Part 4

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]ovne of golde ther commethe one syppe within my lyppe whether hyt be newe or olde. backe & syde, &c.

good ale & stronge makethe me amonge full joconde & full lyte that ofte I slepe & take no kepe frome mornynge vntyll nyte then starte I vppe & fle to the cuppe the ryte waye on I holde my thurste to staunche I fyll my paynche with joly goode ale & olde. backe & syde, &c.

and kytte my wyfe that as her lyfe lovethe well good ale to seke full ofte drynkythe she that ye maye se the tears ronne downe her cheke then dothe she troule to me the bolle as a goode malte worme sholde & saye swete harte I have take my parte of joly goode ale & olde. backe & syde, &c.

They that do dryncke tyll they nodde & wyncke even as good fellowes shulde do they shall notte mysse to have the blysse that good ale hathe browghte them to & all poore soules that skowre blacke bolles & them hathe lustely trowlde god save the lyves Of them & ther wyves wether they be yonge or olde. backe & syde,” &c.

[22] Vol. i. 1.

[23] Vol. i. 6: see Notes, vol. ii. 89.

[24] He was only eleven years old at his father’s death. See more concerning the fifth earl in Percy’s Preface to _The Northumberland Household Book_, 1770, in Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 338. ed. 4to, and in Collins’s _Peerage_, ii. 304. ed. Brydges.—Warton says that the Earl “encouraged Skelton to write this Elegy,” an assertion grounded, I suppose, on the Latin lines prefixed to it.

[25] A splendid MS. volume, consisting of poems (chiefly by Lydgate), finely written on vellum, and richly illuminated, which formerly belonged to the fifth earl, is still preserved in the British Museum, _MS. Reg. 18. D ii._: at fol. 165 is Skelton’s Elegy on the earl’s father.

[26] For a notice of Skelton’s laureation at Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Bliss obligingly searched the archives of that university, but without success: “no records,” he informs me, “remain between 1463 and 1498 that will give a correct list of degrees.”

[27] This work (a thin folio), translated by Caxton from the French, is a prose romance founded on the _Æneid_. It consists of 65 chapters, the first entitled “How the ryght puyssant kynge pryamus edyfyed the grete Cyte of Troye,” the last, “How Ascanyus helde the royalme of Ytalye after the dethe of Eneas hys fader.” Gawin Douglas, in the Preface to his translation of Virgil’s poem, makes a long and elaborate attack on Caxton’s performance;

“Wylliame Caxtoun had no compatioun Of Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois, Clepand it Virgill in Eneados, Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate; It has na thing ado therwith, God wate, Nor _na mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin_,” &c.

Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.

[28] A work probably never printed, and now lost: it is mentioned by Skelton in the _Garlande of Laurell_;

“Of _Tullis Familiars_ the translacyoun.”

vol. i. 409.

[29] A work mentioned in the same poem;

“_Diodorus Siculus_ of my translacyon Out of fresshe Latine into owre Englysshe playne, Recountyng commoditis of many a straunge nacyon; Who redyth it ones wolde rede it agayne; Sex volumis engrosid together it doth containe.”

vol. i. 420.

It is preserved in MS. at Cambridge: see Appendix II. to this Memoir.

[30] Sig. A ii.

[31] For more about poet laureat, both in the ancient and modern acceptation, see Selden’s _Titles of Honor_, p. 405. ed. 1631; the Abbé du Resnel’s _Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez_,—_Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature)_, x. 507; Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 129. ed. 4to; Malone’s _Life of Dryden (Prose Works)_, p. 78; Devon’s Introd. to _Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham_, p. xxix., and his Introd. to _Issues of the Exchequer_, &c., p. xiii.—Churchyard in his verses prefixed to Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes,_ 1568, says,

“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath, And past in schoels, ye knoe.”

see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[32] Vol. i. 128.

[33] _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 130 (note), ed. 4to.—The second entry was printed in 1736 by the Abbé du Resnel (who received it from Carte the historian) in _Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez_,—_Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature)_, x. 522. Both entries were given in 1767 by Farmer in the second edition of his _Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare_, p. 50.—The Rev. Joseph Romilly, registrar of the University of Cambridge, has obligingly ascertained for me their correctness.

[34] Vol. i. 124.

[35] Vol. i. 197.

[36] _Prologe_ to _Egloges_, sig. A 1. ed. 1570.

