Chapter XII: Part 12

v. 374. _a frere of Fraunce men call sir Gagwyne, &c._]—_frere_, i. e. friar: concerning Gaguin, see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

v. 376. _bote is of all bale_] See note, p. 268. v. 2096.

Page 377. v. 380. _Valerius Maximus by name_] i. e. Valerius who has the name Maximus (to distinguish him from Valerius Flaccus).

v. 381. _Vincencius in Speculo, that wrote noble warkis_]—_warkis_, i. e. works. The _Speculum Majus_ of Vincentius Bellovacensis (_naturale, morale, doctrinale, et historiale_), a vast treatise in ten volumes folio, usually bound in four, was first printed in 1473. See the _Biog. Univ._, and Hallam’s _Introd. to the Lit. of Europe_, i. 160.

v. 382. _Pisandros_] “Our author,” says Warton, “got the name of Pisander, a Greek poet, from Macrobius, who cites a few of his verses.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 353 (note), ed. 4to. A mistake: Macrobius (_Sat._ v. 2.) mentions, but does not cite, Pisander.

v. 383. _blissed Bachus, that mastris oft doth frame_]—_mastris_, i. e. disturbances, strifes: see note, p. 264. v. 1738.

v. 386. _sadly ... auysid_] i. e. seriously, earnestly ... considered, observed.

v. 389. _fresshely be ennewed_] See notes, p. 144. v. 775. p. 302. v. 39.

v. 390.

_The monke of Bury ..._
_Dane Johnn Lydgate_]

—_Dane_, equivalent to _Dominus_. So at the commencement of his _Lyfe of our Lady_, printed by Caxton, folio, n. d.; “This book was compyled by _dan John lydgate monke of Burye_,” &c. He belonged to the Benedictine abbey of Bury in Suffolk.

Page 377. v. 391. _theis Englysshe poetis thre_] “That only these three English poets [Gower, Chaucer, Lydgate] are here mentioned, may be considered as a proof that only these three were yet thought to deserve the name.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 354. ed. 4to. So the Scottish poets of Skelton’s time invariably selected these three as most worthy of praise: see Laing’s note on Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 355.

v. 393. _Togeder in armes, as brethern, enbrasid_] So Lydgate;

“_Embraced in armes_ as they had be knet
_Togyder_ with a gyrdell.”

_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. d iii. n. d.

v. 395. _tabers_] i. e. tabards: see the earlier portion of note, p. 283. v. 318.

v. 397. _Thei wantid nothynge but the laurell_] Meaning,—that they were not poets laureate: see note on v. 324. p. 307.

v. 398. _godely_] i. e. goodly.

v. 402. _enplement_] i. e. employment, place.

Page 378. v. 405. _The brutid Britons of Brutus Albion_]—_brutid_, i. e. famed. So Lydgate;

“Reioyse ye folkes that borne be in Bretayne,
Called otherwise _Brutus Albion_.”

_Fall of Prynces_, B. viii. fol. viii. ed. Wayland.

v. 410. _Arrectinge vnto your wyse examinacion_] See note, p. 237. v. 95.

v. 414. _besy_] i. e. busy.

v. 417. _hooll_] i. e. whole.

v. 420. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.

v. 421. _pullisshyd_] i. e. polished.

v. 425. _mowte_] i. e. might.

Page 379. v. 428. _preuentid_] i. e. anticipated.

v. 429. _meritory_] i. e. deserved, due.

v. 431. _regraciatory_] i. e. return of thanks.

v. 432. _poynt you to be prothonatory_] i. e. appoint you to be prothonotary.

v. 433. _holl_] i. e. whole.

v. 434. _Auaunced_] i. e. Advanced.

v. 439. _warkes_] i. e. works.

v. 444. _I made it straunge_] i. e. I made it a matter of nicety, scruple.

v. 445. _presed_] i. e. pressed.

Page 380. v. 455. _prese_] i. e. press, throng.

v. 460. _Engolerid_] i. e. Engalleried.

v. 466. _turkis and grossolitis_] i. e. turquoises and chrysolites.

Page 380. v. 467. _birrall enbosid_] i. e. beryl embossed.

v. 469.

_Enlosenged with many goodly platis_
_Of golde_]

i. e. Having many goodly plates of gold shaped like lozenges (quadrilateral figures of equal sides, but unequal angles).

—— _entachid with many a precyous stone_]—_entachid_ may be used in the sense of—tacked on; but qy. is the right reading “_enhachid?_” as in v. 40 of the present poem, “_Enhachyde_ with perle,” &c., (and v. 1078 of _Phyllyp Sparowe_,) see note, p. 302.

v. 472. _whalis bone_] In our early poetry “white as whales bone” is a common simile; and there is reason to believe that some of our ancient writers supposed the ivory then in use (which was made from the teeth of the horse-whale, morse, or walrus) to be part of the bones of a whale. Skelton, however, makes a distinction between “whalis bone” and the real ivory (see v. 468). The latter was still scarce in the reign of Henry the Eighth; but, before that period, Caxton had told his readers that “the tooth of an olyfaunt is yuorye.” _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig. f i.

v. 474. _The carpettis within and tappettis of pall_]—_tappettis of pall,_ i. e. coverings of rich or fine stuff (perhaps table-covers): that _tappettis_ does not here mean tapestry, is proved by the next line; and compare v. 787,

“With that the _tappettis_ and carpettis were layd,
Whereon theis ladys softly myght rest,
The saumpler to sow on,” &c.

Page 381. v. 475. _clothes of arace_] See note, p. 192. v. 78.

v. 476. _Enuawtyd ... vawte_] i. e. Envaulted ... vault.

v. 477. _pretory_] Lat. prætorium.

v. 478. _enbulyoned_] i. e. studded; see note on v. 1165.

—— _indy blew_] See note, p. 101. v. 17.

v. 480. _Iacinctis and smaragdis out of the florthe they grew_]—_Iacinctis_, i. e. Jacinths: _smaragdis_, i. e. emeralds (but see note, p. 102. v. 20): “_Vng planché_, a plancher or a _florthe_ that is boorded.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. iii. (Thirde Boke). “_Florthe_ of a house _astre_.”—“Gyst that gothe ouer the _florthe soliue, giste._” _Id._ fols. xxxiiii. xxxvi. (Table of Subst.). “I Plaster a wall or _florthe_ with plaster ... I wyl plaster the _florthe_ of my chambre to make a gernyer there, _Ie plastreray latre de ma chābre pour en faire vng grenier_.” _Id._ fol. cccxviii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 483. _most rychely besene_] i. e. of a most rich appearance,—most richly arrayed: see notes, p. 112. v. 283, p. 295. v. 957.

v. 484. _cloth of astate_] i. e. cloth of estate,—canopy.

v. 487. _ryally_] i. e. royally.

Page 381. v. 489. _enuyrowne_] i. e. in compass, about.

v. 490. _stode_] i. e. stood.

v. 492. _presid_] i. e. pressed.

v. 493. _Poyle ... Trace_] i. e. Apulia ... Thrace.

v. 499. _metely wele_] See note, p. 270. v. 2196.

Page 382. v. 502. _a kyby hele_] See note, p. 174. v. 493.

v. 503. _salfecundight_] i. e. safe-conduct.

v. 504. _lokyd ... a fals quarter_]—_lokyd_, i. e. looked: “The _false quarters_ is a soreness on the inside of the hoofs, which are commonly called quarters, which is as much as to say, crased unsound quarters, which comes from evil Shooing and paring the Hoof.” R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 152.

v. 505. _I pray you, a lytyll tyne stande back_] So Heywood;

“For when prouender prickt them _a little tine_,” &c.

