Book ii

. ed. 1471—about the middle of the volume, which is printed without paging or signatures. His death is afterwards thus described: “But hercules ranne after and retayned hym And enbraced hym in his armes so harde that he myght not meue And brought hym agayn And bare hym vnto a depe pytte that was in the caue where he had caste in all ordures and filthe, hercules cam vnto this fowle pytte that the grekes had founden And planted cacus there Inne. his heed dounward from on hye vnto the ordure benethe, Than the ytaliens cam aboute the pitte and caste so many stones vpon hym that he deyde there myserably. Suche was the ende of the poure kynge Cacus. he deyde in an hooll full of ordure and of styngkynge filthe.”

v. 28. _best_] i. e. beast.

Page 173. _Apud Trumpinton scriptum per Curatum ejusdem, &c._] A passage wrongly understood by Skelton’s biographers: see _Account of his Life and Writings_.

Page 174.

_Diligo rustincum cum portant bis duo quointum,_ _Et cantant delos est mihi dulce melos_]

The Rev. J. Mitford proposes to read—

Diligo rusticulum cum portat Dis duo quintum, Et cantat Delos, est mihi dulce melos:

understanding _duo quintum_ to mean decimum, a tenth or tithe, and explaining the whole, I like the peasant when he brings his tithe to Dis, and sings “Delos,”—pays it from motives of devotion.

LAMENTATIO URBIS NORVICEN.

In 1507, the city of Norwich was “almost utterly defaced” by two dreadful fires: the first broke out on 25th April, and lasted for four days; the second began 4th June, and continued for two days and a night. See Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, ii. 131. ed. fol.

IN BEDEL, &C.

Page 175.

_Mortuus est asinus,_ _Qui pinxit mulum_]

“_Mulum de asino pingere_, Dici potest, quando exemplar et res efficta non multum inter se distant; vel quando ineptiæ ineptiis repræsentantur, vel mendacia mendaciis astruuntur. Magna similitudo inter asinum et mulum est. Tertullianus. [_Adv. Valent._ cap. xix.].” Erasmi _Adagia_, p. 1663. ed. 1606.

EPITAPHIUM IN HENRICUM SEPTIMUM.

Page 178. Henry the Seventh died April 21st, 1509, in the 24th year of his reign (see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Chron. of Hist._ pp. 333, 350. sec. ed.), and in the 52d (according to some authorities, the 53d) year of his age; and was interred in the splendid chapel which bears his name.

“Here lieth buried in one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe, both for the Chappell, and for the Sepulchre, the body of Henry the seuenth.... This glorious rich Tombe is compassed about with verses, penned by that Poet Laureat (as he stiles himselfe) and Kings Orator, Iohn Skelton: I will take onely the shortest of his Epitaphs or Eulogiums, and most to the purpose.

Septimus hic situs est Henricus, gloria Regum Cunctorum, ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt, Ingenio atque opibus gestarum et nomine rerum, Accessere quibus nature dona benigne: Frontis honos, facies augusta, heroica forma, Junctaque ei suauis coniux, perpulchra, pudica, Et fecunda fuit: felices prole parentes, Henricum quibus octauum terra Anglia debes.”

Weever’s _Anc. Fun. Mon._, p. 476. ed. 1631.

But the above lines are not in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_; nor are they assigned to him in _Reges, Reginæ, Nobiles, et alii in Ecclesia Collegiata B. Petri Westmonasterii sepulti_, &c. 1603,—where they occur, sig. D.

—— _ad sinceram contemplationem reverendi in Christo patris ac domini, domini Johannis Islippæ abbatis Westmonasteriensis_] So Skelton again in his _Replycacion_, &c. “ad cujus auspicatissimam _contemplationem_, sub memorabili prelo gloriosæ immortalitatis, præsens pagella felicitatur, &c.” vol. i. 206; and in his _Garlande of Laurell_,—

“Of my ladys grace _at the contemplacyoun_, Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose, Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrinacioun, He dyd translate,” &c.

v. 1219. vol. i. 410.

Compare also Hollinshed; “_At the contemplation_ of this cardinall, the king lent to the emperour a great summe of monie.” _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 839. ed. 1587. Concerning the Abbot Islip, see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

Page 179. v. 19. _sua_] Used for _ejus_.

—— _Leo candidior Rubeum necat ense Leonem_] _Leo candidior_, i. e. the Earl of Surrey, whose badge was a White Lion: _Rubeum Leonem_, i. e. King James the Fourth, slain at Flodden, who bore the royal arms of Scotland, a Red Lion. See note on the poem _Against the Scottes_, p. 220. v. 135.

TETRASTICHON VERITATIS.

Page 181. v. 1. _cuprum_] i. e. _cupreum_. “The Tomb itself [principally of black marble], with the metal statues which lie upon it, and the beautiful casts in _alto-relievo_ [of copper gilt], which ornament the sides, were executed by the celebrated Italian artist Pietro Torrigiano ... for the sum of 1500_l._ Its surrounding Screen, or ‘Closure’ [of gilt brass and copper], which is altogether in a different style of workmanship, though almost equally curious, was, most probably, both designed and wrought by English artizans.” Neale’s _Account of Henry the Seventh’s Chapel_, pp. 54, 59.

AGAINST THE SCOTTES.

The battle of Flodden, one of the most disastrous events in Scottish history, has been rendered so familiar to readers of our own day by the poem of _Marmion_, that a particular account of it here is unnecessary. It took place on September 9th, 1513. The English army was commanded by the Earl of Surrey [created Duke of Norfolk the February following]; the Scottish by their rash and gallant monarch James the Fourth, who perished in the field amid heaps of his slaughtered nobles and gentlemen.

