore mens communycacion,
Vndre what sorte and fashyon
Thei make theire exclamacyon,
You wolde have compassion.
Thus goythe theire protestacion,
Sayeng that suche and suche,
That of late are made riche,
Have to, to, to myche
By grasyng and regratinge,
By poulyng and debatynge,
By roulyng and by dating,
By checke and checkematynge,[290]
[With delays and debatynge,
With cowstomes and tallynges,
Forfayttes and forestallynges];
So that your comons[291] saye,
Thei styll paye, paye
Most willyngly allwaye,
But yet thei see no staye
Of this outrage araye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kynge,
Consydre well this thynge!
2.
And thus the voyce doth multyplye
Amonge[292] your graces commonaltye:
Thei are in suche greate penvry[293]
That thei can nother sell nor bye,
Suche is theire extreame povertye;
Experyence dothe yt verefye,
As trothe itselffe dothe testefye.
This is a marveilous myserye:
And trewe thei saye, it is no lye;
For grasyers and regraters,
Withe to[294] many shepemasters,
That of erable grounde make pastures,
Are thei that be these wasters
That wyll vndoo your[295] lande,
Yf thei contynewe and stande,
As ye shall vnderstand
By this lytle boke:
Yf you[296] yt overloke,
And overloke agayne,[297]
Yt wyll tell you playne [298]
The tenour and the trothe,
Howe nowe[299] the worlde yt gothe
Withe my neighbour and my noste,[300]
In every countre, towne, and coste,
Within the circumvisions
Of your graces domynyons;
And why the poore men wepe
For storyng of suche shepe,
For that so many do[301] kepe
Suche nombre and suche store
As[302] never was seene before:
[What wolde ye any more?]
The encrease was never more.
Thus goythe the voyce and rore:
And truthe yt is indeade;
For all men nowe do breade
Which[303] can ketche any lande
Out of the poore mans[304] hande;
For who ys so greate a grasyer
As the landlorde[305] and the laweare?
For at[306] every drawing daye
The bucher more must paye
For his fatting ware,
To be the redyare[307]
Another tyme to crave,
When, he more shepe wold have;
And,[308] to elevate the pryce,
Somewhate he must ryce
Withe a sinque or a sice,
So that the bucher cannot spare,
Towardes his charges and his fare,
To sell the very carcas bare
Vnder xijˢ or a marke,
[Wiche is a pytyfull werke.]
Besyde the offall and the flece,[309]
The flece and the fell:
Thus he dothe yt sell.
Alas, alas, alas,
This is a pitious case!
What poore man nowe is able
To have meate on his table?
An oxe at foure[310] pounde,
Yf he be any thynge rounde,
Or cum not in theire[311] grounde,
Suche laboure for to waste:
This ys the newe caste,
The newe cast from the olde;
This comon pryce thei holde;
Whiche is a very ruthe,
Yf men myght saye the truthe.
The comons[312] thus dothe saye,
They are not able to paye,
But _miserere mei_:[313]
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thynge!
3.
Howe saye you to this, my lordes?
Are not these playne recordes?
Ye knowe as well as I,
This[314] makes the comons crye,
This makes theym crye and wepe,
Myssevsing so theire shepe,
Theire shepe, and eke theire beves,
As yll or[315] wourse then theaves:
Vnto a comonwealthe
This ys a very stealthe.
But you that welthe[316] this bete,
You landlordes[317] that be grete,
You wolde not pay so for your meate,
Excepte your grasing ware so sweate,
Or elles I[318] feare me I,
Ye wold fynde remeadye,[319]
And that[320] right shortlye.
But yet this extremytie,
None feles yt but the comynaltie:
Alas, is there no remedye,
To helpe theym of this[321] myserye?
Yf there shuld come a rayne,
To make a dearthe of grayne,
As God may send yt playne
For our covetous and disdayne,
I wold knowe, among vs[322] all,
What ware he[323] that shuld not fall
And sorowe as he went,
For Godes ponyshment?
Alas, this were a plage[324]
For poverties pocession,
Towardes theire suppression,
For the greate mens transgression!
Alas, my lordes, foresee
There may be remeadye!
For the[325] comons saye,
Thei have no more to paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thyng!
4.
And yet not long agoo
Was preachers on or twoo,
That spake yt playne inowe
To you, to you, and to you,
Hygh tyme for to repent[326]
This dyvelishe entent
[Of covitis the convente]:
From Scotland into Kent
This preaching was bysprent;
And from the easte frount
Vnto Saynct Myghelles Mount,
This sayeng[327] dyd surmount
Abrode to all mens eares,
And to your graces peeres,
That from piller vnto[328] post
The powr man he[329] was tost;
I meane the labouring man,
I meane the husbandman,
I meane the ploughman,
I meane the[330] playne true man,
I meane the handecrafteman,
I meane the victualing[331] man,
Also[332] the good yeman,
That some tyme in this realme
Had plentye of kye and creame,
[Butter, egges, and chesse,
Hony, vax, and besse]:
But now, alacke, alacke,
All theise men goo to wracke,
That are the bodye and the[333] staye
Of your graces realme allwaye!
Allwaye and at leinghe
Thei must be your streinghe,
Your streinghe and your teme,
For to defende your realme.
Then yf theise men appall,
And lacke when you do call,
Which way may you or shall
Resist your enemyes all,
That over raging streames
Will vade[334] from forreyn reames?
For me to make judiciall,
This matter is to mystycall;
Judge you, my lordes, for me you shall,
Yours ys the charge that governes all;
For _vox populi_ me thei call,
That makith but reherssall
_De parvo_,[335] but not _de_ totall,
_De locis_, but not locall:
Therfore you must not blame
The wight that wrot the same;
For the comons[336] of this land
Have[337] sowen this in theire sande,
Plowing yt withe theire hande;
I founde it wheare I stande;
And I am but the hayne[338]
That wryttes yt newe[339] agayne,
The coppye for to see,
That also learneth me
To take therby good hede
My shepe howe for to fede;
For I a shepherd am,
A sorye poore man;
Yet wolde I wyshe, my lordes,
This myght be[340] your recordes,
And make of yt no dreame,
For yt ys a worthy realme,
A realme that in tymes past
Hath made the prowdest[341] agast.
Therfore,[342] my lordes all,
Note this in especiall,
And have it in memoryall
[With youre wysse vnyversall,
That nether faver nor effection,
Yowe grawnt youre protection
To suche as hath[343] by election
Shall rewle by erection,
And doth gett the perfection
Of the powre menes refection;
Wiche ys a grett innormyte
Vnto youre grasys commynalte;
For thay that of latt did supe
Owtt of an aschyn cuppe,
Are wonderfully sprowng vpe;
That nowght was worth of latt,
Hath now a cubborde of platt,
His tabell furnyscheyd tooe,
With platt besett inowe,
Persell gylte and sownde,
Well worth towo thousand pounde.
With castinge cownteres and ther pen,
Thes are the vpstart gentylmen;
Thes are thay that dewowre
All the goodes of the pawre,
And makes them dotysche davys,
Vnder the cowler of the kenges lawys.
And yett annother[344] decaye
To youre grasys seetes alwaye;
For the statte of all youre marchantmen
Vndo most parte of youre gentyllmen,
And wrape them in suche bandes
That thay haue halle ther landes,
And payeth but halfe in hande,
Tyll thay more vnderstownde
Of the profett of there lande,
And for the other halfe
He shalbe mayd a calfe,
Excepte he haue gud frendes
Wiche well cane waye bothe endes;
And yet with frendes tooe
He shall haue mvche to doe;
Wiche ys a grett innormyte
To youre grasys regallyte.
Lett marchantmen goe sayle
For that ys ther trwe waylle;
For of one c. ye haue not ten
That now be marchantes ventring men,
That occupi grett inawnderes,
Forther then into Flanderes,
Flawnderes or into France,
For fere of some myschance,
But lyeth at home, and standes
By morgage and purchasse of landes
Owtt of all gentyllmenes handes,
Wiche showld serve alwaye your grace
With horse and men in chasse;
Wiche ys a grett dewowre
Vnto youre regall pawre.
What presydente cane thay shewe,
That fowre skore yeres agooe,
That[345] any marchant here,
Above all charges clere,
In landes myght lett to hyre
To thowsant markes by yere?
Other where shall ye fynde
A gentyllman by kynde,
But that thay wyll ly in the wynde,
To breng hyme fer behynde,
Or elles thay wyll haue all,
Yf nedes thay hyme[346] forstall?
Wiche ys the hole decaye
Of your marchantmen, I saye,
And hynderes youre grasys costome
By the yere a thowsant pawnde,
And so marryth, the more petye,
The comonwelth of yche sytte,
And vndoth the cowntre,
As prosse [?] doth make propertie;
This matter most spesyally
Wolde be loked one quiclye.
Yett for ther recreation,
In pastime and procreation,
_In tempore necessitatis_,
I wysche thay myght haue grattis
Lysens to compownde,
To purchasse fortie pownde
Or fyfte at the moste,
By fyne or wrytte of post;
And yf any marchantman,
To lyve his occupieng then,
Wolde purchasse any more,
Lett hyme forfett it therfore.
Then showld ye se the trade
That marchantmen frist mayde,
Whyche wysse men dyd marshall,
For a welth vnyversall,
Yche man this lawe to lerne,
And trewly his goodes to yerne,[347]
The landlord with his terme,
The plowghtman with his ferme,
The kneght wyth his fare,
The marchant with his ware,
Then showld increse the helth
Of yche comonwelthe],
And be not withe me wrothe[348]
For tellyng you[349] the trothe;
For I do heare yt everye daye,
How the comons thus do saye,
Yf thei hadde yt, thei wold paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thyng!
5.
But, howe, Robyn, howe!
Whiche waye dothe the wynde blowe?
Herke! hercke! hercke!
Ys not here[350] a pytious werke,
The grounde and the cheiffe[351]
Of all this hole[352] myscheiffe?
For our covetous lordes
Dothe mynde no nother[353] recordes,
But framyng fynes for fermes,
Withe to myche, as some termes,
Withe rentes and remaynders,
Withe surveye and surrenders,
Withe comons and comon ingenders,
Withe inclosyers and extenders,
Withe horde vp, but no spenders;
For a comonwealthe
Whiche[354] is a verye stealthe.
Prove it who shall
To make therof tryall,
Thus goithe theire dyall:
I knowe not whates[355] a clocke,
But by the countre cocke,
The mone[356] nor yet the pryme,
Vntyll the sonne do shyne;
Or els I coulde tell
Howe all thynges shulde be well.
The compas may stand awrye,
But the carde wyll not lye:
Hale in your mayne shete,[357]
This tempest is to grete.
[For pawre men dayly sees
How officers[358] takes their fees,
Summe yll, and some yet worse,
As good right as to pike there purse:
Deservethe this not Godes curse?
There consyenes ys sooe grett,
Thaye fere not to dischare,[359]
Yf it were as moche more,
Soe thay maye haue the stowre.
Thus is oure we[l]the vndone
By synguler commodome;
For we are in dyvision,
Bothe for reght and religion;
And, as some[360] saythe,
We stagger in our faythe:
But excepte in shortt tyme
We drawe by one lyne,
And agre with one accorde,
Bothe the plowghman and the lorde,
We shall sore rewe
That ever this statte we knewe.]
The comons so do[361] saye,
Yf thei had yt, thei wold paye:
_Vox populi,[362] vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thynge!
6.
Thus runnes this[363] rumour about
Amongest the hole route;
Thei can not bryng aboute
How this thyng[364] shuld be,
Yt hathe suche high degree:
The coyne yt is so scante,
That every man dothe wante,
And some thincke not so scace,[365]
But even as myche to base.
Our[366] merchauntmen do saye,
Thei fynde it day by daye
To be a matter straunge,
When thei shulde make exchaunge
On the other side the sea,
Thei are dryven to theire plea;
For where oure pounde somtyme
Was better then theires by nyne,
Nowe ours, when yt comes[367] forthe,
No better then theires is worthe,
No, nor scant soo good;
Thei saye so, by the roode.
How maye the merchauntman
Be able to occupye than,
Excepte, when he comes heare,
He sell his ware to deare?
He neades must have a lyveng,
Or elles, fye on hys[368] wynneng!
This coyne by alteracion
Hathe brought this desolacyon,
Whiche is not yet all knowen
What myscheiffe it hathe sowen.
Thei saye, Woo worthe that man
That first that coyne began,
To put in any hedde
The mynde to suche a rede,
To come to suche a hiere
For covetous desyre!
I knowe not what it meanethe;
But this thei saye and deamythe,[369]
_Væ illi[370] per quem scandalum venit!_
For[371] this wyll axe greate payne
Before it be well agayne,
Greate payne and sore
To make it as it was[372] before.
The[373] comons thus do saye,
Yf thei hadde yt, thei would paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kynge,
Consydre well this thinge!
7.
This matter is to trewe,
That many man[374] dothe rewe
Theise sorowes doo ensue;
For poore men thei doo crye,
And saye it is awrye;
Thei saye thei can not be herde,
But styll from daye defferde,
When thei have any sute,
Thei maye goo blowe theire flute:
This[375] goithe the comon brute.
The riche man wyll come in;
For he is sure to wynne,
For he can make his waye,
With hande in hande to paye,
Bothe to thicke and thynne;[376]
Or els to knowe theire[377] pleasure,
My lorde is not at leysure;[378]
The poore man at the durre
Standes lyke an Island curre,
And dares not ons to sturre,[379]
Excepte he goo his waye,
And come another daye;
And then the matter is made,
That the poore man with his spade
Must no more his farme invade,
But must vse[380] some other trade;
For yt is so agreed
That my ladye mesteres Mede[381]
Shall hym expulce with all spede,
And our master the landlorde
Shall have yt all at his accorde,
His house and farme agayne,
To make therof his vttermost[382] gayne;
For his vantage wylbe more,
With shepe and cattell it to store,
And not to ploughe his grounde no more,
Excepte the fermour wyll aryere
The rent hyere by a hole yeare:
Yet must he have a fyne too,
The bargayne he may better[383] knowe;
Which makes[384] the marcket now so deare
That there be fewe that makes good cheare;
For the fermour must sell his goose,
As he may be able to paye for his house,
Or els, for non[385] payeng the rent,
Avoyde at our Lady daye in Lent:
Thus the poore man shalbe shent;
And then he and his wyffe,
With theire children, all theire lyffe,
Doth crye oute and ban
Vpon this covetous[386] man.
I sweare by God omnypotent,
I feare me[387] that this presedent
Wyll make vs all for to be[388] shent.
Trowe you, my lordes that be,
That God dothe not see
This riche mans charitie
_Per speculum ænigmatæ_?[389]
Yes, yes, you riche lordes,
Yt is wrytten in Cristes recordes,
That Dives laye in the fyere
With Belsabub his sire,
And Pauper he above satte
In the seate of Habrahams lappe,
And was taken from thys Troye,
To lyve allwaye with God in ioye.
The[390] comons thus do saye,
Yf thei had yt, thei wold paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei;_
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thynge!
8.
The prayse no les is worthe,
Godes worde is well sett forthe:
Yt never was more preached,
Nor never so playnlye teached;
Yt never was so hallowed,
Nor never so lytle followed
Bothe of highe and lowe,
As many a man dothe trowe;[391]
For this ys a[392] playne perscripcion,
We have banyshed superstycion,
But styll we kepe ambycion;
We have sent awaye all cloysterers,[393]
But styll we kepe extorcyoners;
We have taken theire landes for theire abuse,
But we convert[394] theym to a wourse vse.
Yf this tale be no lye,
My lordes, this goythe awrye;
Awrye, awrye ye goo,
With many thinges moo,
Quyte from the highe[395] waye.
The comons thus do saye,
Yff thei hadd yt, thei wold paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thinge!
9.
Off[396] all this sequell
The faute I can not tell:
Put you together and spell,
My lordes of the councell.
I feare all be not well,
Ambycion so dothe swell,
As gothe[397] by reporte,
Amonge [398] the greatest sorte;
A wonderfull sorte of selles,[399]
That _vox populi_ telles,[400]
Of those bottomlesse welles,[401]
That are este, weast, and so furthe,
Bothe by southe, and also northe,
Withe riche, riche, and riche,
Withe riche, and to myche,
The poore men to begyle,
Withe sacke and packe to fyle,[402]
[With suche as we compownd
For an offys ij thowsant pownde:
Howe maye suche men do reght,
Youre pawre men to requytt
Owtt of there trowbell and payne,
But thay most gett it agayne
By craft or such coarsyon,
By bryberey and playne exstorsyon?]
With many ferrelys moo,
That I could truly shewe:
There never was suche myserye,
Nor never so myche vserye.
The comons so[403] do saye,
Yf we had ytt, we[404] wold paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kynge,
Consydre well this thynge!
10.[405]
And thus this ile of Brutes,
Most plentyfull of frutes,
Ys sodenlye decayede;
Poore men allmost dysmayde,
Thei are so overlayed:
I feare and am afrayde
Of the stroke of God,
Whiche ys a perelous rodde.
Praye, praye, praye,
We never se that daye;
For yf that daye do come,
We shall dyssever and ronne,
The father agaynst the sonne,
And one agaynst another.
By Godes blessed[406] mother,
Or thei begynne to hugger,
For Godes sake looke aboute,
And staye betymes this route,
For feare thei doo come oute.
I put you out of doubte,
There ys no greate trust,
Yf trothe shuld be discuste:
Therfore, my lordes, take heade
That this gere do not brede
At[407] chesse to playe a mate,
For then yt is to late:
We may well prove a checke,
But thei wyll have the neke;[408]
Yt is not to be wondered,
For thei are not to be nombred.
This the poore men saye,[409]
Yf thei hadde yt, thei wolde paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thinge!
11.[410]
Yt is not one alone
That this[411] dothe gronte and grone,
And make[412] this pytyous mone;
For yt is more then wonder,
To heare the infynyte nombre
Of poore men that dothe[413] shewe
By reason yt must be soo.
Thei wishe and do coniector[414]
That my lordes grace and protector,
That cheiffe is nowe erector
And formost of the rynge,
Vnder our noble kynge,
That he wold se redresse
Of this moste greate excesse,
For yt stondes[415] on hym no lesse;
For he is calde doubteles
A man of greate prowesse,
And so dothe beare the fame,
And dothe desyre the same;
His mynde thei saye is good,
Yf all wold followe his moode.
Nowe for to sett the frame,
To kepe styll this good name,
He must delaye all excuses,
And ponnyshe these greate abuses
Of these fynes and newe vses,
That have so many muses;
And first and pryncipallye
Suppresse this shamfull[416] vsurye,
Comonlye called husbondrye;
For[417] yf there be no remeadye
In tyme and that right shortlye,
Yt wyll breade to a pluresye,
Whiche is a greate innormytie
To all the kynges[418] comynaltye;
For there is no smale nombre
That[419] this faute dothe incombre:
Yt is a wordly wondre.[420]
The comons[421] thus do saye,
Yf thei had yt, thei wolde paye:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consydre well this thynge!
12.[422]
Nowe, at your graces leysour,
Yf you wyll see the seisor
Of all the cheffe treasure,
Heapyd without measure,
Of the substance of your realme,
As yt were in a dreame,
I wyll make an esteame,
In the handes of a fewe,
The trothe you to showe,
Howe[423] this matter dothe goo;
For I wyll not spare
The trothe to declare;
For trothe trulye ment
Was never yet shent,
Nor never shent shalbe;
Note this text of me,
Yt may a[424] tyme be framed
For feare some shuld be blamed,
But yt wyll not be shamed;
Yt is of suche a streinghe,
Yt wyll overcome at leinghe.
Yff nowe I shall not fayne,
The trothe to tell you playne
Of all[425] those that do holde
The substance and the[426] golde
And the treasure of this realme;[427]
And shortlye to call,
Allmost thei have all;
Att least thei have the[428] trade
Of all[429] that may be made:
And fyrst[430] to declare
By[431] a bryeffe what thei are,
To make shorte rehersall,
As well spyrytuall as temporall;
The laweare and the landelorde,[432]
The greate reave and the recorde,—
The recorde I meane is he
That hathe office or els ffee,
To serve our noble kyng
In his accomptes or[433] recknyng
Of his treasure surmonttynge,—
Lorde chauncellour and chauncellours,
Masters of myntes and monyers,
Secondaryes and surveyours,
Auditors and receivours,
Customers and comptrollers,
Purvyours and prollers,
Marchauntes of greate sailes,
With the master[434] of woodsales,
With grasyers and regraters,
With Master Williams of shepe masters,
And suche lyke comonwelthe[435] wasters,
That of erable groundes make[436] pasters,
[And payemasters suche as bythe[437]
With Trappes your golden smythe,]
With iij or iiij greate clothiars,
And the hole lybell of lawyars:
Withe theise and theire trayne,
To be bryeffe and playne,
Of theire to, to myche[438] gayne
That thei take for theire payne,
Yt is knowen by ceirten sterres[439]
That thei may[440] mayntayne your graces warres
By space[441] of a hole yeare,
Be yt good chepe or deare,
Thoughe[442] we shulde withstande
Both Fraunce and Scotlande,
And yet to leave ynough
Of money, ware, and stuffe,
Both in cattell and corne,
To more then thei were borne,
By patrymonye or bloode
To enherytte so myche goode.
By cause thei be so base,
Thei wylbe neadye and scase;[443]
For _quod natura dedit_
From gentle blode them[444] ledyth;
And to force a chorlishe best
_Nemo attollere potest_:
Yet rather then thei wold goo before,
Thei wolde helpe your grace with somwhat more,
For thei be they[445] that have the store;
Those be they wyll[446] warraunt ye,
Though you toke[447] never a penye
Of your poore comynaltie.
This is trewe vndoubtelye;
I dare affyrme it certeynlye;
For yf this world do holde,
Of force you must be bolde
To borowe theire fyne golde;
For thei have all[448] the store;
For[449] your comons have no more;
Ye may it call to lyght,
For yt is your awne right,
Yf that your grace have neade:
Beleve this as your Creade.
The poore men so[450] do saye,
Yf thei had yt, thei wold paye
With a better wyll then thei:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consyder well this thynge!
13.[451]
O worthiest protectour,
Be herin corrector!
And you, my lordes all,
Let not your honor appall,
But knocke betymes and call
For theise greate vsurers all;
Ye knowe the pryncypall:
What neadith[452] more rehersall?
Yf you do not redresse
By tyme[453] this coveteousnes,
My hed I hold and gage[454],
There wylbe greate outrage;
Suche rage as never was seene
In any olde mans tyme.
Also for this perplexyte,[455]
Of these that are most welthye,
Yt ware a deade of charyte
To helpe theym of this[456] pluresie:
Yt comes by suche greate fyttes
That it takes awaye[457] theire wyttes,
Bothe[458] in theire treasure tellynge[459],
Or els in byeng and sellynge.
Yf thei of this weare eased,
Your grace shuld be well pleased,
And thei but lytle deseased
Of this covetous dropsye,
That brynges theym to thys pluresie,
Bothe the pluresye and goute[460],
Vncurable to be holpe [out],
Excepte your grace for pytie
Provyde this foresaid remeadye;
As doctors holde opynyon,
Both Ambros and Tertulian,
Withe the Swepestake and the Mynyon,
The Herte and[461] the Swallowe,
And all the rest that followe,
Withe[462] the Gallye and the Roo
That so swyffte do[463] goo,
Goo, and that apase,
By the Henry[464] Grace,
The Herrye and the Edwarde,[465]—
God sende theym all well forwarde,
Withe all the hole fleete!
Whose councell complete
Saithe it is full mete
That greate heddes and dyscreate
Shulde loke well to theire feate.
Amen, I saye, so be ytt!
As all your comons praye
For your long healthe allwaye.[466]
Yf thei hadde yt, thei wold paye
[With a better wyll then thay]:
_Vox populi, vox Dei_,
Thus dothe wrytte, and thus doth saye,
With this psalme, _Miserere mei_;
O most noble kyng,
Consyder well this thynge!
ffinis quothe Mr. Skelton, Poete Lawriate.[467]
[278] _Vox Populi, Vox Dei_] From _MS. 2567_ in the Cambridge Public
Library, collated with _MS. Harl._ 367. fol. 130. The latter, though it
contains a very considerable number of lines which are not found in the
former, and which I have placed between brackets, is on the whole the
inferior MS., its text being greatly disfigured by provincialisms.
This poem, which is assigned to Skelton only in the Cambridge MS.,
was evidently composed by some very clumsy imitator of his style. The
subject, however, renders it far from uninteresting.
[279] _Mr. Skeltone, poete_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[280] _To the Kinges moste Exellent Maiestie_] So _MS. Harl._ Not in _MS.
C._
[281] _and_] _MS. Harl._ “_and_ to.”
[282] _knothe_] So _MS. Harl.—MS. C._ “knoweth.”
[283] _lordeshipes_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “lordshippe.”
[284]
_As most men, &c._
_Are nowe, &c._
Transposed in _MS. Harl._
[285] _nor_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “or.”
[286] _Ye_] _M.S. Harl._ “Nor.”
[287] _Nor_] So _MS. Harl._—Omitted in _MS. C._—(“_to kepe_” is governed
by the preceding “_able_.”)
[288] _This_] _MS. Harl._ “Thus.” (But see note, p. 86.)
[289] _And_] So _MS. Harl._—Omitted in _MS. C._
[290] _matynge_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “making.”
[291] _comons_] _MS. Harl._ “poormen.”
[292] _Amonge_] _MS. Harl._ “Amownges.”
[293] _penvry_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “povertye” (which ends the next
line but one).
[294] _to_] _MS. Harl._ “soe.”
[295] _your_] _MS. Harl._ “this.”
[296] _you_] _MS. Harl._ “youre grace.”
[297] _agayne_] _MS. Harl._ “it _agayne_.”
[298] _playne_] _MS. Harl._ “soo _playne_.”
[299] _Howe nowe, &c._] _MS. Harl._ “_Howe_ this _warld now gowthe_.”
[300] _my noste_] i. e. mine host.
[301] _do_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[302] _As_] _MS. Harl._ “And.”
[303] _Which_] _MS. Harl._ “That.”
[304] _mans_] _MS. Harl._ “menes.”
[305] _landlorde_] _MS. Harl._ “lorde.”
[306] _at_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[307] _To be in the redyare_] _MS. Harl_. “And _to be the_ more _redyer_.”
[308] _And_] So _MS. Harl._—Not in _MS. C._
[309] _the flece_] A line, which rhymed with this, has dropt out.
[310] _foure_] _MS. Harl._ “fyve.”
[311] _Or cum not in theire_] _MS. Harl._ “_Or_ elles _come not in_ the.”
[312] _The comons, &c._] _MS. Harl._
“Youre poormen _thus_ doo _saye_
Yf _thaye_ haue it thows thay _paye_.”
[313] _But miserere mei_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[314] _This_] _MS. Harl._ “Thus.”
[315] _or_] _MS. Harl._ “and.”
[316] _welthe_] _MS. Harl._ “wyll.”
[317] _landlordes_] _MS. Harl._ “lordes.”
[318] _I_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[319] _Ye wold fynde remeadye_] _MS. Harl._ “_Yowe fynde_ some _remedy_.”
[320] _And that, &c._] In _MS. Harl._ is written, in a later hand, at the
beginning of this line, and as part of it, “In tyme.”
[321] _This_] _MS. Harl._ “there.”
[322] _among vs_] _MS. Harl._ “amownges.”
[323] _ware he_] _MS. Harl._ “_he where_.”
[324] _plage_] A line wanting to rhyme with this.
[325] _the_] _MS. Harl._ “youre powre.”
[326] _Hygh tyme for to repent_] Altered in _MS. Harl._ by a later hand
from “That it was reght _tyme to repente_.”
[327] _This sayeng_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “Theise sayenges.”
[328] _vnto_] _MS. Harl._ “to.”
[329] _powr man he_] So _MS. Harl.—MS. C_. “povertye.”
[330] _I meane the, &c._] _MS. Harl._ omits this line.
[331] _victualing_] _MS. Harl._ “vylyng.”
[332] _Also_] _MS. Harl._ “And _also_.”
[333] _the_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[334] _vade_] _MS. Harl._ “wadde.”
[335] _parvo_] _MS. C._ “paruie.” _MS. Harl._ “parvū.” Qy. “parvis?”
[336] _comons_] _MS. Harl._ “poremen,”—altered in a later hand from
“commenes.”
[337] _Have_] _MS. Harl._ “Hath.”
[338] _hayne_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “hande.”
[339] _wryttes yt newe_] _MS. Harl._ “wrythe _new_.”
[340] _be_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “by.”
[341] _prowdest_] _MS. Harl._ “prowdes.”
[342] _Therfore_] _MS. Harl._ “And now.”
