Part ii

. act ii. sc. 4, _Shakespeare_ by Malone and Boswell, xvii. 98, 99, Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._, and Nares’s _Gloss._), petticoat,—safe-guard or riding-hood,—long cloak,—long mantle, reaching to the ground, with a head to it that entirely covered the face, and usually red,—apron,—jacket,—and loose gown!!! The following note by Gifford on _Cynthia’s Revels_ (Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 260) gives the most satisfactory account of a kirtle: “Few words have occasioned such controversy among the commentators on our old plays as this; and all for want of knowing that it is used in a two-fold sense, sometimes for the jacket merely, and sometimes for the train or upper petticoat attached to it. A full kirtle was always a jacket and petticoat, a half kirtle (a term which frequently occurs) was either the one or the other: but our ancestors, who wrote when this article of dress was everywhere in use, and when there was little danger of being misunderstood, most commonly contented themselves with the simple term (kirtle), leaving the sense to be gathered from the context.”

v. 1199. _let_] i. e. hinder.

Page 88. v. 1205. _pullysshed_] i. e. polished.

v. 1223. _Jane_] See note, p. 122.

v. 1225. _hyght_] i. e. called.

Page 89. v. 1242. _saynt Jamys_] i. e. Saint James of Compostella: see note on _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 354.

v. 1243. _pranys_] i. e. prawns.

v. 1244. _cranys_] i. e. cranes.

v. 1250. _sadly_] i. e. seriously, soberly.

v. 1251. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.

Page 90. —— _an adicyon_] Though found in all the eds. of _Phyllyp Sparowe_ which I have seen, it was not, I apprehend, originally published with the poem. It is inserted (and perhaps first appeared) in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1261. vol. i. 412, where he tells us that some persons “take greuaunce, and grudge with frownyng countenaunce,” at his poem on Philip Sparrow,—alluding probably more particularly to Barclay; see note, p. 120, and _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

v. 1269. _ianglynge iayes_] See note on v. 396, p. 128.

Page 90. v. 1274. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame. “Thus was syr Arthur _depraued_ and euyl sayd of.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xxi. c. i. vol. ii. 433. ed. Southey.

v. 1289. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.

Page 91. v. 1291. _Hercules that hell dyd harow_]—_harow_, i. e. lay waste, plunder, spoil,—overpower, subdue,—Hercules having carried away from it his friends Theseus and Pirithous, as well as the dog Cerberus. The _harrowing of hell_ was an expression properly and constantly applied to our Lord’s descent into hell, as related in the Gospel of Nicodemus. There were several early miracle-plays on this favourite subject; and Lydgate strangely enough says that Christ

“Took out of helle soulys many a peyre Mawgre Cerberus and al his cruelte.”

_Testamentum_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 49.

I may add, that Warner, speaking of Hercules, uses the words “harrowed hell.” _Albion’s England_, p. 23. ed. 1612.

v. 1293. _Slew of the Epidaures, &c._] Qy. is not the text corrupted here?

v. 1295. _Onocentaures_] i. e. Centaurs, half human, half asses. See Ælian _De Nat. Anim._ lib. xvii. c. 9. ed. Gron., and Phile _De Anim. Prop._ c. 44. ed. Pauw. Both these writers describe the onocentaur as having the bosom of a woman. R. Holme says it “is a Monster, being the Head and Breasts of a Woman set upon the Shoulders of a Bull.” _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 208.

v. 1296. _Hipocentaures_] i. e. Centaurs, half human, half horses.

v. 1302. _Of Hesperides withhold_] i. e. Withheld by the Hesperides.

v. 1314. _rounses_] i. e. common hackney-horses (though the word is frequently used for horses in general).

v. 1318.

_He plucked the bull_ _By the horned skull,_ _And offred to Cornucopia_]

The “bull” means Achelous, who, during his combat with Hercules, assumed that shape:

“rigidum fera dextera cornu Dum tenet, infregit; truncaque a fronte revellit. Näides hoc, pomis et odoro flore repletum, Sacrarunt; divesque meo bona Copia cornu est.”

Ovid. _Met._ ix. 85.

Page 92. v. 1322. _Ecates_] i. e. Hecate’s.

Page 92. v. 1326.

—— _the venemous serpent,_ _That in hell is neuer brent_]

—_brent_, i. e. burned. A somewhat profane allusion to the scriptural expression “the worm dieth not;”—(_worm_ and _serpent_ were formerly synonymous).

v. 1332. _infernall posty_]—_posty_, i. e. power. So Lydgate;

“Of heuene and erthe and _infernal pooste_.”

_Testamentum_,—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 47.

v. 1333. _rosty_] i. e. roast.

v. 1335. _wood_] i. e. mad, wild.

v. 1340. _frounsid_] i. e. wrinkled.

v. 1344. _Primo Regum_] i. e. _The First Book of Kings_, or, as it is now called, _The First Book of Samuel_, chap, xxviii.

“_Primo regum_ as ye may playnly reade.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xxxix. ed. Wayland.

v. 1345.

_He bad the Phitonesse_ ... _But whether it were so,_ _He were idem in numero,_ _The selfe same Samuell, &c._]

—_Phitonesse_, i. e. Pythoness, witch,—the witch of Endor.

“And speke as renably, and faire, and wel, As to the _Phitonesse_ did Samuel: And yet wol som men say it was not he,” &c.

Chaucer’s _Freres Tale_, v. 7091. ed. Tyr.;

and see his _House of Fame_, B. iii. fol. 267, _Workes_, ed. 1602.

“And of Phyton that Phebus made thus fine Came _Phetonysses_ that can so deuyne,” &c.

Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. K vi. ed. 1555.

“And secretelye this Saule is forth gone To a woman that should him rede and wisse, In Israell called a _phytonesse_. ... To diuines this matter I commit, ... _Whether it was the soule of Samuell_,” &c.

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ii. leaf xl. ed. Wayland.

See also Gower’s _Conf. Am._ B. iv. fol. lxxiii. ed. 1554; Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. iii. v. 982. ed. Jam.; G. Douglas’s Preface to his Virgil’s _Æneados_, p. 6, 1. 51. ed. Rudd.; and Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Monarchie_, B. iv. _Works_, iii. 151. ed. Chalmers.

Page 92. v. 1346. _dresse_] i. e. address, apply.

v. 1351. _condityons_] i. e. qualities. But in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, where this “adicyon” is given, the passage according to Fake’s ed., and rightly perhaps (compare the preceding lines), stands thus;

“And by her supersticiouns _Of_ wonderfull condiciouns.”

v. 1343. vol. i. 414.

Page 93. v. 1352. _stede_] i. e. place.

v. 1358. _ascry_] Has occurred before in this poem, see note on v. 903. p. 145. Palsgrave has “I _Askry_ as fore riders of an armye do their enemyes whan they make reporte where they haue sene them: _Je descouures_.... Whose company dyd _askry_ them first .... _les descouuryt_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cliii. (Table of Verbes). But in the present passage “ascry” seems to mean assail (with a shout). In Langtoft’s _Chronicle_ we find,

“Edward was hardie, the Londres gan he _ascrie_.”

p. 217. ed. Hearne,—

(who in Gloss. renders “_ascrie_”—cry to). The original French has,

“Sir Eduuard fiz le rays, les loundrays _escrye_.”

_MS. Cott. Jul._ A v. fol. 122.

Roquefort gives “_Escrier_: Faire entendre son cri d’armes dans une bataille ... marcher à l’ennemi, l’attaquer,” &c. _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._ (_Sup._).

v. 1360. _my selfe dyscharge_] i. e. unburden myself,—open my mind.

v. 1365. _shene_] i. e. shine.

v. 1371. _Scroupe pulchra Joanna_] See note, p. 122. I ought to have observed _ad loc._ that “_Scroupe_” is to be considered here as a monosyllable; unless we read “_Scrope_” as two short syllables.

ELYNOUR RUMMYNGE.

On the title-page and also on the last leaf of Rand’s edition of this poem, 1624, 4to, (reprinted, not with perfect accuracy, in the _Harleian Miscellany_; see vol. i. 415. ed. Park,) is an imaginary portrait, of which the subjoined is a fac-simile:

[Illustration:

“When Skelton wore the Laurell Crowne, My Ale put all the Ale-wiues downe.” ]

George Steevens having heard that a copy of Rand’s edition was in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, prevailed on the Dean to bring it to London; and having made a drawing of the title-page, gave it to Richardson the printseller, who engraved and published it. Steevens, soon after, contributed to the _European Magazine_ for May, 1794, vol. xxv. 334,—

“Verses meant to have been subjoined (with the following Motto) to a Copy from a scarce Portrait of Elinour Rumming, lately published by Mr. Richardson, of Castle-street, Leicester-square.

Ne sit ancillæ tibi amor pudori Xanthia Phoceu! prius insolentem Serva Briseis niveo colore

Movit Achillem. Movit Ajacem Telamone natum Forma captivæ dominum Tecmessæ; Arsit Atrides medio in triumpho Virgine rapta.

HORACE.

“Eleonora Rediviva.

To seek this nymph among the glorious dead, Tir’d with his search on earth, is Gulston fled:— Still for these charms enamour’d Musgrave sighs; To clasp these beauties ardent Bindley dies;— For these (while yet unstag’d to public view) Impatient Brand o’er half the kingdom flew;— These, while their bright ideas round him play, From classic Weston force the Roman lay:— Oft too, my Storer! heaven has heard thee swear, Not Gallia’s murder’d Queen was half so fair:— ‘A new Europa!’ cries the exulting Bull, ‘My Granger now (I thank the gods) is full:’— Even Cracherode’s self, whom passions rarely move, At this soft shrine has deign’d to whisper love.— Haste then, ye swains, who Rumming’s form adore, Possess your Elinour, and sigh no more.

W. R.”

The Marquis of Bute told Dallaway that he gave twenty guineas for the original engraving of Elinour: see Dallaway’s _Letheræum_, 1821, p. 6.

Rand’s edition opens with the following lines, which, I need hardly observe, are by some rhymer of the day:

“_Skeltons Ghost._

To all tapsters and tiplers, And all ale house vitlers, Inne-keepers and cookes, That for pot-sale lookes, And will not giue measure, But at your owne pleasure, Contrary to law, Scant measure will draw In pot and in canne, To cozen a man Of his full quart a penny, Of you there’s to many: For in King Harry’s time, When I made this rime Of Elynor Rumming With her good ale tunning, Our pots were full quarted, We were not thus thwarted With froth-canne and nick-pot And such nimble quick shot, That a dowzen will score For twelue pints and no more. Full Winchester gage We had in that age; The Dutchmans strong beere Was not hopt ouer heere, To vs t’was unknowne: Bare ale of our owne In a bowle we might bring To welcome the king, And his grace to beseech, With, _Wassall my Leigh_.[270] Nor did that time know To puffe and to blow In a peece of white clay, As you doe at this day, With fier and coale, And a leafe in a hole; As my ghost hath late seene, As I walked betweene Westminster Hall And the church of Saint Paul, And so thorow the citie, Where I saw and did pitty My countrymen’s cases, With fiery-smoke faces, Sucking and drinking A filthie weede stinking, Was ne’re knowne before Till the deuill and the More In th’ Indies did meete, And each other there greete With a health they desire Of stinke, smoake, and fier. But who e’re doth abhorre it, The citie smoakes for it; Now full of fier-shops And fowle spitting chops, So neesing and coughing, That my ghost fell to scoffing, And to myselfe said, Here’s fylthie fumes made; Good physicke of force To cure a sicke horse. Nor had we such slops, And shagge-haire on our tops: At wearing long haire King Harry would sweare, And gaue a command With speede out of hand All heads should be powl’d, As well young as old, And his owne was first so, Good ensample to show. Y’are so out of fashion, I know not our nation; Your ruffes and your bands, And your cuffes at your hands; Your pipes and your smokes, And your short curtall clokes; Scarfes, feathers, and swerds, And thin bodkin beards; Your wastes a span long, Your knees with points hung, Like morrice-daunce bels; And many toyes els, Which much I distaste: But Skelton’s in haste. My masters, farewell; Reade ouer my Nell, And tell what you thinke Of her and her drinke: If shee had brew’d amisse, I had neuer wrote this.”

[270] _Leigh_] Meant for “Liege.”

At the end of the poem is, from the same hand,

“_Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader._[271]

Thus, countrymen kinde, I pray let me finde, For this merry glee, No hard censure to be. King Henry the Eight Had a good conceit Of my merry vaine, Though duncicall plaine It now nothing fits The time’s nimble wits: My lawrell and I Are both wither’d dry, And you flourish greene In your workes daily seene, That come from the presse, Well writ I confesse; But time will devouer Your poets as our, And make them as dull As my empty scull.”

[271] _Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader_, &c. I give these lines from the _Harl. Miscel._, the copy of Rand’s ed. which was lent to me by Mr. Heber, wanting the last leaf.]

Concerning Elynour Rummyng and the poem by which Skelton has rendered her famous, Dallaway has the following remarks,—_his account of the circumstances which introduced Skelton to her acquaintance being a mere hypothesis!!_ “When the Court of Henry viii was frequently kept at the palace of Nonsuch (about six miles distant), the laureate, with other courtiers, sometimes came to Leatherhead for the amusement of fishing, in the river Mole; and were made welcome at the _cabaret_ of Elinor Rummyng, whom Skelton celebrated in an equivocal encomium, in a short [?—it consists of 623 lines—] poem, remarkable only for a very coarse jest, after a manner peculiar to the author and the times in which he lived, but which has been more frequently reprinted than his other works. The gist or point of this satire had a noble origin, or there must be an extraordinary coincidence of thought in the _Beoni_, or Topers, a ludicrous effusion of the great Lorenzo de Medici, when a young man.... Her domicile, near the bridge, still exists. The annexed etching was made from a drawing taken previously to late repairs, but it still retains its first distinction as an ale-house.”

[Illustration]

“Some of her descendants occur in the parish register in the early part of the last century.” _Letheræum_, 1821, pp. 4-6.

_The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng_] Besides “I _Tonne_ ale or wyne I put lycour in to tonnes, _Je entöne_,” Palsgrave has “I _Tonne_ I masshe ale, _Je brasse_.... Whan _tonne_ you and god wyll: _Quant brasserez vous_,” &c. _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxxxi. (Table of Verbes); and here _Tunnyng_ means—Brewing.

P. 95. v. 1.

_Tell you I chyll,_ _If that ye wyll_ _A whyle be styll_]

—_I chyll_, i. e. Ich wyll, I will. Compare _Syr Gawayn and the Grene Knyȝt;_

“_And ȝe wyl a whyle be stylle,_ _I schal telle yow_ how thay wroȝt.”

p. 74. Bann. ed.

and the Prol. to _Kyng Alisaunder;_

“_Yef ye wolen sitte stille_, Ful feole _Y wol yow telle_.”

Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 5.

Page 95. v. 4. _gyll_] Equivalent here to girl—a familiar name for a female; as in the proverb, “Every Jack must have his _Gill_:” supposed by some etymologists to be an abbreviation of _Julia_, _Juliana_, or _Gillian;_ by Richardson (_Dict._ in v.) to be a corruption of _giglot_.

v. 6. _gryll_] “Grymm _gryl_ and horryble ... horridus ... horribilis.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221. (Ed. 1499 of that work omits “_gryl._.”) The word is of frequent occurrence; but its exact meaning here seems to be doubtful.

v. 12. _lere_] i. e. complexion, skin.

v. 14. _chere_] i. e. look, countenance.

v. 17. _bowsy_] i. e. bloated by drinking.

v. 21. _here_] i. e. hair.

v. 22. _lewde_] i. e. vile, nasty.

v. 23. _sayne_] i. e. say.

v. 25. _glayre_] i. e. viscous matter.

