The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)
ii. 72, we find,
“Twyt, Scot, _shake thy dogge, hay_!”
Page 194. v. 34. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 37. _A spectacle case, &c._] See note, p. 193. v. 133.
v. 40. _A tolman to blot_] A friend queries “tal man?” but _tolman_ is, I believe, pen-man: compare our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_;
“Had ye gonne with me to scole, And occupyed no better your _tole_ [i. e. pen],” &c.
v. 117. vol. i. 123.
also the commencement of the present piece,—
“Gup, Scot, Ye _blot_.”
v. 41. _rough foted_] See note, p. 222. v. 170.
v. 43. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 44. _reame_] i. e. realm.
v. 56. _rankis_] i. e., perhaps, wrangles.
v. 58. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 60. _Dunde, Dunbar_] See note, p. 219. v. 121.
v. 63. _to far_] i. e. too far.
ELEGIA IN COMITISSAM DE DERBY.
This illustrious and excellent lady, born in 1441, was Margaret, the only child of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Her first husband was Edmund, Earl of Richmond, who died in 1456, a little more than a year after their marriage, the sole issue of which was Henry, afterwards King Henry the Seventh. Her second husband was Sir Henry Stafford, second son of Humphrey, the great Duke of Buckingham. Her third husband was Thomas Lord Stanley, afterwards the first Earl of Derby of his name. Having survived him, as also her son King Henry, she died June 29, 1509, in her 69th year, and was buried in the magnificent chapel then lately erected in Westminster Abbey.
Page 195. v. 5. _polyandro_] _Polyandrum_ or _polyandrium_, (properly, _multorum commune sepulchrum_—πολυάνδριον)—“Interdum et sæpius apud ævi inferioris scriptores sumitur pro monumento aut sepulcro unius hominis.” Du Cange’s _Gloss_.—Here it means, of course, the tomb of Henry vii.—Whiting has anglicised the word in a poem appended to his _Albino and Bellama_, 1638;
“King Ethelbert’s clos’d in his _Poliander_.”
Sig. H 7.
v. 7. _Titus hanc, &c._] i. e. Livy, who gives an account of Tanaquil, wife of Tarquinius Priscus: see his _Hist._ i. 34, &c.—“Tanaquilem Sidonius Apollinaris et Ausonius pro egregia uxore.” Cassellii _Var._ lib. i. c. xiii. p. 210 (Gruteri _Lampas_, iii.).
v. 19. _Abyron_] i. e. Abiram: see _Numbers_, ch. xvi.
Page 196. v. 25. _perituræ parcere chartæ_] Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 18.
—— _phagolœdoros_] i. e. (φαγολοιδόρους) _convicia et maledicta devorantes_.
WHY WERE YE CALLIOPE, &c.
_were_, i. e. wear: concerning this dress, worn, it would seem, by Skelton as Laureat, see _Account of his Life and Writings_.
Page 197. v. 16. _somdele sere_] i. e. somewhat dry, withered.
v. 17. _fayne_] i. e. glad, willing.
THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.
This piece is a paraphrase of three portions of Brant’s _Ship of Fools_: see the Latin version by Locher, _Stultifera Nauis_, ed. 1497,—_Vxorem ducere propter opes_, fol. lx., _De livore et inuidia_, fol. lxi., and _De voluptate corporali_, fol. lviii.: the same sections will be found accompanying Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, ed. 1570,—fol. 95, fol. 97, and fol. 92.
Page 199. v. 3. _lygnage femynatyfe_] i. e. lineage feminine.
v. 9. _sythe_] i. e. since.
Page 200. l. 1. _boke_] i. e. book.
l. 2. _iyen_] i. e. eyes.
—— _loke_] i. e. look.
l. 3. _folysh_] i. e. foolish.
l. 4. _Pecunyous_] i. e. Money-loving.
—— _bee_] i. e. by.
l. 5. _wyddred_] i. e. withered.
l. 6. _nobles_] i. e. the gold coins so called.
l. 8. _habandoneth_] i. e. abandoneth.
Page 200. l. 9. _for to gather togyther the donge ... grese_] In the Latin of Locher;
“Aruinam multi quærunt sub podice asselli: Et cumulant trullas: stercora vana petunt.”
fol. lx. ed. 1497.
l. 18. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
l. 20. _debylyte_] i. e. debilitated.
l. 21. _vnpropyce_] i. e. unpropitious.
l. 23. _esperaunce_] i. e. hope, expectation.
—— _lygnage_] i. e. lineage.
l. 25. _demoraunce_] i. e. abiding.
l. 26. _leseth_] i. e. loseth.
l. 29. _hert_] i. e. heart.
l. 32. _cure_] i. e. care.
Page 201. l. 15. _conninge_] i. e. knowledge, learning, attainments.
l. 20. _whereas_] i. e. where.
l. 22. _pore_] i. e. poor.
l. 23. _corrompeth_] i. e. corrupteth,—destroyeth.
l. 30. _defende_] i. e. forbid.
Page 202. l. 3. _condycions_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
l. 4. _dyssypers_] i. e., I suppose, disperser.
l. 5. _brennest_] i. e. inflamest.
l. 6. _sleeth_] i. e. slayeth, (slayest).
l. 7. _traueyleth_] i. e. causeth travail (trouble) to.
l. 15. _reclaymeth_] i. e. proclaimeth.
l. 16. _courage_] i. e. heart, mind, disposition.
l. 17. _adnychell_] i. e. annihilate.
l. 22. _flambe_] i. e. flame.
l. 24. _where as_] i. e. where.
l. 25. _odyfferaunt_] i. e. odoriferous.
l. 27. _tho_] i. e. those.
l. 29. _dissolate_] i. e. dissolute.
Page 203. l. 6. _glauca_] Properly, I believe, _glaucus_.
—— _eyen beholdinge a trauers_] i. e., I suppose, eyes looking askance.
l. 7. _syntillously_] i. e. so as to emit sparks.
l. 14. _were delybered_] i. e. were advised, were minded.
l. 16. _domage_] i. e. damage, loss.
l. 20. _brenneth_] i. e. burneth.
l. 21. _edefyed_] i. e. built.
l. 24. _egally_] i. e. equally, justly.
l. 28. _incontinente_] i. e. immediately.
Page 203. l. 29. _Cayme_] i. e. Cain. So formerly the name was often written:
“He was of _Kaymes_ kunrede.”
_Kyng Alisaunder_,—Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 84.
l. 32. _Thesius_] Should of course be _Thyestes_, as in Locher’s Latin: yet Barclay in his version of the passage has,
“Atreus storye and _Theseus_ cruel.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 96 [99], ed. 1570.
Page 204. l. 4. _rested_] i. e. roasted.
—— _theim_] i. e., perhaps, (if it be not a misprint for “_him_”) the guests: but the whole passage is scarcely intelligible.
l. 6. _Ethiocles_] So written in Locher’s Latin for Eteocles; and so Lydgate,—
“But make youre myrroure of _Ethyocles_.”
_Storye of Thebes, Pars Prima_, sig. C v. ed. 4to. n. d.
l. 12. _collacion_] Equivalent here, I believe, to comparison.
l. 17. _cautellous_] i. e. crafty, wily.
l. 25. _pill_] i. e. strip.
l. 26. _mondayne_] i. e. worldly, gross.
l. 27. _cheseth_] i. e. chooseth.
Page 205. l. 7. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
l. 8. _lenger_] i. e. longer.
l. 17. _sith_] i. e. since.
l. 18. _asprely_] i. e. roughly, severely.
—— _enforce_] i. e. exert.
A REPLYCACION, &c.
Concerning the “yong scolers” against whom this piece was composed, I can give no information.
Page 206. l. 9. _contemplationem_] See note, p. 214, title of Epitaph.
Page 207. l. 4. _remordyng_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
—— _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.
l. 5. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
l. 25. _enbolned_] i. e. swollen, puffed up.
l. 26. _pipplyng_] i. e. piping: compare our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 676. vol. i. 388.
l. 29. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable.
Page 208. l. 1. _sped_] i. e. versed.
l. 2. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 8.
—— _in the Uyntre_ _At the Thre Cranes_]
Here the tavern with the sign of the Three Cranes is meant: the _three cranes_ were originally three strong cranes of timber, placed on the Vintry-wharf, for lifting from the ships the vessels of foreign wine which were landed there.
Page 208. v. 16. _enflamed_] i. e. burned.
last l. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.
—— _processe_] i. e. treatise; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 195. v. 157; and compare v. 160 of this piece with the heading before v. 343, where “_matter_” and “_processe_” are used as synonymous.
Page 209. l. 5. _tetrycall_] i. e. sour, sullen, gloomy.
l. 6. _friscaioly_] So in the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“Synge _frysha Joly_ with hey troly loly.”
Sig. B ii.
l. 7. _moche better bayned than brayned_] Does _bayned_ here mean—boned? In (at least Scottish) poetry we frequently find the expression “_bayne_ [bone] and brayne:” see, for instance, Henry’s _Wallace_, B. vii. v. 596. ed. Jam.
l. 9. _burblyng_] “I _Burbyll_ or spring vp as water dothe out of a spring.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxix. (Table of Verbes).
“And playd with _burbels_ of the water.”
_Marie Maudelein_, p. 239,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Cathol._ (from the Auchinleck MS.)
“The _burbly_ wawes in vp boyling.”
Lydgate’s _Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147,—
where a word has dropt out of the line. (The ed. reprinted for the Roxburgh Club has—
“The _burbill_ wawes in their vp boyllyng.”)
—— _blode_] i. e. blood.
l. 11. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
l. 15. _perihermeniall principles_] i. e. principles of interpretation. “_Periermeniæ_, Interpretationes; vox Græcæ originis περὶ ἑρμηνείας.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
l. 17. _leudly_] i. e. ignorantly—or perhaps, wickedly.
l. 23. _surcudant_] i. e. presumptuous, arrogant.
l. 24. _popholy_] Occurs again several times in our author’s writings, and with the more correct spelling,—_popeholy_. In _Pierce Plowman_ we find,
“And none so singuler by him selfe, nor so _pope holy_.”
Sig. T ii. ed. 1561.
In Chaucer’s _Romaunt of the Rose_ is the following description;
“Another thing was doen their [there] write, That seemed like an ipocrite, And it was cleped _pope holy_, That ilke is she that priuily Ne spared neuer a wicked deed When men of her taken none heed, And maketh her outward precious, With pale visage and piteous, And seemeth a simple creature,” &c.
_Workes_, fol. 111. ed. 1602.
The original French of the preceding passage is,—
“Une autre imaige estoit escripte, Qui sembloit bien estre ypocrite, _Papelardie_ est appellée,” &c.
_Le Rom. de la Rose_, vol. i. 15. ed. 1735.
Roquefort (_Gloss. de la Langue Romaine_) cites these lines under “_Papelardie_, papelardise: Hypocrisie, tromperie, subtilité, mauvaise foi.” See too Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Papelardia_, _Papelardus_. Compare also Lydgate;
“And for _popholy_ and uyce loke wel aboute.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 51.
and Barclay;
“Ouer sad or proude, disceitfull and _pope holy_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 57. ed. 1570.
and the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“For rather than I wolde vse suche foly To pray to study or be _pope holy_ I had as lyf be ded.”
Sig. B ii.
Page 209. l. 33. _orgulyous_] i. e. proud, insolent.
Page 210. v. 22. _vnbrent_] i. e. unburnt.
v. 23. _content_] As the marginal note has _Convenio_, is it not a misprint for “convent?”
v. 24. _leudly_] i. e. badly, wickedly.
v. 26. _disable_] i. e. disqualify, degrade, disparage: “_disablinge_ hymself in wordes, though his entent was otherwise.” Hall’s _Chron._ (Hen. _viii._) fol. lvii. ed. 1548.
v. 37. _ianglyng_] i. e. babbling, chattering,—noisy.
v. 38. _clawes_] i. e. clause.
v. 39. _poppyng dawes_] Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“_Poppynge_ folysshe _dawes_.”
v. 261. vol. ii. 35.
and v. 121 of the present piece;
“And porisshly _forthe popped_ Your sysmaticate sawes.”
“_Popping_, blabbing, like a popinjay or parrot.” _Gloss._ to _Exmoor Scolding_: _dawes_, i. e. simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 210. v. 45. _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.
v. 48. _baudrie_] i. e. foul language: see note, p. 161. v. 90.
v. 50. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 211. v. 54. _confettred_] i. e. confederated.
v. 61. _attamed_] i. e. tamed.
v. 65. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 66. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 75. _Te he, &c._] Expressions of laughter;
“_Te he_, quod she, and clapt the window to.”
Chaucer’s _Milleres Tale_, v. 3738. ed. Tyr.
v. 76. _mo_] i. e. more.
Page 212. v. 87. _reny_] i. e. renounce, abjure.
v. 89. _brende_] i. e. burnt.
v. 92. _discured_] i. e. discovered.
v. 95.
_Ye are vnhappely vred._ _In your dialeticall, &c._]
The old (and unique) copy is without punctuation in this passage; but that the first line closes the sense, and that Skelton did not mean that these heretics were _unhappely ured in their dialectical_, &c. would appear from a comparison of other passages:
“Agaynst these heretykes, Nowe of late abiured, Most _vnhappely vred_: For be ye wele assured,” &c.
v. 403 of the present piece.
“But men nowe a dayes so _vnhappely be vryd_, That nothynge than welth may worse be enduryd.”
_Magnyfycence_, v. 6. vol. i. 226.
“O Scottes pariured, _Vnhaply vred_, Ye may be assured,” &c.
_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 125. vol. ii. 71.
In our author’s _Colyn Cloute_ we find,
“Wherfore he hath good _vre_,” &c.
v. 1003. vol. i. 350.
in the note on which line I have cited various examples of _vre_ in the sense of—hap, luck; and in his poem _Against the Scottes_,
“_Male vryd_ was your fals entent,”
v. 111. vol. i. 185.
which surely means—Ill-fortuned, &c. (Fr. _malheur_). Is _vnhappely vred_ to be considered as nearly synonymous with _male vryd_, or is it to be explained,—unhappily (evilly) _used_, practised, habituated?
Page 212. v. 98.
_If ye to remembrance call_ _Howe syllogisari_ _Non est ex particulari,_ _Neque negativis,_ _Recte concludere si vis_]
“_Nullus syllogismus categoricus communis, vel ex solis particularibus, vel ex solis negativis constare potest._ Hanc [regulam] expresse tradit Aristoteles libro primo Prior. capite 24. numero primo. Hinc metrum hoc natum:
Ex _particulari_ non est syllogizari, Neque _negativis_, recte concludere si vis.”
Crakanthorp’s _Logicæ Libri Quinque_, 1622. p. 279.
v. 107. _Your hertes than were hosed_] i. e. Your hearts were in your hose (breeches): so again our author in his _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“Their _hertes be in thyr_ hose.”
v. 286. vol. ii. 35.
See too Ray’s _Proverbs_, (Scottish), p. 292. ed. 1768.
v. 113. _quosshons_] i. e. cushions.
v. 115. _Harpocrates_] The God of Silence.
Page 213. v. 120. _folysshly_] i. e. foolishly.
—— _fopped_] A singular example of the word as a verb.
v. 121. _porisshly_] In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ is “_porisshly_ pynk iyde,” v. 626. vol. i. 386 (and Palsgrave has “_Porisshly_, as one loketh that can nat se well”); see note on the passage: but I cannot determine the meaning of the word here.
v. 124. _dawes_] i. e. simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 126. _elenkes_] i. e. elenchs (_elenchus_—in logic).
v. 132. _prouoke and tyse_] i. e. incite and entice.
v. 143. _exhibycion_] i. e. allowance of money.
v. 144. _skoles_] i. e. schools.
v. 145. _foles_] i. e. fools.
v. 147. _founde_] i. e. maintained.
Page 214. v. 156. _brute_] i. e. saying, proverb.
v. 165. _skyes_] i. e. clouds.
v. 168. _dawns_] i. e. dance.
v. 169. _ray_] See note, p. 194. v. 170.
v. 171. _lau_] i. e. law.
v. 172. _shayle_] See note, p. 97. v. 19.
Page 214. v. 175. _babyls_] i. e. baubles.
Page 215. v. 196. _face_] i. e. face out.
v. 199. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 204. _lollardy_] i. e. heretical; see note, p. 204. v. 145.
v. 206. _predycacion_] i. e. declaration,—or preaching.
v. 207. _knowlege_] i. e. acknowledge.
v. 212. _muse_] Is properly the opening in a fence or thicket, through which a hare or other beast of sport, is accustomed to pass: see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. and Moor’s _Suff. Words_, in v. _Mewse_.
v. 215.
_With blowyng out your hornes,_ ... _With chatyng and rechatyng_]
Whatever Skelton may have meant by “chatyng,”—(perhaps he uses it for _chatting_,—in the next line we have “pratyng”),—_rechatyng_ is properly a hunting-term, and signifies sounding the _rechate_ or _recheat_ (Fr.), a certain set of notes blown with the horn to recal the dogs.
v. 219. _pystels_] i. e. epistles.
Page 216. v. 220. _bremely_] i. e. fiercely, roughly.
v. 234. _lydder_] i. e. bad.
v. 247. _popeholy_] See note on prose of this piece, l. 24. p. 230.
Page 217. v. 260. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 264. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
v. 267. _the people of lay fee_] i. e. the laity; as again in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“_The lay fee people_ rayles.”
v. 403. (where MS. omits “fee”) vol. i. 326:
_fee_, i. e. possessions; see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._, and Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 274. _snapper_] i. e. stumble; but see note, p. 92. v. 4.
—— _werkes_] i. e. works.
v. 280. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 281. _latria_] “Le culte que nous déférons à Dieu seul, nous l’appellons _Latrie_ [λατρεία].” _Perroniana_, p. 312. ed. 1740.
v. 285.
_But, I trowe, your selfe ye ouerse_ _What longeth to Christes humanyte._ _If ye haue reed de hyperdulia,_ _Than ye knowe what betokeneth dulia_]
—_ouerse_, i. e. overlook: _longeth_, i. e. belongeth. “L’adoration de _Superdulie_ est celle qui se défère à la Vierge, et elle est plus eminente pour la grace qu’elle a reçu de Dieu, plus particuliere que les autres Saints, pour avoir porté le Fils de Dieu en ses entrailles.” _Perroniana_, p. 71. “Aux Saints nous déférons l’honneur qu’on appelle _Dulie_.” _Id._ p. 312. ed. 1740. “_Dulia_ [δουλεία] enim adoratio est, quæ etiam creaturæ exhibetur, quæ duas species habet, unam quæ hominibus indifferenter, alteram quæ soli humanitati Christi exhibetur.” Gaufridus Abbas in Epist. ad Albinum Cardinalem,—cited by Du Cange, _Gloss._ in v.
Page 218. v. 293. _mased_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 295. _brent_] i. e. burnt.
v. 296. _bvsynesse_] i. e. trouble.
v. 297. _vyse_] i. e. advise.
v. 298. _scoles_] i. e. schools.
v. 299. _foles_] i. e. fools.
Page 219. v. 303. _replycable_] i. e. such as can be replied to.
Page 220. v. 323. _remorded_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 225. _his pystell ad Paulinum_] i. e. his Epistle _ad Paulinum presbyterum de omnibus divinæ historiæ libris_, prefixed to the Vulgate: the passage quoted by Skelton is also to be found in Hieronymi _Opera_, I. 1011. ed. 1609.
—— _Serenus_] The Scholium on this name in Hieronymi _Opera_ is: “Aulus Serenus lyricus ipse etiam fuit, et, ut Terentianus est auctor, eleganti ac facili ingenio, et ad jocos amoresque describendos accommodato: Martianus Capella ac Nonius sæpius ejus carmina citant.” I. 1017. ed. 1609.—See also an account of Serenus, prefixed to his extant pieces, in Wernsdorf’s _Poetæ Latini Minores_, tom. ii.
v. 337. _armony_] i. e. harmony.
Page 221. _processe_] See note, p. 230, on last line (prose) of p. 208.
v. 359.
_For if ye sadly loke,_ _And wesely rede the Boke_ _Of Good Aduertysement,_ _With me ye must consent, &c._]
—_sadly loke_, i. e. seriously look, consider. In the _Garlande of Laurell_ Skelton mentions, as one of his own compositions,
“Item _Good Aduysement_, that brainles doth blame.”
v. 1186. vol. i. 409.
Qy. does he allude to it here?
Page 222. v. 395. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
Page 223. v. 399. _make_] i. e. compose.
v. 405. _vnhappely vred_] See note on v. 95. p. 232.
MAGNYFYCENCE.
“That this piece was composed subsequently to the year 1515, seems evident from the mention made in one place [v. 283] of ‘Kynge Lewes of Fraunce’ as an example of liberality [and as dead, v. 285]; and this could only mean Louis xii., who died in that year, as his immediate predecessor of that name [who died in 1483] was the most niggardly of wretches.” _MS. note by Ritson on a transcript of_ Magnyfycence.
Page 226. v. 4. _probate_] In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ mention is made of
“Macrobius that did trete Of Scipions dreme what was the treu _probate_.”
v. 367. vol. i. 376.
where _probate_ is proof, meaning, or, perhaps, interpretation: but in what sense Skelton uses the word here I cannot determine, the greater part of this speech being beyond my comprehension.
v. 5. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 6. _vnhappely be vryd_] See note, p. 232. v. 95.
v. 9. _amense_] i. e., perhaps, amends.
v. 10. _by_] i. e. buy, acquire.
v. 16. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 17. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 22. _wonnys_] i. e. dwells.
—— _and a man wolde wyt_] i. e. if a man would know.
v. 24. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
Page 227. v. 33. _Ye, to knackynge ernyst what and it preue_]—i. e. Yea, what if it prove mocking earnest: compare the preceding line, and see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scott. Lang._ in v. _Knack_.
v. 35. _in the mew_] i. e. in confinement,—properly, the place in which hawks were kept, or in which fowls were fattened: see note on _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 219.
v. 36. _a cue_] Is explained (see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict_. &c.)—a farthing, as being merely the sound of _q̄_, the abbreviation of _quadrans_. But Minsheu has; “_Cue_, halfe a farthing, so called because they set down in the Battling or Butterie Bookes in Oxford and Cambridge the letter q. for halfe a farthing, and in Oxford when they make that Cue or q. a farthing, they say, Cap my q., and make it a farthing thus qͣ. But in Cambridge,” &c. _Guide into Tongues_, ed. 1617.
v. 37. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 227. v. 39. _condyssende_] “I _Condescende_ I agre to a mater.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cxciiii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 44. _countenaunce_] i. e. continence, restraint.
v. 45. _let_] i. e. hinder, restrain.
v. 47. _corage_] i. e. inclination, desires.
v. 56. _parcell_] i. e. part, portion.
v. 57. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 60.
_Somwhat I coulde enferre,_ _Your consayte to debarre_]
i. e. I could bring in somewhat to hinder, contravene, your conception of the subject. So again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“Madame, your apposelle is wele _inferrid_, And at your auauntage quikly it is Towchid, and hard for to be _debarrid_.”
v. 141. vol. i. 367.
Page 228. v. 65. _fet_] i. e. fetch.
v. 72. _the surpluse of my sawe_] i. e. the remainder of my saying.
v. 74. _where as_] i. e. where.
v. 80. _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 86. _wonder_] I may observe that the Roxburgh reprint, without authority, and against the sense, has “no _wonder_.”
v. 89. _ken_] i. e. instruct.
v. 90. _wonders_] i. e. wondrous.
v. 92. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 229. v. 94. _other_] i. e. either.
v. 95.
_To you I arecte it, and cast_ _Therof the reformacyon_]
So Skelton again;
“Syth vnto me formest this processe is _erectyd_.”
v. 2507 of the present drama.
“_Arrectinge_ vnto your wyse examinacion How all that I do is vnder refformation.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 410. vol. i. 378.
He has also,
“_Arectyng_ my syght towarde the zodyake.”
_Id._ v. 1. p. 361.
“My supplycacyon to you I _arrect_.”
_Id._ v. 55. p. 363.
_Arect_ in our early writers frequently signifies—impute, a meaning foreign to the present passages: in the two last cited, there can be no doubt that it is used in the sense of—raise: in the others it seems to mean—offer, refer.
Page 229. v. 103. _Come of, therfore, let se_] Compare Chaucer;
“—— _let see, come off_, and say.”
_Court of Loue_,—_Workes_, fol. 331. ed. 1602.
and _Reynard the Fox_; “Why tarye ye thus longe, _come of_.” Sig. b 7. ed. 1481: and _Morte d’Arthur_; “_Come of_ thenne sayd they alle, and do hit.” Book xx. cap. iiii. vol. ii. 394. ed. Southey.
v. 106. _reason and skyll_] An expression which Skelton has elsewhere; but the words are nearly synonymous. “_Skyll_. Racio.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 113. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.
v. 114. _intere_] i. e. entire.
v. 115. _Oracius to recorde_] i. e. Horace to witness.
v. 117. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 126. _Measure is treasure_] Lydgate mentions this as “an olde prouerbe:” see his verses on Moderation, _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 29, and his poem beginning “Men wryte of oold how _mesour is tresour.” Id._ 2255. fol. 143.
—— _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
Page 230. v. 131. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 133. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 134. _renne_] i. e. run.
v. 137. _a rest_] i. e. a wrest—by which the strings of harps and other musical instruments were drawn up.
v. 138. _All trebyllys and tenours be rulyd by a meyne_] “Intercentus, a _meane_ of a songe.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the notes on Shakespeare, in Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ &c., _mean_ is wrongly explained—tenor: what the _mean_ was, depended entirely on the nature of the composition.
v. 139. _beste_] i. e. beast.
v. 149. _skyll_] i. e. reason: see note on v. 106.
v. 150. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 151. _It is no maystery_] “_Maystry_ done by delyuernesse _ung tovr de souplesse, appertise_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.); and see note, p. 113. v. 329.
“So me helpe God! queth Beues tho, _Hit were no meistri_ me to slo, For this is the ferthe dai agon Mete ne drinke ne bot I non.”
_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 68. Maitl. ed.
“That is _lytel maystry_ sayd syre launcelot to slee myn hors.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. iiii. vol. ii. 369. ed. Southey.
Page 230. v. 153. _herdely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 231. v. 166. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 175. _Conuenyent_] i. e. Fit, suitable.
—— _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 178. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming,—a word very common in our early poetry (altered unnecessarily to “fyttynge” in the Roxburgh reprint of this piece).
v. 182. _his large_] i. e. his range.
v. 184. _hooly_] i. e. wholly.
v. 189. _sawe_] i. e. sow.
v. 190. _nother to_] i. e. neither too.
—— _lawe_] i. e. low: so again in v. 2541, “nowe hy, nowe _lawe_ degre.”
v. 193. _consayte_] i. e. conception.
Page 232. v. 202. _losyll so lyther_] i. e. scoundrel so wicked.
v. 209. _plenarly_] i. e. fully, entirely.
v. 213. _Had I wyste_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
v. 216. _to fer_] i. e. too far.
v. 219. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 226. _mone_] i. e. moon.
v. 230. _lyghtly_] “_Lightly_ or sone [i. e. soon]. Leuiter.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499: or, easily.
Page 233. v. 231. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 233. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 234. _a poppynge fole_]—_fole_, i. e. fool. “He is a _popte fole_ or a starke fole for the nones. Homo fatuitate monstrabilis.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. P iii. ed. 1530. And see note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 239. _delyaunce_] i. e. dalliance, delay.
v. 249. _endure_] i. e. remain, dwell.
v. 256. _Here is none forsyth whether you flete or synke_]—_forsyth_, i. e. regardeth, careth: _flete_, i. e. float, swim. So Chaucer;
“Him _recketh neuer whether she flete or sinke_.”
_Annel. and Ar._,—_Workes_, fol. 244. ed. 1602.
v. 257. _lokyd_] i. e. looked.
v. 259. _hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
Page 234. v. 260. _iangelynge Jacke of the vale_] i. e. chattering, &c.; see note, p. 104. v. 6.
v. 266. _Mary_] i. e. by the Virgin Mary.
v. 267. _largesse_] i. e. bounty, liberality.
v. 269. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 272. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 274. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 280. _hardely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 234. v. 280. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 283. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
—— _Kynge Lewes_] i. e. King Louis the twelfth: see note on title, p. 236.
v. 285. _syth_] i. e. since.
v. 290. _Jacke shall haue Gyl_] So Heywood;
“Come chat at home, all is well, _Jack shall haue Gill_.”
_Dialogue_, sig. F 3.—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 235. v. 295. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 296. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
—— _Dauncaster cuttys_] i. e. Doncaster horses.—_Cut_ was a term for a common horse, from its having the tail cut short.
v. 297. _bolte_] i. e. arrow (for a description of it, see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.).
—— _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 298. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 300. _this checke if ye voyde canne_] “_Checke_ a mery taunt.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, fol. xxiii. (Table of Subst.). “I _Voyde_ a thyng out of the way or out of syght, _Ie oste_.” _Id._ fol. ccclxxxxix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 301. _to longe to scole_] i. e. too long to school.
v. 302. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 303. _pole_] i. e. pool, water.
v. 304. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 306. _Go, shake the dogge, hay_] See note, p. 226. v. 28.
v. 310. _to play with me checke mate_] In allusion to the king being put in _check_ at the game of chess.
v. 311. _your noble estate_] Equivalent to—your noble lordship.
v. 312. _recorde_] i. e. testimony.
v. 314. _Sad_] i. e. Grave, serious, sober.
v. 318. _hele_] i. e. health.
v. 319. _commaunde_] i. e. commend.
v. 321. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 322. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 323. _kepe_] i. e. heed, care, attention.
Page 236. v. 325. _after none_] i. e. afternoon.
v. 327. _Whylest_] i. e. Until.
v. 333. _mynde_] i. e. fancy.
v. 336. _beholde_] i. e. beholden.
v. 341. _By lakyn_] i. e. by our Lady: _lakyn_ is the contraction of _ladykyn_, little lady.
v. 346. _Pountesse_] i. e. Pontoise.
Page 236. v. 347. _taken me_] i. e. committed, consigned to me.
Page 237. v. 355. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 357. _They bare me in hande that I was a spye_] i. e. They accused me, laid to my charge, that, &c.
“This false knight, that hath this treson wrought, _Bereth hire in hond_ that she hath don this thing.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 5039. ed. Tyr.
“I _Beare in hande_ I threp vpon a man that he hath done a dede, or make hym byleue so, _Ie fais accroyre_” ... “What crime or yuell mayest thou _beare me in hande of: Quel crime ou mal me peulx tu mettre sus_.” Palgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxii. (Table of Verbes). “Many be _borne an hande_ of a faute, and punysshed therfore, that were neuer gylty. Plerique facinoris _insimulantur_,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. m ii. ed. 1530. This expression occurs with a different shade of meaning in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_,—
“_He bereth the kyng on hand_, That he must pyll his lande,” &c.
v. 449. vol. ii. 40.
v. 362.
_And wolde haue made me Freer Tucke,_ _To preche out of the pylery hole_]
Friar Tuck was one of Robin Hood’s merry companions. Concerning these lines Ritson remarks that there is “an evident allusion to some game or practice now totally forgotten and inexplicable.” _Robin Hood_, i. xxvi.
v. 364. _antetyme_] i. e. text. So in the absurd story of Skelton’s preaching, _Merie Tales_, (reprinted in Appendix to _Account of his Life and Writings_), “I say, as I said before in my _antethem, vos estis_.” _Tale vii_.
v. 366. _moche warke_] i. e. much work, trouble.
v. 367. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 369. _made largesse as I hyght_] i. e. made donation of money according to my name (Fancy’s assumed name being Largesse, see v. 272).
v. 375. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate or rank.
Page 238. v. 384. _ye_] i. e. yea.
v. 385. _mesure is a mery mene_] Heywood in his _Epigrammes vpon Prouerbs_ has ten on “Measure is a mery meane.” Sig. N iiii.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 388. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 391. _oder_] i. e. other.
v. 405. _blunderyng_] i. e. disturbance. “I _Blonder, Ie perturbe_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxviii. (Table of Verbes).
Page 238. v. 406. _betake_] i. e. commit, consign.
v. 411. _to put the stone_] i. e. to throw the stone above hand, from the uplifted hand, for trial of strength.
Page 239. v. 413. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion, manner.
v. 417. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
v. 423. _lurdayne_] i. e. lumpish, lazy fellow, clown,—worthless person in general.
v. 425. _tappyster_] i. e. woman presiding over the tap in a public house.
v. 429. _can_] i. e. know.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 430. _occupy_] i. e. use: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
—— _kayes_] i. e. keys.
v. 433. _at all assayes_] Occurs again in v. 2303. “_At all assayes, En tous poynts_, or _a tous poynts_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxviii. (Table of Aduerbes). “He is a frende _at all assayes_. _Omnium horarum_ amicus est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Y iiii. ed. 1530.
v. 435. _mekyll_] i. e. much.
v. 444. _sleyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
Page 240. v. 446. _fayty bone geyte_] Perhaps corrupted French—_fait a bon get_ or _geste_.
v. 449. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 453. _noppe is rughe_] i. e. nap is rough.
v. 455. _chafer_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 458. _The courtly gyse of the newe iet_] A somewhat pleonastic expression,—the courtly guise of the new fashion. “_Gette_ a custome _guise nouuelle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxvi. (Table of Subst.).
“Yit a poynte _of the new gett_ to telle wille I not blyn.”
_Juditium_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 312.
v. 460. _ferre fet_] i. e. far fetched.
v. 461. _ymet_] i. e. met.
v. 462. _Margery Mylke Ducke_] See note, p. 172. v. 418.
—— _mermoset_] A kind of ape or monkey.
v. 465. _fresshe_] i. e. smart.
v. 469. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 470. _iet_] i. e. strut; see note, p. 94. v. 43.
v. 472. _pope holy_] See note, p. 230. l. 24.
v. 473. _sadnesse_] i. e. gravity, seriousness, soberness, discreetness.
Page 240. v. 475. _not worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 477. _occupy_] i. e. use; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 478. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
Page 241. v. 482. _tehe wehe_] See note, p. 232. v. 75.
v. 485. _knokylbonyarde_] Compare Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540; “Do I raygne here on this facion, being a swynherde amongest swyne of Boeatia. i. amongest a meyny of iacke holde my staues, or _knockyldeboynyardes_, beinge but of late a kynge,” &c. Sig. Y iiii.; and Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.,—
“He is a _knuckilbonyard_ very meete To match a minion neither fayre nor sweete.”
Sig. D 4.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 486. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 488. _warke_] i. e. work, business, matter.
v. 489. _yarke_] i. e. strike, lash.
v. 490. _custrell_] “_Coustrell_ that wayteth on a speare _covsteillier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Coustillier_: An Esquire of the body; an Armour-bearer unto a Knight; the servant of a man at Armes; also, a groom of a stable, a horse-keeper.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 492. _this_] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38 (and so in the next line).
—— _freers_] i. e. friars.
—— _famine_] “_Famen_, sermo, verbum.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
v. 506. _By God, I haue bene about a praty pronge_]—_praty_, i. e. pretty: in the present line at least, _pronge_ seems to mean—prank (Dutch _pronk_), whatever be its signification in the following passage of our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“And howe at _a pronge_ We tourne ryght into wronge.”
v. 1196. vol. i. 357.
Page 242. v. 510. _pagent_] i. e. part: see notes, p. 88. v. 85; p. 189. v. 190.
v. 512. _by lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 513. _heyre parent_] i. e. heir apparent.
v. 514. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 516. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 518. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart (_Cock_, a corruption of _God_).
v. 521. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 526. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 529. _large_] A play on the meanings of the word,—big, and liberal.
Page 242. v. 533. _cofer kay_] i. e. coffer-key.
v. 535. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note, p. 109. v. 199.