_Dialogue_, &c. sig. D,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

v. 514. _the ballyuis of the v portis_] i. e. the bailiffs of the Cinque Ports.

v. 519. _besines_] i. e. business.

v. 520. _most_] i. e. must.

v. 521. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.

v. 523. _sufferayne_] i. e. sovereign.

v. 525. _And we shall se you ageyne or it be pryme_] I have my doubts about what hour is here meant by _pryme_. Concerning that word see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in _Prima_ and _Horæ Canonicæ_, Tyrwhitt’s _Gloss._ to Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, Sibbald’s _Gloss._ to _Chron. of Scot. Poetry_, and Sir F. Madden’s _Gloss._ to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.

Page 383. v. 531. _kest ... loke_] i. e. cast ... look.

v. 532. _boke_] i. e. book.

v. 537. _supprysed_] i. e. overpowered, smitten.

v. 541. _the port salu_] See note, p. 299. v. 1262.

v. 547. _hertely as herte_] i. e. heartily as heart.

v. 548. _hole_] i. e. whole.

v. 550. _aquyte_] i. e. discharge, pay.

Page 384. v. 554. _moche_] i. e. much.

v. 555. _Affyaunsynge her myne hole assuraunce_] i. e. Pledging her my whole, &c.

v. 559. _stonde_] i. e. stand.

v. 560. _toke ... honde_] i. e. took ... hand.

v. 566. _iangelers_] i. e. babblers, chatterers.

v. 570. _moche costious_] i. e. much costly.

v. 572. _the stones be full glint_]—_glint_ must mean here—slippery: see note, p. 263. v. 1687.

v. 574. _yatis_] i. e. gates.

Page 385. v. 585. _carectis_] i. e. characters.

v. 586. _where as I stode_] i. e. where I stood.

v. 590. _a lybbard_] i. e. a leopard.—“There is,” says Warton, who quotes the stanza, “some boldness and animation in the figure and attitude of this ferocious animal.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 352. ed. 4to.

v. 592. _As quikly towchyd_] i. e. touched, executed, as much to the life.

v. 595. _forme foote_] i. e. fore-foot.

—— _shoke_] i. e. shook.

v. 597.

_Unguibus ire parat loca singula livida curvis_
_Quam modo per Phœbes nummos raptura Celæno_]

The whole of this “Cacosyntheton ex industria” is beyond my comprehension. Here Skelton has an eye to Juvenal;

“Nec per conventus nec cuncta per oppida _curvis_
_Unguibus ire parat nummos raptura Celæno_.”

_Sat._ viii. 129.

v. 601. _Spreto spineto cedat saliunca roseto_] Here he was thinking of Virgil;

“Lenta salix quantum pallenti _cedit_ olivæ,
Puniceis humilis quantum _saliunca rosetis_.”

_Ecl._ v. 16.

v. 602. _loked_] i. e. looked.

v. 603. _presed_] i. e. pressed, thronged.

v. 604. _Shet_] i. e. Shut.

v. 605. _to_] i. e. too.

v. 606. _astate_] i. e. estate, condition.

v. 607. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

—— _haskardis_] “_Haskerdes_ went in the queste: not honeste men. _Proletarii & capite censi_: non classici rem trāsegerunt.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. n iiii. ed. 1530.

“Wyne was not made for euery _haskerde_.”

Copland’s _Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous_, _Early Pop. Poetry_, ii. 33.
ed. Utterson,

who in the Gloss. queries if _haskerde_ mean “dirty fellow? from the Scotch _hasky_.” The latter word is explained by Jamieson “dirty, slovenly.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._

—— _rebawdis_] i. e. ribalds.

v. 608. _Dysers, carders_] Dicers, card-players.

—— _gambawdis_] i. e. gambols.

Page 386. v. 609. _Furdrers of loue_] i. e. Furtherers of love—pimps, pandars.

v. 610. _blow at the cole_] A friend suggests that there is an allusion here to alchemists; but I believe he is mistaken. It is a proverbial expression. So our author again;

“We may _blowe at the cole_.”

_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 81. vol. ii. 29.

The proverb given by Davies of Hereford;

“_Let them that bee colde, blow at the cole._
So may a man do, and yet play the foole.”

_Scourge of Folly_,—_Prouerbes_, p. 171.

and by Ray, _Proverbs_, p. 90. ed. 1768, seems to have a quite different meaning.

Page 386. v. 611. _kownnage_] i. e. coinage,—coining.

v. 612. _Pope holy ypocrytis_] i. e. Pope-holy hypocrites: see note, p. 230. l. 24 (prose).

—— _as they were golde and hole_]—_hole_, i. e. whole. Heywood also has this expression;

“In words _gold and hole_, as men by wit could wish,
She will [lie] as fast as a dog will lick a dish.”

_Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, sig. H 2, ed. 1598.

v. 613. _Powle hatchettis_] See note, p. 98. v. 28.

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

v. 614. _brybery, theft_] See note, p. 256. v. 1242.

v. 615. _condycyons_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.

v. 616. _folys_] i. e. fools.

v. 618. _dysdanous dawcokkis_] i. e. disdainful simpletons, empty fellows: see note, p. 113. v. 301.

v. 619. _fawne thé_] i. e. fawn on thee.

—— _kurris of kynde_] i. e. curs by nature.

v. 620. _shrewdly_] i. e. evilly.

v. 625. _broisid_] i. e. bruised, broke.

v. 626. _peuysshe_] i. e. foolish, silly.

—— _porisshly pynk iyde_] “_Porisshly_, as one loketh yᵗ can nat se well, _Louchement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxliiii. (Table of Aduerbes): _pynk iyde_, i. e. pink-eyed; “Some haue myghty eyes, and some be _pynkeyed ... peti_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. G vi. ed. 1530; and see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v.

v. 627. _aspyid_] i. e. espied, marked.

v. 629. _a gun stone_] After the introduction of iron shot (instead of balls of stone) for heavy artillery, the term _gunstone_ was retained in the sense of—bullet: “_Gonne stone_, _plombee_, _boulet_, _bovle de fonte_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxxvii. (Table of Subst.).

—— _all to-iaggid_] See notes, p. 100. v. 32. p. 163. v. 124.

v. 630. _daggid_] See note, p. 163. v. 123.

v. 631. _byrnston_] i. e. brimstone.

Page 386. v. 632. _Masid_] i. e. Bewildered, confounded.

—— _a scut_] “_Scut_ or hare. Lepus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

v. 635. _dysour_] See note, p. 255. v. 1191.

—— _a deuyl way_] See note, p. 287. v. 672.

Page 387. v. 637. _peuisshenes_] i. e. foolishness, silliness: compare v. 626.

v. 639. _foisty bawdias_] See note, p. 192. v. 76.

v. 641. _Dasyng after dotrellis, lyke drunkardis that dribbis_]—_Dasying_ i. e. gazing with a stupified look: _dotrellis_; see note, p. 129. v. 409: _dribbis_, i. e. drip, drivel, slaver.

v. 642. _titiuyllis_] See note, p. 284. v. 418.