Page 182. v. 2. _tratlynge_] i. e. prattling, idle talk.

v. 5. _Lo, these fonde sottes, &c._]—_fonde_, i. e. foolish. This passage resembles a rhyme made in reproach of the Scots in the reign of Edward the First:

“These scaterand Scottes Holde we for sottes,” &c.

Fabyan’s _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 140. ed. 1559.

Page 182. v. 11. _Branxton more_] i. e. Brankston Moor.

v. 12. _stowre_] Means generally—hardy, stout; here perhaps it is equivalent to—obstinate: but in Palsgrave we find “_Stowre_ of conversation _estourdy_.” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xcvi. (Table of Adiect.).

v. 22. _closed in led_] The body of James, disfigured with wounds, was found the day after the battle; it was carried to Berwick, and ultimately interred in the priory of Shene: see Weaver’s _Anc. Fun. Mon._, p. 394. ed. 1631. After the dissolution of that house, according to Stow’s account, the body, enclosed in lead, was thrown into one of the lumber-rooms; and the head, which some workmen hewed off “for their foolish pleasure,” was brought to London and buried in St. Michael’s Church, Wood Street: _Survey_, B. iii. 81. ed. 1720.

Page 183. v. 26. _byllys_] i. e. bills,—a sort of beaked pikes,—battle-axes.

v. 30. _Folys and sottys_] i. e. Fools and sots.

v. 32. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.

v. 33. _To face, to brace_] So Borde in his _Boke of knowlege_ introduces a Scotchman saying,

“I wyll boost my selfe, I wyll _crake and face_.”

Sig. G 2. reprint.

Compare our author’s _Magnyfycence_;

“Cl. Col. By God, I tell you, I wyll not be _out facyd_. By the masse, I warant thé, I wyll not be _bracyd_.”

v. 2247. vol. i. 299.

and his _Garlande of Laurell_;

“Some _facers_, some _bracers_, some make great crackis.”

v. 189. vol. i. 369.

In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find, “He _faceth_ the matter, and maketh great crakes. _Tragice loquitur_, et ampullosa verba proiicit.” Sig. P iiii. ed. 1530. “He is not aferde to _face or brace_ with any man of worshyp. Nullius viri magnitudinem _allatrare_ dubitat.” Sig. O ii. And in Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, “I _face_ as one dothe that brauleth or falleth out with a nother to make hym a frayde, _Ie contrefays des mines_ ... I dare nat passe by his dore he _faceth and braceth_ me so: ... _il contrefait tellement des mines_.” fol. ccxxx. (Table of Verbes). “I _Brace_ or _face_, _Ie braggue_. He _braced_ and made _a bracyng_ here afore the dore as thoughe he wolde haue kylled.... _Il braggoyt_,” &c. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes).

Page 183. v. 36. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse, wrangling.

v. 41. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.

v. 51. _sumner_] i. e. summoner (it generally meant what we now call apparitor).

v. 52. _greyth_] i. e. agreeth, suiteth.

v. 53. _Our kynge of Englande for to syght_]—_syght_, i. e. cite. While Henry viii. was encamped before Terouenne, James iv. sent his chief herald to him, with a letter (which may be found in Hall’s _Chron._ (_Hen. viii._), fol. xxix. ed. 1548), reckoning up the various injuries and insults he had received from Henry, and containing what amounted to a declaration of war, unless the English monarch should desist from hostilities against the French king.

Page 184. v. 57. _kynge Koppynge_] Compare the _Coliphizacio_, where Cayphas exclaims—

“Therfor I shalle the name that ever shalle rew the, _Kyng Copyn_ in oure game,” &c.

_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 194,—

the Glossary informing us that “A coppin is a certain quantity of worsted yarn wound on a spindle, and the spindle then extracted,”—which may be true, though it does not explain the passage. Some game must be alluded to.

v. 59. _Hob Lobbyn of Lowdean_] So again our author in _Speke, Parrot_;

“_Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon_ wald haue e byt of bred.”

v. 74. vol. ii. 5.

Perhaps there is an allusion to some song or ballad: _Lowdean_ is, I apprehend, Lothian.

v. 60. _what good ye can_] See note, p. 190. v. 23.

v. 61. _Locrian_] i. e. Loch Ryan—a large bay in Wigtonshire, which by approximating to the bay of Luce, forms the peninsula called the Rinns of Galloway. It is mentioned by Barbour;

“And at _Lochriane_ in Galloway He schippyt, with all his menye.”

_The Bruce_, B. xi. v. 36. ed. Jam.

In the poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. Skelton speaks of the Scots

“Of _Locryan_, And the ragged ray Of _Galaway_.”

v. 21. vol. ii. 68.

and in his verses against Dundas, he calls him

“Dundas of _Galaway_.”

v. 29. vol. i. 193.

See too v. 109 of the present poem. Our author uses Scottish names at random.

Page 184. v. 62. _sence_] i. e. cense.

v. 63. _Saint Ionis towne_] i. e. Perth. Compare Langtoft’s _Chronicle_, p. 333. ed. Hearne; Minot’s _Poems_, p. 6. ed. Ritson; and Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. ii. v. 53. ed. Jam. It is said that the Picts, after their conversion to Christianity, or the Scots, after their king had succeeded to the Pictish throne, consecrated the church and bridge of Perth to St. John the Baptist; and that hence in process of time many persons gave to the town the name of St. Johnston: see Jamieson’s note on the passage last referred to.

v. 72. _tragedy_] See note, p. 194. v. 155.

v. 79. _enbybe_] i. e. wet.

v. 83. _Irysh keteringes_]—_Irysh_, i. e. Highlanders and Islesmen:

“Than gert he all the _Irschery_ That war in till his cumpany, _Off Arghile, and the Ilis alsua_,” &c.