Page 243. v. 539. _alowde_] i. e. approved.
v. 554. _in same_] i. e. in the same place (a pleonasm,—since “_togyder_” precedes).
v. 561. _Can_] i. e. Know.
v. 562. _spedde_] i. e. versed.
v. 564. _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 568. _ouerwharte_] i. e. overthwart—cross, perverse, wrangling.
v. 569. _beshrowe_] i. e. curse.
v. 571. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
Page 244. v. 573. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 575. _my botes and my spores_] i. e. my boots and my spurs.
v. 578. _Cockes woundes_] i. e. God’s wounds; see note on v. 518, preceding page.
v. 580. _loketh_] i. e. looketh.
v. 585. _iurde hayte_] Words (French perhaps) which I do not understand.
v. 591. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 592. _a leysshe of ratches to renne an hare_] i. e. a leash of—three—hounds to run a hare.
v. 597. _prece_] i. e. press.
Page 245. v. 609. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 625. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 628. _do togyder_] i. e. put it together.
v. 629. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 633. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
v. 635. _a captyuyte_] Is rather, I suspect, a misprint for, than used in the sense of—_in_: compare v. 2543.
Page 246. v. 639. _the playnesse_] i. e. the plain fact.
v. 644. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 658. _a pystell of a postyke_]—_pystell_, i. e. epistle, letter; but I do not understand the expression.
v. 659. _fonnysshe_] i. e. foolish.
v. 666. _freke_] i. e. fellow: see notes, p. 109. v. 187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 667. _peke_] “I _Peke_ or prie.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. [—xv.] (Table of Verbes).
Page 247. v. 672. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 679. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 681. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 685. _By the armes of Calys_] See note, p. 118. v. 398.
v. 687. _slyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
v. 688. _fonde consayte_] i. e. foolish conceit,—fantasies.
Page 247. v. 690. _sadnesse_] See note on v. 473. p. 242.
v. 692. _Cockys body_] i. e. God’s body: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 695. _whylyst_] i. e. until.
v. 698. _quyte_] i. e. acquit.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
Page 248. v. 707. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 713. _geste_] i. e. guest.
v. 719. _hynder_] “_Hyndringe_ or harmynge. Dampnificacio.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “I _Hynder_ I hurte, _Ie porte dommage_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxii. (Table of Verbes).
“Lest the reporte in _hinderyng_ of his name,” &c.
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iii. sig. Q ii. ed. 1555.
v. 720. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 722. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 730. _lacke_] i. e. blame.
v. 732. _sped_] i. e. versed.
v. 733. _lytherly_] i. e. wickedly.
v. 734. _Paynte_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
Page 249. v. 737. _fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
—— _tyned_] i. e. pointed, pronged.
v. 745. _shrewdenes_] i. e. wickedness, evil.
v. 746. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate, or rank.
v. 748. _flery_] i. e. fleer.
—— _pretence_] i. e. intent.
v. 751. _bronde_] i. e. brand.
v. 752. _mase_] i. e. bewilder, confound.
—— _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 754. _bale_] i. e. sorrow, trouble.
v. 755. _Huffa, huffa_] See note, p. 181. v. 16.
v. 756. _a_] i. e. he.
v. 757. _Rutty bully_] See note, p. 94. v. 29.
—— _ioly rutterkyn, heyda_] Occurs in a song preserved in the Fairfax MS. which once belonged to Ralph Thoresby, and is now among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum (5465, fol. 114):
“Hoyda _joly rutterkyn hoyda_ Lyke a rutterkyn hoyda.
Rutterkyn is com vnto oure towne In a cloke withoute cote or gowne Save a raggid hode to kouer his crowne Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn can speke no englissh His tonge rennyth all on buttyrd fyssh Besmerde with grece abowte his disshe Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn shall bryng you all good luk A stoup of bere vp at a pluk Till his brayne be as wise as a duk Like a rutter hoyda.
When rutterkyn from borde will ryse He will piss a galon pott full at twise And the ouerplus vndir the table of the newe gyse Like a rutter hoyda.”
Sir John Hawkins printed the above song (with the music) and tells us that it “is supposed to be a satire on those drunken Flemings who came into England with the princess Anne of Cleve, upon her marriage with king Hen. viii.” _Hist. of Music_, iii. 2. But if it be the very song quoted in our text, it must allude to “rutterkyns” of a considerably earlier period; and, as the Fairfax MS. contains two other pieces which are certainly known to be from Skelton’s pen, there is a probability that this also was composed by him.
_Court. Ab._ in his next speech but one says, “am not I a ioly _rutter_?” and (v. 846)
“My robe russheth So _ruttyngly_.”
_Rutter_, which properly means—a rider, a trooper (Germ. _reiter_, _reuter_), came to be employed, like its diminutive _rutterkin_, as a cant term, and with various significations, (see Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. q iii. ed. 1530; Drant’s _Horace His Arte of Poetrie, pistles_, &c. sig. D ii. ed. 1567). When _Court. Ab._ asks “am not I a ioly _rutter_?” he evidently uses the word in the sense of—dashing fellow, gallant, alluding to his dress, on which he afterwards enlarges in a soliloquy. In v. 805 _Cr. Con._ terms him “this ioly _ietter_.” Compare the following passage of Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d.;
“And whan he is in suche aray There goth _a rutter_ men wyll say _a rutter huf a galand_.”
Sig. d ii.
Page 249. v. 759. _Decke your hofte, &c._.]—_hofte_, i. e. head. If I rightly understand the passage, _Court. Ab._ desires _Cl. Col._ to put on his hat, or cap: see note below the text.
v. 760. _Say vous, &c._] i. e. _Savez vous_, &c.: the last three words of the line seem to be the beginning of some French song.
Page 249. v. 761. _Wyda_] i. e. _Oui da!_
v. 763. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
—— _stonde vtter_] i. e. stand out, back.
v. 765. _a betell or a batowe, or a buskyn lacyd_] In _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d., besides “Feritorium. anglice a battynge staffe a batyll dur or _a betyll_,” we find “Porticulus. anglice a lytell handstaff or a _betyll_.” For “batowe” I have proposed in a note below the text “_batone_” (baton), a conjecture which is somewhat supported by the preceding word; but it seems more probable that the right reading is “_botowe_,” i. e. boot, for the work above cited has “Ocree ... anglice botis or _botwes_ [ed. 1514—_botowes_],” and _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499 gives “_Botewe_. Coturnus.”
Page 250. v. 768. _Jacke Hare_] See note, p. 211. v. 270.
—— _loke thou be not rusty_] i. e. look that thou be not cankered, uncivil.
v. 769. _nother_] i. e. neither.
v. 770. _lusty_] See note, p. 183, heading of poem.
v. 773. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 775. _swap_] i. e. swop: see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. “I _Swappe_ I stryke.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxxi. (Table of Verbes).
—— _fotys_] i. e. foots, footest.
v. 776. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 780. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 782. _a bole of newe ale in cornys_] i. e. a bowl, &c.: see note, p. 171. v. 378.
v. 784. _auysed_] i. e. purposed on consideration.
v. 786. _rome_] i. e. room, place, office.
Page 251. v. 789. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 790. _for the armys of the dyce_] Some cant exclamation.
v. 793. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 795. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 796. _cayser_] i. e. Cæsar, or, as it is generally explained, emperor: in the _Coventry Mysteries_, however, a distinction is made between these terms;
“Bothe kynge and _caysere_ and grett _empere_.”
_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 113.
v. 798. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 799. _tende_] i. e. attend.
v. 805. _ietter_] i. e. strutter,—gallant: see note, p. 94. v. 43, and note on v. 757. p. 246.
Page 251. v. 806. _supplye_] i. e. supplicate.
v. 810. _I ne tell can_] i. e. I cannot tell.
Page 252. v. 818. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 819. _we wyll be aduysed twyse_] i. e. we will consider of it twice.
v. 821. _crake_] i. e. speak vauntingly.
v. 827. _bende_] i. e. band.
v. 830. _tawle_] i. e. brave, bold.
v. 832. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 833. _hawte_] i. e. haughty.
v. 834. _pose_] i. e. rheum in the head.
v. 839. _loketh_] i. e. looketh.
Page 253. v. 843. _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 844. _My heyre bussheth_]—_heyre_, i. e. hair. So Barclay, alluding to the “newe fassions and disguised garmentes” of the time;
“To Ship, galants, come nere I say agayne, With your set _bushes_ curling as men of Inde.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 8. ed. 1570.
v. 847. _ruttyngly_] i. e. dashingly, gallantly: see note on v. 757. p. 246.
v. 850. _To daunce delyght_] So afterwards, Magnyfycence, exulting in his prosperity, says, “I dawnce all in delyte,” v. 1510.
v. 852. _poynte deuyse_] i. e. perfectly exact: see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, iv. 169.
v. 855. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 857. _route_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
v. 859. _My sleue is wyde_] So Barclay describes the young gallants of the time with “Their _sleues_ blasing like to a Cranes winges.” _The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 8. ed. 1570. Wide sleeves are also mentioned in the following curious passage of Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d. (written before the year 1500); the speaker is Pride:
“Behold the bonet vppon my hed a staryng colour of scarlet red I promyse you a fyne threde and a soft wull It cost me a noble at one pyche The scald capper sware sythyche That yt cost hym euen as myche But there Pryde had a pull. I loue yt well to haue syde here Halfe a wote byneth myne ere For euer more I stande in fere That myne nek shold take cold I knyt yt vp all the nyght and the day tyme kemb yt down ryght And then yt cryspeth and shyneth as bryght as any pyrled gold. My doublet ys on laced byfore A stomacher of saten and no more Rayn yt snow yt neuer so sore Me thynketh I am to hote Than haue I suche a short gown Wyth _wyde sleues_ that hang a down They wold make some lad in thys town a doublet and a cote. Som men wold thynk that this were pryde But yt ys not so, ho ho abyde I haue a dagger by my syde yet therof spake not I I bought thys dagger at the marte A sharp poynt and a tarte He that had yt in hys hart Were as good to dye. Than haue I a sworde or twayn To bere theym my selfe yt were a payne They ar so heuy that I am fayne to puruey suche a lad Though I say yt a praty boy It ys halfe my lyues ioy He maketh me laugh wyth many a toy The vrchyn ys so mad.”
Sig. c ii.
Page 253. v. 861. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 866. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 871. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 872. _fon_] i. e. fool.
Page 254. v. 878. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 881. _to to_] So in v. 2121;
“To flatterynge, to smatterynge, _to to_ out of harre.”
Compare _M. Harry Whobals mon to M. Camel_, &c. (folio broadside among the “flytings” of Churchyard and Camell);
“My master Harry Whoball, sur, is _to to_ shamefull wrothe. ... ... for drinke is _to to_ nappye.”
Ray gives “_Too too_ will in two. _Chesh._” _Proverbs_, p. 163. ed. 1768.
v. 884. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.
Page 254. v. 885. _I befoule his pate_] i. e. I befool, &c. (not _befoul_), as it would seem from v. 1057, “I _befole_ thy face;” and v. 1829, “I _befole_ thy brayne pan.”
v. 886. _fonne iet_] i. e. foolish fashion (see note on v. 458. p. 242).
v. 887. _From out of Fraunce_] So Barclay;
“Reduce courtiers clerely vnto your remembraunce, From whence _this disguising_ was brought wherin ye go, As I remember _it was brought out of France_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 9. ed. 1570.
Borde, in his _Boke of knowledge_, introduces a Frenchman saying,
“I am ful of new inuencions And dayly I do make new toyes and fashions Al necions of me example do take Whan any garment they go about to make.”
Sig. T. reprint.
v. 889. _purueaunce_] i. e. provision.
v. 907. _carlys_] i. e. churl’s.
v. 909. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
Page 255. v. 915. _slyue_] i. e. sleeve.
v. 918. _preue_] i. e. prove.
v. 919. _A Tyborne checke_] i. e. a rope.
—— _craynge, Stow, stow_]—_craynge_, i. e. crying. See note, p. 206. v. 73.
v. 921. _out of harre_] i. e. out of hinge, out of order: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Suppl._ in v. _Har._ The expression occurs again in v. 2121; and is found in the _Towneley Myst._ and G. Douglas’s Virgil’s _Æn._
v. 923. _warre_] i. e. worse.
v. 932. _farly_] i. e. strange.
v. 933. _lokys_] i. e. looks.
v. 934. _an hawke of the towre_] So again our author in the _Garlande of Laurell_;
“Ientill as fawcoun Or _hawke of the towre_.”
v. 1006. vol. i. 402.
i. e., says Warton, “in the king’s mews in the Tower,” _Hist. of E.P._ ii. 355. ed. 4to: and the following lines occur in a poem called _Armony of Byrdes_, n. d. (attributed without authority to Skelton), reprinted entire in _Typograph. Antiq._ iv. 380. ed. Dibdin;
“The Haukes dyd syng Their belles dyd ryng Thei said _they came frō the tower_. _We hold with the kyng_ _And wyll for him syng_ _To God, day, nyght, and hower.”_
p. 383.
But I apprehend that by a _hawke of the towre_ Skelton means—a hawk that towers aloft, takes a station high in the air, and thence swoops upon her prey. Juliana Berners mentions certain hawks which “ben _hawkes of the toure_.” _Book of St. Albans_, sig. c. v.: and Turbervile says; “Shee [the hobby] is of the number of those Hawkes that are hie flying and _towre Hawks_.” _Booke of Falconrie_, p. 53. ed. 1611.
Page 255. v. 935. _the malarde_] i. e. the wild-drake.
v. 936. _becked_] i. e. beaked.
v. 938. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
Page 256. v. 940. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 947. _spere_] i. e. spire, shoot,—stripling. So in our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_, “But a slendyr _spere_.” v. 41. vol. i. 121.
v. 953. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 954. _in the dyuyls date_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
v. 956. _he playeth the state_] i. e. he playeth the person of consequence.
v. 957. _pyke out of the gate_] “I _Pycke_ me forth out of a place or I _pycke_ me hence, _Ie me tyre auant_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvi. (Table of Verbes).
v. 962. _out of consayte_] i. e. out of good opinion, favour.
v. 964. _a praty slyght_] i. e. a pretty trick, contrivance.
v. 971. _Cockes harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 973. _poynted after my consayte_] i. e. appointed, equipped according to my fancy.
v. 974. _thou iettes it of hyght_] i. e. thou struttest it in high style: see note, p. 94. v. 43.
Page 257. v. 975. _let vs be wyse_] Equivalent to—let us understand.
v. 977. _come of, it were done_] The expression “come of” has occurred before; see note on v. 103. p. 238. Compare _Mary Magdalene_;
“_Cum_ of ȝe harlotts _that yt wer don_.”
_An. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 97. ed. Abbotsf.
_Magnus Herodes_;
“Hens now go youre way that ye _were_ thore.”
_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 147.
Still’s _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_;
“Sir knaue make hast diccon _were_ here.”
Sig. E 3. ed. 1575.
See too our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 243. vol. i. 371.
Page 257. v. 979. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 980. _Stowe_] See note, p. 206. v. 73.
v. 982. _There is many euyll faueryd, and thou be foule_] i. e. There is many a one ill-looking, if thou be ugly: see note, p. 130. v. 442.
v. 985. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 987. _Jesse_] i. e. Jesus.
v. 992. _bent_] i. e. arched; see note, p. 146. v. 1014.
v. 993. _glent_] i. e. glancing, bright.
v. 1000. _Barbyd lyke a nonne_]—_nonne_, i. e. nun. “The feders vnder the becke [of a hawk] ben callyd the _Barbe feders_.” _Book of Saint Albans_, sig. a 5. _Barbe_ is explained by Tyrwhitt to mean a hood or muffler, which covered the lower part of the face and the shoulders; _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_: and he refers to Du Cange in v. _Barbuta_. According to Strutt, it was a piece of white plaited linen, and belonged properly to mourning: in an edict concerning “The order and manner of apparell for greate estates of weomen in tyme of mourninge,” made by the mother of Henry vii. in the 8th year of his reign, we find “Everye one not beinge vnder the degree of a Baronesse to weare a _barbe_ aboue [Strutt prints by mistake—”about“] the chinne. And all other: as knightes wyfes, to weare yt vnder theire throtes, and other gentleweomen beneath the throte goyll.” _MS. Harl._ 1354. fol. 12. See _Dress and Habits_, pp. 323, 325, 326, 368, and plate cxxxv.
v. 1002. _donne_] i. e. dun.
v. 1003. _Well faueryd bonne_] So in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 227, “my prety _bonny_;” see note, p. 166.
v. 1005. _rowte_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
Page 258. v. 1008. _prese_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 1009. _a hole mese_] i. e. a whole mess, set.
v. 1011. _I rede, we sease_] i. e. I advise that we cease.
v. 1012. _farly ... lokys_] i. e. strangely ... looks.
v. 1013. _becke ... crokys_] i. e. beak ... crooks.
v. 1014. _tenter hokys_] i. e. tenter-hooks.
v. 1015. _wokys_] i. e. weeks.
v. 1018. _The deuyll spede whyt_] So again in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“For as for wytte, _The deuyll spede whitte!_”
v. 1013. vol. ii. 58.
Page 258. v. 1020. _to_] i. e. too (as in the next two lines).
v. 1023. _solempne_] i. e. solemn.
v. 1027. _a pere_] i. e. a pear,—used frequently by our early writers for a thing of no value. “Vayne glory of the world, the whiche is not worth _a pere_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xv. cap. vi. vol. ii. 254. ed. Southey.
v. 1028. _lese_] i. e. lose.
v. 1030. _And I may tende_] i. e. If I may attend.
v. 1032. _halfe_] i. e. side.
v. 1035. _Fansy seruyce_] i. e. Fancy-service.
—— _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 1038. _theke_] i. e. thatch.
v. 1040. _Make a wyndmyll of a mat_] Compare v. 2 of our author’s third set of verses _Against venemous Tongues_, vol. i. 132.
v. 1041. _and I wyst_] i. e. if I knew.
Page 259. v. 1049. _blunder_] See note on v. 405. p. 241.
—— _blother_] i. e. gabble; as in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_, v. 66. vol. i. 313.
v. 1054. _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 1055. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
v. 1057. _fonnysshe_] i. e. foolish.
—— _I befole thy face_] See note on v. 885. p. 250.
v. 1058. _a foles case_] i. e. a fool’s habit.
v. 1059. _glede_] i. e. kite. Nares, _Gloss._ in v., observes that in the common version of the Bible, _Deut._ xiv. 13, the _glede_ and _kite_ are erroneously mentioned together as two distinct birds.
v. 1061. _thy lyppes hange in thyne eye_] So in _Thenterlude of Youth_, n. d.;
“Faine of him I wolde haue a sight But my _lyppes hange in my lyght_.”
Sig. A iiii.
See too Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 1066. _pylde_] i. e. bald—mangy: see note, p. 184. v. 68.
v. 1068. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1069. _Mackemurre_] A proper name, though not printed as such in the old copy:
“The great Onele, and _Makmurre_ also, And al the lordes and kynges of Ireland.”
Hardyng’s _Chronicle_, fol. cxlix. ed. 1543.
v. 1070. _budge furre_] “_Budge_ or Lambes furre.” Minsheu’s _Guide into Tongues_. In an order respecting the scholastic habit in the University of Cambridge, dated 1414, (quoted by Todd from Farmer’s papers, in a note on Milton’s _Comus_, v. 707,) mention is made of “_furruris buggeis_ aut agninis.”
Page 260. v. 1073. _thou wylte coughe me a dawe_]—_dawe_, i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301. So in the fourth line after this, “ye shall _coughe me a fole_:” and in Lilly’s _Mother Bombie_, 1594; “I know hee will cough for anger that I yeeld not, but he shall _cough mee a foole_ for his labour.” Sig. B 2.
v. 1074. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1079. _can_] i. e. know.
v. 1081. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 1082. _so hye fro me doth sprynge_] i. e. doth (dost) grow so much taller than I.
v. 1088. _gere_] i. e. apparel.
v. 1089. _folysshe_] i e. foolish.
v. 1093. _flete_] i. e. float, flow, abound.
v. 1095. _by_] i. e. buy.
v. 1096. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1103. _syke_] i. e. such.
v. 1104. _a fole the tone_] i. e. a fool the one.
Page 261. v. 1107. _warke_] i. e. work, business.
v. 1108. _donnyshe_] i. e. dunnish.
v. 1109. _a fonde gest_] i. e. a foolish guest.
v. 1111. _so folysshe and so fonde_] i. e. so foolish and so silly (one of Skelton’s pleonasms).
v. 1118. _beshrowe_] i. e. curse.
v. 1119. _do_] i. e. done.
v. 1120. _Here is nothynge but the bockyll of a sho_] Compare _The Bowge of Courte_, v. 397. vol. i. 45.
v. 1121. _marke_] i. e. marks,—the coins so named.
v. 1123. _hyght_] i. e. is called.
v. 1124. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1126. _a botchment_] “_Botchement_. Additamentum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 1127. _forfende_] i. e. prohibit, forbid.
v. 1128. _For Goddes cope_] So we find as an oath, “By gods blew _hood_.” _Tom Tyler and his Wife_, p. 5. ed. 1661.
v. 1131. _be tyme_] i. e. by time.
v. 1134. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1136. _Aungey_] Does it mean Angers, or Anjou?
Page 262. v. 1142. _gate_] i. e. got.
v. 1143. _puddynges_] See note, p. 173. v. 443.
—— _wortes_] Is here, I suppose, equivalent to—cabbages.
v. 1147. _marmosete_] A kind of ape, or monkey.
v. 1148. _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
Page 262. v. 1150. _pultre_] i. e. poultry, fowl.
—— _catell_] i. e. beast.
v. 1154. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 1157. _nyfyls_] A word sufficiently explained by the context, and of frequent occurrence. So in _A Mery Play between Johan the Husbande, Tyb his Wyfe, and Syr Jhan the Preest_, 1533, attributed to Heywood;
“By God, I wolde ye had harde the tryfyls, The toys, the mokkes, the fables, and the _nyfyls_, That I made thy husbande to beleve and thynke.”
p. 21. reprint.
v. 1158. _canest_] i. e. knowest.
v. 1159. _mased_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 1165. _It forseth not_] i. e. It matters not.
v. 1168. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
—— _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 263. v. 1172. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1175. _a farle freke_] i. e. a strange fellow: see notes, p. 109. v. 187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 1176. _play well at the hoddypeke_]—_hoddypeke_ is a common term of contempt or reproach (as in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 326. vol. ii. 37), and is generally equivalent to—fool. The original meaning of the word is altogether uncertain. Steevens (note on _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_) explains it—hodmandod (shell-snail); and Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) is inclined to agree with him. In a passage of Dunbar’s _Dance of the Sevin Deidly Synnis_ (_Poems_, i. 51. ed. Laing), “_hud-pykis_” has been explained (on account of the context)—misers. In Cotgrave’s _Dict._ is “Noddy peke.”
v. 1182. _ne reckys_] i. e. recks not.
v. 1185. _mo folys_] i. e. more fools.
v. 1189. _kesteryll_] A sort of base-bred hawk.
v. 1190. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
—— _doteryll_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 1191. _In a cote thou can play well the dyser_] “_Dysoure_. Bomolochus. Nugaculus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Dissar_ a scoffar _saigefol_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxix. (Table of Subst.). “He can play the _desarde_ with a contrefet face properly. _Morionem_ scite representat.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. bb iiii. ed. 1530. “One that were skylled in the crafte of _dysours_ or skoffyng fellowes.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. H ii.
v. 1195. _gatte_] i. e. got.
v. 1200. _fon_] i. e. fool.
Page 264. v. 1205. _do mastryes_] See note on v. 151. p. 238.
v. 1206. _cocke wat_] See note, p. 108. v. 173.
v. 1211. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
—— _semblaunt_] i. e. semblance.
v. 1215. _lyste_] i. e. liest.
v. 1216. _moght ... lyste_] i. e. moth ... list.
v. 1220. _Johnn a Bonam_] One of the persons who figure in the old metrical tale, _The Hunttyng of the Hare_, is called “Jac of Bonam:” see Weber’s _Met. Rom._ iii. 279.
v. 1223. _Shyt_] i. e. Shut.
—— _dawe_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 265. v. 1230. _cayser_] See note on v. 796. p. 247.
v. 1232. _scoles_] i. e. schools,—teaching.
v. 1234. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1241. _renneth_] i. e. runneth.
v. 1242. _thefte and bryboury_]—_bryboury_, i. e. pilfering. “_Brybery_ or bribe. Manticulum.”—“_Briboure_. Manticulus.”—“_Bryben._ Latricino. Manticulo.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “I _Bribe_ I pull I pyll, _Ie bribe_. _Romant_, _ie derobbe_, ... and _ie emble_ ... He _bribeth_ and he polleth and he gothe to worke: _Il bribe_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxiiii. (Table of Verbes). “_Bribors_, Cometh of the French _Bribeur_, i. e. Mendicus: It seemeth in a legal Signification one that pilfereth other Mens Goods, as Cloaths out of a Window, or the like. _Anno 28 Ed. 2. Stat. 1. cap. unico._” Cowel’s _Law Dictionary, or The Interpreter_, &c. _augmented and improved_, &c. ed. 1727. So again our author;
“Thefte also and pety _brybery_.”
v. 1370 of the present drama.
“Some haue a name for thefte and _brybery_.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 183. vol. i. 369.
So too in _The Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, by Copland, n. d.;
“_Brybe_, and conuey, fro mayster and maystres.”
Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poet._ ii. 37.
and in _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without reason to Heywood);
“For _brybe_ and stele euery thyng they wyll If they may secretly come theruntyll.”
Sig. B iii.
Other passages might be cited from various poets. And see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, and Richardson’s _Dict._
v. 1244. _a nysot_] In _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499 is “_Anysot_ or a folt. Stolidus. Baburrus. Insons.” But in the present passage _nysot_ seems, from the context, to be equivalent to—lazy jade: and in the work just cited we find “_Nyce_. Iners.”—“_Nycehede_ or _nycete_. Inercia.”
Page 265. v. 1246. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 1247. _lyther_] i. e. wicked, evil.
v. 1249. _Bytwene the tappet and the wall_]—_tappet_, i. e. tapestry. This line has occurred before, in our author’s fourth poem _Against Garnesche_, v. 75. vol. i. 128.
v. 1252. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1254. _sorte_] i. e. set, company,—people.
v. 1257. _ferre_] i. e. far.
Page 266. v. 1258. _dawys_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1261.
_He frownyth fyersly, brymly browde,_ _The knaue wolde make it koy, and he cowde_]
—_fyersly_ and _brymly_ are nearly synonymous: _make it koy_ means here—affect (not merely reserve, but) haughtiness;—and so in our author’s _Bowge of Courte_,—
“He bote the lyppe, he loked passynge _coye_.”
v. 288. vol. i. 41.
v. 1265. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 1270. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 1275. _lese moche_] i. e. lose much.
v. 1278. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1280. _scolys_] i. e. schools.
v. 1281. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 1282. _lyther_] i. e. wicked,—rascals (as in the next line but one—“these _lythers_”).
v. 1283. _Symkyn Tytyuell_] See note on _Colyn Cloute_, v. 418.
v. 1284. _lere_] i. e. learn.
v. 1289. _mykyll_] i. e. much.
Page 267. v. 1291. _dell_] i. e. part.
v. 1293. _shroudly_] i. e. shrewdly.
v. 1297. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 1299. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note, p. 109. v. 199.
v. 1301. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 1303. _rutters_] See note on v. 757. p. 245.
v. 1308. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
—— _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1309. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1312. _howe_] i. e. ho! stop!
“Ye shall haue ay quhill you cry _ho_.”
_Philotvs_, sig. B. ed. 1612.
“Greit God defend I suld be one of tho Quhilk of thair feid and malice neuer _ho_.”
G. Douglas’s _Palice of Honour_, p. 30. Bann. ed.
Page 267. v. 1314. _scrat_] i. e. scratch.
v. 1315. _So how_] i. e. So ho.
v. 1317. _gadde_] Does it mean—gadding?
v. 1318. _brayne seke_] i. e. brain-sick.
v. 1319. _to shyre shakynge nought_] i. e. to sheer nothing. So in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, (v. 466. vol. i. 110), that lady pronounces a couple of stunted goslings to be “_shyre shakyng nought_,” i. e. sheer worthless.
v. 1323. _perde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
—— _ryde or go_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
Page 268. v. 1324. _slyght_] i. e. contrivance.
v. 1325. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 1327. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
v. 1334. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1338. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1339. _whylest_] i. e. till.
v. 1341. _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 1342. _away the mare_] See note, p. 162. v. 110.
v. 1345. _a rome ... in euery route_] i. e. a place in every crowd, assembly.
v. 1347. _face and brace_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1348. _fotyth_] i. e. footeth.
Page 269. v. 1353. _poyntmentys_] i. e. appointments.
v. 1356. _mykyll praty_] i. e. much pretty.
v. 1358. _an hoby can make larkys to dare_]—_to dare_, i. e. to be terrified, to tremble,—(it also means—to lurk, lie hid; see note on the poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 271). To _dare larks_ was an expression applied to the catching of larks by terrifying them; and there were several modes of _daring_ them. When the _hobby_ (a small hawk, see note, p. 135. v. 567) was employed for that purpose, the larks lay still in terror till a net was thrown over them.
v. 1360. _almesse_] i. e. alms.
v. 1363. _howe_] i. e. ho.
v. 1365. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1368. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 1370. _pety brybery_] See note on v. 1242. p. 256.
v. 1373. _be_] i. e. by.
Page 269. v. 1376. _trew_] i. e. honest.
v. 1378. _checke_] i. e. taunt: see note on v. 300. p. 240.
v. 1379. _weltyth_] To _welt_ means—to border: but qy. is _weltyth_ here used for _weldyth_, i. e. wieldeth, directeth?
v. 1382. _sadnesse_] i. e. gravity, seriousness, soberness, discreetness.
Page 270. v. 1389. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.
v. 1390. _hokes vnhappy_]—_hokes_, i. e. hooks, a word frequently applied to persons as a term of reproach. “_Vnhappy_ of maners _maluays_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xcviii. (Table of Adiect.). So in _Jacke Jugelar_, n. d.;
“Loo yender cumithe that _vnhappye hooke_.”
p. 26. Roxb. ed.
and in Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.;
“Since thou art crosse sailde, auale _vnhappie hooke_.”
Sig. E,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 1395. _dawe_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1396. _occupyed_] i. e. used, employed; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 1397. _reason and skyll_] See note on v. 106. p. 238.
v. 1401. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1405. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1411. _Had I wyst_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
Page 271. v. 1416. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1421. _Ye haue eten sauce_] Compare our author’s _Bowge of Courte_, v. 72. vol. i. 33.
v. 1422. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 1425. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 1436. _repryuable_] i. e. reprovable.
Page 272. v. 1441. _menys of to moche_] i. e. means of too much.
v. 1442. _What, can ye agree thus and appose?_]—_and appose_, i. e. and yet keep questioning, disputing: see note on _Colyn Cloute_, v. 267.
v. 1443. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 1444. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _Jacke a thrommys bybyll_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
—— _glose_] i. e. gloss.
v. 1446. _loke you vnder kay_] i. e. lock you under key.
v. 1456. _Take it in worthe_] See note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1458. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
—— _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 1467. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
Page 273. v. 1473. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
Page 273. v. 1474. _loke that ye occupye_] i. e. look that ye use; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 1475. _For nowe, syrs, I am lyke as a prynce sholde be, &c._] This speech of Magnyfycence is very much in the style of Herod in the old miracle-plays: see, for instance, the _Coventry Mysteries_, _MS. Cott. Vesp. D._ viii. fol. 92. sqq.
v. 1477. _abandune_] i. e. subject.
“For _abandonit_ will he noght be to berne that is borne.”
_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 142,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c.
“Till all to yow _abandownyt_ be.”
Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. iii. v. 883. ed. Jam.
v. 1481. _mene_] See note on v. 138. p. 238.
v. 1491. _syar_] i. e. sire, lord.
v. 1493. _ryall trone_] i. e. royal throne.
v. 1496. _spyll_] i. e. destroy.
Page 274. v. 1502. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1504. _dynt_] i. e. blow.
v. 1505. _the cane_] Does it mean—the khan?
v. 1507. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not, regard not.
—— _prane_] i. e. prawn.
v. 1508. _Ne_] i. e. Nor.
—— _rehersse_] i. e. mention.
v. 1513. _cache_] i. e. couch.
v. 1515. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1518. _to lowte man be sene_] i. e. (if the text be right; see foot-note _ad l._) must be seen to bow, pay obeisance.
v. 1520. _brymme_] i. e. fierce, rugged, bristly.
v. 1521. _Basyan the bolde, for all his brybaunce_] _Basyan_ is, I suppose, Antoninus Bassianus Caracalla (he is called “_Basian_” in Robert of Gloucester’s _Chron_. p. 76. sqq.): _brybaunce_ would seem to mean—plundering (properly, pilfering); see note on v. 1242. p. 256.
v. 1522. _Alerycus_] i. e. Alaric.
—— _the Gothyaunce_] i. e. the Goths.
—— _swerd_] i. e. sword.
v. 1524. _maysyd_] i. e. bewildered, confounded—stupid.
v. 1525. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1526. _Galba, whom his galantys garde for agaspe_] i. e. (I suppose) Galba, whom his gallants (soldiers) made to gasp:—they assassinated him:—see _gar_ in v. 1532.
v. 1527. _nother set by_] i. e. neither valued, regarded.
v. 1528. _Vaspasyan, that bare in his nose a waspe_] This passage is explained by the following lines of a poem never printed, entitled _The Sege of Jerusalem_:
“His fader Vaspasiane ferly bytydde A byke of waspes bredde in his nose Hyved vp in his hedde he hadde hem of thoght And Vaspasiane is called by cause of his waspes.”
_MS. Cott. Calig. A._ ii. fol. 109.
Page 274. v. 1529. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 275. v. 1531. _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 1532. _I shall frounce them on the foretop_] To _frounce_ is—to wrinkle, ruffle up, &c. In our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 1340. vol. i. 92, Charon is described as having a “_frownsid_ fore top;” and in his _Colyn Cloute_, v. 533. vol. i. 331, “foretop” means simply—head, pate.
—— _gar_] i. e. make, cause.
v. 1538. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 1539. _take it in degre_] Seems equivalent here to—“take it in gre” (which occurs in v. 2005), i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1544. _ferre_] i. e. far.
v. 1547. _supprysed_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.
v. 1549. _Pullyshyd_] i. e. Polished.
—— _ornacy_] i. e. ornate diction.
v. 1551. _electe vtteraunce_] i. e. choice expression.
v. 1554. _feffyd and seasyd_] i. e. enfeoffed and seised,—law-terms.
v. 1556. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1557. _comon_] i. e. communing, discourse.
v. 1558. _Poynt deuyse_] See note on v. 852. p. 248.
Page 276. v. 1561. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 1564. _semynge_] i. e. beseeming, fitting.
v. 1568. _maystresse_] i. e. mistress.
v. 1569. _That quyckly is enuyued with rudyes of the rose_] i. e. That is lively envived with hues, or complexion, of the rose. This somewhat pleonastic expression is found again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“_Enuyuid_ picturis well touchid and _quikly_.”
v. 1161. vol. i. 408.
v. 1570. _Inpurtured_] i. e. Portrayed, pictured,—adorned.
v. 1571. _The streynes of her vaynes_] i. e. The strains, runnings of her veins.
“Rills rising out of euery banck, In wilde meanders _strayne_.”
Drayton’s _Muses Elizium_, p. 2. ed. 1630.
Page 276. v. 1571. _as asure inde blewe_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 1573. _loke_] i. e. look.
—— _leyre_] i. e. complexion, skin.
v. 1576. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable.
v. 1578. _to brace and to basse_] i. e. to embrace and to kiss.
v. 1579. _by hym that hell dyd harowe_] i. e. by our Saviour: see note, p. 150. v. 1291.
v. 1580. _a Phylyp sparowe_] See note, p. 121. v. 7.
v. 1581. _whylest my hede dyd warke_] i. e. until my head did work, ache. “_Hedwerke_ sekenesse. Cephalia.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Wark_, to ache.” Hunter’s _Hallam. Gloss_. “But I may not stonde, _myn hede werches soo_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xxi. c. v. vol. ii. 440. ed. Southey.
v. 1582. _hobby for suche a lusty larke_] See note on v. 1358. p. 258. The same metaphorical use of this expression occurs in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_, v. 194. vol. i. 318.
v. 1584. _my flesshe wolde be wroken_]—_wroken_, i. e. wreaked, satiated.
