The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2)

What can it auayle To dryue forth a snayle, Or to make a sayle Of an herynges tayle; To ryme or to rayle, To wryte or to indyte, Eyther for delyte[877] Or elles for[878] despyte...

Skelton did loue wel a cup of good wyne. And on a daye he dyd make merye in a tauerne in London: and the morow after hee sent to the same place againe for a quart of yᵉ same win...

There was a fryer yᵉ whych dydde come to Skelton to haue licence to preach at Dys. What woulde you preache there? sayde Skelton: dooe not you thynke that I am sufficiente to pre...

I, callynge to mynde the greate auctoryte Of poetes olde, whyche full craftely, Vnder as couerte termes as coude be, 10 Can touche a trouth[233] and cloke it[234] subtylly Wyth...

_Magn._ Truste me, with you I am hyghly pleasyd, For in my fauour I haue you feffyd and seasyd. He is not lyuynge your maners can amend; Mary, your speche is as pleasant as thou...

_Magn._ Alasse, that euer I sholde be so shamed! Alasse, that euer I Magnyfycence was named! Alasse, that euer I was so harde happed, 2010 In mysery and wretchydnesse thus to be...

_Fol._ By God, I can tell thé, and I wyll. Thou art so feble fantastycall, And so braynsyke therwithall, And thy wyt wanderynge here and there, That thou cannyst not growe out o...

“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp, Of viper’s venome, why dost carp? Why are my verses by thee weigh’d In a false scale? may truth be said? Whilst thou to get the more este...

_Pla ce bo_, Who is there, who? _Di le xi_, Dame Margery; Fa, re, my, my, Wherfore and why, why? For the sowle of Philip Sparowe, That was late slayn at Carowe, Among the Nones...

“Another thing yet is greatly more damnable: Of rascolde poetes yet is a shamfull rable, Which voyde of wisedome presumeth to indite, Though they haue scantly the cunning of a s...

_Lyb._ Yet suffer me to say the surpluse of my sawe; What wote ye where vpon I wyll conclude? I say, there is no welthe where as lyberte is subdude; I trowe ye can not say nay m...

_Verses presented to King Henry the Seventh at the feast of St. George celebrated at Windsor in the third year of his reign_—first printed by Ashmole (see vol. ii. 387 of the pr...

_Fan._ We wyll remedy it, man, or we go; For, lyke as mustarde is sharpe of taste,[795] Ryght so a sharpe fansy must be founde Wherwith Mesure to confounde. 560

but nowe & than I curse & banne they make ther ale so small god geve them care & evill to faare they strye the malte & all sooche pevisshe pewe I tell yowe trwe not for a c[r]ov...

Aulus Gelius, that noble historiar; Orace also with his new poetry; Mayster Terence, the famous comicar,[1575] With Plautus, that wrote full[1576] many a comody; But blessyd Bac...

“_Homo natus_ Came to heauen gatus. Sir, you doe come to latus, With your shorne patus: _Frequentia falsa Euangelii_, For the loue of your bealie, _Cum auro & argento_, You loue...

[514] _the peace_] Eds. “_the_ dronken _peace_” (except Rand’s ed., which has “a drunken,” &c.): but no doubt the word “dronken” crept into the original edition by a mistake of...

His noble blode neuer destayned was, Trew to his prince for to defend his ryght, Doblenes hatyng fals maters to compas, 150 Treytory and treason he banysht out of syght, With tr...

[1451] _Colinus Cloutus, &c._] These verses, not in eds., follow the poem of _Colyn Cloute_ in the Harleian MS. The corruptions in the second and third lines (distinguished by R...

Tell you I chyll, If that ye wyll A whyle be styll, Of a comely gyll That dwelt on a hyll: But she is not gryll, For she is somwhat sage And well worne in age; For her vysage It...

[566] _Withowte thou leue, &c._] In MS. the latter part of this line, and the concluding portions of the next two lines, are so injured by stains that I can only guess at the wo...

_A Dialogue bothe pleasaunt and pietifull, wherein is a godlie regiment against the Feuer Pestilence, with a consolation and comforte againste death. Newlie corrected by William...

Quum terra omnifero lætissima risit amictu, Plena novo fœtu quælibet arbor erat; Vertice purpurei vultus incepit honores Extensis valvis pandere pulchra rosa; Et segetum tenero...

Gup, Scot, Ye blot: _Laudate_ _Caudate_, Set in better Thy pentameter. This Dundas, This Scottishe as, He rymes and railes That Englishmen haue tailes. 10 _Skeltonus laureatus,_...

Ouer this, for a more ample processe to be farther delated and contynued, and of euery true christenman laudably to be enployed, iustifyed, and constantly mainteyned; as touchyn...

Of broken warkis[1685] wrought many a goodly thyng, In castyng, in turnynge, in florisshyng of flowris, With burris rowth[1686] and bottons surffillyng,[1687] In nedill wark ray...

_Beati im ma cu la ti in via,_ _O gloriosa fœmina!_ Now myne hole imaginacion And studyous medytacion Is to take this commendacyon In this consyderacion; 850 And vnder pacyent t...

But what of that? hard it is to please all men; Who list amende it, let hym set to his penne; 1260 For the gyse now adays Of sum iangelyng iays[1802] Is to discommende That they...

The very incomplete and inaccurate volume of 1736, and the reprint of it in Chalmers’s _English Poets_,[1] 1810, have hitherto been the only editions of Skelton accessible to th...

So many avayles, So many geales, And so many fals baylies,[602] Sawe I never: By fals and subtyll wayes All England decayes, For more envy and lyers[603] Sawe I never. 160

_Ismal, ecce, Bedel, non mel, sed fel, sibi des el![666]_ _Perfidus Achitophel, luridus atque lorell;_ _Nunc olet iste Jebal,[667] Nabal. S. Nabal, ecce, ribaldus!_ _Omnibus exo...

_Colinus Cloutus,[1451] quanquam mea[1452] carmina multis_ _Sordescunt stultis,[1453] sed_ puevinate _sunt_ rare _cultis,_ Pue vinatis altisem _divino flamine flatis.[1454]_ _Un...

_Fraxinus in silvis, altis in montibus ornus,[1871]_ _Populus in fluviis, abies, patulissima fagus,_ _Lenta salix, platanus, pinguis ficulnea ficus,_ _Glandifera et quercus, pir...

_Magn._ Sothely, to repent me I haue grete cause: Howe be it from you I receyued a letter,[871] Whiche conteyned in it a specyall clause That I sholde vse largesse.

Naye, see where yonder stondeth the teder man! A flaterynge knaue and false he is, God wote; The dreuyll stondeth to herken, and he can: It were more thryft, he boughte him a ne...