Page 96. v. 27.

_Her nose somdele hoked,_ _And camously croked_]

—_somdele hoked_, i. e. somewhat hooked. “_Camed_ or short nosed. Simus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “A _Camoise_ nose, that is to saie crooked vpward as the Morians [Moors].” Baret’s _Alvearie_. “_Camuse_. Flat.” Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. “_Camused._ Flat, broad and crooked; as applied to a nose, what we popularly call a _snub-nose_.” Nares’s _Gloss._ Todd, quoting this passage of Skelton, explains _camously_, awry. _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.

v. 34. _gowndy_] So Lydgate;

“A _goundy_ eye is deceyued soone, That any colour cheseth by the moone.”

_Warres of Troy_, B. ii. sig. H iii. ed. 1555.

“_Gownde_ of the eye. Ridda, Albugo.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221.

v. 35. _vnsowndy_] i. e. unsound.

v. 38. _jetty_] i. e. that part of a building which projects beyond the rest.

Page 96. v. 40.

—— _how she is gumbed,_ _Fyngered and thumbed_]

i. e. what gums, fingers, and thumbs she has.

v. 45. _huckels_] i. e. hips.

v. 49. _Foted_] i. e. Footed.

v. 51. _iet_] i. e. strut: see note, p. 94. v. 43.

v. 52. _fet_] Means, perhaps, _feat_,—neat, handsome one.

v. 53. _flocket_] “Is described as a loose garment with large sleeves:” see Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 373.

v. 54. _rocket_] i. e. a garment, worn often without, and sometimes with sleeves; sometimes it was made to reach the ground, and sometimes much shorter and open at the sides. See _Id. ibid._

v. 55. _With symper the cocket_] So Heywood in his _Dialogue_;

“Vpright as a candell standth in a socket, Stoode she that day, so _simper decocket_.”

Sig. F,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

and Jonson in his Masque, _The Gipsies Metamorphosed;_

“Lay by your wimbles, Your boring for thimbles, Or using your nimbles, In diving the pockets, And sounding the sockets Of _simper-the-cockets_.”

_Works_ (by Gifford), vii. 376.

In a note on the latter passage, Whalley quotes from Cotgrave’s _Dict.:_ “_Coquine_, a beggar-woman, also a cockney, _simper de cockit_, nice thing.” Gifford (_ibid._) remarks, “_Cocket_ was a fine species of bread, as distinguished from common bread; hence, perhaps, the name was given to an overstrained affectation of delicacy. To _simper_ at, or over, a thing, is to touch it _as in scorn_.” Nares (_Gloss._ in v.) doubts (justly, I think) the connexion of _simper-the-cocket_ with _cocket_ bread, and explains it, “quasi simpering coquette,” observing, that “one of Cotgrave’s words in rendering ‘coquette’ is _cocket_.” I may add, that in _Gloss. of Prov. and Loc. Words_ by Grose and Pegge, ed. 1839, is, “_Cocket_, brisk, apish, pert,” and “_Simper_, to mince one’s words.”

Page 97. v. 56.

_Her huke of Lyncole grene,_ _It had ben hers, I wene,_ _More then fourty yere_]

“Huke _surquanie, froc_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xli. (Table of Subst.). “A loose kind of garment, of the cloak or mantle kind.” Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 364. “_Lyncolne_ anciently dyed _the best greene_ of England.” Marg. note in Drayton’s _Polyolbion_, Song 25. p. 111. ed. 1622.—Compare a celebrated ballad;

“My _cloake_ it was a verry good cloake, Itt hath been alwayes true to the weare, But now it is not worth a groat; I have had it _four and forty yeere_.”

_Take thy old cloak about thee_,—Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ i. 206. ed. 1794.

Page 97. v. 63. _woll_] i. e. wool.

v. 68. _gytes_] i. e. clothes. _Gite_ is properly a gown:

“And she came after in a _gite_ of red.”

Chaucer’s _Reves Tale_, v. 3952. ed. Tyr.

v. 69. _pranked with pletes_]—_pletes_, i. e. plaits. “I _Pranke_ ones gowne I set the _plyghtes_ in order.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxxi. (Table of Verbes).

v. 70. _Her kyrtel Brystow red_]—_kyrtel_; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.

“London hath scarlet, and _Bristowe_ pleasaunt _red_.”

Barclay’s _Fourth Egloge_, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.

“At _Brystowe_ is the best water to _dye reed_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. V ii. ed. 1530.

v. 74. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.

v. 75. _whym wham_] i. e. something whimsically, fantastically devised. The word is frequently applied to articles of female finery by our early dramatists. In _Ane Interlude of the Laying of a Gaist_, we are told that the Gaist (ghost)

“stall fra peteouss Abrahame An quhorle and _ane quhum quhame_.”

v. 74,—Laing’s _An. Pop. Poetry of Scotland_.

_Whim-wham_ is used by Gray, _Works_, iii. 123. ed. Mitford, and by Lamb, _Prose Works_, ii. 142.

v. 76. _trym tram_] i. e. some trim, neat ornament, or pretty trifle. In Weaver’s _Lusty Juuentus_, Hipocrisie, after enumerating a variety of popish trumpery, adds

“And a hundred _trim trams_ mo.”

Sig. B iiii. ed. Copland.

v. 77. _brayne pan_] i. e. skull, head. See note, p. 100. v. 31.

v. 78. _Egyptian_] i. e. gipsy.

Page 98. v. 85. _gose_] i. e. goose.

v. 88. _shone_] i. e. shoes.

v. 90. _baudeth_] i. e. fouls. “I _Baudy_ or fyle or soyle with any filthe, _Ie souylle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clviii. (Table of Verbes). “The auter clothes, and the vestementes shulde be very clene, not _baudy_, nor torne,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. E iiii.

Page 98. v. 94. _wonnynge_] i. e. dwelling.

v. 96. _Sothray_] i. e. Surrey.

v. 97. _stede_] i. e. place.

v. 98. _Lederhede_] i. e. Leatherhead; see p. 157.

v. 99. _tonnysh gyb_] The epithet _tonnysh_ is perhaps derived from her occupation of _tunning_ (see note, p. 158), or perhaps it may allude to her shape: _gyb_ is properly a male cat (see note, p. 122. v. 27); but the term, as here, is sometimes applied to a woman;

“And give a thousand by-words to my name, And call me Beldam, _Gib_, Witch, Night-mare, Trot.”

Drayton’s _Epistle from Elinor Cobham to Duke Humphrey_,—_Poems_, p. 175. ed. 1619. fol.

v. 100. _syb_] i. e. related, akin.

v. 102. _noppy_] i. e. nappy.

v. 103. _port sale_] If the right reading, must be used here for—sale in general. “Port-sale, The Sale of Fish as soon as it is brought into the Harbour; also an Out-cry or Publick Sale of any Commodity.” Kersey’s _Dict._

v. 105. _To sweters, to swynkers_] i. e. to those who sweat and labour hard,—to labourers of various kinds.

“For we can neyther _swyncke nor sweate_.”

_Pierce Plowman_, sig. I ii. ed. 1561.

v. 110. _Now away the mare_] Skelton has the same expression in his _Magnyfycence_, v. 1342. vol. i. 268. Compare _The Frere and the Boye_;

“Of no man he had no care, But sung, hey howe, _awaye the mare_.”

Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 37.

and _Jyl of Braintfords Testament_, n. d.;

“Ah sira, mary _away the mare_, The deuil giue thee sorow and care.”

sig. B ii.

and _A new Commodye_ &c. _of the bewte & good propertes of women_, &c. n. d.

“Tush syr be mery let pas _awey the mare_.”

sig. A ii.

The words are doubtless a portion of some song or ballad. In Ravenscroft’s _Melismata, Musicall Phansies_, &c. 1611, is a song (No. 6) supposed to be sung by “Seruants out of Seruice” who “are going to the Citie to looke for new;”

“Heigh ho, _away the Mare_, Let vs set aside all care, If any man be disposed to trie, Loe here comes a lustie crew, That are enforced to crie A new Master, a new,” &c.

Page 99. v. 111. _sley_] i. e. slay.

v. 115. _Wyth, Fyll the cup, fyll_] So in _The Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, by Copland, n. d.;

“_With fyll the pot, fyll_, and go fyll me the can.”

Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poet._ ii. 15.

v. 122. _Hardely_] i. e. Assuredly.

v. 123. _heles dagged_] In _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. is “_Daggyd_. Fractillosus,”—a sense in which Skelton certainly has the word elsewhere (_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 630. vol. i. 386); but here perhaps _dagged_ may mean—be-mired: “I Daggyll or I _dagge_ a thing with myer.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cciii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 124. _kyrtelles_] See note, p. 149. v. 1194.

—— _all to-iagged_] See note, p. 100. v. 32: “I Cutte or _iagge_ a garment.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cciii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 130. _tunnynge_] i. e. brewing; see note, p. 158.

v. 131. _leneth ... on_] i. e. lendeth, furnisheth ... of: compare v. 491.

v. 139. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.

v. 142. _skewed_] Does it mean—distorted? or walking obliquely? or squinting? see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._ in v. _Skew_. A friend suggests that this epithet, as well as that in the preceding line, may be applied to colour,—the words being still used as terms of the stable.

Page 100. v. 143. _sho clout_] i. e. shoe-cloth.

v. 145. _herelace_] i. e. hair-band.

v. 147. _tresses vntrust_] So Lydgate;—“With _heyr vntrussed_.” _Warres of Troy_, B. iii. sig. S i. ed. 1555.

v. 148. _vnlust_] i. e. unpleasantness, unseemliness.

v. 149.

_Some loke strawry,_ _Some cawry mawry_]

—_loke_, i. e. look: _strawry_ I do not remember to have met with elsewhere: _cawry mawry_ (as a substantive) occurs in _Pierce Plowman_;

“[Envy] was as pale as a pellet, in the palsey he semed And clothed in _Caurymaury_,” &c.

sig. F ii. ed. 1561.

Page 100. v. 151. _vntydy_] i. e. sluttish.

—— _tegges_] A term found again in our author’s first poem _Against Garnesche_;

“Your wynde schakyn shankkes, your longe lothy legges ... Bryngges yow out of fauyr with alle femall _teggys_.”

v. 29. vol. i. 117.

In what sense Skelton uses _tegge_, I cannot pretend to determine. In Warwickshire and Leicestershire, a _teg_ means a sheep of a year old; and Ray gives, “A _Tagge_, a Sheep of the first Year, _Suss_.” _Coll. of Words_, &c., p. 88, appended to _Proverbs_, ed. 1768.

v. 152. _Lyke rotten egges_] Lydgate in a satirical description of a lady has—

“Colowryd _lyche a rotyn eey_ [i. e. egg].”

_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 156.

v. 153. _lewde sorte_] i. e. vile set, low rabble.

v. 155. _tyde_] i. e. time, season.

v. 161. _commy_] i. e. come.

v. 163. _shreud aray_]—_shreud_, i. e. evil, bad. “_Araye_ condicion or case _poynt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xviii. (Table of Subst.); which, however, may not be the sense of _aray_ in the present passage. We find:—“Soo with this rumoure came in syr launcelot and fond them al at a grete _araye_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. vi. vol. ii. 374. ed. Southey; the next chapter beginning “What _araye_ is this sayd sir Launcelot,” &c. “For al this foule _araye_, for al this great frai.” _Mery Tales, Wittie Questions_, &c., 1567. p. 18, reprint. See also our author’s sacred poem, _Wofully araid_, vol. i. 141, and note on it.

v. 171. _draffe_] i. e. hog-wash—either the coarse liquor, or brewers’ grains, with which swine are fed.

v. 173. _swyllynge tubbe_] i. e. tub in which _swillings_ (hog-wash) are preserved for swine.

v. 174.

_For, be there neuer so much prese,_ _These swyne go to the hye dese_]

—_prese_, i. e. press, throng: _dese_, or _dais_, a word of doubtful etymology, generally means—a table of estate,—the upper table raised on a platform more elevated than the others. See Tyrwhitt’s note on _Cant. Tales_, v. 372; and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. _Dais_. It sometimes signifies a long bench (see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Deis_); and such seems to be its meaning here, as in the fourth line after this “the hye benche” is mentioned.—Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c., has imitated the present passage of Skelton;

“_For, be there never so grett prease_, They are set up at _the hy dease_.”

_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 51. ed. Park.

Page 101. v. 185.

_God gyue it yll preuynge,_ _Clenly as yuell cheuynge_]

—_preuynge_, i. e. proving.

“And prechest on thy benche, _with evil prefe_:” (i. e. evil may it prove!)

Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._ v. 5829. ed. Tyr.

—_yuell cheuynge_, i. e. evil ending, bad success.

“_God geve it yvell chevynge._”

Roy’s _Rede me_, &c., _Harl. Miscell._ ix. 79. ed. Park.

See also _Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. B i., _Towneley Myst._ p. 108, and Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16693. ed. Tyr.

v. 189. _patch_] I know not how to explain.

v. 190. _ron_] i. e. run.

v. 192. _ioust_] i. e. joist.

v. 196. _bolle_] i. e. bowl.

v. 198. _skommeth_] i. e. skimmeth.

v. 199. _Whereas_] i. e. Where.

v. 201. _blennes_] i. e. blends.

Page 102. v. 212. _And ye may it broke_] i. e. If you may brook it.

v. 213. _loke_] i. e. look.

v. 218. _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.

v. 219. _Ich am_] i. e. I am.

v. 222. _In lust and in lykyng_] See note, p. 98. v. 23.

v. 223. _whytyng_] So in our early dramas, _whiting-mop_ (young whiting) is a cant term for a nice young woman, a tender creature: see Puttenham’s _Arte of E. P_., 1589. p. 184., and note in my ed. of Webster’s _Works_, in. 37.

v. 224. _mullyng_] This term of endearment occurs in the _Coventry Mysteries_, applied by one of the shepherds to the infant Saviour;

“Thow I be the last that take my leve ȝit fayre _mullynge_ take it nat at no greve.”

_MS. Cott. Vesp._. D viii. fol. 91.

Compare also Hormanni _Vulgaria_: “This is a fayre and swete _mullynge_. Blandus est _puerulus_ insigni festiuitate.” Sig. dd vii. ed. 1530.

—— _mytyng_] In the _Towneley Mysteries_, one of the shepherds says to the infant Saviour,

“Haylle, so as I can, haylle, praty _mytyng_!”

p. 96.

and Jamieson gives _myting_ as a fondling designation for a child, _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._—In our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_, v. 115. vol. i. 123, “myteyng”—(but used as a term of contempt)—is, as here, the rhyme to “wyteyng.”

Since writing the above note, I have met with a passage in the comedy called _Wily Beguilde_, which might be adduced in support of the reading, “nytyng;” but I still think that “mytyng” is the true one: the dramatist evidently recollected Skelton’s poem, in the ed. of which he had found “nytyng,” “nittinge,” or “nittine:”—“Comely Pegge, my _nutting_, my sweeting, my Loue, my doue, my honnie, my bonnie, my ducke, my deare and my deareling.” Sig. C 4. ed. 1606.

Page 102. v. 225. _His nobbes and his conny_] So in a song in _The Triall of Treasure_, 1567;

“My mouse my _nobs_ and _cony_ swete.”

Sig. E.

_conny_, i. e. rabbit.

v. 227. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.

—— _bonny_] i. e. precious one (rather than—beautiful one,—for it has the epithet “prety”).

v. 229. _This make I my falyre fonny_] _This_, i. e. Thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38: it has been suggested that _falyre_ means fellow; which I doubt: _fonny_ is, I suppose, foolishly amorous; compare—

“As freshly then thou shalt begin to _fonne_ And dote in loue.”

Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_,—_Workes_, fol. 329. ed. 1602.

“With kissing, and with clapping, _I gert the carill fon_.”

Dunbar’s _Tua Maryit Wemen and The Wedo_, _Poems_, i. 71. ed. Laing.

v. 230. _dronny_] i. e. drone.

v. 232. _rout_] i. e. snore.

Page 103. v. 245. _conny_] i. e. rabbit.

v. 247. _a salt_] i. e. a salt-cellar.

—— _spone_] i. e. spoon.

v. 248. _shone_] i. e. shoon, shoes.

v. 250. _a skellet_] i. e. a skillet, a small kettle: in Suffolk it means a brass perforated implement for skimming the cream off milk; see Moor’s _Suff. Words_.

v. 251.

_Some fyll theyr pot full_ _Of good Lemster woll_]

The meaning is—in the pot which was to hold the ale they brought wool “instede of monny” (v. 244).

Page 103. v. 254. _athrust_] i. e. a-thirst.

v. 258. _slaty or slyder_] i. e. miry or slippery.

Page 104. v. 266. _renne_] i. e. run.

v. 269. _byrle_] The word _birl_—to pour out, furnish for, or part drink among guests—(see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v., and Leyden’s Gloss. to _The Comp. of Scotland_ in v. _Beir_)—is not very common in English literature: “the olde God of wyne called Baccus _birlyng_ the wyne.” Hall’s _Chronicle_, (_Hen. viii._) fol. lxxiii. ed. 1548.

v. 270. _gest_] i. e. guest.

v. 271. _She swered by the rode of rest_]—_rode_, i. e. _rood_,—cross: see note on _Ware the Hauke_, v. 69.

“That is hardly saide, man, _by the roode of rest_.”

Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A iii. ed. 1570.

v. 280. _haruest gyrdle_] i. e. perhaps, a girdle worn at the feast after the gathering in of the corn.

v. 286. _To offer to the ale tap_] So in _Jak Hare_, a poem attributed to Lydgate;

“And with his wynnynges he _makith his offrynge_ _At the ale stakis_.”

_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 14.

v. 288. _sowre dowe_]—_dowe_, i. e. dough. “_Sower dough leuayn_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of Subst.).

v. 289. _howe_] i. e. ho.

v. 292. _And pype tyrly tyrlowe_] Compare a Song belonging to the Tailors’ and Shearmen’s Pageant;

“Thé sange _terly terlow_.”

Sharp’s _Diss. on Coventry Pag. and Myst._, p. 114.

v. 295. _hekell_] i. e. comb for dressing flax.

v. 296. _rocke_] i. e. distaff.—In a poem entitled _Cryste Crosse me Spede_. _A. B. C. Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne, by me Wynkyn de Worde_, 4to. (which I know only from the account of it in _Typog. Antiq._ ii. 367. ed. Dibdin) are the following lines;

“A grete company of gossyps gadred on a route Went to besyege an ale hous rounde aboute Some brought a distaffe & some a rele Some brought a shouell & some a pele Some brought drynke & some a tankarde And a galon potte faste they drewe thederward,” &c.

Though no edition of _Elynour Rummyng_ has come down to us printed anterior to _Cryste Crosse me Spede_, the evident imitation of the former in the passage just quoted, shews that it must have existed.

Page 104. v. 298. _wharrowe_] i. e. whirl, or wharve, for a spindle. “A spyndell with a _wharowe_—fusus cum _spondulo, siue verticillo siue harpage_.” Hormanni _Vulg._ sig. t i. ed. 1530.

v. 299. _rybskyn_] In _Prompt. Parv._, ed. 1499, “_Rybskyn_” stands without a Latin term; but in the copy of that work, _MS. Harl._ 221, is “_Rybbe skynn._ Melotula.” In a MS. _Catholicon in Lingua materna_, dated 1483, I find “_Rybbynge skyn._ nebrida. pellicudia.” I may add that in Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, “_Rybbe skynne_” occurs without the corresponding French, fol. lix. (Table of Subst.).—Does it mean (as Albert Way, Esq. has obligingly suggested to me) a leather apron, used during the operation of flax-dressing?

Page 105. v. 303. _thrust_] i. e. thirst.

v. 305.

_But drynke, styll drynke,_ _And let the cat wynke_]

So in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;

“_Manhode._ Now _let vs drynke_ at this comnaunt For that is curtesy.

_Folye._ Mary mayster ye shall haue in hast A ha syrs _let the catte wyncke_,” &c.

Sig. C ii.

See also three epigrams by Heywood _Of the winking Cat_,—_Workes_, sig. P 4. ed. 1598.

v. 307. _gommes_] i. e. gums.

v. 308. _crommes_] i. e. crums.

v. 314. _chaffer_] i. e. merchandise.

v. 319. _in all the hast_] Compare: “Bulwarkes were made _in all the haste_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. z iii. ed. 1530.

“the ryght way To London they tooke _in all the haste_.”

Smith’s _xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth_, ed. 1573. sig. H iiii.

v. 320. _vnlast_] i. e. unlaced.

v. 323. _all hallow_] i. e. all saints,—perhaps, All-saints’ day.

v. 324.

_It was a stale to take_ _The deuyll in a brake_]

For “_stare_,” which is the reading of all the eds., I have substituted “_stale_”—i. e. lure, decoy. “_Stale_ of fowlys takinge.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. So in Marmyon’s _Hollands Leaguer_, 1632;

“And if my skill not failes me, her I’ll make _A Stale, to take_ this Courtier _in a brake_.”

Act ii. sc. 1. sig. D 3.

Compare too an epigram by Heywood;

“Take time when time commeth: are we set time to take? Beware time, in meane time, _take_ not vs _in brake_.”

_Workes_, sig. Q 3. ed. 1598.

and Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_; “At last, as ye have heard here before, how divers of the great estates and lords of the council lay in a-wait with my Lady Anne Boleyn, to espy a convenient time and occasion _to take_ the cardinal _in a brake_.” p. 147. ed. 1827.—In our text, and in the passages just quoted, _brake_ seems to be used for trap: among its various significations, it means a strong wooden frame for confining the feet of horses, preparatory to their being shod; see Gifford’s note on Jonson’s _Works_, iii. 463.

Page 105. v. 327. _gambone_] i. e. gammon.

v. 328. _resty_] i. e. reasty, rancid.

v. 330. _Angry as a waspy_]—_waspy_, i. e. wasp. So Heywood;

“Now mery as a cricket, and by and by, _Angry as a waspe_.”

_Dialogue_, sig. C 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

v. 331. _yane_] “I _yane_ I gaspe or gape.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxi. (Table of Verbes).

—— _gaspy_] i. e. gasp.

Page 106. v. 332. _go bet_] Compare;

“Arondel, queth Beues tho, For me loue _go bet_, go.”

_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 129. Maitl. ed.

“_Go bet_, quod he, and axe redily, What corps is this,” &c.

Chaucer’s _Pardoneres Tale_, v. 12601. ed. Tyrwhitt,—

who observes that in the following lines of Chaucer’s _Legend of Dido_ (288), _go bet_ seems to be a term of the chase;

“The herd of hartes founden is anon, With hey, _go bet_, pricke thou, let gon, let gon.”

“He hath made me daunce, maugre my hede, Amonge the thornes, hey _go bette_.”

_The Frere and the Boye_,—_An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 46. ed. Ritson,—

who supposes the words to be the name of some old dance.

Page 106. v. 333. _met_] i. e. measure.

v. 334. _fet_] i. e. fetched.

v. 335. _spycke_] “_Spyk_ of flesshe. Popa.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. The copy of that work, _MS. Harl._ 221, has “_Spyk_ or fet flesche,” &c.

v. 336. _flycke_] i. e. flitch.

v. 339. _stut_] i. e. stutter.

v. 343. _sayne_] i. e. says.

—— _a fyest_] So Hawes;

“She let no ferte nor yet _fyste_ truelye.”

_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. Q viii. ed. 1555.

“_A fiest_, Tacitus flatus.” Withals’s _Dict_. p. 343. ed. 1634.

v. 346. _wyth shamfull deth_] Equivalent to—may you die with a shameful death! see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, in v. _With_.

v. 347. _callettes_] i. e. trulls, drabs, jades.

v. 348. _I shall breake your palettes_]—_palettes_, i. e. crowns, pates. So in a poem by Sir R. Maitland;

“For your rewarde now _I sall brek your pallat_.”

_Anc. Scot. Poems from. Maitl. MSS._, ii. 317. ed. Pinkerton,—

who, in the Gloss., wrongly explains it “cut your throat.”

v. 350. _And so was made the peace_] In confirmation of the reading which I have given, compare _Reynard the Fox_; “Thus was _the pees made_ by fyrapel the lupaerd frendly and wel.” Sig. e 5. ed. 1481; and see note on v. 319. p. 168.

v. 354. _sainct James in Gales_] The body of Saint James the Great having, according to the legend, been buried at Compostella in Galicia (_Gales_), a church was built over it. Pilgrims flocked to the spot; several popes having granted the same indulgences to those who repaired to Compostella, as to those who visited Jerusalem. In _The foure P. P._ by Heywood, the Palmer informs us that he has been

“At saynt Cornelys at _saynt James in Gales_ And at saynt Wynefrydes well in Walles,” &c.

Sig. A ii. ed. n. d.

v. 355. _Portyngales_] i. e. Portuguese.

v. 356. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).

v. 360. _the Crosse in Chepe_] Was originally erected in 1290 by Edward I. at one of the resting places of the body of his beloved Eleanor, in its progress from Herdeby, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried; and was adorned with her image and arms. Of its being afterwards rebuilt,—of the conduits that were added to it, &c. &c. an account will be found in Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 35. ed. 1720, and _Sup. to Gent. Mag._ for 1764, vol. 34. 607. This structure was barbarously demolished in 1643, as a monument of Popish superstition.

Page 106. v. 362. _route_] i. e. disorderly crowd.

Page 107. v. 364.

_Sneuelyng in her nose,_ _As thoughe she had the pose_]

—_pose_, i. e. a rheum in the head. So Chaucer;

“_he speketh in his nose_, And sneseth fast, and eke _he hath the pose_.”

_The Manciples Prol._ v. 17010. ed. Tyr.

See also _Reves Tale_, v. 4149.

v. 371. _fyll_] i. e. fell.

v. 372. _barlyhood_] Or _barlikhood_, is said to mean a fit of obstinacy or violent ill-humour produced by drunkenness: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Supp._ in v.; also Stevenson’s addition to Boucher’s _Gloss._ in v. _Barlic_.

v. 378. _newe ale in cornes_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;

“I will make the drincke worse than good _ale in the cornes_.”

p. 56. Rox. ed.

“_New ale in cornes. Ceruisia cum recrementis_.” Baret’s _Alvearie_, in v. _Ale_.

v. 386. _fabell_] i. e. talking.

v. 387. _babell_] i. e. babbling.

v. 388.

—— _folys fylly_ _That had a fole wyth wylly_]

Whether _folys fylly_ means a foolish young jade (a _filly_,—compare what follows), or foolish Philly (_Phillis_,—compare our author’s _Bowge of Court_, v. 370. vol. i. 44); and whether or not _wylly_ is meant for a proper name (as it is given in the comparatively recent ed. of Rand), let the reader judge.

v. 390. _Iast you, and, gup, gylly_] See note, p. 99. v. 17. “What _gyppe gyll_ with a galde backe, begynne you to kycke nowe: _Hey de par le diable gilotte_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxxii. (Table of Verbes). So Dunbar uses _gillot_ for a young mare; see his _Poems_, i. 65, ii. 459 (note), ed. Laing.

v. 394. _sennet_] i. e. sennight, week.

Page 108. v. 395. _pay_] i. e. satisfaction, content.

v. 397. _Of thyne ale let vs assay_]—_assay_, i. e. try, taste. So in _Pierce Plowman_;

“I haue good _ale_ goship said he, gloton _wold thou assai_.”

Sig. G ii. ed. 1561.

Page 108. v. 398. _pylche_] i. e. cloak of skins.

v. 399. _conny_] i. e. rabbit.

v. 490. _loke_] i. e. look.

—— _donny_] Richardson, _Dict._ in vv. _Dun_, _Dunny_, cites this line as containing an example of the latter word,—rightly, perhaps, for _donne_ (dun) occurs in Skelton’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1102. vol. i. 257.—The common people of Ireland employ _donny_ in the sense of—poor, mean-looking, as “a _donny_ creature;” also in the sense of—poorly, as “How are you to-day?”—“Och! but _donny_, very _donny_.” For this information I am indebted to the kindness of Miss Edgeworth, who has used the word in one of her excellent tales.

v. 407. _blommer_] i. e., perhaps, noise, uproar.

v. 408. _a skommer_] i. e. a skimmer.

v. 409. _a slyce_] “_Sclyce_ to tourne meate _tournoire_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxii. (Table of Subst.).

v. 412. _sterte_] i. e. started, rushed.

v. 414. _somdele seke_] i. e. somewhat sick.

v. 415. _a peny cheke_] Does it mean—a puny chick?

v. 418. _Margery Mylkeducke_] So again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_;

“What, _Margery Mylke Ducke_, mermoset!”

v. 462. vol. i. 240.

Compare one of the _Coventry Mysteries_;

“Malkyn _Mylkedoke_ and fayr Mabyle.”

_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 74.

v. 419.

_Her kyrtell she did vptucke_ _An ynche aboue her kne_]

—_kyrtell_; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.—So in our old ballad poetry;

“Then you must cut your gowne of greene, _An inch above your knee_.”

_Child Waters_,—Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ iii. 56. ed. 1794.

v. 422. _stubbed_] i. e. short and thick.

v. 423. _pestels_] i. e. legs,—so called, perhaps, because the leg-bone resembles a _pestle_ used in a mortar. The expression “_pestle_ of pork” frequently occurs in our early writers; as in the following passage concerning the tremendous appetite of Charlemagne; “Whan he took hys repaast he was contente wyth lytel brede, but as touchyng the pytaunce, he ete at his repaast a quarter of moton, or ii hennes, or a grete ghoos, or a grete _pestel_ of porke, or a pecok, or a crane, or an hare all hool.” Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485. sig. b iii.

Page 108. v. 423. _clubbed_] i. e. like clubs.

v. 425. _fote_] i. e. foot.

v. 426. _foule_] i. e. ugly: see note, p. 130. v. 442.

Page 109. v. 429. _cantell_] i. e. corner, piece, fragment.

v. 431. _quycke_] i. e. live.

v. 435. _punyete_] i. e. pungent.

v. 436. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.

v. 441. _I wote nere_] i. e. I know never, not.

v. 443. _podynges and lynkes_] “_Links_, a kind of Pudding, the skin being filled with Pork Flesh, and seasoned with diverse Spices, minced, and tied up at distances.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. iii. p. 83. In Scotland the terms _puddings_ and _links_ are applied to various intestines of animals.

v. 447. _leche_] i. e. physician, doctor.—Dunbar makes a distinction, which I do not understand;

“In Medicyne the most Practicianis, _Leichis_, Surrigianis, and Phisicianis.”

_Poems_, i. 213. ed. Laing.

v. 450. _keke_] i. e. kick.

v. 451. _the vertue of an vnset leke_] “_Vnsette lekes_ be of more _vertue_ than they that be sette ... _præstant in medicina_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. f ii. ed. 1530.

v. 452. _breke_] i. e. breeches.

v. 453. _feders_] i. e. feathers.

v. 460. _noughty froslynges_] i. e. worthless things, stunted by frost. In Suffolk, _froslin_ is applied to any thing—a lamb, a _goslin_, a chicken, an apple, &c., nipped, or pinched, or injured by frost: see Moor’s _Suffolk Words, Appendix_.