[343] _To suche as hath, &c._] There appears to be some corruption here.
[344] _annother_] MS. “and nother.”
[345] _That_] Qy. _dele_?
[346] _hyme_] _MS._ “hyne.”
[347] _yerne_] _MS._ “ywre.”
[348] _And be not withe me wrothe_] _MS. Harl._ “Therfore _be not_ yow
_wrothe_.”
[349] _you_] _MS. Harl._ “of.”
[350] _here_] _MS. Harl._ “this.”
[351] _cheiffe_] _MS. Harl._ “pithe.”
[352] _hole_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[353] _no nother_] i. e. none other. _MS. Harl._ “_noe_ other.”
[354] _Whiche_] _MS. Harl._ “This.”
[355] _whates_] _MS. Harl._ “what.”
[356] _mone_] So both _MSS._ But qy. “none?”
[357] _mayne shete_] In _MS. Harl._ is altered by a later hand from
“graett shepe.”
[358] _How officers, &c._] This line is added by a later hand.
[359] _dischare_] There is some error here; and perhaps a line or more
has dropt out.
[360] _And, as some, &c._] This line and the next added by a later hand.
[361] _so do_] _MS. Harl._ “thus doth.”
[362] _Vox populi, &c._] This line in _MS. Harl._ is added by a later
hand.
[363] _this_] _MS. Harl._ “the.”
[364] _How this thyng, &c._] This line omitted in _MS. Harl._
[365] _scace_] _MS Harl._ “skarese.”
[366] _Our_] _MS. Harl._ “Your.”
[367] _comes_] _MS. Harl._ “commythe.”
[368] _hys_] _MS. Harl._ “the.”
[369] _this ... deamythe_] _MS. Harl._ “thus ... dremethe.”
[370] _illi_] Both _MSS._ “ille.”
[371] _For_] _MS. Harl._ “But.”
[372] _it as it was_] _MS. Harl._ “this _as was_.”
[373] _The_] _MS. Harl._ “Youre.”
[374] _man_] _MS. Harl._ “a _man_.”
[375] _This_] _MS. Harl._ “Thus.” (But see note, p. 86.)
[376] _thynne_] A line, or perhaps more, has dropt out here.
[377] _theire_] _MS. Harl._ “the.”
[378] _My lorde is not at leysure_] A line borrowed from Skelton’s _Why
come ye nat to Courte_, v. 622 vol. ii. 46.
[379] _dares not ons to sturre_] _MS. Harl._ “darre _not ones sture_.”
[380] _must vse_] _MS. Harl._ “_most_ gowe _vse_.”
[381] _mesteres Mede_] The writer, perhaps, recollected that Skelton had
mentioned “mayden Meed” in _Ware the Hauke_, v. 149. vol. i. 160.
[382] _vttermost_] _MS. Harl._ “vttmost.”
[383] _better_] _MS. Harl._ “the” (the scribe having omitted “better” by
mistake).
[384] _makes_] _MS. Harl._ “maketh.”
[385] _non_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “now.”
[386] _this covetous_] _MS. Harl._ “_this_ corsede _covitys_”.
[387] _me_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[388] _be_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[389] _Per speculum ænigmatæ_] This line in _MS. C._ is added by a
different hand; and in _MS. Harl._ it is one of the various additions by
a later hand: “_ænigmatæ_” (written in both _MSS._ “inigmatæ”) must have
been used for the sake of the rhyme.
[390] _The_] _MS. Harl._ “Yowr.”
[391] _trowe_] _MS. Harl._ “knowe.”
[392] _a_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[393] _sent ... cloysterers_] _MS. Harl._ “showtt ... cloystres.”
[394] _convert_] _MS. Harl._ “haue convertyd.”
[395] _the highe_] _MS. Harl._ “_the_ kenges _hy_.”
[396] _Off_] _MS. Harl._ “And _of_.”
[397] _gothe_] _MS. Harl._ “it _gothe_.”
[398] _Amonge_] _MS. Harl._ “Amownges.”
[399] _selles_] _MS. Harl._ seems to have “sylkes.”
[400] _telles_] _MS. Harl._ “tyltis.”
[401] _those ... welles_] _MS. Harl._ “thes ... weltes.”
[402] _fyle_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “fylde.”
[403] _The commons so_] _MS. Harl._ “Yowr powr men thus.”
[404] _we ... we_] _MS. Harl._ “thay ... thay.”
[405] _10_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[406] _blessed_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “blest.”
[407] _At_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “A.”
[408] _thei wyll have the neke_] _MS. Harl._ “we shall _haue the_ werke.”
[409] _This the poore men saye, &c._] This and the next four lines
omitted in _MS. Harl._
[410] _11_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[411] _this_] _MS. Harl._ “thus.” (But see note, p. 86.)
[412] _make_] _MS. Harl._ “makethe.”
[413] _dothe_] _MS. Harl._ “doo.”
[414] _coniector_] _MS. Harl._ “conuector.”
[415] _For yt stondes, &c._] This line not in _MS. Harl._
[416] _shamfull_] So _MS. Harl._—Not in _MS. C._
[417] _For_] _MS. Harl._ “So.”
[418] _the kynges_] _MS. Harl._ “youre grasis.”
[419] _That_] _MS. Harl._ “But _that_.”
[420] _Yt is a wordly wondr._] Not in _MS. Harl._
[421] _The commons_] _MS. Harl._ “Youre powre men.”
[422] _12_] _MS. Harl._ “10.”
[423] _Howe_] So _MS. Harl._—Omitted in _MS. C._
[424] _Yt may a_] _MS. Harl._ “Yf _a_.”
[425] _all_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[426] _the_] So _MS. Harl._—Not in _MS. C._
[427] _realme_] A line wanting, to rhyme with this.
[428] _the_] So _MS. Harl._—Not in _MS. C._
[429] _all_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “that.”
[430] _fyrst_] _MS. Harl._ “frist.”
[431] _By_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[432] _laweare ... landelorde_] _MS. Harl._ “laweres ... lawlorde.”
[433] _or_] _MS. Harl._ “and.”
[434] _master_] _MS. Harl._ “maisteres:” but perhaps some particular
individual is alluded to; compare the second line after.
[435] _comonwelthe_] _MS. Harl._ “commen.”
[436] _groundes make_] _MS. Harl._ “grownd makes.”
[437] _And payemasters, &c._] These two lines added in _MS. Harl._ by a
later hand.
[438] _to, to myche_] _MS. Harl._ “_to myche_.”
[439] _sterres_] _MS. Harl._ “stowrys.”
[440] _may_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[441] _By space_] _MS. Harl._ “_By_ the _space_.”
[442] _Thoughe_] _MS. Harl._ “Ye thowght.”
[443] _scase_] _MS. Harl._ “skarsse.”
[444] _them_] _MS. Harl._ “they.”
[445] _they_] _MS. Harl._ “thosse.”
[446] _wyll_] _MS. Harl._ “I _wyll_.”
[447] _toke_] _MS. Harl._ “take.”
[448] _all_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[449] _For_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[450] _so_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[451] _13_] _MS. Harl._ “11.”
[452] _neadith_] _MS. Harl._ “nedes.”
[453] _By tyme_] _MS. Harl._ “Be tymes.”
[454] _I hold and gage_] _MS. Harl._ “_I_ wold to _gage_.”
[455] _perplexyte_] In writing this word with a contraction, the
transcriber of _MS. C._ has omitted the second _p_.
[456] _this_] _MS. Harl._ “ther.”
[457] _awaye_] _MS. Harl._ “waye.”
[458] _Bothe_] So _MS. Harl._—_MS. C._ “But.”
[459] _treasure tellynge_] _MS. Harl._ “_tresure_ and _tellyng_.”
[460] _and goute_] _MS. Harl._ “_and_ the _gowt_.”
[461] _The Herte and, &c._] This line and the next omitted in _MS. Harl._
[462] _Withe_] Not in _MS. Harl._
[463] _do_] _MS. Harl._ “dothe.”
[464] _Henry_] _MS. Harl._ “Herry.”
[465] _Edwarde_] So _MS Harl.—MS. C._ “Ewarde.”
[466] _allwaye_] _MS. Harl._ “awaye.”
[467] _ffinis quothe Mr. Skelton, Poete Lawriate_] Instead of these
words, _MS. Harl._ has,
“God saue the kenge
Finis quod vox populi vox dei.”
THE IMAGE OF IPOCRYSY.[468]
Vpon....
Of the cruell clergy[?],
And the proude prelacy[?],
That now do looke so hie,
As though that by and by
They wold clymbe and fflye
Vp to the clowdy skye:[469]
Wher all men may espye,
By fals hipocrysye
Thei long haue blered the eye
Of all the world well nye;
Comytting apostacie
Against that verytye
That thei can not denye:
In which how shamlessly
They do ... and aye
Ther concyens testyfye
The poppe[?]....
Curte[?]....
The rest of B ... markes,
That be heresyarkes,
Which do com[yt?] ther warkes,
As one that in the darke ys,
And wotes not wher the marke ys,
Do take the kites for larkes.
Suche be owr primates,
Our bisshopps and prelates,
Our parsons and curates,[470]
With other like estates
That were shaven pates;
As monkes white and blacke,
And channons that cane chatte,
Glottons[471] ffayre and fatt,
With ffriers of the sacke,
And brothers of the bagg,
As nymble as a nagg,
That cane bothe prate and bragg,
To make the pulpett wagge
With twenty thousand lyes,
Do make the blind eate flyes,
And[472] blere our symple eyes,
To make vs to beleve
God morowe is god eve;
For pleynly to be breve,
So nye they do vs dreve,
That we, to our great greve,
Must sey that white is blacke,
Or elles they sey we smacke,
And smell we wote not what:
But then beware the catt;
For yf they smell a ratt,
They grisely chide and chatt,
And, Haue him[473] by the jack,
A fagott for his backe,
Or, Take[474] him to the racke,
And drowne hyme in a sacke,
Or burne hyme on a stake!
Lo, thus they vndertake
The trothe false to make!
Alas, for Christ his sake!
Is the sonnelight darke,
Or ignoraunc[e] a clarke,
Bycawse that thei hath powre
To send men to the Towre,
The simple to devowre?
If they lyst to lowre,
Ys suger therfor sowre?
Dothe[475] five and three make ffour?
As well I durst be bolde
To sey the ffier were colde.
But yet they worke muche worse,
When they for blissinge cowrse;
For Father Friska jolly,
And _Pater_ Pecke a lolly,
That be all full of folly,
Doo[476] fayne them seem[477] holy,
For ther monopoly,
And ther private welthe,
That they haue take by stelthe;
And in the churche they lurke,
As ill as any Turke,
So proudely they vsurpe,
Besyde the spritt of Christ,
The office of a pryste
In any wise to take,
As thoughe it were a iape,
To runne in att the rove;[478]
For some of them do prove[479]
To clyme vpp ere they knowe
The doore from the wyndowe;
They may not stoope alowe,
But backe bend as a bowe;
They make an owtwarde showe,
And so forthe one a rowe,
As dapper as a crowe,
And perte as any pye,
And lighte as any ffly.
At borde and at table
They be full servysable,
Sober and demure,
Acquayntans to allure,
Wher they may be sure[480]
By any craft or trayne
To fyshe for any gayne,[481]
Or wayt for any wynnyng,—
A prestly begynnynge!
For many a hyerlinge,
With a wilde fyerlinge,
Whan his credyte is most,
With mikell brag and bost
Shall pryck[482] owt as a post,
Chafyng[483] lyke myne hoste,
As hott as any toste,
And ride from cost to cost,
And then[484] shall rule the rost.
And some avaunced be
For ther auncente,
Thoughe[485] ther antiquitye
Be all innequitye;
Yett be they called
To the charge of the fald,
Because they be balled,
And be for bisshopps stalled.
And some kepe ther stations
In owtwarde straunge natyons,
Lernynge invocatyons,
And craftye incantatyons;
And so by inchantement
Gette theyr avauncement.
And some by fayned favour
For honour or for havour,
By voyses boughte and solde,
For sylver and for golde,
For lande, for rente or ffee,
Or by authoritye
Of menn of hye degree,
Or for some qualitye,
As many of them bee,
For ther actyvitee,
Ther practyse and industrye,
Sleyght, craft, and knavery,
In matters of bawdery,
Or by helpe of kynne,
An easy liffe to wynne.
I swere by Saincte Mary,
He that thus dothe cary
Is a mercenary,
Yea, a sangunary,
A pastore for to pull
Of bothe skynne and wolle.
Thoughe Christ be the doer,
They force not of his looer,
They sett therby no stoore;
Ther stody is for moore:
And I tell youe therfore
That they ther tyme temper
With a provisoo _semper_
An other wey to enter,
For love of wordely good,
Not forcinge of the fflode
Of hyme that bledd the roode;
It is not for ther moode.
They make deambulacyons
With great ostentations,
And loke for salutations
On every mannes face,
As in the merkett place
To saye, God saue your grace!
Thus in churche and chepinge,
Wher they may haue metinge
With lordes and with ladyes,
To be called Rabyes:
Nowe God saue these dadyes,
And all ther yonge babyes!
The holy worde of God
Is by these men forbod;
_Pater noster_ and Creede
They vtterly forbeede
To be said or songe
In our vulgar tonge.
Ohe Lorde, thou hast great wronge
Of these that shoulde be trustye,
Whiche sey the breade is musty,
And with ther lawe vnlusty
Make it rusty and dusty!
But I do thinke it rustye
For lacke of exercyse:
Wherfore they be vnwise
That will the lawe despise,
And daylye newe devyse,
So dyvers and so straunge,
Which[486] chaunge and rechaunge
Of fastinges and of feestes,
Of bowes[487] and behestes,
With many of ther[488] iestes,
As thoughe lay men wer bestes;
As many of vs bee,
That may and will not see,
Nor ones cast vpp an eye,
These jugglinges to espye;
For this that nowe is vsed
Is efte ageyne refused,
Chaunged or mysvsed,
That we be still abused:
The lawe that servethe nowe,
Ageyne they disalowe.
Thus forthe and backe,[489]
With bryve and with bull
They dayly plucke and pull,
And yett be never ffull;
For wher one bull makes,
An other bull forsakes;
The thyrde yett vndertakes
To alter all of newe:
Thus none will other sue.
Wherfore, by swete Jesu,
I thinke they be vntrewe
That iuggle tyme and tyme
To gett thyne and myne;
Yea, thoughe the worlde pynne,
No man wyll they spare,[490]
So they ther pelfe prefarre,
The lawes to make and marre,
To bynde vs nere and farre;
Wherto may be no barre
In peace tyme nor in warre;
For none ther is that darre
Replye ageyne or speake,
This daunce of thers to breake;
The trouthe it is so weeke:
They make all men cry creake,
Or fry them to a steake,—
Adieu, Sir Huddypeake!
Lo, Peters barge is leake,
And redy for to synke!
Beware yett least youe drinke;
God dothe not slepe nor wynke,
But sethe lande and brynke;
And yf ye take the chynke,
I feare me ye will stynke,
And corrupt your vnctyon
With an iniunctyon;
Your[491] pride and presumption,
In[492] abvsing your functyon,
Will breade a consumtion,
And make a resumption,
To bringe youe to compunction;
Youre[493] lawes falsely grounded,
That hath the world surounded,
By trouthe shalbe confounded.
Thoughe ye be lordes digne,
Ye shoulde no man maligne,
But ever be benyngne;
And namely in suche case
Wher God his gyfte or grace[494]
Lyst to plante or place:
The poore man, or the riche,
Is to his pleasure lyche;
For Christ, our derest Lorde,
That made the full accorde,
As Scripture dothe recorde,
Betwyxt God and man,
Suppressynge Sattan
And all his kingdom, whan[495]
Vpon the holy roodd
He shadd his blissed bloode,
As muche for one as other,
Exceptinge not his mother,
Made every man his brother,
As many as ther bee
In faythe and charitee.
But nowe by fals abvsyon,
The clergy by collution,
Without good conclution,
Haue broughte vs to confution,
And made an illution:
By great inyquytie,
Avaunt themselfes to be
No lesse then godes, yee,
Of equall authorytye;
Whiche, by ipocrysye,
To exalt ther dignytye,
Call vs the leudd lay ffee,
Men of temporalitee;
But they pretend to bee
A people eternall,
Of powr supernall:
I fere me, infernall;
For they that be carnall,
Idolaters to Baall,
And nothinge gostely at all,
Be named spirituall;
For so we must them calle,
As we aye do and shall,
What happe soever falle.
Ther successyon may not dye,
But lyve eternallye;
For, without question,
Perpetuall succession
They haue from one to other,
As childer of ther mother;
Yea, they kepe all in store
That other hadd afore,
And daylye gather more.
Lo, thus the people rore,
As on a fistred sore
Of matter most vnpure,
That thei ar dryven to indure
Tyll God himself send cure!
That as you be possessors,
So be yee successors
Vnto your predecessors:
And yet ye be questors,
And hoorders vppe of testers;
Ye[496] daylye cache and gather
Of mother and of father,
And of no man rather
Then of your poore brother,
And of euery other;
Yea, all that comes is gayne,
You passe of no mans payne,
Whiche ye allwey reteyne,
Who ever grudge or playne,
It may not out agayne;
Noughte may be remitted
That to youe is commytted;
Ye be not so lighte witted.
The people thinke it true
That ye possession sue
To haue an easy life,
Without debate or strife,
To lyve without a wife,
Lordely[497] and at ease,
Without payne or disease,
Your belly god to please,
And worldly welth to haue:[498]
Ye do your heeades shave,
To make youe sure and save
In every wind and wave,
That wolde as sone rave
As ones to chippe[499] an heare
So farre aboue your eare,
Or suche an habite weare,
With a polled heade,
To fayne yourselves deade;
But for possessions sake
That ye suche rules take,
And bynde youe to the brake,
That ye maye not forsake
Durynge all your lyves:
So well is he that thrives.
Thus be youe spirituall;
And yett ye do vs call
But lewde and temporall;
And that is for that we
So weake and simple be,
To put oure possession
From oure succession
And heires lyniall
Or kynne collaterall,
That be menn temporall,
And so from lyne to lyne;
For ech man for his tyme
Sayes, While it is myne,
I will give while I maye,
That, when I am away,
They shall both singe and saye,
And for my soules helthe pray,
Tyll it be domes day:
So, after this array,
Alake and well away!
We oure landes straye,
And other goodes decay;
Wherat ye laughe and play:
And natheles allwey
We dayly pay and pay,
To haue youe to go gaye
With wonderfull araye,
As dysardes in a play.
God wolde it were imprented,
Written and indentyd,
What youe haue invented!
So great diversyte
Nowe in your garmentes be,
That wonder is to se;
Your triple cappe and crowne,
Curtle, cope, and gowne,
More worthe then halfe a towne,
With golde and perle sett,
And stones well iffrett;
Ther can be no bett;
And for no price ye lett,
How far of they be fett.
Oh ye kynde of vipers,
Ye beestly bellyters,
With Raynes and Cipres,
That haue so many miters!
And yett ye be but mychers.
Youe weere littell hattes,
Myters, and square capps,
Decked with flye flappes,
With many prety knackes,
Like Turkes of Tartary,
Moores, or men of Moscovye,
Or lyke bugges of Arraby,
With ouches and bosses,
With staves and crosses,
With pillers and posses,
With standers and banners,
Without good life or manners:
Then haue youe gay gloves,
That with your hand moves,
Wroughte with true loves,
And made well, for the nones,
With golde and precious stones:
Ye blisse vs with your bones,
And with your riche ringes,
That quenes and kinges,
At your offringes,
Shall kisse with knelinges;
Which your mynykyns
And mynyon babbes,
Your closse chambred drabbes,
When masse and all is done,[500]
Shall were at afternone:
Your curtells be of sylke,
With rochetes white as mylke;
Your bootes of righte sattyne,
Or velvett crymosyne;
Your shoes wroughte with gold,
To tredd vpon the molde;
Wandring, as Vandals,
In sylke and in sandals,
Ye kepe your holy rules,
As asses and mules;
For on your cloven cules
Will ye never sytt
But on a rich carpett;
And nowe and then a fitt,
After the rule of Bennett,
With, dythmunia vennett,
A gaye a vott gennett,
With Gill or with Jennyt,
Wyth Cycely or Sare;
Yf thei come wher they are,
Thei lay one and not spare,
And never look behind them,
Wher soever they ffynd them;
For whan that thei be hett,
And Asmodeus grett,
They take, as[501] thei can gett,
All[502] fyshe that comes to nett,
For lust fyndes no lett[503]
Tyll hys poyson be spett;
Be she fyne or feat,
Be she white or[504] jett,
Long or short sett,
Do she smyle or skowle,
Be she ffayr or fowle,
Or owgly[505] as an owle;
For vnderneth a cowle,
A surplyse or an amys,
Can no man do amys;
Ye halse them from harmes
With blessinges and charmes,
While the water warmes,
In your holy armes,
Broging in ther barmes,
Devoutly to clipe it,
To caste her with a tryppytt,
With, lusty Sir John, whip it
Vnderneth your tippitt,
_Prætextu pietatis,_
_Quam contaminatis_
_Sub jugo castitatis_,
Your burning heate to cease,
And expell your disease,
Vnder pretens[506] of pease,
The paynes to release
Of poore sely sowles,
That hide be in holes
As hote as any coles.
Ye cappes haue and capes,
With many other iapes,
To cover with your pates;
As hoodes and cowles,
Like horned owles,
With skapplers and cootes,
Courtbies and copes,
White knottyd ropes,
With other instrumentes,
Straunge habilimentes,
And wanton vestementes,
And other implementes,
As tyrantes haue in tentes:
But what therby ment is,
Or what they signifye,
I cane not tell, not I,[507]
Nor you vndowtedlye
Can shew no reason whie.
Ye make it herisy
And treason to the kinge,
Yf we speke any thinge
That is not to your lykynge;
The truth may not be spoken,
But ye will be wroken:
Yett marke and note this token;
Yf Gods worde ones open,
Which wyll er long perdye,
Then shall we here and se
In Cristianitye,
Whether youe or we
The very traytours be.
But, by the Trynite,
It wonder is to me
To se your charite
And hospitalite
So littell to the poore;
And yet vpon a hoore
Ye passe for non expence,
As thoughte it non offence
Were in the sighte of God;
Youe fray not of his rod;
Youe loue your bely cod;
For them that haue no nede
Ye dayly feest and fede:
I thinke it be to dreede
Lest here you[508] haue your mede.
Ye drawe and cast lottes,
In hattes and in pottes,
For tottes and for quottes,
And blere vs with your blottes,
And with your mery poppes:
Thus youe make vs sottes,
And play with vs[509] boopepe,
With other gambaldes like,
To pill oure Lordes sheepe,
Your honour for to kepe,
Vsinge great excesse,
Which I pray God represse,
And soone to sende redresse!
For no man can expresse
The wo and wretchednesse
Youe on oure neckes do lye,
By your grett tyrannye,
Your pride and surquedrye,
That ye do openlye:
But that youe secretly
Practyse pryvylye,
May not be tolde,—and why?
Lest it be herysye,
And than by and by
To make a faggott ffrye.
For we can not deny,
And treuth[510] doth playne dyscrye,
And all wysemen espye
That all the falt doth lye[511]
Vpon oure owne foly,
That ye be so iolye,
For with oure owne goodes
We fether vppe oure[512] hoodes.
Youe sanguinolently,
Your mony is so plenty,
That youe make no deynty
Of twenty pound and twenty,
So youe may haue entry;
And then youe laughe and skorne
To se vs were the horne,
Ridinge here and hether,
Goinge ther and thether,
Lyke cokold foles[513] together,
In colde, wynde, and in wether,
For woll, for ledd, and lether;
And yet do not consydre
We wer an oxes fether:[514]
This is a prety bob,
Oure hedes for to gnob[515]
With suche a gentill job:
And we oure selves rob
Of landes temporall,
And jvelles great and smalle,
To give youe parte of all
In almes perpetuall,
To make our heyres thrall
For your[516] hye promotyon,
Through[517] our blynde devotion
And small[518] intellygens,
But that our conscyens,
Laden with offens,
And you vs so incense,
When we be going hens,
To make soch recompens,
By gyvyng[519] yowe[520] our pens,
Our land, goodes, and rentes,
For that[521] holy pretens,
Havyng ffull confydens
That be[522] a safe defens:
So do we styll dyspens
With all remorse and sens
Of harty penytens.
This cane not be denyed;
Your jugglynge is espied,
Your mayster is vntyed,
Which is the prince of pride;
For you on[523] neyther syde
Can suffre or abyde[524]
To here the troth tryed,
Which ye intend to hide
With vehement[525] desyre,
As hote as any ffire.
Thus endeth the ffirst parte of this present treatyse, called the Image
of Ipocrysy.
Alake, for Christes might,
These thinges go not arighte!
Oure lanterns give no lighte,
All bisshopps be not brighte:
They be so full of spyte,
They care not whom they byte,
Both frend and foo they smyte
Wyth prison, deth, and flighte;
So dayly they do fyght
To overturne the ryght:
So[526] we be in the plyte,
That, losing of oure sight,
We[527] know not black from whyght,
And be thus[528] blinded quyte,
We know not[529] day from nyght.
But, by my syres soule,
The true Apostell Paule
Wrott, as we may see
In Tyte and Tymothe,
Who should a bisshoppe be:
A man of holy liffe,
The husbonde of one wiffe;
That vseth not to strife,
Or strike with sworde or knyff,
Nor that at any tyme
Suspected is of cryme,
But wise and provident,
Colde and contynent,
But never vynolent;
That when he eat[530] or drinke,
Slepe, awake,[531] or winke,
Doth styll[532] on measure thinke,
And therof vse a messe,
To put away excesse,
Kepe[533] hyme lowe and chast;
That he make no wast
By prodigalite
Or sensualytye,
A waster for to be,
But, after his degree,
With liberallite
Kepe hospitallite;
He must be sadd and sage,
Vsinge non outrage,
But soberly with reason
To spende in tyme and season,
And so to kepe his meason;
He may in no wise streke,
But suffer and be meke,
Shamefast and discrete,
Temperat, dulce, and swete,
Not speakinge angerly,
But soft and manerly;
And, in any wise,
Beware of covetyse,
The rote of all ill vice;
He must be liberall,
And thanke oure Lorde of all;
And, as a heerde his sheepe,
His childer must he kepe,
And all his family
In vertu edyfy,
Vnder disciplyne
Of holsome doctryne,
With dew subiection,
That non obiection
Be made vnto his heste[534]
Of most or of leste;
For thus he doth conclude,
As by simylitude,
Howe he that cane not skill
His housholde at his will
To governe,[535] rule, and teche,
Within his power and reach,
Oughte to haue no speache
Of cure and diligence,
Of suche premynence,
Within the churche of God;
And eke it is forbode
That he no novice be,
Lest with superbite
He do presume to hye,
And consequently
Fall vnhappely
Into the frenesy
Of pride and of evyll,[536]
Lyke Lucyfer, the devyll;[537]
For he playnly writes,
That of these neophites,
And pevishe proselites,
Springe vpp ipocrites;
A bisshoppe eke must haue,
His honesty to save,
Of all men such a name,
That his outwarde fame
Be clene from any blame,
Impeched with no shame,
To draw all people in,
They may repent of synne,
And so[538] he may them wynne,
That thei fall not vnware[539]
Into[540] the devils snare.
Thus Paule, as ye may se,
Taughte Tyte and Tymothe,
Who should a bisshoppe be:
And Christ oure maister dere,
While he lyved here,
Full poorly did appere,
Mekely borne and bredd;
The bare earth was his bedd,
For where to hele his headd,
Or where to lye and rest,
He had no hole nor nest;
But in great poverty
He lyved soberly,
His worde to multyply;
And thus did edifye
His churche that is so holy,
Suppressinge synne and foly:
But not with friska ioly,
As somme do nowe a dayes,
That haue so many wayes
All maner[541] gaynes to reape,
Ther tresures one a heap
To gather and to kepe,
By pillinge of his shepe,
Not forsyng who do wepe,
And to his flocke repayre
As it were to a ffayre;
To sit in Peters chayer
With pride and ambition,
Sowyng great sedition;
And by superstition
Blinde vs with remission,
By bulles vnder led,
To serve both quicke and dead;
And by that way pretend
To clyme vpp and ascend
That Lucifer did discend.