Barbour’s _Bruce_, B. xiii. v. 233. ed. Jam.

—_keteringes_ (see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Cateranes_), i. e. marauders who carried off cattle, corn, &c.

Page 185. v. 86. _armony_] i. e. harmony.

v. 89. _me adres_] i. e. apply myself.

v. 90. _proces_] i. e. story; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157. p. 211. v. 231.

v. 91. _Jocky my jo_] Perhaps a fragment of some song or ballad. In Scotch, _Jocky_ is the diminutive of _Jock_, the abbreviation of _John_: _jo_ is sweetheart, dear, (_joy_.)

v. 92. _summond_] See note on v. 53, preceding page.

v. 97. _to_] i. e. too.

v. 98. _harrold_] i. e. herald: see note on v. 53.

v. 100. _pye_] i. e. magpie.

v. 101. _Syr skyrgalyard_] So again our author in his _Speke, Parrot_;

“With, _skyregalyard_, prowde palyard, vaunteperler, ye prate.”

v. 427. vol. ii. 21.

and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;

“Suche a _skyrgaliarde_.”

v. 168. vol. ii. 73.

“William Johnstone of Wamphray, called the _Galliard_, was a noted freebooter.... His _nom de guerre_ seems to have been derived from the dance called _The Galliard_. The word is still used in Scotland to express an active, gay, dissipated character.” Scott’s _Minst. of the Scott. Bord._ i. 305. ed. 1810. To _skir_ (under which Richardson in his _Dict._ cites Skelton’s term “a skyrgaliarde”) is to scour, to move rapidly.

Page 185. v. 101. _skyt_] i. e. hasty, precipitate.

v. 103. _layd_] “I _Laye_ for me or alledge to make my mater good.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxxv. (Table of Verbes).

v. 104. _not worth a fly_] A common expression in our early poetry;

“The goos saide then al this _nys worth a file_.”

Chaucer’s _Ass. of Foules_,—_Workes_, fol. 235. ed. 1602.

v. 106. _brother_] James married Margaret sister of Henry the Eighth.

v. 109. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.

—— _Syr Scot of Galawey_] See note on v. 61. p. 217.

v. 110. _fall_] i. e. fallen.

v. 111. _Male vryd_] i. e. ill-fortuned (Fr. _malheur_).

Page 186. v. 117. _Scipione_] i. e. Scipio.

v. 119. _Thoughe ye vntruly your father haue slayne_] James iii. was slain by a ruffian whose name is not certainly known, under circumstances of great atrocity, in 1488, in a miller’s cottage, immediately after his flight from the battle of Sauchie-burn, where his son (then in his 17th year) had appeared in arms against him. The mind of James iv. was haunted by remorse for his father’s death; and he wore in penance an iron girdle, the weight of which he every year increased.

v. 121. _Dunde, Dunbar_] Scottish names used at random: so again in our author’s verses against Dundas, “_Dunde, Dunbar_,” v. 60. vol. i. 194; and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. “_Dunbar, Dunde_,” v. 24. vol. ii. 68.

v. 122. _Pardy_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.

v. 124. _shent_] i. e. destroyed, brought to disgrace or punishment.

v. 128. _checkmate_] See note, p. 96. v. 29.

v. 129. _the castell of Norram_] In taking the Castle of Norham, James wasted some days, previous to the battle of Flodden, while he ought to have employed his forces in more important enterprises.

v. 130. _to sone_] i. e. too soon.

v. 132. _bylles_] See note on v. 26. p. 216.

v. 133. _Agaynst you gaue so sharpe a shower_] _Shower_ is often applied by our old writers to the storm, assault, encounter of battle:

“The _sharpe shoures_ and the cruel rage Abyde fully of this mortall werre.”

Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. Y iiii. ed. 1555.

“He was slawe yn _sharpe showre_.”

_Kyng Roberd of Cysylle_,—_MS. Harl._ 1701. fol. 94.

and see our author’s poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 240. vol. ii. 75.

Page 186. v. 135.

_The Whyte Lyon, there rampaunt of moode,_ _He ragyd and rent out your hart bloode;_ _He the Whyte, and ye the Red_]

The White Lion was the badge of the Earl of Surrey, derived from his ancestors the Mowbrays. His arms were Gules, on a bend between six cross croslets, fitchy, argent: after the battle of Flodden, the king granted to him “an honourable augmentation of his arms, to bear _on the bend thereof_: _in an escutcheon Or, a demi Lion rampant, pierced through the mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure flory and counterflory Gules_; which tressure is the same as surrounds the royal arms of Scotland.” Collins’s _Peerage_, i. 77. ed. Brydges.

“If Scotlands Coat no marke of Fame can lend, That Lyon plac’d in our bright siluer-bend, Which as a Trophy beautifies our shield, Since Scottish bloud discoloured Floden-Field; When the proud Cheuiot our braue Ensigne bare, As a rich Jewell in a Ladies haire, And did faire Bramstons neighbouring vallies choke With clouds of Canons fire-disgorged smoke.”

_Epistle from H. Howard Earle of Surrey to Geraldine_,—Drayton’s _Poems_, p. 86 [88], ed. 8vo. n. d.

