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:

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.”

“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_.”