I thinke that suche frykars
Be not Christes vickars,
But crafty intrycars,
And pryvy purse pykars;
For they that be sekars
Of stores newe and olde,
May perceyve and beholde
Howe euery thinge is solde
For sylver[542] and for golde:
The craft[543] can not be told,
What is and hath bene done
By Antychryst[544] of Rome;
For thens[545] the sourdes springe
Of every naughty thinge,
Hide vnderneth the whynge
Of the Sire of Synne;
At whom I will begynn
Somwhat for to speake,
And playnly to intreate
Of this farly freake,
That sitteth in his seat,
Devouringe synne as meatte,
Whiche he and his do eate
As they may catch and geate:[546]
They spare not to devower
Cyty, towne, and tower,
Wherat no man may lower;
For be it swete or sower,
Or be it good or yll,
We must be muett still,
The lustes to fulfill
Of that cocodryll,
Which at his[547] only will
May ech man[548] save or spyll.
This wicked man of warr
So hault is that he darr,
As he lyste,[549] make and marr,
His owne lawe to prefarr
Aboue the worde of God;
It passeth Godes forbod
That ever it should be;
A man to clyme so hy,
By reason of his see,
To clayme auctoritye
Aboue the Deyte,
It is to hy a bost,
And synne one of the most
Ageynst the Holy Gost,
That is not remissable:
For as for the Bible,
He taketh it for a ridle,
Or as a lawles lible,
Which, to the hy offence
Of his conscience,
He dare therwith dispence,
And alter the sentence;
For wher God do prohibitt,
He doth leve exhibite,
And at his[550] lust inhybyte;
And wher God doth commaunde,
Ther he doth countermaunde;
After his owne purpose
The best text to turne and glose,
Like a Welshe manes hose,
Or lyke a waxen nose:
But wyse[551] men do suppose
That truth shall[552] judge and trye,
For lyars can but lye.
He is so hault and taunt,
That he dare hyme avaunt
All erthly men to daunt;
And faynes to give and graunt,
In heaven above or hell,[553]
A place wherin to dwell,
As all his lyars tell,
Which he doth dayly sell,
After his devise,
If men come to his prise;
It is his marchaundyse;
For, as ye will demaunde,
He can and may commaunde
A thowsande, in a bande,
Of angells out of heaven,
To come throughe the leven,
And make all thinge even,
His biddinges to obey,
Which beares the greatist swaye,
Your soules to convey
Frome all decaye
Out of the fendes wey;
But provided alwey,
That ye first mony paye;
At the appoynted daye
Ye present, if it maye;
Then,[554] vnder thi petycion,
Thou gettest true remyssion,[555]
From synnes the absolution,
By this his owne commyssion,
By bryve or els by bull,
To fill his coffers full;
Ye may aske what ye wull.
Alas, ye be to dull
To se this lorde of losse,
The fo of Christes crosse,
This hoore of Babilon,
And seede of Zabulon,
The enemy of Christ,
The devels holy pryst,
And very Antechrist,
To revell and to ride,
Like the prince of pride,
That of euery syde
Warres the worlde wyde,
Whom no strenghe may abide—
The devill be his guyde!
For loke in his decrees,
And ye shall finde out lyes,
As thik as swarme of byes,
That throughe the worlde flyes,
Making parsemonyes
Of Peters patrimonyes,
But great mercymonyes
Of his seremonyes,
To smodder vs with smoke:
For, when he wilbe wroke,
No man may bere his stroke;
So hevy is his yoke,
To Christes full vnlike,
That saide his yoke is swete,
His burthen lighte and meete
For all men that be meke,
To suffer and to bere,
Without drede or fere:
But Popes afterwarde,
That never[556] had regard
Which ende shoulde go forewarde,
Haue drawen vs bakwarde,
And made the yoke so harde
By false invented lawes,
As thoughe lay men were dawes,
And dome as any stone,
With sivile and canon
To serve God and Mammon;
Righte and wronge is one.
Serche his decretalles
And bulles papalles,
_Et, inter alia_,
Loke in his _palia_
And _Bacchanalia_,[557]
With his extravagantes
And wayes _vagarantes:_
His lawes _arrogantes_
Be made by truwantes
That frame his finctions
Into distinctions,
With cloutes of clawses,
Questyons and cawses,
With Sext and Clementyne,
And lawes legantyne:
His county pallantyne
Haue coustome colubryne,
With codes viperyne
And sectes serpentyne:
Blinde be his stores
Of interogatores
And declaratores,
With lapse and relapse,
A wispe and a waspe,
A clispe and a claspe,
And his after[558] clappes;
For his paragraffes
Be no cosmograffes,
But vnhappy graffes,
That wander in the warrayne,
Fruteles and barayne,
To fede that foule carrayne,
And dignite papall;
With judges that scrape all,
And doctours that take all,
By lawes absynthyall
And labirynthyall:
His tabellions
Be rebellions;
His laweres and scribes
Live only by bribes;
His holy advocates
And judges diligates
Haue robbed all estates,
By many inventions
Of sundry suspentions,
Subtile subventions,
Crafty conventions,
Prevy preventions,
And evell exemptions;
So hath his indictions
And his interdictions,
With croked commyssions,
Colde[559] compromyssions,
Cursed conditions,
Hevy traditions,
Elvishe inibitions,
And redy remissions:
Then hathe he inductions
And colde conductions;
His expectatyves
Many a man vnthrives;
By his constitutions
And his subtitutions
He maketh institutions,
And taketh restitutions,
Sellinge absolutions,
And other like pollutions:
His holy actions
Be satisfactions
Of false compactions:
He robbeth all nations
With his fulminations,
And other like vexations;
As with abiurations,
Excomunycations,
Aggravations,
Presentations,
Sequestrations,
Deprivations,
Advocations,
Resignations,
Dilapidations,
Sustentations,[560]
Adminystrations,
Approbations,
Assignations,
Alterations,
Narrations,
Declarations,
Locations,
Collocations,
Revocations,
Dispensations,
Intimations,
Legittimations,
Insinuations,
Pronunttiations,
Demonstrations,
Vacations,
Convocations,
Deputations,
Donations,
Condonations,
Commynations,
Excusations,[561]
Declamations,
Visitations,
Acceptations,
Arrendations,
Publications,
Renunttiations,
Fatigations,
False fundations,
And dissimulations,
With like abbominations
Of a thowsand fasshions:
His holy vnions
Be no communyons:
His trialitees
And pluralytyes
Be full of qualitees;
His tottes and quottes
Be full of blottes:
With quibes and quaryes
Of inventataries,
Of testamentaries,
And of mortuaries,
By sutes of appeales,
And by his[562] ofte repeales,
He oure mony steales.
I speake not of his sessions,
Nor of his confessions
Olde and avricular,
Colde and caniculer;
Howe the cubiculer,
In the capitular,
With his pylde[563] spitler,
Playde the knavyculer
Vnderneth a[564] wall:
I may not tell youe all,
In termes speciall,
Of pardon nor of pall,
Nor of confessionall;
For I feare, yf[565] he call
The sentence generall,
I mighte so take a fall,
And haue his bitter curse,[566]
And yett be not the wurse,
Save only in my purse,
Because I shoulde be fayne
To by my state agayne
_Ex leno vel ex lena,_
_Aut pellice obscœna,_
_Res certe inamœna:[567]_
_Papisticorum scena,_
_Malorum semper plena_;
For all the worlde rounde
He falsely doth confounde
By lawes made and founde,
By thyr devyse vnsownde,
With no[568] steadfast grounde,
But with fayned visions
And develyshe devisions,
With basterde religions:
Thus this cursed elfe,
To avaunce his pelfe,
Falsely fayne[s] hymeself
To be _semideus_:
No, youe Asmeodeus,
Ye are Amoreus,
The sonne of Chanaan;
O thou monstrous man,
And childe of cursed Chan,
Arte thou halfe god, halfe man?
Gup, leviathan,
And sonne of Sattan,
The worme _letophagus_,
And sire to Symonde Magus!
O porter Cerberus,
Thou arte so monstrous,
Soo made and myschevous,
Proude and surquedrous,
And as lecherous
As Heliogabalus
Or Sardanapalus!
Hatefull vnto God,
And father of all falsehoode,
The poyson of prestoode,
And deth of good knighthoode,
The robber of riche men,
And murderer of meke men,
The turment of true men
That named be newe men,
The prince of periury,
And Christes enemy,
Vnhappy as Achab,
And naughty as Nadab,
As crafty as Caball,
And dronken as Naball,
The hope of Ismaell,
And false Achitofell,
The blissinge of Bell,
And advocate of hell;
Thou hunter Nembroth,
And Judas Iscarioth,[569]
Thou bloody Belyall,
And sacrifise of Ball,
Thou elvishe ipocrite,
And naughty neophite,
Thou pevishe proselite,
And synefull Sodymite,
Thou gredy Gomorrite,
And galefull[570] Gabaonite,
Tho[u] hermofrodite,
Thou arte a wicked sprite,
A naughty seismatike,
And an heritike,
A beestely bogorian,[571]
And devill meridian,
The patrone of proctors,
And dethe of trewe doctours,
The founder of faytors,
And trust of all traytours,
The shender of sawes,
And breaker of lawes,
The syre of serdoners,
And prince of pardoners,
The kinge of questors,
And rule of regestors,
The eater of frogges,
And maker of goddes,
The brother of brothells,
And lorde of all losells,
The sturrur of stoores,
And keper of hoores
With gloriouse gawdes,
Amonge trusty bawdes,
The father of foles,
And ignoraunce of scoles,
The helper of harlettes,
And captayne of verlettes,
The cloke of all vnthriftes,
And captayne of all caytifes,
The leader of truwantes,
And chefe of all tyrauntes,
As hinde as an hogge,
And kinde as any dogge,
The shipwrake of Noye,—
Christ saue the and Sainct Loy!
Arte thou the hiest pryst,
And vicar vnto Christ?
No, no, I say, thou lyest:
Thou arte a cursed crekar,
A crafty vppcrepar;
Thou arte the devils vicar,
A privye[572] purse pikar,
By lawes and by rites
For sowles and for sprites:
O lorde of ipocrites,
Nowe shut vpp your wickettes,
And clape to your clickettes,—
farewell, kinge of crekettes!
For nowe the tyme falles
To speake of cardinalles,
That[573] kepe ther holy halles
With towres and walles:
Be they not carnalles,
And lordes infernalles?
Yea, gredy carmalles,
As any carmarante;
With ther coppentante
They loke adutante:
For soth, men say they be
Full of iniquite,
Lyvinge in habundance
Of all worldly substance,
Wherin they lodge and ly,
And wallowe beasteally,
As hogges[574] do in a stye,
Servinge ther god, ther belly,
With chuettes and with gelly,
With venyson and with tartes,
With confytes and with fartes,[575]
To ease ther holy hartes.
They take ther stations,
And make dyambulations
Into all nations,
For ther visitations,
Callinge convocations,
Sellinge dispensations,
Givinge condonasions,
Makinge permutations,
And of excomunycations
Sell they relaxations;
For they, in ther progresse,
With Katern, Mawde, and Besse,
Will vse full great excesse,
Withowt any redresse;
And all men they oppresse
In syty, towne, and village;
From olde and yong of age
They robbe[576] and make pyllage,
Thyr lusts for to aswage,
Which they extorte by mighte
As in the churches righte;
They may not lese a fether:
But God, that lyveth ever,
Graunt that they never
Haue power to come hether!
For wher they ones arive,
So cleane they do vs shryve,
That I swere by my life,
The contry ther shall thrive
Yeres tenn and ffive
After them[577] the worse:
Men give them Godes curse
To shute within ther purse;
Both lernyd and lewde
Wolde they were beshrewed,
They never mighte come nere
For to visitt here,
Altho they haue sotch chere
As they cann well desyre,
And as they will requier;
For why, it doth appere,
The hartes ar sett on fyer
Of[578] chanon, monke, and fryer,
That daylye dothe aspyre,[579]
By bulles vnder ledd,
How they should be fedd;
It is therfore great skill
That every Jacke and Gyll
Performe[580] the Popes will,
Hys[581] purse and panch to ffill;
For, as I erst haue tolde,
There lyves not suche a scolde
That dare ons be[582] so bold,
From shorne ne yet from polde,
Nor[583] monye, meate, nor golde,
From soch men[584] to withholde,
Ther favour boughte and solde,
That take a thowsand ffolde
More then that Judas did:
The trouth can not be hid;
For it is playnly kid
Judas for his dispense
Sold Christ for thirty pense,
And did a foule offence,
His Lorde God so to tray;
And they in likewise say,
After Judas way,
What will ye give and pay,
As the matter falles,
For pardonnes and for palles,
And for confessionalles?
We may have absolucions
Without restytutyons,
And at oure owne election
Passe without correction,
Besydes Christes passion
To make satisfaction;
We feare for non offence,
So they haue recompence:
By great audacitees
They graunt capacitees;
For heaven and for hell
They mony take and tell:
So thus they by and sell,
And take therof no shame,
But laughe and haue good game,
To all oure souls bane:
God helpe, we be to blame
Sutch lordes to defame;
Yett, by the common fame,
Some bisshops vse the same,
In Christes holy name
Soules to sell and bye:
My mynde is not to lye,
But to write playnlye
Ageynst ipocresye
In bisshopp or in other,
Yea, thoughe it were my brother,
My father or my mother,
My syster or my sonne;
For, as I haue begonne,
I will, as I haue donne,
Disclose the great outrage
That is in this Image;
For[585] he that feles the pricke,
And theron groweth sycke,
May with the gald horse kike;
For, as I erst haue said,
Oure bisshops at a brayd
Ar growne so sore afrayde,
And in[586] the world so wide
Do vse sutch pompe and pride,
And rule on euery syde,
That none may them abide:
Of no[587] prince, lord, nor duke,
They take will a rebuke;
All lay men they surmount,
Makinge non accompte,
Nor cast no reckonynge
Scarcely of a kinge:
This is a wonder[588] thinge;
They stande so suer and fast,
And be nothinge agast;[589]
For that blody judge
And mighty sanguisuge,
The Pope that is so huge,
Is ever ther refuge;
So be the cardinalles
Ther suer defence and walles,
With whom they stifly stande
By water and by lande,
To gett the overhande
Of all the world rounde,
Wher profitt may be founde:
They be so many legions,
That they oppresse regions
With boke, bell, and candell,
Any kinge to handell,
As they haue many one:
For triall herevpon
I take of good Kinge John,
Whom by the bitinge
Of ther subtill smytinge,
First by acytinge,
And after interditinge,
By fulmynations
Of excommunications;
For by ther holy poores
They stored vpp stoores,[590]
And kepte suche stvrre with hores,
And shut vpp all churche doores
For ther princely pleasure,
They lyve so owt of measure,
Till they might haue leasure,
Ther lieg lorde and kinge
So base and lowe to bringe;
Which was a pyttevs thyng,
That he with wepinge yees,
Bowinge backe and thies,
And knelinge on his knees,
Must render vpp his fees,
With kingly dignytees,
Septer, crowne, and landes,
Into ther holy handes:
Alas, howe mighte it be
That oure nobilitee
Could then no better se?
For theyrs was the fault
Oure prelates were so haulte;
Their strength then was to seke
Ther liege lorde to kepe;
They durst not fight ne strike,
They feared of a gleke,
That, no day in the weke,
For any good or cattell,
Durst they go to battell,
Nor entre churche ne chappell
In syxe or seven yere,
Before Christ to appere,
And devine seruice here
In any hallowed place,
For lacke of ther good grace;
Ther was no tyme nor space
To do to God seruice,
But as they wolde devise;
Their lawes be so sinystre,
That no man durst minystre
The holy sacrementes
Till they hadd ther intentes
Of landes and of rentes,
By lawes and by lyes;
To inriche ther sees,
The blind men eat vpp flees;
For by ther constitutions
They toke restitutions
Of cyties and of castells,
Of townes and bastells,
And make ther prince pike wastells,
Till they rang out the belles,
And did as they wold elles,
Like traytours and rebelles,
As the story telles.
But Jesu Christ hymeself,
Nor his appostells twelffe,
Vnto that cvrsyd elfe
Did never teach hym[591] so
In any wise to do,
For lucre or advayle,[592]
Ageynst thyr kyng to rayle,
And[593] lieg lorde to assayle,
Within his owne lande
To put hym vnder bande,
And take brede of his hande:
The Lorde saue sutch a flock
That so could mowe and mock
To make ther kinge a block,
And eke ther laughinge stocke!
They blered hym with a lurche,
And said that he must wurche
By counsell of the churche;
Wherby they ment nothinge
But to wrest and wringe,
Only for to bringe
Ther liege lorde and kinge
To be ther vnderlinge:
Alas, who euer sawe
A kinge vnder awe,
Ageynst all Gods lawe,
All righte and consience,
For doinge non offence
To make sutch recompence?
They gave ther lorde a laske,
To purge withall his caske,
And putt hym to no taske,
But as they wold hyme aske:
This was a midday maske,
A kinge so to enforce
With pacyence perforce.
Take hede therfore and watche,
All ye that knowe this tatche,
Ye make not sutch a matche;
Loke forth, beware the katche,
Ye fall not in the snatche
Of that vngratiovs pacthe,
Before the rope hym racthe,
Or Tyburne dothe hym strache.
But who so[594] preache or prate,
I warne youe, rathe and late
To loke vpp and awake,
That ye do never make
Your maister nor your mate
To sytt withowt your gate;
Take hede, for Christes sake,
And knowe your owne estate,
Or ye be tardy take;
Yea, lest it be to late
To trust on hadd I wist,
Imasked in a myst,—
As good to ly bypist;
For these his primates,
Bysshops and prelates,
And popeholy legates,
With ther pild pates,
Dare conquer[595] all estates:
They do but as they will;
For, be it good or ill,
We must be muett still:
Why lay men can not se,
It is the more pite.
Thus endeth the Seconde Parte of this present treatyse called the Image
of Ipocresy.
Of prechers nowe adayes
Be many Fariseyes,
That leue the Lordes layes,
And preche ther owne wayes;
Wherof nowe of late
Hathe risen great debate;
For some champe and chaffe
As hogges do in draffe,
And some cry out apase
As houndes at a chase,
Whiche for lacke of grace
The playne truthe wold defase.
So busely they barke,
An other in the darke,
That is a busarde starke,
And cane not se the marke,
Wondereth at this warke,
And therfore taketh carke
Bycause he is no clarke.
Some be soft and still
As clappes in a mill,
And some cry and yell
As sprites do in hell;
Some be here and ther,
And some I wote not wher;
Some holde vpp, yea and nay,
And some forsake ther lay;
Some be still and stey,
And hope to haue a daye;
Some wote not what to say,
But dout whether they may
Abide or rune away;
Ther wittes be so weake,
They say they dare not speake,
They be afrayd of heate;
Some be sycke and sadd,
For sorrowe almost madd;
I tell youe veryly,
Ther wittes be awry,
They peyne themselves greatly
To haue the trouth go by;
Some on bokes dayly prye,
And yett perceyve not reason whie;
Tho some affirme, some do deny,
With nowe a trouth and then a ly,
To say one thinge openly,
And an other prively;—
Here be but youe and I;
Say to me your mynd playnlye,
Is it not open heresy?
Thus say they secretly,
Whisperinge with sorrowe
That they deny to morowe.
Ther tales be so dobble,
That many be in trobble,
And doubt which way to take,
Themselves sure to make:
A lorde, it makes me shake!
For pyty that I quake.
They be so colde and horse.
That they haue no forse,
So they be prefarred,
Tho all the rest were marred.
Thus the people smatter,
That dayly talke and clatter,
Oure preachers do but flatter,
To make themselves the fatter,
And care not thoughe the matter
Were clerely layde a watter.
Douse men chatt and chide it,
For they may not abid it;
The Thomistes wold hide it,
For _littera occidit_.
Thus these sysmatickes,
And lowsy lunatickes,
With spurres and prickes
Call true men heretickes.
They finger ther fidles,
And cry in quinibles,
Away these bibles,
For they be but ridles!
And give them Robyn Whode,
To red howe he stode
In mery grene wode,[596]
When he gathered good,
Before Noyes ffloodd!
For the Testamentes
To them, they sey, sente is,
To gather vpp ther rentes,
After ther intentes:
Wherby it by them ment is,
That lay men be but lowtes;
They may not knowe the clowtes,
Nor dispute of the doubtes,
That is in Christes lawe;
For why, they never sawe
The bagg nor the bottell
Of oure Arrestotle,
Nor knowe not the toyes
Of Doctore Averroyes;
It is no play for boyes,
Neyther for lay men;
But only for schole men,
For they be witty men,
As wise as any wrenne,
And holy as an henne.
For Doctoure Bullatus,
Though[597] _parum literatus_,
Will brable and prate thus;
Howe Doctoure Pomaunder,
As wise as a gander,
Wotes not wher to wander,
Whether to Meander,
Or vnto Menander;[598]
For of Alexander,
Irrefragable Hales,
He cane tell many tales,
Of many parke pales,
Of butgettes and of males,
Of Candy and of Cales,
And of West Wales.
But Doctoure Dorbellous
Doth openly tell vs
Howe they by and sell vs:
And Doctoure Sym Sotus
Cann goostely grope vs;
For he hathe rad Scotus,
And so the dawe dotus
Of Doctour Subtyles;
Yea, three hundreth myles,
With sutch crafty wyles
He many men begiles,
That never knewe an vnce
At full of Master Dunce.
Then Doctoure Bonbardus
Can skill of Lombardus;
He wonnes at Malepardus,[599]
With Father Festino,
And Doctoure Attamino,
_Dudum de camino_,
With ther _consobrino,_
_Capite equino_
_Et corde asinino;_
_Hi latent in limo_
_Et in profundo fimo,_
_Cubantes in culino_
_Cum Thoma de Aquino,_
_Tractantes in ima_
_De pelle canina_
_Et lana caprina._
Then Doctoure Chekmate
Hath his pardoned pate,
A man yll educate;
His harte is indurate,
His heade eke edentate;
His wittes be obfuscate,
His braynes obumbrate,
Oure questions to debate;
For thoughe cam but late,
His cause is explicate
With termes intricate,
I note wherof conflate;
And therfore must he make
His bull and antedate.
Then Doctour Tom-to-bold
Is neyther whote nor colde,
Till his coles be solde;
His name may not be tolde
For syluer nor for golde;
But he is sutch a scolde,
That no play may hym holde
For anger vnbepyst,
Yf his name were wist;
Ye may judge as ye liste;
He is no Acquiniste,
Nor non Occanist,[600]
But a mockaniste;
This man may not be myste,
He is a suer sophiste,
And an olde papist.
But nowe we haue a knighte[601]
That is a man of mighte,
All armed for to fighte,
To put the trouthe to flighte
By Bowbell pollecy,
With his poetry
And his sophestry;
To mocke and make a ly,
With quod he and quod I;
And his appologye,
Made for the prelacy,
Ther hugy pompe and pride
To coloure and to hide;
He maketh no nobbes,
But with his diologges
To prove oure prelates goddes,
And lay men very lobbes,
Betinge they[m] with bobbes,
And with ther ow[n]e roddes;
Thus he taketh payne
To fable and to fayne,
Ther myscheff to mayntayne,
And to haue them rayne
Over hill and playne,
Yea, over heaven and hell,
And wheras sprites dwell,
In purgatorye holles,
With whote ffier and coles,
To singe for sely soules,
With a supplication,
And a confutation,
Without replication,
Havinge delectation
To make exclamation,
By way of declamation,
In his Debellation,[602]
With a popishe fasshion
To subvert oure nation:
But this daucok doctoure
And purgatory proctoure
Waketh nowe for wages,
And, as a man that rages
Or overcome with ages,[603]
Disputith _per ambages_,
To helpe these parasites
And naughty ipocrites,
With legendes of lyes,
Fayned fantasies,
And very vanyties,
Called veryties,
Vnwritten and vnknowen.
But as they be blowne
From lyer to lyer,
Inventyd by a ffryer
_In magna copia_,
Brought out of Vtopia
Vnto the mayde of Kent,[604]
Nowe from the devill sent,
A virgyne ffayre and gent,
That hath our yees blent:
Alas, we be myswent!
For yf the false intent
Were knowen of this witche,
It passeth dogg and bitche:
I pray God, do so mutche
To fret her on the itche,
And open her in tyme!
For this manly myne
Is a darke devyne,
With his poetry,
And her iugglery,
By conspiracy
To helpe our prelacy,
She by ypocresye,
And he by tyranny,
That causeth cruelly
The simple men to dye
For fayned herisye:
He saythe that this nody
Shall brenne, soule and body,
Or singe his palanody,
With feare till he pant,
To make hym recreante
His sayinges to recante,
So as he shalbe skante
Able for to loke
In writinge or in booke,
That treatithe of the rote
Or of the base and fote
Of ther abhomynation:
He vsethe sutche a fasshion,
To send a man in station
With an evill passion
To his egression,
Before the procession
Slylye for to stalke,
And solempeny to walke,
To here the preacher talke,
Howe he hath made a balke;
And so the innocent,
For feare to be brent,
Must suffer checke and checke,
His faccott on his necke,
Not for his life to quecke,
But stande vpp, like a bosse,
In sighte at Paules crosse,
To the vtter losse
Of his goode name and fame:
Thus with great payne and shame
He kepethe men in bandes,
Confiskinge goods and landes,
And then to hete ther handes
With faccottes and with brandes,
Or make them be abjure:
These thinges be in vre;
Youe leade vs with the lure
Of your persecution
And cruell execution,
That the fyry fume
Oure lyves shall consume
By three, by two, and one;
Men say ye will spare none
Of hye nor lowe degre,
That will be eneme
To your ipocrese,
Or to your god the bele;
For who dare speake so felle
That clerkes should be simple,
Without spott or wrinkell?
Yett nathelesse alwey
I do protest and saye,
And shall do while I may,
I never will deny,
But confesse openly,
That punnysshement should be,
In every degre,
Done with equite;
When any doth offende,
Then oughte youe to attende
To cause hyme to amend,
Awaytinge tyme and place,
As God may give youe grace,
To haue hyme fase to fase,
His fautes to deface,
With hope to reconcyle hyme;
But not for to begile hym,
Or vtterly to revile hyme,
As thoughe ye wold excile hyme;
For then, the trouth to tell
Men thinke ye do not well.
Ye call that poore man wretch,
As thoughe ye hadd no retche,
Or havinge no regarde,
Whiche ende should go forwarde:
Ye be so sterne and harde,
Ye rather drawe backwarde,
Your brother so to blinde,
To grope and sertche his mynde,
As thoughe youe were his frinde,
Some worde to pike and finde,
Wherby ye may hyme blinde;
With your popishe lawe
To kepe vs vnder awe,
By captious storyes
Of interrogatoryes:
Thus do ye full vnkindly,
To feyne yourselves frindley,
And be nothinge but fyndly.
I tell youe, men be lothe
To se youe wode and wrothe,
And then for to be bothe
Th’accuser and the judge:
Then farewell all refuge,
And welcom sanguisuge!
When ye be madd and angry,
And an expresse enemy,
It is ageynst all equitye
Ye shoulde be judge and partye:
Therfore the kinges grace
Your lawes muste deface;
For before his face
Youe should your playntes bringe,
As to your lorde and kinge
And judge in euery thinge,
That, by Godes worde,
Hathe power of the sworde,
As kinge and only lorde,
So scripture doth recorde;
For her within his lande
Should be no counterband,
But holy at his hande
We shoulde all be and stande,
Both clerkes spirituall,
And lay men temporall:
But youe make lawe at will,
The poore to plucke and pill,
And some that do no yll,
Your appetites to ffill,
Ye do distroy and kill.
Lett Godes worde try them,
And then ye shall not frye them;
Yea, lett the worde of God
Be every mannes rode,
And the kinges the lawe
To kepe them under awe,
To fray the rest with terroure,
They may revoke ther erroure:
And thus, I say agayne,
The people wolde be fayne
Ye prelates wolde take payne
To preache the gospell playne;
For otherwise certayne
Your laboure is in vayne;
For all your crueltye,
I knowe that you and we
Shall never well agree:
Ye may in no wise se
Sutch as disposed be
Of ther charitye
To preach the verytye;
Ye stope them with decrees,
And with your veritees,
Unwritten, as ye saye;
Thus ye make them stay:
But God, that all do may,
I do desire and pray,
To open us the day,
Which is the very kaye
Of knowledge of his way,
That ye have stolen awaye!
And then, my lordes, perfay,
For all your popishe play,
Not all your gold so gay,
Nor all your riche araye,
Shall serve youe to delaye
But some shall go astraye,
And lerne to swyme or sinke;
For truly I do thinke,
Ye may well wake or wynke,
For any meat or drinke
Ye geitt, without ye swynke.
But that wold make youe wrothe;
For, I trowe, ye be lothe
To do eyther of both,
That is, yourself to cloth
With laboure and with sweate
And faste till youe eate
But that youe erne and geate;
Like verlettes and pages,
To leve your parsonages,
Your denns and your cages,
And by[605] dayly wages:
God blesse us, and Sainct Blase!
This were a hevy case,
A chaunce of ambesase,
To se youe broughte so base,
To playe without a place:
Now God send better grace!