“Whyles thou art yonge ... _Wreke_ the with wiueryng, if thou wilt be excused.”
_Pierce Plowman_, sig. M iii. ed. 1561.
v. 1585. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, fancy.
v. 1586. _weryed I wolde be on_] i. e. I would worry, eagerly devour: compare our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 29. vol. i. 52.
v. 1587. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1588. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1589. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1590. _to be sped_] i. e. to be made successful.
Page 277. v. 1592. _make suche one to the call_] A metaphor from falconry.
v. 1600. _a sawte_] i. e. an assault.
v. 1601. _prece_] i. e. press.
v. 1603. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1604. _intreted_] i. e. prevailed on by solicitation.
v. 1606. _broken_] Seems to mean here—tame, assuage.
v. 1610. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 1615. _it shall not gretely skyll_] i. e. it shall not make much difference, it shall not much signify.
Page 278. v. 1620. _face it_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1621. _Frete_] i. e. Gnaw, fret.
v. 1626. _lust and lykynge_] See note, p. 98, v. 23.
Page 278. v. 1633. _your gorge_] i. e. what you have swallowed, the contents of your stomach: see note, p. 207. v. 87.
v. 1636. _wambleth_] “I _Wamble_ as ones stomake dothe _Ie allecte_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccc. (Table of Verbes). “Nauseo ... to _wamble_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 1638. _wonder_] i. e. wondrous.
v. 1640. _harte seke_] i. e. heart-sick.
—— _me lyst_] i. e. it pleases me.
v. 1641. _coryed_] i. e. curried, drubbed.
—— _blyst_] i. e. wounded,—thumped.
“Your lasy bones I pretende so to _blisse_, That you shall haue small luste to prate any more.”
_The Triall of Treasure_, 1567. sig. A iiii.
v. 1642. _loute_] i. e. bow, pay obeisance.
Page 279. v. 1652. _at the contemplacyon_] See note, p. 214, heading of Epitaph.
v. 1653. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 1657. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1664. _rowne_] i. e. whisper: see note, p. 120. v. 513.
v. 1671. _dyssayued_] i. e. deceived.
v. 1673. _wete_] i. e. know.
v. 1677. _I wyll haue hym rehayted and dyspysed_] Our early poets frequently use _rehete_ in the sense of—revive, cheer; a meaning foreign to the present passage. In the _Towneley Mysteries_, we find “_rehett_” and “_rehete_,” pp. 143, 198, which the _Gloss._ explains “to threaten;” qy. if rightly? In some copies of Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, B. iii. 350, is “reheting;” of which, says Tyrwhitt (_Gloss._ to _Cant. Tales_), “I can make no sense.” In G. Douglas’s Virgil’s _Æneidos_, B. xiii. p. 467. l. 53. ed. Rudd., and in the _Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 74, 80. ed. Laing, is “rehatoure,” which has been referred to the French _rehair_: and perhaps _rehayted_ in our text is—re-hated (Skelton afterwards in this piece, v. 2458, has the uncommon word _inhateth_).
v. 1679. _rest_] i. e. remain.
Page 280. v. 1682. _supplyed_] i. e. supplicated.
v. 1687. _But for all that he is lyke to haue a glent_] _Glent_ is frequently found in the sense of—glance; but its meaning here, as would seem from the context, is—slip, fall: and in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ we find,
“Go softly, she sayd, the stones be full _glint_ [i. e. slippery].”
v. 572. vol. i. 384.
Page 280. v. 1688. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1692. _What force ye_] i. e. What care ye.
v. 1695. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1698. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 1702. _woke_] i. e. week.
v. 1703. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1706. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1709. _comonynge_] i. e. communing, conversing.
v. 1711. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober, discreet.
Page 281. v. 1713. _doute_] i. e. fear.
v. 1715. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1718. _be lykelyhod_] i. e. by likelihood,—as it appeared.
v. 1719. _to fode_] i. e. to feed with words,—deceive. So in our author’s _Bowge of Courte_;
“Than Fauell gan _wyth fayre speche me to fede_.”
v. 147. vol. i. 36.
v. 1723. _reserued_] i. e. retained.
v. 1725. _set a gnat By_] i. e. value at a gnat, care a gnat for.
v. 1738. _suche maystryes gan make_]—_suche maystryes_, i. e. such disturbances from the consequence which you assumed: and see note on v. 151. p. 238.
Page 282. v. 1745. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 1748. _haynyarde_] A term of reproach which I do not understand: but in our author’s _Bowge of Courte_, v. 327. vol. i. 42, _hayne_ seems to mean—hind, slave, peasant.
v. 1749. _cast_] i. e. throw up.
v. 1751. _bolle_] i. e. bowl.
—— _Goddes brede_] i. e. God’s bread.
v. 1754. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1758. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1759. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 1766. _ony_] i. e. any.
Page 283. v. 1772. _Where as_] i. e. Where.
v. 1775. _No force_] i. e. No matter.
v. 1776. _pollynge_] i. e. plundering.
v. 1778. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
—— _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1779. _vergesse_] i. e. verjuice.
v. 1782. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 1786. _taken_] i. e. committed, consigned.
v. 1802. _lowte_] i. e. bow, pay obeisance.
Page 284. v. 1813. _syth_] i. e. since.
v. 1817. _acquyte_] i. e. requite.
v. 1820. _solace_] i. e. pleasure.
v. 1821. _dyntes_] i. e. blows.
v. 1822. _Well were_] i. e. In good condition were.
v. 1824. _halse_] }
v. 1825. _clepe_] }
Both words signify—embrace; with this distinction, that the former means properly—to throw the arms round the neck.
v. 1829. _I befole thy brayne pan_] i. e. I befool thy skull, head: see note, p. 100. v. 31.
Page 285. v. 1830. _By our lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 1831. _My hawke is rammysshe_] “_Ramage_ is when a Hawk is wilde, coy, or disdainfull to the man, and contrary to be reclamed.” Latham’s _Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words of Art_), 1658.
v. 1833. _warne_] i. e. prevent.
v. 1835. _ronner_] i. e. runner.
—— _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1836. _iarfawcon_] See note, p. 134. v. 557.
v. 1838. _ydder_] i. e. udder.
v. 1840. _slydder_] i. e. slippery.
v. 1841. _for God auowe_] So presently, v. 1851, “I make God _auowe_:” see note, p. 109. v. 199.
—— _chiydder_] i. e. shiver.
v. 1842. _Thy wordes hange togyder as fethers in the wynde_] An expression which occurs again in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_, v. 295. vol. ii. 14. So too in a comedy (before quoted), _The longer thou liuest, the more foole thou art_, &c. _Newly compiled by W. Wager_, n. d.;
“A song much like thauthour of the same, _It hangeth together like fethers in the winde_.”
Sig. D ii.
v. 1844. _carle_] i. e. churl.
v. 1848. _a losell lede a lurden_] i. e. one good-for-nothing fellow lead another: see note, p. 209. v. 138, and note on v. 423 of the present poem, p. 242.
v. 1849. _sowter_] i. e. shoemaker, cobbler.
v. 1850. _Cockes harte_] i. e. God’s heart: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 1853. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 1854. _I shall gyue you a gaude of a goslynge that I gaue_] _Gaud_ is found in the sense of—jest, trick, toy, &c.: but the line (perhaps corrupted) is beyond my comprehension.
v. 1856. _reue_] i. e. steward, bailiff.
v. 1858. _syke_] i. e. such.
Page 285. v. 1859. _Sadylgose_] i. e. Saddle-goose.
—— _Dawcocke_] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 286. v. 1860. _garre_] i. e. make, cause.
v. 1862. _bytter_] i. e. bittern.
v. 1864. _to grame_] i. e. to be angry,—or perhaps to grieve; the word being found in both senses.
v. 1865. _snyte_] i. e. snipe.
v. 1868. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1871. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 1876. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 1882. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1886. _payntyd_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
v. 1887. _demenour_] i. e. director: see note, p. 134. v. 553.
Page 287. v. 1891. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 1892. _fondnesse_] i. e. folly.
v. 1896. _rode_] i. e. rood, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 1898. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 1899. _lokys_] i. e. looks.
v. 1900. _clokys_] i. e. claws—clutches; see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Cleuck_.
v. 1903. _quyte_] i. e. requite.
v. 1904. _velyarde_] i. e. old man, dotard.
—— _dynt_] i. e. blow.
v. 1906. _losell_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 1908. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 1910. _rughly_] i. e. roughly.
v. 1912. _lust_] i. e. pleasure, liking.
v. 1913. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 1915. _set by hym a flye_] i. e. value him at a fly, care a fly for him.
v. 1916. _brace_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 1917. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1918. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 288. v. 1928. _carbuckyls_] i. e. carbuncles.
v. 1930. _lyppers_] i. e. lepers.
v. 1932. _Some with the marmoll to halte I them make_]—_marmoll_, i. e. old sore, ulcer, gangrene. “_Marmoll_ a sore _lovp_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvii. (Table of Subst.). Skelton recollected Chaucer;
“But gret harm was it, as it thoughte me, That _on his shinne a mormal_ hadde he.”
_Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 387.
on which passage see Tyrwhitt’s note.
Page 288. v. 1934. _brennynge_] i. e. burning.
v. 1936. _walter_] i. e. tumble, roll. “I _Walter_ I tumble, _Ie me voystre_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccc. (Table of Verbes).
v. 1939. _sle_] i. e. slay.
v. 1945. _Lydderyns_] i. e. _Lydder_, wicked, persons: so in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, “Some _lidderons_, some losels,” &c. v. 188. vol. i., 369.
—— _set by_] i. e. value, regard.
Page 289. v. 1958. _franesy_] i. e. frensy.
v. 1960. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 1961. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 1962. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1966. _sadly_] i. e. gravely, seriously, soberly, discreetly.
v. 1967. _preposytour_] i. e. a scholar appointed by the master to overlook the rest. “I am _preposyter_ of my boke. Duco classem.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. R viii. ed. 1530.
v. 1968. _theyr wanton vagys_]—_vagys_, i. e. vagaries, strayings. Richardson in his _Dict._ gives an example of this substantive (_vagues_) from Holinshed.
v. 1977. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1979. _Howe_] i. e. Ho.
v. 1980. _lore_] i. e. teaching.
v. 1984. _vnlykynge_] i. e. in poor condition of body. “The strength and lustinesse, or _well lykyng_ of my body.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. U iiii. “I am withered,” says Falstaff, “like an old apple-John. Well, I’ll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some _liking_.” Shakespeare’s _Henry IV._ Part i. act iii. sc. 3.
Page 290. v. 1989. _enuy_] i. e. ill-will, grudge.
v. 1993. _golde and fe_] See note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 1995. _thought_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
v. 2004. _syth_] i. e. since.
—— _no nother_] A not unfrequent form in our early writers,—i. e. none other.
v. 2005. _take it in gre_] i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95, v. 68.
v. 2006. _a noble estate_] i. e. a person of noble estate or rank.
v. 2014. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
Page 291. v. 2026. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2034. _cawdels_] According to the custom of great persons. So in the ballad of _Glasgerion_;
“He harped in the kinges chambere, Where cuppe and _caudle_ stoode.”
Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._, iii. 43. ed. 1794.
Page 291. v. 2035. _mamockes_] “_Mammocks_, leavings, wasted fragments.” Forby’s _Vocab. of East Anglia_.
v. 2037. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 2038. _pomped_] In our text at least is equivalent to—pampered.
“The _pomped_ clerkes with foles [fodes] delicous Erth often fedeth,” &c.
Hawes’s _Pastime of Pleasure_, sig. B b iiii. ed. 1555.
v. 2040. _to be drawe_] i. e. to be drawn over, covered.
v. 2042. _shertes of Raynes_] i. e. shirts made of the delicate species of linen manufactured at Rennes in Brittany.
v. 2044. _happed_] i. e. covered.
Page 292. v. 2054. _sykernesse_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 2061. _plete_] i. e. plead.
v. 2064. _lyther_] i. e. bad,—inactive.
v. 2066. _leuer_] i. e. more willingly.
v. 2070. _they rynne to in manus tuas queche_]—_rynne_, i. e. run,—they quickly come to be hanged, when they say _In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum_.
v. 2072. _mary_] i. e. by the Virgin Mary.
—— _mote_] i. e. may.
v. 2073. _too_] i. e. toe.
v. 2077. _rydlesse_] In v. 2445 is “_redlesse_,” which properly means—devoid of counsel: but Skelton seems to use both forms in the sense of—unavailing.
v. 2080. _bloo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
Page 293. v. 2093. _I garde her gaspe, I garde her gle_]—_garde_, i. e. made, caused: _gle_, i. e., perhaps, squint; see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Gley_.
v. 2094. _daunce on the le_] A fragment, it would seem, of some song: _le_, i. e. lea.
v. 2095. _bassed_] i. e. kissed.
v. 2096. _the bote of all my bale_] i. e. the remedy or help of all my evil or sorrow.
“God send every good man _bote of his bale_.”
Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16949. ed. Tyr.
v. 2097. _farre fet_] i. e. far-fetched.
v. 2098. _louesome_] i. e. lovely one.
Page 293. v. 2098. _let_] i. e. leave, desist.
v. 2100. _patlet_]—or _partlet_,—i. e. a sort of ruff, or rather neck-kerchief: see Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 368.
v. 2104. _lust and lykynge_] See note, p. 98. v. 23.
v. 2106. _me lyst_] i. e. pleases me.
Page 294. v. 2113. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 2114. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 2115. _not worth an hawe_] A common expression in our early poetry;
“Your wo appease which is _not worth an haw_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. I iiii. ed. 1555.
v. 2116. _to free of the dawe_] Equivalent, I suppose, to—too much fooling: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 2117. _sad_] See note on v. 1966. p. 267.
v. 2121. _to to out of harre_] See notes on v. 881. p. 249, and v. 921. p. 250.
v. 2123. _iettynge_] i. e. strutting: see note, p. 94. v. 43.
—— _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 2124. _mowynge_] i. e. making mouths, grimacing.
—— _iackenapes_] i. e. monkey.
v. 2132. _brothell_] Was formerly applied as a term of reproach to the worthless of either sex:
“Of this daye gladde was many a _brothell_ That myght haue an ore with Cocke Lorell.”
_Cocke Lorelles bote_, n. d. sig. C ii.
v. 2135. _Cockes armes_] i. e. God’s arms: see note on v. 518, p. 243.
v. 2138. _lurden_] See note on v. 423. p. 242.
v. 2141. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 2143. _conuenyent_] i. e. fit, suitable.
Page 295. v. 2148. _poddynge prycke_] i. e. skewer that fastens the pudding-bag.
v. 2150. _pot sharde_] i. e. potsherd.
v. 2151. _the spence of a noble_] i. e. the expense or spending of a noble,—the gold coin so called.
v. 2152. _c. s._ i. e. a hundred shillings.
v. 2155. _occupyed_] Though our author, according to his occasionally pleonastic style, has in the next line but one, “_occupyed_ and vsyd,” the words are synonymous: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 2156. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2159. _retchlesse_] i. e. reckless.
Page 285. v. 2162. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 2164. _it shall not gretly skyll_] See note on v. 1615. p. 262.
v. 2165. _spyll_] i. e. destroy.
v. 2166. _some fall prechynge at the Toure Hyll_] So in _Thenterlude of Youth_, n. d.;
“By our Lady he dyd promote the To make the _preche_ at the galowe tre.”
Sig. B i.
v. 2168. _nother they set by_] i. e. neither they value, regard.
v. 2171. _lusty to loke on_] i. e. pleasant to look on.
v. 2172. _nonnes_] i. e. nuns.
—— _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 2173. _Freers_] i. e. Friars.
—— _fayne_] i. e. glad, joyful.
v. 2177. _rechate_] See note, p. 234. v. 215.
Page 296. v. 2186. _brast_] i. e. burst.
v. 2187. _spewe and cast_] One of Skelton’s pleonasms.
v. 2188. _gotted ... to thy share_]—_gotted_, i. e. gotten.
v. 2193. _ye_] i. e. yea.
v. 2194. _to wed_] i. e. for a pawn, pledge.
v. 2195. _a daggeswane_] i. e. a rough sort of coverlet. “_Dagswayne._ Lodex.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “My bedde is couered with a _daggeswayne_ and a quylte ... _gausape_ ...”—“Some _daggeswaynes_ haue longe thrummes & iagges on bothe sydes: some but on one.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. g iii. ed. 1530.
—— _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 2196. _metely well_] _“Metely: Moyennement. Assez,”_ &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxliii. (Table of Aduerbes). “He is _metely_ lerned. _Mediocriter_ doctus est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. R viii. ed. 1530.
v. 2197. _dele_] i. e. part, bit.
v. 2198. _in the deuyls date_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
v. 2201. _the messe_] i. e. the Mass.
Page 297. v. 2204. _hose_] i. e. breeches.
v. 2207. _skelpe_] i. e. slap, strike: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._
v. 2208. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2209. _Cockes bones_] i. e. God’s bones: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
—— _blysse_] See note on v. 1641. p. 263.
v. 2210. _dynge the deuyll_]—_dynge_, i. e. strike, knock. So again in our author’s poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;
“And _the deuill downe dynge_.”
v. 210. vol. ii. 74.
Compare _The Droichis Part of the Play_, attributed to Dunbar;
“That _dang the devill_, and gart him yowle.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 38. ed. Laing.
Page 297. v. 2210. _holde_] i. e. holden, held.
v. 2211. _rede_] i. e. advice.
v. 2214. _wrynge thy be in a brake_] Some cant expression: _brake_, see note, p. 168. v. 324, and note on _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 980.
v. 2215. _dawe_] i. e. simpleton: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 2216. _fawchyn_] i. e. cut.
v. 2217. _cauell_] “_Kevil, Kephyl_, A horse, contemptuously applied to a person, ‘thou girt _kevil_.’” _The Dialect of Craven_, &c. Compare Lydgate’s verses, entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to keep a guard over their tongues_;
“I saugh a _kevell_ corpulent of stature, Lyk a materas redlyd was his coote,” &c.
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 132.
v. 2218. _iauell_] “_Iauell_. Ioppus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. Of this common term of contempt (which Skelton uses in other passages) the meaning and etymology are uncertain. Todd (Johnson’s _Dict._ in v.) explains it “A wandering or dirty fellow;” shews that it is sometimes written _jabel_; and would derive it from the verb, _javel_, _jable_, or _jarble_, to bemire, to bedew. Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) refers it to the French _javelle_, which sometimes means “a faggot of brush-wood or other worthless materials.” The compiler of the _Gloss._ to _The Towneley Mysteries_ (under _Hawvelle_) considers it equivalent to—jabberer.
Page 298. v. 2223. _iche_] i. e. I.
v. 2224. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 2229. _all one_] i. e. all agreed.
v. 2233. _rode_] i. e. road, cross: see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 2234. _blode_] i. e. blood.
v. 2235. _By our lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 2242. _acomberyd_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
v. 2243. _Goddys fote_] i. e. God’s foot.
v. 2244. _facyd_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 2246. _condycyons_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
Page 299. v. 2248. _bracyd_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 2249. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 2250. _to haute_] i. e. too haughty.
v. 2252. _pratyer_] i. e. prettier.
v. 2258. _gardeuyaunce_] In a note on Dunbar’s _Freir of Tungland_, Lord Hailes observes that _gardyvians_ is “literally _garde de viande_, or cupboard; but there it implies his cabinet;” and Mr. D. Laing adds, “rather, a portable cabinet.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 243. Skelton appears to use the word in the sense of—trunk: and Palsgrave has “_Gardeuyans bahus_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxv. (Table of Subst.)
Page 299. v. 2259. _bowget_] i. e. budget.
v. 2260. _male_] i. e. bag, wallet.
v. 2262. _Your trymynge and tramynge by me must be tangyd_] The reader will hardly expect that I should attempt any precise explanation of this line.
v. 2264. _When we with Magnyfycence goodys made cheuysaunce_]—_cheuysaunce_, i. e. booty: see note, p. 107. v. 100. Compare Gower;
“Right as a thefe _maketh his cheuesance_, And robbeth mens gooddes aboute,” &c.
_Conf. Am._ B. v. fol. cxvi. ed. 1554.
v. 2265. _wengaunce_] i. e. vengeance.
v. 2266. _banne and wary_] “I _warrye_, I _banne_ or curse, _Ie mauldis_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccci. (Table of Verbes). Barclay is even more pleonastic than Skelton;
“And your vnkindnes _weray, ban and curse_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 22. ed. 1570.
v. 2268. _Cockys bonys_] i. e. God’s bones; see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 2270. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2275. _gaure_] i. e. stare: see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. Yet Palsgrave has “I _Gaure_ I krye, _Ie hue_. Howe he _gaureth_ after his hauke: _Cōment il heue apres son oyseau._” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxliiii. (Table of Verbes).
Page 300. v. 2276. _yll hayle_] See note, p. 176. v. 617.
v. 2283. _the gowte and the gyn_] If _gyn_ means (as the context seems to prove) some bodily ailment, I know not what it is.
v. 2287. _murre_] i. e. severe cold with hoarseness.
—— _pose_] i. e. rheum in the head.
v. 2288. _requiem æternam groweth forth of his nose_] Heywood has a similar expression;
“Hunger droppeth _euen out of both their noses_.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. D 4.—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
And Cotgrave; “_Chishe-face_ ... one _out of whose nose_ hunger drops.” _Dict._
v. 2291. _the halfe strete_] On the Bank-side, Southwark,—where the stews were: it is mentioned in the following curious passage of _Cocke Lorelles bote_, n. d. (where the “wynde fro wynchester” alludes to the temporary suppression of the Southwark stews at the intercession of the Bishop of Winchester);
“Syr this pardon is newe founde By syde London brydge in a holy grounde Late called the stewes banke Ye knowe well all that there was Some relygyous women in that place To whome men offred many a franke And bycause they were so kynde and lyberall A merueylous auenture there is be fall Yf ye lyst to here how There came suche a wynde fro wynchester That blewe these women ouer the ryuer In wherye as I wyll you tell Some at saynt Kateryns stroke a grounde And many in holborne were founde Some at saynt Gyles I trowe Also in aue maria aly and at westmenster And some in shordyche drewe theder With grete lamentacyon And by cause they haue lost that fayre place They wyll bylde at colman hedge in space Another noble mansyon Fayrer and euer _the halfe strete_ was For euery house newe paued is with gras Shall be full of fayre floures The walles shall be of hauthorne I wote well And hanged wᵗ whyte motly yᵗ swete doth smell Grene shall be the coloures And as for this olde place these wenches holy They wyll not haue it called the stewys for foly But maketh it strabery banke.”
Sig. B iv.
Page 300. v. 2293. _motton_] Long after Skelton’s time, as the readers of our early dramatists will recollect, _mutton_ was a favourite cant term for a prostitute.
v. 2294. _Ye ... to_] i. e. Yea ... too.
v. 2295. _queysy mete_] “_Quaisy_ as meate or drike is, _dangereux_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.). Compare _Jyl of Braintfords Testament_, n. d.;
“I pray you fil you not to much of the _mutton_ I promise you that it is very _queisy_.”
Sig. A.
Page 300. v. 2297. _In fay_] i. e. In faith.
—— _froty_] Is frequently, as here, used by our early writers for—_forty_.
v. 2303. _at all assayes_] See note on v. 433. p. 242.
Page 301. v. 2311. _sleeth_] i. e. slayeth.
v. 2315. _bronde_] i. e. brand.
v. 2316. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
v. 2319. _lewdly_] i. e. vilely, basely (but here it seems to be used as an adjective).
v. 2320. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2322. _fer_] i. e. far.
v. 2324. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 2330. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 302. v. 2332. _wyte_] i. e. blame.
v. 2333. _rede_] i. e. counsel.
v. 2335. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
—— _ryd thy selfe_] i. e. set free thyself,—despatch thyself.
v. 2336. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2340. _honge_] i. e. hang.
v. 2342. _tonge_] i. e. thong.
v. 2343. _throte bole_] i. e. throat-bowl,—protuberance of the throat. “Throte gole or _throte bole_, _neu de la gorge_, _gosier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxx. (Table of Subst.). In _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. is “Epiglotum, _a throte bolle_.”—“It is not impossible,” says Warton, alluding to this passage, “that Despare [Myschefe] offering the knife and the halter, might give a distant hint to Spenser.” _Hist. of E. P._ (Em. and Ad. to p. 363 of vol. ii.) ed. 4to. See _The Faerie Queene_, i. ix. 50.
—— _slee_] i. e. slay.
v. 2351. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2352. _Out, harowe_]—_harowe_ (variously spelt) is common in our early poetry as an exclamation of alarm or sudden distress, or an outcry for help. “Interiectyons of outkrye: _Haro._ as Haro alarme _trahy trahy_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, last folio. On the origin of the word see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Haro_, _Haroep_; Tyrwhitt’s note on v. 3286 of Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_; Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Harro_; and Roquefort’s _Gloss. to La Lang. Rom._ in v. _Harau_.
—— _hyll_] i. e. hell.
v. 2353. _combred_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
v. 2354. _sloo_] i. e. slay.
—— _nature and kynde_] A pleonastic expression.
Page 303. v. 2357. _sautes_] i. e. assaults.
v. 2361. _soner_] i. e. sooner.
v. 2362. _luge_] i. e. (I suppose) lodge, abode.
v. 2365. _wanhope_] i. e. want of hope,—despair. “Desperatio. _wanhope_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. “_Wanhope desespoir_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxiii. (Table of Subst.). In some of our early writers, however, we find a distinction made between _wanhope_ and _despair_.
v. 2370. _dysease_] i. e. uneasiness, pain.
v. 2373. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 2375. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 2383. _lectuary_] i. e. electuary.
v. 2387. _gommes goostly_] i. e. gums ghostly, spiritual.
—— _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 2388. _To thanke God of his sonde_]—_his sonde_, i. e. his sending,—his providential dispensation.
Page 304. v. 2392. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 2394. _mode_] i. e. mood.
v. 2398. _dyscryue_] Signifies—describe; but in the present passage it would seem to mean—discover, search, try.
v. 2406. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2411. _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 305. v. 2430. _apayed_] i. e. satisfied, pleased.
v. 2433. _abylyment_] i. e. habiliment.
v. 2434. _aduysement_] i. e. consideration, heed.
v. 2435. _confyrmable_] i. e. conformable.
v. 2444. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2445. _redlesse_] See note on v. 2077. p. 268.
v. 2449. _to accompte you the contynewe of my consayte_] i. e. to tell you the continuation, the rest, of my conceit, conception.
Page 306. v. 2455. _sad_] See note on v. 1711. p. 264.
v. 2457. _that is no nay_] i. e. that is not to be denied.
v. 2458. _inhateth_] Skelton’s fondness for compound words has been already noticed (see note, p. 105. v. 31); and here most probably _inhateth_ was not intended to convey a stronger meaning than—hateth.
—— _rennynge_] i. e. running.
v. 2460. _ne can_] i. e. can not.
v. 2465. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
v. 2467. _thorowly ingrosed_] i. e. (as the context would seem to shew) fully written out.
v. 2468. _Pountes_] i. e. Pontoise.
Page 306. v. 2469. _hyght_] i. e. is called.
v. 2474. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 307. v. 2479. _ouerthrow_] i. e. overthrown.
v. 2481. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 2485. _hafters_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
—— _forfende_] i. e. forbid, prohibit.
v. 2493. _sentence_] i. e. meaning.
v. 2494. _corage_] i. e. heart, affection.
—— _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 2499. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 2500. _sadnesse_] See note on v. 1382. p. 259.
Page 308. v. 2503. _I wyll refrayne you ferther, or we flyt_] i. e. I will question you farther before we remove (_refrayne_ being here, it would seem, according to Skelton’s use of such compounds, equivalent to the simple, and not uncommon word,—_frayne_).
v. 2506. _processe_] i. e. relation, discourse: see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157, &c.
v. 2507. _Syth_] i. e. Since.
—— _erectyd_] See note on v. 95. p. 237.
v. 2508. _aforse me_] i. e. exert myself, do my endeavour.
v. 2510. _warkys_] i. e. works.
v. 2513. _largesse_] i. e. liberality.
—— _to_] i. e. too.
v. 2517. _the nygarde nor the chyncherde_] Synonymous terms. “_Chynche_ or _chynchare_. Preparcus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 2518. _negarship_] i. e. niggardship.
v. 2522. _fumously adresse you with magnanymyte_] i. e. hotly, vigorously provide, furnish yourself with, &c.
v. 2525. _affyaunce_] i. e. trust.
v. 2534. _this processe_] i. e. this drama of _Magnyfycence:_ (so presently, “this interlude” v. 2548, “this treatyse” v. 2562, “this mater” v. 2576:) see note on v. 2506, above.
Page 309. v. 2539. _seke[r]nesse_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 2541. _lawe_] i. e. low; as in v. 190.
v. 2544. _leue_] i. e. willing.
v. 2550. _auaunsyd_] i. e. advanced.
v. 2557. _lacke_] i. e. fault, blame.
v. 2563. _comberyd_] i. e. encumbered, troubled.
Page 310. v. 2573. _maysterfest_] i. e. master-fast.
v. 2577. _Precely purposyd vnder pretence of play_]—_Precely_, i. e. Pressly, seems to mean here—seriously (rather than—expressly).
Page 310. v. 2583. _the terestre rechery_] If “_rechery_” be the right reading, I know not what it means. Qy. “trechery?” as before, v. 2046,
“Fye on _this worlde, full of trechery_.”
—— _flode_] i. e. flood.
v. 2585. _Ensordyd_] Could only, I presume, mean—defiled: but qy., as the context seems to require, “Ensorbyd,” i. e. sucked in, swallowed?
—— _wawys_] i. e. waves.
—— _wode_] i. e. mad, raging.
v. 2586. _brast_] i. e. burst,—break.
v. 2588. _hym_] Must be an error of the press for “hymselfe;” compare v. 2581.
v. 2590. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 2591. _ryalte_] i. e. royalty.
v. 2593. _indeuer_] i. e. endure, continue, dwell.
COLYN CLOUTE.
This powerful and original poem must have been circulated in MS., probably for a considerable time, before it was given to the press; for from a passage towards the conclusion, v. 1239, we learn that those against whom its satire was directed would not “suffer it to be printed.” In _Colyn Cloute_ Skelton appears to have commenced his attacks on Wolsey.
“I could never conceive, Mr. Warton, to what Drayton alludes, in the preface to his Eclogues, where he says, that ‘the Colin Clout of SCOGAN, under Henry the seventh, is pretty.’ He is speaking of pastoral poetry; and adds, that ‘Barklays ship of fools hath twenty wiser in it.’ You somewhere say [_Hist. of E. P._ iii. 76, note, ed. 4to], ‘he must mean SKELTON;’ but what PASTORAL did HE write?” Ritson’s _Obs. on Warton’s Hist. of E. P._, p. 20 (note); see too his _Bibl. Poet._, p. 99. I believe that Drayton did mean Skelton. _Colyn Cloute_ is surely as much a _pastoral_ as Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_,—as much perhaps as even Barclay’s _Egloges_.
—— _Quis consurget mecum, &c._] _Vulg. Psal._ xciii. 16, where “Quis consurget _mihi_,” &c.
—— _Nemo, Domine_] _Id. Joan_. viii. 11.
Page 311. v. 1.
_What can it auayle_ _To dryue forth a snayle_]
So in _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without grounds to Heywood);
“In effect it shall no more _auayle_ Than with a whyp _to dryfe a snayle_.”
Sig. C ii.
Page 311. v. 9. _bokes_] i. e. books.
Page 312. v. 20. _He pryeth and he peketh_] See note, p. 244. v. 667. So Gascoigne;
“That other _pries and peekes_ in euerie place.”
_The Steele Glasse_, fol. 301,—_Workes_, ed. 1587.
v. 28. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 29. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 30. _a thre foted stole_] i. e. a three-footed stool.
v. 36. _The deuyll, they say, is dede_] Heywood has six Epigrams on this proverbial expression,—_Workes_, sig. N 2. ed. 1598. Ray gives, “Heigh ho, _the Devil is dead_.” _Proverbs_, p. 55. ed. 1768.
Page 313, v. 51. _connyng bagge_] i. e. bag, store, of knowledge or learning.
v. 52. _hagge_] See note, p. 99. v. 19.
v. 53. _though my ryme be ragged_] So Sir D. Lyndsay; “my rural _raggit_ vers.” _Prol. to Monarchie_,—_Works_, ii. 330. ed. Chalmers; and Spenser, “My _ragged rimes_.” _F. Queene_, i. xii. 23.
v. 54. _iagged_] See note, p. 163. v. 124.
v. 56. _moughte eaten_] i. e. moth-eaten.
v. 66. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 67. _The tone agayng_] i. e. The one against.
v. 68. _shoder_] i. e. shudder.
v. 69. _hoder moder_] i. e. hugger-mugger.
Page 314. v. 70. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 71. _ben so haut_] i. e. be so haughty.
v. 72. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 77. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 79. _wull_] i. e. wool.
v. 80. _Vnethes_] i. e. Scarcely.
v. 82. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 83, _A glommynge_] i. e. A glumming, a looking gloomy, sour.
—— _a mummynge_] Compare our author elsewhere;
“Men of suche maters make but a _mummynge_.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 200. vol. i. 370.
“Thhere was amonge them no worde then but _mum_.”
_Id_. v. 1118. p. 406.
“But play scylens and glum, Can say nothynge but _mum_.”
v. 906 of the present poem.
v. 84. _iape_] i. e. jest, joke.
v. 87. _hole_] i. e. whole.
Page 314. v. 89. _the forked cap_] i. e. the mitre.
“No wise man is desirous to obtayne _The forked cappe_ without he worthy be.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 236. ed. 1570.
v. 90. _to lewd_] i. e. too wicked, vile.
v. 91. _all beshrewd_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 99. _For other mennes skyll_]—_skyll_, i. e. reason: the line seems to mean—Notwithstanding other men’s reasons.
Page 315. v. 107. _solfa so alamyre_]—_alamire_ is the lowest note but one in Guido Aretine’s scale of music: Gayton, in his _Notes upon Don Quixote_, 1654, says (metaphorically) that Maritornes “plaid her part so wel, that she run through all the keyes from _A-la-mi-re_ to double Gammut,” &c. p. 83.
v. 108. _premenyre_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 115. _heedes_] i. e. heads.
v. 119. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 316. v. 137.
_A great parte is for slouth,_ _But the greattest parte_ _Is for they haue but small arte_ _And ryght sklender connyng_ _Within theyr heedes wonnyng_]
—— _sklender connyng_, i. e. slender knowledge, learning: _wonnyng_, i. e. dwelling. The meaning of the passage is—a great part of this is owing to their laziness, but it is chiefly to be attributed to their ignorance, &c.
Page 317. v. 151. _werkes_] i. e. works.
v. 152. _Ure_] i. e. Urias.
v. 154. _werryn_] i. e. hinder, ward off.
v. 159. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 160. _Set nought by_] i. e. Value not.
—— _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 162. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 163.
_loth to hang the bell_ _Aboute the cattes necke_]
So Heywood;
“And I will _hang the bell about the cats necke_: For I will first breake and ieoperd the first checke.”
_Dialogue, &c._ sig. D 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See _Pierce Plowman_, where one of the rats proposes that a bell should be hung about the cat’s neck. Sig. A iii. ed. 1561; and Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 85. ed. 1768.
Page 317. v. 166. _to play deuz decke_] An allusion, I suppose, to some game.
v. 167. _for the becke_] i. e. to obey the nod of command.
v. 169. _Moche herted_] i. e. Much hearted.
v. 178. _combred_] i. e. encumbered.
Page 318. v. 181. _Sho the mockysshe mare_] So in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“And _Mocke_ hath lost her shoo.”
v. 83. vol. ii. 29.
v. 182. _wynche and keke_] i. e. wince and kick.
v. 183. _not worth a leke_] An expression not uncommon in our early poetry:
“No fallow _wourth ane leik_.”