“George Buchanan reporteth that the Earle of Surrey gaue for his badge a Siluer Lion, which from Antiquitie belonged to that name, tearing in pieces a Lion prostrate Gules; and withall, that this which hee termes insolence, was punished in Him and his Posteritie,” &c. Drayton’s note on the preceding passage.

—— _the Red_] The royal arms of Scotland.

v. 139. _quyt_] i. e. requited.

v. 141. _swete Sainct George, our ladies knyght_] “Our Lady’s knight” is the common designation of St. George: so in a song written about the same time as the present poem, _Cott. MS. Domit._ A. xviii. fol. 248; in _Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 102. Maitl. ed. &c. &c.

Page 186. v. 144. _His grace beyng out of the way_] i. e. Henry the Eighth being in France: see note on v. 53. p. 217.

v. 148. _ye lost your sworde_] The sword and dagger, worn by James at the battle of Flodden, are preserved in the college of Heralds. An engraving of them is prefixed to Weber’s ed. of the poem, _Flodden Field_.

Page 187. v. 149. _buskyd_] i. e. hied.

—— _Huntley bankys_] So again in our author’s verses against Dundas;

“That prates and prankes On _Huntley bankes_.”

v. 57. vol. i. 194.

and in his _Why come ye not to Courte_;

“They [the Scottes] play their olde pranckes After _Huntley bankes_.”

v. 263. vol. ii. 35.

and in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;

“Of the Scottes ranke Of _Huntley banke_.”

v. 18. vol. ii. 68.

Here again Skelton uses a Scottish name at random. The _Huntly-bank_, where, according to the charming old poem, Thomas the Rhymer met the Queen of Faery, is situated on one of the Eldoun hills.

v. 153.

_Of the kyng of Nauerne ye might take heed,_ _Vngraciously how he doth speed:_ _In double delynge so he did dreme,_ _That he is kynge without a reme;_ _And, for example ye would none take_, &c.]

—_reme_, i. e. realm. In a letter despatched from the camp before Terouenne, in answer to the epistle of the Scottish king (see note on v. 53. p. 217), Henry says; “And yf _the example of the kyng of Nauarre_ beynge excluded from his royalme for assistence gyuen to the Frenche kyng cannot restrayne you from this vnnaturall dealynge, we suppose ye shall haue lyke assistence of the sayde Frenche kynge as the kyng of Nauarre hath nowe: _Who is a kynge withoute a realme_, &c.” Hall’s _Chron._ (_Henry viii._) fol. xxxi. ed. 1548. James, however, never received this letter: he was slain before the herald who bore it could procure a passage from Flanders.

v. 158. _brake_] See note, p. 168. v. 324.

v. 161. _Your beard so brym as bore at bay_]—_brym_, i. e. fierce,—rugged, bristly. James wore “his Beerde somethynge longe.” Lelandi _Collect._ iv. 285. ed. 1770.

v. 162. _Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay_] Lindsay of Pitscottie informs us that when James was making preparations for his fatal expedition against England “he had sewin great cannones out of the castle of Edinburgh, quhilkis was called the _Sewin Sisteris_, castin be Robert Borthik; and thrie maister gunneris, furnisched with pouder and leid to thame at thair pleasure.” _Cron. of Scotl._ i. 266. ed. 1814. These canons were named _Sisters_ because they were all of the same great size and fine fabric. Concerning Borthwick, master of the artillery to James, the following mention is made by Lesley: “Rex amplo stipendio Robertum Borthuik, insignem tormenti fabricandi artificem donauit, vt tormenta bellica maiora in arce Edinburgensi aliquamdiu conflaret: quorum permulta hodie in Scotia reperiuntur, hoc versu incisa:

“Machina sum Scoto Borthuik fabricata Roberto.”

_De or. mor. et reb. gest. Scot._ p. 353. ed. 1578.

Page 187. v. 169. _The Popes curse gaue you that clap_]—_clap_, i. e. stroke. James died under a recent sentence of excommunication for infringing the pacification with England.

v. 170. _Of the out yles the roughe foted Scottes_] i. e. the rough-footed Scots of the Hebrides: the epithet _rough-footed_ was given to them, because they wore, during the frost, a rude sort of shoe, made of undressed deer-skin, with the hairy side outwards; see MS. quoted in Pinkerton’s _Hist. of Scotland_, ii. 397.

v. 171. _the bottes_] i. e. the worms.

v. 172. _dronken dranes_]—_dranes_, i. e. drones. The Editor of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1736, printed “_dronken_ Danes;” and Weber (_Flodden Field_, p. 276) proposes the same alteration; but though the Danes (as the readers of our early dramatists know) were notorious for deep potations, the text is right. Our author has again, in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c.;

“We set nat a prane By suche a _dronken drane_.”

v. 163. vol. ii. 72.

“_Drane._ Fucus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. And compare _Pierce Plowman’s Crede_;

“And right as _dranes_ doth nought but _drinketh_ vp the huny.”

Sig. D i. ed. 1561.

v. 175. _sumner_] See note on v. 51. p. 217.

Page 188. v. 177. _to_] i. e. too.

_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.

_per desertum Sin_] “Profectique sunt de Elim, et venit omnis multitudo filiorum Israel in _desertum Sin_, quod est inter Elim et Sinai,” &c. _Exod._ xvi. l. (_Vulgate_).

VNTO DIUERS PEOPLE THAT REMORD THIS RYMYNGE, &c.

Page 188. _remord_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.

v. 7. _makynge_] i. e. composing, composition.

v. 8. _Their males therat shakynge_]—_males_, i. e. bags, wallets: compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;

“I purpose to _shake oute_ All my _connyng bagge_.”

v. 50. vol. i. 313.

v. 14. _brother_] See note, p. 219. v. 106.