And loke ye lerne apase
To tripe in trouthes trace,
And seke some better chaunce
Yourselves to avaunce,
With sise synke or synnes;
For he laughe[s] that wynnes,
As ye haue hetherto,
And may hereafter do;
Yf ye the gospell preche,
As Christ hymself did teche,
And in non other wise
But after his devise,
Ye may with good advyse
Kepe your benefise
And all your dignite,
Without malignite,
In Christes name, for me;
I gladely shall agre
It ever may so be.
But this I say and shall,
What happ soeuer fall,
I pray and call
The Kinge celestiall,
Ones to give youe grace
To se his worde haue place;
And then within shorte space
We shall perceyve and se
Howe euery degre
Hath his auctorite
By the lawe of Christ,
The lay man and the prest,
The poore man and the lorde;
For of that monocorde
The scripture doth recorde;
And then with good accorde,
In love and in Concorde
We shall together holde;
Or elles ye may be bolde,
For heate or colde
Say ye what ye will,
Yt were as good be still;
For thoughe ye glose and frase
Till your eyes dase,
Men holde it but a mase
Till Godes worde haue place,
That doth include more grace
Then all erthly men
Could ever knowe or ken.
Thuse endith the thirde parte of this present treatise called the Image
of Ypocresye.
Nowe with sondry sectes
The world sore infectes,
As in Christes dayes
Amonge the Pharisees,
In clothinge and in names;
For some were Rhodyans,
And Samaritans,
Some were Publicanes,
Some were Nazarenes,
Bisshops and Essenes,
Preestes and Pharisees;
And so of Saducees,
Prophetes and preachers,
Doctours and teachers,
Tribunes and tribes,
Lawers and scribes,
Deacons and levytes,
With many ipocrites;
And so be nowe also,
With twenty tymes[606] mo
Then were in Christes dayes
Amonge the Pharisees:
The Pope, whom first they call
Ther lorde and principall,
The patriarke withall;
And then the Cardinall
With tytles all of pride,
As legates of the side,
And some be cutt and shorne
That they be legates borne;
Then archebisshops bold,
And bisshops for the folde,
They metropolitannes,
And these diocysanyes,
That haue ther suffraganyes
To blesse the prophanyes;
Then be ther curtisanes
As ill as Arrianes
Or Domicianes,
Riall residentes,
And prudent presidentes;
So be their sensors,
Doughty dispensors,
Crafty inventors,
And prevy precentors,
With chaplaynes of honour
That kepe the Popes bower;
Then allmoners and deanes,
That geit by ther meanes
The rule of all reames;
Yett be ther subdeanes,
With treasorers of trust,
And chauncelours iniust,
To scoure of scab and rust,
With vicars generalls,
And ther officialles,
Chanons and chaunters,
That be great avaunters;
So be ther subchaunters,
Sextons and archedeakons,
Deakons and subdeakons,
That be ypodeakons,
Parsonnes and vicars,
Surveyors and sikers,
Prevy pursepikers,
Provostes and preachers,
Readers and teachers,
With bachilers and maysters,
Spenders and wasters;
So be ther proctors,
With many dull doctors,
Proude prebendaryes,
Colde commissaries,
Synfull secundaries,
Sturdy stipendaries,
With olde ordinaryes,
And penytencyaryes,
That kepe the sanctuaries;
So be ther notaries,
And prothonotaries,
Lawers and scribes,
With many quibibes,
Redy regesters,
Pardoners and questers,
Maskers and mummers,
Deanes and sumners,
Apparatoryes preste
To ride est and weste;
Then be ther advocates,
And _parum_ litterates,
That eate vpp all estates,
With wyly visitors,
And crafty inquisitors,
Worse then Mamalokes,
That catche vs with ther crokes,
And brenne vs and oure bokes;
Then be ther annivolors,
And smalle benivolers,
With chauntry chapleynes,
Oure Ladyes chamberleynes;
And some be Jesu Christes,
As be oure servinge pristes,
And prestes that haue cure
Which haue ther lyvinge sure,
With clerkes and queresters,
And other smale mynisters,
As reders and singers,
Bedemen and bellringers,
That laboure with ther lippes
Ther pittaunce out of pittes,
With Bennet and Collet,
That bere bagg and wallett;
These wretches be full wely,
They eate and drinke frely,
Withe _salve, stella cœli_,[607]
And ther _de profundis_;
They lye with _immundis_,
And walke with vacabundis,
At good ale and at wynne
As dronke as any swynne;
Then be ther grosse abbottes,
That observe ther sabbottes,
Fayer, ffatt, and ffull,
As gredy as a gull,
And ranke as any bull,
With priors of like place,[608]
Some blacke and some white,
As channons be and monkes,
Great lobyes and lompes,
With Bonhomes and brothers,
Fathers and mothers,
Systers and nonnes,
And littell prety bonnes,
With lictors and lectors,
Mynisters and rectors,
Custos and correctors,
With papall collectors,
And popishe predagoges,[609]
Mockinge mystagoges,
In straunge array and robes,
Within ther sinagoges;
With sectes many mo,
An hundreth in a throo
I thinke to name by roo,
As they come to my mynde,
Whom, thoughe they be vnkind,
The lay mens labor finde;
For some be Benedictes
With many maledictes;
Some be Cluny,
And some be Plumy,
With _Cistercyences_,
_Grandimontences_,
_Camaldulences_,
_Premonstratences_,
_Theutonycences_,
_Clarrivallences_,
And _Easiliences_:
Some be Paulines,
Some be Antonynes,
Some be Bernardines,
Some be Celestines,
Some be Flamynes,
Some be Fuligines,
Some be Columbines,
Some be Gilbertines,
Some be Disciplines,
Some be Clarines,
And many[610] Augustines,
Some Clarissites,
Some be Accolites,
Some be Sklavemytes,
Some be Nycolites,
Some be Heremytes,
Some be Lazarites,
Some be Ninivites,
Some be Johannytes,
Some be Josephites,
Some be Jesuytes,
_Servi_ and Servytes,
And sondry Jacobites;
Then be ther Helenytes,
Hierosolymites,
Magdalynites,
Hieronimytes,
Anacorites,
And Scenobites;
So be ther Sophrans,
Constantinopolitanes,
Holy Hungarians,
Purgatorians,
Chalomerians,
And Ambrosians;
Then be ther Indianes,
And Escocyanes,
Lucifrans,
Chartusyanes,
Collectanes,
Capusianes,
Hispanians,
Honofrianes,
Gregorianes,
Vnprosianes,
Winceslanes,
With Ruffianes,
And with Rhodianes;
Some be Templers,
And Exemplers,
Some be Spitlers,
And some be Vitlers,
Some be Scapelers,
And some Cubiculers,
Some be Tercyaris,
And some be of St. Marys,
Some be Hostiaris,
And of St. Johns frarys,
Some be Stellifers,
And some be Ensefers,
Some Lucifers,
And some be Crucyfers,
Some haue signe of sheres,
And some were shurtes of heres,
Some be of the spone,
And some be crossed to Rome,
Some daunte and daly
In Sophathes valley,
And in the blak alley
Wheras it ever darke is,
And some be of St Markis
Mo then be good clarkes,
Some be Mysiricordes,
Mighty men and lordes,
And some of Godes house
That kepe the poore souse,
_Minimi_ and Mymes,
And other blak devines,
With Virgins and Vestalles,
Monkes and Monyalles,
That be conventualles,
Like frogges and todes;
And some be of the Rhodes,
Swordemen and knightes,
That for the [faith] fightes
With sise, sinke, and quatter.
But nowe never the latter
I intend to clatter
Of a mangye matter,
That smelles of the smatter,
Openly to tell
What they do in hell,
Wheras oure ffryers dwell
Everich in his sell,
The phane and the prophane,
The croked and the lame,
The mad, the wild, and tame,
Every one by name:
The formest of them all
Is ther Generall;
And the next they call
Ther hie Provincyall,
With Cvstos and Wardyn
That lye next the gardeyn;
Then oure father Prior,
With his Subprior
That with the covent comes
To gather vpp the cromes;
Then oure fryer Douche
Goeth by a crouche,
And slouthfull ffryer Slouche
That bereth Judas pouche;
Then ffryer Domynike
And ffryer Demonyke,
Fryer Cordiler
And ffryer Bordiler,
Fryer Jacobine,
Fryer Augustyne,
And ffryer Incubyne
And ffryer Succubine,
Fryer Carmelyte
And ffryer Hermelite,
Fryer Mynorite
And ffryer Ipocrite,
Frier ffranciscane
And ffrier Damiane,
Frier Precher
And ffrier Lecher,
Frier Crusifer
And ffrier Lusifer,
Frier Purcifer
And ffrier _Furcifer_,
Frier Ferdifer
And ffrier _Merdifer_,
Fryer Sacheler
And ffryer Bacheler,
Fryer Cloysterer
And ffrier Floysterer,
Frier _Pallax_
And ffrier _Fallax_,
Frier _Fugax_
And ffrier _Nugax_,
Frier _Rapax_
And ffrier _Capax_,
Frier _Lendax_
And ffrier _Mendax_,
Frier _Vorax_
And ffrier _Nycticorax_,[611]
Fryer _Japax_,
Frier Furderer
And ffrier Murderer,
Frier Tottiface
And ffrier Sottiface,
Frier Pottiface
And frier Pockyface,
Frier Trottapace
And ffrier Topiace,
Frier Futton
And ffrier Glotton,
Frier Galiard
And ffrier Paliard,
Frier Goliard
And ffrier Foliard,
Frier Goddard
And ffrier Foddard,
Frier Ballard
And ffrier Skallard,
Frier Crowsy
And ffrier Lowsy,
Frier Sloboll
And ffrier Bloboll,
Frier Toddypoll
And ffrier Noddypoll,
Frier fflaphole
And ffrier Claphole,
Frier Kispott
And ffrier Pispott,
Frier Chipchop
And ffrier Likpott,
Frier Clatterer
And ffrier fflatterer,
Frier Bib, ffrier Bob,
Frier Lib, ffrier Lob,
Frier Fear, ffrier Fonde,
Frier Beare, ffrier Bonde,
Frier Rooke, ffrier Py,
Frier Flooke, ffrier Flye,
Frier Spitt, ffrier Spy,
Frier Lik, ffrier Ly,
With ffrier We-he
Found by the Trinytye,
And frier Fandigo,
With an hundred mo
Could I name by ro,
Ne were for losse of tyme,
To make to longe a ryme:
_O squalidi laudati,_
_Fœdi[612] effeminati,_
_Falsi falsati,_
_Fuci fucati,_
_Culi cacati,[613]_
_Balbi braccati,_
_Mimi merdati,[614]_
_Larvi larvati,[615]_
_Crassi cathaphi,[616]_
_Calvi cucullati,_
_Curvi curvati,_
_Skurvi knavati,_
_Spurci spoliati,_
_Hirci armati,_
_Vagi devastati,_
_Devii debellati,_
_Surdi sustentati,_
_Squalidi laudati,_
_Tardi terminati,_
_Mali subligati,_
_Inpii conjurati,_
_Profusi profugi,_
_Lapsi lubrici,_
_Et parum pudici!_
Oth ye drane bees,
Ye bloody flesheflees,
Ye spitefull spittle spyes,
And grounde of herisees,
That dayly without sweat
Do but drinke and eate,
And murther meat and meat,
_Ut fures et latrones_!
Ye be _incubiones_,[617]
But no _spadones_,
Ye haue your _culiones_;
Ye be _histriones_,
Beastely _balatrones_,[618]
_Grandes thrasones_,[619]
_Magni nebulones_,
And _cacodæmones_,[620]
That [eat] vs fleshe and bones
With teeth more harde then stones;
Youe make hevy mones,
As it were for the nones,
With great and grevous grones,
By sightes and by sobbes
To blinde vs with bobbes;
Oh ye false faytours,
Youe theves be and tratours,
The devils dayly wayters!
Oh mesell Mendicantes,
And mangy Obseruauntes,
Ye be _vagarantes_!
As persers _penitrantes_,
Of mischef _ministrantes_,[621]
In pillinge _postulantes_,
In preachinge _petulantes_,
Of many _sycophantes_,[622]
That gather, as do antes,
In places wher ye go,
With _in principio_
Runnynge to and ffro,
Ye cause mikle woo
With hie and with loo;
Wher youe do resorte,
Ye fayne and make reporte
Of that youe never harde,
To make foles aferde
With visions and dremes,[623]
Howe they do in hevens,
And in other remes
Beyonde the great stremes
Of Tyger and of Gange,
Where tame devils range,
And in the black grange,
Thre myle out of hell,
Where sely sowles dwell,
In paynes wher they lye,
Howe they lament and cry
Vnto youe, holy lyars,
And false fflatteringe ffriers,
For _Dirige_ and masses;
Wherwith, like very asses,
We maynteyn youe and your lasses;
But in especiall
Ye say, the sowles call
For the great trentall;
For some sely sowles
So depe ly in holes
Of ffier and brennyng coles,
That top and tayle is hid;
For whom to pray and bid
Thens to haue them rid,
Ye thinke it but a foly;
Althoughe the masse be holy,
The fendes be wyly;
Till masse of _scala cœli_,[624]
At Bathe or at Ely,
Be by a ffrier saide
That is a virgine mayde,
These sowles may not away,
As all yow ffriers say;
So trowe I without doubte
These sowles shall never out;
For it is _rara avis_,
Ye be so many knaves;
I swere by crosses ten,
That fewe be honest men;
So many of youe be
Full of skurrilite,
That throughly to be sought
The multitude is noughte:
Ye be nothinge denty;
Ye come among vs plenty
By coples in a peire,
As sprites in the heire,
Or dogges in the ffayre;
Where yow do repayre,
Ye ever ride and rune,
As swifte as any gune,
With nowe to go and come,
As motes in the sonne,
To shrive my lady nonne,
With humlery hum,
_Dominus vobiscum_!
God knoweth all and some,
What is and hath bene done,
Syns the world begone,
Of russett, gray, and white,
That sett ther hole delighte
In lust and lechery,
In thefte and trecherey,
In lowsy lewdenes,
In synne and shrodenes,
In crokednes acurst,
Of all people the worste,
Marmosettes and apes,
That with your pild pates
Mock vs with your iapes:
Ye holy caterpillers,
Ye helpe your wellwillers
With prayers and psalmes,
To devoure the almes
That Christians should give
To meynteyne and releve
The people poore and nedy;
But youe be gredy,
And so great a number,
That, like the ffier of thunder,
The worlde ye incomber:
But hereof do I wonder,
Howe ye preache in prose,
And shape therto a glose,
Like a shipmans hose,
To fayne yourse[l]ves ded,
Whiche nathelesse be fed,
And dayly eate oure bred,
That ye amonge vs beg,
And gett it spite of oure hede:
It wonder is to me,
Howe ye maye fathers be
Your sede to multiply,
But yf yow be _incubi_,[625]
That gender gobolynes:
Be we not bobolynes,
Sutch lesinges to beleve,
Whiche ye amonge vs dry[ve]?
Because ye do vs shrive,
Ye[626] say we must youe call
Fathers seraphicall
And angelicall,
That be fantasticall,
Brute and bestiall,
Yea, diabolicall,
The babes of Beliall,
The sacrifise of Ball,
The dregges of all durte,
Fast bounde and girte
Vnder the devils skyrte;
For _pater_ Priapus,
And _frater Polpatus_,
With _doctor Dulpatus_,
_Suffultus fullatus_,[627]
_Pappus paralyticus_,[628]
And _pastor improvidus_,
Be false and frivolus,
Proude and pestiferous,
Pold and pediculous,
Ranke and ridiculous,
Madd and meticulous,
Ever invidious,
Never religious,
In preachinge prestigious,
In walkinge prodigious,
In talkinge sedicious,
In doctrine parnicious,
Haute and ambicious,
Fonde and supersticious,
In lodginge prostibulus,
In beddinge promiscuous,
In councells myschevous,
In musters monstrous,
In skulkinge insidicious,
Vnchast and lecherous,
In excesse outragious,
As sicknesse contagious,[629]
The wurst kind of edders,
And stronge sturdy beggers:
Wher one stande and teaches,
An other prate and preches,
Like holy horseleches:
So this rusty rable
At bourd and at table
Shall fayne and fable,
With bible and with bable,
To make all thinge stable,
By lowringe and by lokinge,
By powrynge and by potinge,
By standinge and by stopinge,
By handinge and by ffotinge,
By corsy and by crokinge,
With their owne pelf promotinge,
With ther eyes alweyes totinge
Wher they may haue shotinge
Ther and here ageyne:
Thus the people seyne,[630]
With wordes true and playne,
Howe they jest and ioll
With ther nody poll,
With rownynge and rollinge,
With bowsinge and bollinge,
With lillinge and lollinge,
With knyllinge and knollinge,
With tillinge and tollinge,
With shavinge and pollinge,
With snyppinge and snatchinge,
With itchinge and cratchinge,
With kepinge and katchinge,
With wepinge and watchinge,
With takinge and catchinge,
With peltinge and patchinge,
With findinge and fatchinge,
With scriblinge and scratchinge,
With ynkinge and blatchinge;
That no man can matche them,
Till the devill fatche them,
And so to go together
Vnto their denne for ever,
Wher hens as they never
Hereafter shall dissever,
But dy eternally,
That lyve so carnally;
For that wilbe ther ende,
But yf God them sende
His grace here to amend:
And thus I make an ende.
Thus endeth the ffourthe and laste parte of this treatise called the
Image of Ypocresy.
_The grudge of ypocrites conceyved ageynst the auctor of this treatise._
These be as knappishe knackes
As ever man made,
For javells and for iackes,
A jymiam for a iade.
Well were we, yf we wist
What a wight he were
That starred vpp this myst,
To do vs all this dere:
Oh, yf we could attayne hym,
He mighte be fast and sure
We should not spare to payne hym,
While we mighte indure!
_The awnswer of the auctor._
_Ego sum qui sum_,
My name may not be told;
But where ye go or come,
Ye may not be to bold:
For I am, is, and was,
And ever truste to be,
Neyther more nor las
Then asketh charite.
This longe tale to tell
Hathe made me almost horse:
I trowe and knowe right well
That God is full of force,
And able make the dome
And defe men heare and speake,
And stronge men overcome
By feble men and weke:
So thus I say my name is;
Ye geit no more of me,
Because I wilbe blameles,
And live in charite.
Thuse endith this boke called the Image of Ypocresye.
[468] _The Image of Ipocrysy_] Is now printed from _MS. Lansdown_ 794.
The original has very considerable alterations and additions by a
different hand: the first page is here and there illegible, partly from
the paleness of the ink, and partly from the notes which Peter Le Neve
(the possessor of the MS. in 1724) has unmercifully scribbled over it. I
give the title here as it stands at the end of the First Part.
Hearne and others have attributed this remarkable production to Skelton.
The poem, however, contains decisive evidence that he was not its author:
to say nothing of other passages,—the mention of certain writings of Sir
Thomas More and of “the mayde of Kent” (Elizabeth Barton), which occurs
in the Third Part, would alone be sufficient to prove that it was the
composition of some writer posterior to his time.
[469] _Vp to the clowdy skye_] Originally “_Vp_ into _the skye_.”
[470] _Our parsons and curates_] This line (now pasted over in the MS.)
has been obtained from a transcript of the poem made by Thomas Martin of
Palgrave.
[471] _Glottons_] Originally “Prelates.”
[472] _And_] Substituted for “To,” when the preceding line was added.
[473] _him_] Originally “vs.”
[474] _Take_] Originally “haue.”
[475] _Dothe_] Originally “Or.”
[476] _Doo_] Originally “That.”
[477] _seem_] Is the substitution of a somewhat later hand, the original
word being faded: qy. “self?”
[478] _runne in att the rove_] Originally “runnynge _at the_ masse.”
[479] _prove_] Originally “presse.”
[480] _Wher they may be sure_] Followed by a deleted line, now partly
illegible,—
“ ... wayte to haue wynnynge.”
[481] _To fyshe for any gayne_] Followed by a deleted line which seems to
have been,—
“With shotinge or with singinge.”
[482] _Shall pryck, &c._] The position of this line, and of the next but
one, was originally different.
[483] _Chafyng_] Which seems to be the reading intended, was originally
preceded by “Wyll.”
[484] _And then_] Originally “At lenghe.”
[485] _Thoughe_] MS. “Throughe”
[486] _Which_] Qy. “With?”
[487] _bowes_] Qy. “vowes?”
[488] _of ther_] Qy. “other?”
[489] _backe_] Something wanting here.
[490] _No man wyll they spare_] Originally,—
“They passe not of a sparre.”
[491] _Your_] Originally “For.”
[492] _In_] Originally “And.”
[493] _Youre_] Originally “And.”
[494] _Wher God his gyfte or grace_] Originally,
“_Wher god_ of _his grace_.”
[495] _And all his kingdom, whan_] Originally,
“At the good tyme _whan_.”
[496] _Ye_] Originally “That.”
[497] _Lordely, &c._] On the outer margin of the MS., opposite this
verse, are the following lines, partly cut off by the binder;
“Thes be the knavysh
knackes that ever w ...
o ...
ffor Javelles and for J[ackes].”
[498] _And worldly welth to haue_] Originally “_And_ possession _to
haue_.”
[499] _chippe_] Qy. “clippe?”
[500] _When masse and all is done_] Followed by a deleted line;
“The paynes to release.”
[501] _as_] Originally “that.”
[502] _All_] Originally “_All_ ys.”
[503] _For lust fyndes no lett_] Occupies the place of the following
three deleted lines;
“be she ffayre or fowle
for vnderneth an amys
alyke ther hart is.”
[504] _or_] MS. “as.”
[505] _Or owgly_] Over this is the deleted word “blobcheked.”
[506] _pretens_] Originally “the bande.”
[507] _not I_] Originally “for why.”
[508] _Lest here you_] Originally “_Here lest youe_.”
[509] _with vs_] Originally “your.”
[510] _treuth_] Originally “the _treuth_.”
[511] _That all the falt doth lye_] Originally “But _all the falt_ do
_lye_.”
[512] _oure_] Qy. “youre?” but compare 6th line of next column. In
the following line, “_sanguinolently_” should perhaps be printed as
Latin,—“_sanguinolenti_.”
[513] _cokold foles_] Originally “loutes and knaves.”
[514] _We wer an oxes fether_] Originally “And in oure hoode a _fether_.”
[515] _Oure hedes for to gnob_] Followed by two deleted lines;
“And make vs soch a lob
To vse one lyke a lob.”
[516] _For your_] Originally “With.”
[517] _Through_] Originally “With.”
[518]
_And small, &c._
...
_To make soch recompens_
This passage is substituted for two deleted lines;
“To your possessyon
Without discretion.”
[519]
_By gyvyng, &c._
...
_Of harty penytens_
This passage is substituted for three deleted lines;
“S ... fonde affection
To oure correccion
Without protection.”
[520] _yowe_] Originally “them.”
[521] _that_] Originally “an.”
[522] _be_] Originally “to _be_.”
[523] _For you on_] Originally “_For on_.”
[524] _Can suffre or abyde_] Originally “Ye _cane_ here _abide_.”
[525] _vehement_] Originally “diligent.”
[526] _So_] Originally “That.”
[527] _We_] Originally “And.”
[528] _And be thus_] Originally “That we _be_.”
[529] _We know not_] Originally “_Not_ knowing.”—After this line is one
cut off by the binder.
[530] _That when he eat_] Originally “_When he_ shall _eat_.”
[531] _Slepe, awake_] Originally “_Slepe_ or wake.”
[532] _Doth styll_] Originally “He must.”
[533] _Kepe_] Before this word stood originally “And,” afterwards altered
to “To,” which is also deleted.
[534] _Be made vnto his heste_] Originally,
“_Be made_ to _his heste_;”
for which, was first substituted,
“_Made be_ to _his hest_.”
[535] _To governe_] Originally “Wisely _to_.”
[536] _evyll_] Originally “ill.”
[537] _Lyke Lucyfer, the devyll_] Originally,
“In Judgement of _the devill_.”
[538] _And so_] Originally “For.”
[539] _That thei fall not vnware_] Originally,
“Or elles may _vnware_.”
[540] _Into_] Originally “Fall in.”
[541]
_All maner_, &c.
...
To _gather and to kepe_
These three lines substituted for two deleted lines;
“_To gather and to kepe_
Treasure in _a hepe_.”
[542] _sylver_] Originally “mony.”
[543] _The craft, &c._] Originally,
“Yf all _the chraft_ were _tolde_.”
[544] _Antychryst_] Originally “the courte.”
[545] _For thens, &c._] Originally,
“_For_ ther _sourdes the springe_.”
[546] _geate_] Followed by a deleted line;
“Be it by colde or heate.”
[547] _Which at his_] Originally “That _his_.”
[548] _May ech man, &c._] Originally,
“_May_ bothe _saue_ and _spill_.”
[549] _As he lyste_] Originally “At will to.”
[550] _And at his, &c._] Originally,
“_And_ wyll it clere _enhibyte_.”
[551] _wyse_] Originally “true.”
[552] _shall_] Originally “must.”
[553] _above or hell_] Originally “_or_ in _hell_.”
[554] _Then_] Originally “But.”
[555] _Thou gettest true remyssion_] Originally,
“To haue _remission_.”
[556] _That never, &c._] Originally “_That_ haue _hadd_ no _regarde_.”
[557] _palia ... Bacchanalia_] It would seem from the context that the
right reading is “Palilia.” The MS. has “Bacchanallia.”
[558] _after_] Originally “_after_warde.”
[559] _Colde_] Originally “Olde.”
[560] _Sustentations_] MS. “Sustentions,” and originally “Substentions.”
[561] _Excusations_] Substituted for a word now illegible.
[562] _his_] Originally “oure.”
[563] _pylde_] Originally “_pylde_ and.”
[564] _a_] Originally “the.”
[565] _yf_] Originally “leste.”
[566] _curse_] Originally “course.”
[567] _inamœna_] MS. “_In amena_” the latter word being substituted for
one now illegible.
[568] _no_] Originally “out.”
[569]_Iscarioth_] Originally “Scarioth.”
[570] _galefull_] Originally “gale.”
[571] _bogorian_] Originally “bogorane.”
[572] _A privye_] Originally “And _a_.”
[573] _That_] Originally “And.”
[574] _As hogges, &c._] Originally,
“_As_ any pigge _in stye_.”
[575] _With confytes, &c._] Originally,
“_And_ portingale _fartes_.”
[576] _They robbe, &c._] Originally “Wher _they_ take _pillage_.”
[577] _them_] Originally “that.”
[578] _Of_] Originally “By.”
[579] _aspyre_] Followed by a deleted line (inserted above with a slight
variation);
“Thyr hartes ar so on fyer.”
[580] _Performe_] Originally “We do,” the preceding line being an
addition.
[581] _Hys_] Originally “Ther.”
[582] _That dare ons be_] Originally “No man _dare be_,” the preceding
line being an addition.
[583] _Nor_] Originally “For.”
[584] _soch men_] Originally “them.” This line is followed by three
deleted lines (inserted above,—the first two slightly altered);
“Mony meat or golde
But be they shorne or polde
Ther lyves not suche a scolde.”
[585] _For_] Originally “And.”
[586] _And in, &c._] Originally,
“_In_ all the all _the world wide_
_Vse such pompe_,” &c.
[587] _Of no, &c._] Originally “_Of no prince nor_ of _duke_.”
[588] _wonder_] Originally “wonderfull.”
[589] _agast_] Followed by a deleted line;
“But fede whilst they do brast.”
[590] _vpp stoores_] Originally “_vpp_ ther _stoores_.”
[591] _hym_] Originally “them.”
[592] _or advayle_] Originally “_or_ for avayle.”
[593] _And_] Originally “Their.”
[594] _But who so_] Originally “_But who_ euer.”
[595] _conquer_] Originally “subdue.”
[596] _grene wode_] Is obviously the right reading. MS. has merely
“grenes.”
[597] _Though, &c._] This line is added by a comparatively modern hand.
[598] _Menander_] See note, p, 130.
[599] _Malepardus_] The abode of Reynard according to the famous
old romance: “reynart had many a dwellyng place, but the castel of
_maleperduys_ was the beste and the fastest burgh that he had, ther laye
he inne whan he had nede and was in ony drede or fere.” Sig. a 8. ed.
1481.
[600] _Occanist_] So written, it would seem, for the rhyme; properly
“Occamist.”
[601] _a knighte_] i. e. Sir Thomas More.
[602] _his Debellation_] i. e. Sir Thomas More’s _Debellacyon of Salem
vnd Byzance_.
[603] _ages_] i. e. age is.
[604] _the mayde of Kent_] i. e. Elizabeth Barton.