—— _taumpinnis_] i. e. tampions,—wooden stoppers, put into the mouths of cannon to keep out rain or sea-water. In _The foure P. P._ by Heywood, the Poticary tells a facetious story about “a thampyon.” Sig. D i. ed. n. d. (Fr. _tampon_).

v. 643. _I hyght you_] i. e. I assure you.

v. 644. _mone light_] i. e. moonlight.

v. 648. _wele_] i. e. well.

v. 649. _auenturis_] i. e. adventure.

v. 652. _herber_] See note, p. 101. v. 13.

v. 653. _brere_] i. e. briar.

v. 654. _With alys ensandid about in compas_] “i. e. it was surrounded with sand-walks.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 350 (note), ed. 4to. So the garden, in which Chaucer describes Cressid walking, was “_sonded_ all the waies.” _Troilus and Creseide_, B. ii. fol. 152, —_Workes_, ed. 1602: and compare Lydgate;

“Alle the _aleis_ were made playne with _sond_.”

_The Chorle and the Bird,—MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 147.

v. 655. _with singular solas_] i. e. in a particularly pleasant manner.

v. 656. _rosers_] i. e. rose-bushes.

v. 658. _coundight_] i. e. conduit.

—— _coryously_] i. e. curiously. So Lydgate;

“_Coriously_ and craftly to endyte.”

_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 47.

v. 662. _ensilured again the son beames_] i. e. ensilvered against the sunbeams.

Page 388. v. 664. _reuolde_] i. e. revolved, turned.

v. 669. _bet vp a fyre_] See note, p. 146. v. 930.

v. 671. _flagraunt flower_]—_flagraunt_, i. e. fragrant. Compare v. 978. So Hawes;

“Strowed with _floures flagraunte_ of ayre.”

_The Pastime of pleasure_, sig. A a iiii. ed. 1555.

Page 388. v. 673. _baratows broisiours_] i. e. contentious bruisers,—unless (as the context seems rather to shew) _broisiours_ means—bruisures, bruises.

v. 674. _passid all bawmys_] i. e. surpassed all balms.

v. 676. _gardynge_] i. e. garden.

—— _piplyng_] i. e. piping; as in our author’s _Replycacion_, &c. vol. i. 207. l. 26 (prose).

v. 680. _the nyne Muses, Pierides by name_] So Chaucer;

“_Muses, that men clepe Pierides._”

_The Man of Lawes Prol._ v. 4512 (but see Tyrwhitt’s note).

v. 681. _Testalis_] i. e. Thestylis. So Barclay;

“Neera, Malkin, or lustie _Testalis_.”

_Second Egloge_, sig. B ii. ed. 1570.

v. 682. _enbybid_] i. e. made wet, soaked.

v. 683. _moche solacyous_] i. e. much pleasant, mirthful.

v. 686. _somer_] i. e. summer.

—— _fotid_] i. e. footed.

v. 687. _twynklyng upon his harpe stringis_]—_twynklyng_, i. e. tinkling. So, at a much later period, Dekker; “Thou (most cleare throated singing man,) with thy Harpe, (to the _twinckling_ of which inferior Spirits skipt like Goates ouer the Welsh mountaines),” &c. _A Knights Coniuring_, 1607. sig. D 2.

Page 389. v. 688. _And Iopas, &c._] Here, and in the next two stanzas, Skelton has an eye to Virgil;

“Cithara crinitus Iopas
Personat aurata, docuit quæ maxumus Atlas.
Hic canit errantem lunam, solisque labores;
Unde hominum genus, et pecudes; unde imber, et ignes;
Arcturum, pluviasque Hyadas, geminosque Triones;
Quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles
Hiberni, vel quæ tardis mora noctibus obstet.”

_Æn._ i. 740.

—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.

v. 691. _mone_] i. e. moon.

v. 694. _spere_] i. e. sphere.

v. 697. _prechid_] i. e. discoursed, told.

—— _chere_] i. e. countenance, look.

v. 699. _aspy_] i. e. espy.

v. 705. _counteryng_] See note, p. 92.

Page 389. v. 709. _pleasure, with lust and delyte_] One of our author’s pleonastic expressions.

v. 712. _conuenable_] i. e. fitting.

Page 390. v. 718. _wele were hym_] i. e. he were in good condition.

v. 720. _maystres_] i. e. mistress.

v. 725. _losyd ful sone_] i. e. loosed full soon.

v. 731. _That I ne force what though it be discurid_] i. e. That I do not care although it be discovered, shewn.

v. 733. _ladyn of liddyrnes with lumpis_]—_liddyrnes_, i. e. sluggishness, slothfulness (the construction is—ladyn with lumpis of liddyrness).

v. 734. _dasid_] i. e. stupified.

—— _dumpis_] See note on v. 15. p. 301: but here the word implies greater dulness of mind.

v. 735. _coniect_] i. e. conjecture.

v. 736. _Gog_] A corruption of the sacred name.

Page 391. v. 737. _be_] i. e. by.

v. 741. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.

v. 742. _Tressis agasonis species prior, altera Davi_] “Hic Dama est non _tressis agaso_.” Persius, _Sat._ v. 76. _Davus_ is a slave’s name in Plautus, Terence, &c.

v. 748. _tacita sudant præcordia culpa_] From Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 167.

v. 751. _Labra movens tacitus_] “_Labra_ moves _tacitus_.” Persius, _Sat._ v. 184.

—— _rumpantur ut ilia Codro_] From Virgil, _Ecl._ vii. 26.

v. 753. _hight_] i. e. is called.

v. 754. _and ye wist_] i. e. if ye knew.

Page 392. v. 758. _hole reame_] i. e. whole realm.

v. 762. _smerke_] i. e. smirk.

v. 763. _leue warke whylis it is wele_] i. e. leave work while it is well.

v. 764. _towchis_] i. e. touches, qualities.

—— _to_] i. e. too.

v. 768. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.

v. 769. _Cowntes of Surrey_] Was Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter of Edward Duke of Buckingham, and second wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who afterwards (on the death of his father in 1524) became the third Duke of Norfolk. She had previously been attached and engaged to the Earl of Westmoreland with the consent of both families; but her father, having broken off the intended match, compelled her to accept the hand of lord Thomas Howard in 1513. She was twenty years younger than her husband. After many domestic quarrels, they separated about 1533. Of their five children, one was Henry Howard, the illustrious poet. She died in 1558. See _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c. by H. Howard, 1834, folio.

The Countess of Surrey appears to have been fond of literature; and, as she calls Skelton her “clerk,” we may suppose that she particularly patronised him. The probability is, that the present poem was really composed at Sheriff-Hutton Castle, which (as already noticed, p. 300) had been granted by the king to the Duke of Norfolk for life, and that the Countess was residing there on a visit to her father-in-law.

The _Garlande of Laurell_ was written, I apprehend, about 1520, or perhaps a little later: in v. 1192 Skelton mentions his _Magnyfycence_, which was certainly produced after 1515,—see note on title of that piece, p. 236.

Page 392. v. 771. _beue_] i. e. bevy.

v. 774. _warhe_] i. e. work.

v. 775. _asayde_] i. e. tried, proved.

Page 393. v. 776. _cronell_] i. e. coronal, garland.

v. 786. _of there lewdnesse_] May mean (as Nott explains it, Surrey’s _Works_, i.—Append. p. ix.)—of their ignorance, ignorantly; but I rather think the expression is here equivalent to,—evilly, impudently.

v. 787. _tappettis and carpettis_] See note on v. 474. p. 311.

v. 790. _To weue in the stoule_] So Chaucer;

“And _weauen in stole_ the radevore.”