Page 189. v. 21. _pyketh mood_] i. e. grows angry, picks a quarrel.

v. 26. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant, false (the idea of _cowardice_ is certainly not implied here).

v. 30. _died excomunycate_] See note, p. 222. v. 169.

v. 37. _ouerthwartes_] i. e. cross, perverse objections, cavils.

CHORUS DE DIS, &c.

_Dis_] Of which Skelton was rector; see _Account of his Life and Writings_.

Page 190. vv. 17, 18. _Leo Candidus ... Leo tu Rubeus_] See note, p. 220. v. 135.

CHORUS DE DIS, &c. SUPER TRIUMPHALI VICTORIA CONTRA GALLOS, &c.

These verses (placed immediately after the poems on the Battle of Flodden, in the eds.) relate to an event which happened about the same period. Henry viii. having in person invaded France, in conjunction with the Emperor Maximilian, they proceeded to the siege of Terouenne. An attempt on the part of Louis to relieve the town occasioned the Battle of the Spurs, August 16, 1513, in which the Duke of Longueville, Clermont, &c. were made prisoners. Terouenne surrendered to Henry on the 22d of that month, and its defences were razed to the ground on the 27th. In these dates I follow Lingard.

Page 191. v. 13. _Gloria Cappadocis, divæ milesque Mariæ_] i. e. St. George, whom our author has before termed “our Ladies knyght,” see note, p. 220. v. 141. During this war, the Emperor, to flatter Henry’s vanity, wore his badge of the red rose, assumed the cross of St. George, and accepted a hundred crowns daily as the soldier of the English king.

VILITISSIMUS SCOTUS DUNDAS, &c.

“Georgius Dundas, Græce Latineque doctissimus habitus, Equitum Hierosolymitanorum intra Regnum Scotiæ præfectus, sed prius Aberdoniæ Professor. Scripsit diligenter, et laboriose. _Historiam Equitum Hierosolymitanorum_, lib. ii. Claruit anno MDXX.” Dempsteri _Hist. Eccles. Gentis Scotorum_, &c. 1627, p. 234. This George Dundas was, I apprehend, the person who excited the wrath of Skelton.

Page 192. v. 1.

_Anglicus a tergo_ _caudam gerit_, &c.]

These three hexameters are, it would seem, the composition of Dundas.

“After this saynt austyn entryd in to dorsetshyre, and came in to a towne where as were wycked peple & refused his doctryne and prechyng vtterly & droof hym out of the towne castyng on hym the tayles of thornback or like fisshes, wherfore he besought almyghty god to shewe his jugement on them, and god sente to them a shameful token, for the chyldren that were borne after in that place had tayles as it is sayd, tyl they had repented them. It is sayd comynly that thys fyl at strode in kente, but blessyd be god at this day is no suche deformyte.” _The lyf of saynt Austyn,—Golden Legende_, fol. clxxiiii. ed. 1483. See too _Nova Legenda Anglie_ (by Capgrave), 1516. fol. xxx.

“_Anglos quosdam caudatos esse._

Svspicabar quod de Anglorum caudis traditur, nugatorium esse, nec hoc meminissem loco, nisi ipsi Anglicarum rerum conditores id serio traderent: nasci videlicet homines, instar brutorum animalium caudatos apud Strodum Angliæ vicum, ad ripam fluuii Meduciæ, qui Roffensem, siue Rocestrensem agrum alluit. Narrantque eius vici incolas, iumento quod D. Thomas Canthuariensis episcopus insideret, per ludibrium caudam amputasse, ob idque diuina vltione adnatas incolis eius loci caudas: vt in hos fatidici regis carmen torqueri possit: Percussit eos (inquit) in posteriora eorum, opprobrium sempiternum dedit illis. De huiusmodi caudis quidam in hunc modum lusit:

Fertur equo Thomæ caudam obtruncasse Britannos, Hinc Anglos caudas constat hubere breueis.”

_Anglicæ Descriptionis compendium, Per Gulielmum Paradinum Cuyselliensem_, 1545. p. 69.

On the proverbial expression _Kentish Long-Tailes_, Fuller has the following remarks. “Let me premise, that those are much mistaken who first found this Proverb on a Miracle of Austin the Monk.... I say they are much mistaken, for the Scæne of this Lying Wonder was not laied in any Part of Kent, but pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire. To come closer to the sence of this Proverb, I conceive it first of outlandish extraction, and cast by forraigners as a note of disgrace on all the English, though it chanceth to stick only on the Kentish at this Day. For when there happened in Palestine a difference betwixt Robert brother of Saint Lewis King of France and our William Longspee Earle of Salisbury, heare how the French-man insulted over our nation:

Matthew Paris. Anno Dom. 1250. pag. 790.

O timidorum caudatorum formidolositas! quam beatus, quam mundus præsens foret exercitus, si a caudis purgaretur et caudatis.

O the cowardliness of these fearful Long-tails! How happie, how cleane would this our armie be, were it but purged from tails and Long-tailes.