G. Douglas’s _King Hart_,—Pinkerton’s _An._ _Scot. Poems from Maitl. MSS._ i. 42.
“Such loue I preise not _at a leke_.”
Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_, fol. 130,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
v. 190.
_Amende whan ye may,_ _For, usque ad montem Sare,_ _Men say ye can not appare_]
—_appare_, i. e. impair. The meaning of this passage,—in which (as I have already noted _ad loc._) it seems probable from a comparison of the MS. and the printed copies, that Skelton used the forms “Seire” and “appeire,”—is—Amend when ye may, for it is said by every body, even as far as Mount Seir, that ye cannot be worse than ye are. The Latin words are a quotation from the Vulgate: “Et circuit de Baala contra occidentem, _usque ad montem Seir_.” _Josue_, xv. 10.
v. 194. _hauke on hobby larkes_] See notes, p. 258. v. 1358. p. 262. v. 1582.
v. 195. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 198. _The gray gose for to sho_] Hoccleve uses this proverbial expression;
“Ye medle of al thyng, ye moot _shoo the goos_.”
_Poems_, p. 13. ed. 1796.
and Heywood has the following Epigram;
“_Of common medlers._
”He that medleth with all thing, may _shoe the gosling_. If all such medlers were set to goose shoing, No goose need go barefoote betweene this and Greece, For so we should haue as many goose shoers as geese.”
Sig. P 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See also Davies’s _Scourge of Follie (Prouerbs)_, n. d. p. 175.
Page 319. v. 209. _pranes_] i. e. prawns.
v. 211. _werynge_] i. e. wearing.
v. 213. _ne peason_] i. e. nor peas.
v. 214. _loke to be let lose_] i. e. look to be let loose.
v. 215. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 216.
_Your gorge not endewed_ _Without a capon, &c._]
Equivalent to—You not digesting any thing except, &c.: see notes, p. 207. v. 78. and v. 87.
v. 218. _a stewed cocke_] Compare the following passage in the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“_Tauerner._ Though all capons be gone what than yet I can get you _a stewed hen_ That is redy dyght.
_Humanyte._ yf she be fat yt wyll do well.
_Tauerner._ Fat or lene I cannot tell But as for this I wot well She lay at the stewes all nyght.”
Sig. B. vi.
v. 219.
_To knowe whate ys a clocke_ _Vnder her surfled_ [MS. _surfuld_] _smocke_]
Compare Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.;
“Howbeit suddenly she minded on a day, To pick the chest locke, wherein this bagge lay: ... But streight as she had forthwith opened the locke, And look’t in the bagge, _what it was a clocke_,” &c.
Sig. K 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ we find,
“With burris rowth and bottons _surffillyng_ [MS. _surfullinge_].”
v. 803. vol. i. 394.
which is cited (_Dict._ in v. _Surfel_) by Richardson, who, after quoting from Gifford that “To _surphule_ or _surfel_ the cheeks, is to wash them with mercurial or sulphur water,” &c., adds that Gifford’s “explanation does not extend to the passage from Skelton.” The fact seems to be that Skelton uses _surfle_ for _purfle_, i. e. border, embroider: and I may notice that Brathwait, on the other hand, seems to employ _purfle_ for _surfle_;
“With painting, _purfling_, and a face of Art.”
_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615. p. 150.
Page 319. v. 222.
_And howe whan ye gyue orders_ _In your prouinciall borders,_ _As at Sitientes, &c._]
_Sitientes_ is the first word of the Introit of the Mass for Passion Sunday (_“Sitientes, venite ad aquas, dicit Dominus,” &c._, _Isaiah_ lv. 1). For this note I am indebted to W. Dyce, Esq., who further observes that _Sitientes_ Saturday was of old, and is now abroad, the Saturday before Passion Sunday.
Page 320. v. 233. _renne they in euery stede_] i. e. run they in every place.
v. 234. _nolles_] i. e. heads.
v. 239. _Pystle_] i. e. Epistle.
v. 243. _prymes and houres_] i. e. the devotions so named.
v. 248. _vagabundus_] i. e. vagabonds.
v. 251. _ale stake_] i. e. stake set up before an ale-house by way of sign.
v. 252. _welcome hake and make_] An expression which I have not elsewhere met with. Ray gives among _North Country words_, “To _hake_, To sneak, or loiter:” in Hunter’s _Hallam. Gloss._ is “A _haking_ fellow, an idle loiterer;” and in a song cited by Mr. J. P. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 472) from a MS. drama called _Misogonus_ by T. Richards, we find,—
“With Bes and Nell we love to dwell In kissinge and in _hakinge_.”
—_make_ is common in the sense of—mate, companion.
Page 321. v. 262. _stylla_] i. e. still.
v. 263. _wylla_] i. e. will.
v. 264. _pekes_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 266. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 267. _apposed_] i. e. questioned, examined. “He was _apposed_, or examyned of his byleue. De religione _appellatus est_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. D ii. ed. 1530.
v. 269. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
Page 322. v. 284. _Tom a thrum_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
v. 293.
_There shall no clergy appose_ _A myter nor a crose,_ _But a full purse_]—_clergy_, i. e. erudition.
“Androgeus by kyng Mynos was sent, For he should profite in _cleargy_, To Athens.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. I. leaf xii. ed. Wayland.
—_appose_ seems to be used in a different sense from that in which we have just had it (v. 267), and to be equivalent to—procure: _crose_, i. e. crosier.
Page 322. v. 299. _a hermoniake_] A term I am unable to explain.
v. 303. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.
—— _the foresayd laye_] i. e. the above-mentioned laity.
v. 305. _anker_] i. e. anchorite.
v. 310.
_To ryde vpon a mule_ _With golde all betrapped_]
Perhaps, as Warton thinks (note on _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to), an allusion to Wolsey: afterwards in this poem, the Cardinal appears to be pointed at more plainly.
Page 323. v. 312. _purple and paule_] An expression which frequently occurs, more particularly in ballad-poetry (considered by Percy and others as equivalent to—purple robe): _paule_, i. e. pall, rich or fine cloth.
v. 316. _Raynes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2042.
v. 317. _morowes mylke_] i. e. morning’s milk.
v. 318. _tabertes_] _Tabards_,—jackets or coats, without sleeves, close before and behind, and open at the sides, are still worn by heralds: but those mentioned in the text were longer,—a sort of riding-cloaks. “_Tabard_ a garmêt _mâteau_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxviii. (Table of Subst.). And see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in v. _Tabartum_; Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Tabar_; and Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 301.
v. 319. _Theyr styrops of myxt gold begared_]—_begared_, or _begarded_, means—faced, bordered,—adorned. The line, I suspect, (see various readings _ad l._) ought to stand,—
“Theyr styrops _with_ gold begared.”
v. 321. _moyles_] i. e. mules.
v. 323.
_What care they though Gil sweate,_ _Or Jacke of the Noke_]
So afterwards, v. 857, the same terms are used to signify the labouring poor of both sexes. _Jacke of the Noke_, i. e. (I suppose) Jack of the Nook: see “_Nocata terræ_” in Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
v. 325. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 331. _farly_] i. e. strange.
v. 332. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
v. 335. _all to-mangle_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
Page 324. v. 337. _ascrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358.
v. 341. _Ware_] i. e. Were. (MS. “Was:” see note _ad loc._)
v. 342. _Poules_] i. e. Paul’s.
Page 324. v. 346. _trones_] i. e. thrones.
v. 347. _Lyke prynces aquilonis_] i. e. Like so many Lucifers.
v. 352. _For prestes and for lones_]—_prestes_, i. e. sums in advance. “_Prest_ and _loan_,” Sir H. Nicolas observes to me, “seem to have been used in nearly, if not precisely, the same sense in the 16th century. Perhaps, strictly, _prest_ meant a compulsory advance. In fiscal records it has much the meaning of _charge_ or _imprest_.”
v. 356. _tonge tayde_] i. e. tongue-tied.
v. 360. _shrewd_] i. e. evil.
v. 362. _poollynge_] i. e. polling, plundering.
Page 325. v. 365. _Ye make monkes to haue the culerage, &c._] A passage which I do not understand: but _culerage_ perhaps has here the meaning which it conveys as the name of an herb, “Arse-smart. _Cul-rage._” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 373. _ouerthwarted_] Has been explained before (p. 211. v. 230)—cavilled, wrangled: but here it seems to mean—crossly, perversely opposed or controlled.
v. 376. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 379. _corum_] i. e. quorum.
v. 388. _apostataas_] See note, p. 212. v. 290.
Page 326. v. 391. _sely nonnes_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless nuns.
v. 392. _ronnes_] i. e. runs.
v. 396. _quere_] i. e. quire.
v. 397. _heuy chere_] “_Heavy chear_, Tristitia, Mœstitia.” Cole’s _Dict._
v. 399. _fucke sayles_] So in a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar;
“The dust upskaillis, mony fillok wiih _fuk saillis_.”
_Poems_, ii. 27. ed. Laing.
and in another by Sir R. Maitland;
“Of fynest camroche thair _fuk saillis_.”
_Anc. Scot. Poems from Maitland MSS._, ii. 326. ed. Pink.
_Focke_, a foresail, German. In the Expenses of Sir John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, we find, “Item, the same day my mastyr paid to the said Clayson, for a _fuk_ maste for the said kervelle, iij_s._ iiij_d._” _Manners and Household Expenses of England_, &c., p. 206. ed. Roxb.
v. 401. _shales_] See note, p. 97. v. 19.
v. 403. _The lay fee people_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 404. _fawte_] i. e. fault.
v. 409. _Boke and chalys_] i. e. Book and chalice.
Page 327. v. 417. _melles_] i. e. meddles.
v. 418. _tytyuelles_] This word occurs not unfrequently, and with some variety of spelling, in our early writers. So Lydgate;
“_Tytyuylles_ tyrauntes with tormentoures.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. c i. n. d. 4to.
and Heywood;
“There is no moe such _titifyls_ in Englandes ground, To hold with the hare, and run with the hound.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. C,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Some have considered the word as derived from the Latin, _titivilitium_, a thing of no worth. Jamieson “suspects that it is a personal designation,” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Tutivillaris_. In _Juditium, Towneley Mysteries_, p. 310, _Tutivillus_ is a fiend; and in the Moral Play of _Mankind_ he represents the sin of the flesh, _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 297, by Mr. J.P. Collier, who says (ii. 223) that “the name afterwards came to mean any person with evil propensities,” and refers to the comedy of _Rauf Royster Doyster_, Skelton’s Works, and the Enterlude of _Thersytes_: when he objected to the derivation of the word from _titivilitium_ and proposed “the more simple etymology, _totus_ and _vilis_,” he was probably not aware that some writers (wrongly) “_totivillitium_ volunt, quasi _totum vile_:” see Gronovius’s note on the _Casina_ of Plautus, ii. 5, 39. ed. Var.
Page 327. v. 421. _Of an abbay ye make a graunge_] A proverbial expression.
“Our changes are soch that _an abbeye turneth to a graunge_.”
Bale’s _Kynge Iohan_, p. 23. Camd. ed.
“To bring _an Abbey to a Grange_.” Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 174. ed. 1768.
v. 424. _beade rolles_] i. e. prayers,—properly, lists of those to be prayed for.
v. 429.
_But where theyr soules dwell,_ _Therwith I wyll not mell_]
—_mell_, i. e. meddle. So Dunbar;
“Now _with thair sawle we will nocht mell_.”
_Poems_, ii. 52. ed. Laing.
v. 434. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
v. 440. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
Page 328. v. 447.
_splendore_ _Fulgurantis hastæ_]
From the Vulgate. “Ibunt in _splendore fulgurantis hastæ_ tuæ.” _Habac._ iii. 11. “Et micantis gladii, et _fulgurantis hastæ_.” _Nahum_, iii. 3.
v. 456. _eysell_] i. e. vinegar.
v. 458. _ypocras_] Was a favourite medicated drink, composed of wine (usually red), with spices and sugar. It is generally supposed to have been so named from Hippocrates (often contracted, as in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1426. vol. i. 417, to “Ipocras”); perhaps because it was strained,—the woollen bag used by apothecaries to strain syrups and decoctions for clarification being termed _Hippocrates’s sleeve_.
Page 328. v. 459. _Let the cat wynke_] See note, p. 168. v. 305.
v. 460. _Iche wot_] Seems to mean here—Each knows (not, I know); and therefore in the remainder of the line the reading of Kele’s ed., “yche,” ought not to have been rejected.
v. 467. _theologys_] i. e. theologians.
v. 468. _astrologys_] i. e. astrologers.
Page 329. v. 469. _Ptholome_] See note, p. 133. v. 503.
v. 474. _pretendynge_] Equivalent to—portending.
“What misfortune, aduersitie, or blame, Can all the planets to man or childe _pretende_, If God most glorious by his might vs defende?”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 129. ed. 1570.
Here Skelton seems to allude to Wolsey; and from these lines (called in the Lansdown MS., see note _ad loc._, “The profecy of Skelton”) perhaps originated the story of our poet having prophesied the downfal of the Cardinal.
v. 476. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 479. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
Page 330. v. 489. _bruted_] i. e. reported, talked of.
v. 492. _wrest vp_] i. e. screw up: see note, p. 238. v. 137.
v. 493. _twynkyng_] i. e. tinking, tinkling.
v. 498. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 504. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 515. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
Page 331. v. 523. _resydeuacyon_] i. e. recidivation, backsliding.
v. 528. _ipostacis_] i. e. hypostasis.
v. 533. _fore top_] i. e. (as the context shews) simply,—head, pate.
v. 535. _knowe and ken_] A pleonasm,—unless _ken_ be explained—see.
v. 542.
_And some haue a smacke_ _Of Luthers sacke_]
Concerning the wine called _sack_ (about which so much has been written) see Henderson’s _Hist. of Anc. and Mod. Wines_, p. 298.
v. 544. _brennyng_] i. e. burning.
v. 545. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 332. v. 549. _carpe_] i. e. talk, prate.
v. 551. _Called Wicleuista_] From Wicliffe.
v. 553. _Hussyans_] i. e. followers of Huss.
v. 554. _Arryans_] i. e. followers of Arius.
v. 555. _Pollegians_] i. e. Pelagians,—followers of Pelagius.
v. 559. _to mykel_] i. e. too much.
Page 332. v. 564. _tryalytes_] i. e. three benefices united.
v. 565. _tot quottes_] So Barclay;
“Then yf this lorde haue in him fauour, he hath hope To haue another benefyce of greater dignitie, And so maketh a false suggestion to the pope For a _tot quot_, or els a pluralitie.”
_Ship of Fooles_, fol. 60. ed. 1570.
Page 333. v. 572. _persons and vycaryes_] i. e. parsons and vicars.
v. 576. _loselles_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 577. _lewdely_] i. e. wickedly, vilely.
v. 578. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 581. _mought_] i. e. might.
v. 582. _so dysgysed_] See note, p. 205. v. 22.
Page 334. v. 597. _lokes_] i. e. looks.
v. 598. _bokes_] i. e. books.
v. 600. _wroken_] i. e. wreaked.
v. 602. _iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 604. _face_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
—— _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 606. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 607. _layser_] i. e. leisure.
v. 619. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
Page 335. v. 624. _dykes_] i. e. ditches.
“Where the blinde leadeth the blinde, both fall in the _dyke_.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, ed. 1598, sig. G 2.
v. 625. _Set nothyng by_] i. e. Value not, regard not.
v. 637. _ye, shall_] i. e. yea, I shall.
v. 648. _shule_] i. e. shovel.
Page 336. v. 654. _mamockes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2035.
v. 663. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 664. _Many one ye haue vntwynde_] The reading of the MS., which at least gives a sense to the line: _vntwynde_, i. e. destroyed; see note, p. 127. v. 284.
v. 668. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 672. _in the deuyll way_] A common expression in our early writers.
“Our Hoste answerd: Tell on _a devil way_.”
Chaucer’s _Milleres Prol._, v. 3136. ed. Tyr.
“In the _twenty deuyll way, Au nom du grant diable_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlii. (Table of Aduerbes). “What reason is that, _in the twenty deuell waye_, that he shulde bere suche a rule? Quænam (_malum_) ratio est,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. dd iii. ed. 1530.
Page 337. v. 673. _ouer_] i. e. besides.
v. 675. _hear_] i. e. hair.
v. 679. _tonsors_] i. e. tonsures.
v. 688. _the male dothe wrye_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
Page 338. v. 692. _Ye bysshops of estates_]—_of estates_, i. e. of great estate, rank, dignity.
v. 698. _awtentyke_] i. e. authentic.
v. 704. _intoxicate_] i. e. poison (Lat. _intoxico_).
v. 705. _conquinate_] i. e. coinquinate,—pollute, defile, defame.
v. 710. _The Churchis hygh estates_] i. e. the dignitaries of the Church.
Page 339. v. 728. _marke_] i. e. marks,—the coins so called.
v. 730. _werke_] i. e. work.
v. 734. _sawe_] i. e. saying,—branch of learning.
v. 737. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 739. _frere_] i. e. friar.
Page 340. v. 747.
_of the order_ _Vpon Grenewyche border,_ _Called Obseruaunce_]
The statement that Edward the Third founded a religious house at Greenwich in 1376 appears to rest on no authority. A grant of Edward the Fourth to certain Minorites or Observant Friars of the order of St. Francis of a piece of ground which adjoined the palace at Greenwich, and on which they had begun to build several small mansions, was confirmed in 1486 by a charter of Henry the Seventh, who founded there a convent of friars of that order, to consist of a warden and twelve brethren at the least; and who is said to have afterwards rebuilt their convent from the foundation. The friars of Greenwich were much favoured by Katherine, queen of Henry the Eighth; and when, during the question of her divorce, they had openly espoused her cause, the king was so greatly enraged that he suppressed the whole order throughout England. The convent at Greenwich was dissolved in 1534. Queen Mary reinstated them in their possessions, and new-founded and repaired their monastery. Queen Elizabeth suppressed them, &c. See Lysons’s _Environs of London_, iv. 464. ed. 1796.
v. 754. _Babuell besyde Bery_] When by an order of Pope Urban the Fourth, the Grey Friars were removed out of the town and jurisdiction of Bury St. Edmund, in 1263, “they retired to a place just without the bounds, beyond the north gate, called Babwell, now the Toll-gate, which the abbat and convent generously gave them to build on; and here they continued till the dissolution.” Tanner’s _Not. Mon._ p. 527. ed. 1744.
Page 340. v. 755. _To postell vpon a kyry_] i. e. to comment upon a Kyrie eleison: (a _postil_ is a short gloss, or note).
v. 757. _coted_] i. e. quoted.
Page 341. v. 779. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 780.
_make a Walshmans hose_ _Of the texte and of the glose_]
So again our author in his _Garlande of Laurell_;
“And after conueyauns as the world goos, It is no foly to vse _the Walshemannys hose_.”
v. 1238. vol. i. 411.
Compare _The Legend of the Bischop of St Androis_;
“Of omnigatherene now his glose, He _maid it lyk a Wealchman hose_.”
_Scot. Poems of the Sixteenth Century_, (by Dalyell), p. 332.
“WELCHMAN’S HOSE. Equivalent, I imagine, to the breeches of a Highlander, or the dress of a naked Pict; upon the presumption that Welchmen had no hose.” Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. Unfortunately, however, for this ingenious conjecture, the expression is found varied to “_shipman’s hose_,”—which certainly cannot be considered as a non-entity. “Hereunto they adde also a Similitude not very agreeable, how the Scriptures be like to a Nose of Waxe, or _a Shipmans Hose_: how thei may be fashioned, and plied al manner of waies, and serue al mennes turnes.” Jewel’s _Defence of the Apologie_, &c. p. 465. ed. 1567. “And not made as _a shippe mans hose_ to serue for euery legge.” Wilson’s _Arte of Rhetorike_, p. 102. ed. 1580. Surely _Welshman’s hose_ (as well as shipman’s) became proverbial from their pliability, power of being stretched, &c.
v. 784. _broke_] i. e. brook.
v. 785. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 786. _boke_] i. e. book.
Page 342. v. 800. _the brode gatus_] Means perhaps, Broadgates Hall, Oxford, on the site of which Pembroke College was erected.
v. 801. _Daupatus_] i. e. Simple-pate: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 803. _Dronhen as a mouse_] So Chaucer;
“We faren as he that _dronke is as a mous_.”
_The Knightes Tale_, v. 1263. ed. Tyr.
v. 805. _his pyllyon and his cap_]—_pyllyon_, from Lat. _pileus_. Compare Barclay;
“Mercury shall geue thee giftes manyfolde, His _pillion_, scepter, his winges, and his harpe.”
_Fourth Egloge_, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.
and Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_; “and upon his head a round _pillion_, with a noble of black velvet set to the same in the inner side” [where surely we ought to read, “and upon his head a round _pillion_ of black velvet, with a noble set to the same in the inner side”]. p. 105. ed. 1827.
Page 342. v. 811. _As wyse as Waltoms calfe_] So Heywood;
“And thinke me _as wise as Waltams calfe_, to talke,” &c.
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Ray gives, “_As wise as Waltham’s calf_, that ran nine miles to suck a bull.” _Proverbs_, p. 220. ed. 1768.
v. 812. _a Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.
v. 817. _scole matter_] i. e. school-matter.
Page 343. v. 820. _elenkes_] i. e. elenchs (_elenchus_—in logic).
v. 822. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 826. _neuen_] i. e. name.
v. 831. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 836. _Lymyters_] i. e. Friars licensed to beg within certain districts.
v. 840. _Flatterynge, &c._] Compare Barclay;
“We geue wooll and _cheese_, our wiues coyne and egges, When _freers flatter_ and prayse their proper legges.”
_Fifth Egloge_, sig. D v. ed. 1570.
v. 843. _lese_] i. e. lose.
Page 344. v. 846. _bacon flycke_] i. e. flitch of bacon.
v. 849. _couent_] i. e. convent.
v. 852. _theyr tonges fyle_]—_fyle_, i. e. smooth, polish: the expression occurs in earlier and in much later writers.
v. 854.
_To Margery and to Maude,_ _Howe they haue no fraude_]
As we find the name “Mawte” in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 159. vol. i. 100, and as in the second of these lines the MS. (see note _ad l._) has “fawte” (i. e. fault), the right reading is probably,
“To Margery and to _Mawte_, Howe they haue no _fawte_.”
v. 856. _prouoke_] i. e. incite.
v. 857. _Gyll and Jacke at Noke_] See note on v. 323. p. 283.
v. 861. _In open tyme_] i. e. In the time when no fasts are imposed.
v. 864. _an olde sayd sawe_] “_Oulde sayd sawe prouerbe_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. li. (Table of Subst.).
Page 344. v. 866. _Some walke aboute in melottes_] “Circuierunt in melotis.” _Vulgate_,—_Heb._ xi. 37. “_Melotes_,” as Mr. Albert Way observes to me, “is explained in the _Catholicon_ to be a garment used by the monks during laborious occupation, made of the skin of the badger, and reaching from the neck to the loins,” and according to other early dictionaries, it was made of the hair or skin of other animals. So the original Greek word, μηλωτή, which properly means _pellis ovina_, signifies also _pellis quævis_.
v. 867. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 868. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 869. _in remotes_] i. e. in retired places.
Page 345. v. 874.
_And by Dudum, theyr Clementine,_ _Agaynst curates they repyne;_ _And say propreli they ar sacerdotes,_ _To shryue, assoyle, and reles_ _Dame Margeries soule out of hell_]
—_shryue, assoyle_, i. e. confess, absolve.—“On a de Clément V une compilation nouvelle, tant des décrets du concile général de Vienne, que de ses épîtres ou constitutions. C’est ce qu’on appelle les _Clémentines_.” _L’Art de vérifier les Dates, &c. (depuis la naissance de Notre-seigneur_), iii. 382. ed. 1818. Skelton alludes here to _Clement._ lib. iii. tit. vii. cap. ii. which begins, “_Dvdum_ à Bonifacio Papa octauo prædecessore nostro,” &c., and contains the following passages. “Ab olim siquidem inter Prælatos & Rectores, seu Sacerdotes ac Clericos parochialium Ecclesiarum per diuersas Mundi prouincias constitutos ex vna parte, & Prædicatorum & Minorum ordinum fratres ex altera (pacis æmulo, satore zizaniæ procurante), grauis & periculosa discordia extitit, suscitata super prædicationib. fidelium populis faciendis, eorum confessionibus audiendis, pœnitentiis iniungendis eisdem, & tumulandis defunctorum corporibus, qui apud fratrum ipsorum Ecclesias siue loca noscuntur eligere sepulturam.... Statuimus etiam & ordinamus auctoritate prædicta, vt in singulis ciuitatibus & diœcesibus, in quibus loca fratrum ipsorum consistere dignoscuntur, vel in ciuitatibus & diœcesibus locis ipsis vicinis, in quibus loca huiusmodi non habentur, Magistri, Priores prouinciales Prædicatorum, aut eorum Vicarij & Generales, et Prouinciales Ministri & custodes Minorum & ordinum prædictorum ad præsentiam Prælatorum eorundem locorum se conferant per se, vel per fratres, quos ad hoc idoneos fore putauerint, humiliter petituri, vt fratres, qui ad hoc electi fuerint, in eorum ciuitatibus & diœcesibus confessiones subditorum suorum confiteri sibi volentium audire liberè valeant, & huiusmodi confitentibus (prout secundùm Deum expedire cognouerint) pœnitentias imponere salutares, atque eisdem absolutionis beneficium impendere de licentia, gratia, & beneplacito eorundem: Ac deinde præfati Magistri, Priores, Prouinciales, & Ministri ordinum prædictorum eligere studeant personas sufficientes, idoneas, vita probatas, discretas, modestas, atque peritas, ad tam salubre ministerium et officium exequendum: quas sic ab ipsis electas repræsentent, vel faciant præsentari Prælatis, vt de eorum licentia, gratia, & beneplacito in ciuitatib. & dioecesibus eorundem huiusmodi personæ sic electæ confessiones confiteri sibi volentium audiant, imponant pœnitentias salutares, & beneficium absolutionis (in posterum) impendant, prout superiùs est expressum: extra ciuitates & diœceses, in quibus fuerint deputatæ, per quas eas volumus & non per prouincias deputari, confessiones nullatenus audituræ. Numerus autem personarum assumendarum ad huiusmodi officium exercendum esse debet, prout vniuersitas cleri & populi, ac multitudo vel paucitas exigit eorundem. Et si iidem Prælati petitam licentiam confessionum huiusmodi audiendarum concesserint: illam præfati Magistri, Ministri, & alij cum gratiarum recipiant actione, dictæque personæ sic electæ commissum sibi officium exequantur. Quòd si fortè iam dicti Prælati quenquam ex dictis fratribus præsentatis eisdem ad huiusmodi officium nollent habere, vel non ducerent admittendum: eo amoto, vel subtracto loco ipsius similiter eisdem præsentandus Prælatis possit, & debeat alius surrogari. Si verò iidem Prælati præfatis fratribus ad confessiones (vt præmittitur) audiendas electis, huiusmodi exhibere licentiam recusârint, nos ex nunc ipsis, vt confessiones sibi confiteri volentium liberè licitèque audire valeant, & eisdem pœnitentias imponere salutares, atque eisdem beneficium absolutionis impertiri, gratiosè concedimus de plenitudine Apostolicæ potestatis. Per huiusmodi autem concessionem nequaquam intendimus personis, seu fratribus ipsis ad id taliter deputatis, potestatem in hoc impendere ampliorem quàm in eo curatis vel parochialibus Sacerdotib. est à iure concessa: nisi forsan eis Ecclesiarum Prælati vberiorem in hac parte gratiam specialiter ducerent faciendam.” Pp. 184-190. (_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600.)
Page 345. v. 879.
_But when the freare fell in the well,_ _He coud not syng himselfe therout_ _But by the helpe of Christyan Clout_]
The name “_Cristian Clowte_” has occurred before in our author’s _Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale_, vol. i. 28. The story alluded to in this passage appears to be nearly the same as that which is related in a comparatively modern ballad, entitled,
“_The Fryer Well-fitted: or, A Pretty Jest that once befel, How a Maid put a Fryer to cool in the Well. To a merry new Tune. Licens’d and Enter’d according to Order._”
The Friar wishes to seduce the Maid;
“But she denyed his Desire, And told him, that she feared Hell-fire; _fa, la_, &c. Tush, (quoth the Fryer) thou needst not doubt, _fa, la_, &c. If thou wert in Hell, I could sing thee out; _fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid then tells him that he “shall have his request,” but only on condition that he brings her “an angel of money.” While he is absent, “She hung a Cloth before the Well;” and, when he has returned, and given her the angel,—
“Oh stay, (quoth she) some Respite make, My Father comes, he will me take; _fa, la_, &c. Alas, (quoth the Fryer) where shall I run, _fa, la_, &c. To hide me till that he be gone? _fa, la_, &c. Behind the Cloth run thou (quoth she), And there my Father cannot thee see; _fa, la_, &c. Behind the Cloth the Fryer crept, _fa, la_, &c. And into the Well on sudden he leapt, _fa, la_, &c. Alas, (quoth he) I am in the Well; No matter, (quoth she) if thou wert in Hell; _fa, la_, &c. Thou say’st thou could’st sing me out of Hell, _fa, la_, &c. Now prithee sing thyself out of the Well, _fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid at last helps him out, and bids him be gone; but when he asks her to give him back the angel,—
“Good Sir, (said she) there’s no such matter, I’ll make you pay for fouling my Water; _fa, la_, &c. The Fryer went along the Street, _fa, la_, &c. Drapping wet, like a new-wash’d Sheep, _fa, la_, &c. Both Old and Young commended the Maid, That such a witty Prank had plaid; _fa, la, la, la, la,_ _fa, la, la, lang-tree down-dily._”
_Ballads_, Brit. Mus. 643. m.
Page 345. v. 882.
_Another Clementyne also,_ _How frere Fabian, with other mo,_ _Exivit de Paradiso_]
—_mo_, i. e. more. Some corruption, if not considerable mutilation of the text, may be suspected here. There seems to be an allusion to _Clement_, lib. v. tit. xi. cap. i., which begins, “_Exiui de paradiso_, dixi, rigabo hortum plantationum, ait ille cœlestis agricola,” &c. P. 313. (_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600).
v. 892. _abiections_] i. e. objections.
Page 346. v. 901. _hertes_] i. e. hearts.
v. 903. _coueytous_] i. e. covetise, covetousness.
v. 906. _play scylens and glum, &c._] See note on v. 83. p. 278.
v. 911. _leuer_] i. e. more willingly, rather.
v. 914. _Worsshepfully_] i. e. According to their honour, or dignity.
Page 347. v. 922. _payntes_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
v. 924. _them lyke_] i. e. please them.
v. 931. _crosse_] See note, p. 116. v. 363.
v. 932. _predyall landes_] i. e. farm-lands.
v. 943. _palles_] See note on v. 312. p. 283.
v. 944. _Arras_] i. e. tapestry: see note, p. 192. v. 78.
v. 947. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable,—beautiful.
Page 348. v. 950. _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 951. _tyrly tyrlowe_] This passage was strangely misunderstood by the late Mr. Douce, who thought that “_tyrly tyrlowe_” alluded to the note of the crow, that bird being mentioned in the preceding line! _Illust. of Shakespeare_, i. 353. The expression has occurred before, in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 292. vol. i. 104: here it is equivalent to the modern _fa, la, la_, which is often used with a sly or wanton allusion,—as, for instance, at the end of each stanza of Pope’s court-ballad, _The Challenge_.
Page 348. v. 953. _a lege de moy_] See note, p. 176. v. 587.
v. 956. _With suche storyes bydene_]—_bydene_, that is “by the dozen,” says Warton, erroneously, quoting this passage, _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 343. ed. 4to (note). The word occurs frequently in our early poetry, with different significations: here it may be explained—together—(with _a collection of_ such stories); so in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;
“Now cryst ... ... Saue all this company that is gathered here _bydene_.”
Sig. C iiii.
v. 957. _Their chambres well besene_]—_well besene_, i. e. of a good appearance,—well-furnished, or adorned: see note, p. 112. v. 283.
v. 962. _Nowe all the worlde stares, &c._] “This is still,” as Warton observes (_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 343. ed. 4to, note), “a description of tapestry.”
v. 963. _chares_] i. e. chariots.
v. 964. _olyphantes_] i. e. elephants.
v. 965, _garlantes_] i. e. garlands.
v. 974. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.
v. 975. _courage_] i. e. heart, affections.
v. 977.
_Theyr chambres thus to dresse_ _With suche parfetnesse_]
—_parfetnesse_, i. e. perfectness. “We should observe,” says Warton, after citing the passage, “that the satire is here pointed at the subject of these tapestries. The graver ecclesiastics, who did not follow the levities of the world, were contented with religious subjects, or such as were merely historical.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 344. ed. 4to.
Page 349. v. 983. _remorde_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 987. _mellyng_] i. e. meddling.
v. 990. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 991. _For one man to rule a kyng_] An allusion, I apprehend, to Wolsey’s influence over Henry the Eighth: so again our author speaking of Wolsey, in the Latin lines at the end of _Why Come ye nat to Courte_, “Qui regnum _regemque regit_.” Vol. ii. 67. I may observe too in further confirmation of the reading “_kyng_” instead of “gyng” (see note _ad loc._), that we have had in an earlier passage of the present poem,
“_To rule_ bothe _kyng_ and kayser.”
v. 606.
v. 996. _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 998. _quysshon_] i. e. cushion.
v. 1000. _Cum regibus amicare_] “_Amico_, to be frend.” _Medulla Gramatice_, MS. (now in the possession of Mr. Rodd).
Page 349. v. 1002. _pravare_] In _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de. Worde, n. d., is “_Prauo_ ... prauum facere. _or to shrewe_,” and “Tirannus. _shrewe_ or tyrande.” The meaning therefore of _pravare_ in our text may be—to play the tyrant.
Page 350. v. 1003. _vre_] “_Evr_ happe or lucke with his compoundes _bonevr_ and _malevr_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. vi. (Thirde Boke).
“My goddesse bright, my fortune, and my _vre_.”
Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_, fol. 330,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
“The grace and _ewer_ and hap of olde fortune.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. Z v. cd. 1555.
“But wayte his death & his fatall _eure_.”
_Id_. sig. A a i.
“And fortune which hath the such _vre_ y sent.”
_Poems by C. Duke of Orleans,—MS. Harl._ 682, fol. 24.
v. 1014. _played so checkemate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in _check_ at the game of chess.
v. 1017. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1019. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 1020. _at the playsure of one, &c._] Meaning, surely, Wolsey.
v. 1025. _not so hardy on his hede_] An elliptical expression; compare v. 1154. In the _Morte d’Arthur_ when Bors is on the point of slaying King Arthur, “_Not soo hardy_ sayd syr launcelot _vpon payn of thy hede_, &c.” B. xx. c. xiii. vol. ii. 411. ed. Southey.
v. 1026. _To loke on God in forme of brede_]—_loke_, i. e. look: _brede_, i. e. bread. A not unfrequent expression in our early writers.
“Whan I sacred our lordes body Chryste Jesu _in fourme of brede_.”
_The Lyfe of saint Gregoryes mother_, n. d. sig. A v.
See too Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 84; and Hartshorne’s _An. Met. Tales_, p. 134.
Page 351. v. 1030. _sacryng_] “_Sacryng_ of the masse _sacrement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lx. (Table of Subst.). And see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 1041. _preas_] i. e. press.
v. 1047. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 1050. _warke_] i. e. work, business.
Page 352. v. 1051. _this_] Perhaps for—thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 1054. _vncouthes_] i. e. strange matters.
v. 1055. _ken_] i. e. know.
v. 1070. _premenire_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 1074. _fotyng_] i. e. footing.
Page 352. v. 1075. _motyng_] i. e. mooting. “Certamen ... anglice flytynge chydynge or _motynge.” Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 1076. _totyng_] i. e. prying, peeping.
Page 353. v. 1084. _hole route_] i. e. whole crowd, set.
v. 1098. _escrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358. p. 283. v. 337.
v. 1102. _werke_] i. e. work.
Page 354. v. 1106. _hynderyng_] See note, p. 245. v. 719.