_Leg. of Philomene_, fol. 195.—_Workes_, ed. 1602.

and Hall; “On their heades bonets of Damaske syluer flatte _wouen in the stole_, and therupon wrought with gold,” &c. _Chron._ (_Hen. viii._) fol. vii. ed. 1548.—Mr. Albert Way observes to me that in _Prompt. Parv. MS. Harl._ 221, is “Lyncent werkynge instrument for sylke women. Liniarium,” while the ed. of 1499 has “Lyncet workinge _stole_;” and he supposes the _stole_ (i. e. stool) to have been a kind of frame, much like what is still used for worsted work, but, instead of being arranged like a cheval glass, that it was made like a stool,—the top being merely a frame or stretcher for the work.

—— _preste_] i. e. ready.

v. 791. _With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest_]—_slaiis_, i. e. sleys, weavers’ reeds: _tauellis_, see note, p. 94. v. 34: “_Heddles_, _Hedeles_, _Hiddles_. The small cords through which the warp is passed in a loom, after going through the reed.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ by Jamieson, who cites from G. Douglas’s _Æneid_;

“With subtell slayis, and hir _hedeles_ slee,
Riche lenze wobbis naitly weiffit sche.”

B. vii. p. 204. 45. ed. Rudd.

Page 393. v. 793. _warke_] i. e. work.

v. 794. _to enbrowder put them in prese_] i. e. put themselves in press (applied themselves earnestly) to embroider.

v. 795. _glowtonn_] Does it mean—ball, clue? or, as Mr. Albert Way suggests,—a sort of needle, a stiletto as it is now called,—something by which the silk was to be inwrought?

v. 796. _pirlyng_] “I _Pyrle_ wyer of golde or syluer I wynde it vpon a whele as sylke women do.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 798. _tewly sylk_] Richardson in his _Dict._ under the verb _Tew_ places _tewly_, as derived from it, and cites the present passage. But _tewly_ seems to have nothing to do with that verb. “_Tuly_ colowre. Puniceus vel punicus.” _Prompt. Parv. MS. Harl._ 221. In _MS. Sloane_, 73. fol. 214, are directions “for to make bokerham _tuly_ or _tuly_ thred,” where it appears that this colour was “a manere of reed colour as it were of croppe mader,” that is, probably, of the tops or sprouts of the madder, which would give a red less intense or full: the dye was “safflour” (saffron?) and “asches of wyn [whin] ballis ybrent;” and a little red vinegar was to be used to bring the colour up to a fuller red.—For this information I am indebted to Mr. Albert Way.

v. 799. _botowme_] “I can make no _bottoms_ of this threde ... _glomera_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. t i. ed 1530.

v. 801. _warkis_] i. e. works.

Page 394. v. 803. _With burris rowth and bottons surffillyng_]—_burris rowth_, i. e. burrs rough: _bottons_, i. e. buds: _surffillyng_, see note, p. 281. v. 219.

v. 804. _nedill wark_] i. e. needle-work.

v. 805. _enbesid_] i. e. embusied.

v. 814. _conseyt_] i. e. conceit.

v. 815. _captacyons of beneuolence_] Todd gives “_Captation_ (old Fr. _captation_, ruse, artifice). The practice of catching favour or applause; courtship; flattery.” _Johnson’s Dict._ Richardson, after noticing the use of the verb _captive_ “with a subaudition of gentle, attractive, persuasive means or qualities,” adds that in the present passage of Skelton _captation_ is used with that subaudition. _Dict._ in v.

v. 816. _pullysshid_] i. e. polished.

v. 817.

_Sith ye must nedis afforce it by pretence_
_Of your professyoun vnto vmanyte_]

i. e. Since you must needs attempt, undertake, it by your claim to the profession of humanity,—_humaniores literæ_, polite literature.

Page 394. v. 819. _proces_] i. e. discourse; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 230 (first note on prose), p. 276. v. 2506, &c.

v. 820. _iche_] i. e. each.

v. 821. _sentence ... couenable_] i. e. meaning ... fitting.

v. 822. _Auaunsynge_] i. e. Advancing.

v. 824. _arrectyng_] i. e. raising.

Page 395. v. 825. _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with “informe,” as in v. 1428).

v. 828. _dredfull_] i. e. full of dread, timorous.

v. 830. _bestad_] i. e. bested, circumstanced.

v. 833. _gabyll rope_] i. e. cable-rope. “A _Gable_, Rudens.” Coles’s _Dict._

v. 835. _beseke_] i. e. beseech.

—— _Countes of Surrey_] See note on v. 769. p. 317.

v. 838. _reconusaunce_] i. e. acknowledgment.

v. 841. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.

v. 842. _honour and worshyp_] Terms nearly synonymous: _worshyp_, i. e. dignity.

—— _formar_] i. e. first, highest: see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Former_.

v. 843. _Argyua_] i. e. Argia.

v. 844. _Polimites_] i. e. Polynices;

“his fellaw dan _Polimites_,
Of which the brother dan Ethiocles,” &c.

Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_, B. v. fol. 180,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.

“Lete _Polymyte_ reioyse his herytage.”

Lydgate’s _Storye of Thebes, Pars tert._ sig. i v. ed. 4to. n. d.

v. 847. _counterwayng_] i. e. counter-weighing.

Page 396. v. 850. _Pamphila_] “Telas araneorum modo texunt ad vestem luxumque fœminarum, quæ bombycina appellatur. Prima eas redordiri, rursusque texere invenit in Ceo mulier _Pamphila_, Latoi filia, non fraudanda gloria excogitatæ rationis ut denudet fœminas vestis.” Plinii _Nat. Hist._ lib. xi. 26.

—— _quene of the Grekis londe_]—_londe_, i. e. land: qy. does any writer except Skelton call her a queen?

v. 852.

_Thamer also wrought with her goodly honde_
_Many diuisis passynge curyously_]

It is plain that Skelton, while writing these complimentary stanzas, consulted Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_: there this lady is called _Thamyris_ (see, in that work, “De _Thamyri_ Pictrice,” cap. liiii. ed. 1539). Her name is properly _Timarete_; she was daughter to Mycon the painter; vide Plinii _Nat. Hist.: honde_, i. e. hand: _diuisis_, i. e. devices.

Page 396. v. 857. _toke_] i. e. took.

v. 860. _corage ... perfight_] i. e. heart, affection ... perfect.

—— _lady Elisabeth Howarde_] Was the third daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk by his second wife, Agnes Tylney, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney, and sister and heir to Sir Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight (I follow Howard’s _Memorials of the Howard Family_, &c.; Collins says “daughter of Hugh Tilney”). Lady Elizabeth married Henry Ratcliff, Earl of Sussex.

v. 865. _Aryna_] i. e. perhaps—Irene. In the work of Boccaccio just referred to is a portion “De _Hyrene_ C[r]atini filia,” cap. lvii.; and Pliny notices her together with the above-mentioned Timarete.

v. 866. _konnyng_] i. e. knowledge.

v. 867. _wele_] i. e. well.

v. 868. _enbewtid_] i. e. beautified.

v. 870. _lusty ... loke_] i. e. pleasant ... look.

v. 871. _Creisseid_] See Chaucer’s _Troilus and Creseide_.