[605] _by_] i. e. buy,—acquire, earn.
[606] _tymes_] MS. “tynes.”
[607] _cœli_] MS. “cely.”
[608] _place_] Should perhaps be “plite”—or there may be some omission in
the MS. after this line.
[609] _predagoges_] Qy. “pædagoges?”
[610] _And many_] Originally “Some be.”
[611] _Nycticorax_] MS. “Necticorax.”
[612] _Fœdi_] MS. “Fedi.”
[613] _cacati_] MS. “caccati.”
[614] _merdati_] MS. “mardati.”
[615] _Larvi larvati_] MS. “Lerui leruati.” The line ought properly to be
“Larvæ larvatæ.”
[616] _cathaphi_] Qy. “cataphagi” (voraces)?
[617] _incubiones_] Properly “incubones.”
[618] _balatrones_] MS. “ballatrones.”
[619] _thrasones_] MS. “thrassones.”
[620] _cacodæmones_] MS. “cacademones.”
[621]
_penitrantes_ ] }
_ministrantes_] }
MS. “pennytrantes” and “mynistrantes.”
[622] Of many _sycophantes_] Perhaps “many” should be “mony.” MS.
“sicophantes:” the proper form is “sycophantæ.”
[623] _dremes_] I suspect the author wrote “_sweuens_,” and that
“_dremes_,” a gloss on the word, crept by mistake into the text.
[624] _cœli_] MS. “cely.”
[625] _incubi_] MS. “incuby.”
[626] _Ye_] MS. “We.”
[627] _fullatus_] Qy. “fulcratus?”
[628] _paralyticus_] MS. “paraliticus.”
[629] _contagious_] MS. “contragious.”
[630] _seyne_] Originally “sey.”
CORRIGENDA AND ADDENDA.
VOL. I.
DYUERS BALETTYS, &c.
Page 22. v. 13.
“He trusted her payment, and lost all hys pray.”
Dele the foot-note “Qy. pay?”—_pray_ (as I have mentioned in note, vol.
ii. 98) being doubtless the right reading.
—— v. 15.
“The ryuers rowth, the waters wan;
She sparyd not to wete her fete.”
The proper punctuation seems to be,
“The ryuers rowth, the waters wan,
She sparyd not, to wete her fete.”
THE BOWGE OF COURTE.
Page 38. v. 215. In some copies the semicolon at the end of the line has
dropt out—
“To you oonly, me thynke, I durste shryue me;”
Page 44. v. 368.
“What reuell route! quod he, and gan to rayle.”
Point,
“What, reuell route! quod he,” &c.
Here (as in the line cited from the _Digby Mysteries_, Notes, vol. ii.
116) “route” is of course a verb—What, let revel roar! I might have added
to the note on this passage, that the compound substantive _revel-rout_
is used by Rowe;
“for this his minion,
The _revel-rout_ is done.”
_Jane Shore_, act i. sc. 1.
PHYLLYP SPAROWE.
Page 58. v. 245.
“_Ma gni fi cat._”
In some copies the line stands erroneously,
“_Mag gni_ fi cat.”
ELYNOUR RUMMYNG.
Page 101. v. 185.
“God gyue it yll preuynge,
Clenly as yuell cheuynge!”
_Dele_ the comma after “preuynge.” _Clenly_, i. e. Wholly.
POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.
Page 119. v. 40.
“Wranglynge, waywyrde, wytles, _wraw_, and nothyng meke.”
_wraw_, i. e. peevish, angry: see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s _Cant.
Tales_.
Page 120. v. 3. For “_shryke_” read “skrybe.”
AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES.
Page 133. v. 2.
“In Romaine letters I neuer founde lack:”
Put a semicolon at the end of this line.
THE MANER OF THE WORLD NOW A DAYES.
Page 148.
This piece (see Notes, vol. ii. 199) ought, I believe, to have been
inserted among the _Poems attributed to Skelton_,—not among his undoubted
productions.
TETRASTICHON VERITATIS.
Page 181.
The indentation of the second and fourth lines has been retained by
mistake from the old ed.
AGAINST THE SCOTTES.
Page 185. v. 103.
“Your lege ye layd and your aly
Your frantick fable,” &c.
Put a comma after “aly.”
ELEGIA IN COMITISSAM DE DERBY.
Page 196. The last line in this page,
“_Quo regnas rutilans rex sine fine manens_,”
as it is a pentameter, ought to have been indented.
MAGNYFYCENCE.
Page 234. v. 281.
“_Magn._ Largesse is laudable, so it in measure be.”
The rhyme seems to require,
“_Magn._ Largesse is laudable, so it be in measure.”
Page 243. v. 540.
“_Cr. Con._ By God, had not I it conuayed,
Yet Fansy had ben _dysceyued_.”
Qy. “dyscryued?” In v. 2398 of this drama, Skelton appears to employ
“dyscryue” in the (unusual) sense of—discover, search, try; and in the
present passage a word equivalent to _discovered_ seems necessary.
Page 247. v. 681.
“_Fan._ Ye, my Fansy was out of owle flyght”
would perhaps stand more properly,
“_Fan._ Ye, my fansy,” &c.
Page 249. v. 746.
“I muster, I medle amonge these grete estates,
I sowe sedycyous sedes of dyscorde and debates”
ought probably to be pointed thus,
“I muster, I medle; amonge these grete estates
I sowe sedycyous sedes of dyscorde and debates.”
Page 258. v. 1033.
“That I wote not where I may rest.
Fyrst to tell you what were best,
Frantyke Fansy seruyce I hyght;”
Perhaps there should be a comma after “rest” and a full-point after
“best.” In the last line, for “Fansy seruyce” read “Fansy-seruyce.”
Page 261. v. 1128.
“For Goddes cope thou wyll spende.”
Point,
“For, Goddes cope, thou wyll spende.”
Page 272. v. 1442.
“_Magn._ What can ye agree thus and appose?”
Point,
“_Magn._ What, can ye agree thus and appose?”
—— v. 1444.
“_Lyb._ Ye, of Jacke a thrommys bybyll can ye make a glose?”
is not a question: put a full-point at the end of the line.
Page 272. v. 1446.
“What sholde a man do with you, loke you vnder kay.”
Point,
“What sholde a man do with you? loke you vnder kay?”
Page 293. v. 2090.
“ye mary.”
Put a comma between these words.
Page 295. v. 2166.
“And some fall prechynge at the Toure Hyll.”
Qy.
“And some fall _to_ prechynge,” &c.?
compare the preceding line.
COLYN CLOUTE.
Page 328. v. 460.
“Iche wot what _eche_ other thynk.”
The reading of Kele’s ed. “yehe” ought not to have been rejected, as the
earlier part of the line seems to mean—Each knows (not, I know), &c.
Page 332. v. 562.
“And qualyfyed qualytes”
ought perhaps to be followed by a semicolon: but the passage is very
obscure.
Page 358. v. 1208.
“As noble _Ezechyas_.”
Read “Isaias” (MS. has “Isay,” _vide_ foot-note). See Notes, vol. ii. 298.
GARLANDE OF LAURELL.
Page 381. v. 477.
“Thus passid we forth walkynge vnto the pretory”—
insert a comma after “forth” and at the end of the line.
Page 384. v. 581.
“And _seryously_ she shewyd me ther denominacyons.”
_seryously_, i. e. seriatim. So in a letter from Tuke to Wolsey; “Thus
preceding to the letters, to shewe Your Grace summarily, for rehersing
every thing _seriously_ I shal over long moleste Your Grace,” &c. _State
Papers_ (1830), i. 299.
Page 393. v. 790.
“To weue in the stoule sume were full preste,
With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest;
The frame was browght forth with his weuyng pin,” &c.
Perhaps the right punctuation may be,
“To weue in the stoule sume were full preste;
With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest,
The frame was browght forth with his weuyng pin,” &c.
Page 417. v. 1418.
“With, Wofully arayd, and shamefully betrayd;
Of his makyng deuoute medytacyons.”
Two pieces seem to be mentioned here; and therefore the passage ought to
stand,
“With, Wofully arayd, and Shamefully betrayd,
Of his makyng deuoute medytacyons.”
The sacred poem _Wofully arayd_ occurs in vol. i. 141.
VOL. II.
SPEKE, PARROT.
Page 22. v. 441.
“Sette asyde all _sophysms_,” &c.
I ought to have altered the reading of the MS. “sophyns” to “sophyms”
(not to “sophysms”): see “sophime” (i. e. sophism) in Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._
to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_.
WHY COME YE NAT TO COURTE?
Page 36. v. 290.
“Into a mouse hole they wolde
Rynne away and crepe,
Lyke a mayny of shepe;
Dare nat loke out at dur,” &c.
The proper punctuation is,
“Into a mouse hole they wolde
Rynne away and crepe;
Lyke a mayny of shepe,
Dare nat loke out at dur,” &c.
NOTES.
Page 110.—“Page 40. v. 252. _Heue and how rombelow_]” I might have added,
that “_heaue and hoe Rumbelo_” occurs in a nonsensical song (No. 31) in
Ravenscroft’s _Pammelia_, 1609.
Page 124.—“Page 54. v. 118. _For to kepe his cut, &c._]” So in the
_Coventry Mysteries_, the Pharisee says to the woman taken in adultery;
“We xal the teche with carys colde
A lytyl bettyr _to kepe thi kutte_.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp. D_ viii. fol. 123.
Page 132.—“Page 66. v. 485. _at a brayde_]” This expression is used here
in connexion with singing: and in one of the _Christmas Carols_ printed
for the Percy Society, p. 51, we find,
“Wherefor syng we alle _atte a brayde_, nowell.”
Page 147.—“Page 84. v. 1078. _Enhached_] i. e. Inlaid,” &c. I ought to
have observed that, though in the preceding line Skelton calls this
beauty-spot a “sker” (scar), he means the wart already mentioned;
“Her beautye to augment,
Dame Nature hath her lent
A _warte_ vpon her cheke,
Who so lyst to seke
In her vysage a _skar_,” &c.
v. 1041.
and see too v. 1064.
Page 148.—“Page 86. v. 1151.
_She is playnly expresse_
_Egeria, the goddesse,_
_And lyke to her image,_
_Emportured with corage,_
_A louers pilgrimage_]
I must leave the reader to form his own idea of the meaning of the last
two lines,” &c. The following lines of Lydgate may be cited as somewhat
resembling the present passage;
“To hym appered a monstruous _ymage_
Parted on twayne of colour and _corage_,” &c.
_Fall of Prynces_, B. vi. leaf cxxxiiii. ed. Wayland.
Page 157. last line but one. “The gist or point of this satire had a
noble origin, or there must be an extraordinary coincidence of thought
in the _Beoni_, or Topers, a ludicrous effusion of the great Lorenzo
de Medici, when a young man.” Dallaway was led to this remark by the
following passage in Spence’s _Anecdotes_, &c.; “Skelton’s poems are
all low and bad: there’s nothing in them that’s worth reading.—P. [Mr.
Cleland, who was by, added, that the Tunning of Ellinor Rummin, in that
author’s works, was taken from a poem of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s].” p. 173.
ed. 18-20.—_I Beoni_, observes Mr. D’Israeli (referring to Roscoe’s _Life
of Lorenzo de’ Medici_, i. 290), “was printed by the Giunti in 1568, and
therefore this burlesque piece could never have been known to Skelton.”
_Amen. of Lit._ ii. 79.
Page 166.—“Page 102. v. 229.... _fonny_ is, I suppose, foolishly
amorous,” &c. I ought to have said “_fonny_, i. e. to _fon_, to be
foolishly amorous,” &c.
Page 172. line 3. for “v. 490,” read “v. 400.”
Page 176.—“Page 113. v. 560. _mote I hoppy_] i. e. may I have good hap.”
Rather, I believe—may I hop. “_Hoppy_, to hop or caper. Exm.” Grose’s
_Prov. Gloss._ ed. 1839.
Page 184.—“Page 121. v. 46. _dud frese_] i. e. coarse frieze.” But in
_Prompt. Parv._ we find “_Dudde clothe_. Amphibolus. Burrus.” ed. 1499.
Page 188.—“Page 125. v. 178. _Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd.”_ Add to
note on this line,—Dekker, describing “The Blacke Arte” (or “Picking of
Lockes”), tells us that “The gaines gotten is _Pelfry_.” _The Belman of
London_, &c. sig. F 4. ed. 1608.
Page 190. “—— _goliardum_].” “Goliardeis, _one who gains his living by
following rich men’s tables, and telling tales and making sport for the
guests_. See on this word the Introduction to the Poems of Walter Mapes.”
Wright’s Gloss, to _Piers Ploughman_.
Page 195.—“Page 133. v. 3. _In your crosse rowe nor Christ crosse you
spede_]” Add to note on this line that—in _The Boke of Curtasye_ we find;
“Yff that thou be a ȝong enfaunt,
And thenke tho scoles for to haunt,
This lessoun schulle thy maister the merke,
_Cros Crist the spede_ in alle thi werke.”
_The sec. Boke_, p. 7. (printed for the Percy Society.)
Page 206.—“Page 157. v. 73 ... So Fansy, in our author’s _Magnyfycence_,
exclaims to his _hawk_,” &c. But, though Fansy calls his bird a _hawk_,
it appears to have been an _owl_.
Page 207.—“Page 157. v. 78 ... Juliana _Barnes_.” Read “Juliana Berners.”
Page 244.—“Page 246. v. 658. _a pystell of a postyke_]” Cotgrave has
“_Postiquer_. To play the vagrant Impostor,” &c.: “_Postiqueries_.
Cousening sleights,” &c.: “_Postiqueur._ A wandering impostor,” &c.
Page 271.—“Page 297. v. 2211. _rede_] i. e. advice.” Read “i. e. advise.”
—— “Page 298. v. 2233. _rode_] i. e. road, cross.” Read “i. e. rood,
cross.”
Page 284.—“Page 326, v. 397 ... Cole’s _Dict._” Read “Coles’s _Dict._”
Page 311.—“Page 380. v. 474. _The carpettis within and tappettis of
pall_].” I may just notice that in an unpublished book of Kings Payments,
in the Chapter-House, we find, under the first year of Henry 8;
“Item to Corneles Vanderstrete opon his waraunt for }
xv _Tappettes made for Wyndowes_ at the towre } ix s.”
Page 328.—“Page 410. v. 1219 ... but, though Skelton was in all
probability an author as early as 1583,” &c. Read “1483.”
Page 345.—“Page 14. v. 280.” Latter part of the note—“if ‘33ᵒ’ and ‘34’”
&c. I ought to have mentioned that at the end of _Why come ye nat to
Courte_ (vol. ii. 67) we find (what is equally puzzling) “xxxiiii.”
INDEX TO THE NOTES.
[The figures indicate the pages of the Second Volume only, all the Notes
being contained in that Volume.]
a, 245.
abbay, make a graunge of an, 285.
a tyd, 194.
abandune, 260.
abasshe, 106.
Abdalonimus, 362.
abiections, 294.
abolete, 366.
abused, 205.
abylyment, 275, 302.
_Abyron_, 227.
Acherontes, 123.
acomberyd, 271.
accompte, 275.
Acon, 366.
acquyte, 265 (see _aquyte_).
adnychell, 228.
adres, 218;
adresse, 276.
aduysed, 248 (see _auyse_).
aduysement, 275.
adyment, 307.
affyaunce, 276.
affyaunsynge, 312.
aforce, 105;
aforse, 276.
after none, 240.
again, 90 (see _agayn_, _gayne_, and _geyne_).
_Agarenæ, gentis_, 199.
agaspe, 260.
agayn, 226;
agayne, 112, 119, &c.;
agayng, 278;
ageyne, 303, 304 (see _again_, _gayne_, and _geyne_).
agerdows, 329.
agryse, 118.
Akers, Saynt Thomas of, 298.
alamyre, 279.
Albany, John Duke of, 359.
——, his invasion of the borders in 1523, 375.
——, said to have aimed at the destruction of James V., 377.
——, his passionate temper, 378.
_Albertus de modo significandi_, 343.
Albons, Saint, abbacy of, held by Wolsey _in commendam_, 371.
Albumazer, 133, 333, 361.
alcumyn, 369.
alderbest, 374.
ale, newe, in cornes, 171, 247.
ale pole, 175, 314.
ale stake, 282.
Alerycus, 260.
Alexander, kyng, 143.
Alexander de Villa Dei, 343.
algife, 92.
all and some, 109.
all hallow, 168.
all one, 271.
alle sellers, 203.
allectuary, 100 (see _lectuary_).
allygate, 297.
almesse, 258.
almon for parrot, 339.
alowde, 244;
alowed, 144, 195.
alumbek sodyldym syllorym ben, 93.
amense, 236.
_amicare_, 295.
ammas, 383 (see _amysse_).
amonge, 344.
amrell, 377, 379.
Amund, Quater Fylz, 138.
amysse, 134 (see _ammas_).
animosite, 382.
anker, 283.
Anteocus, 143.
antetyme, 241.
apayd, 367;
apayed, 113, 196, 275.
apayere, 178 (see _appare_).
apostata, 212;
apostataas, 284.
apostrofacion, 205.
appall, 352.
appare, 280;
appayre, 343 (see _apayere_).
appose, apposed, 282.
apposelle, 304.
aquyte, 194, 325 (see _acquyte_).
ar, 181.
arace, clothes of, 311 (see _Arras_).
araid, 197 (see _raist_).
aray, 164.
Arcet, 136.
arecte, 237;
arrect, 302;
arectyng, 300;
arrectinge, 310;
arrectyng, 320;
arrectyd, 100 (and see _erectyd_).
Arethusa, 145.
Argyua, 320.
Armony, 126.
armony, 218, 235, 306.
Arras, 294;
Arres, clothe of, 192 (see _arace_).
Arturis Creacyoun, Prince, 327.
Arturs rounde table, &c., 137.
—— auncyent actys, 182.
Aryna, 321.
Arystobell, 210.
as who sayth, 86.
ascry, 152, 377;
ascrye, 283 (see _askry_ and _escrye_).
Ashrige, 334.
askry, 145, 191 (see _ascry_ and _escrye_).
askrye, 368.
Asmodeus, 355.
asprely, 229.
aspy, 316;
aspyed, 333;
aspyid, 314.
assawte, 113.
assay, 171;
assaye, 112;
asayde, 136, 318.
assayes, at all, 242, 274.
assoyle, 291.
Assuerus, 143.
assurded, 307.
astate, 90, 302, 311, 313, &c. (see _estate_).
astrologys, 286.
astronomy, 133.
at nale, 117.
atame, 195;
attamed, 232.
athrust, 167.
auale, 147.
auaunce, 106, 108, 235, 240, &c.;
auaunced, 310;
auaunsid, 192;
auaunsyd, 276;
auaunsynge, 320.
auauns, 381.
auayle, 97;
avayles, 204.
avent, 104.
auenture, 113.
auenture, 118.
auncetry, 191.
auncyente, 143.
Aungell, Castell, 331.
Aungey, 254.
auowe, 109, 110, 116, &c.;
for God auowe, 265.
aureat, 91, 145.
_aurum musicum_, 326.
Austen fryers, 297.
auter, 205.
Auycen, 332.
auyse, 109.
auyse, 106;
auysed, 247;
auysid, 309;
auysynge, 105 (see _aduysed_).
away the mare, 162, 258.
awne, 176, 181, 183.
awtentyke, 288.
axes, 307;
axys, 100.
ba, 97 (see _bas_).
babell, 171.
babyls, 234;
babylles, 348.
babyone, 188.
baile, 91 (see _bale_).
baile, 182.
bake, 179.
balas, 347;
balassis, 326.
Baldock, the iebet of, 340, 370.
bale, 96, 245, 268, 309 (see first _baile_).
bale of dyce, 117.
balke, 176.
Baltazar, blake, 179.
Balthasor (see _Guercis_).
Balue, Cardinal, 366.
banketyng, 350;
banketynge, 352.
ban, 369;
banne, 272.
Barabas, 178.
baratows, 316.
barbican, 331.
barbyd, 252.
bare in hande, 241 (see _bereth on hand_).
barlyhood, 171.
barnacle, 131.
Barton, Elizabeth, 436.
bas, 97, 166, &c.;
basse, 262, 352;
bassed, 268;
bassyd, 184 (see _ba_).
Bas, 380.
basnet, 179.
Basyan, 260.
batowe, 247.
Bath, Wyfe of, 136.
baudeth, 161.
baudrie, 232.
baudy, 203;
bawdy, 184, 188, 193.
bawmys, 316.
Bayarde Mountalbon, 138.
bayarde, bolde, 186.
bayardys bun, 93.
bayned, 230.
be, 103, 104, 180, &c.;
bee, 227.
be come, 109, 119.
beade rolles, 285 (see _bederolle_).
becke, 252, 339.
becke, 280.
becked, 251.
bedawyd, 189.
bedell, 146.
bederolle, 128;
bederolles, 122;
bederoule, 126 (see _beade rolles_).
Bedford, Jasper Duke of, 388.
bedleme, 364.
begared, 283.
beholde, 240.
beholdinge a trauers, 228.
befole, 253, 265;
befoule, 250.
Bele Isold, 137.
belluyng, 301.
belymmed, 112.
Beme, 340.
bemole, 134.
ben, 278, 362, 372.
bende, 248.
bended, 371.
bene, 107.
bent, 146, 252.
bere coles, 356.
bereth on hand, 360 (see _bare in hande_).
Bernard, Saint, 88.
Bes, Lady, 87.
beseke, 320.
besene, 112, 295, &c.;
beseen, 190;
be seyn, 183.
besherewe, 103;
beshrew, 175;
beshrewde, all, 97, 192, 279, 350;
beshrowe, 244, 254.
best, 213, 374;
beste, 238.
bestad, 320.
besy, 94, 109, 194, &c.
betake, 242.
bet, 302.
bet, 315;
bete, 146.
betell, 247.
beyte, 113;
beyght, 377.
bil, 196 (see _byl_).
birdbolt, 330.
birrall, 311.
bitter 130 (see _bytter_).
blasy, 190.
ble, 165, 180, 332.
Blenner-Haiset, maystres Iane, 323.
blennes, 165.
bleryd thyne I, 98.
blo, 103, 123, &c.;
bloo, 197, &c.;
blow, 198.
blode, 230, 271, 358.
blommer, 172.
blother, 253, 278, 289.
blow at the cole, 313, 353.
blowboll, 98.
blunder, 253.
blunderyng, 241.
blysse, 270;
blyst, 263.
bobbe, 112;
bobbid, 198.
Bochas, his Latin works, 309.
bode, 90.
boke, 208, 211, &c.;
bokes, 278, &c.;
bokis, 209, &c.
bole, 104.
bole, 247;
bolle, 165, 264.
bolte, 240.
Bonam, Johnn a, 256.
bonde, 203.
Bonehoms of Ashrige, 334.
bones, 114.
bonet, 195.
bonne, 252;
bonny, 166.
borde, 367, 381.
Bordews, 118.
bordowre, 203.
borowe, Sainct George to, 383.
boskage, 352.
botchment, 254.
bote, 268, 309.
bote, 180;
botes, 244.
bote, 112, 127.
boteles, 96.
Bothombar, 354.
botowme, 319.
bottes, 222.
bougets, 143 (see _bowget_).
bourne, 302.
bowge of courte, 105.
bowget, 272 (see _bougets_).
bowgȝt, 198.
Bowgy row, 191.
bowsy, 159.
bowyers, 203.
Boyce, 308.
boystors, 301.
brablyng, 131.
brace, 216, 258, 266;
bracyd, 271.
brace, 262.
bracers, 305.
brag, 189.
brake, 169, 221, 371.
Branxton more, 216.
brast, 270, 277.
Brasy, Pers de, 190.
brayde, 109, 132 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 454].
brayne pan, 161;
braynpannys, 100.
brayne seke, 258.
brede, 337.
breke, 173.
bremely, 234 (see _brymly_).
brende, 232;
brennest, 228;
brenneth, 228;
brennyng, 286;
brennynge, 127, 267;
brynnyng, 96;
brent, 151, 235, 353 (see _byrne_).
brere, 315.
bresyth, 100 (see _broisid_ and _brose_).
brode gatus, the, 289.
broder, 240, 254, 266.
broisid, 314 (see _bresyth_ and _brose_).
broisiours, 316.
broke, 191.
broke, 165, 289.
broken, 262.
bronde, 245, 274.
brose, 370 (see _bresyth_ and _broisid_).
brothell, 269;
brothells, 191.
brute, 233.
bruted, 286;
bruitid, 304;
brutid, 310.
brybaunce, 260.
brybery, 258, 304, 314;
bryboury, 256.
brybors, 204.
brydelynge caste, 117.
brym, 221;
brymme, 260.
brymly, 179, 257 (see _bremely_).
Brystow red, 161.
budge furre, 253.
bull vnder lead, 368.
bullyfant, 175.
bullyons, 326.
bumpe, 130.
burblyng, 230.
burde, 117.
Burgonyons, 359, 369.
burris, 319.
bushment, 91.
buske, 180;
buskt, 90;
buskyd, 221.
busynesse, 235.
buttyng, 191.
by, 236, 254.
bybyll, 175.
bydene, 295.
byes, 112.
byl, 375;
byll, 333, 353;
bylles, 141 (see _bil_).
bylles, 219;
byllys, 216.
bynde, 188.
bynde beres, 378.
byrle, 167.
byrne, 377 (see _brende_).
_byrsa_, 340.
byrnston, 314.
byse, 325.
bytter, 266 (see _bitter_).
cabagyd, 350.
cache, 260.
cacodemonyall, 368.
Cacus, 210, 213.
_Cæsar, ave_, 341.
Cales, 352.
callet, 173;
callettes, 170.
calodemonyall, 368.
calstocke, 359.
Calyce, the armes of, 118, 244.
Cam, 126, 369.
camoke, 179;
cammocke, 353.
camously croked, 159.
can, 119, 217, 242, &c.;
canest, 255 (see _kan_).
cane, 260.
Cane, 369.
cantell, 173.
captacyons, 319.
carbuckyls, 266.
carde of ten, outface with a, 113.
carders, 204, 313.
Cardynall Hat, the sygne of the, 356.
carectes, 366;
carectis, 313.
carle, 265;
carlys, 250 (see _karlis_).
carlyng, 344.
carlyshe, 126.
Carowe, 121, 126.
carp, 93;
carpe, 286, 298.
casseth, 107.
cast, 377.
cast, 264, 270;
caste, 183.
Castrimergia, 356.
cat wynke, let the, 168, 286.
catacumbas, 178.
catell, 255.
Caton, Pety, 344.
cattes necke, hang the bell aboute, 279.
Catywade, 178.
cauell, 271.
cautellous, 229.
cawdels, 267.
cawry mawry, 163.
Cayface, 181.
Cayme, 229.
Cayre, 178.
cayser, 247, 256 (see _kayser_).
caytyvys, 190.
Cayus, 182.
Cesar, Julious, romance of, 140.
chafer, 242;
chaffer, 168, 342;
chaffre, 106.
chalys, 212, 284.
Chambre of Starres, 355.
chare, 334;
chares, 295.
Charlemagne, story concerning, from Petrarch, 364.
chase, 205, 368.
checke, 240.
checke, 259.
checkmate, 219;
checke mate, 240, 296, 362;
chekmate, 344, 382.
cheked at the fyst, 367.
chekmatyd, 96.
chepers, 203.
chere, 92, 159, 199, 238, &c.
chermed, 114.
cheryfayre, 85.
cheryston pytte, 347.
cheseth, 229.
cheuynge, 165.
cheuysaunce, 107, 272.
Christ crosse you spede, 195 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
Christian Clowte, 104, 292.
chydder, 265.
chyncherde, 276.
Cidippes, 322.
clap, 207, 222;
clappys, 100.
clarionar, 305.
clauycordys, payre of, 94.
clawes, 231.
Clementine, 291, 294.
clepe, 265.
clergy, 282.
clerke, 119.
clokys, 266.
clubbed, 173.
coarte, 195;
coarted, 360.
cocke wat, 256 (see _cok wat_).
Cockes armes, 258, 262, 264, 269.
Cockes blode, 112.
Cockes bones, 270, 272.
Cockes woundes, 244.
cockly fose, 357.
Cockys body, 245.
Cockys harte, 243, 247, 251, 254, 265.
coe, 131.
cofer kay, 244.
cognisaunce, 195 (see _conusaunce_).
_coistronus_, 341 (see _coystrowne_).
Cok wat, 195;
cok wattes, 108 (see _cocke wat_).
coke stole, 183 (see _cooke stole_).
cokwolde, 333;
cokwoldes, 305.
cole rake, 370.
coleth, 176.
Colation, 366;
collacion, 229.
_colostrum_, 341.
comberyd, 276;
combred, 274, 280.
come of, 238, 251.
comerous, 113.
commaunde, 109 (see _comonynye_).
commaunde, 195, 240.