[37] _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 132 (note), ed. 4to, where Warton gives the subscription of the former as the title of the latter poem: his mistake was occasioned by the reprint of Skelton’s _Works_, 1736. See the present edition, vol. i. 190, 191.

[38] Du Resnel expressly says that he was made acquainted with the Cambridge entry by “M. Carte, autrement M. Phillips.” _Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez_,—_Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature)_, x. 522.—Carte assumed the name of Phillips when he took refuge in France.

[39] A gentleman resident at Louvaine obligingly examined for me the registers of that university, but could find in them no mention of Skelton.

[40] The original has “Cum:” but the initial letters of the lines were intended to form a distich; see the conclusion of the poem.

[41] Here again the original has “Cum.”

[42] From the 4to volume entitled _Opusculum Roberti Whittintoni in florentissima Oxoniensi achademia Laureati_. At the end, _Expliciūt Roberti Whitintoni Oxonie Protouatis Epygrammata: una cū quibusdā Panegyricis. Impressa Lōdini per me wynandū de worde. Anno post virgineū partū._ M. ccccc xix. _decimo vero kalēdas Maii_.

[43] Henry Bradshaw’s _Lyfe of Saynt Werburghe_, l. ii. c. 24. printed by Pynson 1521, 4to.

[44] See the two subscriptions already cited, p. xiv.; and vol. i. 132, 206, vol. ii. 25.—“Clarus & facundus in utroque scribendi genere, prosa atque metro, habebatur.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._ &c. p. 651. ed. 1559. “Inter Rhetores regius orator factus.” Pits, _De Illust. Angl. Script_. p. 701. ed. 1619. “With regard to the _Orator Regius_,” says Warton, “I find one John Mallard in that office to Henry the eighth, and his epistolary secretary,” &c. _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 132 (note), ed. 4to.

[45] Register _Hill_ 1489-1505, belonging to the Diocese of London.

[46] 1st Octr.: see Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 475. ed. 1707.

[47] See the _Garlande of Laurell_, vol. i. 408.

[48] Henry was created Duke of York 31st Octr. an. 10. Hen. vii. [1494]; see Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 480. ed. 1707. See also _The Creation of Henry Duke of Yorke_, &c. (from a Cottonian MS.) in Lord Somers’s _Tracts_, i. 24. ed. Scott.

[49] _Biblioth_. p. 676. ed. 1748.

[50] i. e. well.

[51] i. e. tutor: see Notes, vol. ii. 193.—When ladies attempt to write history, they sometimes say odd things: e. g. “It is affirmed that Skelton had been tutor to Henry [viii.] in some department of his education. _How probable it is_ that the corruption imparted by this ribald and ill-living wretch laid the foundation for his royal pupil’s grossest crimes!” _Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland_, vol. iv. 104.

[52] Fourth Poem _Against Garnesche_, vol. i. 129.

[53] _Garlande of Laurell_, vol. i. 410.—After noticing that while Arthur was yet alive, Henry was destined by his father to be archbishop of Canterbury, “it has been remarked,” says Mrs. Thomson, “that the instructions bestowed upon Prince Henry by his preceptor, Skelton, were calculated to render him a scholar and a churchman, rather than an enlightened legislator.” _Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth_, i. 2. But the description of the _Speculum Principis_, quoted above, is somewhat at variance with such a conclusion. The same lady observes in another part of her work, “To Skelton, who in conjunction with Giles Dewes, clerk of the library to Henry the Seventh, had the honour of being tutor to Henry the Eighth, this king evinced his approbation,” ii. 590, and cites in a note the Epistle to Henry the Eighth prefixed to Palsgrave’s _Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse_, 1530, where mention is made of “the synguler clerke maister Gyles Dewes somtyme instructour to your noble grace in this selfe tong.” Though Dewes taught French to Henry, surely it by no means follows that he was “his tutor in conjunction with Skelton:” a teacher of French and a tutor are very different.

[54] _Biblioth._ p. 676. ed. 1748.

[55] _Erasmi Opera_, i. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.—The Ode is appended to Erasmus’s Latin version of the _Hecuba_ and _Iphigenia in Aulide_ of Euripides, printed by Aldus in 1507; and in that edition the second line which I have quoted is found with the following variation,

“Monstrante fonteis vate _Laurigero_ sacros.”