—— _dysauaylyng_] “I _Disauayle_ one, I hynder his auauntage, _Ie luy porte dom̄aige_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 1116. _to be gramed_] i. e. to be angered: _gramed_ is doubtless the right reading here, though the eds. have “greued” and the MS. “grevyd”—(_grame_ has already occurred in _Magnyfycence_, v. 1864).
Page 355. v. 1134. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 1154. _Not so hardy on theyr pates_] See note on v. 1025, preceding page.
v. 1155. _losell_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 1156. _wesaunt_] i. e. weasand.
v. 1157. _syr Guy of Gaunt_] See note, p. 184. v. 70.
v. 1158. _lewde_] i. e. wicked, vile.
Page 356. v. 1159. _doctour Deuyas_] See note, p. 95. v. 55.
v. 1162. _dawcocke_] i. e. simpleton: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
—— _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1164. _Allygate_] i. e. Allege.
v. 1170. _lurdeyne_] See note, p. 242. v. 423.
v. 1171. _Lytell Ease_] “_Little Ease_ (prison), mala mansio, arcæ robustæ.” Coles’s _Dict._—“LITTLE-EASE. A familiar term for a pillory, or stocks; or an engine uniting both purposes, the bilboes.” Nares’s _Gloss._
v. 1178. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
Page 357. v. 1184. _Poules Crosse_] i. e. Paul’s Cross.
v. 1186. _Saynt Mary Spyttell_] In Bishopsgate Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_, B. ii. 97. ed. 1720.
v. 1187. _set not by vs a whystell_] i. e. value us not at a whistle, care not a whistle for us. Compare Lydgate;
“For he _set not by_ his wrethe _a whistel_.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 45.
v. 1188. _the Austen fryers_] In Broad-street Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_, B. ii. 114, ed. 1720.
Page 357. v. 1190. _Saynt Thomas of Akers_] Concerning the “Hospital intituled of S. Thomas of Acon or Acars [Acre in the Holy Land], near to the great Conduit in Cheape,” see Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 37. ed. 1720, and Maitland’s _Hist. of London_, ii. 886. ed. 1756.
v. 1191. _carpe vs_] Is explained by the various reading of the MS.,—“clacke of us.”
—— _crakers_] i. e., as the context shews, (not—vaunters, but) noisy talkers.
v. 1193. _reason or skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 1196. _at a pronge_] See note, p. 243. v. 506.
v. 1199. _fonge_] i. e. take, get.
v. 1201. _the ryght of a rambes horne_] An expression which our author has again in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 498. vol. ii. 24. So in a metrical fragment, temp. Edward ii.;
“As _ryt as ramis orn._”
_Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), ii. 19.
And Lydgate has a copy of verses, the burden of which is,—
“Conveyede by lyne _ryght as a rammes horne_.”
_MS. Harl._ 172. fol. 71.
See too Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 225. ed. 1768.
v. 1206. _yawde_] i. e. hewed, cut down. “To _Yaw_, to hew.” Gloss. appended to _A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect_, 1837.
Page 358. v. 1208. _Ezechyas_] Ought to be “Isaias;” for, according to a Jewish tradition, Isaiah was cut in two with a wooden saw by order of King Manasseh.
v. 1216. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 1223. _cough, rough, or sneuyll_]—_rough_, i. e., perhaps, _rout_, snore, snort. I may just observe that Palsgrave not only gives “_rowte_” in that sense, but also “I _Rowte_ I belche as one dothe that voydeth wynde out of his stomacke, _Ie roucte_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxliiii. (Table of Verbes); and that Coles has “To _rout_, Crepo, pedo.” _Dict._
v. 1224. _Renne_] i. e. Run.
v. 1227. _set not a nut shell_] i. e. value not at a nut-shell, care not a nut-shell for.
v. 1229. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
Page 359. v. 1232. _sayd sayne_] A sort of pleonastic expression,—equivalent to—called commonly or proverbially: see note on v. 864. p. 290.
v. 1235. _domis day_] i. e. doomsday.
Page 359. v. 1239. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1240. _By hoke ne by croke_] i. e. By hook nor by crook.
v. 1244. _nolles_] i. e. heads.
v. 1245. _noddy polles_] i. e. silly heads.
v. 1246. _sely_] i. e. silly.
v. 1248. _great estates_] i. e. persons of great estate, or rank.
v. 1255. _wawes wod_] i. e. waves mad, raging.
v. 1257. _Shote_] i. e. Shoot, cast.
v. 1258. _farre_] i. e. farther:
“I wyl no _farr_ mell.”
_Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without grounds to Heywood), sig. C ii.
Page 360. v. 1262. _the porte salu_] i. e. the safe port. Skelton has the term again in his _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 541. vol. i. 383. Compare Hoccleve;
“whether our taill Shall soone make us with our shippes saill To _port salu_.”
_Poems_, p. 61. ed. 1796,—
where the editor observes, “_Port salut_ was a kind of proverbial expression, and so used in the translation of _Cicero de senectute_ printed by Caxton.”
A RYGHT DELECTABLE TRATYSE VPON A GOODLY GARLANDE OR CHAPELET OF LAURELL ... STUDYOUSLY DYUYSED AT SHERYFHOTTON CASTELL, IN THE FORESTE OF GALTRES, &c.
Sheriff-Hutton Castle “is situated in the Wapentake of Bulmer, and is distant ten miles north-east from York ... The slender accounts of it that have reached our times, ascribe its origin to Bertram de Bulmer, an English Baron, who is recorded by Camden to have built it in the reign of King Stephen, A.D. 1140 ... From the Bulmers it descended by marriage to the noble family of the Nevilles, and continued in their possession upwards of 300 years, through a regular series of reigns, until seized by Edward iv. in 1471, who soon after gave the Castle and Manor to his brother the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard iii. In 1485, in consequence of the death of Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field, it became the property of King Henry vii., and continued in the hands of the Crown, until James the First granted it to his son, Prince Charles, about 1616. The Castle and Manor were subsequently granted (also by King James, according to Camden, and the original grant confirmed by Prince Charles after he ascended the throne) to the family of the Ingrams, about 1624-5, and are now in possession of their lineal descendant, the present Marchioness of Hertford.” _Some Account of Sheriff-Hutton Castle_, &c. pp. 3-5, York, 1824.
Leland (who says, erroneously it would seem, that Sheriff-Hutton Castle “was buildid by Rafe Nevill of Raby the fyrst Erl of Westmerland of the Nevilles,”) gives the following description of it. “There is a Base Court with Houses of Office afore the Entering of the Castelle. The Castelle self in the Front is not dichid, but it stondith _in loco utcunque edito_. I markid yn the fore Front of the first Area of the Castelle self 3. great and high Toures, of the which the Gate House was the Midle. In the secunde Area ther be a 5. or 6. Toures, and the stately Staire up to the Haul is very Magnificent, and so is the Haul it self, and al the residew of the House: in so much that I saw no House in the North so like a Princely Logginges. I lernid ther that the Stone that the Castel was buildid with was fetchid from a Quarre at Terington a 2. Miles of. There is a Park by the Castel. This Castel was wel maintainid, by reason that the late Duke of Northfolk lay ther x. Yers, and sins the Duk of Richemond. From Shirhuten to York vij. Miles, and in the Forest of Galtres, wherof 4. Miles or more was low Medowes and Morisch Ground ful of Carres, the Residew by better Ground but not very high.” _Itin._ i. 67. ed. 1770.
“Report asserts, that during the civil wars in the time of Charles the First, it [the Castle] was dismantled, and the greater part of its walls taken down, by order of the Parliament. But this is certainly not the fact, as will be seen by reference to the ‘Royal Survey’ made in 1624 ... From this Survey it will appear evident, that the Castle was dismantled and almost in total ruin in the time of James I.,—how long it had been so, previous to the Survey alluded to, is now difficult to say. From the present appearance of the ruins, it is plain that the Castle was purposely demolished and taken down by workmen, (probably under an order from the Crown, in whatever reign it might happen,) and not destroyed by violence of war. However, since this devastation by human hands, the yet more powerful and corroding hand of Time has still further contributed to its destruction.... The Castle stands upon a rising bank or eminence in front of the village, and its ruins may be seen on every side at a great distance.” _Some Account_, &c. (already cited), pp. 5, 6. The vast forest of Galtres formerly extended nearly all round Sheriff-Hutton.
When Skelton wrote the present poem, Sheriff-Hutton Castle was in possession of the Duke of Norfolk, to whom it had been granted by the crown for life: see note on v. 769.
Page 361. v. 1. _Arectyng_] i. e. Raising.
Page 361. v. 6. _plenarly_] i. e. fully—at full.
v. 9. _somer flower_] i. e. summer-flower.
v. 10. _halfe_] i. e. side, part.
Page 362. v. 15. _dumpe_] “I Dumpe I fall in a _dumpe_ or musyng vpon thynges.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxxii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 16. _Encraumpysshed_] i. e. encramped. Skelton’s fondness for compounds of this kind has been already noticed. The simple word occurs in other writers:
“_Crampisheth_ her limmes crokedly.”
Chaucer’s _Annel. and Ar_.,—_Workes_, fol. 244. ed. 1602.
“As marbyll colde her lymmes _craumpishing_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. X v. ed. 1555.
—— _conceyte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 20. _boystors_] i. e. boisterous.
v. 22.
_Thus stode I in the frytthy forest of Galtres,_ _Ensowkid with sylt of the myry mose_]
—_stode_, i. e. stood: _frytthy_, i. e. woody: _ensowkid_, i. e. ensoaked: _sylt_, i. e. mud: _mose_, i. e. moss. The forest of Galtres (which, as already noticed, extended nearly all round Sheriff-Hutton) was, when Camden wrote, “in some places shaded with trees, _in others swampy_.” _Britannia_ (by Gough), iii. 20.
v. 24. _hartis belluyng_] In the _Book of Saint Albans_, Juliana Berners, treating “Of the cryenge of thyse bestys,” says,
“_An harte belowyth_ and a bucke groynyth I fynde.”
Sig. d ii.
—— _embosyd_] “When he [the hart] is foamy at the mouth, we say that he is _embost_.” Turbervile’s _Noble Art of Venerie_, p. 244. ed. 1611.
v. 26. _the hynde calfe_] “Ceruula. a _hynde calfe.” Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the _Book of Saint Albans_ we are told;
“And for to speke of the harte yf ye woll it lere: Ye shall hym a _Calfe_ call at the fyrste yere.”
Sig. C vi.
v. 27. _forster_] i. e. forester.
—— _bate_] Does it mean—set on, or train?
v. 28. _torne_] i. e. turn.
v. 32. _superflue_] i. e. superfluous.
“Ye blabbering fooles _superflue_ of language.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 38. ed. 1570.
v. 35. _wele_] i. e. well.
Page 363. v. 38. _disgysede_] i. e. decked out in an unusual manner.
“Of his straunge aray merueyled I sore ... Me thought he was gayly _dysgysed_ at that fest.”
Lydgate’s _Assemble de dyeus_, sig. b ii. n. d. 4to.
Page 363. v. 39. _fresshe_] “_Fresshe_, gorgyouse, gay.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.),—which I ought to have cited earlier for the meaning of this word.
v. 40. _Enhachyde with perle, &c._] i. e. Inlaid, adorned with pearl, &c. Our author in his _Phyllyp Sparowe_ tells us that a lady had a wart (or as he also calls it, a scar) “_enhached_ on her fayre skyn,” v. 1078. vol. i. 84. Gifford observes that “literally, to _hatch_ is to inlay [originally, I believe, to cut, engrave, mark with lines]; metaphorically, it is to adorn, to beautify, with silver, gold, &c.” Note on Shirley’s _Works_, ii. 301. “The ladies apparell was after the fashion of Inde, with kerchifes of pleasance, _hatched_ with fine gold.” Holinshed’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 849. ed. 1587. “_Hatching_, is to Silver or gild the Hilt and Pomell of a Sword or Hanger.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. iii. p. 91.
v. 41. _The grounde engrosyd and bet with bourne golde_]—_grounde_, i. e. (not floor, but) ground-work; as in Lydgate’s verses entitled _For the better abyde_;
“I see a rybaun ryche and newe ... The _grownde_ was alle of brent golde bryght.”
_MS. Cott. Calig. A_ ii. fol. 65.
_engrosyd_, i. e. thickened, enriched: _bet_ has here the same meaning as in _Le Bone Florence of Rome_;
“Hur clothys wyth bestes and byrdes wer _bete_.”
_Met. Rom_. iii. 9. ed. Ritson,
who somewhat copiously explains it “beaten, plaited, inlay’d, embroider’d:” _bourne_, i. e. burnished.
v. 44. _abylyment_] i. e. habiliment.
v. 45. _estates_] i. e. persons of estate or rank.
v. 49. _supplyed_] i. e. supplicated.
v. 50. _pusant_] i. e. puissant, powerful, mighty.
v. 52. _of very congruence_] i. e. of very fitness.
“Such ought of duetie and _very congruence_,” &c.
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 188. ed. 1570.
v. 54. _astate_] i. e. estate, rank, dignity.
—— _most lenen_] i. e. must lean, bend, bow.
v. 55. _arrect_] i. e. raise.
v. 58. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
Page 364. v. 65. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 66. _embesy_] i. e. embusy.
—— _holl corage_] i. e. whole heart.
v. 68. _were_] i. e. wear.
v. 69. _wonder slake_] i. e. wonderfully slack.
v. 70. _lake] i. e._ lack, fault.
v. 71. _ne were_] i. e. were it not.
v. 72. _bokis ... sone ... rase_] i. e. books ... soon ... erase.
v. 73. _sith_] i. e. since.
v. 74. _Elyconis_] i. e. Helicon’s.
v. 75. _endeuour hymselfe_] i. e. exert himself (compare v. 936).
v. 77. _sittynge_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 79. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 80. _comprised_] Compare our author in _Lenuoy_ to Wolsey;
“And hym moost lowly pray, In his mynde to _comprise_ Those wordes,” &c.
vol. ii. 84.
v. 81. _rin_] i. e. run.
Page 365. v. 83. _pullishe_] i. e. polish.
v. 86. _remorde_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 94. _mo ... enduce_] i. e. more ... bring in, adduce.
v. 95. _parde for to kyll_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily, for to be killed.
v. 96. _enuectyfys_] i. e. invectives.
v. 101. _the grey_] i. e. the badger. Juliana Berners says;
“That beest a bausyn hyght: a brok or a _graye_: Thyse thre names he hath the soth for to saye.”
_The Book of St. Albans_, sig. D vi.
v. 102. _gose ... oliphaunt_] i. e. goose ... elephant.
v. 103. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
Page 366. v. 110. _confecture_] i. e. composition.
v. 111. _diffuse is to expounde_] i. e. is difficult to expound: see note, p. 144. v. 768.
v. 112. _make ... fawt_] i. e. compose ... fault.
v. 114. _motyue_] i. e. motion. So in the next line but one is “promotyue,” i. e. promotion: and so Lydgate has “ymaginatyfe” for—imagination. _Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxvii. ed. Wayland.
v. 115. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 116. _rowme_] i. e. room, place.
v. 121. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 122. _iche man doth hym dres_] i. e. each man doth address, apply, himself.
v. 124. _bokis_] i. e. books.
Page 366. v. 127. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 129. _mo_] i. e. more.
Page 367. v. 133. _Ageyne_] i. e. Against.
v. 136. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 137. _rasid_] i. e. erased.
v. 140. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
—— _defaut_] i. e. default, want.
—— _konnyng_] i. e. (not so much—knowledge, learning, as) skill, ability.
v. 141. _apposelle_] i. e. question.
“And to pouert she put this _opposayle_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iii. leaf lxvi. ed. Wayland.
“Made vnto her this vncouth _apposayle_: Why wepe ye so,” &c.
_Id._ B. v. leaf cxxviii.
—— _wele inferrid_] i. e. well brought in.
v. 142.
_quikly it is_ _Towchid_]
i. e. it is lively, subtly expressed: compare v. 592 and v. 1161, where the words are applied to visible objects.
—— _debarrid_] See note, p. 237. v. 60; and compare _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_ (attributed without grounds to Heywood) n. d.;
“That reason is so grete no man can _debarr_.”
Sig. C iii.
Page 368. v. 149. _sittyng_] i. e. proper, becoming.
v. 152. _corage_] i. e. encourage.
v. 153. _fresshely_] i. e. elegantly: see note on v. 39. p. 302.
v. 155. _bruitid_] i. e. reported, spoken of.
v. 156. _outray_] See note, p. 123. v. 87, where this passage is examined.
v. 162. _Ierome, in his preamble Frater Ambrosius, &c._] The Epistle of Jerome to Paulinus, prefixed to the Vulgate, begins, “_Frater Ambrosius_ tua mihi munuscula perferens,” &c., and contains this passage: “Unde et Æschines, cum Rhodi exularet, et legeretur illa Demosthenis oratio, quam adversus eum habuerat, mirantibus cunctis atque laudantibus, suspirans ait, Quid, si ipsam audissetis bestiam sua verba resonantem?” It may be found also in _Hieronymi Opp. I._ 1005. ed. 1609.
Page 369. v. 172. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 180. _wele ... avaunce_] i. e. well ... advance.
v. 183. _thefte and brybery_] See note, p. 256. v. 1242.
v. 184. _pyke_] i. e. pick.
Page 369. v. 186. _cokwoldes_] i. e. cuckolds.
v. 187. _wetewoldis_] i. e. wittols, tame cuckolds.
“_Wetewoldis_ that suffre synne in her syghtes.”
Lydgate’s _Assemble de dyeus_, sig. c i. n. d. 4to.
v. 188. _lidderons_] So before, _lydderyns_; see note, p. 267. v. 1945: but here, it would seem, the word is used in the more confined sense of—sluggish, slothful, idle fellows.
—— _losels_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
—— _noughty packis_] See note, p. 203. v. 58.—If Skelton had been required to distinguish exactly between the meanings of these terms of reproach, he would perhaps have been nearly as much at a loss as his editor.
v. 189. _Some facers, some bracers, some make great crackis_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
v. 192. _courte rowlis_] i. e. court-rolls.—Warton cites this and the next two verses as “nervous and manly lines.” _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 354. ed. 4to.
v. 196. _rinne_] i. e. run.
Page 370. v. 198. _cunnyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 200. _a mummynge_] See note, p. 278. v. 83.
v. 201. _sadnesse_] See note, p. 259. v. 1382.
v. 203. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 204. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 205. _can ... scole_] i. e. knows ... school.
v. 207. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 208. _stole_] i. e. stool.
v. 209. _Iacke a thrummis bybille_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
v. 211. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 212. _dwte_] i. e. duty.
v. 218. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 371. v. 223. _lay_] See note, p. 219. v. 103.
—— _werkis_] i. e. works.
v. 227. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 232. _condiscendid_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
v. 233. _clarionar_] Is used here for—trumpeter: but the words properly are not synonymous;
“Of _trumpeters_ and eke of _clarioneres_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. i. sig. C v. ed. 1555.
and Skelton himself has afterwards in the present poem, “_trumpettis_ and _clariouns_.” v. 1507.
v. 235. _Eolus, your trumpet_] i. e. Æeolus, your trumpeter.
“A _trumpet_ stode and proudly gan to blowe, Which slayne was and fro the tre doun throw.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxxx. ed. Wayland.
So Chaucer makes Æolus trumpeter to Fame: see _House of Fame_, B. iii.
Page 371. v. 236. _mercyall_] i. e. martial.
v. 239. _prease_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 240. _hole rowte_] i. e. whole crowd, assembly.
v. 243. _this trumpet were founde out_] See note, p. 251. v. 977.
v. 244. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.
v. 245. _eyne_] i. e. eyes.
Page 372. v. 248. _presid ... to_] i. e. pressed ... too.
v. 250. _Some whispred, some rownyd_] See note, p. 120. v. 513.
v. 255. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 258. _plumpe_] i. e. cluster, mass. “Stode stille as hit had ben a _plompe_ of wood.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. i. cap. xvi. vol. i. 27. ed. Southey. Dryden has the word; and the first writer perhaps after his time who used it was Sir W. Scott.
v. 260. _timorous_] i. e. terrible.
v. 264. _rowte_] i. e. crowd, assembly.
v. 265. _girnid_] i. e. grinned.
v. 266. _peuysshe_] i. e. silly, foolish.
—— _masyd_] i. e. bewildered, confounded.
v. 267. _whyste_] i. e. still.
—— _the nonys_] i. e. the occasion.
v. 268. _iche ... stode_] i. e. each ... stood.
v. 269. _wonderly_] i. e. wonderfully.
v. 270. _A murmur of mynstrels_] So in many of our early English dramas “a noise of musicians” is used for a company or band of musicians.
v. 272. _Traciane_] i. e. Thracian.
—— _herped meledyously_] i. e. harped melodiously.
Page 373. v. 274. _armony_] i. e. harmony.
v. 275. _gree_] i. e. agree.
v. 278. _gle_] i. e. music.
v. 279. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 282. _Sterte ... fote_] i. e. Started ... foot.
v. 285.
———— _lake_ _Of_]
i. e. lack of,—less than.
v. 288. _cronell_] i. e. coronal, garland.
Page 373. v. 289. _heris encrisped_] i. e. hairs formed into curls, curling.
v. 290. _Daphnes_] i. e. Daphne. So our early poets wrote the name;
“A maiden whilom there was one Which _Daphnes_ hight.”
Gower’s _Conf. Am._ B. iii. fol. lvi. ed. 1554.
“Her name was _Daphnys_ which was deuoyed of loue.”
_The Castell of pleasure_, (by Nevil, son of Lord Latimer), sig. A iii. 1518.
So afterwards in the present poem we find _Cidippes_ for Cydippe, v. 885; and see note, p. 123. v. 70.
—— _the darte of lede_] From Ovid, _Met._ i. 471.
v. 291. _ne wolde_] i. e. would not.
v. 292. _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 295. _Meddelyd with murnynge_] i. e. Mingled with mourning.
v. 296. _O thoughtfull herte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.
v. 298. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 300.
_the tre as he did take_ _Betwene his armes, he felt her body quake_]
From Ovid, _Met._ i. 553.
Page 374. v. 302. _he assurded into this exclamacyon_]—_assurded_, i. e. broke forth—a word which I have not elsewhere met with, but evidently formed from the not uncommon verb _sourd_, to rise. “Ther withinne _sourdeth_ and spryngeth a fontayne or welle.” Caxton’s _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig. e v.: in that work, a few lines after, occurs “_resourdeth_.”
v. 306. _adyment_] i. e. adamant.
v. 307. _ouerthwhart_] i. e. cross, perverse, adverse.
v. 310. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
v. 314. _gresse_] i. e. grass. This stanza is also imitated from Ovid, _Met._ i. 521.
v. 315. _axes_] See note, p. 100. v. 9.
v. 317. _raist_] i. e. arrayest: see note on title of poem, p. 197.
v. 318. _But sith I haue lost, &c._] Again from Ovid, _Met._ i. 557.
v. 324. _poetis laureat, &c._] It must be remembered that formerly a _poet laureat_ meant a person who had taken a degree in grammar, including rhetoric and versification: and that the word _poet_ was applied to a writer of prose as well as of verse; “_Poet_ a connyng man.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lv. (Table of Subst.).
“And _poetes_ to preoven hit. Porfirie and Plato Aristotle, Ovidius,” &c.
_Peirs Plouhman_, p. 210. ed. Whit.
“Nor sugred deties [ditties] of Tullius Cicero.”
Lydgate’s _Lyfe and passion of seint Albon_, sig. B ii. ed. 1534.
Page 374. v. 328. _Esiodus, the iconomicar_] i. e. Hesiod, the writer on husbandry (the eds. by a misprint have “icononucar,”—which Warton says he “cannot decypher.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 352 (note), ed. 4to.) Among _MSS. Dig. Bod._ 147. is “Carmen Domini Walteri de Henleye quod vocatur _Yconomia_ sive Housbundria:” compare Cicero; “quam copiose ab eo [Xenophonte] agricultura laudatur in eo libro, qui est de tuenda re familiari, qui _Œconomicus_ inscribitur.” _Cato Major_, c. 17.
v. 329. _fresshe_] i. e. elegant: see note, p. 302. v. 39.
Page 375. v. 335. _engrosyd_] i. e. plumped up, swollen.
—— _flotis_] i. e. flowings,—drops: various reading, “droppes;” see note _ad l._ (“_Flotyce._ Spuma.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499, is a distinct word.)
v. 338. _Percius presed forth with problemes diffuse_]—_presed_, i. e. pressed: _diffuse_, i. e. difficult to be understood; see note, p. 144. v. 768. “Skelton, undoubtedly a man of learning, calls Persius (not unhappily for his mode of thinking) _a writer of problems diffuse_.” Gifford’s Introd. to _Persius_, p. xxxi. ed. 1817.
v. 340. _satirray_] Is this word to be explained—satirist, or satirical?
v. 344. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 345. _mengith_] i. e. mingleth.
v. 347. _wrate ... mercyall_] i. e. wrote ... martial.
v. 352. _Orace also with his new poetry_] “That is, Horace’s _Art of Poetry_. Vinesauf wrote _De Nova Poetria_. Horace’s _Art_ is frequently mentioned under this title.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 353 (note), ed. 4to.
Page 376. v. 359. _Boyce_] i. e. Boethius.
—— _recounfortyd_] i. e. recomforted,—comforted.
v. 360.
_Maxymyane, with his madde ditiis,_ _How dotynge age wolde iape with yonge foly_]
—_iape_, i. e. jest, joke. The _Elegiarum Liber_ of Maximianus, which has been often printed as the production of Cornelius Gallus, may be found, with all that can be told concerning its author, in Wernsdorf’s _Poetæ Latini Minores, tomi sexti pars prior_. In these six elegies Maximianus deplores the evils of old age, relates the pursuits and loves of his youth, &c. &c. Perhaps the line “_How dotynge age wolde iape with yonge foly_” (in which case _iape_ would have the same meaning here as in our author’s _Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale_, v. 20. vol. i. 28) is a particular allusion to Elegy v., where Maximianus informs us, that, having been sent on an embassy, at an advanced period of life, he became enamoured of a “Graia puella,” &c., the adventure being described in the grossest terms.
Page 376. v. 365. _Johnn Bochas with his volumys grete_] In Skelton’s time, the _De Genealogia Deorum_, the _De Casibus Virorum et Fœminarum Illustrium_, and other now-forgotten works of Boccaccio, were highly esteemed,—more, perhaps, than the _Decamerone_.
v. 366. _full craftely that wrate_] i. e. that wrote full skilfully.
v. 368. _probate_] See note, p. 236. v. 4.
v. 372. _Poggeus ... with many a mad tale_] When this poem was written, the _Facetiæ_ of Poggio enjoyed the highest popularity. In _The Palice of Honour_, Gawen Douglas, enumerating the illustrious writers at the Court of the Muses, says,
“Thair was Plautus, _Poggius_, and Persius.”
p. 27. ed. Ban. 1827.
v. 374. _a frere of Fraunce men call sir Gagwyne, &c._]—_frere_, i. e. friar: concerning Gaguin, see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 376. _bote is of all bale_] See note, p. 268. v. 2096.
Page 377. v. 380. _Valerius Maximus by name_] i. e. Valerius who has the name Maximus (to distinguish him from Valerius Flaccus).
v. 381. _Vincencius in Speculo, that wrote noble warkis_]—_warkis_, i. e. works. The _Speculum Majus_ of Vincentius Bellovacensis (_naturale, morale, doctrinale, et historiale_), a vast treatise in ten volumes folio, usually bound in four, was first printed in 1473. See the _Biog. Univ._, and Hallam’s _Introd. to the Lit. of Europe_, i. 160.
v. 382. _Pisandros_] “Our author,” says Warton, “got the name of Pisander, a Greek poet, from Macrobius, who cites a few of his verses.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 353 (note), ed. 4to. A mistake: Macrobius (_Sat._ v. 2.) mentions, but does not cite, Pisander.
v. 383. _blissed Bachus, that mastris oft doth frame_]—_mastris_, i. e. disturbances, strifes: see note, p. 264. v. 1738.
v. 386. _sadly ... auysid_] i. e. seriously, earnestly ... considered, observed.
v. 389. _fresshely be ennewed_] See notes, p. 144. v. 775. p. 302. v. 39.
v. 390.
_The monke of Bury ..._ _Dane Johnn Lydgate_]
—_Dane_, equivalent to _Dominus_. So at the commencement of his _Lyfe of our Lady_, printed by Caxton, folio, n. d.; “This book was compyled by _dan John lydgate monke of Burye_,” &c. He belonged to the Benedictine abbey of Bury in Suffolk.
Page 377. v. 391. _theis Englysshe poetis thre_] “That only these three English poets [Gower, Chaucer, Lydgate] are here mentioned, may be considered as a proof that only these three were yet thought to deserve the name.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 354. ed. 4to. So the Scottish poets of Skelton’s time invariably selected these three as most worthy of praise: see Laing’s note on Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 355.
v. 393. _Togeder in armes, as brethern, enbrasid_] So Lydgate;
“_Embraced in armes_ as they had be knet _Togyder_ with a gyrdell.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. d iii. n. d.
v. 395. _tabers_] i. e. tabards: see the earlier portion of note, p. 283. v. 318.
v. 397. _Thei wantid nothynge but the laurell_] Meaning,—that they were not poets laureate: see note on v. 324. p. 307.
v. 398. _godely_] i. e. goodly.
v. 402. _enplement_] i. e. employment, place.
Page 378. v. 405. _The brutid Britons of Brutus Albion_]—_brutid_, i. e. famed. So Lydgate;
“Reioyse ye folkes that borne be in Bretayne, Called otherwise _Brutus Albion_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. viii. fol. viii. ed. Wayland.
v. 410. _Arrectinge vnto your wyse examinacion_] See note, p. 237. v. 95.
v. 414. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 417. _hooll_] i. e. whole.
v. 420. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.
v. 421. _pullisshyd_] i. e. polished.
v. 425. _mowte_] i. e. might.
Page 379. v. 428. _preuentid_] i. e. anticipated.
v. 429. _meritory_] i. e. deserved, due.
v. 431. _regraciatory_] i. e. return of thanks.
v. 432. _poynt you to be prothonatory_] i. e. appoint you to be prothonotary.
v. 433. _holl_] i. e. whole.
v. 434. _Auaunced_] i. e. Advanced.
v. 439. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 444. _I made it straunge_] i. e. I made it a matter of nicety, scruple.
v. 445. _presed_] i. e. pressed.
Page 380. v. 455. _prese_] i. e. press, throng.
v. 460. _Engolerid_] i. e. Engalleried.
v. 466. _turkis and grossolitis_] i. e. turquoises and chrysolites.
Page 380. v. 467. _birrall enbosid_] i. e. beryl embossed.
v. 469.
_Enlosenged with many goodly platis_ _Of golde_]
i. e. Having many goodly plates of gold shaped like lozenges (quadrilateral figures of equal sides, but unequal angles).
—— _entachid with many a precyous stone_]—_entachid_ may be used in the sense of—tacked on; but qy. is the right reading “_enhachid?_” as in v. 40 of the present poem, “_Enhachyde_ with perle,” &c., (and v. 1078 of _Phyllyp Sparowe_,) see note, p. 302.
v. 472. _whalis bone_] In our early poetry “white as whales bone” is a common simile; and there is reason to believe that some of our ancient writers supposed the ivory then in use (which was made from the teeth of the horse-whale, morse, or walrus) to be part of the bones of a whale. Skelton, however, makes a distinction between “whalis bone” and the real ivory (see v. 468). The latter was still scarce in the reign of Henry the Eighth; but, before that period, Caxton had told his readers that “the tooth of an olyfaunt is yuorye.” _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig. f i.
v. 474. _The carpettis within and tappettis of pall_]—_tappettis of pall,_ i. e. coverings of rich or fine stuff (perhaps table-covers): that _tappettis_ does not here mean tapestry, is proved by the next line; and compare v. 787,
“With that the _tappettis_ and carpettis were layd, Whereon theis ladys softly myght rest, The saumpler to sow on,” &c.
Page 381. v. 475. _clothes of arace_] See note, p. 192. v. 78.
v. 476. _Enuawtyd ... vawte_] i. e. Envaulted ... vault.
v. 477. _pretory_] Lat. prætorium.
v. 478. _enbulyoned_] i. e. studded; see note on v. 1165.
—— _indy blew_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 480. _Iacinctis and smaragdis out of the florthe they grew_]—_Iacinctis_, i. e. Jacinths: _smaragdis_, i. e. emeralds (but see note, p. 102. v. 20): “_Vng planché_, a plancher or a _florthe_ that is boorded.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. iii. (Thirde Boke). “_Florthe_ of a house _astre_.”—“Gyst that gothe ouer the _florthe soliue, giste._” _Id._ fols. xxxiiii. xxxvi. (Table of Subst.). “I Plaster a wall or _florthe_ with plaster ... I wyl plaster the _florthe_ of my chambre to make a gernyer there, _Ie plastreray latre de ma chābre pour en faire vng grenier_.” _Id._ fol. cccxviii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 483. _most rychely besene_] i. e. of a most rich appearance,—most richly arrayed: see notes, p. 112. v. 283, p. 295. v. 957.
v. 484. _cloth of astate_] i. e. cloth of estate,—canopy.
v. 487. _ryally_] i. e. royally.
Page 381. v. 489. _enuyrowne_] i. e. in compass, about.
v. 490. _stode_] i. e. stood.
v. 492. _presid_] i. e. pressed.
v. 493. _Poyle ... Trace_] i. e. Apulia ... Thrace.
v. 499. _metely wele_] See note, p. 270. v. 2196.
Page 382. v. 502. _a kyby hele_] See note, p. 174. v. 493.
v. 503. _salfecundight_] i. e. safe-conduct.
v. 504. _lokyd ... a fals quarter_]—_lokyd_, i. e. looked: “The _false quarters_ is a soreness on the inside of the hoofs, which are commonly called quarters, which is as much as to say, crased unsound quarters, which comes from evil Shooing and paring the Hoof.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 152.
v. 505. _I pray you, a lytyll tyne stande back_] So Heywood;
“For when prouender prickt them _a little tine_,” &c.
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. D,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 514. _the ballyuis of the v portis_] i. e. the bailiffs of the Cinque Ports.
v. 519. _besines_] i. e. business.
v. 520. _most_] i. e. must.
v. 521. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
v. 523. _sufferayne_] i. e. sovereign.
v. 525. _And we shall se you ageyne or it be pryme_] I have my doubts about what hour is here meant by _pryme_. Concerning that word see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in _Prima_ and _Horæ Canonicæ_, Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, Sibbald’s _Gloss._ to _Chron. of Scot. Poetry_, and Sir F. Madden’s _Gloss._ to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.
Page 383. v. 531. _kest ... loke_] i. e. cast ... look.
v. 532. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 537. _supprysed_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.
v. 541. _the port salu_] See note, p. 299. v. 1262.
v. 547. _hertely as herte_] i. e. heartily as heart.
v. 548. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 550. _aquyte_] i. e. discharge, pay.
Page 384. v. 554. _moche_] i. e. much.
v. 555. _Affyaunsynge her myne hole assuraunce_] i. e. Pledging her my whole, &c.
v. 559. _stonde_] i. e. stand.
v. 560. _toke ... honde_] i. e. took ... hand.
v. 566. _iangelers_] i. e. babblers, chatterers.
v. 570. _moche costious_] i. e. much costly.
v. 572. _the stones be full glint_]—_glint_ must mean here—slippery: see note, p. 263. v. 1687.
v. 574. _yatis_] i. e. gates.
Page 385. v. 585. _carectis_] i. e. characters.
v. 586. _where as I stode_] i. e. where I stood.
v. 590. _a lybbard_] i. e. a leopard.—“There is,” says Warton, who quotes the stanza, “some boldness and animation in the figure and attitude of this ferocious animal.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 352. ed. 4to.
v. 592. _As quikly towchyd_] i. e. touched, executed, as much to the life.
v. 595. _forme foote_] i. e. fore-foot.
—— _shoke_] i. e. shook.
v. 597.