That the English were nicked by this speech appears by the reply of the Earle of Salisbury following still the metaphor; The son of my father shall presse thither to day, whither you shall not dare to approach his horse taile. Some will have the English so called from wearing a pouch or poake, (a bag to carry their baggage in) behind their backs, whilest probably the proud Monsieurs had their Lacquies for that purpose. In proof whereof they produce ancient pictures of the English Drapery and Armory, wherein such conveyances doe appear. If so, it was neither sin nor shame for the common sort of people to carry their own necessaries, and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side, or wholly behinde. If any demand how this nick-name (cut off from the rest of England) continues still entaild on Kent? The best conjecture is, because that county lieth nearest to France, and the French are beheld as the first founders of this aspersion. But if any will have the Kentish so called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them, which afterwards they advanced above their heads and so partly cozened partly threatned King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes, I say, if any will impute it to this original, I will not oppose.” _Worthies_ (_Kent_, p. 63), ed. 1662. The preceding passage of Fuller, somewhat abridged, is copied by Ray into his _Proverbs_, p. 245. ed. 1768. For fanciful stories concerning the origin of Kentish long-tails, see also _Cornv-copiæ, Pasquils Night-cap_, 1612, (attributed to S. Rowlands), p. 42. sqq.; and the commencement of _Robin Good-fellow, His mad Prankes and Merry Jests_, 1628, (a tract which originally appeared at an earlier date).

Page 193. v. 1. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.

v. 23. _Agayn_] i. e. Against.

v. 26. _dur_] i. e. door.

v. 28. _Go shake thy dog, hey_] In our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 306. vol. i. 235, is,—

“_Go, shake the dogge, hay_, syth ye wyll nedys.”

and had the expression occurred only in these two passages of Skelton, I should have felt confident that in the present one “thy” was a misprint for “the,” and that both were to be explained—“Go shake thee, dog,” &c.; but again, in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 159. vol. ii. 72, we find,

“Twyt, Scot, _shake thy dogge, hay_!”

Page 194. v. 34. _hose_] i. e. breeches.

v. 37. _A spectacle case, &c._] See note, p. 193. v. 133.

v. 40. _A tolman to blot_] A friend queries “tal man?” but _tolman_ is, I believe, pen-man: compare our author’s third poem _Against Garnesche_;

“Had ye gonne with me to scole, And occupyed no better your _tole_ [i. e. pen],” &c.

v. 117. vol. i. 123.

also the commencement of the present piece,—

“Gup, Scot, Ye _blot_.”

v. 41. _rough foted_] See note, p. 222. v. 170.

v. 43. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.

v. 44. _reame_] i. e. realm.

v. 56. _rankis_] i. e., perhaps, wrangles.

v. 58. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.

v. 60. _Dunde, Dunbar_] See note, p. 219. v. 121.

v. 63. _to far_] i. e. too far.

ELEGIA IN COMITISSAM DE DERBY.

This illustrious and excellent lady, born in 1441, was Margaret, the only child of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Her first husband was Edmund, Earl of Richmond, who died in 1456, a little more than a year after their marriage, the sole issue of which was Henry, afterwards King Henry the Seventh. Her second husband was Sir Henry Stafford, second son of Humphrey, the great Duke of Buckingham. Her third husband was Thomas Lord Stanley, afterwards the first Earl of Derby of his name. Having survived him, as also her son King Henry, she died June 29, 1509, in her 69th year, and was buried in the magnificent chapel then lately erected in Westminster Abbey.

Page 195. v. 5. _polyandro_] _Polyandrum_ or _polyandrium_, (properly, _multorum commune sepulchrum_—πολυάνδριον)—“Interdum et sæpius apud ævi inferioris scriptores sumitur pro monumento aut sepulcro unius hominis.” Du Cange’s _Gloss_.—Here it means, of course, the tomb of Henry vii.—Whiting has anglicised the word in a poem appended to his _Albino and Bellama_, 1638;

“King Ethelbert’s clos’d in his _Poliander_.”

Sig. H 7.

v. 7. _Titus hanc, &c._] i. e. Livy, who gives an account of Tanaquil, wife of Tarquinius Priscus: see his _Hist._ i. 34, &c.—“Tanaquilem Sidonius Apollinaris et Ausonius pro egregia uxore.” Cassellii _Var._ lib. i. c. xiii. p. 210 (Gruteri _Lampas_, iii.).

v. 19. _Abyron_] i. e. Abiram: see _Numbers_, ch. xvi.

Page 196. v. 25. _perituræ parcere chartæ_] Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 18.

—— _phagolœdoros_] i. e. (φαγολοιδόρους) _convicia et maledicta devorantes_.

WHY WERE YE CALLIOPE, &c.

_were_, i. e. wear: concerning this dress, worn, it would seem, by Skelton as Laureat, see _Account of his Life and Writings_.

Page 197. v. 16. _somdele sere_] i. e. somewhat dry, withered.

v. 17. _fayne_] i. e. glad, willing.

THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.

This piece is a paraphrase of three portions of Brant’s _Ship of Fools_: see the Latin version by Locher, _Stultifera Nauis_, ed. 1497,—_Vxorem ducere propter opes_, fol. lx., _De livore et inuidia_, fol. lxi., and _De voluptate corporali_, fol. lviii.: the same sections will be found accompanying Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, ed. 1570,—fol. 95, fol. 97, and fol. 92.

Page 199. v. 3. _lygnage femynatyfe_] i. e. lineage feminine.

v. 9. _sythe_] i. e. since.

Page 200. l. 1. _boke_] i. e. book.

l. 2. _iyen_] i. e. eyes.

—— _loke_] i. e. look.

l. 3. _folysh_] i. e. foolish.

l. 4. _Pecunyous_] i. e. Money-loving.

—— _bee_] i. e. by.

l. 5. _wyddred_] i. e. withered.

l. 6. _nobles_] i. e. the gold coins so called.

l. 8. _habandoneth_] i. e. abandoneth.