Commune Place, 358.
commy, 164.
commyth, 192 (see _cumys_).
comon, 261.
comonynge, 264 (see first _commaunde_).
complayne, 92.
comprised, 303.
conceyte, 113, 301;
conceyght, 361 (see _consayte_).
_concha_, 212.
condicions, 378 (see _condityons_)
condiscendid, 305;
condiscendyng, 325 (see _condyscended_).
condityons, 152;
condycions, 228;
condycyons, 271, 314;
condycyonns, 183 (see _condicions_).
condyscended, 371;
condyssende, 237 (see _condiscendid_).
confecture, 303.
confetered, 90;
confetryd, 120;
confettred, 232.
confyrmable, 275.
congruence, very, 302.
coniect, 317;
coniecte, 346.
conninge, 228;
conyng, 322;
connyng, 229, &c.;
connynge, 105, &c. (see _cunnyng_ and _konnyng_).
connynge, 119.
conquinate, 288.
consayte, 237, 239, &c.;
conseyt, 319, 341 (see _conceyte_).
contemplacyon, at the, 263, 328;
_contemplationem, ad_, 214, 229.
contenons, 178 (see _countenaunce_).
content, 231.
contribute, 86.
contynewe, 275.
conuenable, 317.
conuenyent, 239, 269, 374;
convenient, 204.
conuenyently, 147.
conueyauns, 329.
conusaunce, 100 (see _cognisaunce_).
cooke stole, 349 (see _coke stole_).
coost, 119.
copious, 181.
corage, 98, 99, 100, 127, &c. (see _courage_).
cordylar, 381.
cormoraunce, 130.
cornede, 203.
corporas, 206.
corrompeth, 228.
corteise, 322, 324 (see _curteyse_).
corum, 284.
coryed, 263.
coryously, 315.
costious, 312.
cote, 330 (see _kote_).
coted, 289;
cotyd, 362.
couenable, 96, 196, 320.
couent, 290.
couertowre, 338.
covetous, 204;
couetys, 362;
coueytous, 294.
coughe me a dawe, 254.
coughe me a fole, 254.
cought, 98, 133.
coundight, 315.
counsell, 100.
countenaunce, 113 (see _contenons_).
counter, 116;
countyr, 181 (see _cowntred_).
counteryng, 316;
countrynge, 131, 352.
courage, 228, 295 (see _corage_).
courte rowlis, 305.
cousshons, 183 (see _quosshons_).
cowche quale, 348.
cowntred, 92 (see _counter_).
coystrowne 92, 378 (see _coistronus_).
crabes, 113.
crafte, 322.
craftely, 309.
crag, 380.
crakar, 186;
crakers, 203, 298, 357.
crake, 145, 198, 216, 248, &c.;
craked, 205.
crackis, 305.
crakynge, 371.
Cranes, the Thre, in the Vyntre, 230.
cranys, 149.
crase, 328;
crased, 147.
craw, 174;
crawes, 187.
craynge, 250.
creaunser, 193;
creauncer, 328.
Creisseid, 321.
croke, 299.
croked, 210;
crokid, 211.
crokys, 252.
_Crome, nostre dame de_, 346.
crommes, 168.
cronell, 306, 318.
croppy, 176.
cros, the, 100.
crose, 283.
crosse, 118, 294.
Crosse in Chepe, the, 170.
crosse rowe, 195.
crowche, 116.
Croydon by Crowland in the Clay, 95.
cue, 236 (see _kues_).
cule, 354.
culerage, 284.
cultyng, 203.
cumys, 192 (see _commyth_).
cunnyng, 305 (see _conninge_ and _konnyng_).
cupbord, 369.
cure, 109, 228, 322, 357.
currysly, 178.
curteisly, 325, 337.
curtel, 118;
curtoyl, 99.
curteyse, 321 (see _corteise_).
custrell, 243.
Cutberdes banner, Sainct, 377.
cuttys, 240.
_Da Cansales_, 344.
_Da Rationales_, 344.
dagged,163;
daggid, 314.
daggeswane, 270;
dagswayne, 378.
Dakers, Lorde, of Gillesland, 357.
Dakers of the Sowth, Lady Anne, 322.
Dalyda, 355.
Dalyrag, 189, 380 (see _Delarag_).
Dane, 309.
dant, 175.
Daphnes, 307.
dare, 258;
dared, 379.
dased, 147, 355;
dasid, 317, 331;
dasyng, 315.
daucockes, 381 (see _dawcock_).
daungerous, 363.
daw, 205, 209, &c.;
dawe, 119, 254, &c.;
dawes, 113, 231, &c.;
dawis, 371;
dawys, 257.
dawcock, 375;
dawcocke, 211, 266, 297;
dawcokkis, 314 (see _daucockes_).
dawpate, 186.
daynnously, 106.
deale, 372;
deall, 346 (see _dele_).
debarre, 237;
debarrid, 304.
debylyte, 228.
decollacion, 207.
defacid, 337.
defaut, 304;
defaute, 239, 248, 271, &c.
defende, 228.
defoyle, 381;
defoyled, 176.
Delarag, 341 (see _Dalyrag_).
dele, 270;
dell, 257 (see _deale_).
delyaunce, 239.
delybered, were, 228.
demeane, 134.
demenour, 266.
demensy, 364.
demoraunce, 228.
dempte, 118.
demye, 115.
denayd, 147.
denty, 131.
departed, 127.
depraue, 150, 226, 286, 297, &c.;
deprauyd, 212.
derayne, 337, 379.
Derby, Margaret, countess of, 226.
dese, 164.
despyghtyng, 187.
desyrous, 103.
Deurandall, 181.
Deuyas, docter, 95, 297.
deuyll, the, is dede, 278.
deuyll, dynge the, 270, 379.
deuyll spede whyt, the, 252, 371.
deuyll way, in the, 287, 381;
deuyl way, a, 315.
devyll, the date of the, 349;
deuylles date, in the, 116, 119, 251, 270.
deuz decke, 280.
deynte, 108, 114.
deynyd, 198.
_Dialetica_, 211.
dictes, 339.
diffuse, 144, 303, 308 (see _dyffuse_).
disable, 231.
discured, 232, 377;
discurid, 317 (see _dyscure_).
discust, 321 (see _dyscust_).
disgysede, 301 (see _dysgysed_).
dissolate, 228.
dites, 90.
do, 254 (see _done_).
doddypatis, 364.
domage, 228, 382.
dome, 125, 335.
Donatus, 313.
done, 117;
doone, 199 (see _do_).
dong, 199 (see _dynge_).
donne, 252.
donny, 172.
donnyshe, 254.
dosen browne, 117.
doterell, 129;
doteryll, 255;
dotrellis, 315.
doute, 97.
doute, 264;
doutted, 91.
Douer, 86.
dow, 206.
dowse, 339.
dowsypere, 363.
dowues donge, 210.
draffe, 96, 164.
drane, 378;
dranes, 222.
drawttys of deth, 86.
drede, 118.
dredfull, 320.
dres, 105, 146, 303;
dresse, 152, 382;
dreste, 105.
dreuyll, 113, 119 (see _dryvyll_).
dribbis, 315.
dronken as a mouse, 289.
dronny, 166.
dryvyll, 184 (see _dreuyll_).
dud frese, 184 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455.]
Dugles the dowty, 178.
duke, 141, 378, 382.
_dulia_, 234.
dumpe, 301;
dumpis, 317;
dumpys, 95.
Dun is in the myre, 333.
Dunbar, 219, 226, 376.
Dundas, George, 224.
Dunde, 219, 226, 376.
Dunkan, 379, 381.
dur, 226, 333, 358.
dyce, for the armys of the, 247.
dyentely, 338.
dyffuse, 144 (see _diffuse_).
dykes, 287.
Dymingis Dale, 368.
dyne, 96.
dynge, 270, 379 (see _dong_).
dynt, 260, 266;
dyntes, 100, 265.
dysauaylyng, 297.
dyscharge, 152.
dyscryue, 275.
dyscure, 103, 105, 109 (see _discured_).
dyscust, 367 (see _discust_).
dysdanous, 314.
dysdayneslye, 350.
dysease, 275.
dyser, 255;
dysour, 315.
dysers, 313.
dysgysed, 115, 205, 287 (see _disgysede_).
dyssypers, 228.
dyuendop, 131.
Ecates, 150.
echone, 234, 371, 377.
edders, 123.
edefyed, 228.
Edward, the Fourth, 85, 86, 87.
eestryche fedder, 116.
egally, 228.
Egeas, 210.
Egyptian, 161.
eke, 358.
ela, 132.
eldyr steke, 186.
electe, 261.
elenkes, 233, 290.
Eliconys, 192 (see _Elyconys_).
ellumynynge, 91 (see _illumyne_).
Eltam, 87.
Elyconys, 90, 136 (see _Eliconys_).
embesy, 303 (see _enbesid_).
embosyd, 301 (see _enbosed_).
emrawde, 339.
enbesid, 319 (see _embesy_).
enbewtid, 321.
enbolned, 229.
enbosed, 381, 382;
enbosid, 311 (see _embosyd_).
enbrowder, 319;
enbrowdred, 322.
enbulyoned, 311.
enbybe, 218;
enbybed, 115;
enbybid, 316.
encheson, 197.
encraumpysshed, 301.
encrisped, 307.
endeuour, 303;
endeuoure, 323.
enduce, 303, 325.
endude, 207;
endewed, 281.
enferre, 237 (see _inferrid_).
enflamed, 230.
enflorid, 326.
enforce, 229.
engolerid, 310.
engrosyd, 302, 308.
enhached, 147;
enhachyde, 302.
enharpit, 91.
enkankered, 91.
enlosenged, 311.
ennew, 146;
ennewed, 146, 309;
enneude, 144;
ennewde, 382 (see _enuwyd_).
enplement, 310.
enprowed, 144.
ensaymed, 207.
ensembyll, 348.
ensilured, 315.
ensordyd, 277.
ensowkid, 301.
entachid, 311.
ententifly, 323.
enterly, 198.
entrusar, 379.
enuawtyd, 311.
enuectyfys, 303.
Enui, 145;
enuy, 267.
enuwyd, 323 (see _ennew_).
enuyrowne, 312.
enuyue, 321;
enuyued, 261;
enuyuid, 326.
enwered, 105.
equipolens, 372.
erectyd, 276 (see _arecte_).
erstrych, 340 (see _estryge_).
escrye, 297 (see _ascry_ and _askry_).
esperaunce, 228.
estate, 106, 150, 240, &c.;
estates, 90, 241, 245, &c. (see _astate_).
estryge, 132 (see _erstrych_).
eterminable, 92.
Ethiocles, 229.
Euander, 143.
euerychone, 253, 286, 368;
everichone, 204.
exhibycion, 233.
_Exodi_, 209.
exployte, 346.
eyen, 228;
eyn, 331;
eyne, 306 (see _ien_ and _iyen_).
eylythe, 192.
eyndye, 347 (see _inde blewe_).
eyre, 134.
eysell, 199, 285.
Ezechyas, 298 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 452].
fabell, 171.
face, 216, 234, 258, 202, 287;
facyd, 271.
facers, 305.
faitours, 195 (see _faytors_).
falabilite, 195.
fall, 174, 219.
fals poynt, 103.
fals quarter, 312.
falyre, 166.
_famine_, 243.
Fanchyrche strete, 191.
fange, 373.
fare, 106.
farle, 255;
farly, 97, 250, 252, 283, 381.
farre, 299 (see _fer_).
fauconer, 205, 206 (see _fawconer_).
fauell, 107, 245, 353.
faught, 91.
fauorable, 99, 344.
fauour, 146, 147 (see _fauyr_).
faute, 145, 195, 259, 278, &c. (see _fawt_).
fauyr, 183 (see _fauour_).
fawchyn, 271.
fawcon, the noble, 134;
fawcoun, ientill, 324.
fawconer, 207, 209 (see _fauconer_).
fawt, 303;
fawte, 113, 284 (see _faute_).
fay, 103, 274.
fayne, 95, 110.
fayne, 227, 232, 247, 268, &c.
faynty, 176.
faytes, 382.
faytors, 91;
faytour, 382 (see _faitours_).
fe, 267.
feders, 173;
federis, 212.
feffyd, 261.
felashyp, 112.
fell, 96, 103.
femynatyfe, 227.
fende, 123, 381, 382;
fendys, 92, 370 (see _fynde_).
fenestrall, 331.
fer, 239, 274;
ferre, 242, &c. (see _farre_).
Ferumbras, 178 (see _Pherumbras_).
fet, 160.
fet, 135, 170, 208, 237, &c.
fete, 339.
fetewse, 116.
_fidasso de cosso_, 339.
finaunce, 92.
fista, 211;
fisty, 212.
fflusshe, 348.
flagrant, 323;
flagraunt, 315.
flambe, 228.
fleckyd, 128;
flekyd, 344.
flery, 245, 377.
fletchers, 203.
flete, 239, 254.
flingande, 381.
flocket, 160.
flode, 277, 338.
Flodden, battle of, 215.
florthe, 311.
flotis, 308.
fly, not worth a, 219, 243, 354.
flycke, 170, 290.
flyt, 276, 295, 363.
flytynge, 371.
fode, 104.
fode, 264.
foggy, 174.
foisty bawdias, 315 (see _fusty bawdyas_).
fole, 124, 180, &c.;
foles, 233, 235;
folys, 182, 211, &c.
follest, 193 (see _foule_).
folysh, 227;
folysshe, 254.
folysshly, 233.
fon, 209, 249, 255;
fonne, 184.
fonde, 186, 194, 205, &c.;
fonne, 250.
fondnesse, 266.
fonge, 298.
fonny, 166 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
fonnysshe, 244, 253.
fopped, 233.
for, 106.
for and, 182.
force, 113, 264 (see _fors_).
force, 264, 317 (see _forsed_).
fordrede, 141.
foretop, 261, 286.
forfende, 254, 276.
_forica_, 211.
forked cap, 279.
formar, 320.
forme, 313.
fors, 182, 380 (see first _force_).
forsed, 91;
forseth, 255;
forsyth, 239 (see second _force_).
forster, 301, 332.
fote, 148, 173, 199, &c.
fote ball, 213.
foted, 160.
fotyng, 296.
fotid, 316;
fotys, 247;
fotyth, 258.
foule, 130, 173, 252 (see _follest_).
founde, 233.
foxe, 110.
foy, 382.
franesy, 267.
Fraunce, fashions brought from, 250.
fraye, 131.
frayne, 360.
freare fell in the well, when the, 292.
freat, 132 (see _frete_ and _to-fret_).
freers, 243, 270 (see _frere_).
freke, 109, 244, 255, 381;
ffreke, 178.
frere, 119, 288, 309 (see _freers_).
fresche, 189;
fresshe, 149, 242, 302, &c.
fresshely, 116, 304, 309.
fret, 147.
frete, 88, 123, 146, 262 (see _freat_ and _to-fret_).
fretid, 197.
friscaioly, 230.
Frollo de Franko, 177.
froo, 193.
froslynges, 173.
froty, 274.
frounce, 207.
frounce, 261;
frounsid, 151.
frowardes, 144.
frytthy, 301.
fucke sayles, 284.
fumously, 276.
furst, 100.
fusty bawdyas, 192 (see _foisty bawdias_).
fuyson, 91.
fyer drake, 370.
fyest, 170.
fyle, 290.
fylythe, 189.
fyll, 90, 171, 322.
fynd, 362;
fynde, 126, 377, 379 (see _fende_).
fyngered, 160.
fysgygge, 175.
fysnamy, 182.
Gabionyte, 181.
gabyll rope, 320.
gadde, 258.
Gaguine, 366;
Gaguyne, 327;
Gagwyne, 309.
galantys, 260.
Galba, 260.
Gales, 170;
Galis, 212.
Galiene, 332.
Galtres, forest of, 301.
gambaudynge, 352.
gambawdis, 206, 313.
gambone, 169.
gane, 181.
gant, 175 (see _gaunte_).
gar, 261;
garde, 200, 268 (see _garre_).
garded, 115, 120, 203.
gardes, 203.
gardeuyaunce, 271.
gardynge, 316.
gargone, 190;
gargons, 182.
garlantes, 295.
garre, 266 (see _gar_).
gase, 328 (see _gose_).
gaspy, 169.
gasy, 190.
gat, 175;
gate, 191, 254;
gatte, 255 (see _gete_ and _gotted_).
gande, 265.
gaudry, 191.
gaunce, 130.
gaunte, 130 (see _gant_).
gaure, 272.
Gawen, 136, 182.
gayne, 102 (see _again_ and _geyne_).
Gaynour, 137.
ge hame, 354;
ge heme, 381.
geales, 204.
gelt, 176.
George, Saint, our Lady’s knight, 220, 223.
gere, 115, 149, 179, &c.
gerfawcon, 134 (see _iarfawcon_).
gery, 206.
geson, 187, 371.
gest, 177.
gest, 167, 254;
geste, 245.
get, 327 (see first _iet_).
gete, 112, 118 (see _gat_ and _gotted_).
geyne, 102 (see _again_ and _gayne_).
giggisse, 328.
gingirly, 327.
girnid, 306 (see _gyrne_).
glauca, 228.
glaymy, 188.
glayre, 159.
gle, 306.
gle, 268.
glede, 180.
glede, 253.
glent, 263.
glent, 252.
glint, 312.
glome, 106 (see _glum_).
glommynge, 278.
glose, 259.
glose, 90.
glowtonn, 319.
glum, 294, 325 (see _glome_).
gnar, 358.
go, 124.
go bet, 169.
go or ryde, 360 (see _ryde and go_).
gode, 91, 382.
godely, 310, 323.
God in forme of brede, 296.
Goddes brede, 264.
Gog, 317.
golde and hole, 314.
_goliardum_, 190 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
gommes, 275.
gommes, 168;
gomys, 178 (see _gummys_).
gon stone, 380 (see _gun stone_).
gonge, 184.
Good euyn, good Robyn Hood, 355.
goodlyhede, 322;
goodlyhod, most, 103.
goostly, 275.
gorbelyd, 180;
gorbellyd, 183.
gore, 128.
gorge, 207, 263, 281.
gose, 161, 175, 184, 240, &c. (see _gase_).
gose, to sho the, 280.
gospellers, 209.
Gothyaunce, 260.
gotted, 270 (see _gat_ and _gete_).
gowndy, 159.
gramatolys, 346.
grame, 266;
gramed, 297.
graundepose, 346.
gray, 354 (see _grey_).
grayle, 130.
gree, 306 (see _greyth_).
gresly, 188.
gresse, 307.
gressop, 125;
gressoppes, 326.
grey, 303 (see _gray_).
greyth, 217 (see _gree_).
groinynge, 180 (see _groynninge_).
gronde, 189.
grossolitis, 310.
grouchyng, 353.
groynninge, 330;
groynis, 194 (see _groinynge_).
gryll, 159.
grypes, 127.
Guercis, Balthasar de, 373.
gumbed, 160.
gummys, 187 (see second _gommes_).
gun stone, 314 (see _gon stone_).
gup, 99, 104, 171, 183, &c.
Guy, 136;
Gy, 182.
Guy of Gaunt, 297;
Gy of Gaunt, 184.
Gyb, 122, 128;
gyb, 162.
gydynge, 209.
gygawis, 371.
gyll, 159.
gylly, 171.
gyn, 207.
gyn, 272.
Gynys, 184.
gyrne, 178 (see _girnid_).
gyse, 149, 161, 242, 248, &c.
gytes, 161.
habandoneth, 227.
habarion, 191.
hach, 100 (see _hecke_).
Had I wyst, 86, 239, 259.
hafte, 120 (see _haftynge_).
hafter, 239;
hafters, 276;
Hafter, Haruy, 107, 194, 353.
haftynge, 184, 245, 264 (see _hafte_).
hag, 380;
hagge, 278;
haggys, 99.
hake, 282.
halfe, 253, 301;
halfe, on Gods, 174, 191, 290.
halfe strete, the, 272.
halow, 208.
hallows, to seke, 337.
halse, 265;
halsyd, 98.
Haly, 133, 242, 361.
Hampton Court, 360.
hange togyder as fethers in the wynde, 265, 345.
hankin bouy, 208.
happed, 268.
hardely, 97, 104, 106, 109, &c. (see _herdely_).
hardnes, 199.
hardy on his hede, not so, 296;
hardy on theyr pates, not so, 297.
Hardyson, Gorge, 190.
hare away, there went the, 353.
Hare, Jacke, 247 (see _Harys, Jacke_).
harnnes, 337.
haroldis, 191 (see _harrold_).
harow, 150;
harowe, 262.
harowe, 274.
Harpocrates, 233.
harre, out of, 250, 269.
harres, 192.
harrold, 218 (see _haroldis_).
hart rote, 197, 330, 364 (see _hert rote_).
haruest gyrdle, 167.
Harys, Jacke, 211 (see _Hare, Jacke_).
haskardis, 313.
hast, in all the, 168.
hastarddis, 90.
hauell, 353, 362.
haut, 278;
haute, 94, 145, 195, &c. (see _hawte_).
hawe, not worth an, 269, 349.
hawke of the towre, 250, 324.
hawkis bels, 209.
hawte, 112, 182, 248 (see _haut_).
hay, 194.
hay the gy of thre, 195.
Hay, the gye and the gan, 368.
hayle, 176, 195, 272 (see _heale_ and _hele_).
hayne, 113.
haynyarde, 264.
he so, 105.
heale, 367 (see _hayle_ and _hele_).
hear, 126, 288;
heare, 88 (see _here_ and _heyre_).
hecke, 377 (see _hach_).
Hector, 141.
hede, 262;
hedes, 175;
heedes, 279.
hedellis, 318.
heery, 279, 291 (see _herey_).
hekell, 167.
hele, 240 (see _hayle_ and _heale_).
Henry the Seventh, his tomb, 214, 215.
Henry the Eighth, his letter to James the Fourth, 221.
hente, 120.
herber, 101, 315;
herbers, 371.
Hercules, 150.
here, 114, 159, &c.;
heris, 307 (see _hear_ and _heyre_).
herdely, 239 (see _hardely_).
herelace, 163.
herey, 191 (see _heery_).
hermoniake, 283.
hert, 198, 228;
herte, 275, 307, &c.;
hertes, 233, 294.
hert rote, 148 (see _hart rote_).
herte brennynge, 119.
herted, 280.
hertely, 312.
heue and how rombelow, 110;
hey, howe, rumbelowe, 213 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 453].
heuery, 187.
hey, troly, loly, 93.
heyre, 248 (see _hear_ and _here_).
heyre parent, 243.
hight, 196, 317 (see _hyght_).
Hipocentaures, 150.
historious, 143.
Hob Lobbyn of Lowdean, 217 (see _Hop_, &c.).
hoby, 258;
hobby, 135, 280.
hobby, 262.
hocupy, 184.
hode, 112, 118, 119, 120, &c.
hoder moder, 278.
hoddypeke, 255 (see _huddypeke_).
hoddypoule, 364.
hofte, 246.
hogeous, 205.
hoke, 299.
hoked, 159 (see _howkyd_).
hokes, 259.
holde, 271.
hole, 147, 181, 188, &c.;
holl, 91, 303, 310 (see _hooll_).
holy, 91 (see _hooly_).
holy water clarke, 94, 135.
home, 119.
honde, 312, 329.
honge, 274.
hooll, 310 (see _hole_).
hooly, 239 (see _holy_).
Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon, 340 (see _Hob_, &c.).
hoppy, 176 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
horne keke, 381.
horshowe, 132.
hose, 115, 203, 226, &c.
hosed, 233.
hostryes, 203.
hothyr, 347.
houres, 282.
houyr wachyd, 188.
Howarde, Lady Elisabeth, 321.
Howarde, Lady Mirriell, 321.
how, 341, 342;
howe, 167, 257, &c.
howgye, 350.
howkyd, 180 (see _hoked_).
hoyning, 194.
huckels, 160.
huddypeke, 358, 381 (see _hoddypeke_).
huf a galante, 181.
huffa, 245.
huke, 160.
humanyte, 344, 361 (see _vmanyte_).
Huntley banke, 376;
Huntley bankys, 221, 226, 357.
hyght, 126, 149, &c.;
hyghte, 106, 113 (see _hight_).
hyll, 274.
hynde calfe, 301.
hynder, 245;
hynderyng, 297.
_hyperdulia_, 234.
hytt, 198.
hyȝt, 198.
iacinctis, 311 (see _jacounce_).
Jacke a thrommys bybyll, 259, 305;
Jake a thrum, 189.
Jacke breehe, 362.
Jacke of the Noke, 283;
Jacke at Noke, 290.
Jacke of the vale, 239;
Jak of the vale, 104.
Jacke shall haue Gyl, 240.
iack napis, 364;
iackenapes, 269.
jackes, 204.
jacounce, 347 (see _iacinctis_).
jagged, 203, 278;
jagging, 203 (see _to-iagged_).
Jak wold be a jentylman, 93.
James the Third, his murder, 219.
James the Fourth, his arms, 215.
—— his body how treated, 216.
—— his letter to Henry the Eighth, 217.
—— his appearing in arms against his father, 219.
—— his taking the Castle of Norham, 219.
—— his sword and dagger, 221.
—— his beard, 221.
—— his artillery, 221.
—— excommunicated, 222, 223.
Jamys foder, 104.
Jamys, Saint, 149, 170.
iangle, 234, 244, 283;
iangelynge, 239;
ianglyng, 231;
ianglynge, 128, 149.
iangelers, 312.
Januay, 191.
iape, 278;
iapes, 244, 254, 266, &c.
iape, 95, 112, 308;
japed bodely, 104.
iarfawcon, 265 (see _gerfawcon_).
Jason, 137.
jaspe, 182.
iast, 171, 183, 356;
jayst, 99.
iauell, 271, 287, 353, 362.
ich, 165, 342;
iche, 271.
ich, 325;
iche, 303, 306, 320.
I chyll, 159.
iconomicar, 308.
ien, 180 (see _eyen_ and _iyen_).
ielofer, 147;
ieloffer, 323, 331, 333.
Jerome, Saint, his _Ep. ad Paulinum_, 235, 304.
Jesse, 252.
iet, 242, 250 (see _get_).
jet, 94, 160, 182, 242;
iettes, 251;
iettynge, 269.
ietter, 247.
jetty, 159.
I faith, dikkon thou crue, 213;
In fayth, decon thou crewe, 115;
In faythe, dycken, thou krew, 352.
illumyne, 105;
illumynyd, 102 (see _ellumynynge_).
importe, 126.
impurtured, 261.
incontinente, 228.
inconuenyently, 378.
incyneracyon, 134.
inde blewe, 262;
indy blew, 101, 311 (see _eyndye_).
indeuer, 277.
inferrid, 304 (see _enferre_).
ingrosed, 275.
inhateth, 275.
intentyfe, 323.
_Inter didascolos_, 343.
intere, 238.
intoxicate, 288.
intreted, 262.
Iobab, 340.
Jocky my jo, 218.
ioforth, 329.
ioly rutterkyn, heyda, 245.
Iopas, 316.
ioust, 165.
Ioyows Garde, 330.
Ipocras, 332.
ipostacis, 286.
Irysh, 218.
isagogicall, 366.
Isaphill, 324.
isprode, 199.
Judas Machabeus, 140.
_Judicum_, 341.
Iue, Iohnn, 329.
I wus, 114, 323;
I wys, 98, 104, 119, 170, &c.
iyen, 227 (see _eyen_ and _ien_).
kan, 190 (see _can_).
karlis, 90 (see _carle_).
kay, 259;
kayes, 242.
kayser, 287, 296, 362 (see _cayser_).
keke, 173, 280.
ken, 90, 146, 237, 286, &c.
kepe, 97, 240, 337.
kepe his cut, 124 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 453].
kest, 122, 126, 312 (see _kyst_).
kestrell, 135;
kesteryll, 255.
keteringes, 218;
keteryng, 379.
keylyth, 100.
kit, 91 (see _kyt_).
klycked, 116.
knackes, 203;
knakkes, 345.
knackynge, 236;
knak, 93.
knauate, 213.
knokylbonyarde, 243.
knowlege, 234.
konnyng, 304, 321, 329 (see _conninge_ and _cunnyng_).
Koppynge, kynge, 217.
kote, 364 (see _cote_).
kowgh, 131.
kownnage, 314.
kowththyd, 187 (see _kythyd_).
koy, make it, 257.
kues, 356 (see _cue_).
kus, 345;
kusse, 128.
kybe, 174.
kyby, 312.
kynde, 126, 186, 238, 257, &c.