_Unguibus ire parat loca singula livida curvis_ _Quam modo per Phœbes nummos raptura Celæno_]
The whole of this “Cacosyntheton ex industria” is beyond my comprehension. Here Skelton has an eye to Juvenal;
“Nec per conventus nec cuncta per oppida _curvis_ _Unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celæno_.”
_Sat._ viii. 129.
v. 601. _Spreto spineto cedat saliunca roseto_] Here he was thinking of Virgil;
“Lenta salix quantum pallenti _cedit_ olivæ, Puniceis humilis quantum _saliunca rosetis_.”
_Ecl._ v. 16.
v. 602. _loked_] i. e. looked.
v. 603. _presed_] i. e. pressed, thronged.
v. 604. _Shet_] i. e. Shut.
v. 605. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 606. _astate_] i. e. estate, condition.
v. 607. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
—— _haskardis_] “_Haskerdes_ went in the queste: not honeste men. _Proletarii & capite censi_: non classici rem trāsegerunt.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. n iiii. ed. 1530.
“Wyne was not made for euery _haskerde_.”
Copland’s _Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, _Early Pop. Poetry_, ii. 33. ed. Utterson,
who in the Gloss. queries if _haskerde_ mean “dirty fellow? from the Scotch _hasky_.” The latter word is explained by Jamieson “dirty, slovenly.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._
—— _rebawdis_] i. e. ribalds.
v. 608. _Dysers, carders_] Dicers, card-players.
—— _gambawdis_] i. e. gambols.
Page 386. v. 609. _Furdrers of loue_] i. e. Furtherers of love—pimps, pandars.
v. 610. _blow at the cole_] A friend suggests that there is an allusion here to alchemists; but I believe he is mistaken. It is a proverbial expression. So our author again;
“We may _blowe at the cole_.”
_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 81. vol. ii. 29.
The proverb given by Davies of Hereford;
“_Let them that bee colde, blow at the cole._ So may a man do, and yet play the foole.”
_Scourge of Folly_,—_Prouerbes_, p. 171.
and by Ray, _Proverbs_, p. 90. ed. 1768, seems to have a quite different meaning.
Page 386. v. 611. _kownnage_] i. e. coinage,—coining.
v. 612. _Pope holy ypocrytis_] i. e. Pope-holy hypocrites: see note, p. 230. l. 24 (prose).
—— _as they were golde and hole_]—_hole_, i. e. whole. Heywood also has this expression;
“In words _gold and hole_, as men by wit could wish, She will [lie] as fast as a dog will lick a dish.”
_Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, sig. H 2, ed. 1598.
v. 613. _Powle hatchettis_] See note, p. 98. v. 28.
—— _ale pole_] i. e. pole, or stake, set up before an ale-house by way of sign.
v. 614. _brybery, theft_] See note, p. 256. v. 1242.
v. 615. _condycyons_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
v. 616. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 618. _dysdanous dawcokkis_] i. e. disdainful simpletons, empty fellows: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 619. _fawne thé_] i. e. fawn on thee.
—— _kurris of kynde_] i. e. curs by nature.
v. 620. _shrewdly_] i. e. evilly.
v. 625. _broisid_] i. e. bruised, broke.
v. 626. _peuysshe_] i. e. foolish, silly.
—— _porisshly pynk iyde_] “_Porisshly_, as one loketh yᵗ can nat se well, _Louchement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxliiii. (Table of Aduerbes): _pynk iyde_, i. e. pink-eyed; “Some haue myghty eyes, and some be _pynkeyed ... peti_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. G vi. ed. 1530; and see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.
v. 627. _aspyid_] i. e. espied, marked.
v. 629. _a gun stone_] After the introduction of iron shot (instead of balls of stone) for heavy artillery, the term _gunstone_ was retained in the sense of—bullet: “_Gonne stone_, _plombee_, _boulet_, _bovle de fonte_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxvii. (Table of Subst.).
—— _all to-iaggid_] See notes, p. 100. v. 32. p. 163. v. 124.
v. 630. _daggid_] See note, p. 163. v. 123.
v. 631. _byrnston_] i. e. brimstone.
Page 386. v. 632. _Masid_] i. e. Bewildered, confounded.
—— _a scut_] “_Scut_ or hare. Lepus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 635. _dysour_] See note, p. 255. v. 1191.
—— _a deuyl way_] See note, p. 287. v. 672.
Page 387. v. 637. _peuisshenes_] i. e. foolishness, silliness: compare v. 626.
v. 639. _foisty bawdias_] See note, p. 192. v. 76.
v. 641. _Dasyng after dotrellis, lyke drunkardis that dribbis_]—_Dasying_ i. e. gazing with a stupified look: _dotrellis_; see note, p. 129. v. 409: _dribbis_, i. e. drip, drivel, slaver.
v. 642. _titiuyllis_] See note, p. 284. v. 418.
—— _taumpinnis_] i. e. tampions,—wooden stoppers, put into the mouths of cannon to keep out rain or sea-water. In _The foure P. P._ by Heywood, the Poticary tells a facetious story about “a thampyon.” Sig. D i. ed. n. d. (Fr. _tampon_).
v. 643. _I hyght you_] i. e. I assure you.
v. 644. _mone light_] i. e. moonlight.
v. 648. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 649. _auenturis_] i. e. adventure.
v. 652. _herber_] See note, p. 101. v. 13.
v. 653. _brere_] i. e. briar.
v. 654. _With alys ensandid about in compas_] “i. e. it was surrounded with sand-walks.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 350 (note), ed. 4to. So the garden, in which Chaucer describes Cressid walking, was “_sonded_ all the waies.” _Troilus and Creseide_, B. ii. fol. 152, —_Workes_, ed. 1602: and compare Lydgate;
“Alle the _aleis_ were made playne with _sond_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird,—MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147.
v. 655. _with singular solas_] i. e. in a particularly pleasant manner.
v. 656. _rosers_] i. e. rose-bushes.
v. 658. _coundight_] i. e. conduit.
—— _coryously_] i. e. curiously. So Lydgate;
“_Coriously_ and craftly to endyte.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 47.
v. 662. _ensilured again the son beames_] i. e. ensilvered against the sunbeams.
Page 388. v. 664. _reuolde_] i. e. revolved, turned.
v. 669. _bet vp a fyre_] See note, p. 146. v. 930.
v. 671. _flagraunt flower_]—_flagraunt_, i. e. fragrant. Compare v. 978. So Hawes;
“Strowed with _floures flagraunte_ of ayre.”
_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. A a iiii. ed. 1555.
Page 388. v. 673. _baratows broisiours_] i. e. contentious bruisers,—unless (as the context seems rather to shew) _broisiours_ means—bruisures, bruises.
v. 674. _passid all bawmys_] i. e. surpassed all balms.
v. 676. _gardynge_] i. e. garden.
—— _piplyng_] i. e. piping; as in our author’s _Replycacion_, &c. vol. i. 207. l. 26 (prose).
v. 680. _the nyne Muses, Pierides by name_] So Chaucer;
“_Muses, that men clepe Pierides._”
_The Man of Lawes Prol._ v. 4512 (but see Tyrwhitt’s note).
v. 681. _Testalis_] i. e. Thestylis. So Barclay;
“Neera, Malkin, or lustie _Testalis_.”
_Second Egloge_, sig. B ii. ed. 1570.
v. 682. _enbybid_] i. e. made wet, soaked.
v. 683. _moche solacyous_] i. e. much pleasant, mirthful.
v. 686. _somer_] i. e. summer.
—— _fotid_] i. e. footed.
v. 687. _twynklyng upon his harpe stringis_]—_twynklyng_, i. e. tinkling. So, at a much later period, Dekker; “Thou (most cleare throated singing man,) with thy Harpe, (to the _twinckling_ of which inferior Spirits skipt like Goates ouer the Welsh mountaines),” &c. _A Knights Coniuring_, 1607. sig. D 2.
Page 389. v. 688. _And Iopas, &c._] Here, and in the next two stanzas, Skelton has an eye to Virgil;
“Cithara crinitus Iopas Personat aurata, docuit quæ maxumus Atlas. Hic canit errantem lunam, solisque labores; Unde hominum genus, et pecudes; unde imber, et ignes; Arcturum, pluviasque Hyadas, geminosque Triones; Quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles Hiberni, vel quæ tardis mora noctibus obstet.”
_Æn._ i. 740.
—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 691. _mone_] i. e. moon.
v. 694. _spere_] i. e. sphere.
v. 697. _prechid_] i. e. discoursed, told.
—— _chere_] i. e. countenance, look.
v. 699. _aspy_] i. e. espy.
v. 705. _counteryng_] See note, p. 92.
Page 389. v. 709. _pleasure, with lust and delyte_] One of our author’s pleonastic expressions.
v. 712. _conuenable_] i. e. fitting.
Page 390. v. 718. _wele were hym_] i. e. he were in good condition.
v. 720. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
v. 725. _losyd ful sone_] i. e. loosed full soon.
v. 731. _That I ne force what though it be discurid_] i. e. That I do not care although it be discovered, shewn.
v. 733. _ladyn of liddyrnes with lumpis_]—_liddyrnes_, i. e. sluggishness, slothfulness (the construction is—ladyn with lumpis of liddyrness).
v. 734. _dasid_] i. e. stupified.
—— _dumpis_] See note on v. 15. p. 301: but here the word implies greater dulness of mind.
v. 735. _coniect_] i. e. conjecture.
v. 736. _Gog_] A corruption of the sacred name.
Page 391. v. 737. _be_] i. e. by.
v. 741. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 742. _Tressis agasonis species prior, altera Davi_] “Hic Dama est non _tressis agaso_.” Persius, _Sat._ v. 76. _Davus_ is a slave’s name in Plautus, Terence, &c.
v. 748. _tacita sudant præcordia culpa_] From Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 167.
v. 751. _Labra movens tacitus_] “_Labra_ moves _tacitus_.” Persius, _Sat._ v. 184.
—— _rumpantur ut ilia Codro_] From Virgil, _Ecl._ vii. 26.
v. 753. _hight_] i. e. is called.
v. 754. _and ye wist_] i. e. if ye knew.
Page 392. v. 758. _hole reame_] i. e. whole realm.
v. 762. _smerke_] i. e. smirk.
v. 763. _leue warke whylis it is wele_] i. e. leave work while it is well.
v. 764. _towchis_] i. e. touches, qualities.
—— _to_] i. e. too.
v. 768. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 769. _Cowntes of Surrey_] Was Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter of Edward Duke of Buckingham, and second wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who afterwards (on the death of his father in 1524) became the third Duke of Norfolk. She had previously been attached and engaged to the Earl of Westmoreland with the consent of both families; but her father, having broken off the intended match, compelled her to accept the hand of lord Thomas Howard in 1513. She was twenty years younger than her husband. After many domestic quarrels, they separated about 1533. Of their five children, one was Henry Howard, the illustrious poet. She died in 1558. See _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c. by H. Howard, 1834, folio.
The Countess of Surrey appears to have been fond of literature; and, as she calls Skelton her “clerk,” we may suppose that she particularly patronised him. The probability is, that the present poem was really composed at Sheriff-Hutton Castle, which (as already noticed, p. 300) had been granted by the king to the Duke of Norfolk for life, and that the Countess was residing there on a visit to her father-in-law.
The _Garlande of Laurell_ was written, I apprehend, about 1520, or perhaps a little later: in v. 1192 Skelton mentions his _Magnyfycence_, which was certainly produced after 1515,—see note on title of that piece, p. 236.
Page 392. v. 771. _beue_] i. e. bevy.
v. 774. _warhe_] i. e. work.
v. 775. _asayde_] i. e. tried, proved.
Page 393. v. 776. _cronell_] i. e. coronal, garland.
v. 786. _of there lewdnesse_] May mean (as Nott explains it, Surrey’s _Works_, i.—Append. p. ix.)—of their ignorance, ignorantly; but I rather think the expression is here equivalent to,—evilly, impudently.
v. 787. _tappettis and carpettis_] See note on v. 474. p. 311.
v. 790. _To weue in the stoule_] So Chaucer;
“And _weauen in stole_ the radevore.”
_Leg. of Philomene_, fol. 195.—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
and Hall; “On their heades bonets of Damaske syluer flatte _wouen in the stole_, and therupon wrought with gold,” &c. _Chron._ (_Hen. viii._) fol. vii. ed. 1548.—Mr. Albert Way observes to me that in _Prompt. Parv. MS. Harl._ 221, is “Lyncent werkynge instrument for sylke women. Liniarium,” while the ed. of 1499 has “Lyncet workinge _stole_;” and he supposes the _stole_ (i. e. stool) to have been a kind of frame, much like what is still used for worsted work, but, instead of being arranged like a cheval glass, that it was made like a stool,—the top being merely a frame or stretcher for the work.
—— _preste_] i. e. ready.
v. 791. _With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest_]—_slaiis_, i. e. sleys, weavers’ reeds: _tauellis_, see note, p. 94. v. 34: “_Heddles_, _Hedeles_, _Hiddles_. The small cords through which the warp is passed in a loom, after going through the reed.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ by Jamieson, who cites from G. Douglas’s _Æneid_;
“With subtell slayis, and hir _hedeles_ slee, Riche lenze wobbis naitly weiffit sche.”
B. vii. p. 204. 45. ed. Rudd.
Page 393. v. 793. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 794. _to enbrowder put them in prese_] i. e. put themselves in press (applied themselves earnestly) to embroider.
v. 795. _glowtonn_] Does it mean—ball, clue? or, as Mr. Albert Way suggests,—a sort of needle, a stiletto as it is now called,—something by which the silk was to be inwrought?
v. 796. _pirlyng_] “I _Pyrle_ wyer of golde or syluer I wynde it vpon a whele as sylke women do.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 798. _tewly sylk_] Richardson in his _Dict._ under the verb _Tew_ places _tewly_, as derived from it, and cites the present passage. But _tewly_ seems to have nothing to do with that verb. “_Tuly_ colowre. Puniceus vel punicus.” _Prompt. Parv. MS. Harl._ 221. In _MS. Sloane_, 73. fol. 214, are directions “for to make bokerham _tuly_ or _tuly_ thred,” where it appears that this colour was “a manere of reed colour as it were of croppe mader,” that is, probably, of the tops or sprouts of the madder, which would give a red less intense or full: the dye was “safflour” (saffron?) and “asches of wyn [whin] ballis ybrent;” and a little red vinegar was to be used to bring the colour up to a fuller red.—For this information I am indebted to Mr. Albert Way.
v. 799. _botowme_] “I can make no _bottoms_ of this threde ... _glomera_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. t i. ed 1530.
v. 801. _warkis_] i. e. works.
Page 394. v. 803. _With burris rowth and bottons surffillyng_]—_burris rowth_, i. e. burrs rough: _bottons_, i. e. buds: _surffillyng_, see note, p. 281. v. 219.
v. 804. _nedill wark_] i. e. needle-work.
v. 805. _enbesid_] i. e. embusied.
v. 814. _conseyt_] i. e. conceit.
v. 815. _captacyons of beneuolence_] Todd gives “_Captation_ (old Fr. _captation_, ruse, artifice). The practice of catching favour or applause; courtship; flattery.” _Johnson’s Dict._ Richardson, after noticing the use of the verb _captive_ “with a subaudition of gentle, attractive, persuasive means or qualities,” adds that in the present passage of Skelton _captation_ is used with that subaudition. _Dict._ in v.
v. 816. _pullysshid_] i. e. polished.
v. 817.
_Sith ye must nedis afforce it by pretence_ _Of your professyoun vnto vmanyte_]
i. e. Since you must needs attempt, undertake, it by your claim to the profession of humanity,—_humaniores literæ_, polite literature.
Page 394. v. 819. _proces_] i. e. discourse; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 230 (first note on prose), p. 276. v. 2506, &c.
v. 820. _iche_] i. e. each.
v. 821. _sentence ... couenable_] i. e. meaning ... fitting.
v. 822. _Auaunsynge_] i. e. Advancing.
v. 824. _arrectyng_] i. e. raising.
Page 395. v. 825. _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with “informe,” as in v. 1428).
v. 828. _dredfull_] i. e. full of dread, timorous.
v. 830. _bestad_] i. e. bested, circumstanced.
v. 833. _gabyll rope_] i. e. cable-rope. “A _Gable_, Rudens.” Coles’s _Dict._
v. 835. _beseke_] i. e. beseech.
—— _Countes of Surrey_] See note on v. 769. p. 317.
v. 838. _reconusaunce_] i. e. acknowledgment.
v. 841. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 842. _honour and worshyp_] Terms nearly synonymous: _worshyp_, i. e. dignity.
—— _formar_] i. e. first, highest: see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Former_.
v. 843. _Argyua_] i. e. Argia.
v. 844. _Polimites_] i. e. Polynices;
“his fellaw dan _Polimites_, Of which the brother dan Ethiocles,” &c.
Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, B. v. fol. 180,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
“Lete _Polymyte_ reioyse his herytage.”
Lydgate’s _Storye of Thebes, Pars tert._ sig. i v. ed. 4to. n. d.
v. 847. _counterwayng_] i. e. counter-weighing.
Page 396. v. 850. _Pamphila_] “Telas araneorum modo texunt ad vestem luxumque fœminarum, quæ bombycina appellatur. Prima eas redordiri, rursusque texere invenit in Ceo mulier _Pamphila_, Latoi filia, non fraudanda gloria excogitatæ rationis ut denudet fœminas vestis.” Plinii _Nat. Hist._ lib. xi. 26.
—— _quene of the Grekis londe_]—_londe_, i. e. land: qy. does any writer except Skelton call her a queen?
v. 852.
_Thamer also wrought with her goodly honde_ _Many diuisis passynge curyously_]
It is plain that Skelton, while writing these complimentary stanzas, consulted Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_: there this lady is called _Thamyris_ (see, in that work, “De _Thamyri_ Pictrice,” cap. liiii. ed. 1539). Her name is properly _Timarete_; she was daughter to Mycon the painter; vide Plinii _Nat. Hist.: honde_, i. e. hand: _diuisis_, i. e. devices.
Page 396. v. 857. _toke_] i. e. took.
v. 860. _corage ... perfight_] i. e. heart, affection ... perfect.
—— _lady Elisabeth Howarde_] Was the third daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tylney, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney, and sister and heir to Sir Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight (I follow Howard’s _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c.; Collins says “daughter of Hugh Tilney”). Lady Elizabeth married Henry Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex.
v. 865. _Aryna_] i. e. perhaps—Irene. In the work of Boccaccio just referred to is a portion “De _Hyrene_ C[r]atini filia,” cap. lvii.; and Pliny notices her together with the above-mentioned Timarete.
v. 866. _konnyng_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 867. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 868. _enbewtid_] i. e. beautified.
v. 870. _lusty ... loke_] i. e. pleasant ... look.
v. 871. _Creisseid_] See Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_.
—— _Polexene_] i. e. Polyxena, the daughter of Priam.
v. 872. _enuyue_] i. e. envive, enliven, excite.
Page 397. v. 874. _hole_] i. e. whole.
—— _lady Mirriell Howarde_] Could not have been Muriel, daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk; for she, after having been twice married, died in 1512, anterior to the composition of the present poem. Qy. was the Muriel here celebrated the Duke’s grandchild,—one of those children of the Earl and Countess of Surrey, whose names, as they died early, have not been recorded? Though Skelton compares her to Cidippe, and terms her “madame,” he begins by calling her “mi _litell_ lady.”
v. 880. _curteyse_] i. e. courteous.
v. 881. _Whome fortune and fate playnly haue discust_]—_discust_, i. e. determined. So again our author in _Why come ye nat to Courte_;
“Allmyghty God, I trust, Hath for him _dyscust_,” &c.
v. 747. vol. ii. 50.
and Barclay;
“But if thou iudge amisse, then shall Eacus (As Poetes saith) hell thy iust rewarde _discusse_.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 4. ed. 1570.
v. 882. _plesure, delyght, and lust_] One of Skelton’s pleonastic expressions.
Page 397. v. 885.
_Cidippes, the mayd,_ _That of Aconcyus whan she founde the byll, &c._]
—_Cidippes_, i. e. Cydippe; see note on v. 290. p. 307: _the byll_; i. e. the writing,—the verses which Acontius had written on the apple.
v. 888. _fyll_] i. e. fell.
—— _lady Anne Dakers of the Sowth_] The wife of Thomas Lord Dacre, was daughter of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners and of Elizabeth Tylney, who (see note on v. 399) afterwards became the first wife of the second Duke of Norfolk.
v. 893. _his crafte were to seke_] i. e. his skill were at a loss.
Page 398. v. 897. _Princes_] i. e. Princess.
v. 898. _conyng_] i. e. knowledge.
v. 899. _Paregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).
v. 901. _surmountynge_] i. e. surpassing.
v. 902. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 903. _lusty lokis_] i. e. pleasant looks.
—— _mastres Margery Wentworthe_] Perhaps the second daughter of Sir Richard Wentworth, afterwards married to Christopher Glemham of Glemham in Suffolk.
v. 906. _margerain ientyll_] “Marierome is called ... in English, Sweet Marierome, Fine Marierome, and _Marierome gentle_; of the best sort Marjerane.” Gerard’s _Herball_, p. 664. ed. 1633.
v. 907. _goodlyhede_] i. e. goodness.
v. 908. _Enbrowdred_] i. e. Embroidered.
v. 912. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 918. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.
Page 399.—— _mastres Margaret Tylney_] A sister-in-law, most probably, of the second Duke of Norfolk. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Frederick Tylney of Ashwell-Thorpe, Norfolk, knight, and widow of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners: his second wife was Agnes, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney, and sister and heir to Sir Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight; see third note, preceding page.
v. 928. _besy cure_] i. e. busy care.
v. 933.
_As Machareus_ _Fayre Canace_]
Their tale is told in the _Conf. Am._ by Gower; he expresses no horror at their incestuous passion, but remarks on the cruelty of their father, who
“for he was to loue strange, He wolde not his herte change To be benigne and fauourable To loue, but vnmerciable!”
B. iii. fol. xlviii. ed. 1554.
(and see the lines cited in note on v. 1048. p. 324). Lydgate (_Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxv. ed. Wayland) relates the story with a somewhat better moral feeling.
Page 399. v. 935. _iwus_] Or _i-wis_ (adv.),—i. e. truly, certainly.
v. 936. _Endeuoure me_] i. e. Exert myself.
v. 941. _Wele_] i. e. Well.
v. 942. _Intentyfe_] “_Intentyfe_ hedefull.”—“_Ententyfe_, busy to do a thynge or to take hede to a thyng.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fols. lxxxx. lxxxvii. (where both are rendered by the Fr. _ententif_).
v. 948. _Perle orient_] In allusion to her Christian name just mentioned, “Margarite.”
v. 949. _Lede sterre_] i. e. Load-star.
v. 950. _Moche_] i. e. Much.
Page 400.—— _maystres Iane Blenner-Haiset_] Perhaps a daughter of Sir Thomas Blennerhasset, who was executor (in conjunction with the Duchess) to the second Duke of Norfolk: see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Test. Vet._ ii. 604.
v. 955. _smale lust_] i. e. small liking.
v. 958. _prese_] i. e. press, band.
v. 962. _ententifly_] See above, note on v. 942.
v. 963. _stellyfye_] “I _Stellifye_ I sette vp amongest the starres.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxiii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 965. _ne swarue_] i. e. swerve not.
v. 968. _Sith_] i. e. Since.
v. 972, _Laodomi_] i. e. Laodamia.
v. 975. _godely_] i. e. goodly.
Page 401. v. 977. _Reflaring rosabell_] i. e. odorous fair-rose: see note, p. 134. v. 524.
v. 978. _flagrant_] See note on v. 671. p. 315.
v. 979. _The ruddy rosary_]—_rosary_ must mean here—rose-bush, not rose-bed.
v. 981. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 982. _nepte_] “Cats mint or _nept_ is a kind of calamint,” &c. _The Countrie Farme_, p. 320. ed. 1600.
v. 983. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 984. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
v. 985, _Enuwyd_] See note, p. 144. v. 775.
Page 402. v. 1006. _Ientill as fawcoun_] The _Falcon gentle_, says Turbervile, is so called “for her _gentle_ and courteous condition and fashions.” _The Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 26. ed. 1611.
v. 1007. _hawke of the towre_] See note, p. 250. v. 934.
v. 1025. _fayre Isaphill_] The Hypsipyle of the ancients.
“_Isiphile_ ... She that dyd _in fayrnesse so excell_.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces,_ B. i. leaf xviii. ed. Wayland.
She figures in the _Storye of Thebes_ by the same indefatigable versifier, who there says,
“But to knowe. the auentures all Of this lady. _Isyphyle the fayre_,”
(Pars tert. sig. h iiii. n. d. 4to.)
we must have recourse to Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_ (see that work, cap. xv. ed. 1539).
v. 1027. _pomaunder_] Was a composition of perfumes, wrought into the shape of a ball, or other form, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck (Fr. _pomme d’ambre_). In the following entry from an unpublished _Boke of Kyngs Paymentis from i to ix of Henry viii_, preserved in the Chapter-House, Westminster, _pomaunder_ means a case for holding the composition;
“Item to the frenche quenes seruaunt, that brought } xx. s.” (9th year _a pomaunder of gold_ to the princes, in Re[ward] } of reign).
v. 1030. _Wele_] i. e. Well.
v. 1033. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.
Page 403. v. 1048. _Pasiphe_] Lest the reader should be surprised at finding Skelton compare Mistress Statham to Pasiphae, I cite the following lines from Feylde’s _Contrauersye bytwene a Louer and a Iaye_ (printed by W. de Worde), n. d., in which she and Taurus are mentioned as examples of true love;
“Phedra and Theseus Progne and Thereus _Pasyphe and Taurus_ Who lyketh to proue Canace and Machareus Galathea and Pamphylus Was neuer more dolorous _And all for true loue_.”
Sig. B iiii.
I may add too a passage from Caxton’s _Boke of Eneydos_, &c. (translated from the French), 1490; “The wyffe of kynge Mynos of Crete was named Pasyfa that was a grete lady and a fayr aboue alle other ladyes of the royame.... The quene Pasyfa _was wyth chylde by kynge Mynos_, and whan her tyme was comen she was delyuered of a creature that was halfe a man and halfe a bulle.” Sig. h 6.
Page 403. v. 1062. _aquyte_] i. e. requite.
Page 404. v. 1068. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 1074. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 1076.
_Galathea, the made well besene, &c._ ... _By Maro_]
—_the made well besene_, i. e. the maid of good appearance, fair to see: the expression applied, as here, to personal appearance, independent of dress, is, I apprehend, very unusual; see notes, p. 112. v. 283. p. 295. v. 957. p. 311. v. 483: _By Maro_; vide _Ecl_. i. and iii.
v. 1082. _leyser_] i. e. leisure.
Page 405. v. 1094. _ich_] i. e. each.
v. 1102. _curteisly_] i. e. courteously.
v. 1103. _where as_] i. e. where.
v. 1109. _Wele was hym_] i. e. He was in good condition.
v. 1114. _astate_] i. e. estate,—meaning here—state, raised chair or throne with a canopy: compare v. 484.
Page 406. v. 1117. _loked ... a glum_] i. e. looked ... a gloomy, sour look.
v. 1118. _There was amonge them no worde then but mum_] See note, p. 278. v. 83.
v. 1121. _sith_] i. e. since.
v. 1124. _pretence_] i. e. pretension, claim.
v. 1128. _princes of astate_] i. e. princess of estate, rank, dignity.
v. 1132. _condiscendyng_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
Page 407. v. 1135. _enduce_] i. e. bring in, adduce.
v. 1136. _lay_] See note, p. 219. v. 103.
v. 1139. _bokis_] i. e. books.
v. 1143. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.
v. 1144. _presid_] i. e. pressed.
v. 1150. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 1154. _wote wele_] i. e. know well.
v. 1156. _losende_] i. e. loosened, loosed.
v. 1158. _byse_] Hearne in his Gloss. to _Langtoft’s Chron._ has “_bis_, grey, black,” with an eye, no doubt, to the line at p. 230,
“In a marble _bis_ of him is mad story.”
and Sir F. Madden explains the word “white or grey” in his Gloss. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c., referring to the line “Of golde, azure, and _byse_” in _Syre Gawene and The Carle of Carelyle_, p. 204. But we also find “_Byce_ a colour _azur_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. xx. (Table of Subst.). “Scryueners wryte with blacke, red, purple, grene, _blewe or byce_, and suche other.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q i. ed. 1530. “_Bize_ Blew Byze, a delicate Blew.” Holme’s _Acad. of Arm._, 1688. B. iii. p. 145.
Page 407. v. 1158. _gressoppes_] i. e. grasshoppers: see note, p. 125. v. 137.
Page 408. v. 1159. _fresshe_] i. e. gay, gorgeous: see note on v. 39. p. 302.
v. 1160. _Enflorid_] i. e. Enflowered (embellished, for it applies partly to the “snaylis”).
v. 1161. _Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly_]—_Enuyuid_, i. e. envived: _quikly_, livelily, to the life; a somewhat pleonastic line, as before, see note, p. 261. v. 1569.
v. 1162. _hole ... be ... sekely_] i. e. whole ... been ... sickly.
v. 1163. _garnysshyd_] }
...
v. 1165. _bullyons_] }
“I hadde leuer haue my boke sowed in a forel [_in cuculli involucro_] than bounde in bourdes, and couered and clasped, and _garnyshed with bolyons_ [_vmbilicis_].” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q iiii. ed. 1530: _bullyons_, i. e. bosses, studs.
—— _worth a thousande pounde_] An expression found in other early poets;
“And euery bosse of bridle and paitrell That they had, was _worth_, as I would wene, _A thousand pound_.”
Chaucer’s _Floure and Leafe_,—_Workes_, fol. 345. ed. 1602.
v. 1166. _balassis_] Tyrwhitt (Gloss, to _Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_) explains _Bales_ to be “a sort of bastard Ruby.” Du Cange _(Gloss._) has “_Balascus_, Carbunculus, cujus rubor et fulgor dilutiores sunt ... a Balascia Indiæ regione ... dicti ejusmodi lapides pretiosi.” Marco Polo tells us, “In this country [_Balashan_ or _Badakhshan_] are found the precious stones called _balass_ rubies, of fine quality and great value.” _Travels_, p. 129, translated by Marsden, who in his learned note on the passage (p. 132) observes that in the Latin version it is said expressly that these stones have their name from the country. See too Sir F. Madden’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 209.
v. 1167. _aurum musicum_] i. e. _aurum musaicum_ or _musivum_,—mosaic gold.
v. 1172. _Boke of Honorous Astate_] i. e. Book of Honourable Estate. Like many other of the pieces which Skelton proceeds to enumerate, it is not known to exist. When any of his still extant writings are mentioned in this catalogue, I shall refer to the places where they may be found in the present volumes.
Page 408. v. 1176. _to lerne you to dye when ye wyll_] A version probably of the same piece which was translated and published by Caxton under the title of _A lityll treatise shorte and abredged spekynge of the arte and crafte to knowe well to dye_, 1490, folio. Caxton translated it from the French: the original Latin was a work of great celebrity.
v. 1178. _Rosiar_] i. e. Rose-bush.
—— _Prince Arturis Creacyoun_] Arthur, the eldest son of King Henry the Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, 1st Oct. 1489: see Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 475. ed. 1707.
Page 409. v. 1183. _Bowche of Courte_] In vol. i. 30.
v. 1185. _Of Tullis Familiars the translacyoun_] Is noticed with praise in Caxton’s Preface to _The Boke of Eneydos_, &c. 1490: see the passage cited in _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 1187. _The Recule ageinst Gaguyne of the Frenshe nacyoun_]—_Recule_, Fr. _recueil_, is properly—a collection of several writings: it occurs again in v. 1390; and in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 232. vol. ii. 11. Concerning Gaguin, see _Account of Shelton and his Writings_.
v. 1188.
_the Popingay, that hath in commendacyoun_ _Ladyes and gentylwomen suche as deseruyd,_ _And suche as be counterfettis they be reseruyd_]
—_Popingay_, i. e. Parrot: “_Reserved_ excepte _sauf_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciiii. (Table of Adiect.).—No part of _Speke, Parrot_ (in vol. ii. 1), answers to this description: but “_the Popingay_” is certainly only another name for _Speke, Parrot_ (see v. 280. vol. ii. 14); and Skelton must allude here to some portion, now lost, of that composition.
v. 1192. _Magnyfycence_] In vol. i. 225.
v. 1193. _new get_] See note, p. 242. v. 458.
v. 1196. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 1198. _Of manerly maistres Margery Mylke and Ale, &c._] In vol. i. 28. is one of the “many maters of myrthe” which Skelton here says that he “wrote to her.”
v. 1202. _Lor_] A corruption of _Lord_.
v. 1203. _Gingirly, go gingerly_] “_Gyngerly: A pas menus_, as _Allez a pas menu ma fille_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxli. (Table of Aduerb.).
Page 410. v. 1206. _This fustiane maistres and this giggisse gase_] _maistres_, i. e. mistress: _giggisse_, i. e. giggish,—which Forby gives, with the sense of—trifling, silly, flighty (_Vocab. of East Anglia_); but here perhaps the word implies something of wantonness: _gase_, i. e. goose.
Page 410. v. 1207. _wrenchis_] See note, p. 100. v. 25.
v. 1209. _shuld not crase_] i. e. that it should not break.
v. 1210. _It may wele ryme, but shroudly it doth accorde_]—_wele_, i. e. well: _shroudly_, i. e. shrewdly, badly. A copy of verses on Inconsistency by Lydgate has for its burden,
“_It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought._”
_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 26.
v. 1211. _pyke ... potshorde_] i. e. pick ... potsherd.
v. 1218. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 1219.
_Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun,_ _Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose,_ _Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrynacioun,_ _He did translate, enterprete, and disclose_]
—_at the contemplacyoun_; see note on heading of Epitaph, p. 214: _my ladys grace_ means perhaps the mother of Henry the Seventh, the Countess of Derby; see note on title of Elegy, p. 226. Warton says that this piece was “from the French, perhaps, of Guillaume [de Guilleville] prior of Chalis. But it should be observed that Pynson printed _Peregrinatio humani generis_, 1508. 4to.” _Hist, of E. P._, ii. 337 (note), ed. 4to. _The Pylgremage of the Soule translatid oute of Frensshe in to Englysshe with somwhat of additions, the yere of our lord M.CCCC & thyrten, and endeth in the Vigyle of seynt Bartholomew Emprynted at Westmestre by William Caxton, And fynysshed the sixth day of Juyn, the yere of our lord, M.CCCC.LXXXIII And the first yere of the regne of kynge Edward the fyfthe_. fol., was taken from the French of Guillaume de Guilleville (see _Biog. Univ._ xix. 169); but, though Skelton was in all probability an author as early as 1583, there is no reason for supposing that the volume just described had received any revision from him. _Peregrinatio Humani Generis_, printed by Pynson in 4to., 1508, is, according to Herbert (_Typ. Ant._ ii. 430. ed. Dibdin), “in ballad verse, or stanzas of seven lines:” it cannot therefore be the piece mentioned here by Skelton, which he expressly tells us was in “_prose_.”
v. 1226. _creauncer_] See note, p. 193. v. 102.
Page 411. v. 1229. _Speculum Principis_] A piece by Skelton entitled _Methodos Skeltonidis Laureati_, sc. _Præcepta quædam moralia Henrico principi, postea Hen. viii. missa. Dat. apud Eltham. A.D. MDI._ was once among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, but is now marked as missing in the Catalogue of that collection, and has been sought for in vain. Whether it was the same work as that mentioned in the present passage, I am unable to determine.
Page 411. v. 1229. _honde_] i. e. hand.
v. 1231. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.
v. 1233. _the Tunnynge of Elinour Rummyng_] In vol. i. 95.
v. 1234. _Colyn Clowt_] In vol. i. 311.