—— _Polexene_] i. e. Polyxena, the daughter of Priam.

v. 872. _enuyue_] i. e. envive, enliven, excite.

Page 397. v. 874. _hole_] i. e. whole.

—— _lady Mirriell Howarde_] Could not have been Muriel, daughter of the second Duke of Norfolk; for she, after having been twice married, died in 1512, anterior to the composition of the present poem. Qy. was the Muriel here celebrated the Duke’s grandchild,—one of those children of the Earl and Countess of Surrey, whose names, as they died early, have not been recorded? Though Skelton compares her to Cidippe, and terms her “madame,” he begins by calling her “mi _litell_ lady.”

v. 880. _curteyse_] i. e. courteous.

v. 881. _Whome fortune and fate playnly haue discust_]—_discust_, i. e. determined. So again our author in _Why come ye nat to Courte_;

“Allmyghty God, I trust,
Hath for him _dyscust_,” &c.

v. 747. vol. ii. 50.

and Barclay;

“But if thou iudge amisse, then shall Eacus
(As Poetes saith) hell thy iust rewarde _discusse_.”

_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 4. ed. 1570.

v. 882. _plesure, delyght, and lust_] One of Skelton’s pleonastic expressions.

Page 397. v. 885.

_Cidippes, the mayd,_
_That of Aconcyus whan she founde the byll, &c._]

—_Cidippes_, i. e. Cydippe; see note on v. 290. p. 307: _the byll_; i. e. the writing,—the verses which Acontius had written on the apple.

v. 888. _fyll_] i. e. fell.

—— _lady Anne Dakers of the Sowth_] The wife of Thomas Lord Dacre, was daughter of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners and of Elizabeth Tylney, who (see note on v. 399) afterwards became the first wife of the second Duke of Norfolk.

v. 893. _his crafte were to seke_] i. e. his skill were at a loss.

Page 398. v. 897. _Princes_] i. e. Princess.

v. 898. _conyng_] i. e. knowledge.

v. 899. _Paregall_] i. e. Equal (thoroughly equal).

v. 901. _surmountynge_] i. e. surpassing.

v. 902. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.

v. 903. _lusty lokis_] i. e. pleasant looks.

—— _mastres Margery Wentworthe_] Perhaps the second daughter of Sir Richard Wentworth, afterwards married to Christopher Glemham of Glemham in Suffolk.

v. 906. _margerain ientyll_] “Marierome is called ... in English, Sweet Marierome, Fine Marierome, and _Marierome gentle_; of the best sort Marjerane.” Gerard’s _Herball_, p. 664. ed. 1633.

v. 907. _goodlyhede_] i. e. goodness.

v. 908. _Enbrowdred_] i. e. Embroidered.

v. 912. _praty_] i. e. pretty.

v. 918. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.

Page 399.—— _mastres Margaret Tylney_] A sister-in-law, most probably, of the second Duke of Norfolk. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Frederick Tylney of Ashwell-Thorpe, Norfolk, knight, and widow of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners: his second wife was Agnes, daughter of Sir Hugh Tylney, and sister and heir to Sir Philip Tylney of Boston, Lincolnshire, knight; see third note, preceding page.

v. 928. _besy cure_] i. e. busy care.

v. 933.

_As Machareus_
_Fayre Canace_]

Their tale is told in the _Conf. Am._ by Gower; he expresses no horror at their incestuous passion, but remarks on the cruelty of their father, who

“for he was to loue strange,
He wolde not his herte change
To be benigne and fauourable
To loue, but vnmerciable!”

B. iii. fol. xlviii. ed. 1554.

(and see the lines cited in note on v. 1048. p. 324). Lydgate (_Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxv. ed. Wayland) relates the story with a somewhat better moral feeling.

Page 399. v. 935. _iwus_] Or _i-wis_ (adv.),—i. e. truly, certainly.

v. 936. _Endeuoure me_] i. e. Exert myself.

v. 941. _Wele_] i. e. Well.

v. 942. _Intentyfe_] “_Intentyfe_ hedefull.”—“_Ententyfe_, busy to do a thynge or to take hede to a thyng.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fols. lxxxx. lxxxvii. (where both are rendered by the Fr. _ententif_).

v. 948. _Perle orient_] In allusion to her Christian name just mentioned, “Margarite.”

v. 949. _Lede sterre_] i. e. Load-star.

v. 950. _Moche_] i. e. Much.

Page 400.—— _maystres Iane Blenner-Haiset_] Perhaps a daughter of Sir Thomas Blennerhasset, who was executor (in conjunction with the Duchess) to the second Duke of Norfolk: see Sir H. Nicolas’s _Test. Vet._ ii. 604.

v. 955. _smale lust_] i. e. small liking.

v. 958. _prese_] i. e. press, band.

v. 962. _ententifly_] See above, note on v. 942.

v. 963. _stellyfye_] “I _Stellifye_ I sette vp amongest the starres.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxxiii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 965. _ne swarue_] i. e. swerve not.

v. 968. _Sith_] i. e. Since.

v. 972, _Laodomi_] i. e. Laodamia.

v. 975. _godely_] i. e. goodly.

Page 401. v. 977. _Reflaring rosabell_] i. e. odorous fair-rose: see note, p. 134. v. 524.

v. 978. _flagrant_] See note on v. 671. p. 315.

v. 979. _The ruddy rosary_]—_rosary_ must mean here—rose-bush, not rose-bed.

v. 981. _praty_] i. e. pretty.

v. 982. _nepte_] “Cats mint or _nept_ is a kind of calamint,” &c. _The Countrie Farme_, p. 320. ed. 1600.

v. 983. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.

v. 984. _propre_] i. e. pretty.

v. 985, _Enuwyd_] See note, p. 144. v. 775.

Page 402. v. 1006. _Ientill as fawcoun_] The _Falcon gentle_, says Turbervile, is so called “for her _gentle_ and courteous condition and fashions.” _The Booke of Falconrie_, &c. p. 26. ed. 1611.

v. 1007. _hawke of the towre_] See note, p. 250. v. 934.

v. 1025. _fayre Isaphill_] The Hypsipyle of the ancients.

“_Isiphile_
...
She that dyd _in fayrnesse so excell_.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces,_ B. i. leaf xviii. ed. Wayland.

She figures in the _Storye of Thebes_ by the same indefatigable versifier, who there says,

“But to knowe. the auentures all
Of this lady. _Isyphyle the fayre_,”

(Pars tert. sig. h iiii. n. d. 4to.)

we must have recourse to Boccaccio _De Claris Mulieribus_ (see that work, cap. xv. ed. 1539).

v. 1027. _pomaunder_] Was a composition of perfumes, wrought into the shape of a ball, or other form, and worn in the pocket, or about the neck (Fr. _pomme d’ambre_). In the following entry from an unpublished _Boke of Kyngs Paymentis from i to ix of Henry viii_, preserved in the Chapter-House, Westminster, _pomaunder_ means a case for holding the composition;

“Item to the frenche quenes seruaunt, that brought } xx. s.” (9th year
_a pomaunder of gold_ to the princes, in Re[ward] } of reign).

v. 1030. _Wele_] i. e. Well.

v. 1033. _corteise_] i. e. courteous.