Page 110. v. 462. _callet_] i. e. trull, drab, jade.

v. 465. _wretchockes_] “The famous imp yet grew a _wretchock_; and though for seven years together he was carefully carried at his mother’s back, rocked in a cradle of Welsh cheese, like a maggot, and there fed with broken beer, and blown wine of the best daily, yet looks as if he never saw his _quinquennium_.” Jonson’s Masque, _The Gipsies Metamorphosed_,—_Workes_, vii. 371. ed. Gifford, who thus comments on the passage in his authoritative style: “i. e. pined away, instead of thriving. Whalley appears to have puzzled himself sorely in this page, about a matter of very little difficulty. In every large breed of domestic fowls, there is usually a miserable little stunted creature, that forms a perfect contrast to the growth and vivacity of the rest. This unfortunate abortive, the goodwives, with whom it is an object of tenderness, call a _wrethcock_; and this is all the mystery. Was Whalley ignorant that what we now term chick, was once chocke and _chooke_?” The fol. ed. of the _Masque of Gipsies_ has “_wretch-cock_,” which Nares, who does not know what to make of the word, observes “would admit of an easy derivation from _wretch_ and _cock_, meaning a poor wretched fowl.” _Gloss._ in v.

Page 110. v. 466. _shyre shakyng nought_] i. e. sheer worthless. So again our author in his _Magnyfycence_;

“From _qui fuit aliquid_ to shyre shakynge nought.”

v. 1319. vol. i. 267.

v. 475. _fall_] i. e. fallen.

v. 483. _foggy_] “_Foggy_, to full of waste flesshe.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).

v. 489. _craw_] i. e. crop, stomach.

v. 491. _on_] i. e. of: compare v. 131.

Page 111. v. 492. _an old rybibe_] Chaucer, in _The Freres Tale_, says,

“This Sompnour, waiting ever on his pray, Rode forth to sompne a widewe, _an olde ribibe_.”

v. 6958. ed. Tyrwhitt,—

who says he cannot guess how this musical instrument came to be put for an old woman, “unless perhaps from its shrillness.” The word so applied occurs also in Jonson’s _Devil is an Ass_, act i. sc. 1, where Gifford observes, “_Ribibe_, together with its synonym _rebeck_, is merely a cant expression for an old woman. A ribibe, the reader knows, is a rude kind of fiddle, and the allusion is probably to the inharmonious nature of its sounds.” _Works_, v. 8.

v. 493. _She halted of a kybe_] i. e. She limped from a chap in the heel. The following remedy is seriously proposed in _The Countrie Farme_, and was no doubt applied by our ancestors: “_For kibes on the heeles_, make powder of old shooe soles burned, and of them with oile of roses annoint the kibes; or else lay vnto the kibes the rinde of a pomegranat boiled in wine.” p. 83. ed. 1600.

v. 496.

_And fell so wyde open_ _That one myght se her token_]

Compare _The foure P. P._ by Heywood;

“So was thys castell layd _wyde open_ _That euery man myght se the token_.”

Sig. D i. ed. n. d.

v. 498. _wroken_] i. e. wreaked.

v. 501. _on Gods halfe_] i. e. “on God’s part, with God’s favour.” Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. “_A goddes halfe: De par dieu._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxvi. (Table of Aduerbes).

Page 111. v. 503. _beshrew_] i. e. curse.

v. 506. _lampatrams_] A word which I am unable to explain.

v. 507. _shap_] i. e. pudendum: see Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxvi. (Table of Subst.). So in a description of purgatory-punishments in the metrical legend of _Owayne Myles_;

“And some were yn to _shappus_ And some were vp to the pappus.”

_MS. Cott. Calig._ A ii. fol. 91.

v. 512. _stert_] i. e. started.

v. 515. _dant_] In Kilian’s _Dict._ is “_Dante. Ambubaia, mulier ignaua._” ed. 1605; and in _Gloss. to West. and Cumb. Dialect_, “_Dannet_, a ... woman of disreputable character:” but, for aught I know, the word in the text may have some very different signification.

v. 516. _a gose and a gant_] Must mean here,—a goose and a gander: yet Skelton in _Phyllyp Sparowe_ mentions first “the gose and the _gander_,” and afterwards “the gaglynge _gaunte_:” see note, p. 130. v. 447.

v. 517. _wesant_] i. e. weasand.

v. 519. _olyfant_] i. e. elephant.

v. 520. _bullyfant_] Another word which I do not understand.

v. 522. _hedes_] i. e. heads.

Page 112. v. 525. _ale pole_] i. e. pole, or stake, set up before an ale-house by way of sign.

v. 535. _A strawe, sayde Bele, stande vtter_]—_stande vtter_, i. e. stand more out, back.

“_Straw_, quod the thridde, ye ben lewed and nice.”

Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Tale_, v. 16393. ed. Tyr.

“_Stonde vtter_ felowe where doest thou thy curtesy preue?”

_The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522. sig. B iv.

v. 538. _sterte_] i. e. started.

—— _fysgygge_] “_Trotiere_: A raumpe, _fisgig_, fisking huswife, raunging damsell, gadding or wandring flirt.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Fiz-gig_, a wild flirting wench.” _Dialect of Craven_, &c.

v. 543. _gat_] i. e. got.

v. 549. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

—— _hyght_] i. e. called.

v. 550. _bybyll_] i. e. drink, tipple.

v. 553. _Wheywormed_] i. e. covered with _whey-worms_,—pimples from which a whey-like moisture exudes.

Page 113. v. 555. _puscull_] i. e. pustule.

v. 556. _muscull_] i. e. muscle,—the shell of which is frequently “scabbyd.”

Page 113. v. 557. _noppy_] i. e. nappy.

v. 558. _soppy_] i. e. sop.

v. 560. _mote I hoppy_] i. e. may I have good hap.

v. 561. _coleth_] i. e. cooleth.

—— _croppy_] i. e. crop, stomach.

v. 563. _Haue here is for me_] See note, p. 118. v. 413.

v. 573. _defoyled_] i. e. defiled.

v. 575. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.

v. 582. _a pryckemedenty_] i. e. one affectedly nice, finical.

v. 583.

_Sat lyke a seynty,_ _And began to paynty_ _As thoughe she would faynty_]

—_seynty_, i. e. saint: _paynty_, i. e. paint,—feign: _faynty_, i. e. faint. Compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;

“That counterfaytes and _payntes_ As they were very _sayntes_.”

v. 922. vol. i. 347.

v. 587. _a lege de moy_] So again in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;

“And howe Parys of Troy Daunced a _lege de moy_, Made lusty sporte and ioy With dame Helyn the quene.”

v. 952. vol. i. 348.

I have not found elsewhere the term _lege de moy_. Mace, in his _Musick’s Monument_, 1676, mentions a _Tattle de Moy_,—“a New Fashion’d Thing, much like a Seraband; only It has more of Conceit in It, as (in a manner) speaking the word (Tattle de Moy),” &c. p. 129.

Page 114. v. 594. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).

v. 598. _spence_] i. e. store-room, for drink, or victuals: “_Spens_ a buttrye _despencier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxvi. (Table of Subst.).

v. 609. _awne_] i. e. own.

v. 610. _Neyther gelt nor pawne_] i. e. Neither money nor pledge.

v. 615. _balke_] i. e. beam, post: “_Balke_ of an house _pouste_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xix. (Table of Subst.).

v. 616. _tayle_] i. e. tally. “A payre of _taylles_, suche as folke vse to score vpon for rekennyng.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xiii. (Thirde Boke).

v. 617. _yll hayle_] i. e. ill health,—ill luck,—a common imprecation in our old poetry;

“_Ill haile_, Alein, by God thou is a fonne.”

Chaucer’s _Reves Tale_, v. 4087. ed. Tyr.

See too _Chester Mysteries_ (_De Del. Noe_), p. 27. Roxb. ed.

Page 114. v. 619. _to mytche_] i. e. too much.

v. 620. _mummynge_] i. e. frolicking, merriment.

Page 115. v. 622. _gest_] i. e. story. “_Gest_ or romauns.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

v. 623. _this worthy fest_] So in the _Coventry Mysteries_;

“At _wurthy festys_ riche men woll bene.”

_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 32.

and in Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, “It is not to be doubted but that the king was privy of all _this worthy feast_.” p. 199. ed. 1827.

_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

All the particulars concerning Garnesche, which I have been able to discover will be found in the _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

Page 116. v. 1. _Sithe_] i. e. Since.

v. 4. _Syr Tyrmagant_]—or _Termagant_,—a very furious deity, whom the Crusaders and romance-writers charged the Saracens with worshipping, though there was certainly no such Saracenic divinity. Concerning the name, see Gifford’s note on Massinger’s _Works_, ii. 125. ed. 1813, and Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.—So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, which in various minute particulars bears a strong resemblance to the present pieces _Against Garnesche_;

“_Termygantis_ temptis and Vespasius thy eme.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 85. ed. Laing.

—— _tyrnyd_] i. e. tourneyed, encountered.

v. 5. _Syr Frollo de Franko_] Was a Roman knight, governor of Gaul, slain by King Arthur: see _Geoffrey of Mon._ l. ix. cap. ii., _The Legend of King Arthur_, Percy’s _Rel. of A. E. P._ iii. 39. ed. 1794, &c. &c.

—— _talle_] i. e. valiant.

v. 6. _Syr Satrapas_] Neither with this, nor with the personage mentioned in the next line, have I any acquaintance.

v. 8. _haue ye kythyd yow a knyght_]—_kythyd_, i. e. made known, shewn.

“It _kythit_ be his cognisance _ane knight_ that he wes.”

_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 137, _Syr Gawayne_, &c. ed. Bann.

Garnesche had the dignity of knighthood; see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_. In the heading, and first line, of this poem, he is called _Master_; but knights were frequently so addressed. In Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_ mention is made of “Sir William Fitzwilliams, _a knight_,” who is presently called “_Master_ Fitzwilliams,” pp. 310, 311. ed. 1827, and of “Sir Walter Walshe, _knight_,” who is immediately after termed “_Master_ Walshe,” pp. 339, 340, and of “that worshipful _knight Master_ Kingston,” p. 374.

Page 116. v. 8. _Syr Dugles the dowty_] “The high courage of Dowglasse wan him that addition of _Doughty Dowglasse_, which after grew to a Prouerbe.” Marg. Note on the description of the Battle of Shrewsbury, in Drayton’s _Polyolbion_, Song 22. p. 37. ed. 1622.

v. 9. _currysly_] i. e. currishly.

v. 10. _stowty_] i. e. stout.

v. 11. _Barabas_] The robber mentioned in Scripture.

—— _Syr Terry of Trace_]—_Trace_, i. e. Thrace: but I do not recollect any romance or history in which a Sir Terry of that country is mentioned.

v. 12. _gyrne_] i. e. grin.

—— _gomys_] i. e. gums.

v. 15. _Syr Ferumbras the ffreke_]—_ffreke_ (common in romance-poetry in the sense of—man, warrior) is here, as the context shews, equivalent to furious fellow: we have had the word before, see p. 109. v. 187. Consult the analysis of the romance of _Sir Ferumbras_ in Ellis’s _Spec. of Met. Rom._ ii. 356, and Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485, for much about this Saracen, called in the latter _Fyerabras_,—“a meruayllous geaunte,”—“whyche was vaynquysshed by Olyuer, and at the laste baptysed, _and was after a Saynt in heuen_.” Sig. b viii.

v. 16. _Syr capten of Catywade, catacumbas of Cayre_] _Cayre_ is Cairo; but I am unable to explain the line. In the opening of Heywood’s _Four P. P._, the Palmer says, he has been at “the graet God of Katewade,” alluding, as O. Gilchrist thinks, to Catwade-bridge in Sampford hundred in Suffolk, where there may have been a famous chapel and rood; see Dodsley’s _Old Plays_, i. 61. last ed.

v. 17. _Thow_] i. e. Though.

—— _Syr Lybyus_] See note, p. 138. v. 649.

v. 18. _contenons oncomly_] i. e. countenance uncomely.

v. 19. _apayere_] i. e. impair—become less.

Page 117. v. 22. _Of Mantryble the Bryge, Malchus the murryon_]—_murryon_, i. e. Moor; so in the third of these poems, Skelton calls Garnesche “Thou _murrionn_, thou mawment,” v. 170. vol. i. 125; so too in the Scottish Treasurer’s Accounts for 1501, “Peter the _Moryen_,” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 306. ed. Laing; and in a folio broadside, _M. Harry Whobals mon to M. Camell_, &c. (among the “flytings” of Churchyard and Camell), “Some _morryon_ boye to hold ye vp.” If the present passage means that the Bridge was guarded by a Moor called Malchus, I know not what authority Skelton followed. Concerning the Bridge of Mantryble see the analysis of the romance of _Sir Ferumbras_, Ellis’s _Spec. of Met. Rom._ ii. 389; and Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485, “Of the meruayllous bridge of Mantryble, of the trybute there payed for to passe ouer,” &c., sig. e viii., and how “the strong brydge of mantryble was wonne not wythoute grete payne,” sig. h viii.: it was kept by a giant, named Algolufre in the former, and Galafre in the latter, who was slain by the Frenchmen when the Bridge was won. In _The Bruce_ of Barbour, the hero reads to his followers “Romanys off worthi Ferambrace” and how Charlemagne “wan _Mantrybill_ and passit Flagot.” B. ii. v. 832 sqq. ed. Jam. “The tail of _the brig of the mantribil_” is mentioned in _The Complaynt of Scotland_, p. 98. ed. Leyden. Compare also _Don Quixote_; “nor that [history] of Fierabras, with the _Bridge of Mant[r]ible_, which befell in Charlemaines time, and is, I sweare, as true, as that it is day at this instant.” P. i. B. iv. c. xxii. p. 546., Shelton’s trans., 1612.

Page 117. v. 23. _blake Baltazar with hys basnet routh as a bere_] Does _blake Baltazar_ mean one of the Magi, or, as they were commonly called, the Three Kings of Cologne? “the third, Balthasar, a black or Moor, with a large spreading beard,” &c. _Festa Anglo-Romana_, p. 7, cited in Brand’s _Pop. Ant._ i. 19 (note), ed. 1813: _with hys basnet routh as a bere_, i. e. with his cap (not helmet, it would seem,) rough as a bear.

v. 24. _Lycon, that lothly luske_]—_Lycon_ is probably Lycaon; see note, p. 127. v. 311. “Here is a great knaue i. a great lyther _luske_, or a stout ydell lubbar.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. X ii. “_Luske_ a vyle parsone _ribavlt, esclaue, lovrdavlt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.). The word is often used as a term of reproach in general.

v. 25. _brymly_] i. e. fiercely, ruggedly.

—— _here_] i. e. hair.

v. 26. _bake_] i. e. back.

—— _gere_] i. e. dress.

v. 30. _a camoke_] Is explained—a crooked stick, or tree; a crooked beam, or knee of timber.

v. 31. _teggys_] See note, p. 164. v. 151.

Page 117. v. 33. _Orwelle hyr hauyn_] By Harwich.

v. 36. _Sarson_] i. e. Saracen. So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4), “_Sarazene_, syphareit,” &c. Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75. ed. Laing.

—— _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.

v. 37. _As a glede glowynge_] i. e. glowing like a burning coal:—but qy. did Skelton write “as a glede _glowrynge_?” i. e. staring like a kite. He uses _glede_ in this latter sense in _Magnyfycence_, v. 1059. vol. i. p. 259: and in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4) we find,—

“hungry _gled_.” ... “Lyke to ane stark theif _glowrand_ in ane tedder.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 70, 72. ed. Laing.