Kyrkeby Kendall, 115.
kyrtell, 149, 161, 172;
kyrtelles, 163.
kyry, 289.
kys the post, 142.
kyst, 114, 184;
kyste, 106, 118 (see _kest_).
kyt, 189 (see _kit_).
kythyd, 177 (see _kowththyd_).
lack, 195, 375;
lacke, 196, 245, &c.;
lake, 303.
lackys, 346.
lakyn, by, 240, 243;
lakyn, by our, 265, 271.
lampatrams, 175.
Lanam, 369.
lanners, 135.
Laodomi, 323.
large, 95, 129, 190.
large, 239.
large, 243, 352.
largesse, 239, 241, 259, 264, &c.
_latria_, 234.
laughe and lay downe, 369.
Launcelote de Lake, 137.
lawe, 239, 276.
lay, 142, 233.
lay fee, 285, 286;
lay fee, the people of, 234;
lay fee people, 284.
lay, 305, 325;
layd, 219.
layne, 113.
layser, 287, 362.
le, 268.
leane as a rake, 145.
leche, 173.
lectryne, 208.
lectuary, 275 (see _allectuary_).
lede sterre, 323.
Lederhede, 162.
ledder, 145.
lefe, 98.
lege, 118.
lege de moy, 176, 295.
leke, the vertue of an vnset, 173.
leke, not worth a, 280.
lemman, 118;
lemmanns, 191.
lene, 107;
leneth, 103.
lenen, 302.
lenger, 135, 229, 335.
lepe the hach, 100.
lere, 147, 159, 180 (see _leyre_).
lere, 257 (see _lyerd_).
lesard, 103.
lese, 194, 253, 257, 290;
leseth, 228.
lesinges, 196.
let, 149, 208, 237, &c.;
lete, 109.
leudly, 230, 231 (see _lewdely_).
leue, 276;
leuer, 268, 294.
leuell suse, 354.
lewd, 279;
lewde, 94, 108, 119, &c.
lewdely, 183, 287;
lewdly, 184, 195, &c.;
lewdlye, 346 (see _leudly_).
lewdenes, 194;
lewdnesse, 138.
leyre, 262 (see _lere_).
leyser, 325.
leysshe, 244.
lidderons, 305 (see _lydderyns_).
liddrous, 195.
liddyrnes, 317.
lista, 211 (see first _lyst_).
Locrian, 217;
Locryan, 376.
lode, 106.
loke, 312;
lokes, 287, 350;
lokis, 322.
loke, 165, 172, &c.;
loked, 207, 313;
loketh, 244, 248;
lokyd, 239, 346;
lokys, 250, 266.
loke, 259.
lollardy, 234.
lollers, 204.
Lomelyn, Domyngo, 374.
londe, 203, 320.
London, wall of, 87.
long, 95;
longe, 129, 190.
longe, 119;
longyth, 329.
Lor, 327.
lore, 267.
lorell, 132, 192;
lorelle, 183.
los, 100.
lose, 281.
losell, 265, 266, &c.;
losels, 209, 305, &c.;
loselles, 287, 350;
losyll, 239.
loselry, 364.
louesome, 268.
Louis the Twelfth, 236, 240.
loute, 263;
lowte, 260, 264;
lowted, 90.
Lowdean, 217;
Lowdeon, 340;
Lowdyan, 376.
lucerne, 333.
luge, 275.
luggard, 98.
lugges, 380.
lurdayne, 242, 381;
lurden, 264, 265, &c.;
lurdeyne, 297.
lure, 147, 207, 236, 357.
luske, 179.
lust, 91, 100, 266, &c.;
luste, 107.
lust and lykyng, 98, 165, 262, 269.
lusty, 101, 129, 144, 147, &c.
Lyacon, 345, 347.
Lybany, 127.
lybbard, 313.
Lybius, 138;
Lybyus, 178.
Lycaon, 127;
Lycon, 179.
lydder, 234;
lyddyr, 193 (see _lyther_).
lydderyns, 267 (see _lidderons_).
Lydgate, Johnn, 144, 309.
lyerd (see second _lere_).
lygnage, 227, 228.
lyghtly, 239.
lykes, 199.
lykynge, 85.
Lyle, Sir William, 376.
lylse wulse, 354.
Lymyters, 290.
Lyncole grene, 160.
lynde, 109.
lynkes, 173.
lyppers, 266.
lyppes hange in thine eye, thy, 253.
lyst, 146, 196, 263, 269, &c. (see _lista_).
lyst, 207.
lyste, 256.
Lytell Ease, 297.
lythe and lystyn, 192.
lyther, 239, 257, 268;
lythers, 257 (see _lydder_).
lytherly, 245.
Machareus and Canace, 322.
Mackemurre, 253.
made it straunge, 310.
Mahounde, 362.
maistres, 328 (see _mastres_ and _maystres_).
make, 143, 282, 332, 344.
make, 186, 235, 303, 329.
make to the call, 262.
maker, 186, 342.
making, 332, 349;
makynge, 223.
malarde, 251;
mallarde, 131.
Malchus, 178.
male, 108, 117, 272;
males, 143, 203, 223.
male to wryng, 142;
male dothe wrye, 288;
males, wrang vs on the, 353.
male vryd, 219.
Malepardus, 435.
maltaperte, 180.
Mamelek, 361.
mamockes, 268, 287.
man, 260.
Mantryble the Bryge, 178.
mantycore, 180, 183, 188;
mantycors, 127.
Mapely rote, The murnyng of the, 330.
Marche harum, 208.
Mardocheus, 143.
mare, 123.
marees, 123.
margerain ientyll, 322.
Margery Mylkeducke, 172, 242.
_maris lupus_, 375.
Marke, kynge, 137.
marke, 254, 288.
marlyons, 135.
marmoll, 266.
marmoset, 183, 188;
marmosete, 254 (see _mermoset_).
Marock, the streytes of, 370.
mary, 236, 239, 241, 244, &c.
Mary Gipcy, by, 333.
Mary Spyttell, Saynt, 297.
mase, 245;
mased, 106, 235, 255;
masid, 315;
masyd, 212, 306 (see _maysyd_).
mastres, 103 (see _maistres_ and _maystres_).
mastris, 309;
mastryes, 256 (see _maysters_).
mated, 355.
maumet, 371 (see _mawment_).
maunchet, 93.
mauys, 129.
mawment, 188, 379;
mawmett, 347 (see _maumet_).
Maxymyane, 308.
mayny, 90, 357, 358.
maysterfest, 276.
maysters, 113;
maystery, 238;
maystryes, 264 (see _mastris_).
maystres, 312, &c.;
maystresse, 261 (see _maistres_ and _mastres_).
maysyd, 260 (see _mase_).
Measure is treasure, 238.
Mede, mesteres, 408 (see _Meed, mayden_).
Mede, 145.
medelyd, 330;
meddelyd, 307.
Meed, mayden, 209 (see _Mede, mesteres_).
mekyll, 242 (see _mykel_).
Melanchates, 127.
meledyously, 306.
mell, 96, 260, 279, 285, &c.;
melle, 192;
melles, 284;
mellis, 346;
mellyng, 295.
melottes, 291.
Menander, 130, 344.
mene, 260 (see _meyne_).
mengith, 308.
Menolope, 99.
menys, 259.
mercyall, 306, 308.
meritory, 310.
mermoset, 242 (see _marmoset_).
mery pyne, 117.
mese, 252.
messe, 270.
mesure is a mery mene, 241.
met, 170.
metely, 270, 312.
meuyd, 113.
mew, 236.
mew, 352;
mewed, 356.
Mewtas, John, 367.
meyne, 238 (see _mene_).
miscreantys, 211.
mo, 87, 143, 232, 234, &c.
mobyll, 361.
moche, 239, 241, 257, 259, &c. (see _myche_ and _mytche_).
mockysshe, 280.
mode, 275, 362 (see _moode_).
moght, 256.
Mok there loste her sho, 331, 353.
mondayne, 229.
mone, 117, 239, 316, 346.
_Monon calon agaton_, 342.
moode, 113 (see _mode_).
More, Sir Thomas, his _Debellation_, 436.
morell, 93, 99;
morelle, 183.
morowes mylke, 283.
mose, 301.
mot, 90, 379;
mote, 176, 268 (see _mought_ and _mowte_).
motyng, 297.
motyue, 303.
motton, 273.
mought, 287 (see _mot_ and _mowte_).
moughte eaten, 278.
mountenaunce, 359.
mow, 191.
mowid, 197;
mowynge, 269.
mowte, 310 (see _mot_ and _mought_).
moyles, 283.
Moyses hornis, 330.
mullyng, 165.
_mulum de asino pingere_, 214.
mummynge, 177, 278, 305.
Mundy, Sir John, 369.
munpynnys, 380.
mur, 129;
murre, 272.
murmur of mynstrels, 306.
murrionn, 188;
murryon, 178.
mus, 345 (see _musse_).
muscull, 175.
muse, 234, 331.
muskette, 135.
musse, 128 (see _mus_).
mute, 339.
mutid, 205.
Mutrell, 359.
my, 94.
myche, 347, 349 (see _moche_ and _mytche_).
myday sprettes, 350.
_myden agan_, 340.
mykel, 286;
mykyll, 257, 258;
mykkylle, 194 (see _mekyll_).
mys, 199.
myscheue, 119.
mysdempte, 107.
mysuryd, 91.
mytche, 177 (see _moche_ and _myche_).
myteyng, 187;
mytyng, 165.
myȝt, 198.
naid, 197 (see _nayd_).
Naman Sirus, 373.
Nanphant, Sir John, 363.
nay, no, 275.
nayd, 198, 199 (see _naid_).
ne, 95, 105, 115, 119, &c.
nebbis, 348.
neder, 374.
negarship, 276.
nepte, 323.
nere, 363.
Nestorianus, 212.
neuen, 290.
neuer a dele, 100.
new and new, 145.
nobbes, 166.
noble, 269;
nobles, 120, 227, 369.
nobles, 90, 382.
nody polle, 186;
nodypollys, 346;
noddy polles, 299.
noll, 112;
nolle, 186;
nolles, 282, 299.
none, 117.
nones, the, 126;
nonys, the, 306.
nones, 122;
nonne, 252;
nonnes, 270, 284.
no nother, 267.
noppe, 242.
noppy, 162, 176.
Northumberland, fourth Earl of, 89, 90.
Northumberland, fifth Earl of, 91, 358.
Norwich, fires at, 214.
nother, 210, 239, 247, &c.
Notingam, 87.
nutshales, 360;
nut shalis, 196.
nyfyls, 255.
nys, 103, 107.
nyse, 103, 125.
nysot, 256.
o, 190.
Obseruaunce, order called, 288.
obstract, 360.
occupy, 86, 242, 243;
occupye, 260;
occupyed, 187, 259, &c.
oder, 241.
odyfferaunt, 228.
Olibrius, 210.
Olifranke, 182.
olyfant, 175;
olyfaunt, 185;
olyphantes, 295.
Olyuere, 182.
on, 163, 174.
on flote, 120.
on lyue, 143.
oncomly, 178.
onfayned, 198.
Onocentaures, 150.
ony, 106, 108, 112, 116, &c.
ordynall, 134.
orgulyous, 231.
ornacy, 261.
Orwelle, 180.
ospraye, 131.
other, 237.
ouche, 141.
ouer, 230, 283, 288.
Ouer in a whinny meg, 340.
ouerage, 352, 382.
ouerse, 234, 374.
ouerthrow, 276.
ouerthwart, 103, 217, 373;
ouerthwhart, 307;
ouerwharte, 244 (see _ouyrthwarthe_).
ouerthwarted, 211, 284.
ouerthwartes, 223.
out yles, 222.
outray, 304;
outraye, 123.
ouyrthwarthe, 193 (see _ouerthwart_).
pachchyd, 188.
packes, naughty, 203;
packis, noughty, 305.
packing, 90.
pagent, 243;
pageyond, 88;
paiantes, 191;
paiauntis, 330;
pajauntes, pelory, 349;
paiaunttis, 189.
Palamon, 136.
palettes, 170.
pall, 311;
palles, 294.
paltoke, 181.
palyard, 348;
palyarde, 378.
Pamphila, 320.
Pamphylus and Galathea, 344.
Pandaer, 141;
Pandara, 142.
panys, 198 (see first _payne_).
papers weryng, 349.
parbrake, 381.
parcele, 192;
parcell, 237.
parde, 264, 303, &c.;
pardy, 219 (see _perde_).
paregall, 91, 322 (see _peregall_).
parfetnesse, 295.
Pargame, 125.
Paris and Vyene, 140.
parker, 331.
Partelet, 136;
Partlot, 133.
partlettes, 204 (see _patlet_).
party, 109.
pas, 117, 125;
passe, 180;
passid, 316.
Pasiphe, 324.
pastaunce, 98, 147.
patch, 165.
patlet, 269 (see _partlettes_).
paues, 90;
pauys, 344.
_Pawbe une aruer_, 341.
pawtenar, 205.
pay, 171.
payne, 110, 120 (see _panys_).
payne, 199.
paynte, 245;
payntes, 294;
paynty, 176;
payntyd, 266.
peace, the, 170.
peason, 281, 371 (see _peson_).
pecunyous, 227.
pek, 129;
pekes, 282.
peke, 244.
pekysh, 211.
pelfry, 188 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
pendugims, 347;
pendugum, 344.
peper in the nose, take, 359.
Perce, 145.
perde, 125, 258 (see _parde_).
perdurable, 344.
peregall, 348 (see _paregall_).
perihermeniall, 230.
perke, 187.
perkyd, 206.
persons, 287.
perspectyue, 102.
peson, 187 (see _peason_).
pestels, 172.
peuisshenes, 315.
peuysshe, 306, 314, 362 (see _to-peuiche_).
_phagolœdoros_, 227.
Phalary, 210.
Pharaotis, 195.
Pherumbras, 210 (see _Ferumbras_).
Philargerya, 355.
Philip Sparowe, 121, 262.
Phitonesse, 151.
Phorocides, 143.
Phyp, 125;
Phyppes, 128.
piggesnye, 104 (see _pyggysny_).
pill, 229.
pine, 330 (see _pyne_).
pinkers, 203.
piplyng, 316;
pipplyng, 229.
pirlyng, 319.
Pisandros, 309.
placke, 117.
playne songe, 95, 129, 130.
playnesse, 244.
plenarely, 109;
plenarly, 239, 301.
plete, 268;
pletynge, 358.
pletes, 161.
plumpe, 306.
pode, 104.
podynges, 173 (see _puddynges_).
poddynge prycke, 269.
poetis laureat, 307.
Poggeus, his tales, 309.
pohen, 94.
pointyd, 192 (see _poynt_).
poke, 119.
pole, 240, 344 (see _polys_).
Polexene, 146, 321.
Polimites, 320.
poll, 210.
Pollegians, 286.
pollers, 204.
polleynge, 184;
pollyng, 189, 350;
pollynge, 264, 353 (see _poollynge_).
_polyandro_, 227.
polys, 318 (see _pole_).
pomaunder, 324.
pomegarnet, 339.
pomped, 268.
poollynge, 284 (see _polleynge_).
popagay, 104, 347;
popagey, 339;
popegay, 344 (see _popigay_).
popeholy, 234, 242, 314;
popholy, 230.
Popering, 340.
popigay, 341;
popingay, 327;
popyngay, 129 (see _popagay_).
poppyng, 231;
poppynge, 239, 357.
pore, 203, 228, 249, 261, &c.
porisshly, 233, 314.
porpose, 346.
port sale, 162.
porte salu, 299, 312.
Portyngale, 368.
Portyngales, 170.
pose, 171, 248, 272, 374.
postell, 289;
postyll, 347.
posty, 151.
postyke, 244 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 455].
potestate, 371.
potestolate, 371.
potsharde, 269;
potshorde, 329;
potshordes, 361;
potshordis, 369.
Poules, 283.
Poules Crosse, 297.
pounsed, 120.
Pountes, 275;
Pountesse, 240.
powle hachet, 98;
powle hatchettis, 314.
Poyle, 312.
poynt, 189, 310;
poynted, 251, 310, 325 (see _pointyd_).
poynte deuyse, 248, 261.
poyntmentys, 258.
practyue, 366.
prane, 260, 377;
pranes, 281;
pranys, 149.
pranked, 161.
praty, 103, 104, 191, 242, &c.
pratyer, 271.
_pravare_, 296.
preas, 296;
prece, 244, 262 (see second _prese_).
prease, 196, 306;
prece, 106 (see first _prese_).
precely, 276.
predyall, 294.
predycacion, 234.
premenire, 296;
premenyre, 279.
prendergest, 93.
preposytour, 267.
prese, 164, 252, 310, &c. (see _prease_).
prese, 106;
presed, 91, 308, &c.;
presid, 306, 312, &c. (see _preas_).
prest, 125, 126, 206;
preste, 318.
prestes, 284.
pretence, 245, 325 (see _pretens_).
pretende, 125.
pretendynge, 286.
pretens, 372 (see _pretence_).
pretory, 311.
preue, 119, 236, 250;
preves, 203.
preuentid, 310.
preuynge, 165.
Priamus, 182.
prickyd, 193.
primordialle, 193.
probate, 236, 309.
proces, 143, 194, 211, &c.;
processe, 230, 235, &c. (see _prosses_).
pronge, 243, 298.
proper, 339;
propire, 345;
propre, 125, 323, &c.;
propyr, 347.
prosses, 146, 347 (see _proces_).
prothonatory, 310.
prouoke, 233, 290;
prouoked, 87.
prycke songe, 95.
pryckemedenty, 176.
pryme, 312.
prymes, 282.
prymordyall, 361.
prynces _aquilonis_, 284.
Prynces of yougthe, 111.
pryste, 186.
Ptholome, 286;
Ptholomy, 133, 361 (see _Tholomye_).
puaunt, 377.
puauntely, 187.
puddynges, 254 (see _podynges_).
puffin, 131.
pullishe, 303;
pullisshyd, 310;
pullyshyd, 261;
pullysshed, 144, 149.
pultre, 255.
punyete, 173.
purple and paule, 283.
purueaunce, 250.
puruey, 368.
pusant, 302.
puscull, 175.
puskylde, 374.
put the stone, 242.
puwyt, 130.
py, 100;
pye, 218, 344, 362.
pyggysny, 97 (see _piggesnye_).
pyke, 251.
pyke, 304, 328, 341, 344.
pykes, 185.
pyketh mood, 223.
pykynge, 110.
pylche, 172.
pylde, 253;
pyll, 353, 357;
pyllyd, 192, 193;
pyllyd garleke hed, 184;
pyllyng, 350.
pyllyon, 289.
pyne, 199 (see _pine_).
pynk iyde, 314.
pyrdewy, 94.
pystell, 129, 244;
pystle, 282;
pystels, 234.
pystillers, 209.
Qd, 96, 100, 103 (see _quod_).
quaire, 336 (see _quayre_).
quatriuials, 361;
quatryuyals, 343.
quayre, 217, 345, 383 (see _quaire_.)
quecke, 268.
queed, 212.
quere, 91, 134, 284.
quest, 332.
questes, 203.
queysy, 273.
quibyble, 382.
quikly, 304, 313, 326 (see _quyckely_).
quight, 196 (see _quyt_).
quitte, 203 (see _quyte_).
quod, 97, 100, 106, &c. (see _Qd_).
quoke, 109.
quosshons, 233 (see _cousshons_ and _quysshon_).
quycke, 125, 173, 359.
quyckely, 148;
quyckly, 261 (see _quikly_).
quysshon, 295 (see _cousshons_ and _quosshons_).
quyt, 220;
quyte, 97, 266 (see _quight_).
quyte, 245 (see _quitte_).
race, 198 (see _rase_).
rachchyd, 188.
rage, 352.
ragman rollis, 335.
raist, 307 (see _araid_).
Raker, Jake, 186, 342;
Rakers, Jacke, 357.
rammysshe, 265.
rankis, 226.
rase, 303, 335;
rasid, 304, 337;
rasyd, 103 (see _race_).
ratches, 244.
ray, 194, 233, 376;
raye, 348.
Raynes, 268, 283.
reame, 226, 317, 364 (see _reme_).
rebads, 362 (see _rebawde_ and _rybaude_).
rebaudrye, 116.
rebawde, 192;
rebawdis, 313 (see _rebads_ and _rybaude_).
reboke, 109.
rechate, 270;
rechatyng, 234.
recheles, 96, 331, &c.;
rechelesse, 229, 230, &c. (see _retchlesse_).
rechery, 277.
reckys, 255 (see _reke_).
reclame, 193;
reclaymed, 148, 207, 345.
reclaymeth, 228.
reconusaunce, 320.
recorde, 238, 240, 361, 368.
recounfortyd, 308.
recrayd, 377;
recrayed, 223, 229, 232, &c.
recule, 327, 331, 344.
reculed, 377.
red sparow, 128.
rede, 274.
rede, 103, 105, 252, 271, &c.
redlesse, 275 (see _rydlesse_).
redouted, 90.
redres, 100.
reflaring, 323.
reflary, 134.
refrayne, 276.
regiment, 348.
regraciatory, 310.
_Regum_, 151, 210.
rehayted, 263.
rehers, 211;
reherse, 110;
rehersse, 260.
reiagged, 362.
reke, 109 (see _reckys_).
reme, 221, 381;
remes, 145 (see _reame_).
remord, 223;
remorde, 193, 295, 303;
remorded, 235;
remordyng, 229;
remordynge, 371.
remorders, 347.
remordes, 346.
remorse, 103.
ren, 196, 342;
renne, 118, 167, &c.;
renneth, 256;
renning, 195;
rennynge, 275 (see _rin_, _ron_, and _ryn_).
renayenge, 355.
renowme, 362.
reny, 232;
renyed, 90.
replycable, 235.
reporte me, 91, 240, 285.
repryuable, 259.
_requiem æternam_ groweth forth of his nose, 272.
reserued, 264, 327.
rest, 238.
rest, 263.
rested, 229 (see _rosty_).
resty, 169.
resydeuacyon, 286.
retchlesse, 269 (see _recheles_).
reue, 265.
reuell route, 116 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 449].
reuynge, 353.
rew, 96, 127;
rewed, 122.
rin, 303, 333, 335;
rinne, 305 (see _ren_, _ron_, and _ryn_).
robbid, 198.
rocke, 167.
rocket, 160.
rode, 167, 209, 210, 213, &c.
rode loft, 206.
roke, 131.
role, 135.
rome, 243, 244, &c. (see _rowme_).
ron, 165;
ronnes, 284 (see _ren_, _rin_, and _ryn_).
ronner, 265.
rosabell, 323.
rosary, 323.
Rose, Lorde, 357.
rosers, 315 (see _rosiar_).
roset, 119.
rosiar, 327 (see _rosers_).
rost a stone, 353.
rosty, 151 (see _rested_).
rote, 367 (see _rotys_).
Roty bully joyse, 94 (see _Rutty bully_).
rotys, 196 (see _rote_).
rough, 298.
roughe foted, 222, 226.
rounde, 120 (see _rowne_).
rounses, 150.
rout, 166 (see _rowtyth_).
route, 131.
route, 107, 171, 248, &c. (see _rowte_).
routh, 179 (see _row_, _rowth_, and _rughe_).
royals, 369.
royle, 379.
row the bote, Norman, rowe, 111.
row, 187 (see _routh_, _rowth_, and _rughe_).
rowllys, 189.
rowme, 303, 361 (see _rome_).
rowne, 263;
rownyd, 306 (see _rounde_).
rowte, 252, 306, 358 (see _route_).
rowth, 98, 319 (see _routh_, _row_, and _rughe_).
rowtyth, 98 (see _rout_).
ruddes, 147;
ruddys, 101;
rudyes, 261.
rughe, 242 (see _routh_, _row_, and _rowth_).
rughly, 266.
_Rukshaw, Magister_, 92.
ruly, 341;
rulye, 347.
Rummyng, Elynour, 157, 158 [_Corr. and Add._ p. 454].
rusty, 114, 247.
rutter, 246;
rutters, 257.
rutterkyn, 246.
Rutty bully, 245 (see _Roty bully joyse_).
ruttyngly, 248.
ryall, 239, 241, 260, 302, &c.
ryally, 311.
ryalte, 277.
rybaude, 118;
rybawde, 193 (see _rebads_ and _rebawde_).
rybibe, 174.
rybskyn, 168.
ryd, 274.
ryde and go, 125;
ryde or go, 258;
rydes or goos, 382 (see _go or ryde_).
rydlesse, 268 (see _redlesse_).
ryght of a rambes horne, 298, 350, 353.
ryn, 237, 270, &c.;
rynne, 247, 270, &c. (see _ren_, _rin_, and _ron_).
rynne to _in manus tuas_, 268.
sacre, 135.
sacryng, 296.
sad, 147, 196, &c.;
sade, 193;
sadde, 110, 118, &c.
sadly, 149, 235, 267, &c.;
sadlye, 346.
sadnes, 101, 332;
sadnesse, 242, 245, &c.
Sadoke, 346.
Sadylgose, 266.
Saint Ionis towne, 218.
salfecundight, 312.
salt, 166.
same, in, 244.
sank, 334, 361.
Sardanapall, 210.
Sarson, 180.
_Sarum, secundum_, 208.
satirray, 308.
Satrapas, 177.
saught, 92.
sautes, 275 (see _sawte_).
saw, 361;
sawe, 237, 288 (see _sawis_).
sawe, 239.
sawis, 371 (see _saw_).
sawlys, 198.
sawte, 262, 332 (see _sautes_).
sayd sayne, 298.
sayne, 159, 170, 337, 359.
Scalis Malis, 195.
scarce, 352.
Scarpary, 342, 347.
scholys, 211 (see _scole_ and _skoles_).
Scipiades, 382;
Scipione, 219.
scole, 124, 187, &c.;
scoles, 235, 256;
scolys, 257 (see _scholys_ and _skoles_).
scornnys, 112.
scrat, 258.
Scroupe, Jane or Joanna, 122, 145, 149, 152.
scryue, 192.
scut, 315.
scutus, 355.
seasyd, 261.
sedeane, 134.
seke, 172.
seke, to, 183, 322.
sekernes, 337;
sekernesse, 276 (see _sykernesse_).
sely, 278, 284, 287, 299, &c.
Sem, 126, 369.
semblaunt, 146, 256.
semynge, 261.
semyth, 192.
senaws, 123.
sence, 218.
sennet, 171.
sentens, 344;
sentence, 144, 211, 276, &c.
sere, 227.
Serenus, 235.
sergeaunt ferrour, 99.
serpentins, 188.
[seryously, _Corr. and Add._ p. 452].
set by, 99, 240, 242, 260, &c.
Seuen Systers, cannons so called, 221.
seymy, 188.
seynty, 176.
shales, 284 (see _shayle_).
Shall I sayle wyth you, 112.
shap, 175.
shayle, 97, 233, 341 (see _shales_).
shene, 152.
shene, 371.
shent, 219.
Sheriff-Hutton Castle, 299.
shet, 313;
shett, 335 (see _shyt_).
shilde, 90.
sho clout, 163.
shoder, 278.
shoke, 91, 313, 335.
shone, 161, 166.
shote, 240, 294, 299.
shoure, 379;
shower, 219.
shreud, 164;
shrewd, 284.
shrewdenes, 245.
shrewdly, 314, 362, 369 (see _shrewlye_ and _shroudly_).
shrewe, 380 (see _shrow_).
shrewes, 120.
shrewlye, 349 (see _shrewdly_ and _shroudly_).
shroudly, 257, 328 (see _shrewdly_ and _shrewlye_).
shrow, 193 (see _shrewe_).
shryue, 109, 291.
shule, 287.
shuruy, 187.
shyderyd, 96.
shyll, 353.
shyne, 148.
shyre shakyng nought, 174, 258.
shyt, 256, 356 (see _shet_).
silogisme in _phrisesomorum_, 342.
Simonia, 356.
_Sin, desertum_, 222.
sith, 197, 229, &c.;
sithe, 177 (see _syth_).
_Sitientes_, 282.
sittyng, 304;
sittynge, 303 (see _syttynge_).
skellet, 166.
skelpe, 270.
sker, 147.
skewed, 163.
skoles, 233 (see _scholys_ and _scole_).
skommer, 172.
skommeth, 165.
skyes, 233.
skyl, 375;
skyll, 262, 270.
skyll, 238, 259, 279, &c.;
skylle, 350.
skyregalyard, 348;
skyrgaliarde, 378;
skyrgalyard, 218.
skyt, 219.
slaiis, 318.
slaty, 167.
sle, 267;
slee, 90, 120, &c.;
sleeth, 228, 274 (see _sley_ and _slo_).
sleue, 119 (see _slyue_).
sleue, wyde, 248.
sley, 163 (see _sle_ and _slo_).
sleyght, 242;
sleyghtes, 360;
sleyte, 113 (see _slyght_).
sliddyr, 347 (see _slyder_).
slo, 90, 125, 146;
sloo, 274 (see _sle_ and _sley_).
slvfferd, 184.
slyce, 172.
slyder, 167;
slydder, 265 (see _sliddyr_).
slyght, 194, 244, &c. (see _sleyght_).
slyue, 250 (see _sleue_).
smaragd, 102;
smaragdis, 311.
smerke, 317.
snappar, 209;
snapper, 92, 234.
snurre, 334.
snyte, 129, 266.
solace, 96, 108, 265 (see _solas_).
solacious, 144;
solacyous, 97, 316.
solas, 87, 126, 315, 341 (see _solace_).
solayne, 95 (see _soleyne_).
solempne, 253.
soleyne, 109, 346 (see _solayne_).
solfa, 279;
solfe, 132;
solfyth, 94.
somdele, 172, 227, 335 (see _sumdele_).