Page 403. v. 1048. _Pasiphe_] Lest the reader should be surprised at finding Skelton compare Mistress Statham to Pasiphae, I cite the following lines from Feylde’s _Contrauersye bytwene a Louer and a Iaye_ (printed by W. de Worde), n. d., in which she and Taurus are mentioned as examples of true love;

“Phedra and Theseus
Progne and Thereus
_Pasyphe and Taurus_
Who lyketh to proue
Canace and Machareus
Galathea and Pamphylus
Was neuer more dolorous
_And all for true loue_.”

Sig. B iiii.

I may add too a passage from Caxton’s _Boke of Eneydos_, &c. (translated from the French), 1490; “The wyffe of kynge Mynos of Crete was named Pasyfa that was a grete lady and a fayr aboue alle other ladyes of the royame.... The quene Pasyfa _was wyth chylde by kynge Mynos_, and whan her tyme was comen she was delyuered of a creature that was halfe a man and halfe a bulle.” Sig. h 6.

Page 403. v. 1062. _aquyte_] i. e. requite.

Page 404. v. 1068. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion.

v. 1074. _warke_] i. e. work.

v. 1076.

_Galathea, the made well besene, &c._
...
_By Maro_]

—_the made well besene_, i. e. the maid of good appearance, fair to see: the expression applied, as here, to personal appearance, independent of dress, is, I apprehend, very unusual; see notes, p. 112. v. 283. p. 295. v. 957. p. 311. v. 483: _By Maro_; vide _Ecl_. i. and iii.

v. 1082. _leyser_] i. e. leisure.

Page 405. v. 1094. _ich_] i. e. each.

v. 1102. _curteisly_] i. e. courteously.

v. 1103. _where as_] i. e. where.

v. 1109. _Wele was hym_] i. e. He was in good condition.

v. 1114. _astate_] i. e. estate,—meaning here—state, raised chair or throne with a canopy: compare v. 484.

Page 406. v. 1117. _loked ... a glum_] i. e. looked ... a gloomy, sour look.

v. 1118. _There was amonge them no worde then but mum_] See note, p. 278. v. 83.

v. 1121. _sith_] i. e. since.

v. 1124. _pretence_] i. e. pretension, claim.

v. 1128. _princes of astate_] i. e. princess of estate, rank, dignity.

v. 1132. _condiscendyng_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.

Page 407. v. 1135. _enduce_] i. e. bring in, adduce.

v. 1136. _lay_] See note, p. 219. v. 103.

v. 1139. _bokis_] i. e. books.

v. 1143. _poynted_] i. e. appointed.

v. 1144. _presid_] i. e. pressed.

v. 1150. _ony_] i. e. any.

v. 1154. _wote wele_] i. e. know well.

v. 1156. _losende_] i. e. loosened, loosed.

v. 1158. _byse_] Hearne in his Gloss. to _Langtoft’s Chron._ has “_bis_, grey, black,” with an eye, no doubt, to the line at p. 230,

“In a marble _bis_ of him is mad story.”

and Sir F. Madden explains the word “white or grey” in his Gloss. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c., referring to the line “Of golde, azure, and _byse_” in _Syre Gawene and The Carle of Carelyle_, p. 204. But we also find “_Byce_ a colour _azur_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. xx. (Table of Subst.). “Scryueners wryte with blacke, red, purple, grene, _blewe or byce_, and suche other.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q i. ed. 1530. “_Bize_ Blew Byze, a delicate Blew.” Holme’s _Acad. of Arm._, 1688. B. iii. p. 145.

Page 407. v. 1158. _gressoppes_] i. e. grasshoppers: see note, p. 125. v. 137.

Page 408. v. 1159. _fresshe_] i. e. gay, gorgeous: see note on v. 39. p. 302.

v. 1160. _Enflorid_] i. e. Enflowered (embellished, for it applies partly to the “snaylis”).

v. 1161. _Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly_]—_Enuyuid_, i. e. envived: _quikly_, livelily, to the life; a somewhat pleonastic line, as before, see note, p. 261. v. 1569.

v. 1162. _hole ... be ... sekely_] i. e. whole ... been ... sickly.

v. 1163. _garnysshyd_] }

...

v. 1165. _bullyons_] }

“I hadde leuer haue my boke sowed in a forel [_in cuculli involucro_] than bounde in bourdes, and couered and clasped, and _garnyshed with bolyons_ [_vmbilicis_].” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q iiii. ed. 1530: _bullyons_, i. e. bosses, studs.

—— _worth a thousande pounde_] An expression found in other early poets;

“And euery bosse of bridle and paitrell
That they had, was _worth_, as I would wene,
_A thousand pound_.”

Chaucer’s _Floure and Leafe_,—_Workes_, fol. 345. ed. 1602.

v. 1166. _balassis_] Tyrwhitt (Gloss, to _Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_) explains _Bales_ to be “a sort of bastard Ruby.” Du Cange _(Gloss._) has “_Balascus_, Carbunculus, cujus rubor et fulgor dilutiores sunt ... a Balascia Indiæ regione ... dicti ejusmodi lapides pretiosi.” Marco Polo tells us, “In this country [_Balashan_ or _Badakhshan_] are found the precious stones called _balass_ rubies, of fine quality and great value.” _Travels_, p. 129, translated by Marsden, who in his learned note on the passage (p. 132) observes that in the Latin version it is said expressly that these stones have their name from the country. See too Sir F. Madden’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 209.

v. 1167. _aurum musicum_] i. e. _aurum musaicum_ or _musivum_,—mosaic gold.

v. 1172. _Boke of Honorous Astate_] i. e. Book of Honourable Estate. Like many other of the pieces which Skelton proceeds to enumerate, it is not known to exist. When any of his still extant writings are mentioned in this catalogue, I shall refer to the places where they may be found in the present volumes.

Page 408. v. 1176. _to lerne you to dye when ye wyll_] A version probably of the same piece which was translated and published by Caxton under the title of _A lityll treatise shorte and abredged spekynge of the arte and crafte to knowe well to dye_, 1490, folio. Caxton translated it from the French: the original Latin was a work of great celebrity.

v. 1178. _Rosiar_] i. e. Rose-bush.

—— _Prince Arturis Creacyoun_] Arthur, the eldest son of King Henry the Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, 1st Oct. 1489: see Sandford’s _Geneal. Hist._ p. 475. ed. 1707.

Page 409. v. 1183. _Bowche of Courte_] In vol. i. 30.

v. 1185. _Of Tullis Familiars the translacyoun_] Is noticed with praise in Caxton’s Preface to _The Boke of Eneydos_, &c. 1490: see the passage cited in _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

v. 1187. _The Recule ageinst Gaguyne of the Frenshe nacyoun_]—_Recule_, Fr. _recueil_, is properly—a collection of several writings: it occurs again in v. 1390; and in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 232. vol. ii. 11. Concerning Gaguin, see _Account of Shelton and his Writings_.

v. 1188.

_the Popingay, that hath in commendacyoun_
_Ladyes and gentylwomen suche as deseruyd,_
_And suche as be counterfettis they be reseruyd_]

—_Popingay_, i. e. Parrot: “_Reserved_ excepte _sauf_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xciiii. (Table of Adiect.).—No part of _Speke, Parrot_ (in vol. ii. 1), answers to this description: but “_the Popingay_” is certainly only another name for _Speke, Parrot_ (see v. 280. vol. ii. 14); and Skelton must allude here to some portion, now lost, of that composition.

v. 1192. _Magnyfycence_] In vol. i. 225.

v. 1193. _new get_] See note, p. 242. v. 458.

v. 1196. _wele_] i. e. well.

v. 1198. _Of manerly maistres Margery Mylke and Ale, &c._] In vol. i. 28. is one of the “many maters of myrthe” which Skelton here says that he “wrote to her.”

v. 1202. _Lor_] A corruption of _Lord_.

v. 1203. _Gingirly, go gingerly_] “_Gyngerly: A pas menus_, as _Allez a pas menu ma fille_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxli. (Table of Aduerb.).