—— _Iohnn Iue, with Ioforth Iack_] In 1511, a woman being indicted for heresy, “her husband deposed, that in the end of the reign of King Edward the Fourth, one _John Ive_ had persuaded her into these opinions, in which she had persisted ever since.” Burnet’s _Hist. of the Reform._ i. 51. ed. 1816. The words “with _Ioforth, Iack_,” were perhaps a portion of Skelton’s poem concerning this John Ive: _ioforth_ is an exclamation used in driving horses;
“Harrer, Morelle, _iofurthe_, hyte.”
_Mactacio Abel_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 9.
v. 1235. _make ... konnyng_] i. e. compose ... knowledge, skill, ability.
v. 1236. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 1238. _conueyauns_] See the long speech of Crafty Conueyaunce in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1343 sqq. vol. i, 268.
v. 1239. _the Walshemannys hoos_] See note, p. 289. v. 780.
v. 1240. _vmblis_] i. e. parts of the inwards of a deer. “_Noumbles_ of a dere or beest _entrailles_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. 1. (Table of Subst.). And see Sir F. Madden’s note, _Syr Gawayne_, &c. p. 322.
———— _the botell of wyne,_ _To fayre maistres Anne that shuld haue be sent_]
Such a present seems to have been not uncommon;
“Beddes, brochys, and _botelles of wyen he to the lady sent_.”
Lydgate’s _Ballad of A Prioress and her three Wooers_,—_MS. Harl._ 78. fol. 74.
The “maistres Anne” here mentioned is doubtless the lady to whom the lines in vol. i. 20 are addressed.
v. 1242. _wrate ... praty_] i. e. wrote ... pretty.
v. 1246. _longyth_] i. e. belongeth.
v. 1247.
_Of one Adame all a knaue_ ... _He wrate an Epitaph, &c._]
In vol. i. 171.
v. 1250. _agerdows_] i. e. eager, keen, severe.
v. 1254. _Phillip Sparow_] In vol. i, 51.
Page 412. v. 1257. _Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce_] See notes, p. 149 sqq., where will be found illustrations of the portion of _Phyllyp Sparowe_ which is inserted in the present poem.
Page 415. v. 1376. _The Gruntyng and the groynninge of the gronnyng swyne_] See note, p. 180. v. 2.
v. 1377. _the Murnyng of the mapely rote_]—_mapely rote_, i. e. maple-root.—In Ravenscroft’s _Pammelia_, 1609, part of a nonsensical song (No. 31) is as follows;
“My Ladies gone to Canterbury, S. Thomas be her boote. Shee met with Kate of Malmsbury, _Why weepst thou maple roote?_”
a recollection perhaps of Skelton’s lost ballad.
Page 416. v. 1378. _pine_] i. e. pain, grief.
v. 1379. _a cote_] i. e. a coot (water-fowl).
v. 1380. _birdbolt_] i. e. a blunt arrow used to kill birds; see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. and in v. _Bolt_.
—— _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.
v. 1381. _Moyses hornis_] So Lydgate;
“_Moyses_ With _golden hornes_ liche phebus beames bright.”
_Process. of Corpus Christi_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 251.
“Cumque descenderet Moyses de monte Sinai ... ignorabat quod _cornuta_ esset facies sua ex consortio sermonis Domini.” Vulgate,—_Exod._ xxxiv. 29.
v. 1382. _merely, medelyd_] i. e. merrily, mingled.
v. 1383. _Of paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde_] Bale, in his enumeration of Skelton’s writings, alluding to this line (as is evident from his arrangement of the pieces), gives “_Theatrales ludos_.” _Script. Illust. Bryt._ p. 652. ed. 1557: and Mr. J. P. Collier states that “one of Skelton’s earlier works had been a series of pageants, ‘played in Joyous Garde,’ or Arthur’s Castle.” _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 142. But, assuredly, in the present line, _paiauntis_, i. e. pageants, means nothing of a dramatic nature. The expression to “play a pageant” has occurred several times already in our author’s poems; “I haue _played_ my _pageyond_” (my part on the stage of life), see note, p. 88. v. 85; “Suche pollyng _paiaunttis_ ye _pley_” (such thievish pranks), see note, p. 189. v. 190: and though it may be doubted whether the _paiauntis that were played IN Ioyows Garde_,—i. e. in the Castle of Sir Launcelot, according to the romances,—are to be understood as connected with feats of arms, I cite the following passage in further illustration of the expression; “The fyrste that was redy to Juste was sir Palomydes and sir Kaynus le straunge a knyghte of the table round. And soo they two encountred to gyders, but sire Palomydes smote sir Kaynus soo hard that he smote hym quyte ouer his hors croupe, and forth with alle sir Palomydes smote doune another knyght and brake thenne his spere & pulled oute his swerd and did wonderly wel. And thenne the noyse beganne gretely vpon sir palomydes. Ioo said Kynge Arthur yonder palomydes begynneth _to play his pagent_. So god me help said Arthur he is a passynge good knyght. And ryght as they stood talkyng thus, in came sir Tristram as thonder, and he encountred with syre Kay the Seneschall, and there he smote hym doune quyte from his hors, and with that same spere sir Tristram smote doune thre knyghtes moo, and thenne he pulled oute his swerd and dyd merueyllously. Thenne the noyse and crye chaunged from syr Palomydes and torned to sir Tristram and alle the peple cryed O Tristram, O Tristram. And thenne was sir Palomydes clene forgeten. How now said Launcelot vnto Arthur, yonder rydeth a knyght _that playeth his pagents_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. x. cap. lxxix. vol. ii. 140. ed. Southey.
Page 416. v. 1384. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
—— _muse_] See note, p. 234. v. 212.
v. 1385. _do_] i. e. doe.
v. 1386. _parker ... with all_] i. e. park-keeper ... withal.
v. 1387. _Castell Aungell_] “And the pope fled unto _Castle Angell_.” Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 143. ed. 1827.
—— _fenestrall_] In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, we find “_Fenestrall chassis de toille ou de paupier_.” fol. xxxiii. (Table of Subst.); and in Hormanni _Vulgaria_, “Paper, or lyn clothe, straked a crosse, with losynges: make _fenestrals in stede of glasen wyndowes_.” Sig. v ii: but see the next lines of our text.
v. 1389. _eyn dasild and dasid_]—_eyn_, i. e. eyes: _dasid_, i. e. dulled.
v. 1390. _The Repete of the recule of Rosamundis bowre_]—_Repete_, i. e. Repetition, Recital: _recule_; see note on v. 1187. p. 327.
v. 1392. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
—— _ieloffer flowre_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 1393. _to reckeles_] i. e. too reckless.
v. 1396. _Mok there loste her sho_] A proverbial expression, which occurs again in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 83. vol. ii. 29: in his _Colyn Cloute_ we find
“Sho the _mockysshe_ mare.”
v. 181. vol. i. 318.
v. 1397. _barbican_] “A _Barbican_, antemurale, promurale, tormentorum bellicorum sedes, locus.” Coles’s _Dict._ “It was generally,” says Nares (referring to King on Anc. Castles, _Archael._), “a small round tower, for the station of an advanced guard, placed just before the outward gate of the castle yard, or ballium.” _Gloss._ in v. And see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v.
Page 416. v. 1398. _sawte_] i. e. assault.
v. 1399. _blo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 1400. _Of Exione, her lambis, &c._] See note _ad loc._ If the reader understands the line, it is more than I do.
Page 417. v. 1407. _forster_] i. e. forester.
v. 1409. _to yerne and to quest_] Coles renders both these hunting-terms by the same word, “_nicto_” (i. e. open, give tongue). _Dict._ Turbervile, enumerating “the sundry noyses of houndes,” tells us that “when they are earnest eyther in the chace or in the earth, we say _They yearne_.” _Noble Art of Venerie_, &c. p. 242. ed. 1611. “_Quest_, united cry of the hounds.” Sir F. Madden’s Gloss. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.
v. 1410. _With litell besynes standith moche rest_]
“_Great rest standeth in little businesse_.”
_Good Counsaile_,—Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 319. ed. 1602.
v. 1411. _make_] i. e. mate, wife.
v. 1412. _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.
v. 1413. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 1416. _Some_] i. e. Soham.
v. 1418. _Wofully arayd_] In vol. i. 141.
v. 1419. _making_] i. e. composing.
v. 1420. _Vexilla regis_] In vol. i. 144.
v. 1421. _Sacris solemniis_] As the still-extant piece mentioned in the preceding line, and headed _Vexilla regis_, &c., is not a translation of that hymn, so we may with probability conclude that this was not a version of the hymn beginning “_Sacris solemniis_ juncta sint gaudia,” which may be found in _Hymni Ecclesiæ e Breviario Parisiensi_, 1838. p. 94.
v. 1424. _sadnes_] i. e. seriousness.
v. 1425. _Galiene_ }
v. 1426. _Ipocras_ }
i. e. Galen, Hippocrates.
“Old _Hippocras_, Hali, and _Gallien_.”
Chaucer’s _Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 433. ed. Tyr.
“For _Ipocras_ nor yet _Galien_.”
_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 103.
—— _Auycen_] An Arabian physician of the tenth century.
Page 418. v. 1428. _Albumasar_] See note, p. 133. v. 501.
—— _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with “enforme,” as in v. 825).
v. 1430. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 1432. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
v. 1433. _Dun is in the myre_] A proverbial expression, which occurs in Chaucer’s _Manciples Prol._ v. 16954. ed. Tyrwhitt (who conjectured that _Dun_ was a nickname given to the ass from his colour), and is common in writers long after the time of Skelton. Gifford was the first to shew that the allusion is to a Christmas gambol, in which _Dun_ (the cart-horse) is supposed to be stuck _in the mire_; see his note on Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 283.
v. 1434. _rin_] i. e. run.
v. 1435. _spar the stable dur_] i. e. fasten, shut the stable-door; see note, p. 207. v. 91.
v. 1437. _sone aspyed_] i. e. soon espied.
v. 1438. _wele wotith_] i. e. well knoweth.
v. 1439. _lucerne_] i. e. lamp. So in the _Lenvoye_ to Chaucer’s _Cuckow and Nightingale_;
“Aurore of gladnesse, and day of lustinesse, _Lucerne_ a night with heauenly influence Illumined.”
_Workes_, fol. 318. ed. 1002.
v. 1442. _wedder_] i. e. weather.
v. 1443. _cokwolde_] i. e. cuckold.
v. 1445. _vntwynde_] See note, p. 127. v. 284.
v. 1446. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.
v. 1447. _propre_] i. e. pretty.
v. 1450. _all to-fret_] i. e. altogether eaten up, consumed: see note, p. 100. v. 32.
Page 419. v. 1451.
_But who may haue a more vngracyous lyfe_ _Than a chyldis birds and a knauis wyfe_]
This proverbial expression occurs in Lydgate;
“Vnto purpos this prouerd is full ryfe Rade and reported by olde remembraunce _A childes birdde and a knavis wyfe_ Haue often sieth gret sorowe and myschaunce.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151.
v. 1454. _byll_] i. e. writing.
v. 1455. _By Mary Gipcy_] In much later writers we find, as an interjection, _marry gep_, _marry gip_, _marry guep_, _marry gup_. v. 1456. _Quod scripsi, scripsi_] From the Vulgate, _Joan._ xix. 22.
Page 419. v. 1460. _Secundum Lucam, &c._] Skelton seems to allude to the Vulgate, _Luc._ i. 13, “_Et uxor tua_ Elizabeth,” &c.
v. 1461.
_the Bonehoms of Ashrige besyde Barkamstede,_ ... _Where the sank royall is, Crystes blode so rede_]
The college of the Bonhommes, completed in 1285, was founded by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, son and heir of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who was King of the Romans and brother of Henry the Third, for a rector and twenty brethern or canons, of whom thirteen were to be priests. It was founded expressly in honour of the blood of Jesus, (“_the sank royall_”), which had once formed part of the precious reliques belonging to the German emperors, and which Edmund had brought over from Germany to England. See Todd’s _History of the College of Bonhommes at Ashridge_, 1823. p. 1-3.
The pretended blood of Christ drew to Ashridge many persons of all ranks, greatly to the enrichment of the society. “But,” Speed tells us, “when the sunne-shine of the Gospell had pierced thorow such cloudes of darkenesse, it was perceiued apparantly to be onely hony clarified and coloured with Saffron, as was openly shewed at Paules Crosse by the Bishop of Rochester, the twentie foure of Februarie, and yeare of Christ 1538.” _A Prospect of The Most Famous Parts of the World_, 1631, (in _Buck._ p. 43).
v. 1466. _Fraxinus in clivo, &c._] “As to the name _Ashridge_” says Kennett, “it is no doubt from a hill set with Ashes; the old word was _Aescrugge, Rugge_, as after _Ridge_, signifying a hill or steep place, and the Ashen-tree being first _Aesc_, as after _Ashche_, &c.” _Parochial Antiquities_, p. 302. ed. 1695.
v. 1470. _The Nacyoun of Folys_] Most probably _The Boke of Three Fooles_, in vol. i. 199.
v. 1471. _Apollo that whirllid vp his chare_] Concerning the piece, of which these were the initial words, a particular notice will be found in _The Account of Skelton and his Writings_: _chare_, i. e. chariot; compare the first of the two lines, which in the old eds. and some MSS. of Chaucer stand as the commencement of a third part of _The Squieres Tale_;
“_Apollo whirleth vp his chare_ so hie.”
_Workes_, fol. 25. ed. 1602.
and the opening of _The Floure and the Leafe_;
“When that _Phebus his chaire_ of gold so hie Had _whirled_ vp the sterye sky aloft.”
_Id._ fol. 344.
See also _Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans, _MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 47.
v. 1472. _snurre_] i. e. snort.
Page 420. v. 1475. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1477. _stode_] i. e. stood.
v. 1478. _Suppleyng_] i. e. Supplicating.
v. 1480. _bokis ... rase_] i. e. books ... erase.
v. 1483. _rin_] i. e. run.
v. 1487. _take it in gre_] i. e. take it kindly: see note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 1490. _ragman rollis_] The collection of deeds in which the Scottish nobility and gentry were compelled to subscribe allegiance to Edward I. of England in 1296, and which were more particularly recorded in four large rolls of parchment, &c., was known by the name of _Ragman’s Roll_: but what has been written on the origin of this expression appears to be so unsatisfactory that I shall merely refer the reader to Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c., ed. 1727, in v., Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v., Nares’s _Gloss._ in v., Gloss. to _The Towneley Myst._ in v., and Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Rigmarole_.
v. 1491. _lenger_] i. e. longer.
v. 1495. _Counforte_] i. e. Comfort.
v. 1498.
_Diodorus Siculus of my translacyon_ _Out of fresshe Latine, &c._]
—_fresshe_, i. e. elegant: see note, p. 302. v. 39. This translation from the Latin of Poggio is mentioned with praise in Caxton’s Preface to _The Boke of Eneydos_, &c. 1490, and is still preserved in MS. among Parker’s Collection, in Corpus Ch. College, Cambridge: see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_, and _Appendix_ ii.
Page 421. v. 1505. _dome_] i. e. judgment, thinking.
v. 1507. _the noyse went to Rome_] So Chaucer;
“And there came out so great _a noyse_, That had it stonde vpon Oyse, _Men might haue heard it easely_ _To Rome_, I trowe sikerly.”
_House of Fame_, B. iii.—_Workes_, fol. 270. ed. 1602.
v. 1508. _shoke_] i. e. shook.
v. 1510. _shett ... boke_] i. e. shut ... book.
v. 1512. _somdele_] i. e. somewhat.
v. 1514. _sperycall_] i. e. spherical.
v. 1515. _Ianus, with his double chere_]—_chere_, i. e. visage, countenance.
v. 1517. _He turnyd his tirikkis, his voluell ran fast_] What is meant by _tirikkis_, I know not: it occurs again in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_;
“Some trete of theyr _tirykis_, som of astrology.”
v. 139. vol. ii. 7.
For the following note I am indebted to W. H. Black, Esq. “The volvell is an instrument, called _volvella_ or _volvellum_, in the Latin of the middle age, consisting of graduated and figured circles drawn on the leaf of a book, to the centre of which is attached one moveable circle or more, in the form of what is called a geographical clock. There is a very fine one, of the fourteenth century, in the Ashmolean MS. 789. f. 363, and others exist in that collection, which affords likewise, in an Introduction to the Knowledge of the Calendar, (in the MS. 191. iv. art. 2. f. 199,) written in old English of the fifteenth century, a curious description of the volvell, with directions for its use. The passage is entitled ‘The Rewle of the Volvelle.’—‘Now folowith here the _volvelle_, that sum men clepen a _lunarie_; and thus most ghe governe ghou ther ynne. First take the grettist cercle that is maad in the leef, for that schewith the 24 houris of the day naturel, that is of the nyght and day, of the whiche the firste houre is at noon bitwene 12 and oon. Thanne above him is another cercle, that hathe write in hem the 12 monthis withe here dayes, and 12 signes with here degrees; and with ynne that, ther is writen a rewle to knowe whanne the sunne ariseth and the mone bothe; if ghe biholde weel these noumbris writen in reed, 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. ✠. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.’ The rule proceeds to shew that there is another row of the same figures in black, and that the red cross stands in the place of Cancer, the black at Capricorn: the red figures were used to shew the rising of the sun and moon, the black for their setting. Over this is ‘another cercle that hath a tunge,’ (tongue, or projecting angle to point with,) the figure of the sun on it, and 29½ days figured, for the age of the moon. Upon this is the least circle, ‘which hath a tunge with the figure of the moon on it, and with ynne it is an hole, the whiche schewith bi symylitude howe the moone wexith and wansith.’ It was used by setting ‘the tunge of the moone’ to the moon’s age, and ‘the tunge of the sunne’ to the day of the month, then moving the circle of months and signs to bring the hour of the day to the last named ‘tunge,’ whereby might be found ‘in what signe he’ (the _moon_, masculine in Anglo-Saxon) ‘sittith and the sunne also, and in what tyme of the day thei arisen, eny of hem, either goone downe, and what it is of the watir, whether it be flood or eb.’ The rule concludes by observing that the wind sometimes alters the time of the tide ‘at Londone brigge.’”
Page 422. v. 1533. _quaire_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 1536. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
Page 422. v. 1542. _warkis_] i. e. works.
v. 1546. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 1547. _boke_] i. e. book.
v. 1552. _brede_] i. e. breadth.
Page 423. v. 1556. _harnnes_] i. e. armour.
v. 1558. _ageyne_] i. e. against.
v. 1563. _derayne_] i. e. contest.
v. 1569. _curteisly_] i. e. courteously.
v. 1575. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 1581. _Any worde defacid_] i. e. Any disfigured, deformed, unseemly word.
v. 1582. _rasid_] i. e. erased.
Page 424.—— _Lautre Enuoy, &c._] Concerning this curious Envoy, see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 1597. _sekernes_] i. e. security, sureness.
v. 1598. _rede_] i. e. conceive, consider.
OWT OF LATYNE INTO ENGLYSSHE.
Page 426. v. 5. _kepe_] i. e. heed, regard, care.
v. 7. _Gone to seke hallows_]—_hallows_, i. e. saints.
“On pilgremage then must they go, To Wilsdon, Barking, or to some _hallowes_.”
_The Schole House of Women_, 1572,—Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poetry_, ii. 66.
But “to seek hallows” seems to have been a proverbial expression;
“O many woman hath caught be in a trayne, By goyng out such _halowes for to seke_.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. I ii. ed. 1555.
Page 427. v. 13. _withholde_] i. e. withheld.
v. 14. _sayne_] i. e. say.
NOTES TO VOLUME II.
SPEKE, PARROT.
That the extant portions of this very obscure production were written at intervals, is not to be doubted; and that we do not possess all that Skelton composed under the title of _Speke, Parrot_ is proved by the following passage of the _Garlande of Laurell_, where, enumerating his various works, he mentions
“_the Popingay_, that hath in commendacyoun Ladyes and gentylwomen suche as deseruyd, And suche as be counterfettis they be reseruyd.”
v. 1188. vol. i. 409.
a description which, as it answers to no part of the existing poem (or poems), must apply to some portion which has perished, and which, I apprehend, was of an earlier date. “_The Popingay_” is assuredly only another name for _Speke, Parrot_;
“Go, litell quayre, _namyd the Popagay_.”
_Speke, Parrot_, v. 280.
Page 1. v. 3. _Parrot, a byrd of paradyse_] So Lydgate (in a poem, entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to keep a guard over their tongues_);
“_Popyngayes froo paradys_ comyn al grene.”
_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 133.
“Than spake _the popynge Jay of paradyse_.”
_Parlyament of Byrdes_, sig. A ii. n. d.
v. 5. _Dyentely_] i. e. Daintily.
v. 6. _flode_] i. e. flood.
Page 2. v. 8. _estate_] i. e. state, rank.
v. 9. _Then Parot must haue an almon_] In Jonson’s _Magnetic Lady_, act v. sc. 5, we find,—
“Pol is a fine bird! O fine lady Pol! _Almond for Parrot_, Parrot’s a brave bird;”—
and Gifford, citing the present line (he ought rather to have cited v. 50), observes that Jonson was indebted to Skelton for “most of this jargon.” _Works_, vi. 109.
v. 11. _couertowre_] i. e. shelter.
Page 2. v. 12. _toote_] i. e. peep.
v. 16. _popagey_] i. e. parrot.
v. 17. _becke_] i. e. beak.
v. 18. _My fedders freshe as is the emrawde grene_]—_emrawde,_ i. e. emerald. So Ovid in his charming verses on Corinna’s parrot;
“Tu poteras virides pennis hebetare smaragdos.”
_Am._ lib. ii. vi. 21.
v. 20. _fete_] i. e. well made, neat.
v. 22. _My proper Parrot, my lytyll prety foole_]—_proper_, i. e. pretty, handsome (elsewhere Skelton uses “proper” and “prety” as synonymes: see note, p. 125. v. 127).
“I pray thee what hath ere the Parret got, And yet they say he talkes in great mens bowers? ... A good _foole_ call’d with paine perhaps may be.”
Sidney’s _Arcadia_, lib. ii. p. 229. ed. 1613.
v. 23. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 26. _mute_] i. e. mew: see note _ad l._
v. 30. _Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaire_]—_chaire_—ΧΑΙΡΕ. From Persius, _Prol._ 8.
Page 3. v. 31. _Dowse French of Parryse_] _Dowse_, i. e. sweet, soft. Chaucer’s Prioress spoke French
“After the scole of Stratford atte bowe, For _Frenche of Paris_ was to hire unknowe.”
_Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 125. ed. Tyr.
v. 35. _supple_] i. e. supplicate, pray.
v. 38. _ryall_] i. e. royal. In the marginal note on this line, “Katerina universalis vitii ruina, Græcum est” is an allusion to the Greek καθαρίζω or καθαρός.
v. 39. _pomegarnet_] i. e. pomegranate.
v. 40. _Parrot, saves habler Castiliano_] See note _ad l._ “Parrot, can you speak Castilian?” is a question which Spanish boys at the present day frequently address to that bird.
v. 41. _With fidasso de cosso in Turkey and in Trace_]—_fidasso de cosso_ is perhaps lingua franca,—some corruption (see marginal note on the line) of the Italian _fidarsi di se stesso_: _Trace_, i. e. Thrace.
v. 42. _Vis consilii expers ..._] }
v. 43. _Mole ruit sua_] }
From Horace, _Carm._ iii. iv. 65 (where “consilî”).
—— _dictes_] i. e. sayings.
v. 45. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.
Page 4. v. 50. _An almon now for Parrot_] I know not if these words occur in any writer anterior to the time of Skelton; but they afterwards became a sort of proverbial expression.
Page 4. v. 51. _In Salve festa dies, toto theyr doth best_]—_theyr_, i. e. there. Skelton has two copies of verses, which begin “Salve, festa dies, toto,” &c.: see vol. i. pp. 190, 191.
v. 54. _Myden agan_] i. e. Μηδὲν ἄγαν.
v. 59. _Besy_] i. e. Busy.
v. 63. _To_] i. e. Too.
v. 67. _Iobab was brought vp in the lande of Hus_] “Verisimile est Jobum eumdem esse cum Jobabo, qui quartus est ab Esaü ... Duces in ista opinione sequimur omnes fere antiquos Patres quos persuasit, ut ita sentirent, additamentum in exemplaribus Græcis, Arabicis et in antiqua Vulgata Latina appositum: ‘Job vero habitabat in terra Hus, inter terminos Edom et Arabiæ, et antea vocabatur Jobab,’” &c. _Concordantiæ Bibl. Sacr. Vulg. Ed._ by Dutripon, in v. _Job. ii._
Page 5. v. 71. _Howst thé, lyuer god van hemrik, ic seg_]—_Howst thé_ is (I suppose) Hist thee: what follows is German,—_lieber Got von Himmelsreich, ich sage_—Dear God of heaven’s kingdom, I say,—spoken by way of oath.
v. 72. _In Popering grew peres_] From _Popering_, a parish in the Marches of Calais (see Tyrwhitt’s note on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v. 13650), the _poprin_, _poperin_, or _popperin_ pear, frequently mentioned in our early dramas, was introduced into this country.
v. 73. _Ouer in a whynny meg_] The initial words of a ballad or song. Laneham (or Langham) in his strange _Letter_ concerning the entertainment to Queen Elizabeth at Kenilworth Castle in 1575, mentions it as extant in the collection of Captain Cox, who figured in the shows on that occasion: “What shoold I rehearz heer what a bunch of Ballets and songs all auncient: Az Broom broom on hill, So wo iz me begon, troly lo, _Over a whinny Meg_,” &c. See Collier’s _Bridgewater-House Catalogue_, p. 164.
v. 74. _Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon_] See note, p. 217. v. 59.
v. 75. _The iebet of Baldock_] Is mentioned again in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 953. vol. ii. 56. “And in Caldee the chief Cytee is _Baldak_.” _Voiage and Travaile of Sir J. Maundevile_, p. 51. ed. 1725.
v. 78. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 80. _erstrych fether_] i. e. ostrich-feather.
v. 81. _Beme_] i. e. Bohemia.
v. 82. _byrsa_] An allusion to Virgil;
“Mercatique solum, facti de nomine _Byrsam_, Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.”
_Æn._ i. 367.
Perhaps too Skelton recollected a passage in Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xlviii. ed. Wayland.
Page 5. v. 84. _Colostrum_] i. e. the biesting,—the first milk after the birth given by a cow (or other milch animal). This form of the word occurs in the title of an epigram by Martial, lib. xiii. 38, and in Servius’s commentary on Virgil, _Ecl._ ii. 22.
v. 85. _shayle_] See note, p, 97. v. 19.
v. 87. _Moryshe myne owne shelfe, the costermonger sayth_] From the next line it would seem that “Moryshe” is meant for the Irish corruption of some English word; but of what word I know not.
v. 88. _Fate, fate, fate, ye Irysh waterlag_] Mr. Crofton Croker obligingly observes to me that he has no doubt of “fate” being intended for the Irish pronunciation of the word _water_.—“There is rysen a fray amonge _the water laggers_. Coorta est rixa inter _amphorarios_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. q vi. ed. 1530.
Page 6. v. 91. _Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with syr Delarag_] See note, p. 189. v. 186. p. 194. v. 149.
v. 93. _Pawbe une aruer_] Either _Paub un arver_, Every one his manner, or _Paub yn ei arver_, Every one in his manner.
v. 95. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 97. _conseyt_] i. e. conceit.
v. 104. _how_] i. e. ho!
v. 106. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.
v. 108. _praty popigay_] i. e. pretty parrot.
v. 109. _pyke ... too_] i. e. pick ... toe.
v. 110. _solas, pleasure, dysporte, and pley_] One of Skelton’s pleonasms.
v. 112. _Parot can say, Cæsar, ave, also_] “Ut plurimum docebantur hæ aves salutationis verba ... interdum etiam plurium vocum versus aut sententias docebantur: ut illi corvi, qui admirationi fuerunt Augusto ex Actiaca victoria revertenti, quorum alter institutus fuerat dicere, _Ave, Cæsar_,” &c. Casaubonus _ad Persii Prol._ v. 8.
v. 116. _ruly doth loke_] i. e. ruefully doth look.
Page 7. v. 118. _vndertoke_] i. e. undertook.
v. 119. _of Judicum rede the boke_] i. e. read the Book of Judges.
“In _Iudicum_ the storye ye may rede.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xiv. ed. Wayland.
v. 122.
_O Esebon, Esebon! to thé is cum agayne_ _Seon, the regent Amorræorum,_ _And Og, that fat hog of Basan, doth retayne,_ _The crafty coistronus Cananæorum_]
—_coistronus_ is a Latinised form of _coistroun_, see note on title of poem, p. 92. Though in an earlier part of _Speke, Parrot_ we find “Cryst saue Kyng Henry the viii, our royall kyng,” &c. v. 36, yet it would almost seem that he is alluded to here under the name of Seon. Og must mean Wolsey. This portion of the poem is not found in _MS. Harl._ (see note on v. 59 _ad l._); and there can be no doubt that _Speke, Parrot_ is made up of pieces composed at various times. After Skelton’s anger had been kindled against Wolsey, perhaps the monarch came in for a share of his indignation.
Page 7. v. 126. _asylum, whilom refugium miserorum, &c._]—_whilom_, i. e. once, formerly. So afterwards in this piece, v. 496, among the evils which Skelton attributes to Wolsey, mention is made of “myche sayntuary brekyng,” i. e. much sanctuary-breaking; and in _Why come ye nat to Courte_ he says of the Cardinal that
“all priuileged places He brekes and defaces,” &c.
v. 1086. vol. ii. 60.
v. 130. _trym tram_] See note, p. 161. v. 76.
v. 131. _chaffer far fet_] i. e. merchandise far fetched.
v. 133. _Scarpary_] In Tuscany. So afterwards, “Over Scarpary,” v. 408; and in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, “Mont Scarpry.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 82. ed. Laing.
v. 134. _ich wot_] i. e. I know.
v. 136. _Tholomye and Haly_] See notes, p. 133. vv. 503, 505.
v. 137. _volvell_] }
v. 139. _tirykis_] }
See note, p. 335, v. 1517.
v. 142. _ren_] i. e. run.
Page 8. v. 143. _Monon calon agaton_] i. e. Μόνον καλὸν ἀγαθόν.
v. 144. _Quod Parato_] i. e. Quoth Parrot.
v. 149. _in scole matter occupyed_] i. e. used in school-matter: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 152. _How_] i. e. Ho!
v. 153. _a silogisme in phrisesomorum_] “Sic [indirecte] in prima figura concludunt quinque illi modi, qui ab interpretibus fere omnibus (excepto Zabarella) pro legitimis agnoscuntur, quique hoc versu comprehendi solent, _Celantes_, _Baralip_, _Dabilis_, _Fapesmo_, FRISESOM.” Crakanthorp’s _Logicæ Libri Quinque_, 1622. p. 275. Aldrich gives “Bramantip, Camenes, Dimaris, Fesapo, _Fresison_.” _Artis Logicæ Compend._, 1691. p. 19.
v. 165. _Jack Raker_] See note, p. 186. v. 108.
v. 106. _maker_] i. e. composer.
Page 9. v. 170. _Sturbrydge fayre_] The fair kept annually in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and so named from the rivulet _Stour_ and _bridge_.
Page 9. v. 171. _Tryuyals and quatryuyals_] The _trivials_ were the first three sciences taught in the schools, viz. Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic; the _quatrivials_ were the higher set, viz. Astrology (or Astronomy), Geometry, Arithmetic, and Music. See Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Trivium_, _Quadrivium_; and Hallam’s _Introd. to the Lit. of Europe_, i. 4.
—— _appayre_] i. e. impair, are impaired, come to decay.
v. 174. _Albertus de modo significandi_] “Albertus,” says Warton, after citing this stanza, “is the author of the _Margarita Poetica_, a collection of _Flores_ from the classics and other writers, printed at Nurenberg, 1472, fol.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to. The work mentioned here by Skelton is stated to have been first printed in 1480. The title of an edition by Wynkyn de Worde, dated 1515, is as follows; _Modi significādi Alberti sine quibus grammaticæ notitia haberi nullo pacto potest_: there is said to be another edition n. d. by the same printer: see _Typ. Ant._, ii. 208. ed. Dibdin.
v. 175. _Donatus_] i. e. the work attributed to Ælius Donatus, the Roman grammarian: see the _Bibliog. Dictionary_ of Dr. Clarke (iii. 144), who observes; “It has been printed with several titles, such as _Donatus_; _Donatus Minor_; _Donatus pro puerulis_, _Donati Ars_, &c., but the work is the same, viz. Elements of the Latin Language for the Use of Children.” See too Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, i. 281 (note), ed. 4to.
—— _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 177. _Inter didascolos_] “_Interdidascolos_ is the name of an old grammar.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to. Warton may be right: but I have never met with any grammar that bears such a title.
—— _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 178. _Alexander_] i. e. Alexander de Villa Dei, “author of the _Doctrinale Puerorum_, which for some centuries continued to be the most favourite manual of grammar used in schools, and was first printed at Venice in the year 1473 [at Treviso, in 1472: see _Typ. Ant._, ii. 116. ed. Dibdin]. It is compiled from Priscian, and in Leonine verse. See Henr. Gandav. _Scriptor. Eccles._ cap. lix. This admired system has been loaded with glosses and lucubrations; but, on the authority of an ecclesiastical synod, it was superseded by the _Commentarii Grammatici_ of Despauterius, in 1512. It was printed in England as early as the year 1503 by W. de Worde. [The existence of this ed. has been questioned. The work was printed by Pynson in 1505, 1513, 1516: see _Typ. Ant._, ii. 116, 426, 427, ed. Dibdin, and Lowndes’s _Bibliog. Man._, i. 27]. Barklay, in the _Ship of Fooles_, mentions Alexander’s book, which he calls ‘The _olde Doctrinall_ with his diffuse and vnperfite breuitie.’ fol. 53. b [ed. 1570].” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to.
Page 9. v. 178. _Menanders pole_] See note, p. 130. v. 434: _pole_, i. e. pool.
v. 179. _Da Cansales_] “He perhaps means _Concilia_, or the canon law.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347 (note), ed. 4to.
v. 180. _Da Rationales_] “He seems to intend _Logic_.” _Id. ibid._
v. 183. _Pety Caton_] _Cato Parvus_ (a sort of supplement to _Cato Magnus_, i. e. _Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus_) was written by Daniel Churche, or Ecclesiensis, a domestic in the court of Henry the Second: see Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 170, and Dibdin’s ed. of _Typ. Ant._, i. 120.
v. 187. _scole maters_] i. e. school-matters.
—— _hole sentens_] i. e. whole meaning.
v. 188. _gariopholo_] So, I believe, Skelton wrote, though the classical form of the word is _garyophyllo_.
v. 189. _pyke_] i. e. pick.
v. 190. _synamum styckis_] i. e. cinnamon-sticks.
v. 191. _perdurable_] i. e. everlasting.
v. 192. _fauorable_] i. e. well-favoured, beautiful.
Page 10. v. 195. _tote_] i. e. peep.
v. 198. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 199. _freshe humanyte_] i. e. elegant literature: see notes, p. 302. v. 39. p. 319. v. 817.
v. 201. _chekmate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in _check_ at the game of chess.
v. 205. _processe_] i. e. discourse; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 230 (first note on prose), p. 276. v. 2506, &c.
v. 207. _with all_] i. e. withal.
v. 208. _pauys_] See note, p. 90. v. 48.
v. 209. _flekyd pye_] i. e. spotted, variegated magpie.
v. 210. _pendugum, that men call a carlyng_]—“_pendugum_,” says the Rev. J. Mitford, “is penguin;” and he supposes that _carlyng_ has some connexion with the term gair-fowl, which is another name for the penguin.
Page 11. v. 219. _Ye ... torne_] i. e. Yea ... turn.
v. 222. _moche ... popegay ryall_] i. e. much ... parrot royal.
v. 226. _amonge_] i. e. together, at the same time.
v. 228. _worldly lust_] i. e. worldly pleasure.
v. 232. _recule_] See note, p. 327. v. 1187.
—— _Itaque consolamini invicem in verbis istis_] From the Vulgate, 1 _Thess._ iv. 17.