Page 200. l. 9. _for to gather togyther the donge ... grese_] In the Latin of Locher;

“Aruinam multi quærunt sub podice asselli: Et cumulant trullas: stercora vana petunt.”

fol. lx. ed. 1497.

l. 18. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.

l. 20. _debylyte_] i. e. debilitated.

l. 21. _vnpropyce_] i. e. unpropitious.

l. 23. _esperaunce_] i. e. hope, expectation.

—— _lygnage_] i. e. lineage.

l. 25. _demoraunce_] i. e. abiding.

l. 26. _leseth_] i. e. loseth.

l. 29. _hert_] i. e. heart.

l. 32. _cure_] i. e. care.

Page 201. l. 15. _conninge_] i. e. knowledge, learning, attainments.

l. 20. _whereas_] i. e. where.

l. 22. _pore_] i. e. poor.

l. 23. _corrompeth_] i. e. corrupteth,—destroyeth.

l. 30. _defende_] i. e. forbid.

Page 202. l. 3. _condycions_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.

l. 4. _dyssypers_] i. e., I suppose, disperser.

l. 5. _brennest_] i. e. inflamest.

l. 6. _sleeth_] i. e. slayeth, (slayest).

l. 7. _traueyleth_] i. e. causeth travail (trouble) to.

l. 15. _reclaymeth_] i. e. proclaimeth.

l. 16. _courage_] i. e. heart, mind, disposition.

l. 17. _adnychell_] i. e. annihilate.

l. 22. _flambe_] i. e. flame.

l. 24. _where as_] i. e. where.

l. 25. _odyfferaunt_] i. e. odoriferous.

l. 27. _tho_] i. e. those.

l. 29. _dissolate_] i. e. dissolute.

Page 203. l. 6. _glauca_] Properly, I believe, _glaucus_.

—— _eyen beholdinge a trauers_] i. e., I suppose, eyes looking askance.

l. 7. _syntillously_] i. e. so as to emit sparks.

l. 14. _were delybered_] i. e. were advised, were minded.

l. 16. _domage_] i. e. damage, loss.

l. 20. _brenneth_] i. e. burneth.

l. 21. _edefyed_] i. e. built.

l. 24. _egally_] i. e. equally, justly.

l. 28. _incontinente_] i. e. immediately.

Page 203. l. 29. _Cayme_] i. e. Cain. So formerly the name was often written:

“He was of _Kaymes_ kunrede.”

_Kyng Alisaunder_,—Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 84.

l. 32. _Thesius_] Should of course be _Thyestes_, as in Locher’s Latin: yet Barclay in his version of the passage has,

“Atreus storye and _Theseus_ cruel.”

_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 96 [99], ed. 1570.

Page 204. l. 4. _rested_] i. e. roasted.

—— _theim_] i. e., perhaps, (if it be not a misprint for “_him_”) the guests: but the whole passage is scarcely intelligible.

l. 6. _Ethiocles_] So written in Locher’s Latin for Eteocles; and so Lydgate,—

“But make youre myrroure of _Ethyocles_.”

_Storye of Thebes, Pars Prima_, sig. C v. ed. 4to. n. d.

l. 12. _collacion_] Equivalent here, I believe, to comparison.

l. 17. _cautellous_] i. e. crafty, wily.

l. 25. _pill_] i. e. strip.

l. 26. _mondayne_] i. e. worldly, gross.

l. 27. _cheseth_] i. e. chooseth.

Page 205. l. 7. _thoughte_] See note, p. 101. v. 10.

l. 8. _lenger_] i. e. longer.

l. 17. _sith_] i. e. since.

l. 18. _asprely_] i. e. roughly, severely.

—— _enforce_] i. e. exert.

A REPLYCACION, &c.

Concerning the “yong scolers” against whom this piece was composed, I can give no information.

Page 206. l. 9. _contemplationem_] See note, p. 214, title of Epitaph.

Page 207. l. 4. _remordyng_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.

—— _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.

l. 5. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.

l. 25. _enbolned_] i. e. swollen, puffed up.

l. 26. _pipplyng_] i. e. piping: compare our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 676. vol. i. 388.

l. 29. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable.

Page 208. l. 1. _sped_] i. e. versed.

l. 2. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.

v. 8.

—— _in the Uyntre_ _At the Thre Cranes_]

Here the tavern with the sign of the Three Cranes is meant: the _three cranes_ were originally three strong cranes of timber, placed on the Vintry-wharf, for lifting from the ships the vessels of foreign wine which were landed there.

Page 208. v. 16. _enflamed_] i. e. burned.

last l. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.

—— _processe_] i. e. treatise; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 195. v. 157; and compare v. 160 of this piece with the heading before v. 343, where “_matter_” and “_processe_” are used as synonymous.

Page 209. l. 5. _tetrycall_] i. e. sour, sullen, gloomy.

l. 6. _friscaioly_] So in the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;

“Synge _frysha Joly_ with hey troly loly.”

Sig. B ii.

l. 7. _moche better bayned than brayned_] Does _bayned_ here mean—boned? In (at least Scottish) poetry we frequently find the expression “_bayne_ [bone] and brayne:” see, for instance, Henry’s _Wallace_, B. vii. v. 596. ed. Jam.

l. 9. _burblyng_] “I _Burbyll_ or spring vp as water dothe out of a spring.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxix. (Table of Verbes).

“And playd with _burbels_ of the water.”

_Marie Maudelein_, p. 239,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Cathol._ (from the Auchinleck MS.)

“The _burbly_ wawes in vp boyling.”