—— _ien_] i. e. eyne, eyes.

v. 39. _passe_] i. e. excel.

v. 40. _Howkyd as an hawkys beke, lyke Syr Topyas_] i. e. Hooked, &c. The allusion is to Chaucer’s _Sire Thopas_, who “had a semely nose.” v. 13659. ed. Tyr.

v. 41. _buske_] i. e. prepare, or rather, perhaps, hie.

v. 42. _fole_] i. e. fool.

_Be_] i. e. By.

_gorbelyd_] i. e. big-bellied.

_Godfrey_] Concerning this person, who assisted Garnesche in his compositions, and is afterwards called his _scribe_, I can give the reader no information.

Page 118. v. 2. _[Your] gronynge, ȝour grontynge, your groinynge lyke a swyne_] Skelton has elsewhere;

“Hoyning like hogges that _groynis_ and wrotes.”

_Against venemous tongues_, vol. i. 132.

“The Gruntyng and the _groynninge_ of the gronnyng swyne.”

_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1376. vol. i. 415.

To _groin_ is explained to groan, to grunt, to growl; but perhaps our author may have used it like the French “_Groigner_. To nuzle, or to root with the snout.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._

v. 3. _alle to peuiche_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.

v. 4. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.

—— _maltaperte_] i. e. malapert, (perhaps an error of the transcriber).

v. 5. _lere_] i. e. complexion, skin.

—— _gresyd bote_] i. e. greased boot.

Page 118. v. 6.

_Ye cappyd Cayface copious, your paltoke on your pate,_ _Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware yet of chek mate_]

—_Cayface_, i. e. Caiaphas: _copious_ is perhaps an allusion to some sort of cope, in which that personage might have figured on the stage. The usual explanations of _paltock_ (“_Paltok._ Baltheus,” _Prompt. Parv._; “a short garment of the doublet kind,” Strutt’s _Dress and Habits_, &c. ii. 352) do not seem to suit the present passage. In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. lii. (Table of Subst.) we find “_Paltocke_ a patche _palleteau_;” and see what immediately follows in this poem: _Thow_, i. e. Though: _chek mate_; see note, p. 96. v. 29.

Compare _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4)

“Thow irefull attircop, _Pylat_ appostata.” ... ...“_Cayphass_ thy fectour.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 85, 86. ed. Laing.

v. 8. _Hole_] i. e. Whole, healed.

—— _Deu[ra]ndall_] Was the celebrated sword of Roland: see (among other works which might be referred to) Caxton’s _Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c., 1485, “How Rolland deyed holyly after many martyres and orysons made to god ful deuoutely, and of the complaynte maad for _hys swerde durandal_.” Sig. m i.

—— _awne_] i. e. own.

v. 11. _Ye countyr vmwhyle to capcyously, and ar ye be dysiryd_]—_countyr_; see note, p. 92: _vmwhyle_, i. e. some time: _to_, i. e. too: _ar_, i. e. ere.

v. 12. _all to-myryd_] See note, p. 100. v. 32,—meaning, I suppose, all befouled.

v. 15. _Gabionyte of Gabyone_] So in his _Replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers_, &c. Skelton calls them “_Gabaonitæ_,” vol. i. 218.

—— _gane_] “I _Gane_ or gape.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxliii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 16. _Huf a galante_] Compare;

“_Hof hof hof a frysch galaunt._”

_Mary Magdalene,—An. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 85. ed. Abbotsf.

“Make rome syrs and let vs be mery With _huffa galand_ synge tyrll on the bery.”

_Interlude of the iiii. Elementes_, n. d. sig. B ii.

In some _Glossary_, to which I have lost the reference, is “_Huff_, a gallant.”

Page 118. v. 16. _loke_] i. e. look.

v. 17. _Lusty_] See note on title of the next poem, p. 183.

—— _jet_] i. e. strut; see note, p. 94. v. 43.

—— _jaspe_] Does it mean—wasp?

v. 19. _that of your chalennge makyth so lytyll fors_] i. e. that maketh (make) so little matter of your challenge.

Page 119. v. 22. _Syr Gy_, _Syr Gawen_, _Syr Cayus_, _for and Syr Olyuere_] Concerning the two first see notes, p. 136. v. 629: _Cayus_, or Kay, was the foster-brother of King Arthur; see the _Morte d’Arthur_, &c. &c.: _for and_ is an expression occasionally found in much later writers; see Middleton’s _Fair Quarrel_, act v. sc. 1., _Works_, iii. 544. ed. Dyce; and Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Knight of the Burning Pestle_,—

“_For and_ the Squire of Damsels, as I take it.”

Act ii. sc. 2. [sc. 3.],—

a passage which the modern editors have most absurdly altered: _Olyuere_ was one of the twelve peers of France.

v. 23. _Priamus_] Perhaps the personage so named, who fought with Gawayne, and was afterwards made a knight of the Round Table; see _Morte d’Arthur_, B. v. ch. x. xii. vol. i. 148 sqq. ed. Southey.

v. 24. _Arturys auncyent actys_] An allusion, perhaps, more particularly to the _Morte d’Arthur_; see its other title in note, p. 137. v. 634.

v. 25. _fysnamy_] i. e. physiognomy. So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4.)

“—— thy frawart phisnomy.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 68. ed. Laing.

v. 26. _to hawte_] i. e. too haughty.

—— _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).

v. 29. _Godfrey_] See note on title of this poem, p. 180.

—— _gargons_] i. e. Gorgon’s.

v. 30. _Syr Olifranke_] Qy. a mistake of the transcriber for _Syr Olifaunte_, the giant mentioned in Chaucer’s _Sire Thopas_?

—— _splay_] i. e. display.

v. 31. _Baile_] Seems to mean—howl, cry. “I _Balle_ as a curre dogge doth, _Ie hurle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clvii. (Table of Verbes).

—— _folys_] i. e. fools.

v. 32. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.

Page 119. v. 36. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.

—— _gorbellyd_] i. e. big-bellied.

v. 37. _turney_] i. e. tourney, contend.

—— _to fare to seke_] i. e. too far at a loss, inexperienced,—unable.

v. 38. _whypslovens_] A term which I do not understand.

—— _a coke stole_] i. e. a cucking-stool, a chair or stool fixed at the end of a long pole, used for the punishment of scolds and brawlers by plunging them in the water.

v. 39. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.

—— _marmoset_] A kind of ape, or monkey.

Page 120.—— _lusty Garnyche welle be seyn Crysteouyr_] Both these epithets allude to his dress: “_Lusty_ or fresshe in apparayle _frisque_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xci. (Table of Adiect.): _welle be seyn_; see note, p. 112. v. 283.—Compare Dunbar;

“Gife I be _lusty in array_, Than luve I paramouris thay say ... Gife I be nocht _weill als besene_,” &c.

_Poems_, i. 185. ed. Laing.

v. 1. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, vile.

v. 3. _skrybe_] Printed by mistake in the text “skryke”—means Godfrey; see note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180, and compare v. 90 of the present.

v. 6. _I caste me_] i. e. I project, design.

v. 9. _fauyr_] i. e. appearance, look.

v. 11. _cousshons_] i. e. cushions.

v. 12. _condycyonns_] i. e. qualities, dispositions, habits. “_Condycions_ maners _meurs_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, fol. xxv. (Table of Subst.). “Whan a man is set in autoryte, than shall his _condycyons_ be spyed ... _Mores_ deprehenduntur.” “Thy _good condycyons_ ... _virtutes_ tuas.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N i. ed. 1530.

v. 13. _Gup, marmeset, jast ye, morelle_] See notes, p. 93. v. 11. p. 99. v. 17, and this page, v. 39.

v. 14. _lorelle_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow (see Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_).

v. 15. _Lewdely_] i. e. Badly, (as in v. 18 _lewdnes_, i. e. badness); but in v. 19 it is to be understood in its more original meaning—ignorantly.

v. 18. _awne_] i. e. own.

v. 20. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.

v. 21. to _wyde_] i. e. too wide.

Page 120. v. 26. _dryvyll_] See note, p. 113. v. 337.

v. 27. _your nose dedde sneuylle_] So in _The Flytyng of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);

“Out! out! I schowt, upon _that snout that snevillis_.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 86. ed. Laing.

v. 30. _fonne_] i. e. fool.

v. 31. _A gose with the fete vponne_] i. e. a goose with its feet on.

Page 121. v. 32. _slvfferd vp_] i. e. slabbered up.

—— _sowse_] “Succiduum. anglice. _sowce_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. (and so _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499). “_Souce trippes._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of Subst.). And see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ and Richardson’s _Dict._ in v.

v. 34. _xulde_] i. e. should: a provincialism (see, for instance, the _Coventry Mysteries_ passim), to be attributed not to Skelton, but to the transcriber.

v. 36. _bawdy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.

v. 38. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.

—— _polleynge_] i. e. plundering.

v. 40. _Gynys_] i. e. Guines.

v. 41. _spere_] i. e. spire, shoot,—stripling.

v. 42. _lewdly_] i. e. vilely, meanly.

—— _gere_] i. e. apparel.

v. 46. _dud frese_] i. e. coarse frieze.

v. 52. _ȝe_] i. e. ye.

v. 53. _warde_] i. e. wardrobe.

v. 54. _kyst a shepys ie_] i. e. cast a sheep’s eye.

v. 56. _gonge_] i. e. privy.

v. 62. _bassyd_] i. e. kissed.

Page 122. v. 68. _pyllyd garleke hed_] Palsgrave has both “_Pylled_, as one that wanteth heare,” and “_Pylled_ scalled.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.). Compare the next poem _Against Garnesche_;

“Thow callyst me _scallyd_, thou callyst me mad: Thow thou be _pyllyd_, thow ar nat sade.”

v. 116. vol. i. 130.

_Pilled-garlick_ was a term applied to a person whose hair had fallen off by disease; see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.

v. 69. _hocupy there no stede_] i. e. occupy there no place, stand in no stead,—avail nothing.

v. 70. _Syr Gy of Gaunt_] So our author again, in his _Colyn Cloute_;

“Auaunt, _syr Guy of Gaunt_.”

v. 1157. vol. i. 355.

In _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (which, as already shewn, strongly resembles the present pieces _Against Garnesche_ in several minute particulars) we find—

“thow _spreit of Gy_.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 72. ed. Laing.

and at p. 37 of the same vol., in _The Droichis Part of the Play_, attributed to Dunbar,—

“I wait I am _the spreit of Gy_.”

So too Sir D. Lyndsay in his _Epistill to the Kingis Grace_ before his _Dreme_,—

“And sumtyme, lyke _the grislie gaist of Gy_.”

Works, i. 187. ed. Chalmers,—

who explains it “the well-known Sir Guy of romance.” But both Dunbar and Lyndsay allude to a story concerning the ghost of a person called Guy, an inhabitant of Alost. There is a Latin tract on the subject, entitled _De spiritu Guuidonis_, of which various translations into English are extant in MS. One of these is now before me, in verse, and consisting of 16 closely written 4to pages: _Here begynnyth a notabyll matere and a gret myracule don be oure lord ihesus cryst and shewyd In the ȝeer of his incarnacion MCCCXXIII._ [printed Latin tract now before me has MCCCXXIIII.] _and in the xvi day of decembyr in the Cete of Aleste. Whiche myracule ys of a certeyn man that was callyd Gy. and deyde and aftyr viii days he apperyd to his wyf aftyr the comaundment of god. of whiche apperyng she was aferd and oftyn tyme rauysshid. Than she toke conseyl and went to the ffreris of the same cete and tolde the Pryor ffrere Iohnn goly of this mater, &c._ As _Gaunt_ is the old name of Ghent, and as Alost is about thirteen miles from that city, perhaps the reader may be inclined to think,—what I should greatly doubt,—that Skelton also alludes to the same story.

Page 122. v. 71. _olyfaunt_] i. e. elephant.

v. 72. _pykes_] i. e. pickaxe. “_Pykeys._ Ligo. Marra.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

—— _twybyll_] “_Twybyll_ writis instrument. Bisacuta. Biceps.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Twybill or mactok. Marra. Ligo.” _Ibid._ “Bipennis ... a _twyble_ or axe, a twall.” _Ortus Vocab._ ed. 1514. (in the earlier ed. fol. n. d. W. de Worde, the English explanation is less full). “_Twyble_ an instrument for carpentars _bernago_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxi. (Table of Subst.).

Page 122. v. 75. _wary_] Is frequently found in the sense of curse,—

(“Who so the _waris wared_ be he.”

_Isaac_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 43)—

but here, I apprehend, it means—war, contend.

v. 79. _eldyr steke_] i. e. elder-stick.

v. 87. _sowtters_] i. e. shoemakers, cobblers.

v. 88. _seche a nody polle_] i. e. such a silly head, ninny.

v. 89. _pryste_] i. e. priest.

v. 90. _your scrybys nolle_] i. e. your scribe’s head,—Godfrey’s; see note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180.

v. 91. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.

v. 93. _make_] i. e. compose verses.

v. 94. _dawpate_] i. e. simple pate, simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.

Page 123. v. 101. _Bolde bayarde_] The proverbial expression, “as bold as blind bayard,”—(_bayard_, properly a bay horse, but used for a horse in general),—is very ancient, and of very frequent occurrence in our early literature; its origin is not known:

“For _blynde bayarde_ caste peryll of nothynge, Tyll that he stumblyng fall amydde the lake.”

Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. v. sig. E e ii. ed. 1555.

v. 102. _kynde_] i. e. nature.

v. 108.

_Ye wolde be callyd a maker,_ _And make moche lyke Jake Raker_]

i. e. You would be called a composer of verses, or poet, and you compose much in the style of Jack Raker. So again our author;

“Set _sophia_ asyde, for euery _Jack Raker_ And euery mad medler must now be a maker.”

_Speke, Parrot_, v. 165. vol. ii. 8.

“He maketh vs _Jacke Rakers_; He sayes we ar but crakers,” &c.

_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 270. vol. ii. 35.

So too in the comedy by Nicholas Udall, entitled _Ralph Royster Doyster_;

“Of Songs and Balades also he is a maker, And that can he as finely doe as _Jacke Raker_.”

Act ii. sc. 1. p. 27. (reprint.)

Mr. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 448) speaks of Jack Raker as if he really had existed: I rather think that he was an imaginary person, whose name had become proverbial.

v. 110. _crakar_] i. e. vaunter, big talker.

Page 123. v. 114. _despyghtyng_] “I _Dispyte_ I grutche or reprime agaynst a thing.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxiiii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 115. _nat worthe a myteyng_]—_myteyng_ (which occurs in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_ as a term of endearment, v. 224. vol. i. 102) is here perhaps equivalent to “_Myte_ the leest coyne that is _pite_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlviii. (Table of Subst.).

v. 117. _scole_] i. e. school.

v. 118. _occupyed no better your tole_] i. e. used no better your tool, pen: see note, p. 86. v. 52.

v. 119. _Ye xulde haue kowththyd me a fole_] i. e. You should have made me known for, shewn me to be, a fool.

v. 121. _wyse_] i. e. think, intend.

v. 122. _xall_] i. e. shall.

v. 123. _Thow_] i. e. Though.

—— _Sarsens_] i. e. Saracen’s.

v. 124. _Row_] i. e. Rough.

—— _here_] i. e. hair.

v. 125. _heuery_] i. e. every.

v. 127. _peson_] i. e. pease.

v. 129. _geson_] i. e. scarce, scanty.

v. 131.

_Your skyn scabbyd and scuruy,_ _Tawny, tannyd, and shuruy_, &c.]