Page 410. v. 1206. _This fustiane maistres and this giggisse gase_] _maistres_, i. e. mistress: _giggisse_, i. e. giggish,—which Forby gives, with the sense of—trifling, silly, flighty (_Vocab. of East Anglia_); but here perhaps the word implies something of wantonness: _gase_, i. e. goose.

Page 410. v. 1207. _wrenchis_] See note, p. 100. v. 25.

v. 1209. _shuld not crase_] i. e. that it should not break.

v. 1210. _It may wele ryme, but shroudly it doth accorde_]—_wele_, i. e. well: _shroudly_, i. e. shrewdly, badly. A copy of verses on Inconsistency by Lydgate has for its burden,

“_It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought._”

_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 26.

v. 1211. _pyke ... potshorde_] i. e. pick ... potsherd.

v. 1218. _mo_] i. e. more.

v. 1219.

_Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun,_
_Owt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose,_
_Of Mannes Lyfe the Peregrynacioun,_
_He did translate, enterprete, and disclose_]

—_at the contemplacyoun_; see note on heading of Epitaph, p. 214: _my ladys grace_ means perhaps the mother of Henry the Seventh, the Countess of Derby; see note on title of Elegy, p. 226. Warton says that this piece was “from the French, perhaps, of Guillaume [de Guilleville] prior of Chalis. But it should be observed that Pynson printed _Peregrinatio humani generis_, 1508. 4to.” _Hist, of E. P._, ii. 337 (note), ed. 4to. _The Pylgremage of the Soule translatid oute of Frensshe in to Englysshe with somwhat of additions, the yere of our lord M.CCCC & thyrten, and endeth in the Vigyle of seynt Bartholomew Emprynted at Westmestre by William Caxton, And fynysshed the sixth day of Juyn, the yere of our lord, M.CCCC.LXXXIII And the first yere of the regne of kynge Edward the fyfthe_. fol., was taken from the French of Guillaume de Guilleville (see _Biog. Univ._ xix. 169); but, though Skelton was in all probability an author as early as 1583, there is no reason for supposing that the volume just described had received any revision from him. _Peregrinatio Humani Generis_, printed by Pynson in 4to., 1508, is, according to Herbert (_Typ. Ant._ ii. 430. ed. Dibdin), “in ballad verse, or stanzas of seven lines:” it cannot therefore be the piece mentioned here by Skelton, which he expressly tells us was in “_prose_.”

v. 1226. _creauncer_] See note, p. 193. v. 102.

Page 411. v. 1229. _Speculum Principis_] A piece by Skelton entitled _Methodos Skeltonidis Laureati_, sc. _Præcepta quædam moralia Henrico principi, postea Hen. viii. missa. Dat. apud Eltham. A.D. MDI._ was once among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, but is now marked as missing in the Catalogue of that collection, and has been sought for in vain. Whether it was the same work as that mentioned in the present passage, I am unable to determine.

Page 411. v. 1229. _honde_] i. e. hand.

v. 1231. _astate_] i. e. estate, state.

v. 1233. _the Tunnynge of Elinour Rummyng_] In vol. i. 95.

v. 1234. _Colyn Clowt_] In vol. i. 311.

—— _Iohnn Iue, with Ioforth Iack_] In 1511, a woman being indicted for heresy, “her husband deposed, that in the end of the reign of King Edward the Fourth, one _John Ive_ had persuaded her into these opinions, in which she had persisted ever since.” Burnet’s _Hist. of the Reform._ i. 51. ed. 1816. The words “with _Ioforth, Iack_,” were perhaps a portion of Skelton’s poem concerning this John Ive: _ioforth_ is an exclamation used in driving horses;

“Harrer, Morelle, _iofurthe_, hyte.”

_Mactacio Abel_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 9.

v. 1235. _make ... konnyng_] i. e. compose ... knowledge, skill, ability.

v. 1236. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.

v. 1238. _conueyauns_] See the long speech of Crafty Conueyaunce in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1343 sqq. vol. i, 268.

v. 1239. _the Walshemannys hoos_] See note, p. 289. v. 780.

v. 1240. _vmblis_] i. e. parts of the inwards of a deer. “_Noumbles_ of a dere or beest _entrailles_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. 1. (Table of Subst.). And see Sir F. Madden’s note, _Syr Gawayne_, &c. p. 322.

———— _the botell of wyne,_
_To fayre maistres Anne that shuld haue be sent_]

Such a present seems to have been not uncommon;

“Beddes, brochys, and _botelles of wyen he to the lady sent_.”

Lydgate’s _Ballad of A Prioress and her three Wooers_,—_MS. Harl._ 78.
fol. 74.

The “maistres Anne” here mentioned is doubtless the lady to whom the lines in vol. i. 20 are addressed.

v. 1242. _wrate ... praty_] i. e. wrote ... pretty.

v. 1246. _longyth_] i. e. belongeth.

v. 1247.

_Of one Adame all a knaue_
...
_He wrate an Epitaph, &c._]

In vol. i. 171.

v. 1250. _agerdows_] i. e. eager, keen, severe.

v. 1254. _Phillip Sparow_] In vol. i, 51.

Page 412. v. 1257. _Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce_] See notes, p. 149 sqq., where will be found illustrations of the portion of _Phyllyp Sparowe_ which is inserted in the present poem.

Page 415. v. 1376. _The Gruntyng and the groynninge of the gronnyng swyne_] See note, p. 180. v. 2.

v. 1377. _the Murnyng of the mapely rote_]—_mapely rote_, i. e. maple-root.—In Ravenscroft’s _Pammelia_, 1609, part of a nonsensical song (No. 31) is as follows;

“My Ladies gone to Canterbury,
S. Thomas be her boote.
Shee met with Kate of Malmsbury,
_Why weepst thou maple roote?_”

a recollection perhaps of Skelton’s lost ballad.

Page 416. v. 1378. _pine_] i. e. pain, grief.

v. 1379. _a cote_] i. e. a coot (water-fowl).

v. 1380. _birdbolt_] i. e. a blunt arrow used to kill birds; see Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. and in v. _Bolt_.

—— _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.

v. 1381. _Moyses hornis_] So Lydgate;

“_Moyses_
With _golden hornes_ liche phebus beames bright.”

_Process. of Corpus Christi_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 251.

