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