—_shuruy_, i. e., perhaps, “_shrovy_, squalid.” Forby’s _Vocab. of East Anglia_. With this passage compare _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);

“Fy! skolderit skyn, thow art bot skyre and skrumple.” ... “Ane crabbit, _skabbit_, evill facit messane tyk.” ... “Thow lukis _lowsy_.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 70, 84, 72. ed. Laing.

Page 124. v. 139. _Xall kyt both wyght and grene_] i. e. Shall cut both white and green,—an allusion to the dress which our author appears to have worn as Laureat; see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

v. 140. _to grett_] i. e. too great.

v. 143. _puauntely_] i. e. stinkingly, strongly.

v. 155. _crawes_] i. e. crops, stomachs.

v. 157. _perke_] i. e. perch.

v. 158. _gummys_] i. e. gums.

Page 124. v. 159. _serpentins_] “His campe was enuironed with artilerie, as fawcones, _serpentynes_, cast hagbushes,” &c. Hall’s _Chronicle_ (Henry viii.), fol. xxviii. ed. 1548.

v. 160. _bynde_] i. e. bend; so in the next poem we find “_wyll_” for “_well_,” and “_spynt_” for “_spent_,” peculiarities to be attributed to the transcriber, not to Skelton.

v. 162. _scorpyone_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4) “_scorpion_ vennemous.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75. ed. Laing.

v. 163. _bawdy babyone_] i. e. filthy baboon; see note, p. 161. v. 90.

v. 165. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.

v. 168. _gresly gargone_] i. e. grisly Gorgon.

—— _glaymy_] i. e., I suppose, slimy, clammy.

v. 169. _seymy_] i. e. greasy.

Page 125. v. 170. _murrionn_] i. e. Moor; see note, p. 178. v. 22.

—— _mawment_] “_Mawment._ Idolum. Simulacrum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Maument marmoset, poupee._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Mawment_, a puppet.” Brockett’s _Gloss. of North Country Words_.—(_Mawmet_, i. e. Mahomet.)

v. 172. _marmoset_] A sort of ape or monkey.

v. 173. _I wyll nat dy in they det_]—_they_, i. e. thy; as in the next poem.—Compare _Cocke Lorelles Bote_;

“Yf he call her calat she calleth hym knaue agayne She _shyll not dye in his dette_.”

Sig. B i.

v. 175. _xulddst_] i. e. shouldst.

v. 176. _xall_] i. e. shall.

v. 177. _hole_] i. e. whole.

v. 178. _Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd_] I do not understand this line: _pelfry_ is, perhaps, pilfery; but does it not rather mean—petty goods,—which Garnesche had _pachchyd_, fraudulently got together? “Muche of theyr fishe they do barter with English men, for mele, lases, and shoes, and other _pelfery_.” Borde’s _Boke of knowledge_, sig. I, reprint. “Owt of whyche countre the sayd Scottys fled, and left mych corne, butters, and other _pylfre_, behinde theim, whyche the ost hade.” Letter from Gray to Crumwell, _State Papers_, iii. 155,—the Vocabulary to which renders _pylfre_, pillage—wrongly, I believe.

v. 179. _houyr wachyd_] i. e. over watched.

v. 180. _thou xuldyst be rachchyd_] i. e. thou shouldest be stretched—have thy neck stretched. So in _The Flytyng of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);

“For substance and geir thow hes _a widdy_ teuch On Mont Falcone, about _thy craig to rax_.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 79. ed. Laing.

Page 125. v. 182. _be bedawyd_] Does it mean—be daunted? or, be called simple fellow? see note, p. 113. v. 301.

v. 183. _fole_] i. e. fool.

v. 184. _gronde_] i. e. ground.

v. 186. _Syr Dalyrag_] So our author elsewhere;

“Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with _syr Delarag_.”

_Speke, Parrot_, v. 91. vol. ii. 6.

“Adue nowe, sir Wrig wrag, Adue, _sir Dalyrag_!”

_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 297. vol. ii. 76.

v. 187. _brag_] i. e. proud, insolent.

v. 189. _kyt_ ... _to large_] i. e. cut ... too large.

v. 190. _Suche pollyng paiaunttis ye pley_] i. e. Such plundering pageants, thievish pranks, you play. The expression to “play a pageant”—to play a part,—has before occurred, see note, p. 88. v. 85. With the present passage compare: “This one _pageant_ hath stayned al other honest dedes ... _flagitium_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N v. ed. 1530. “That was a wyly _pageaunt_ ... _commentum_.” Id. sig. N vi. “Thou gatest no worshyp by this _pageant_ ... _facinore_.” _Id._ sig. P v. “He had thought to playe me a _pagent_: _Il me cuyda donner le bont._” _Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. (Table of Verbes). “A felowe which had renued many of Robin Hodes _Pagentes_.” Fabyan’s _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 533. ed. 1559. “After he had _plaied_ all his troublesome _pageants_,” &c. Holinshed’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 830. ed. 1587.

v. 191. _poynt_] i. e. appoint, equip.

—— _fresche_] i. e. smart.

v. 192. _he_] i. e. Godfrey; see note on title of the second of these poems, p. 180.

v. 193. _rowllys_] i. e. rolls.

v. 194. _sowllys_] i. e. souls.

v. 197.

_That byrd ys nat honest_ _That fylythe hys owne nest_]

—_fylythe_, i. e. defileth. This proverb occurs in _The Owl and the Nightingale_ (a poem of the 12th century), p. 4. Rox. ed.

v. 199. _wyst what sum wotte_] i. e. knew what some know.

Page 126. v. 204. _Jake a thrum_] In his _Magnyfycence_ our author mentions “_Jacke a thrommys_ bybyll,” v. 1444. vol. i. 272 (also in his _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 209. vol. i. 370); and in his _Colyn Cloute_ he uses the expression,—

“As wyse as _Tom a thrum_.”

v. 284. vol. i. 322,—

where the MS. has “_Jacke_ athrum.”—Compare: “And therto acordes too worthi prechers, _Jacke a Throme_ and Ione Brest-Bale.” _Burlesques,—Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), i. 84.

_goliardum_] Equivalent, probably, to buffoon, or ridiculous rhymer. See Du Cange’s Gloss. in v., Tyrwhitt’s note on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v. 562, and Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Goliard_.

_lusty Garnyshe well beseen Crystofer_] See note on title of the third of these poems, p. 183.

Page 126. v. 1. _gargone_] i. e. _Gorgon_.

v. 3. _Thowthe ye kan skylle of large and longe_] i. e. Though you be skilled in large and long; see note, p. 95. v. 49.

v. 4.

_Ye syng allway the kukkowe songe:_ ... _Your chorlyshe chauntyng ys al o lay_]

—_o lay_, i. e. one strain. So Lydgate;

“_The cokkowe syng can_ than _but oon lay_.”

_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151.

v. 12. _Cicero with hys tong of golde_] So Dunbar speaking of Homer and _Tully_;

“Your _aureate tongis_ both bene all to lyte,” &c.

_Poems_, i. 13. ed. Laing.

v. 17. _xalte_] i. e. shalt.

—— _warse_] i. e. worse.

v. 18. _They_] i. e. Thy; as in the preceding poem.

Page 127. v. 23. _lest good kan_] i. e. that knows the least good.

v. 25. _wylage_] i. e. village.

v. 28. _Lothsum as Lucifer_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4), “_Luciferis_ laid.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75. ed. Laing.

v. 29. _gasy_] i. e. gaze, look proudly.

v. 30. _Syr Pers de Brasy_] i. e. Pierre de Brézé, grand-seneschal of Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy, and a distinguished warrior during the reigns of Charles vii. and Lewis xi.: he fell at the battle of Montlhéry in 1465.

v. 31. _caytyvys carkes_] i. e. caitiff’s carcass.

v. 32. _blasy_] i. e. blaze, set forth.

v. 33. _Gorge Hardyson_] Perhaps the “George Ardeson” who is several times mentioned in the unpublished _Bokis of Kyngis Paymentis Temp. Hen._ vii. _and_ viii., preserved in the Chapter-House, Westminster: one entry concerning him is as follows;

“[xxiii. of Hen. vii.]

_George Ardeson_ and Domynicke Sall er } bounden in an obligacion to pay for the } lycence of cccl buttes of malvesey viˢ viiiᵈ }cxviˡⁱ xiiiˢ.” for euery but within iii monethes next } after they shalbe layde vpon lande }

Page 127. v. 34. _habarion_] i. e. habergeon. “_Haburion._ Lorica.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

v. 35. the _Januay_] i. e. the Genoese. “The _ianuays_ ... Genuenses.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. k iii. ed. 1530.

v. 36. _trysyd hys trowle away_] i. e. (I suppose) enticed away his trull.

v. 37. _paiantes_] See note, p. 189. v. 190.

v. 39. _gate_] i. e. got.

—— _gaudry_] i. e., perhaps, trickery. In the _Towneley Mysteries_, _gawde_, trick, occurs several times.

v. 41. _Fanchyrche strete_] i. e. Fenchurch Street.

v. 42. _lemmanns_] i. e. mistresses.

v. 43. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.

—— _buttyng_] A term of endearment, which I do not understand.

—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.

v. 47. _Bowgy row_] i. e. Budge Row: “This Ward [Cordwainers Street Ward] beginneth in the East, on the West side of Walbrooke, and runneth West, thorow _Budge row_ (a street so called of the Budge Furr, and of Skinners dwelling there),” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 15. ed. 1720.

v. 50. _mow_] i. e. mouth,—mock.

Page 128. v. 54. _lust_] i. e. liking, inclination.

v. 55. _broke_] i. e. badger.

v. 56. _Gup, Syr Gy_] See notes, p. 99. v. 17. p. 184. v. 70.

v. 57. _xulde_] i. e. should.

v. 59. _herey_] i. e. hairy.

v. 60. _on Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.

v. 61. _pray_] i. e. prey.

v. 63. _auncetry_] i. e. ancestry.

v. 66. _askry_] See notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358.

v. 68. _Haroldis_] i. e. Heralds.

v. 69. _Thow_] i. e. Though.

v. 73. _brothells_] i. e. harlots. “_Brothell pailliarde putayn._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of Subst.).

Page 128. v. 75. _Betweyn the tappett and the walle_] A line which occurs again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1249. vol. i. 265: _tappett_, i. e. tapestry, hangings.

v. 76. _Fusty bawdyas_] An expression used again by Skelton in his _Garlande of Laurell_;

“Foo, _foisty bawdias_! sum smellid of the smoke.”

v. 639. vol. i. 387.

It occurs in the metrical tale _The Kyng and the Hermyt_;

“When the coppe comys into the plas, Canst thou sey _fusty bandyas_, [_baudyas_] And think it in your thouht? And you schall here a totted frere Sey _stryke pantnere_, And in ye [the] cope leve ryht nouht.”

_Brit. Bibliogr._ iv. 90.

and several times after, in the same poem.

v. 77. _harres_] Equivalent to—collection. Fr. _haras_, a stud. “_Haras_ of horse. Equicium.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221.

v. 78. _clothe of Arres_] i. e. tapestry; so called from Arras in Artois, where the chief manufacture of such hangings was.

v. 79. _eylythe_] i. e. aileth.

—— _rebawde_] i. e. ribald.

v. 82. _Auaunsid_] i. e. Advanced.

v. 83. _hole_] i. e. whole.

v. 85. _lorell_] See note, p. 183. v. 14.

—— _to lewde_] i. e. too ignorant, vile.

v. 86. _Lythe and lystyn_] i. e. Attend and listen—a sort of pleonastic expression common in our earliest poetry.

—— _all bechrewde_] See note, p. 97. v. 28.

Page 129. v. 88. _pointyd_] i. e. appointed.

v. 89. _semyth_] i. e. beseemeth.

—— _pyllyd pate_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.

v. 91. _scryue_] i. e. write.

v. 92. _cumys_] i. e. becomes.

v. 93. _tumrelle_] i. e. tumbrel.

v. 94. _melle_] i. e. meddle.

v. 95. _The honor of Englande_] i. e. Henry the Eighth.

v. 97. _wyl_] i. e. well; as afterwards in this poem.

—— _parcele_] i. e. part, portion.

v. 98. _yaue_] i. e. gave.

v. 99. _Eliconys_] i. e. Helicon’s.

v. 101. _commyth_] i. e. becometh.

Page 129. v. 101. _remorde_] Fr. “_Remordre._ To bite again; also, to carpe at, or find fault with.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ The word is frequently used by Skelton (see, for instance, vol. i. 188, where he introduces it with other terms nearly synonymous,—“reprehending” and “rebukynge”).

v. 102. _creaunser_] i. e. tutor: see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.—Erasmus, in his _Paraph. in Epist. Pauli ad Galat._ cap. 4. v. 2,—_Opp._ vii. 956. ed. 1703-6, has these words; “sed metu cohibetur, sed alieno arbitrio ducitur, sub _tutoribus_ et actoribus agens,” &c.: which are thus rendered in _The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament_, vol. ii. fol. xiii. ed. 1548-9; “but is kept vnder with feare, and ruled as other men wyll, passyng that tyme vnder _creansers_ and gouernours,” &c. (Fr. _creanser_.)

v. 105. _primordialle_] i. e. original, earliest.

v. 106. _rybawde_] i. e. ribald.

—— _reclame_] i. e. tame,—a metaphor from falconry; see note, p. 148. v. 1125.

v. 111. _warlde_] i. e. world.

v. 114. _bawdy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.

Page 130. v. 117. _Thow_] i. e. Though.

—— _pyllyd_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.

—— _sade_] i. e. sad,—sober, discreet,—wise (see the preceding line).

v. 120. _Thowth_] i. e. Though.

v. 122. _throw_] i. e. little while, moment.

v. 125. _thé froo_] i. e. from thee.

v. 127. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.

—— _shrow_] i. e. curse.

v. 132. _Prickyd_] i. e. Pointed.

v. 133.

_I wold sum manys bake ink horne_ _Wher thi nose spectacle case_]

—_manys_, i. e. man’s: _bake_, i. e. back: _Wher_, i. e. Were. Compare our author’s poem against Dundas, v. 37. vol. i. 194, and Bale’s _Kynge Iohan_, p. 35. Camden ed.

v. 135. _wyll_] i. e. well; as before in this poem.

v. 136. _ouyrthwarthe_] i. e. overthwart,—cross, perverse, cavillous, captious.

v. 144. _steuyn_] i. e. voice.

v. 145. _follest_] i. e. foulest.

v. 146. _lyddyr_] Or _lither_,—is—sluggish, slothful, idle; but the word is often used in the more general meaning of wicked, evil, depraved.

Page 130. v. 146. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.

v. 147. _well thewde_] i. e. well dispositioned, well mannered.

Page 131. v. 148. _Besy_] i. e. Busy.

v. 149. _Syr Wrig wrag_] A term several times used by Skelton; see note, p. 189. v. 186.

v. 151. _slyght_] i. e. trick, contrivance.

v. 153. _to mykkylle_] i. e. too much.

v. 154. _I xulde but lese_] i. e. I should but lose.

v. 155. _tragydese_] i. e. tragedies. Skelton does not mean here dramatic pieces: compare his piece _Against the Scottes_, v. 72. vol. i. 184. So Lydgate’s celebrated poem, _The TRAGEDIES, gathered by Iohn Bochas, of all such Princes as fell from theyr estates_, &c.

v. 157. _my proces for to saue_]—_proces_, i. e. story; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. So our author in his _Why come ye nat to Courte_;

“Than, our _processe for to stable_.”

v. 533. vol. ii. 43.

v. 158. _xall_] i. e. shall.

v. 162. _a tyd_] i. e. betime.

v. 164. _Haruy Haftar_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.

v. 166. _xulde_] i. e. should.

v. 170. _hay ... ray_] Names of dances, the latter less frequently mentioned than the former:

“I can daunce _the raye_, I can both pipe and sing.”

Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A ii. ed. 1570.

v. 171. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.

v. 173. _lewdenes_] i. e. ignorance, baseness, worthlessness.

v. 176. _spynt_] i. e. spent, employed.

v. 180. _I xall thé aquyte_] i. e. I shall requite thee.

AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES.

Page 132. _Psalm cxlij._] _Vulg._ cxix. 3.

_Psal. lxvii._] _Vulg._ li. 7.

v. 4. _Hoyning_] “_Hoigner._ To grumble, mutter, murmure; to repine; also, to whyne as a child or dog.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Hoi_, a word vsed in driuing hogges,” says Minsheu; who proceeds to derive it “a Gr. κοΐ, quod est imitatio vocis porcellorum.” _Guide into Tongues_.

—— _groynis_] See note, p. 180. v. 2.

—— _wrotes_] i. e. roots.

Page 132. v. 2. _made ... a windmil of an olde mat_] The same expression occurs again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1040. vol. i. 258.

v. 4. _commaunde_] i. e. commend.

—— _Cok wat_] See note, p. 108. v. 173.

Page 133. v. 2. _lack_] i. e. fault, blame.

v. 3. _In your crosse rowe nor Christ crosse you spede_]—_crosse rowe_, i. e. alphabet; so called, it is commonly said, because a cross was prefixed to it, or perhaps because it was written in the form of a cross. See Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. _Christ-cross_. _Christ crosse you spede_ alludes to some other elementary form of instruction:

“How long agoo lerned ye _Crist crosse me spede_?”

Lydgate’s _Prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 50.

and see title of a poem cited p. 167. v. 296.

v. 7. _cognisaunce_] i. e. badge.

v. 1. _scole_] i. e. school, teaching.

—— _haute_] i. e. high, lofty.

v. 2. _faute_] i. e. fault.

v. 2. _faitours_] Has been explained before (see p. 91. v. 172)—deceivers, dissemblers; and is rendered by Tyrwhitt (_Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_), lazy, idle fellows; but here the word seems to be used as a general term of reproach,—scoundrels.

—— _half straught_] i. e. half in their senses.

v. 4. _liddrous_] See note, p. 193. v. 146.

—— _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, vile.

v. 3. _vale of bonet of their proude sayle_]—_vale_, i. e. lower: _bonet_ means a small sail attached to the larger sails.

v. 4. _ill hayle_] See note, p. 176. v. 617.

Page 134. v. 4. _vntayde_] i. e. untied, loose.

—— _renning_] i. e. running.

v. 7. _lewdly alowed_] i. e., perhaps, ignorantly approved of.

v. 9. _vertibilite_] i. e. variableness.

v. 10. _folabilite_] i. e. folly.

v. 12. _coarte_] i. e. coarct, constrain.

v. 13. _hay the gy of thre_] Perhaps an allusion to the dance called _heydeguies_ (a word variously spelt).

v. 2. _Pharaotis_] i. e. (I suppose) Pharaoh.

v. 1. _vnhappy_] i. e. mischievous.

Page 135. v. 2. _atame_] i. e. tame.

v. 1. _tratlers_] i. e. prattlers, tattlers.

v. 3. _Scalis Malis_] i. e. Cadiz. “The tounes men of Caleis, or _Caleis males_, sodainly rong their common bell,” &c. Hall’s _Chronicle_ (Hen. viii.), fol. xiii. ed. 1548. “His fortunatest piece I esteem the taking of _Cadiz Malez_.” _A Parallel of the Earl of Essex and the Duke of Buckingham_,—_Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_, p. 177. ed. 1672.

Page 135. v. 4. _nut shalis_] i. e. nutshells.

v. 7. _ren_] i. e. run.

—— _lesinges_] i. e. falsehoods.

v. 8. _wrate suche a bil_] i. e. wrote such a letter.

v. 10. _ill apayed_] i. e. ill pleased, ill satisfied.

v. 1. _hight_] i. e. is called.

v. 2. _quight_] i. e. requite.

v. 5. _Although he made it neuer so tough_] The expression, _to make it tough_, i. e. to make difficulties, occurs frequently, and with several shades of meaning, in our early writers; see R. of Gloucester’s _Chronicle_, p. 510. ed. Hearne, and the various passages cited in Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_ in v. _Tough_. Palsgrave has “I _Make it tough_ I make it coye as maydens do or persons that be strange if they be asked a questyon.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxcii. (Table of Verbes).

ON TYME.

Page 137. v. 5. _hym lyst_] i. e. pleases him.

v. 6. _couenable_] i. e. fit.

v. 10. _sad_] i. e. serious.

v. 17. _trauell_] i. e. travail, labour.

v. 21. _prease_] i. e. press, throng.

Page 138. v. 23. _lacke_] i. e. blame.

v. 24. _rotys_] i. e. roots.

—— _vere_] i. e. spring.

_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.

PRAYER TO THE SECONDE PARSON.

Page 139. v. 7. _Agayne_] i. e. Against.

v. 8. _woundis fyue_] A common expression in our early poetry;

“Jhesu, for _thi woundes five_,” &c.

Minot’s _Poems_, p. 5. ed. Ritson.

See too Dunbar’s _Poems_, i. 229. ed. Laing.

Page 140. v. 10. _blo_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.

WOFFULLY ARAID

Is mentioned by our author as one of his compositions in the _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1418. vol. i. 417.

With the opening of this piece compare Hawes’s _Conuercyon of Swerers_, where Christ is made to exclaim,

“They newe agayne do hange me on the rode, They tere my sydes, and are nothynge dysmayde, My woundes they do open, and deuoure my blode: I, god and man, moost _wofully arayde_, To you complayne, _it maye not be denayde_; Ye nowe to lugge me, ye tere me at the roote, Yet I to you am chefe refuyte and bote.”

and a little after,

“Why arte thou _harde herted_,” &c.

Sig. A iii. ed. n. d. 4to.

Barclay too has,

“Some sweareth armes, nayles, heart, and body, Tearing our Lorde worse then the Jewes him _arayde_.”

_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 33. ed. 1570.

_Woffully araid_ is, I believe, equivalent to—wofully disposed of or treated, in a woful condition. “_Araye_ condicion or case _poynt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xviii. (Table of Subst.)—(and see note, p. 164. v. 163).

“_Isaac._ What have I done, fader, what have I saide? _Abraham._ Truly, no kyns ille to me. _Isaac._ And thus gyltles shalle be _arayde_.”

_Abraham_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 40.

—“His [Tybert’s] body was al to beten, and blynde on the one eye. Whan the kynge wyste this, that tybert was thus _arayed_, he was sore angry, &c.” _Reynard the Fox_, sig. b 8. ed. 1481. Again in the same romance, when Isegrym the wolf has received a kick on the head from a mare, he says to Reynard, “I am so foule _arayed_ and sore hurte, that an herte of stone myght haue pyte of me.” Sig. f 4.

“Who was wyth loue: more _wofully arayed_ Than were these twayne.”

Hawes’s _Pastime of pleasure_, sig. I iiii. ed. 1555.

“I am fowle _arayed_ with a chyne cowgh. _Laceor_ pertussi.”—“He was sore _arayed_ with sycknesse. Morbo atrociter _conflictus est_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sigs. II iii. I ii. ed. 1530.

Page 141. v. 4. _naid_] i. e. denied.

v. 5. _bloo_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.

v. 8. _encheson_] i. e. cause.

v. 9. _Sith_] i. e. Since.

v. 12. _fretid_] Equivalent to—galled.

v. 14. _mowid_] i. e. made mouths at, mocked.

v. 19. _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.

Page 141. v. 20. _panys_] i. e. pains.

—— _vaynys_] i. e. veins.

—— _crake_] i. e. crack.

Page 142. v. 24.

_Entretid thus in most cruell wyse,_ _Was like a lombe offerd in sacrifice_]

_Entretid_, i. e. Treated. So in a “litel dite” by Lydgate, appended to his _Testamentum_;

“Drawen as a felon _in moost cruel wyse_ ... _Was lik a lamb offryd in sacrifise_.”

_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 64.

v. 29. _bobbid_] i. e. struck. So Lydgate in the piece just cited;

“Bete and eke _bobbid_.”

_Ibid._

and in the _Coventry Mysteries_, Nichodemus seeing Christ on the cross, says

“Why haue ȝe _bobbyd_ and thus betyn owth All his blyssyd blood?”

_MS. Cott. Vesp._ D viii. fol. 186.

—— _robbid_] i. e. (I suppose) robed.

v. 30. _Onfayned_] Generally means un-glad, displeased, which even in the forced sense of—to my sorrow, is against the intention of the passage: it seems to be used here for—Unfeignedly: and see note, p. 207. v. 81.

—— _deynyd_] i. e. disdained;

“Youth _dayneth_ counsell, scorning discretion.”

Barclay’s _Fifth Egloge_, sig. D ii. ed. 1570.

v. 33. _myȝt_] i. e. might.

v. 39. _enterly_] i. e. entirely.

v. 43. _ȝytt_] i. e. yet.

v. 45. _race_] i. e. tear, wound.

v. 48. _Butt gyve me thyne hert_]—_hert_, i. e. heart. With this and v. 41 compare Lydgate’s “litel dite” already cited;

“_Gyff me thyn herte_, and be no mor _vnkynde_.”

_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 66.

Page 143. v. 49. _wrouȝt_] i. e. wrought, formed.

—— _bowgȝt_] i. e. bought, redeemed.

v. 50. _hyȝt_] i. e. high.

v. 55. _sawlys_] i. e. soul’s.

v. 59. _Hytt_] i. e. It.

—— _nayd_] i. e. denied.

v. 60. _blow_] i. e. livid; see note, p. 103. v. 3.

NOW SYNGE WE, &c.

This piece is mentioned by Skelton as his own composition in the _Garlands of Laurell_, v. 1420. vol. i. 417.

Page 144. v. 1.

_Now synge we as we were wont,_ _Vexilla regis prodeunt_]

Compare Lydgate;

“Wherefore _I synge as I was wont_ _Vexilla regis prodeunt_.”

_Poem about various birds singing praises to God_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 38.

The hymn _Vexilla regis prodeunt_, &c. may be seen in _Hymni Ecclesiæ e Breviario Parisiensi_, 1838, p. 71. I ought to add that the present poem is not a translation of it.

v. 3. _onfelde is [s]playd_] i. e. is displayed on field.

v. 4. _nayd_] i. e. denied.

v. 11. _thees_] i. e. thighs.

v. 13. _pyne_] i. e. pain.

v. 14. _spylt_] i. e. destroyed, put to death.

v. 17. _dong_] i. e. dung, struck.

Page 145. v. 25. _fote_] i. e. foot.

v. 31. _Syth_] i. e. Since.

v. 33. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.

v. 35. _lykes_] i. e. pleases.

v. 40. _eysell_] i. e. vinegar.

v. 51. _doone_] i. e. done.

Page 146. v. 60. _isprode_] i. e. spread.

v. 68. _payne_] i. e. labour, strive.

v. 71. _mys_] i. e. miss, fail.

v. 72. _Withouten nay_] i. e. Without contradiction, assuredly.

v. 74. _hardnes_] i. e. cruelty.

LATIN POEM.

Page 147. v. 7. _gentis Agarenæ_] i. e. of the race of Hagar.

THE MANER OF THE WORLD NOW A DAYES.

In giving this poem a place among our author’s undoubted productions, I now apprehend that I deferred too much to the judgment of my friend Mr. J. P. Collier, who had recently reprinted it without suspecting its genuineness. It may, after all, be Skelton’s; but at any rate it is only a _rifacimento_ of the following verses,—found in _MS. Sloane_, 747. fol. 88, and very difficult to decipher:

“So propre cappes So lytle hattes And so false hartes Saw y never.

So wyde gownes In cytees and townes And so many sellers of bromys Say I never.

Suche garded huoes [hose] Suche playted shoes And suche a pose Say y never.

Dowbletes not[?] syde The syde so wyde And so moche pride Was never.

So many ryven shertes So well appareld chyrches And so many lewed clerkes Say I never.

So fayre coursers So godely trappers And so fewe foluers Say y never.

So many fayere suerdes So lusty knyghtes and lordes And so fewe covered bordes Say I never.

So joly garded clokes So many clyppers of grotes And go vntyde be the throtes Say I never.

So many wyde pu[r]ces And so fewe gode horses And so many curses Say y never.

Suche bosters and braggers And suche newe facyshyont daggers And so many cursers Say I never.

So many propere knyffes So well apparelld wyfes And so evyll of there lyfes Say I never.

The stretes so swepynge With wemen clothynge And so moche swerynge Say I never.

Suche blendynge of legges In townes and hegges And so many plegges Say I never.

Of wymen kynde Lased be hynde So lyke the fende Say I never.

So many spyes So many lyes And so many thevys Say I never.

So many wronges So few mery songges And so many ivel tonges Say I neuer.

So moche trechery Symony and vsery Poverte and lechery Say I never.

So fewe sayles So lytle avayles And so many jayles Sawe y never.

So many esterlynges Lombardes and flemynges To bere awey our wynynges Sawe I never.

Be there sotyll weys Al Englande decays For suche false Januayes Sawe I neuer.

Amonge the ryche Where frenship ys to seche But so fayre glosynge speche Sawe I never.

So many poore Comynge to the dore And so litle socour Sawe I never.

So prowde and say [gay?] So joly in aray And so litle money Sawe I never.

So many sellers So fewe byers And so many marchaunt taylors Sawe I never.

Executores havynge mony and ware Than havynge so litle care How the pore sowle shall fare Sawe I never.

So many lawers vse The truthe to refuse And suche falsehed excuse Sawe I never.

Whan a man ys dede His wiffe so shortely wed And havynge suche hast to bed Sawe I neuer.

So many maydens blamed Wrongefully not defamed And beyenge so lytle ashamyd Sawe I never.

Relygiouse in cloystere closyd And prestes and large[272] losed Beyenge so evyll disposyd Sawe I never.

God saue our sovereygne lord the kynge And alle his royal sprynge For so noble a prince reyny[n]ge Sawe I never.”

[272] _and large_] Qy. “at large?” but it is by no means certain that “large” is the reading of the MS.

Page 148. v. 9. _gardes_] i. e. facings, trimmings.

v. 10. _Jagged_] See note, p. 163. v. 124: but here probably (as certainly in v. 54) something ornamental is meant.

—— _al to-torne_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.

v. 15. _hostryes_] i. e. inns.

v. 17. _warkes_] i. e. works.

v. 22. _preves_] i. e. proves; equivalent, perhaps, to—turn out well.

Page 149. v. 25. _garded hose_] i. e. faced, trimmed breeches.

v. 26. _cornede_] i. e. horned, pointed.

v. 29. _questes_] i. e. inquests.

v. 31. _quitte_] i. e. acquitted.

v. 50. _crakers_] i. e. vaunters, big talkers.

v. 54. _cultyng and jagging_] See note above, v. 10: _cultyng_, I believe, should be _cuttyng_.

Page 150. v. 57. _knackes_] i. e. trifles, toys, or perhaps tricks.

v. 58. _naughty packes_] An expression which occurs again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 188. vol. i. 369, is common in writers of a much later date, and is not yet altogether obsolete (see _The Dialect of Craven_, &c. in _Noughty-Pack_),—equivalent to worthless, loose persons (properly, it would seem, cheaters; see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v. _Pack_).

Page 151. v. 90. _kepe tuche_] i. e. keep contract, agreement.

v. 93. _pore_] i. e. poor.

v. 94. _bordoure_] i. e. border.

v. 101. _bowyers_] i. e. bow-makers.

v. 102. _fletchers_] i. e. arrow-makers.

v. 105. _chepers_] i. e. traffickers, sellers (compare the fourth stanza on the opposite page).

v. 109. _alle sellers_] i. e. ale-sellers.

v. 110. _baudy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.