“Cumque descenderet Moyses de monte Sinai ... ignorabat quod _cornuta_ esset facies sua ex consortio sermonis Domini.” Vulgate,—_Exod._ xxxiv. 29.

v. 1382. _merely, medelyd_] i. e. merrily, mingled.

v. 1383. _Of paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde_] Bale, in his enumeration of Skelton’s writings, alluding to this line (as is evident from his arrangement of the pieces), gives “_Theatrales ludos_.” _Script. Illust. Bryt._ p. 652. ed. 1557: and Mr. J. P. Collier states that “one of Skelton’s earlier works had been a series of pageants, ‘played in Joyous Garde,’ or Arthur’s Castle.” _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 142. But, assuredly, in the present line, _paiauntis_, i. e. pageants, means nothing of a dramatic nature. The expression to “play a pageant” has occurred several times already in our author’s poems; “I haue _played_ my _pageyond_” (my part on the stage of life), see note, p. 88. v. 85; “Suche pollyng _paiaunttis_ ye _pley_” (such thievish pranks), see note, p. 189. v. 190: and though it may be doubted whether the _paiauntis that were played IN Ioyows Garde_,—i. e. in the Castle of Sir Launcelot, according to the romances,—are to be understood as connected with feats of arms, I cite the following passage in further illustration of the expression; “The fyrste that was redy to Juste was sir Palomydes and sir Kaynus le straunge a knyghte of the table round. And soo they two encountred to gyders, but sire Palomydes smote sir Kaynus soo hard that he smote hym quyte ouer his hors croupe, and forth with alle sir Palomydes smote doune another knyght and brake thenne his spere & pulled oute his swerd and did wonderly wel. And thenne the noyse beganne gretely vpon sir palomydes. Ioo said Kynge Arthur yonder palomydes begynneth _to play his pagent_. So god me help said Arthur he is a passynge good knyght. And ryght as they stood talkyng thus, in came sir Tristram as thonder, and he encountred with syre Kay the Seneschall, and there he smote hym doune quyte from his hors, and with that same spere sir Tristram smote doune thre knyghtes moo, and thenne he pulled oute his swerd and dyd merueyllously. Thenne the noyse and crye chaunged from syr Palomydes and torned to sir Tristram and alle the peple cryed O Tristram, O Tristram. And thenne was sir Palomydes clene forgeten. How now said Launcelot vnto Arthur, yonder rydeth a knyght _that playeth his pagents_.” _Morte d’Arthur_, B. x. cap. lxxix. vol. ii. 140. ed. Southey.

Page 416. v. 1384. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.

—— _muse_] See note, p. 234. v. 212.

v. 1385. _do_] i. e. doe.

v. 1386. _parker ... with all_] i. e. park-keeper ... withal.

v. 1387. _Castell Aungell_] “And the pope fled unto _Castle Angell_.” Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 143. ed. 1827.

—— _fenestrall_] In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, we find “_Fenestrall chassis de toille ou de paupier_.” fol. xxxiii. (Table of Subst.); and in Hormanni _Vulgaria_, “Paper, or lyn clothe, straked a crosse, with losynges: make _fenestrals in stede of glasen wyndowes_.” Sig. v ii: but see the next lines of our text.

v. 1389. _eyn dasild and dasid_]—_eyn_, i. e. eyes: _dasid_, i. e. dulled.

v. 1390. _The Repete of the recule of Rosamundis bowre_]—_Repete_, i. e. Repetition, Recital: _recule_; see note on v. 1187. p. 327.

v. 1392. _propre_] i. e. pretty.

—— _ieloffer flowre_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.

v. 1393. _to reckeles_] i. e. too reckless.

v. 1396. _Mok there loste her sho_] A proverbial expression, which occurs again in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 83. vol. ii. 29: in his _Colyn Cloute_ we find

“Sho the _mockysshe_ mare.”

v. 181. vol. i. 318.

v. 1397. _barbican_] “A _Barbican_, antemurale, promurale, tormentorum bellicorum sedes, locus.” Coles’s _Dict._ “It was generally,” says Nares (referring to King on Anc. Castles, _Archael._), “a small round tower, for the station of an advanced guard, placed just before the outward gate of the castle yard, or ballium.” _Gloss._ in v. And see Richardson’s _Dict._ in v.

Page 416. v. 1398. _sawte_] i. e. assault.

v. 1399. _blo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.

v. 1400. _Of Exione, her lambis, &c._] See note _ad loc._ If the reader understands the line, it is more than I do.

Page 417. v. 1407. _forster_] i. e. forester.

v. 1409. _to yerne and to quest_] Coles renders both these hunting-terms by the same word, “_nicto_” (i. e. open, give tongue). _Dict._ Turbervile, enumerating “the sundry noyses of houndes,” tells us that “when they are earnest eyther in the chace or in the earth, we say _They yearne_.” _Noble Art of Venerie_, &c. p. 242. ed. 1611. “_Quest_, united cry of the hounds.” Sir F. Madden’s Gloss. to _Syr Gawayne_, &c.

v. 1410. _With litell besynes standith moche rest_]

“_Great rest standeth in little businesse_.”

_Good Counsaile_,—Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 319. ed. 1602.

v. 1411. _make_] i. e. mate, wife.

v. 1412. _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.

v. 1413. _wele_] i. e. well.

v. 1416. _Some_] i. e. Soham.

v. 1418. _Wofully arayd_] In vol. i. 141.

v. 1419. _making_] i. e. composing.

v. 1420. _Vexilla regis_] In vol. i. 144.

v. 1421. _Sacris solemniis_] As the still-extant piece mentioned in the preceding line, and headed _Vexilla regis_, &c., is not a translation of that hymn, so we may with probability conclude that this was not a version of the hymn beginning “_Sacris solemniis_ juncta sint gaudia,” which may be found in _Hymni Ecclesiæ e Breviario Parisiensi_, 1838. p. 94.

v. 1424. _sadnes_] i. e. seriousness.

v. 1425. _Galiene_ }

v. 1426. _Ipocras_ }

i. e. Galen, Hippocrates.

“Old _Hippocras_, Hali, and _Gallien_.”

Chaucer’s _Prol. to Cant. Tales_, v. 433. ed. Tyr.

“For _Ipocras_ nor yet _Galien_.”

_Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 103.

—— _Auycen_] An Arabian physician of the tenth century.

Page 418. v. 1428. _Albumasar_] See note, p. 133. v. 501.

—— _ken_] i. e. instruct (pleonastically coupled with “enforme,” as in v. 825).

v. 1430. _gose_] i. e. goose.

v. 1432. _ageyne_] i. e. against.

v. 1433. _Dun is in the myre_] A proverbial expression, which occurs in Chaucer’s _Manciples Prol._ v. 16954. ed. Tyrwhitt (who conjectured that _Dun_ was a nickname given to the ass from his colour), and is common in writers long after the time of Skelton. Gifford was the first to shew that the allusion is to a Christmas gambol, in which _Dun_ (the cart-horse) is supposed to be stuck _in the mire_; see his note on Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 283.

v. 1434. _rin_] i. e. run.

v. 1435. _spar the stable dur_] i. e. fasten, shut the stable-door; see note, p. 207. v. 91.

v. 1437. _sone aspyed_] i. e. soon espied.

v. 1438. _wele wotith_] i. e. well knoweth.

v. 1439. _lucerne_] i. e. lamp. So in the _Lenvoye_ to Chaucer’s _Cuckow and Nightingale_;

“Aurore of gladnesse, and day of lustinesse,
_Lucerne_ a night with heauenly influence
Illumined.”

_Workes_, fol. 318. ed. 1002.

v. 1442. _wedder_] i. e. weather.

v. 1443. _cokwolde_] i. e. cuckold.

v. 1445. _vntwynde_] See note, p. 127. v. 284.

v. 1446. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052.

v. 1447. _propre_] i. e. pretty.

v. 1450. _all to-fret_] i. e. altogether eaten up, consumed: see note, p. 100. v. 32.

Page 419. v. 1451.

_But who may haue a more vngracyous lyfe_
_Than a chyldis birds and a knauis wyfe_]

This proverbial expression occurs in Lydgate;