Page 12. v. 239. _when Pamphylus loste hys make_]—_make_, i. e. mate. As the heading “_Galathea_” precedes this couplet, there is an allusion to a once popular poem concerning the loves of Pamphilus and Galathea,—_Pamphili Mauriliani Pamphilus, sive De Arte Amandi Elegiæ_. It is of considerable length, and though written in barbarous Latin, was by some attributed to Ovid. It may be found in a little volume edited by Goldastus, _Ovidii Nasonis Pelignensis Erotica et Amatoria Opuscula_, &c. 1610. See too the lines cited in note, p. 324. v. 1048.
Page 12. v. 240. _propire_] i. e. handsome, pretty.
v. 241. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 245. _herte hyt ys_] i. e. heart it is.
Page 13. v. 262. _Be_] i. e. By.
v. 265. _reclaymed_] See note, p. 148. v. 1125.
v. 269. _kus_] i. e. kiss: see note, p. 128. v. 361.
v. 270. _mus_] i. e. muzzle, mouth.
—— _Zoe kai psyche_] i. e. Ζωή καὶ ψυχή.
Page 14. v. 274. _spuria vitulamina_] From the Vulgate, “_Spuria vitulamina_ non dabunt radices altas.” _Sap._ iv. 3.
v. 280. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.—From this _Lenuoy primere_ inclusive to the end of _Speke, Parrot_, with the exception of a few stanzas, the satire is directed wholly against Wolsey. The very obscure allusions to the Cardinal’s being employed in some negotiation abroad are to be referred probably to his mission in 1521. That _Speke, Parrot_ consists of pieces written at various periods has been already noticed: and “Pope Julius,” v. 425, means, I apprehend, (not Julius ii., for _he_ died in 1513, but) Clement vii., Julius de Medici, who was elected Pope in 1523. With respect to the dates which occur after the present _Lenuoy_,—“_Penultimo die Octobris_, 33ᵒ,” “_In diebus Novembris_, 34,” &c., if “33ᵒ” and “34” stand for 1533 and 1534 (when both Skelton and the Cardinal were dead), they must have been added by the transcriber; and yet in the volume from which these portions of _Speke, Parrot_ are now printed (_MS. Harl._ 2252) we find, only a few pages before, the name “John Colyn mercer of London,” with the date “1517.”
v. 285. _lyclyhode_] i. e. likelihood.
v. 288. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 289. _tonsan_] i. e. _toison_.
v. 291. _Lyacon_] Occurs again in v. 393: is it—Lycaon?
v. 294. _folys_] i. e. fools.
—— _knakkes_] “_Knacke_ or toye _friuolle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xliii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 295. _hang togedyr as fethyrs in the wynde_] See note, p. 265. v. 1842.
Page 15. v. 296. _lewdlye ar they lettyrd that your lernyng lackys_] i. e. badly, meanly, are they lettered that find fault with your learning.
v. 297. _currys of kynde_] i. e. curs by nature.
v. 298. _lohythe ... warkys_] i. e. looketh ... works.
v. 300. _Agayne all remordes_] i. e. Against all blamings, censures, carpings: see note, p. 193. v. 101: but as in v. 368, where MS. has “remordes,” the sense absolutely requires “remorders,” there is perhaps the same error here.
—— _Morda puros mal desires_] This strange gibberish (which occurs twice afterwards) seems to mean,—To bite the pure, is an evil desire.
v. 304. _sadde_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 305. _ower soleyne seigneour Sadoke_]—_soleyne_, i. e. sullen: in applying the name _Sadoke_ to Wolsey, Skelton alludes to the high-priest of Scripture, not to the knight of the Round Table.
v. 306. _nostre dame de Crome_] So in _A Mery Play between Johan the Husbande, Tyb his Wyfe, and Syr Jhan the Preest_, 1533, attributed to Heywood;
“But, by goggis blod, were she come home Unto this my house, by _our lady of Crome_, I wolde bete her or that I drynke.”
p. 1. reprint.
v. 307. _assone_] i. e. as soon.
v. 308. _to exployte the man owte of the mone_] i. e. to achieve the feat of driving the man out of the moon.
v. 309.
_With porpose and graundepose he may fede hym fatte,_ _Thowghe he pampyr not hys paunche with the grete seall_]
—_porpose and graundepose_, i. e. porpoise and grampus. The pun in the second line is sufficiently plain.
v. 311. _lokyd_] i. e. looked.
v. 313. _every deall_] i. e. every part.
Page 16. v. 319. _nodypollys_] i. e. silly-heads.
—— _gramatolys_] i. e. smatterers.
v. 320. _To ... sentence_] i. e. Too ... meaning.
v. 326. _sadlye_] See note, p. 267. v. 1966.
—— _Sydrake_] So Wolsey is termed here in allusion to a romance (characterised by Warton as “rather a romance of Arabian philosophy than of chivalry,” _Hist. of E. P._, i. 143. ed. 4to), which was translated from the French by Hugh of Caumpeden, and printed in 1510, under the title of _The Historie of King Boccus and Sydracke_, &c.
v. 327. _coniecte_] i. e. conjecture.
v. 328. _mellis_] i. e. meddles.
Page 16. v. 330. _Hyt_] i. e. It.
v. 331. _a cheryston pytte_] An allusion to a game played with cherry-stones;
“I can playe at the _chery pytte_ And I can wystell you a fytte Syres in a whylowe ryne.”
_The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522. sig. A iii.
v. 332. _sterrys_] i. e. stars.
v. 337. _syn_] i. e. since.
v. 339. _Non sine postica sanna_] “—— _posticæ_ occurrite _sannæ_.” Persius, _Sat._ i. 65.
Page 17. v. 354. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 355. _popagay_] i. e. parrot.
Page 18. v. 356. _propyr_] i. e. pretty, handsome.
v. 358. _supply_] i. e. supplicate.
v. 360. _agayne_] i. e. against.
v. 362. _slaundrys obliqui_] i. e. slanderous obloquy.
v. 365. _jacounce_] i. e. jacinth.
v. 366. _balas_] See note, p. 326. v. 1166.
v. 367. _eyndye sapher_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.
v. 368. _remorde[r]s_] i. e. blamers, censurers: see note, p. 193. v. 101.
Page 19.—— _votorum meorum omnis lapis, lapis pretiosus operimentum tuum_] From the Vulgate, “Omnis lapis pretiosus operimentum tuum.” _Ezech._ xxviii. 13.
v. 374. _myche_] i. e. much.
v. 378. _on and hothyr_] i. e. one and other.
v. 380. _recheles_] i. e. reckless.
v. 382. _prosses_] Equivalent here to—matter: see p. 230 (first note on prose).
v. 383. _cowardes_] i. e. cowardice.
v. 385. _connyng_] i. e. knowing, learned.
v. 386. _postyll_] See note, p. 289. v. 755.
Page 20. v. 393. _Lyacon_] See note on v. 291. p. 345.
v. 394. _Racell, rulye_] i. e. Rachel, ruefully; compare v. 116.
v. 395. _mawmett_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 407. _For passe a pase apase ys gon to cache a molle_] Qy. is there an allusion here to Secretary Pace?
v. 408. _Scarpary_] See note on v. 133. p. 342.
—— _sliddyr_] i. e. slippery.
v. 409. _pendugims_] See note on v. 210. p. 344.
Page 21. v. 412. _Difficille hit ys_] i. e. Difficult it is.
v. 415. _raye_] i. e. array.
v. 416. _Agayne_] i. e. Against.
v. 417. _ensembyll_] i. e. together. (Fr.)
v. 418. _The nebbis of a lyon they make to trete and trembyll_]—_nebbis_, i. e. neb, nib, nose: _to trete_, i. e. (I suppose) to become tractable.
v. 419. _folys_] i. e. fools.
v. 420. _to play cowche quale_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“Howe I haue made the knaues for _to play cowch quaile_.”
p. 42. Roxb. ed.
“And thou shalt make him _couche as doth a quaille_.”
_The Clerkes Tale_, v. 9082. ed. Tyr.
v. 421. _polys_] i. e. pools.
v. 422. _babylles_] i. e. (fools’) bawbles.
v. 424. _He facithe owte at a fflusshe_] Compare _The Bowge of Courte_, v. 315.
“And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.”
v. 315. vol. i. 42.
_fflusshe_, i. e. a hand of cards all of a sort.
v. 425. _cardys_] i. e. cards.
v. 427. _skyregalyard_] See note, p. 218. v. 101.
—— _prowde palyard_] So, afterwards, the Duke of Albany is termed by Skelton in his tirade against that nobleman, v. 170. vol. ii. 73. “_Paillard._ A lecher, wencher, whoremunger, whorehunter; also, a knave, rascall, varlet, scoundrell, filthy fellow.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
—— _vaunteperler_] “_Avant-parleur._ A forespeaker; or one that is too forward to speak.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “Whiche bee the _vauntperlers_ and heddes of thair faction.” _Letter of Bedyll to Crumwell_,—_State Papers_ (1830), i. 424.
v. 428. _woluys hede_] i. e. wolf’s head.
—— _bloo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.
v. 429. _Hyt ys to fere_] i. e. It is to fear,—be feared.
v. 430. _Peregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).
v. 431. _regiment_] i. e. rule.
v. 432. _quod ex vi bolte harvi_]—_quod_, i. e. quoth: of the rest, the reader may make what he can.
v. 435. _groynyd at_] i. e. grumbled at.
Page 22. v. 436.
_Grete reysons with resons be now reprobitante,_ _For reysons ar no resons, but resons currant_]
Perhaps this is the earliest instance of a quibble between _raisins_ and _reasons_. The same pun is used by Shakespeare in _Much ado about Nothing_, act v. sc. 1, and (though Steevens thinks not) in _Troilus and Cressida_, act ii. sc. 2: compare also Dekker; “_Raisons_ will be much askt for, especially in an action of iniury.” _The Owles Almanache_ 1618. p. 36.
Page 22. v. 438. _Ryn_] i. e. Run.
v. 439. _the date of the Devyll_] See note, p. 116. v. 375.
—— _shrewlye_] i. e. shrewdly, badly.
—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 442. _So many morall maters, &c._] There is a considerable resemblance between this concluding portion of _Speke, Parrot_, and a piece attributed to Dunbar, entitled _A General Satyre_; see his _Poems_, ii, 24. ed. Laing.
v. 443. _So myche newe makyng_] i. e. So much new composing.
v. 457. _stondythe_] i. e. standeth.
Page 23. v. 460. _on dawys hedd_] i. e. one daw’s head: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 467. _dowȝtfull daunger_] i. e. doubtful danger,—danger that ought to cause dread.
v. 471. _not worthe an hawe_] See note, p. 269. v. 2115.
v. 472. _So myche papers weryng for ryghte a smalle exesse_]—_exesse_, i. e. excess, offence. “And for a truthe he [the Cardinal] so punyshed periurye with open punyshment & _open papers werynge_, that in his tyme it was lesse vsed.” Hall’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.), fol. lix. ed. 1548.
v. 473. _pelory pajauntes_] i. e. pillory-pageants.
v. 474. _the cooke stole_] See note, p. 183. v. 38.
—— _guy gaw_] i. e. gewgaw, trifle.
v. 478.
_So bolde a braggyng bocher...._ ... _So mangye a mastyfe curre, the grete grey houndes pere_]
Again, in his _Why come ye nat to Courte_, Skelton alludes to the report that Wolsey was the son of a butcher, vv. 295. 491. vol. ii. 36. 42. Compare too Roy’s satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe,_ &c.;
“_The mastif curre_, bred in Ypswitch towne. ...
_Wat._ He commeth then of some noble stocke?
_Jeff._ His father coulde snatche a bullock, A butcher by his occupacion.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 3. 31. ed. Park.
and a poem _Of the Cardnalle Wolse_;
“To se a churle _a Bochers curre_ To rayne & rule in soche honour,” &c.
_MS. Harl._ 2252. fol. 156.
Cavendish says that Wolsey “was an honest poor man’s son;” and the will of his father (printed by Fiddes) shews that he possessed some property; but, as Mr. Sharon Turner observes, that Wolsey was the son of a butcher “was reported and believed while he lived.” _Hist, of Reign of Hen. the Eighth_, i. 167. ed. 8vo.
With the second line of the present passage compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, where he wishes that “that mastyfe” Wolsey, may
... “neuer confounde The gentyll _greyhownde_.”
v. 775. vol. ii. 50.
By the _greyhound_ seems to be meant Henry viii., in allusion to the royal arms.
Page 23. v. 481. _So bygge a bulke of brow auntlers cabagyd that yere_] “_Cabusser._ To cabbidge; to grow to a head,” &c.—“The Cabbage of the Deeres head. _Meule de cerf._” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “I Kabage a deere, _Ie cabaiche_ ... I wyll kabage my dere and go with you: _Ie cabacheray_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxx. (Table of Verbes).
v. 485. _banketyng_] i. e. banqueting.
Page 24. v. 487. _howgye_] i. e. hugy, huge.
v. 488. _apon_] i. e. upon.
—— _suche pyllyng and pollyng_] i. e. such stripping and plundering (exactions of various kinds).
v. 489. _reson and skylle_] See note, p. 238, v. 106.
v. 496. _So myche sayntuary brekyng_] See note on v. 126. p. 342.
v. 497. _lyerd_] i. e. learned.
v. 498. _ryghte of a rammes horne_] See note, p. 298. v. 1201.
v. 501. _lokes ... dysdayneslye_] i. e. looks ... disdainfully.
v. 503. _ffylty gorgon_] i. e. filthy Gorgon. See note _ad loc._
v. 506. _loselles ... lewde_] i. e. worthless fellows, scoundrels ... bad, evil, (or perhaps, lascivious).
v. 507. _myday sprettes_] i. e. mid-day sprites.
Page 25. v. 508. _puplysshyd_] i. e. published.
v. 509. _all beshrewde_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 510. _Suche pollaxis and pyllers, suche mvlys trapte with gold_]—_mvlys_, i. e. mules. So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“_Wat._ Doth he use then on mules to ryde?
_Jeff._ Ye; and that with so shamfull pryde That to tell it is not possible: More lyke a god celestiall Then eny creature mortall, With worldly pompe incredible. Before him rydeth two prestes stronge, And they beare two crosses ryght longe, Gapynge in every mans face: After theym folowe two laye-men secular, And eache of theym holdynge a pillar In their hondes, steade of a mace. Then foloweth my lorde on his mule, Trapped with golde under her cule, In every poynt most curiously; On each syde a pollaxe is borne, Which in none wother use are worne, Pretendynge some hid mistery. Then hath he servauntes fyve or six score, Some behynde and some before, A marvelous great company: Of which are lordes and gentlemen, With many gromes and yemen, And also knaves amonge. Thus dayly he procedeth forthe,” &c.
_Harl. Miscell._, ix. 29. ed. Park.
“Then,” says Cavendish, “had he two great crosses of silver, whereof one of them was for his Archbishoprick, and the other for his Legacy, borne always before him whither soever he went or rode, by two of the most tallest and comeliest priests that he could get within all this realm.” _Life of Wolsey_, 94. ed. 1827. “And as soon as he was entered into his chamber of presence, where there was attending his coming to await upon him to Westminster Hall, as well noblemen and other worthy gentlemen, as noblemen and gentlemen of his own family; thus passing forth with two great crosses of silver borne before him; with also two great pillars of silver, and his pursuivant at arms with a great mace of silver gilt: Then his gentlemen ushers cried, and said, ‘On, my lords and masters, on before; make way for my Lord’s Grace!’ Thus passed he down from his chamber through the hall; and when he came to the hall door, there was attendant for him his mule, trapped all together [altogether] in crimson velvet, and gilt stirrups. When he was mounted, with his cross bearers, and pillar bearers, also upon great horses trapped with [fine] scarlet: Then marched he forward, with his train and furniture in manner as I have declared, having about him four footmen, with gilt pollaxes in their hands; and thus he went until he came to Westminster Hall door.” _Id._ 106. See also Cavendish’s _Metrical Legend of Wolsey_, p. 533. _ibid._ The pillars implied that the person before whom they were carried was a pillar of the church. That the Cardinal had a right to the “ensigns and ornaments” which he used, is shewn by Anstis in a letter to Fiddes,—Appendix to Fiddes’s _Life of Wolsey_.
Page 25.—_quod_] i. e. quoth.
WHY COME YE NAT TO COURTE?
This poem appears to have been produced (at intervals perhaps) during 1522 and part of the following year.
—— _sadly_] See note, p. 267. v. 1966: _loke_, i. e. look.
Page 26. v. 3. _To_] i. e. Too (as in the next seven lines).
v. 5. _scarce_] i. e. sparing.
v. 6. _large_] i. e. liberal.
v. 8. _haute_] i. e. haughty.
Page 27. v. 23. _appall_] i. e. make pale, make to decay.
v. 33. _rage_] i. e. toy wantonly (see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_).
v. 34. _basse_] i. e. kiss.
v. 37. _corage_] i. e. desire, inclination.
Page 28. v. 39. _ouerage_] Seems here to be—over-age (excessive age); while, again, in our author’s poem _Howe the douty duke of Albany_, &c., it appears to be—over-rage (excessive rage);
“It is a rechelesse rage, And a lunatyke _oueraye_.”
v. 417. vol. ii. 80.
v. 43. _a graunt domage_] Meant for French perhaps.
v. 44. _set by_] i. e. valued, regarded.
v. 46. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 50. _boskage_] i. e. thicket, wood.
v. 56. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 58. _theyr hedes mew_] i. e. hide their heads; see note on v. 219.
v. 62. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 63. _In faythe, dycken, thou krew_] See note, p. 115. v. 360.
Page 29. v. 68. _banketynge_] i. e. banqueting.
v. 69. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 70. _gambaudynge_] i. e. gambolling.
v. 74. _The countrynge at Cales_]—_countrynge_ does not, I apprehend, mean—encountering, but is a musical term (see note on heading of poem, p. 92) used here metaphorically, as in other parts of Skelton’s works. The allusion seems to be to the meeting between Henry the Eighth and Francis in 1520, when (as perhaps few readers need be informed) Henry went over to Calais, proceeded thence to Guisnes, and met Francis in the fields between the latter town and Ardres. If “_Cales_” is to be understood as—Cadiz (see note, p. 195. last v.) I know not any occurrence there of sufficient consequence to suit the present passage.
Page 29. v. 75. _Wrang vs on the males_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
v. 77. _grouchyng_] i. e. grudging.
v. 79. _talwod_] “_Tallwodde_ pacte wodde to make byllettes of _taillee_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxix. (Table of Subst.). “Talshide or _Talwood_ (Taliatura) is Fire-wood, cleft and cut into Billets of a certain Length.... This was anciently written _Talghwode_.” Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
—— _brent_] i. e. burned.
v. 81. _We may blowe at the cole_] See note, p. 313. v. 610.
v. 83. _Mocke hath lost her sho_] See note, p. 331. v. 1396.
v. 87. _As ryght as a rammes horne_] See note, p. 298. v. 1201.
v. 90. _all to-torne_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
v. 92. _Fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
v. 93, _Iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 94. _Hauell_] Which occurs again in v. 604, is a term of reproach found less frequently than _javel_ in our early writers: whether it be connected with _haveril_,—one who _havers_ (see the Gloss. to _The Towneley Myst._ in v. _Hawvelle_) I cannot pretend to determine.
—— _Haruy Hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 97. _pollynge and shauynge_]—_pollynge_, i. e. shearing, clipping,—plundering.
v. 99. _reuynge_] i. e. reaving.
Page 30. v. 101. _vayleth_] i. e. availeth.
v. 105. _reason and ... skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 106. _garlycke pyll_] i. e. peel garlic.
v. 108. _shyll_] i. e. shell.
v. 109. _rost a stone_] So Heywood;
“I doe but _roste a stone_ In warming her.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 110. _no man but one_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 114. _cammocke_] See note, p. 179. v. 30.
v. 115. _This byll well ouer loked_] i. e. This writing being well overlooked, examined.
v. 117. _There went the hare away_] A proverbial expression:
“_Man._ By my fayth a lytell season I folowed the counsell and dyet of reason.
_Gloto._ There went the hare away Hys dyet quod a,” &c.
Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d., sig. g ii.
“heere’s the King, nay stay: And heere, I heare [ay, here]: _there goes the Hare away_.”
_The Spanish Tragedie_ (by Kyd), sig. G 3. ed. 1618.
Page 30. v. 118. _the gray_] i. e. the badger: see note, p. 303. v. 101.
v. 119. _the buck_] Qy. does Skelton, under these names of animals, allude to certain persons? If he does, “the buck” must mean Edward Duke of Buckingham, who, according to the popular belief, was impeached and brought to the block by Wolsey’s means in 1521: so in an unprinted poem against the Cardinal;
“Wherfor nevyr looke ther mowthes to be stoppyd Tyll ther money be restoryd thow sum hedes be of choppyd As thowe dyd serue _the Buckke_ For as men sey by the that was done That sens had this lande no good lucke.”
_MS. Harl._ 2252. fol. 158.
v. 123. _Ge hame_] Scottice for—Go home.
v. 125. _tot quot_] See note, p. 287. v. 565.
v. 127. _lome_] i. e. loom.
v. 128. _lylse wulse_] i. e. linsey-woolsey,—an evident play on the Cardinal’s name.
v. 130. _cule_] i. e. fundament.
v. 132. _warse_] i. e. worse.
Page 31. v. 136. _Bothombar_] I know not what place is meant here.
v. 139. _gup, leuell suse_]—_gup_ has occurred frequently before: see note, p. 99. v. 17; the rest of this slang I do not comprehend.
v. 145. _nat worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 150.
_Yet the good Erle of Surray,_ _The Frenche men he doth fray, &c._]
This nobleman (before mentioned, see note, p. 317. v. 769), Thomas Howard (afterwards third Duke of Norfolk), commanded, in 1522, the English force which was sent against France, when Henry the Eighth and the Emperor Charles had united in an attack on that kingdom. In Stow’s _Annales_, p. 517. ed. 1615, the marginal note “Earle of Surrey brent Morles in Brytaine. I. Skelton,” evidently alludes to the present passage of our poem. Both Turner and Lingard in their _Histories of Engl._ mistake this nobleman for his father.
Page 31. v. 158. _mated_] i. e. confounded (I may just observe that Palsgrave, besides “I _Mate_ at the chesses, _Ie matte_,” gives “I _Mate_ or ouercome, _Ie amatte_.”) _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxcix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 163. _vrcheons_] i. e. hedge-hogs.
Page 32. v. 166. _ouer shote_] i. e. over-shoot.
v. 167. _scutus_] “_Scutum_, Moneta Regum Francorum, ita appellata quod in ea descripta essent Franciæ insignia in scuto.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ (Ital. _scudo_, Fr. _écu_).
v. 170. _wonders warke_] i. e. work of wonder.
v. 175. _They shote at him with crownes, &c._] On the immense gifts and annuities which Wolsey received from foreign powers, see Turner’s _Hist. of Reign of Hen. the Eighth_, i. 236. ed. 8vo.
v. 178. _his eyen so dased_]—_dased_, i. e. dazzled, or, according to Skelton’s distinction—dulled; for in his _Garlande of Laurell_ we find “eyn dasild and _dasid_.” v. 1389. vol. i. 416.
v. 179. _ne se can_] i. e. can not see.
v. 185. _the Chambre of Starres_] i. e. the Star-Chamber.
v. 190. _renayenge_] i. e. contradicting.
v. 194. _Good euyn, good Robyn Hood_] “Good even, good Robin Hood,” was, as Ritson observes, a proverbial expression; “the allusion is to _civility_ extorted by _fear_.” _Robin Hood_, i. lxxxvii. Warton mistook the meaning of this line, as is proved by his mode of pointing it: see _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346. ed. 4to.
Page 33. v. 197. _thwartyng ouer thom_] i. e. overthwarting them, perversely controlling them.
v. 202. _With, trompe vp, alleluya_] i. e., says Warton, “the pomp in which he celebrates divine service.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346 (note), ed. 4to. Compare Wager’s _Mary Magdalene_, 1567;
“Ite Missa est, _with pipe vp Alleluya_.”
Sig. A iii.
v. 203. _Philargerya_] i. e. Φιλαργυρία, argenti amor, pecuniæ cupiditas. She was one of the characters in Skelton’s lost drama, _The Nigramansir_.
v. 204. _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 206. _Asmodeus_] The name of the evil spirit in the Book of _Tobit_.
v. 208. _Dalyda_] i. e. Dalilah.
“Unto his lemman _Dalida_ he told, That in his heres all his strengthe lay.”
Chaucer’s _Monkes Tale_, v. 14069. ed. Tyr.
See too Gower’s _Conf. Am._, Lib. viii. fol. clxxxix. ed. 1554, and Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxiii. ed. Wayland.
Page 33. v. 208. _mell_] i. e. meddle (in sensu obsc.).
v. 212. _Simonia_] i. e. Simony.
v. 213. _Castrimergia_] “The true reading is CASTRIMARGIA, or _Gulæ concupiscentia_, Gluttony. From the Greek, Γαστριμαργία, ingluvies, helluatio. Not an uncommon word in the monkish latinity. Du Cange cites an old Litany of the tenth century, ‘A spiritu CASTRIMARGIÆ _Libera nos_, domine!’ Lat. Gloss. i. p. 398. Carpentier adds, among other examples, from the statutes of the Cistercian order, 1375 [1357], ‘Item, cum propter detestabile CASTRIMARGIÆ vitium in labyrinthum vitiorum descendutur, &c.’ Suppl. tom. i. p. 862.’” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346 (note), ed. 4to.
v. 215. _ypocras_] See note, p. 285. v. 458.
v. 217. _In Lent for a repast, &c._] So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“_Wat._ Whatt abstinence useth he to take?
_Jeff._ _In Lent_ all fysshe he doth forsake, _Fedde with_ partriges and plovers.
_Wat._ He leadeth then a Lutheran’s lyfe?
_Jeff._ O naye, for he hath no wyfe, But whoares that be his lovers.”
_Harl. Miscel._ ix. 32. ed. Park.
v. 219. _partriche mewed_]—_mewed_, i. e. cooped up. “I kepe _partryches in a mewe_ agaynst your comyng.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. e ii. ed. 1530.
v. 222. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 223. _a postels lyfe_] i. e. an apostle’s life.
v. 224. _herte_] i. e. heart.
Page 34. v. 232. _kues_] See note, p. 236. v. 36.
v. 235. _The sygne of the Cardynall Hat_] “These allowed Stew-houses [in Southwark] had Signs on their Fronts, towards the Thames, not hanged out, but painted on the Walls, as a Boar’s-Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the Castle, the Crane, _the Cardinal’s Hat_,” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iv. 7. ed. 1720.
v. 236. _shyt_] i. e. shut.
v. 237. _gup_] }
...
v. 239. _iast_] }
See note, p. 99. v. 17.
v. 240. _Wyll ye bere no coles_] Steevens, in his note on the opening of Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_, cites the present line among the examples which he gives of the expression to _bear_ or _carry coals_, i. e. to bear insults, to submit to degradation. In the royal residences and great houses the lowest drudges appear to have been selected to carry coals to the kitchens, halls, &c.; see note on Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 169, by Gifford, who afterwards (p. 179) observes, “From the mean nature of this occupation it seems to have been somewhat hastily concluded, that a man who would carry coals would submit to any indignity.”
Page 34. v. 241. _A mayny of marefoles_] i. e. (as appears from the expressions applied to horses four lines above) a set of mare-foals, fillies.
Page 35. v. 257. _next_] i. e. nearest.
v. 261. _Poppynge folysshe dawes_] See note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 262. _pyll strawes_]—_pyll_, i. e. peel.
v. 264. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 269. _Lorde Dakers_] Thomas Lord Dacre (of Gillesland, or of the North) was warden of the West Marches. The accusation here thrown out against him (because, perhaps, he was on the best terms with Wolsey) of “agreeing too well with the Scots” is altogether unfounded. He was for many years the able and active agent of Henry in corrupting by gold and intrigues the nobles of Scotland, and in exciting ceaseless commotions in that kingdom, to the destruction of its tranquillity and good government. He died in 1525. And see notes on vv. 283, 353.
v. 270. _Jacke Rakers_] See note, p. 186. v. 108.
v. 271. _crakers_] i. e. vaunters, big-talkers.
v. 273. _Stronge herted_] i. e. Strong-hearted.
v. 275. _To_] i. e. Too.
v. 278. _the red hat_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 280. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 281. _cure_] i. e. care.
v. 283. _Lorde Rose_] i. e. Thomas Manners, Lord Roos. In 14 Henry viii. he was constituted warden of the East Marches towards Scotland; and by letters patent in 17 Henry viii. he was created Earl of Rutland. He died in 1543. See Collins’s _Peerage_, i. 465. sqq. ed. Brydges. Hall makes the following mention of him: “In this sommer [xiiii yere of Henry the VIII] the lorde Rosse and the lorde Dacres of the North whiche were appointed to kepe the borders against Scotland did so valiantly that they burned the good toune of Kelsy and lxxx. villages and ouerthrew xviii. towers of stone with all their Barnkyns or Bulwerkes.” _Chron._ fol. ci. ed. 1548.
v. 285. _a cockly fose_] A term which I do not understand.
Page 35. v. 286. _Their hertes be in thyr hose_] See note, p. 233. v. 107,—where, however, I neglected to observe that we find in _Prima Pastorum_,
“A, _thy hert is in thy hose_.”
_Towneley Myst._, p. 95.
Page 36. v. 287. _The Erle of Northumberlande, &c._] i. e. Henry Algernon Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland. In 14 Henry viii. he was made warden of the whole Marches, a charge which for some reason or other he soon after resigned: _vide_ Collins’s _Peerage_, ii. 305. ed. Brydges. That he found himself obliged to pay great deference to the Cardinal, is evident from Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, where (pp. 120-128. ed. 1827) see the account of his being summoned from the north, &c. when his son Lord Percy, (who was then, according to the custom of the age, a “servitor” in Wolsey’s house) had become enamoured of Anne Boleyn. This nobleman, who encouraged literature, and appears to have patronised our poet (see _Account of Skelton_, &c.), died in 1527.
v. 291. _Rynne_] i. e. Run.
v. 292. _mayny of shepe_] i. e. flock of sheep.
v. 293. _loke ... dur_] i. e. look ... door.
v. 294. _mastyue cur_] }
v. 295. _bochers dogge_] }
i. e. Wolsey: see note, p. 349. v. 478.
v. 296. _wyrry_] i. e. worry.
v. 297. _gnar_] i. e. snarl, growl.
v. 300. _blode_] i. e. blood.
v. 301. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 308. _astate_] i. e. estate, state, rank, dignity.
v. 312. _foles and dawes_] i. e. fools and simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 313. _eke_] i. e. also.
v. 315. _pletynge_] i. e. pleading.
v. 316. _Commune Place_] i. e. Common Pleas.
Page 37. v. 326. _huddypeke_] See note, p. 255. v. 1176.
v. 327. _Thy lernynge is to lewde_]—_to lewde_, i. e. too bad, too mean. So in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_ we find “_lewdlye_ ar they _lettyrd_.” v. 296. vol. ii. 15.
v. 328. _well thewde_] i. e. well mannered.
v. 338. _rowte_] See note, p. 298. v. 1223.
v. 343. _the Scottysh kynge_] i. e. James the Fifth.
v. 346. _stalworthy_] i. e. strong, stout.
v. 347. _whipling_] Perhaps the same as—_pipling_: see note on l. 26 (prose), p. 229.
Page 38. v. 352. _calstocke_] “_Calstoke_. Maguderis.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Calstocke pie de chov_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 353.
_There goth many a lye_ _Of the Duke of Albany, &c._]
This passage relates to the various rumours which were afloat concerning the Scottish affairs in 1522, during the regency of John Duke of Albany. (The last and disastrous expedition of Albany against England in 1523 had not yet taken place: its failure called forth from Skelton a long and furious invective against the Duke; see vol. ii. 68.) In 1522, when Albany with an army eighty thousand strong had advanced to Carlisle, Lord Dacre by a course of able negotiations prevailed on him to agree to a truce for a month and to disband his forces: see _Hist. of Scot._, v. 156 sqq. by Tytler,—who defends the conduct of Albany on this occasion from the charge of cowardice and weakness.
v. 356. _quycke_] i. e. alive.
v. 358. _The mountenaunce of two houres_] “_Mowntenaunce._ Quantitas. Estimata mensura.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“And largely _the mountenaunce of an houre_ They gonne on it to reden and to poure.”
Chaucer’s _Troil. and Cres._, B. ii. fol. 157. _Workes_, ed. 1602.
“Racynge and foynynge to _the mountenaunce of an houre_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. vii. cap. iiii. vol. i. 191. ed. Southey.
v. 359. _sayne_] i. e. say.
v. 367. _Burgonyons_] i. e. Burgundians.
v. 373.
_God saue my lorde admyrell!_ _What here ye of Mutrell?_]
—_Mutrell_ is Montreuil; and the allusion must be to some attack intended or actual on that town, of which I can find no account agreeing with the date of the present poem. To suppose that the reference is to the siege of Montreuil in 1544, would be equivalent to pronouncing that the passage is an interpolation by some writer posterior to the time of Skelton.
v. 375. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 380.
_For drede of the red hat_ _Take peper in the nose_]
i. e. For dread that the Cardinal, Wolsey, take offence.
“Hee _taketh pepper in the nose_, that I complayne Vpon his faultes.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. G.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 38. v. 383. _Of by the harde arse_] Compare the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“Ye but yet I seruyd another wors I smot _of_ his legge _by the hard ars_ As sone as I met hym there.”
Sig. E i.
v. 384. _trauarse_] i. e. thwarting contrivance.
Page 39. v. 386. _makys our syre to glum_] i. e. makes our lord (Wolsey) have a gloomy or sour look.
v. 391. _go or ryde_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
v. 397. _frayne_] i. e. ask, inquire.
v. 401. _Hampton Court_] The palace of Wolsey; which he afterwards, with all its magnificent furniture, presented to the King.
v. 407. _Yorkes Place_] The palace of Wolsey, as Archbishop of York, which he had furnished in the most sumptuous manner: after his disgrace, it became a royal residence under the name of Whitehall.
v. 409.
_To whose magnifycence, &c._ ... _Embassades of all nacyons_]
—_Embassades_, i. e. Embassies. “All ambassadors of foreign potentates were always dispatched by his discretion, to whom they had always access for their dispatch. His house was also always resorted and furnished with noblemen, gentlemen, and other persons, with going and coming in and out, feasting and banqueting all ambassadors diverse times, and other strangers right nobly.” Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 112. ed. 1827.
Page 40. v. 417. _tancrete_] “_Tancrit_: Transcrit, copié.” Roquefort’s _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._
v. 418. _obstract_] i. e. abstract.
v. 425. _Whan him lyst_] i. e. When it pleases him.
v. 434. _vndermynde_] i. e. undermine.
v. 435. _sleyghtes_] i. e. artful contrivances.
v. 438. _coarted_] i. e. coarcted, confined.
v. 440. _nutshales_] i. e. nutshells.
v. 444. _taken in gre_] i. e. taken kindly, in good part: see note, p. 95. v. 68.
v. 449.
_He bereth the kyng on hand,_ _That he must pyll his lande_]
—_bereth on hand_, i. e. leads on to a belief, persuades.
“Lordings, right thus, as ye han understond, _Bare_ I stifly min old husbondes _on hond_, That thus they saiden in hir dronkennesse.”
Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._, 5961. ed. Tyr.
“He is my countre man: as he _bereth me an hande_,—vti mihi vult persuasum.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. X viii. ed. 1530. The expression occurs in a somewhat different sense in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, see note, p. 241. v. 357: _pyll_, i. e. strip, spoil.
Page 41. v. 463. _a cæciam_] “_Cæcia_, σκοτοδινία [a vertigo with loss of sight].” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ See note _ad loc._ Qy. is “accidiam” the right reading (“_Acedia_, _Accidia_ ... tædium ... tristitia, molestia, anxietas,” &c. (Gr. ἀκηδία): see _Du Cange_)?
v. 476. _a Mamelek_] i. e. a Mameluke. Compare _The Image of Ipocrisy_, (a poem in imitation of Skelton, which is appended to the present edition);
“And crafty inquisitors, Worse then _Mamalokes_.”