—— _sellers_] i. e. cellars.

v. 113. _pinkers_] Some cant term which I do not understand.

Page 152. v. 121. _vacabounde_] i. e. vagabond.

v. 122. _londe_] i. e. land.

v. 123. _bonde_] i. e. bound.

v. 129. _fleyng_] i. e. flying.

v. 130. _males_] i. e. bags, wallets, pouches.

Page 152. v. 138. _covetous_] i. e. covetise, covetousness.

v. 141. _carders_] i. e. card-players.

v. 143. _yl ticers_] i. e. evil-enticers.

v. 145. _lollers_] “Apostaticus ... anglice a renegade or _loller_.” _Ortus Vocab._ ed. 1514. “_Lollar heretique._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlv. (Table of Subst.). So at the conclusion of _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, the term _Lollard_ is used to signify a heretic: see Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 445 (note), ed. Laing. Compare too our author’s _Replycacion_, &c. v. 204. vol. i. 215.

v. 146. _tollers_] i. e. tellers, speakers.

v. 147. _pollers_] i. e. plunderers.

Page 153. v. 153. _So many avayles_] An expression which I do not understand: the poem just given from _MS. Sloane_ has “So _lytle_ avayles;” see p. 201, last stanza but two.

v. 154. _geales_] i. e. gaols.

v. 161. _jackes_] i. e. jackets.

v. 163. _partlettes_] i. e. ruffs.

v. 166. _tucking hookes_] Another expression which I do not understand.

v. 169. _song_] i. e. sung.

v. 178. _brybors_] i. e. thieves,—properly, pilferers. “_Briboure_. Manticulus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499; and see note on our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1242.

v. 182. _everichone_] i. e. every one.

Page 154. v. 186. _convenient_] i. e. fitting, suitable.

WARE THE HAUKE.

This poem was evidently called forth by a real event; but the name of the “hawking parson” has not transpired. According to Barclay, skill in hawking sometimes advanced its possessor to a benefice;

“But if I durst truth plainely vtter and expresse, This is the speciall cause of this inconuenience, That greatest fooles, and fullest of lewdnes, Hauing least wit, and simplest science, Are first promoted, and haue greatest reuerence, For if one can flatter, and _beare a Hauke on his fist,_ _He shalbe made Parson of Honington or of Clist_.”

_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 2. ed. 1570.

I may add, that afterwards, in the same work, when treating of indecorous behaviour at church, Barclay observes;

“Into the Church then comes another sotte, Without deuotion, ietting vp and downe, Or to be seene, and to showe his garded cote: _Another on his fiste a Sparhauke or Fawcone_,” &c.

fol. 85.

Page 155. v. 5. _abused_] i. e. vitiated, depraved.

“Be all yonge galandes of these _abused_ sorte, Whiche in yonge age vnto the court resorte?”

Barclay’s _Third Egloge_, sig. C ii. ed. 1570.

v. 8. _daw_] i. e. simpleton, fool; see note, p. 113. v. 301.

v. 16. _him fro_] i. e. from him.

Page 156. v. 22. _dysgysed_] i. e. guilty of unbecoming conduct: so again in our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;

“They mought be better aduysed Then to be so _dysgysed_.”

v. 581. vol. i. 333.

v. 30. _apostrofacion_] i. e. apostrophe.

v. 34. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.

v. 35. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant, worthless.

v. 42. _Dis_] Of which Skelton was rector; see _Account of his Life and Writings_.

v. 43. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.

—— _fauconer_] i. e. falconer.

v. 44. _pawtenar_] “_Pautner_ [_Pawtenere_, _MS. Harl._ 221.]. Cassidile.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Will. Brito: _Cassidile_ dicitur pera Aucupis in modum reticuli facta, in quo ponit quos in casse, id est, rete, cepit.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in v. “Pera ... anglice a skryppe or a _pawtner_.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.

v. 48. _hogeous_] i. e. hugeous, huge.

v. 49. _auter_] i. e. altar.

v. 50. _craked_] i. e. talked vauntingly.

Page 157. v. 55. _yede_] i. e. went.

v. 56. _pray_] i. e. prey.

v. 60. _tyrid_] A term in falconry: the hawk _tired_ on what was thrown to her, when she pulled at and tore it.

v. 62. _mutid_] i. e. dunged.

—— _a chase_] Compare a passage in that curious tract, by Walter Smith, _xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth_;

“Her potage & eke her ale were well poudred With an holsome influence that surgeons call Pouder Sinipari that wil make on cast his gall:”

in consequence of which, she is compelled suddenly to quit the supper-table, and,

“When that she was vp, she got her foorth apace, And er she had walkt xxx fote, she marked _a chase_ And eftsones another, thrugh the Hal as she yede,” &c.

Sig. f iii. ed. 1573.

“A _chase_ at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis, it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.” Douce’s _Illust. of Shakespeare_, i. 485. Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 880. vol. ii. 53.

Page 157. v. 63. _corporas_] i. e. communion-cloth, the fine linen cloth used to cover the _body_, or consecrated elements.

v. 65. _gambawdis_] i. e. gambols, pranks.

v. 66. _wexid_] i. e. waxed.

—— _gery_] “_Gerysshe_, wylde or lyght heeded _farouche_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).

“Howe _gery_ fortune furyous and wode.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iii. leaf lxxvii. ed. Wayland.

“And as a swalowe _geryshe_ of her flyghte, Twene slowe and swifte, now croked nowe vpright.”

_Ibid._ B. vi. leaf cxxxiiii.

Tyrwhitt explains “_gery_—changeable.” _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_. Richardson observes that in the present passage of Skelton “it seems to be _giddy_ (sc.) with turning round.” _Dict._ in v.

v. 69. _the rode loft_] A loft (generally placed just over the passage out of the church into the chancel,) where stood the _rood_,—an image of Christ on the cross, with figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John on each side of it: compare v. 126 of the present poem;

“His hawke then flew vppon _The rode with Mary and John”_.

v. 70. _perkyd_] i. e. perched.

v. 71. _fauconer_] i. e. falconer.

—— _prest_] i. e. ready.

v. 72. _dow_] i. e. pigeon.

v. 73. _And cryed, Stow, stow, stow!_] So Fansy, in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, exclaims to his hawk,

“_Stowe_, byrde, _stowe, stowe_! It is best I fede my hawke now.”

v. 980. vol. i. 257.

Compare Brathwait’s _Merlin_;

“But _stow_, bird, stow, See now the game’s afoote, And white-mail’d Nisus, He is flying to’t.”

_Odes_, p. 250, appended to _Natures Embassie_, 1621.

“Make them come from it to your fist, eyther much or little, with calling and chirping to them, saying: Towe, Towe, or _Stowe, Stowe_, as Falconers vse.” Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 182. ed. 1611.

Page 157. v. 76. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.

v. 78. _endude_] “She [the hawk] _Enduyth_ whan her meete in her bowelles falle to dygestyon.” _Book of St. Albans_, by Juliana Barnes, sig. C iii.

v. 79. _ensaymed_] i. e. purged from her grease. “_Ensayme_ of an hawke,” says the lady just quoted, “is the greeys.” Sig. A v. See too “How you shall _enseame_ a Hawke,” &c. in Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 115. ed. 1611.

v. 80. _reclaymed_] i. e. tamed; see note, p. 148. v. 1125.

v. 81. _fawconer_] i. e. falconer.

—— _vnfayned_] Either, unfeignedly (in the next line but six is “not _fayne_ nor forge”) or un-glad, displeased: see note, p. 198. v. 30.

Page 158. v. 83. _lyst_] i. e. liking, inclination.

v. 85. _loked_] i. e. looked.

—— _the frounce_] Is a distemper in which a whitish foam gathers in wrinkles (frounces) about the hawk’s mouth and palate. “The _Frounce_ proceedeth of moist and cold humours, which descend from the hawkes head to their palate and the roote of the tongue. And of that cold is engendred in the tongue the _Frownce_,” &c. Turbervile’s _Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 303. ed. 1611.

v. 87. _the gorge_] “Is that part of the Hawk which first receiveth the meat, and is called the Craw or Crop in other fowls.” Latham’s _Faulconry_, (Explan. of Words of Art), 1658.

v. 89. _clap_] i. e. stroke.

v. 91. _sparred_] i. e. fastened, shut (“boltyd and barryd” being in the next line).

v. 93. _wyth a prety gyn_]—_gyn_, i. e. contrivance.

“And _with a prety_ gynne Gyue her husbande an horne.”

_The boke of mayd Emlyn_, &c. n. d. sig. A ii.

v. 100. _On Sainct John decollacion_] i. e. On the festival of the beheading of St. John.

Page 158. v. 103. _secundum Sarum_] So in Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Complaynt of the Papingo_;

“Suppose the geis and hennis suld cry alarum, And we sall serve _secundum usum Sarum_.”

_Works_, i. 327. ed. Chal.

The proverbial expression, “It is done _secundum usum Sarum_,” is thus explained by Fuller: “It began on this occasion; Many Offices or forms of service were used in severall Churches in England, as the Office of York, Hereford, Bangor, &c. which caused a deal of Confusion in Gods Worship, untill Osmond Bishop of Sarum, about the year of our Lord 1090, made that Ordinall or Office which was generally received all over England, so that Churches thence forward easily understood one another, all speaking the same words in their Liturgy. It is now applyed to those persons which do, and Actions which are formally and solemnly done, in so Regular a way by Authentick Precedents, and Paterns of unquestionable Authority, that no just exception can be taken thereat.” _Worthies_ (_Wilt-Shire_), p. 146. ed. 1662.

v. 104. _Marche harum_] i. e. March hare.

v. 106. _let_] i. e. leave, desist.

v. 107. _fet_] i. e. fetch.

v. 110. _to halow there the fox_]—_halow_, i. e. halloo. “Men blewe the hornes and cryed and _halowed the foxe_.” _Reynard the Fox_, sig. h 5. ed. 1481.

v. 112. _Boke_] i. e. Book.

Page 159. v. 114. _lectryne_] “_Lecterne_ to syng at.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xliiii. (Table of Subst.).

“Sum syng at the _lectorne_ with long eares lyke an asse.”

Bale’s _Kynge Johan_, p. 27. Camd. ed.

Or simply, a reading-desk: see note on v. 120.

v. 116. _With, troll, cytrace, and trouy_] So in _Apius and Virginia_, by R. B., 1575;

“_With_ hey tricke, how _trowle_, trey trip, and trey _trace_.”

Sig. B.

v. 117. _hankin bouy_] Compare _Thersytes_, n. d.;

“And we wyll haue minstrelsy that shall pype _hankyn boby_.”

p. 62. Roxb. ed.

and Nash’s _Haue with you to Saffron-walden_, 1596; “No vulgar respects haue I, what Hoppenny Hoe and his fellow _Hankin Booby_ thinke of mee.” Sig. K 2: and Brome’s _Joviall Crew_, 1652; “he makes us even sick of his sadness, that were wont to see my Ghossips cock to day, mould Cocklebread, daunce clutterdepouch and _Hannykin booby_, binde barrels, or do any thing before him, and he would laugh at us.” Act ii. sc. i. sig. D 2.

Page 159. v. 119. _fawconer_] i. e. falconer.

vv. 120, 121. _gospellers_ ... _pystillers_] “_Gospellar_ that syngeth the gospell.” “_Pysteller_ [Epistler] that syngeth the masse.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fols. xxxvii., liiii. (Table of Subst.). But in our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_ we find,

“Shal _rede the Gospell_ at masse ... Shal _rede_ there _the pystell_.”

vv. 423, 5. vol. i. 64.

and see Todd’s Johnson’s _Dict._ in vv. _Gospeller_, _Epistler_.

v. 125. _gydynge_] “He controlled my lyuynge and _gydynge_.... _mores_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N vi. ed. 1530.

“Wise women has wayis, and wonderfull _gydingis_.”

Dunbar’s tale of _The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo_,—_Poems_, i. 77. ed. Laing.

v. 127. _The rode with Mary and John_] See note on v. 69. p. 206.

v. 128. _fon_] i. e. fool.

v. 129. _daw_] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.

v. 137. _hawkis bels_] i. e. the bells attached to the feet of the hawk.

v. 138. _losels_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellows,—the same as _lorels_, which has several times occurred before (see note, p. 132. v. 488, &c.): “Lorell or _losell_ or lurdeyn.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Lorrell or _losell_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlv. (Table of Subst.).

v. 142. _snappar_] i. e. stumble; but see note, p. 92. v. 4.

v. 144. _loke_] i. e. look.

Page 160. v. 146. _bokis_] i. e. books.

v. 149. _mayden Meed_] See the allegorical account of Meed in _Pierce Plowman_; where we find,

“That is _mede the maid_, quod she, hath noyed me full oft.”

Sig. B iv. ed. 1561.

and again, “Saue _mede the mayde_,” &c. sig. C iii. “Now is _mede the mayde_,” &c. ibid.

v. 158. _toke_] i. e. took.

v. 159. _this_] Perhaps for _thus_: compare v. 181.

v. 164. _Exodi_] i. e. the book of _Exodus_.

“In _Exodi_ ben these mencions.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf vii. ed. Wayland.

Page 160. v. 166. _Regum_] i. e. _The Third_, now called _The First, Book of Kings_.

Page 161. v. 178. _the rode_] See note on v. 69. p. 206.

v. 181. _this_] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.

v. 183. _dowues donge_] i. e. pigeon’s dung.

v. 194. _croked_] i. e. crooked.

—— _Cacus_] See extract from _The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_, in note, p. 213. v. 23.

v. 196. _Nother_] i. e. Neither.

—— _Olibrius_] Was “the provost” by whose order Saint Margaret, after being put to sundry tortures, was beheaded at Antioch. _Golden Legende_, fol. ccxiiii. sqq. ed. 1483. See also _The Legend of Seynt Mergrete_, printed from the Auchinleck MS., in Turnbull’s _Legendæ Catholicæ_. Most readers will recollect Mr. Milman’s dramatic poem, _The Martyr of Antioch_.

v. 198.

—— _Phalary,_ _Rehersed in Valery_]

i. e. Phalaris, recorded in Valerius Maximus, lib. iii. cap. iii. (where it is related that the Agrigentines, at the instigation of Zeno Eleates, stoned the tyrant Phalaris to death. “’Tis plain,” says Bentley, “he mistakes Phalaris for Nearchus.” _Diss. upon the Ep. of Phalaris_,—_Works_, i. 241. ed. Dyce), and lib. ix. cap. ii.

v. 200. _Sardanapall_] So our early writers often spell his name;

“Last of all was _Sardanapall_.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, Boke ii. leaf L. ed. Wayland.

Page 162. v. 204. _Egeas_] Is mentioned with various other evil personages in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_,

“Herod thy uthir eme, and grit _Egeass_.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 86. ed. Laing.

and in the Second Part of Marlowe’s _Tamburlaine_;

“The headstrong jades of Thrace Alcides tamed, That King Egeus fed with humane flesh.”

Last sc. of act iv. sig. G 3. ed. 1606.

v. 205. _Syr Pherumbras_] See note, p. 178. v. 15.

v. 211. _poll by poll_] i. e. head by head,—one by one.

“And ye shall here the names _poll by poll_.”

_Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. B ii.

v. 212. _Arystobell_] i. e. (I suppose) Aristobulus,—who, having succeeded his father Hyrcanus as high-priest and governor of Judea, assumed the title of king,—cast his mother into prison, and starved her to death,—caused his brother Antigonus to be assassinated,—and died after reigning a year. See Prideaux’s _Connect_.