“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man [Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy, pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms.” _Biog. Hist. of Engl._ i. 102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did by _Speake parrot_, _Ware the hauke_, _the Tunning of Elynour Rumming_, _Why come ye not to the Courte?_ _Philip Sparrowe_, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus, vnder his _prayse of Folly_, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c. _The Golden Aphroditis_, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote from _Censura Liter_. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).

[56] Then a student of Lincoln’s Inn.

[57] The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy.

[58] Probably Eltham.

[59] _Catal. (Primus) Lucubrationum_, p. 2. prefixed to the above-cited vol. of _Erasmi Opera_.—In Turner’s _Hist. of the Reign of Henry the Eighth_, it is erroneously stated that Erasmus “had the interview which he thus describes, _at the residence of Lord Mounjoy_,” i. 11. ed. 8vo.

[60] Vol. i. 410.

[61] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[62] p. 30,—1592, 4to.

[63] According to the xivᵗʰ of the _Merie Tales of Skelton_ (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir), he was “long confined in prison at Westminster by the command of the cardinal:” but the tract is of such a nature that we must hesitate about believing a single statement which it contains. Even supposing that at some period or other Skelton was really imprisoned by Wolsey, that imprisonment could hardly have taken place so early as 1502. As far as I can gather from his writings, Skelton first offended Wolsey by glancing at him in certain passages of _Colyn Cloute_, and in those passages the cardinal is alluded to as being in the fulness of pomp and power.

[64] By Writ of Privy Seal—_Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522_, fol. 101 (b.), in the Public Record Office.

[65] Ritson (_Bibliog. Poet._ p. 102) says that Skelton was “_chaplain_ to king Henry the eighth:” qy. on what authority?

[66] “He ... was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511, as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note) 1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton, Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat ... Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains is long posterior to his death.

[67] See _A deuoute trentale for old John Clarke_, who died in 1506, vol. i. 168; _Lamentatio urbis Norvicen._, written in 1507, p. 174; and _Chorus de Dis_, &c. in 1513, p. 190.

[68] I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—

“_Mr Skelton_ in goodes xl. _li._”

_Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B._ 4. 15, fol. 7,—Public Record Office. Qy. was this our author?

[69] “Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat, sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse ... animam egit ... relictis liberis.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._ pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits, _De Illust. Angl. Script._ p. 701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him (as it seems) a suspension from his benefice.... We must not forget, how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’s _Worthies_, p. 257 (Norfolk), ed. 1662.—Anthony Wood, with his usual want of charity towards the sons of genius, says that Skelton “having been guilty of certain crimes, (as most poets are,) at least not agreeable to his coat, fell under the heavy censure of Rich. Nykke bishop of Norwich his diocesan; especially for his scoffs and ill language against the monks and dominicans in his writings.” _Ath. Oxon._ i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, “Mr. Thomas Delafield in his MS. _Collection of Poets Laureate_, &c. among Gough’s MSS. in the Bodleian, says it was in return for his being married, an equal crime in the ecclesiastics of those days, bishop Nykke suspended him from his church.”—Tanner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton’s taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, “propter quod uxorem habuit.” _Biblioth._ p. 675. ed. 1748.—In the xiiiᵗʰ of the _Merie Tales_ (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skelton’s _wife_ is mentioned.

[70] “Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum æstuante, ut atro carbone libidines ejus notandæ videantur, si vera sunt quæ de illo a Nevillo perhibentur.” Godwin _De Præsul. Angl._ p. 440. ed. 1743.

[71] “In the Edition of his Workes _in 8vo. Lond._ 1736, which I have, at p. 272 he mentions _Trumpinton_, and seems to have been _Curate_ there, 5. Jan. 1507. At p. 54 he also mentions _Swafham_ and _Soham_, 2 Towns in _Cambridgeshire_, in _The Crowne of Lawrell_.” Cole’s _Collections,—Add. MSS._ (Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199. To conclude from the mention of these towns that Skelton resided in Cambridgeshire is the height of absurdity, as the reader will immediately perceive on turning to the passage in question, _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1416, vol. i. 417.—Chalmers, on the authority of a MS. note by Kennet, a transcript of which had been sent to him, states that “in 1512, Skelton was presented by Richard, abbot of Glastonbury, to the vicarage of Daltyng.” _Biog. Dict._ xxviii. 45: if Chalmers had consulted Wood’s account of the poet, he might have learned that the rector of Diss and the vicar of Dultyng were different persons.

[72] The old ed. has “scripter.”

[73] vol. i. 173.