Some, 332.
somer, 101, 115, &c.
_sonalia_, 212.
sonde, 275.
sone, 219, 240, &c.;
soner, 275.
song, 204.
soppy, 176.
sort, 91, 146;
sorte, 163, 164, &c.
Sothray, 162.
sottys, 216.
sounde, 122.
Sowden, 211.
sowllys, 189.
sowre, 123.
sowre dowe, 167.
sowse, 184.
sowter, 265;
sowtters, 186.
spar, 333;
sparred, 207.
spayre, 127.
sped, 94, 143, 144, &c.;
spedde, 244.
spence, 176.
spence, 269.
spere, 184, 251, 316.
sperycall, 335.
splay, 182;
splayd, 199.
spone, 119, 166.
spores, 244.
Sprynge of Lanam, 369.
Spurs, Battle of the, 223.
spycke, 170.
spyll, 260, 270;
spylt, 91, 199.
spynke, 129.
spynt, 194.
stale, 168.
stalworthy, 358.
stede, 118, 152, 162, 184, &c.
stellyfye, 323.
stercorry, 88.
sterrys, 347.
stert, 175;
sterte, 120, 172, &c.
sterue, 379.
steuyn, 193.
stode, 306, 312, &c. (see _stonde_).
stole, 124, 278, 305.
stonde, 247, 259, &c.;
stondythe, 349 (see _stode_).
stoppynge oyster, 119.
storke, 131.
stounde, 122, 362 (see _stownde_).
stoutty, 377 (see _stowty_).
stow, 206, 250;
stowe, 252.
stownde, 381 (see _stounde_).
stowre, 216.
stowty, 178 (see _stoutty_).
straught, 195.
strawry, 163.
streynes, 261.
stubbed, 172.
Sturbrydge fayre, 342.
stut, 170.
stylla, 282.
styreth, 107.
styth, 212.
sufferayne, 312.
Sulpicia, 125.
sumdele, 93 (see _somdele_).
sumner, 217, 222.
superflue, 301.
supple, 339;
suppleyng, 335;
supply, 347;
supplye, 248;
supplyed, 263, 302.
supprised, 91;
supprysed, 261, 312.
surcudant, 230.
surfillyng, 319;
surfled, 281.
surmountinge,91;
surmountyng, 100;
surmountynge, 108, 322.
surpluse, 237.
Surrey, Earl of, his badge, 215, 220.
—— ——, his arms, 220.
Surrey, Earl of (son of the preceding), sent against France, 354.
Surrey, Cowntes of, 317.
swap, 247.
Swart, Martin, 93, 94.
swarue, 323.
swerd, 260;
swerde, 362, 381.
sweters, 162.
swyllynge tubbe, 164.
swynkers, 162.
syar, 260 (see _syer_).
syb, 162.
syde, 119.
Sydrake, 346.
syer, 371 (see _syar_).
syght, 217.
syke, 254, 265.
sykernesse, 268 (see _sekernes_).
sylt, 301.
symper the cocket, 160.
syn, 347.
syntillously, 228.
syth, 120, 199, &c.;
sythe, 227 (see _sith_).
Sythe I am no thynge playne, 110.
syttynge, 239, 277 (see _sittyng_).
tabers, 310;
tabertes, 283.
tails, Englishmen said to have, 224.
take in degre, 261.
take in gre, 267, 335, 360.
take in worth, 95, 145, 259.
taken, 241, 264.
tall, 368;
talle, 177 (see _tawle_).
talwod, 353.
Tanaquil, 227.
tancrete, 360.
tangyd, 272.
tappett, 192;
tappet, 257;
tappettis, 311, 318.
tappyster, 242.
tarsell gentyll, 134.
tauellis, 318;
tauellys, 94.
taumpinnis, 315.
tawle, 248 (see _tall_).
tax, 370.
tayle, 176.
teder, 119.
tegges, 164;
teggys, 179.
te he, 232, 243.
Temmys strete, 97.
tende, 247, 253.
tene, 90;
teene, 143.
tenter hokys, 252.
Terry of Trace, 178.
Testalis, 316.
Tetersall, 86.
tetrycall, 230.
tewly, 319.
Thagus, 145.
Thamer, 320.
thee, 243, 244, 249.
thees, 199.
theke, 253.
theologys, 286.
Theseus, 136.
thewde, 194, 358.
they, 188, 190.
this, 86, 128, 166, 209, &c.
tho, 228.
Tholomye, 342 (see _Ptholome_).
Thomas, St., of Kente, 114.
thought, 104, 124, 267;
thoughte, 228, 229.
thoughtfull, 101, 307.
thow, 178, 187, &c.;
thowth, 193;
thowthe, 190.
threstyl, 131.
thronge, 107.
throte bole, 274.
throw, 193.
thrust, 168.
thumbed, 160.
thurifycation, 133.
thwartyng ouer, 355.
timorous, 306.
tirikkis, 335;
tirykis, 342.
titiuyllis, 315 (see _tytyuelles_).
to, 129 (see _too_).
to, 94, 144, 145, &c.;
to to, 249, 269.
to-brokyn, 100.
to-fret, 333 (see _freat_ and _frete_).
to-iagged, 163;
to-iaggid, 314 (see _jagged_).
to-mangle, 283.
to-myryd, 181.
to-ragged, 114.
to-rente, 114.
to-peuiche, 180 (see _peuysshe_).
to-torne, 203, 353.
toke, 209, 312, 321, &c.
tole, 187.
tollers, 204.
tolman, 226.
Tom a thrum, 282.
tone, 254, 278.
tonge, 274.
tonge tayde, 284.
tonnysh, 162.
tonsan, 345.
tonsors, 288.
too, 125, 268, 341 (see first _to_).
toote, 129, 339 (see _tote_).
Topias, 380;
Topyas, 180.
tot quot, 354;
tot quottes, 287.
tote, 148, 344;
toteth, 129 (see _toote_).
totyng, 297.
tough, made it, 196.
tought, 133.
towchis, 317.
towchid, 326;
towchyd, 313.
Tower, the, 86.
tragedy, 218;
tragydese, 194.
Trace, 312.
Traciane, 306.
tratlande, 375 (see _tratlynge_).
tratlers, 195.
tratlynge, 215 (see _tratlande_).
trauarse, 360.
trauell, 196.
traues, 106.
traueyleth, 228.
trentale, 212.
Trestram, 369 (see _Trystram_).
trete, 348.
tretory, 91.
trew, 259.
triuials, 361 (see _tryuyals_).
trone, 106, 260, 286, &c.;
trones, 284.
trotters, 369.
trowle, 191.
trumpet, 305, 306.
tryalytes, 287.
trym tram, 161, 342.
Trystram, 137 (see _Trestram_).
trysyd, 191.
tryuyals, 343 (see _triuials_).
tuche, 203.
Tucke, Freer, 241.
tucking hookes, 204.
tully valy, 104.
tumrelle, 192.
tunnyng, 158;
tunnynge, 163.
turkis, 310.
turney, 183 (see _tyrnyd_).
twybyll, 185.
twynklyng, 316.
twynkyng, 286.
twyst, 109.
Tyborne checke, 250.
tyde, 164;
tydes, 133.
Tylney, Mastres Margaret, 322.
tyne, 312.
tyned, 245.
tyrid, 205.
tyrly tyrlowe, 167, 294.
Tyrmagant, 177.
tyrnyd, 177 (see _turney_).
tyse, 233.
tytmose, 131.
tytyuelles, 284 (see _titiuyllis_).
vacabounde, 203;
vagabundus, 282.
vagys, 267.
vale, 195.
Valerius Maximus, 309;
Valery, 210.
varry, 381.
Vaspasyan that bare in his nose a waspe, 260.
vaunteperler, 348.
vawte, 311.
vayleth, 353.
vayned, 148.
vaynes, 261;
vaynys, 103, 198.
velyarde, 266.
vere, 196.
vergesse, 264.
versynge boxe, 110.
vertibilite, 195.
Vesca, 143.
_Vexilla regis prodeunt_, 199.
Vincencius _in Speculo_, 309.
vmanyte, 319 (see _humanyte_).
vmblis, 329.
vmwhyle, 181.
vnbrent, 231.
vncouthes, 296.
vndermynde, 360.
vnethes, 278 (see _vnneth_).
vnhappy, 195, 259.
vnfayned, 207.
vnlust, 163.
vnlusty, 146.
vnlykynge, 267.
vnneth, 112, 122, 148 (see _vnethes_).
vnpropyce, 228.
vnsowndy, 159.
vntayde, 195.
vntwynde, 126, 287, 333.
vntydy, 164.
voluell, 336, 342.
voyde, 240.
vrcheons, 355.
vre, 296.
vred, 232, 235, 377;
vryd, 236.
vtter, 175, 247.
vtteraunce, 261.
vycaryes, 287.
vyse, 235.
wake, 130.
wake, 117, 141.
walk, and be nought, 95.
Walshmans hose, 289, 329.
Waltoms calfe, as wyse as, 290.
walter, 267.
wambleth, 263.
wan, 98, 369.
wane, 369.
wanhope, 275.
warde, 184.
ware, 283.
Warham, archbishop, 372.
wark, 97;
warke, 135, 137, &c.;
warkes, 203, &c.;
warkis, 309, &c.;
warkys, 276, &c.
warke, 100, 144, 257, &c.
warlde, 193.
warne, 265 (see _werne_).
warre, 250;
warse, 190, 354.
wary, 186, 272.
waspy, 169.
watchynge, 115.
waterlag, 341.
wawes, 299;
wawys, 277.
wed, to, 270.
wedder, 333.
wele, 301, 303, 304, &c.
wele was, 325;
wele were, 317;
well were, 265.
weltyth, 259.
wende, 113;
wene, 119.
wengaunce, 272.
Wentworthe, Mastres Margery, 322.
were, 149, 227, 303.
werke, 288, 297;
werkes, 234, 279;
werkis, 305 (see _wark_).
werne, 107 (see _warne_ and _werryn_).
werre, 105.
werryn, 279 (see _warne_ and _werne_).
weryed on, 262.
wesant, 175;
wesaunt, 297.
wete, 118, 125, 263.
wetewoldis, 305.
wetynge, 112.
weue in the stoule, 318.
wexid, 206.
whalis bone, 311.
wharrowe, 168.
wheled, 374.
wher, 193.
where as, 228, 237, &c.;
whereas, 165, 228, &c.
wherfore and why, 121.
wheywormed, 175.
whilom, 342.
whipling, 358.
whom, 109.
whose, 91.
whylest, 240, 258, 202;
whylyst, 245.
whym wham, 161.
whynarde, 115.
whypslouens, 183.
whyste, 306.
whytyng, 165.
wist, 317 (see _wyse_).
withhold, 150;
withholde, 337.
wod, 299;
wode, 91, 277, 362 (see _wood_).
woke, 264;
wokys, 252.
woll, 161.
Wolsey, Cardinal, the son of a butcher, 349, 358, 361.
—— his poleaxes, pillars, and mule, 350.
—— his gifts and annuities from foreign powers, 355.
—— his luxurious living, 356.
—— his palaces, 360.
—— difficulty of access to him, 362.
—— chaplain to Sir John Nanphant, 364.
—— his tearing of the king’s letters, 364.
—— his holding the abbacy of St. Albans in _commendam_, 371.
—— made chancellor, without having employed any unfair means to
supersede Warham, 372.
Wolsey, said to have had the pox, 373.
wonder, 263;
wonders, 237.
wonderly, 112, 306.
wonne, 244, 250, 258;
wonnes, 97;
wonnyng, 279;
wonnys, 236.
wonnynge, 162.
wood, 148, 151;
woode, 113 (see _wod_).
woodhacke, 129.
worlde, it is a, 119.
worshiply, 91.
worshyp, 90, 239, 243, 259, &c.
worsshepfully, 294.
wortes, 254.
wot, 342;
wote, 173;
wotith, 333;
wotte, 189 (see _wyt_).
woundis fyue, 196.
wrate, 196, 205, 308, &c. (see _wrete_).
[wraw, _Corr. and Add._ p. 450.]
wren, our Ladyes hen, 135.
wrenche, 100;
wrenchis, 328.
wrest vp, 286.
wretchockes, 173.
wrete, 119 (see _wrate_).
Wrig wrag, 194, 341, 380.
wring, 91.
wroken, 174, 262, 287.
wronge, 146.
wrotes, 194.
wrouȝt, 198.
wrynge thy be in a brake, 271.
wull, 278.
wyddred, 227.
wyl, 192;
wyll, 86, 193.
wylage, 190.
wylla, 282.
wynche, 280.
Wyndsore, 87.
wyrry, 358.
wyse, 187;
wyst, 94, 189, 253;
wyste, 112 (see _wist_).
wyt, 236 (see _wot_).
wyte, 274.
xall, 187, 188, 194;
xalte, 190.
xulde, 184, 187, 191, 194;
xulddst, 188.
yane, 169.
yarke, 243.
yatis, 312.
yaue, 192.
yawde, 298.
ydder, 265.
ye, 109, 237, 238, &c.
yede, 205.
yeld, 89.
yerne, 332.
yl ticers, 204.
ylke, 377.
ymet, 242.
ynowe, 120.
Yorkes Place, 360.
ypocras, 285, 356.
ȝe, 182, 183, 184.
Zenophontes, 124.
ȝeris, 86.
ȝytt, 198.
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
The last line of the _Decastichon_, &c. vol. ii. 66,—
“_Asperius nihil est misero quum surget in altum_,”
is from Claudian,
“_Asperius nihil est_ humili _cum surgit in altum_.”
_In Eutrop._ I. 181.
Add to note on the line,
_Whome fortune and fate playnly haue discust_,
vol. ii. 321.
that _discust_ is used in the same sense by Drayton;
“Neuer did death so terrible appeare,
Since first their Armes the English learnt to weeld,
Who would see slaughter, might behold it heere
In the true shape vpon this fatall field;
In vaine was valour, and in vaine was feare,
In vaine to fight, in vaine it was to yeeld,
In vaine to fly; for destiny _discust_,
By their owne hands or others’ dye they must.”
_The Miseries of Queene Margarite_, p. 115. ed. 1627.
THE END.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN,
Great New Street, Fetter Lane.
ADDENDA.
VOL. I.
ACCOUNT OF SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS.
Page xviii. line 17.
“Ora lepore fluunt, sicuti dives _fagus_ auro.”
For “_fagus_” read “Tagus.” This obvious error, which unaccountably had
escaped my notice, was pointed out in _Quart. Rev._ lxxiii. 513.
P. xx. The following verses are transcribed from a MS. (in the collection
of the late Mr. B. H. Bright) consisting of _Hymni_, &c. by Picus
Mirandula:
“_Pici Mirandulæ Carmen Extemporale._
Quid tibi facundum nostra in præconia fontem
Solvere collibuit,
Æterna vates, Skelton, dignissime lauro,
Castalidumque decus?
Nos neque Pieridum celebramus antra sororum,
Fonte nec Aonio
Ebibimus vatum ditantes ora liquores.
At tibi Apollo chelym [_sic_]
Auratam dedit, et vocalia plectra sorores;
Inque tuis labiis
Dulcior Hyblæo residet suadela liquore;
Se tibi Calliope
Infudit totam: tu carmine vincis olorem;
Cedit et ipse tibi
Ultro porrecta cithara Rhodopeius Orpheus:
Tu modulante lyra
Et mulcere feras et duras ducere quercus,
Tu potes et rapidos
Flexanimis fidibus fluviorum sistere cursus;
Flectere saxa potes.
Græcia Mæonio quantum debebat Homero,
Mantua Virgilio,
Tantum Skeltoni jam se debere fatetur
Terra Britanna suo:
Primus in hanc Latio deduxit ab orbe Camenas;
Primus hic edocuit
Exculte pureque loqui: te principe, Skelton,
Anglia nil metuat
Vel cum Romanis versu certare poetis.
Vive valeque diu!”
P. xxxiv. To my notices of Garnesche add the following (collected by Mr.
D. E. Davy) from _Gent. Mag._ for Sept. 1844, p. 229:
“Sir Christopher Garneys, knt., whom I suppose to be the person
who was the object of Skelton’s satire, was the second son of
Edmund Garneys, esq. of Beccles, who was the second son of
Peter Garneys, esq. of Beccles, whose eldest son, Thomas, was
of Kenton. He, ‘Sir Christopher,’ was janitor of Caleys, and
often employed in the wars temp. H. viii....
In a window of the chapel in the north aisle of St. Peter’s
Mancroft Church, Norfolk, was the following inscription:
‘ ... anda ... a ... Dei, pro animabus Thome Elys tercia
vice hujus civitatis Norwici Majoris et Margarete consortis
sue.—Orandumque est pro animabus Edmundi Garnysh armigeri,
et Matilde ejus consortis, filie predictorum Thome Elis et
Margarete, ac pro longevo statu Christopheri Garnysh militis,
dicti serenissimi Principis ville sue Calisie Janitoris.’ See
Blomf. Norf. vol. iv. p. 199. [vol. ii. 628. ed. fol.]
‘A description of the Standards borne in the field by Peers
and Knights in the reign of Hen. Eighth, from a MS. in the
College of Arms marked I. 2. Compiled between the years 1510
and 1525.’—Syr Christoffer Garnys. ‘A on a wreath, Argent
and Gules, an arm erased below the elbow, and erect proper,
holding a falchion Argent, pomel and hilt Or, the blade imbrued
in 3 places Gules. (Imperfect.)—Arms. Argent a chevron Azure
between 3 escallops Sable.’ Excerpta Historica, p. 317.
‘Standards, temp. H. viii. Harl. MS. 4632. Syr Xr’ofer
Garneyshe. Blue. The device, on a wreath Argent and Gules, an
arm erased, grasping a scymitar, Proper.—Motto, ‘Oublere ne
dois.’’ Collect. Topog. vol. iii. p. 64.
‘The names of the Inglishmen which were sent in Ambassade
to the French King, before the Qwenes Landing, and oder
Gentilmen in their Compaigne.’—‘Sir Christopher Garneys’ (inter
al.).—Leland’s Collect, vol. ii. p. 704.
In the Athenæum for July 18, 1840, p. 572, there is a long
letter, dated ‘at Morpeth, the xxviij day of Decembre,’ and
signed ‘C. Garneys,’ whom the editor supposes to have been one
of the medical attendants sent by the King, upon the illness of
Queen Margaret: it was more probably [certainly, see _Account
of Skelton and his Writings_, p. xxxii.] Sir Christ. Garneys,
knt.
Sir Christopher was knighted at Touraine, 25 Dec. 5 H. viii.
1513, and married Jane, daughter of.... She died 27th March,
1552. Her will was dated 27th Aug. 1550, and proved 12th May,
1552; she was buried at Greenwich. Her husband was dead when
she made her will. She names her son Arthur Dymoke, esq.
Bequeaths most of her personal estate for charitable purposes.”
EXAMPLES OF THE METRE CALLED SKELTONICAL.
P. cxxiii.
“_O quam venenosa_ pestis.”
The reviewer in _Gent. Mag._ p. 243, thinks that no line has been omitted
here, and would read for the rhyme “pecus.”
POEMS.
P. 106.
“Jone sayne she had eaten a _fyest_.”
“Foist,” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 243, “is a toadstool in Suffolk
language:” but qy. is that the meaning of “fyest” in our text? see my
note.
P. 117.
“your _semely_ snowte doth passe.”
Because the MS., as I have stated, appears at first sight to have
“scriuely,” the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 243, says “the proper word
is _snively_” and compares an expression in another poem _Against
Garnesche_, p. 120, “In the pott your _nose_ dedde _sneuyll_,” and one
in _Magnyfy ence_, p. 286, “The snyte _snyueled_ in the _snowte_.” But
I still think that “semely” is right: Skelton afterwards (p. 130) tells
Garnesche that he has “A _semly nose_ and a stowte;” and the line now in
question is immediately followed by
“Howkyd as an hawkys beke, _lyke Syr Topyas_,”
i. e. the Sire Thopas of Chaucer; and the said Sire Thopas (_Cant.
Tales_, v. 13659, ed. Tyr.) “had a _semeley nose_.”
P. 133.
“_Hic notat purpuraria arte intextas literas Romanas in
amictibus_ post _ambulonum ante et retro._”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244, takes “post” to be an abridgement of
“_positas:_” which is a very probable conjecture.
P. 134.
“Such tunges vnhappy hath made great _diuision_
In realmes, in cities, by suche fals abusion,” &c.
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244, says “Should not _diuision_ be
_delusion_?” I answer,—certainly not.
P. 139.
“Mary _the_ mother.”
I have queried “_thy_ mother”? to which the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244
(rightly, I believe) objects—“the mother, mater, being an _epitheton
commune_, an usual predicate of the Virgin.”
P. 163.
“_Hos rapiet numeros non homo, sed_ mala bos.
_Ex parte rem chartæ adverte aperte, pone Musam Arethusam_ hanc.”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244, would read
“_Hos rapiet numeros, non homo sed_ mulus aut bos,”
comparing (p. 170) “_Asinus_, mulus velut, et bos.” But why alter what
Skelton intended for a pentameter? In what follows, the reviewer says
that “‘hanc’ should be placed in hooks [hanc], as we think it is only
a misprint for ‘aut’.” Would not “aut” stand oddly at the end of a
sentence?
P. 170.
“_Et_ cines _socios_.”
“Should it not be ‘_cives_’?” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244. No,—as
the preceding “_Carpens vitales auras_” shews.
P. 218.
“_Qui_ caterisatis _categorias cacodæmoniorum_.”
“Mr. Dyce,” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 244, “conjectures
_catarrhizatis_, which we do not exactly understand. We should read
‘cæteris datis;’” and he compares “enduced a secte” at p. 216, and two
other similar passages. I still think that “caterisatis” is probably the
old spelling of “_catarrhizatis_.”
P. 259. “_Hic ingrediatur_ FOLY, _quatiendo_ crema _et faciendo multum,
feriendo tabulas et similia_.”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 245, supposes that “crema” is the Greek word
χρημα Latinised, and that it here means “his thing or _bauble_.” I
greatly doubt it.
P. 263.
“Howe rode he by you? howe put he to _you_?”
As a rhyme is wanting to “vyser” and “dyser,” I conjectured “_you_
there.”—“We,” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 245, “would rather break
the line into two short verses,—
‘How rode he by you?
Howe put he to you?’
as v. 1132, with the same cadence and accent,
‘_Fan._ What callest thou thy dogge?
_Fol._ Tusshe, his name is Gryme?’”
But the reviewer ought to have seen that the _two SPEECHES_ last cited
make up _one line_.
P. 278.
“Call for a _candell_ and cast vp your gorge.”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 245, observes, “Mr. Dyce proposes _caudell_;
but is there any authority for _caudell_ as an emetic? We think not, and
that the text is right.” I now think so too.
P. 306.
“_Sad Cyr._ Then ye repent you of foly in tymes past?
_Magn._ Sothely, to repent me I haue grete cause:
Howe be it from you I receyued a letter,
Whiche conteyned in it a specyall clause,” &c.
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 245, to restore the rhyme, would read—
“_Sad Cyr._ Then _of foly in tymes past ye repent_?
_Magn._ Sothely, to repent me I haue grete cause:
Howe be it from you I receyued a letter _sent_,
Whiche conteyned in it a specyall clause,” &c.
Against which I have nothing to object except the violence of the
alteration.
P. 357.
“And Saynt Mary Spyttell,
They set not by vs a _whystell_.”
“Perhaps ‘whyttle,’” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 245.—I had
originally proposed the latter reading, but afterwards rejected it,
having found in Lydgate (see my note on the passage, vol. ii. 297),
“For he _set not by_ his wrethe _a whistel_.”
P. 360. “_Colinus Cloutus, quanquam mea carmina multis,_” &c.
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 246, would cure this corrupted passage as
follows;
“_Colinus Cloutus, quanquam mea carmina multis_
_Sordescunt stultis_; _sed_ paucis _sunt_ data _cultis_,
Paucis ante alios _divino flamine flatis_.”
VOL. II.
POEMS.
P. 12. “_In ista cantilena ore stilla plena abjectis frangibulis et
aperit._”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 246, would read “_Ista cantilena, in ore_ est
illa _plena_,” &c.
P. 18.
“_Psittacus_ hi _notus seu Persius est puto notus,_
_Nec reor est nec erit licet est erit_,”
is thus corrected by the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 246,—
“_Psittacus hic notus seu Persius est puto notus_,
_Nec reor est, nec erit_, nec _licet_ est, nec _erit_.”
P. 21.
“_Patet per versus_, quod _ex vi bolte harvi_.”
The reviewer in _G. M._ p. 246, at least ingeniously conjectures,—
“_Patet per versus_ quos excogitavit.”
P. 29.
“_Iack Trauell_ and Cole Crafter.”
Among payments made in the year 1428 (in the reign of Hen. vi.), _Jack
Travel_ occurs as the name of a real person; “Et a _Iakke Travaill_ et
ses compaignons, feisans diverses Jeues et Enterludes, dedeins le Feste
de Noell, devant nostre dit Sire le Roi,” &c. Rymer’s _Fœd._ T. iv. P.
iv. p. 133.
P. 86.
“_Emportured with corage,_
_A louers pylgrimage._”
“We interpret,” says the reviewer in _G. M._ p. 246, “the former line
as—drawn or portrayed with force, what the French call _animer les
tableaux_ or _force de couleurs_; and we think a line after this must
have dropped out, like the following;
‘To whom made Numa sage
_A louers pylgrimage_.’”
NOTES.
P. 206. “‘A _chase_ at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond
which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At
long tennis, it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.’ Douce’s
_Illust. of Shakespeare_, i. 485.”
In “Additional Notes and Corrections” to his ed. of _Shakespeare_ (vol.
i. cclxxxvii.) Mr. Collier observes: “Douce in his ‘Illustrations,’ from
not understanding the game of tennis, is mistaken in his definition of a
‘chase:’ a ‘chase’ is not ‘the spot where a ball falls,’ but the duration
of a contest in which the players _hunt_ or ‘chase’ the ball, bandying it
from one to the other. For the same reason, probably, the Rev. A. Dyce
in his Skelton’s Works, vol. ii. p. 206, commits a similar error, and
we think misunderstands the passage he quotes from the ‘Merry Jests of
the Widow Edith.’ To ‘mark a chase,’ the expression there employed, is
to have a chase scored or marked in favour of the successful player; and
such is the metaphorical meaning, as applied to the widow, who scored her
own chases as she walked along.”
Now, from Douce’s intimate acquaintance with the technicalities of
games, I cannot but think that he must have had some authority for his
explanation of ‘chase’—(I speak of it, without reference to Shakespeare’s
_Henry V._): and that the word _chase_ was not always used by early
writers in the sense to which Mr. Collier would limit it—“the duration of
a contest in which the players hunt or ‘chase’ the ball, bandying it from
one to the other,”—might be shewn by other passages besides the following;
“_Ric._ Reueng’d! and why, good childe?
Olde Faukenbridge hath had a worser basting.
_Fa._ I, they haue banded [me] from _chase to chase;_
I haue been their tennis ball since I did coort.”
_A pleasant Commodie called Looke about you_, 1600, sig. K 2.
R. Holme gives, among the “terms,” at tennis, “_Chase_, is to miss the
second striking of the Ball back;” and, among its “laws,” he informs us,
“6. You must observe that there is no changing sides without two _Chases_
or Forty one _Chase_, and then they may change sides, and the other
serves upon the Pent-house beyond the Blew, and then the other is bound
to play the Ball over the Line, between the _Chase_ and the end Wall;
and if the other side misses to return the Ball, he loses 15.” _Acad. of
Armory_, 1688, B. iii. p. 265. The passage of Skelton,
“She mutid [i. e. dunged] there _a chase_
Vpon my corporas face,”
taken together with that which I cited from _The Mery Jests of the Widow
Edith_, shews that the word was occasionally used as a sort of “mannerly”
term when certain uncleanly subjects were in question.
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