Lydgate’s _Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147,—

where a word has dropt out of the line. (The ed. reprinted for the Roxburgh Club has—

“The _burbill_ wawes in their vp boyllyng.”)

—— _blode_] i. e. blood.

l. 11. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.

l. 15. _perihermeniall principles_] i. e. principles of interpretation. “_Periermeniæ_, Interpretationes; vox Græcæ originis περὶ ἑρμηνείας.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._

l. 17. _leudly_] i. e. ignorantly—or perhaps, wickedly.

l. 23. _surcudant_] i. e. presumptuous, arrogant.

l. 24. _popholy_] Occurs again several times in our author’s writings, and with the more correct spelling,—_popeholy_. In _Pierce Plowman_ we find,

“And none so singuler by him selfe, nor so _pope holy_.”

Sig. T ii. ed. 1561.

In Chaucer’s _Romaunt of the Rose_ is the following description;

“Another thing was doen their [there] write, That seemed like an ipocrite, And it was cleped _pope holy_, That ilke is she that priuily Ne spared neuer a wicked deed When men of her taken none heed, And maketh her outward precious, With pale visage and piteous, And seemeth a simple creature,” &c.

_Workes_, fol. 111. ed. 1602.

The original French of the preceding passage is,—

“Une autre imaige estoit escripte, Qui sembloit bien estre ypocrite, _Papelardie_ est appellée,” &c.

_Le Rom. de la Rose_, vol. i. 15. ed. 1735.

Roquefort (_Gloss. de la Langue Romaine_) cites these lines under “_Papelardie_, papelardise: Hypocrisie, tromperie, subtilité, mauvaise foi.” See too Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in vv. _Papelardia_, _Papelardus_. Compare also Lydgate;

“And for _popholy_ and uyce loke wel aboute.”

_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 51.

and Barclay;

“Ouer sad or proude, disceitfull and _pope holy_.”

_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 57. ed. 1570.

and the _Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;

“For rather than I wolde vse suche foly To pray to study or be _pope holy_ I had as lyf be ded.”

Sig. B ii.

Page 209. l. 33. _orgulyous_] i. e. proud, insolent.

Page 210. v. 22. _vnbrent_] i. e. unburnt.

v. 23. _content_] As the marginal note has _Convenio_, is it not a misprint for “convent?”

v. 24. _leudly_] i. e. badly, wickedly.

v. 26. _disable_] i. e. disqualify, degrade, disparage: “_disablinge_ hymself in wordes, though his entent was otherwise.” Hall’s _Chron._ (Hen. _viii._) fol. lvii. ed. 1548.

v. 37. _ianglyng_] i. e. babbling, chattering,—noisy.

v. 38. _clawes_] i. e. clause.

v. 39. _poppyng dawes_] Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;

“_Poppynge_ folysshe _dawes_.”

v. 261. vol. ii. 35.

and v. 121 of the present piece;

“And porisshly _forthe popped_ Your sysmaticate sawes.”

“_Popping_, blabbing, like a popinjay or parrot.” _Gloss._ to _Exmoor Scolding_: _dawes_, i. e. simpletons; see note, p. 113. v. 301.

Page 210. v. 45. _recrayed_] See note, p. 223. v. 26.

v. 48. _baudrie_] i. e. foul language: see note, p. 161. v. 90.

v. 50. _to_] i. e. too.

Page 211. v. 54. _confettred_] i. e. confederated.

v. 61. _attamed_] i. e. tamed.

v. 65. _sorte_] i. e. set, company.

v. 66. _fayne_] i. e. glad.

v. 75. _Te he, &c._] Expressions of laughter;

“_Te he_, quod she, and clapt the window to.”

Chaucer’s _Milleres Tale_, v. 3738. ed. Tyr.

v. 76. _mo_] i. e. more.

Page 212. v. 87. _reny_] i. e. renounce, abjure.

v. 89. _brende_] i. e. burnt.

v. 92. _discured_] i. e. discovered.

v. 95.

_Ye are vnhappely vred._ _In your dialeticall, &c._]

The old (and unique) copy is without punctuation in this passage; but that the first line closes the sense, and that Skelton did not mean that these heretics were _unhappely ured in their dialectical_, &c. would appear from a comparison of other passages:

“Agaynst these heretykes, Nowe of late abiured, Most _vnhappely vred_: For be ye wele assured,” &c.

v. 403 of the present piece.

“But men nowe a dayes so _vnhappely be vryd_, That nothynge than welth may worse be enduryd.”

_Magnyfycence_, v. 6. vol. i. 226.

“O Scottes pariured, _Vnhaply vred_, Ye may be assured,” &c.

_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 125. vol. ii. 71.

In our author’s _Colyn Cloute_ we find,

“Wherfore he hath good _vre_,” &c.

v. 1003. vol. i. 350.

in the note on which line I have cited various examples of _vre_ in the sense of—hap, luck; and in his poem _Against the Scottes_,

“_Male vryd_ was your fals entent,”

v. 111. vol. i. 185.

which surely means—Ill-fortuned, &c. (Fr. _malheur_). Is _vnhappely vred_ to be considered as nearly synonymous with _male vryd_, or is it to be explained,—unhappily (evilly) _used_, practised, habituated?

Page 212. v. 98.

_If ye to remembrance call_ _Howe syllogisari_ _Non est ex particulari,_ _Neque negativis,_ _Recte concludere si vis_]

“_Nullus syllogismus categoricus communis, vel ex solis particularibus, vel ex solis negativis constare potest._ Hanc [regulam] expresse tradit Aristoteles