[74] vol. i. 175.

[75] _Ath. Oxon._ i. 50. ed. Bliss.

[76] Reprinted in Appendix I. to this Memoir; where see also the extracts from _A C mery Talys_, &c.—The biographer of Skelton, in _Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain_, &c. (Lardner’s _Cyclop_.), asserts that “_he composed his Merie Tales for the king and nobles_”!!! i. 279.

[77] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[78] “Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,” &c.; see vol. i. 116.

[79] In the Notes on the poems _Against Garnesche_ I have cited several parallel expressions from _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_. That curious production may be found in the valuable edition of Dunbar’s _Poems_ (ii. 65) by Mr. D. Laing, who supposes it to have been written between 1492 and 1497 (ii. 420). It therefore preceded the “flyting” of Skelton and Garnesche. I may add, that the last portion of our author’s _Speke, Parrot_ bears a considerable resemblance to a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar, and entitled _A General Satyre_ (_Poems_, ii. 24); and that as the great Scottish poet visited England more than once, it is probable that he and Skelton were personally acquainted.

[80] At a later period there was a poetical “flyting” between Churchyard and a person named Camel, who had attacked a publication of the former called _Davie Dicars Dreame_; and some other writers took a part in the controversy: these rare pieces (known only by their titles to Ritson, _Bibliog. Poet._ p. 151, and to Chalmers, _Life of Churchyard_, p. 53) are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.

[81] In the first poem _Against Garnesche_ he is called _“Master_:” but see Notes, vol. ii. 177.

[82] Hall’s _Chron. (vi. yere Hen. viii.)_, fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.

[83] _MS. Cott. Calig. B._ vi. fol. 112.

[84] _Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522_, fol. 108 (b).

[85] _Privy Purse Accounts, A._ 5. 16. p. 21.

[86] _Auditor’s Calendar_, &c. fol. 162 (b).

[87] _Auditor’s Patent Book, No. 1._ fol. 6 (b).

[88] In an account of the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to England in June 1522, among the lodgings which were occupied on that occasion at Greenwich we find mention of “Master Garnyshe house.” See _Rutland Papers_, p. 82 (printed for the Camden Society). That a knight was frequently called “Master,” I have shewn in Notes, vol. ii. 178.

[89] _Privy Purse Accounts, A._ 5. 17. p. 175.

[90] _Teller’s Book, A._ 3. 24. p. 293.

[91] To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:

“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill, Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke, the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,

By your seruants,

John Peache, Wyllm Sandys, Robert Wotton, Edward Guldeferd, _Crystoffyr Garneys_.

To my Lorde cardynalls grace, Legate a Latere and chanceler of England.”

In _Proceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council_ (vol. vii. 183, 196), 1541, mention is made of a _Lady Garnishe_ (probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and in _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_ (p. 120) we find under June 1543,

“Item my _lady garnyshe_ seruaunt for bringing cherys xii _d._”

[92] “_Contra Skeltonum, Lib._ i.” _Script. Illust. Brit._ p. 723. ed. 1559.

[93] fol. 259. ed. 1570.

[94] vol. i. 411.

[95] i. e. snipe.

[96] See Notes, vol. ii. 159. If this line alludes to Skelton, it preserves a trait of his personal appearance.

[97] i. e. deprived, devoid.

[98] sig. c. v. ed. 1570.

[99] Vol. i. 376.

[100] Vol. i. 409.

[101] In a volume of various pieces by Gaguin, dated 1498, is a treatise on metre, which shews no mean acquaintance with the subject.

[102] “_Inuectiuam In Guil. Lilium, Lib._ i.” _Script. Illust. Brit._, &c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the description, “Lib. i.,” that the invective in question extended to a volume: it was, I presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece was “written in verse and very carping.” _Ath. Ox._ i. 52. ed. Bliss: but most probably he was acquainted with it only through Bale. He also informs us (i. 34) that Lily wrote a tract entitled

“_Apologia ad_ { _Joh. Skeltonum._ { _Rob. Whittington._”

for a copy of which I have sought in vain.

[103] See Weever’s _Fun. Monum._ p. 498. ed. 1631; Stowe’s Collections, _MS. Harl._ 540. fol. 57; and Fuller’s _Worthies_ (_Norfolk_), p. 257. ed. 1662. “And this,” says Fuller, “I will do for W. Lilly, (though often beaten for his sake,) endeavour to translate his answer: