Chapter IV: Part 4

“The _panther_ like unto the _smaragdyne_.”

Chalmers’s _Poet. Rem. of Scot. Kings_, p. 85.

v. 22. _perspectyue_] Which generally signifies a glass to look through, seems here, from the context, to mean some sort of reflecting glass.

v. 23. _Illumynyd_] i. e. Adorned.

v. 26. _Gayne_] i. e. Against.

Page 25. v. 29. _Remorse_] Means commonly in early writers,—pity; but that sense is unsuited to the present passage: it seems to be used here for—remembrance, recollection.

—— _most goodlyhod_] i. e. perfect goodness.

v. 33. _praty_] i. e. pretty.

Page 26. v. 40. _mastres_] i. e. mistress.

v. 41. _nys_] i. e. ne is—is not.

v. 43. _more desyrous_] i. e. more desirable.

_Qd_] i. e. Quod, quoth.

v. 11. _rede_] i. e. advise.

v. 12. _fals poynt_] “This _fals poynt_ ... Hæc _fraus_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. s viii. ed. 1530.

v. 13. _fell_] i. e. skin.

Page 27. v. 15. _lesard_] In the Latin above, the corresponding word is _anguis_: long after Skelton’s time, the poor harmless lizard was reckoned venomous; so in Shakespeare’s _Third Part of Henry VI._, act ii. sc. 2., “_lizards’_ dreadful stings.”

v. 1. _rasyd_] i. e. torn, wounded. Skelton in his _Woffully Araid_ has

“See how a spere my hert dyd _race_.”

v. 45. vol. i. 142.

v. 3. _vaynys_ i. e. veins.

—— _blo_] i. e. livid. “_Blo_, blewe and grene coloured, as ones body is after a drie stroke, _iaunastre_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxxiiii. (Table of Adiect.).

v. 5. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse, adverse.

v. 7. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.

MANERLY MARGERY MYLK AND ALE.

Skelton mentions this piece among his works, in the _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1198. vol. i. 409. Sir John Hawkins, who printed it together with the music, says that it “appears to have been set by William Cornish of the Chapel Royal in the reign of Henry vii.” _Hist. of Music_, iii. 2.

Page 28. v. 1. _besherewe yow_] i. e. curse you,—confound you!

—— _be my fay_] i. e. by my faith.

v. 2. _This wanton clarkes be nyse all way_] i. e. These wanton scholars be always foolish, inclined to folly, to toyish tricks: compare our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_;

“Phyllyp, though he were _nyse_,
In him it was no vyse,” &c.

v. 173. vol. i. 56.

Page 28. v. 3. _Avent_] i. e. Avaunt.

—— _popagay_] i. e. parrot.

v. 5. _Tully valy_] Or _Tilly vally_—an exclamation of contempt, the origin of which is doubtful.

v. 6. _Gup_] See note, p. 99. v. 17.

—— _Cristian Clowte_] Compare our author’s _Colyn Cloute_;

“He coud not syng himselfe therout
But by the helpe of _Christyan Clout_.”

v. 880. vol. i. 345.

—— _Jak of the vale_] So our author in his _Magnyfycence_; “some iangelynge _Jacke of the vale_,” v. 260. vol. i. 234. Compare two pieces of a much later date;

“I am not now to tell a tale
Of George a Greene, or _Jacke a Vale_.”

_The Odcombian Banquet_, 1611. sig. C 3.

“And they had leauer printen _Jacke a vale_
Or Clim o Clough,” &c.

J. Davies,—_Other Eglogues_ annexed to _The Shepheards Pipe_, 1614.
sig. G 4.

v. 8. _Be_] i. e. By.

—— _praty pode_]—_praty_, i. e. pretty: _pode_, i. e., perhaps, toad. Compare Roy’s satire, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;

“A littell, _pratye_, foolysshe _poade_.”

_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 19. ed. Park.

v. 10. _Strawe, Jamys foder, ye play the fode_] The meaning of _Jamys foder_,—and whether “fode” is used here in the sense of—deceiver, one who feeds another with words (compare our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1719. vol. i. 281.),—I must leave the reader to determine.

v. 12. _bole_] i. e. (I suppose) bull.

v. 15. _I wiss_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).

v. 17. _piggesnye_] See note, p. 97. v. 20.

v. 19. _Be_] i. e. By.

—— _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.

v. 20. _japed bodely_] See Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxv. (Table of Verbes); Puttenham’s _Arte of English Poesie_, B. iii. c. xxii. p. 212. ed. 1589; and the Prologue to the anonymous old play, _Grim the Collier of Croydon_.

Page 29. v. 27. _thought_] i. e. sadness, grief: see note, p. 101. v. 10.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

“It is a _bouge of courte_. _Ceremonia aulica_ est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. s iii. ed. 1530. “_Bouche à Court._ _Budge-a-Court_, diet allowed at Court.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “The Kings Archers ... had _Bouch of Court_ (to wit, Meat and Drink) and great Wages of six Pence by the Day.” Stow’s _Survey_, B. vi. 49. ed. 1720.

“The poem called the BOUGE OF COURT, or the _Rewards of a Court_, is in the manner of a pageaunt, consisting of seven personifications. Here our author, in adopting the more grave and stately movement of the seven lined stanza, has shewn himself not always incapable of exhibiting allegorical imagery with spirit and dignity. But his comic vein predominates.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to.

“_Bouge of court_, a corruption of _bouche_, Fr. An allowance of meat and drink for the tables of the inferior officers, and others who were occasionally called to serve and entertain the court. Skelton has a kind of little drama called _Bouge of Court_, from the name of the _ship_ in which the dialogue takes place. It is a very severe satire, full of strong painting, and excellent poetry. The courtiers of Harry must have winced at it.” Gifford, note on Ben Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 428.

Page 30. v. 7. _to werre hym dyde dres_] i. e. did address, apply himself to war.

v. 15. _rede_] i. e. conceive, consider.

Page 31. v. 17. _aforce_] i. e. attempt.

v. 18. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.

v. 20. _illumyne_] i. e. embellish a subject.

v. 21. _Auysynge_] i. e. Advising.

v. 22. _he so_] i. e. who so.

v. 23. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.

v. 30. _ne wyste_] i. e. knew not.

v. 31. _sore enwered_]—_enwered_ means simply—wearied. Richardson (_Dict._ in v. _En_) observes that “Skelton appears to have wantoned in such compounds.”

v. 33. _I me dreste_] i. e. I addressed, applied myself.

v. 36.

_Methoughte I sawe a shyppe, goodly of sayle,_
_Come saylynge forth into that hauen brood,_
_Her takelynge ryche and of hye apparayle_]

Of this passage Mr. Wordsworth has a recollection in one of his noble Sonnets;

“_A goodly Vessel_ did I then espy
Come like a giant from a _haven broad_;
And lustily along the bay she strode,
_Her tackling rich, and of apparel high_.”

_Works_, iii. 34. ed. 1836.

Page 31. v. 39. _kyste_] i. e. cast.

v. 40. _what she had lode_] i. e. what she had been freighted with.

Page 32. v. 44. _prece_] i. e. press,—the throng.

v. 49. _hyghte_] i. e. is called.

v. 50. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.

v. 54. _chaffre_] i. e. merchandise.

v. 58. _traues_] Means here a sort of low curtain or screen.—Hall, describing the preparations for combat between the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, tells us that the former, having entered the lists, “set hym doune in a chayer of grene veluet whiche was set in a _trauers_ of grene and blewe veluet,” &c.; and that the latter “satte doune in his chayer whiche was Crimosen Veluet, _cortened_ [curtained] aboute with white and redde Damaske.” _Chron._ (_Henry IV._) fol. iii. ed. 1548.—At a later period, curtains, which were used on the stage as substitutes for scenes, were called _traverses_. See also Singer’s note on Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 167. ed. 1827, and Sir H. Nicolas’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York_, p. 259.

v. 60. _trone_] i. e. throne.

v. 61. _spere_] i. e. sphere.

v. 63. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge,—skill.

Page 33. v. 71. _prese_] i. e. press.

v. 72. _she trowed that I had eten sause_] Compare our author’s _Magnyfycence_;

“Ye haue _eten sauce, I trowe_, at the Taylors Hall.”

v. 1421. vol. i. 271.

v. 78. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 80. _glome_] i. e. glum,—sullen look, frown.

v. 82. _daynnously_] i. e. disdainfully.

—— _fro me she dyde fare_] i. e. from me she did go.

v. 83. _mased_] i. e. amazed, confounded.

v. 87. _Abasshe you not_] i. e. Be not abashed.

—— _hardely_] i. e. confidently.

v. 88. _Auaunce_] i. e. Advance.

v. 89. _chaffer_] i. e. merchandise.

v. 90. _I auyse you to speke, for ony drede_] i. e. I advise you to speak, notwithstanding any dread you may feel. Compare Lydgate;

“And _for_ al strengthe that gad yaf hym [Samson] before,
Thei hym captived.”

_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 48.

Page 33. v. 92. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

Page 34. v. 94. _And this an other_] i. e. And this is another reason.

v. 95. _not worth a bene_] _Bene_ (bean) is frequently used by our early poets to express any thing worthless:

“I yeue not of her harme _a bene_.”

Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 137. ed. 1602.

v. 96. _lene_] i. e. lend, furnish with.

v. 100. _cheuysaunce_] i. e. achievement,—profit, gain.

v. 101. _nys_] i. e. ne is,—is not.

v. 106. _werne_] i. e. warn.

v. 107. _styreth_] i. e. steereth, directeth.

v. 108. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 114. _luste_] i. e. pleasure, liking.

Page 35. v. 117. _casseth_] “_Casser_ ... to _casse_, cassere, discharge, turne out of service, deprive of entertainment.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._

v. 120. _route_] i. e. company, crowd.

v. 122. _thronge_] i. e. thronged.

v. 134. _Fauell_] Our author in his _Magnyfycence_ has,

“My tonge is with _fauell_ forked and tyned.”

v. 737. vol. i. 249.

Some readers need not be told how _Fauel_ figures in _Pierce Plowman_. Ritson (_An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 77) explains the word by deceit, referring to the present passage of _The Bowge of Courte_; but Mason (note on Hoccleve’s _Poems_, p. 42) observes that here “_Favel_ and _Disceyte_ are distinct personages, though the latter (for the sake of rhyme,) is first called _Subtylte_,” and considers that Carpentier, in his Sup. to Du Cange, gives the truest explanation of _Favel_ by _Cajolerie_. See also _Supplement_ to Roquefort’s _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._ in v. _Favelle_. The origin of the word, after all that has been written on it, seems still uncertain.

v. 137. _Mysdempte_] i. e. Misdeemed.

v. 138. _Haruy Hafter_] Eds., as already noticed, have “_Haruy_ Haster;” and in the fourth of Skelton’s _Poems against Garnesche_, v. 164. vol. i. 131, the MS. gives the name with the same error. Compare our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_;

“Hauell and Haruy _Hafter_.”

v. 94. vol. ii. 29.

and his _Magnyfycence_;

“Nowe, _benedicite_, ye wene I were some _hafter_.”

v. 259. vol. i. 233.

“Craftynge and _haftynge_ contryued is by me.”

v. 707. vol. i. 248.

“For to vse suche _haftynge_ and crafty wayes.”

v. 1698. vol. i. 280.

“And from crafters and _hafters_ I you forfende.”

v. 2485. vol. i. 307.

The sense in which Skelton employs these words is fully illustrated by the following passages of Hormanni _Vulgaria_, ed. 1530: “This was a subtyle and an _haftynge_ poynt. Astus fuit, et _versatilis ingenii_ argumentum. He is a _hafter_ of kynde. Est _versutiæ_ ingenitæ homo.” sig. N vi. “A flaterynge _hafter_ is soone espyed of a wyse man. Sedulus _captator_,” &c. sig. O ii. “There is nothynge more set by nowe than subtyle _hafters ... callidis_.” sig. O iii. “There is an _haftynge_ poynt, or a false subtylte. _Stellionatus crimen_ est.” sig. n iiii. “—— _haftynge ... dolus malus_.” sig. s viii.

Page 35. v. 138. _male_] i. e. bag, wallet, pouch.

Page 36. v. 143. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.

v. 144. _solace_] i. e. sport.

v. 149. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.

v. 150. _Deynte to haue with vs suche one in store_] In Chaucer’s _Clerkes Tale_, v. 8988, Tyrwhitt explains (and rightly, I believe) “_it was deintee_”—it was a valuable thing. But both in the present passage, and in a subsequent stanza of the same poem—

“Trowest thou, dreuyll, I saye, thou gawdy knaue,
That I haue _deynte_ to see thé cherysshed thus?”

v. 337—

“deynte” seems to be equivalent to—pleasure: compare

“Bycause that he hath ioye and great _deintye_
To reade in bokes of olde antiquitye.”

Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_ (_Prologue_), sig. B i. ed. 1555.

“Adew, dolour, adew! my _daynte_ now begynis.”

Dunbar’s tale of _The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo_,—_Poems_, i. 76.
ed. Laing.

v. 154. _it is surmountynge_] i. e. it is surpassing, it excels.

v. 155. _ony_ i. e. any.

Page 37. v. 173. _lewde cok wattes_]—_lewde_, i. e. ignorant, vile. Compare our author’s third copy of verses _Against venemous tongues_;

“Than ye may commaunde me to gentil _Cok wat_.”—vol. i. 132.

and his _Magnyfycence_;

“What canest thou do but play _cocke wat_?”

v. 1206. vol. i. 264.

Is _cock wat_ only another form of _cockward_, i. e. cuckold? See _Arthur and the King of Cornwall_, p. 279,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c., edited by Sir F. Madden.

Page 37. v. 174. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.

v. 175. _but no worde that I sayde_] i. e. but mention not a word that I said.

v. 180. _reboke_] i. e. belch, cast up.

“As grunting and drinking, _reboking_ vp agayne.”

Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 229. ed. 1570.

v. 181. _at a brayde_] i. e. at a start, at a turn, on a sudden, forthwith.

v. 183. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 184. _lete_] i. e. hinder.

v. 186. _Twyst_] i. e. Tush.

—— _ne reke_] i. e. reck not.

v. 187. _a soleyne freke_]—_soleyne_, i. e. sullen: _freke_ is here equivalent to—fellow. See Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Freik_, for the various senses in which the word was used.

v. 189. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.

v. 191. _whom and ha_] i. e. hum and ha.

v. 193. _quoke_] i. e. quaked.

Page 38. v. 198. _commaunde_] i. e. communed, conversed.

—— _party space_] May mean—a short space; but (as I have noticed _ad loc._) “_party_” is probably a misprint for “_praty_” (pretty).

v. 199. _auowe_] i. e. vow.

“That hyr _auowe_ maad of chastyte.”

Lydgate’s _Lyf of our Lady_, sig. b i.

v. 210. _auyse_] i. e. advice.

v. 215. _shryue me_] i. e. confess myself, tell my mind.

v. 216. _plenarely_] i. e. fully.

v. 219. _dyscure_] i. e. discover.

v. 221. _with all my besy cure_] i. e. with all my busy care,—a common expression in our early poetry.

Page 39. v. 225. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 226. _all and some_] Another expression frequently used by our early poets. “All and some: _Tout entierement_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlviii. (Table of Aduerbes).

v. 228. _he wolde be come_] i. e. he would go.

v. 231. _lyghte as lynde_] So in _Annunciacio_;

“A, what, I am _light as lynde_!”

_Towneley Myst._ p. 80.

and in Chaucer’s _Clerkes Tale_;

“Be ay of chere _as light as_ lefe on _linde_.”

v. 9087. ed. Tyr.

_Lynde_ is properly the linden or lime-tree,—used for a tree in general.

Page 39. v. 232. _a versynge boxe_] Does it mean—a dice-box?

v. 233. _fayne_] See note, p. 95. v. 53.

v. 234. _foxe_] i. e. fox-skin.

v. 235. _Sythe I am no thynge playne_] i. e. Since I, &c.—the commencement of some song.

v. 236. _pykynge_] i. e. picking, stealing.

—— _payne_] i. e. difficulty.

v. 239. _sadde_] i. e. grave, serious.

v. 243. _auowe_] See note on v. 199.

v. 245. _and ye wolde it reherse_] i. e. if you would recite it.

Page 40. v. 252. _Heue and how rombelow_] A chorus of high antiquity, (sung chiefly, it would seem, by sailors):

“They sprede theyr sayles as voyde of sorowe
Forthe they rowed saynt George to borowe
For ioye theyr trumpettes dyde they blowe
And some songe _heue and howe rombelowe_.”

_Cocke Lorelles bote_, sig. C i.

“Synge _heaue and howe rombelowe_, trolle on away.”

Burden to the Ballad _On Thomas Lord Cromwell_,—Percy’s _Rel. of
A. E. P._, ii. 64. ed. 1794.

Varied thus:

“Wit[h], _hey, howe, rumbelowe_.”

Skelton’s _Epitaphe_, &c., v. 61. vol. i. 171.

“They rowede hard, and sungge thertoo,
With _heuelow and rumbeloo_.”

_Richard Coer de Lion_,—Weber’s _Met. Rom._ ii. 99.

“Maydens of Englande sore may ye morne
For your lemmans ye haue loste at Bannockys borne,
Wyth _heue a lowe_.
What weneth the king of England
So soone to haue wone Scotland,
Wyth _rumbylowe_.”

Scottish Song on the Battle of Bannockburn,—Fabyan’s _Chron._, vol. ii.
fol. 169. ed. 1559.

“Your maryners shall synge arowe
_Hey how and rumby lowe_.”

_The Squyr of Lowe Degre_,—Ritson’s _Met. Rom._ iii. 179.

“I saw three ladies fair, singing _hey and how_,
Upon yon ley land, hey:
I saw three mariners, singing _rumbelow_,
Upon yon sea-strand, hey.”

Song quoted _ibid._, iii. 353.

“Where were many shippes and maryners noyse with _hale & how_.”

_Morte d’Arthur_, B. vii. c. xv. vol. i. 209. ed. Southey.

“Hope, Calye, and Cardronow,
Gathered out thick-fold,
With _heigh, and how, rumbelow_,
The young fools were full bold.”

_Peblis to the Play_,—Chalmers’s _Poet. Rem. of Scot. Kings_, p. 108.

“Robin Hood and Little John
They are both gone to fair O!
And we will go to the merry green wood,
To see what they do there O!
With _Hel-an-tow_
_And Rum-be-low_,” &c.

Cornish Song,—_Gent. Mag._ for Dec. 1790. vol. lx. (part sec.) 1100.

Among the songs enumerated in _The Complaynt of Scotland_ is “Sal i go vitht zou to _rumbelo_ fayr,” p. 101. ed. Leyden: and in _Hycke Scorner_ mention is made of

“the londe of _rumbelowe_
Thre myle out of hell.”

Sig. A vii. ed. W. de Worde.

Page 40. v. 252. _row the bote, Norman, rowe!_] A fragment of an old song, the origin of which is thus recorded by Fabyan: “In this. xxxii. yere [of King Henry the Sixth] Jhon Norman foresaid, vpon the morowe of Simon and Judes daie, thaccustomed day when the newe Maior vsed yerely to ride with greate pompe vnto westminster to take his charge, this Maior firste of all Maiors brake that auncient and olde continued custome, and was rowed thither by water, for the whiche yᵉ Watermen made of hym a roundell or song to his greate praise, the whiche began: _Rowe the bote Norman, rowe_ to thy lemman, and so forth with a long processe.” _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 457. ed. 1559.

v. 253. _Prynces of yougthe can ye synge by rote?_] The meaning of this line seems to be—Can you sing by rote the song beginning, _Princess of youth_? Skelton, in his _Garlande of Laurell_, calls Lady Anne Dakers

“_Princes of yowth_, and flowre of goodly porte.”

v. 897. vol. i. 398.

Page 40. v. 254. _Or shall I sayle wyth you a felashyp assaye_] i. e., I suppose,—Or try, of good fellowship, (or, perhaps, together with me,) the song which commences _Shall I sail with you?_ Compare the quotation from _The Complaynt of Scotland_ in preceding page.

“Nowe, _of good felowshyp_, let me by thy dogge.”

Skelton’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1095. vol. i. 260.

“_Yng._ But yf thou wylt haue a song that is good
I haue one of robynhode
The best that euer was made.

_Hu._ Then _a feleshyp_ let vs here it.”

_Interlude of the iiii Elementes_, n. d. sig. E vii.

v. 259. _bobbe me on the noll_] i. e. beat me on the head.

v. 261. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge.

v. 262. _gete_] i. e. got.

v. 269. _wyste_] i. e. knew.

v. 275. _vnneth_] i. e. scarcely, not without difficulty.

Page 41. v. 276. _But I requyre you no worde that I saye_] i. e. But I beg you not to mention a word of what I say.

v. 277. _ony_] i. e. any.

v. 278. _agayne you_] i. e. against you, to your disadvantage.

—— _wetynge_] i. e. knowledge, intelligence.

v. 283. _wonderly besene_] i. e. of strange appearance, or array. “Well _bysene_: Bien _accoustré_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes).

v. 284. _hawte_] i. e. haughty.

v. 285. _scornnys_] i. e. scorns.

v. 286. _hode_] i. e. hood.

v. 287. _by Cockes blode_] i. e. by God’s blood (_Cock_ a corruption of _God_). “The Host’s oath in Lydgate,” says Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 349. ed. 4to. It occurs often in other writers.

v. 288. _bote_] i. e. bit.

v. 289. _His face was belymmed, as byes had him stounge_] i. e. His face was disfigured, as if bees had stung him.—In a fragment of Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces, MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 97, we find

“So that a _by_ myght close hem both two
Vnder his wynges;”

where Wayland’s ed. (B. ii. leaf li.) has “a _Bee_.”

v. 290. _jape_] i. e. jest, joke.

Page 41. v. 294. _this comerous crabes hyghte_] i. e. (I suppose) this troublesome crab was called.—Warton (_Hist. of E. P._ ii. 350) cites, without the authority of any ed., “—— crab is _hyghte_.”

v. 297. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 298. _euyll apayed_] i. e. ill satisfied, ill pleased.

v. 301. _Dawes_] Equivalent to—simpleton; the _daw_ being reckoned a silly bird: so again, in the next line but one, “doctour _Dawcocke_.”

Page 42. v. 302. _in conceyte_] i. e. in the good opinion, favour of our Lady Fortune: compare v. 270.

v. 303. _hyghte_] i. e. is called.

v. 304. _sleyte_] i. e. sleight, artful contrivance.

v. 311. _layne_] i. e. conceal.

v. 312. _beyte_] i. e. bait.

v. 315. _And soo outface hym with a carde of ten_] “A common phrase,” says Nares, “which we may suppose to have been derived from some game, (possibly _primero_), wherein the standing boldly upon a _ten_ was often successful. _A card of ten_ meant a tenth card, a ten.... I conceive the force of the phrase to have expressed originally the confidence or impudence of one who with a ten, as at brag, _faced_, or _outfaced_ one who had really a faced card against him. To face meant, as it still does, to bully, to attack by impudence of face.” _Gloss._ in v. _Face it_, &c. “The phrase of _a card of ten_ was possibly derived, by a jocular allusion, from that of _a hart of ten_, in hunting, which meant a full grown deer, one past six years of age.” _Ibid._ in v. _Card of ten_.

v. 316. _assawte_] i. e. assault.

v. 317. _meuyd all in moode_] i. e. moved all in anger.

v. 318. _fawte_] i. e. fault.

v. 320. _I wende he had be woode_] i. e. I thought he had been mad.

v. 327. _hayne_] i. e. (perhaps) hind, slave, peasant.

v. 329. _suche maysters to playe_] i. e. to play such pranks of assumed superiority. Compare v. 341. See Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Maistryss_.

Page 43. v. 330. _I am of countenaunce_] i. e. perhaps, I am a person of credit, good means, consequence (see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 111).

v. 332. _dyspleasaunce_] i. e. displeasure.

v. 334. _no force_] i. e. no matter.

v. 336. _auenture_] i. e. adventure.

v. 337. _dreuyll_] i. e. drudge, low fellow. “_Dryuyll_ seruaunt.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499; and see also Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v. _Drivel_.

Page 43. v. 338. _have deynte_] See note on v. 150. p. 108.

v. 340. _Well, ones thou shalte be chermed, I wus_] i. e. Well, one time or other thou shalt be charmed (quelled, as if by a charm), certainly (_I wus—i-wis,_ adv.).

v. 344. _Ryotte_] “Is forcibly and humorously pictured.” Warton, _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.

v. 345. _A rusty gallande, to-ragged and to-rente_] i. e. A shabby gallant, utterly ragged and tattered: see note on v. 32. p. 100.

v. 346. _bones_] i. e. dice.

v. 348. _by saynte Thomas of Kente_] i. e. by saint Thomas a Becket:

“Thought I, _By saint Thomas of Kent_,” &c.

Chaucer’s _House of Fame_,—_Workes_, fol. 267. ed. 1602.

The picture of Ryotte in the present passage and in v. 389 sqq. gave birth no doubt to the following lines in a poem called _Syrs spare your good_;

No by my faith he saide incontinente
But by saint Thomas of Kente
I woulde haue at the hasarde a cast or two
For to learne to caste the dyce to and fro
And if here be any body that wyll for money playe
I haue yet in my purse money and pledges gaye
Some be nobles some be crownes of Fraunce
Haue at all who wyll of this daunce
One of them answered with that worde
And caste a bale of dyce on the borde,” &c.

I quote from _Brit. Bibliog._ ii. 371, where are extracts from an ed. of the poem printed by Kytson, n. d.: it originally appeared from the press of W. de Worde; see _Cens. Liter._ i. 55. sec. ed.

v. 349. _kyst I wote nere what_] i. e. cast I know never (not) what.

v. 350. _His here was growen thorowe oute his hat_] i. e. His hair, &c. Compare Barclay’s _Argument of the first Egloge_;

“At diuers holes _his heare grewe through his hode._”

Sig. A i. ed. 1570.

and Heywood’s _Dialogue_;

“There is a nest of chickens which he doth brood
That will sure _make his hayre growe through his hood_.”

Sig. G 2.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

Ray gives, “_His hair grows through his hood_. He is very poor, his hood is full of holes.” _Proverbs_, p. 57. ed. 1768.

Page 43. v. 351. _how he dysgysed was_] i. e. what a wretched plight he was in:

“Ragged and torne, _disguised_ in array.”

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

v. 352. _watchynge ouer nyghte_] i. e. over-night’s debauch:

“Withdraw your hand fro riotous _watchyng_.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. ix. fol. xxxi. ed. Wayland.

v. 354. _ne couer myghte_] i. e. might not cover.

v. 355. _he wente so all for somer lyghte_]—_somer_, i. e. summer.

Compare;

“For he sente hem forth selverles, in _a somer garnement_.”

_Peirs Plouhman_, Pass. Dec. p. 153. ed. Whit.

“It semed that he caried litel array,
_Al light for sommer_ rode this worthy man.”

Chaucer’s _Chanones Yemannes Prol._ v. 16035. ed. Tyr.

See too Bale’s _Kyng Iohan_, p. 34. ed. Camd. Soc.; and our author’s _Phyllyp Sparowe_, v. 719. vol. i. 73.

v. 356. _His hose was garded wyth a lyste of grene_] i. e. his breeches were faced, trimmed with, &c. “There was an affectation of smartness in the trimming of his hose.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.

Page 44. v. 359. _Of Kyrkeby Kendall was his shorte demye_] Kendal, or Kirkby in Kendal, was early famous for the manufacture of cloth of various colours, particularly green. Here the word “Kendall” seems equivalent to—green: so too in Hall’s _Chronicle_, where we are told that Henry the Eighth, with a party of noblemen, “came sodainly in a mornyng into the Quenes Chambre, all appareled in shorte cotes of Kentishe _Kendal_ ... like outlawes, or Robyn Hodes men.” (_Henry viii._) fol. vi. ed. 1548.—_demye_; i. e., says Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to., “doublet, jacket:” rather, I believe, some sort of close vest,—his “cote” having been mentioned in the preceding line.

v. 360. _In fayth, decon thou crewe_] The commencement of some song; quoted again by our author in _A deuoute trentale for old Iohn Clarke_, v. 44. vol. i. 170, and in _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 63. vol. ii. 28.

v. 361. _he ware his gere so nye_] i. e., I suppose, he wore his clothes so near, so thoroughly. But Warton explains it “his coat-sleeve was so short.” Note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to.

v. 363. _whynarde_] i. e. a sort of hanger, sword.

Page 44. v. 363.

—— _his pouche_,
_The deuyll myghte daunce therin for ony crouche_]

—_ony crowche_, i. e. any piece of money,—many coins being marked with a _cross_ on one side. “The devil might dance in his purse without meeting with a single sixpence.” Warton, note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 348. ed. 4to. So in Massinger’s _Bashful Lover_;

“The devil sleeps in my pocket; _I have no cross_
_To drive him from it_.”

_Works_ (by Gifford), iv. 398. ed. 1813.

v. 365. _Counter he coude O lux vpon a potte_]—_Counter_; see note, p. 92:—i. e. he could sing _O lux_, playing an accompaniment to his voice on a drinking-pot. _O lux beata Trinitas_ was an ancient hymn, “which,” says Hawkins, “seems to have been a very popular melody before the time of King Henry viii.” _Hist. of Music_, ii. 354. In a comedy by the Duke of Newcastle is a somewhat similar passage: “I danced a Jig, while Tom Brutish whistled and _play’d upon the head of a pint pot_.” _The Humorous Lovers_, 1677, act i. sc. 1. p. 5.

v. 366. _eestryche fedder_] i. e. ostrich-feather.

v. 367. _fresshely_ i. e. smartly.

v. 368. _What reuell route_] Compare;

“And euer be mery lett _reuell rought_.”

_A Morality,—Anc. Mysteries from the Digby MSS._ p. 187. ed. Abbotsf.

“Then made they _revell route_ and goodly glee.”

Spenser’s _Mother Hubberds Tale_,—_Works_, vii. 428. ed. Todd.

—— _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 370. _Felyce fetewse_]—_Felyce_, i. e. Phillis: _fetewse_, i. e. feateous; “_Fetyce_ and prety. Paruiculus. Elegantulus.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

v. 371. _klycked_] i. e. fastened. In Chaucer’s _Marchantes Tale_, v. 9991. ed. Tyr., “_clicket_” means a key. Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v.) cites Cotgrave and Skinner for its having the signification of the ring, knocker, or hammer of a door. Richardson (_Dict._ in v.) remarks that the word was “applied to any fastening which was accompanied by a _clicking_, snapping noise.”

v. 372. _rebaudrye_] i. e. ribaldry.

v. 375. _in the deuylles date_] An exclamation several times used by Skelton.—In _Pierce Plowman_, a charter, which is read at the proposed marriage of Mede, is sealed “_in the date of the deuil_,” sig. C i. ed. 1561.

v. 378. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note on v. 199. p. 109.

Page 44. v. 380. _done_] i. e. do.

v. 382. _wake_] See note on v. 352. p. 115.

—— _none_] i. e. noon.

v. 383. _mone_] i. e. moon.

Page 45. v. 386. _Plucke vp thyne herte vpon a mery pyne_] “Vpon a mery pynne: _De hayt_, as _Il a le cueur de hayt_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes). The expression occurs often in our early poetry; and is found even in one of Wycherley’s comedies.

v. 387. _And lete vs laugh a placke or tweyne at nale_]—“plucke,” as I have observed _ad loc._, seems to be the right reading, though the word occurs in the preceding line: compare _Thersytes_, n. d.

“Darest thou trye maystries with me a _plucke_.”

p. 60. Rox. ed.

and a song quoted in the note on our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 757;

“A stoupe of bere vp at _a pluk_.”

_at nale_, (_atten ale_, _at then ale_; see Price’s note, Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 501. ed. 1824), i. e. at the ale-house.

v. 389. _of dyce a bale_] i. e. a pair of dice.

v. 390. _A brydelynge caste_] An expression which I am unable to explain. It occurs (but applied to drinking) in Beaumont and Fletcher’s _Scornful Lady_;

“Let’s have _a bridling cast_ before you go.
Fill’s a new stoop.”

act ii. sc. 2.

—— _male_] i. e. bag, wallet, pouch.

v. 391. _burde_] i. e. board.

v. 393. _the dosen browne_] Is used sometimes to signify thirteen; as in a rare piece entitled _A Brown Dozen of Drunkards_, &c., 1648. 4to., who are _thirteen_ in number. But in our text “the dosen browne” seems merely to mean the full dozen: so in a tract (_Letter from a Spy at Oxford_) cited by Grey in his notes on _Hudibras_, vol. ii. 375; “and this was the twelfth Conquest, which made up the Conqueror’s _brown Dozen_ in Number, compared to the twelve Labours of Hercules.”

v. 394. _pas_] Seems here to be equivalent to—stake; but I have not found _pass_ used with that meaning in any works on gaming. See _The Compleat Gamester_, p. 119. ed. 1680.

v. 397. _in my pouche a buckell I haue founde_] So in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, after Foly and Fansy have exchanged purses, the latter says

“Here is nothynge but _the bockyll of a sho_,
And in my purse was twenty marke.”

v. 1120. vol. i. 261.

Page 45. v. 398. _The armes of Calyce_] In our author’s _Magnyfycence_ is the same exclamation;

“By _the armes of Calys_, well conceyued!”

V. 685. vol. i. 247.

Whether Calais in France, or Cales (Cadiz) be alluded to, I know not.

—— _crosse_] See note on v. 363. p. 116.

v. 399. _renne_] i. e. run.

v. 401. _To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte_] i. e. To know if Malkin, my mistress, has got aught:—whether _Malkin_ is the diminutive of _Mal_ (Mary) has been disputed.

v. 406. _Bordews_] i. e. Bordeaux.

v. 408. _auenture_] i. e. adventure.

v. 411. _curtel_] i. e. curtal.

v. 412. _lege_] i. e. allege.

v. 413. _haue here is myne hat to plege_] Marshe’s ed., as I have noticed _ad loc._, omits “is:” but compare our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_;

“_Haue here is_ for me,
A cloute of London pynnes.”

v. 563. vol. i. 113.

“_Haue._ i. take the this torne or thredebare garment.” Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540. sig. U ii.

Page 46. v. 414. _rybaude_] i. e. ribald.

v. 418. _kyste_] i. e. cast.

v. 420. _sadde_] i. e. serious, earnest.

v. 423. _stede_] i. e. place.

v. 425. _Me passynge sore myne herte than gan agryse_] For the reading of all the eds. “aryse,” I have ventured to substitute “agryse,” i. e. cause to shudder. Compare;

“_Sore_ might _hir agrise_.”

_Arthour and Merlin_, p. 34. ed. Abbotsf.

“Of his sweuen _sore him agros_.”

_Marie Maudelein_, p. 226,—Turnbull’s _Legendæ Catholicæ_ (from the
Auchinleck MS.).

“The kinges _herte_ of pitee _gan agrise_.”

Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 5034. ed. Tyr.

“Swiche peines, that your _hertes_ might _agrise_.”

Chaucer’s _Freres Tale_, v. 7231. ed. Tyr.

v. 426. _I dempte and drede_] i. e. I deemed and dreaded.

v. 428. _Than in his hode, &c._]—_hode_, i. e. hood.—This passage is quoted by Warton, who observes, “There is also merit in the delineation of DISSIMULATION ... and it is not unlike Ariosto’s manner in imagining these allegorical personages.” _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 349. ed. 4to.

Page 46. v. 431. _coost_] i. e. coast, approach.

v. 433. _I sawe a knyfe hyd in his one sleue_]—_sleue_, i. e. sleeve.—This picture somewhat resembles that of False Semblant;

“But _in his sleue he gan to thring_
_A rasour sharpe_.”

Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 141. ed. 1602.

v. 434. _Myscheue_] i. e. Mischief.

v. 436. _spone_] i. e. spoon.

v. 437. _to preue a dawe_] i. e. to prove, try a simpleton: see note on v. 301. p. 113.—Warton, who gives the other reading, “_to preye_ a dawe,” explains it—to catch a silly bird. Note on _Hist. of E. P._ ii. 349. ed. 4to.

v. 438. _wrete_] i. e. writ.

Page 47. v. 440. _His hode was syde, his cope was roset graye_] i. e. His hood was long (or full), his cope was russet grey.

v. 445. _a connynge man ne dwelle maye_] i. e. a wise, a learned man may not dwell.

v. 448. _that nought can_] i. e. that knows nothing.

v. 454. _clerke_] i. e. scholar.

v. 455. _in the deuylles date_] See note on v. 375. p. 116.

v. 456. _longe_] i. e. belong.

v. 457. _lewde_] i. e. wicked.

v. 460. _herte brennynge_] i. e. heart-burning.

v. 464. _It is a worlde_] Equivalent to—It is a matter of wonder.

Page 48. v. 466. _A man can not wote where to be come_] i. e. A man cannot know whither to go: compare v. 228.

v. 467. _I wys_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).

—— _home_] i. e. hum.

v. 470. _frere_] i. e. friar.

v. 471. _agayne_] i. e. against.

v. 476. _shall wene be hanged by the throte_] i. e. (I suppose) shall think themselves hanged, &c.

v. 477. _a stoppynge oyster_] Compare Heywood;

“Herewithall his wife to make vp my mouth,
Not onely her husbands taunting tale auouth,
But thereto deuiseth to cast in my teeth
Checks and _choking oysters_.”

_Dialogue_, sig. E,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

v. 477. _poke_] i. e. pouch.

v. 484. _teder_] i. e. toder, t’other.

v. 486. _dreuyll_] See note on v. 337, p. 113.

Page 48. v. 488. _on flote_] i. e. flowing, full.

v. 490. _hode_] i. e. hood.

v. 491. _but what this is ynowe_] i. e. but that this is enough.

Page 49. v. 502. _Sterte_] i. e. Started.

v. 504. _nobles_] i. e. the gold coins so called.

v. 508. _His hode all pounsed and garded_]—_hode_, i. e. hood: _pounsed_, i. e. perforated, having small holes stamped or worked in it, by way of ornament—_garded_, i. e. adorned with _gards_, facings.

v. 510. _quod_] i. e. quoth.

v. 513. _rounde_] i. e. whisper,—or, rather, mutter, for Skelton (_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 250. vol. i. 372) and other poets make a distinction between _whisper_ and _round_:

“Me lyste not now. whysper _nether rowne_.”

Lydgate’s _Storye of Thebes, Pars Prima_, sig. b vii. ed. 4to. n. d.

“Whisper _and rounde_ thinges ymagined falsly.”

Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 208. ed. 1570.

“They’re here with me already, whispering, _rounding_.”

Shakespeare’s _Winter’s Tale_, act i. sc. 2.

v. 521. _hafte_] See note on v. 138. p. 108.

v. 522. _payne_] i. e. difficulty.

Page 50. v. 525. _shrewes_] i. e. wicked, worthless fellows.

v. 527. _confetryd_] i. e. confederated.

v. 528. _lewde_] i. e. vile, rascally.

v. 529. _slee_] i. e. slay.

v. 530. _hente_] i. e. seized.

v. 536. _Syth_] i. e. Since.

PHYLLYP SPAROWE

Must have been written before the end of 1508; for it is mentioned with contempt in the concluding lines of Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, which was finished in that year: see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.

The _Luctus in morte Passeris_ of Catullus no doubt suggested the present production to Skelton, who, when he calls on “all maner of byrdes” (v. 387) to join in lamenting Philip Sparow, seems also to have had an eye to Ovid’s elegy _In mortem Psittaci, Amor_. ii. 6. Another piece of the kind is extant among the compositions of antiquity,—the _Psittacus Atedii Melioris_ of Statius, _Silv_. ii. 4. In the _Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Socraticæ Joco-seriæ_, &c., of Dornavius, i. 460 sqq. may be found various Latin poems on the deaths, &c. of sparrows by writers posterior to the time of Skelton. See too Herrick’s lines _Upon the death of his Sparrow, an Elegie, Hesperides_, 1648. p. 117; and the verses entitled _Phyllis on the death of her Sparrow_, attributed to Drummond, _Works_, 1711. p. 50.

“Old Skelton’s ‘Philip Sparrow,’ an exquisite and original poem.” Coleridge’s _Remains_, ii. 163.

Page 51. v. 1. _Pla ce bo, &c._] Skelton is not the only writer that has taken liberties with the Romish service-book. In Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_, parts of it are sung by various birds; _Domine, labia_ by the nightingale, _Venite_ by the eagle, &c., _Workes_, fol. 333. ed. 1602: in a short poem by Lydgate “dyuerse foules” are introduced singing different hymns. _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 37: and see too a poem (attributed, without any authority, to Skelton) called _Armony of Byrdes_, n. d., reprinted (inaccurately) in _Typog. Antiq._ iv. 380. ed. Dibdin; and Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Complaynt of the Papingo, Works_, i. 325. ed. Chalmers. In _Reynard the Fox_ we are told that at the burial of “coppe, chanteklers doughter,”—“Tho begonne they _placebo domino_, with the verses that to longen,” &c. Sig. a 8. ed. 1481. Compare also the mock _Requiem_ printed (somewhat incorrectly) from _MS. Cott. Vesp._ B. 16. in Ritson’s _Antient Songs_, i. 118. ed. 1829; Dunbar’s _Dirige to the King at Stirling, Poems_, i. 86. ed. Laing; and the following lines of a rare tract entitled _A Commemoration or Dirige of Boner_, &c., by Lemeke Auale, 1569,—

“_Placebo_. Bo. Bo. Bo. Bo. Bo.
_Heu me_, beware the bugge, out quod Boner alas,
_De profundis clamaui_, how is this matter come to passe.
_Lævaui oculos meos_ from a darke depe place,” &c.

sig. A viii.

Other pieces of the kind might be pointed out.

v. 6. _Wherfore and why, why?_] So in the _Enterlude of Kyng Daryus_, 1565;

“Thys is the cause _wherfore and why_.”

sig. G ii.

v. 7. _Philip Sparowe_] _Philip_, or _Phip_, was a familiar name given to a sparrow from its note being supposed to resemble that sound.

v. 8. _Carowe_] Was a nunnery in the suburbs of Norwich. “Here [at Norwich],” says Tanner, “was an ancient hospital or nunnery dedicated to St. Mary and St. John; to which K. Stephen having given lands and meadows without the south gate, Seyna and Leftelina two of the sisters, A.D. 1146, began the foundation of a new monastery called Kairo, Carow, or Carhou, which was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, and consisted of a prioress and nine Benedictine nuns.” _Not. Mon._ p. 347. ed. 1744. In 1273, Pope Gregory the Tenth inhibited the Prioress and convent from receiving more nuns than their income would maintain, upon their representation that the English nobility, whom they could not resist, had obliged them to take in so many sisters that they were unable to support them. At the Dissolution the number of nuns was twelve. The site of the nunnery, within the walls, contained about ten acres. It was granted, with its chief revenues, in the 30th Henry viii. to Sir John Shelton, knight, who fitted up the parlour and hall, which were noble rooms, when he came to reside there, not long after the Dissolution. It continued in the Shelton family for several generations.

This nunnery was during many ages a place of education for the young ladies of the chief families in the diocese of Norwich, who boarded with and were taught by the nuns. The fair Jane or Johanna Scroupe of the present poem was, perhaps, a boarder at Carow.

See more concerning Carow in Dugdale’s _Monast._ (new ed.) iv. 68 sqq., and Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, ii. 862 sqq. ed. fol.

Page 51. v. 9. _Nones Blake_] i. e. Black Nuns,—Benedictines.

v. 12. _bederolles_] i. e. lists of those to be prayed for.

Page 52. v. 24. _The tearys downe hayled_] So Hawes;

“That euermore the salte _teres downe hayled_.”

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

v. 27. _Gyb our cat_] _Gib_, a contraction of _Gilbert_, was a name formerly given to a male cat:

“_Gibbe our Cat_,
That awaiteth Mice and Rattes to killen.”

_Romaunt of the Rose_,—Chaucer’s _Workes_, fol. 136. ed. 1602.

In _Gammer Gurtons Nedle_, 1575, “_Gib our cat_” is a person of consequence. Shakespeare (_Henry iv. Part First_, act i. sc. 2.) has the expression “gib cat;” and how his commentators have written “about it and about it” most readers are probably aware.

v. 29. _Worrowyd her on that_] So Dunbar;

“He that dois _on_ dry breid _wirry_.”

_Poems_, i. 108. ed. Laing.

v. 34. _stounde_] i. e. moment, time.

v. 35. _sounde_] i. e. swoon.

v. 37. _Vnneth I kest myne eyes_] i. e. Scarcely, not without difficulty, I cast, &c.

v. 42. _Haue rewed_] i. e. Have had compassion.

Page 52. v. 46. _senaws_] i. e. sinews.

Page 53. v. 58. _frete_] i. e. eat, gnaw.

v. 69. _marees_] i. e. waters.

v. 70. _Acherontes well_] i. e. Acheron’s well. So,—after the fashion of our early poets,—Skelton writes _Zenophontes_ for _Xenophon_, _Eneidos_ for _Eneis_, _Achilliedos_ for _Achilleis_, &c.

v. 75. _blo_] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.

v. 76. _mare_] i. e. hag.—“_Mare_ or witche.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.

v. 77. _fende_] i. e. fiend.

v. 78. _edders_] i. e. adders.

v. 82. _sowre_] In Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530, is “_Sower_ of smellyng,” fol. xcvi. (Table of Adiect.),—a sense of the word which Skelton has elsewhere (third poem _Against Garnesche_, v. 146. vol. i. 124), and which therefore probably applies to the present passage. But qy. does “sowre” signify here—foul? “_Sowre_ filthe. Fimus. Cenum. Lutum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “_Sowry_ or defiled in _soure_ or filth,” &c. _Id._

“The riuer cler withouten _sour_.”

_Arthour and Merlin_, p. 320. ed. Abbotsf.

v. 87. _outraye_] “I _Outray_ a persone (Lydgate) I do some outrage or extreme hurt to hym. _Ie oultrage_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxi. (Table of Verbes).

“The childe playes hym at the balle,
That salle _owttraye_ zow alle.”

_The Awntyrs of Arthurs_, p. 110. (_Syr Gawayne, &c._)

where Sir F. Madden explains it “injure, destroy.”—In our text, “outraye” is equivalent to—vanquish, overcome; and so in the following passages;

“The cause why Demostenes so famously is brutid,
Onely procedid for that he did _outray_
Eschines, whiche was not shamefully confutid
But of that famous oratour, I say,
Whiche passid all other; wherfore I may
Among my recordes suffer hym namyd,
For though he were _venquesshid_, yet was he not shamyd.”

Skelton’s _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 155. vol. i. 368.

(Richardson, in his valuable _Dictionary_, v. _Out-rage_, &c., says that, in the stanza just cited, _outray_ “is evidently—to exceed, to excel;” but the last line of the stanza, together with the present passage of _Phyllyp Sparowe_, and the annexed quotations from Lydgate, shew that he is mistaken.)

“Whom Hercules most strong and coragious,
Sumtime _outraid_, and slewe hym with his hand.”

Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxvii. ed. Wayland.

“Al be that Cresus faught long in hys defence,
He finally by Cyrus was _outrayed_,
And depriued by knyghtly vyolence,
Take in the felde,” &c.

_Id._ B. ii. leaf lviii.

“But it may fall, a dwerye [i. e. dwarf] in his right,
To _outray_ a gyaunt for all his gret might.”

_Id._ B. iii. leaf lxvii.

Page 54. v. 98. _Zenophontes_] i. e. Xenophon: see note on v. 70, preceding page.

v. 107. _thought_] See notes, p. 101. v. 10. p. 104. last line.

v. 114. _go_] i. e. gone.

v. 115. _fole_] i. e. fool.

v. 116. _stole_] i. e. stool.

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

v. 118.

_For to kepe his cut,_
_With, Phyllyp, kepe your cut!_]

Compare Gascoigne in a little poem entitled _The praise of Philip Sparrow_;

“As if you say but _fend cut_ phip,
Lord how the peat will turne and skip.”

_Workes_ (_Weedes_), p. 285. ed. 1587.

Sir Philip Sidney in a sonnet;

“Good brother Philip, I haue borne you long,
I was content you should in fauour creepe,
While craftily you seem’d your _cut to keepe_,
As though that faire soft hand did you great wrong.”

_Astrophel and Stella_, p. 548. ed. 1613.

Brome in _The Northern Lasse_, 1632;

“A bonny bonny Bird I had
A bird that was my Marroe:
A bird whose pastime made me glad,
And Phillip twas my Sparrow.
A pretty Play-fere: Chirp it would,
And hop, and fly to fist,
_Keepe cut_, as ’twere a Vsurers Gold,
And bill me when I list.”

Act iii. sc. 2. sig. G 2.

and in _The New Academy_; “But look how she turnes and _keeps cut like my Sparrow_. She will be my back Sweet-heart still I see, and love me behind.” Act iv. sc. 1. p. 72. (_Five New Playes_, 1659).

Page 55. v. 125.

_Betwene my brestes softe_
_It wolde lye and rest_]

So Catullus, in the beginning of his verses _Ad Passerem Lesbiæ_, (a distinct poem from that mentioned at p. 120);

“Passer, deliciæ meæ puellæ,
Quicum ludere, _quem in sinu tenere_,” &c.

v. 127. _It was propre and prest_] Compare v. 264, “As _prety_ and as _prest_,” where “prety” answers to “propre” in the present line. “_Proper_ or feate. _coint_, _godin_, _gentil_, _mignot_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._ 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.):—_prest_, which generally means—ready, seems here to be nearly synonymous with _propre_; and so in a passage of Tusser,—“more handsome, and _prest_,”—cited by Todd (_Johnson’s Dict._ in v.), who explains it “neat, tight.”

v. 137. _gressop_] i. e. grasshopper.—“_Cicada_ ... anglice _a gresse hoppe_.” _Ortus Vocab._, fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.

v. 138. _Phyp, Phyp_] See note on v. 7. p. 121.

v. 141. _slo_] i. e. slay.

v. 147. _dome_] i. e. judgment, thinking.

v. 148. _Sulpicia_] Lived in the age of Domitian. Her satire _De corrupto statu reipub. temporibus Domitiani, præsertim cum edicto Philosophos urbe exegisset_, may be found in Wernsdorf’s ed. of _Poetæ Latini Minores_, iii. 83.

v. 151. _pas_] i. e. pass, excel.

v. 154. _pretende_] i. e. attempt.

Page 56. v. 171. _perde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.

v. 173. _nyse_] i. e. foolish, inclined to folly, to toyish tricks: compare our author’s _Manerly Margery_, &c., v. 2. vol. i. 28.

v. 176. _To pyke my lytell too_]—_too_, i. e. toe.—In a comedy (already mentioned, p. 93. v. 15), _The longer thou liuest, the more foole thou art_, &c., n. d., by W. Wager, Moros sings

“I haue a prety tytmouse
Come _picking on my to_.”

sig. D ii.

v. 186. _ryde and go_] A sort of pleonastic expression which repeatedly occurs in our early writers.

Page 57. v. 192. _Pargame_] i. e. Pergamus.

v. 198. _wete_] i. e. know.

v. 205. _be quycke_] i. e. be made alive.

Page 57. v. 211. _the nones_] i. e. the occasion.

v. 213. _My sparow whyte as mylke_] Compare Sir P. Sidney;

“They saw a maid who thitherward did runne,
To catch her sparrow which from her did swerue,
As shee a black-silke Cappe on him begunne
To sett, for foile of his _milke-white_ to serue.”

_Arcadia_, lib. i. p. 85. ed. 1613.

and Drayton;

“I haue two Sparrowes _white as Snow_.”

_The Muses Elizium_, p. 14. ed. 1630.

v. 216. _importe_] i. e. impart.

v. 218. _solas_] i. e. amusement.

Page 58. v. 227. _hear_] i. e. hair.

v. 230. _kest_] i. e. cast.

v. 242. _bederoule_] See note on v. 12. p. 122.

v. 244. _Cam, and Sem_] i. e. Ham, and Shem.

v. 247. _the hylles of Armony_]—_Armony_, i. e. Armenia.—So in _Processus Noe_;

“What grownd may this be?
_Noe. The hyllys of Armonye._”

_Townley Myst._ p. 32.

See also Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf iiii. ed. Wayland, and Heywood’s _Foure P. P._, sig. A i. ed. n. d.

v. 248.

_Wherfore the birdes yet cry_
_Of your fathers bote_]

The reading of Kele’s ed., “bordes,” (as I have already observed _ad loc._) is perhaps the true one;—(compare _Pierce Plowman_;

“And [God] came to Noe anone, and bad him not let
Swyth go shape a shype of shydes and of _bordes_.”

Pass. Non. sig. M ii. ed. 1561.)—

and qy. did Skelton write,—

“_Whereon_ the _bordes_ yet _lye_?”

v. 253. _it hyght_] i. e. it is called.

Page 59. v. 264. _prest_] See note on v. 127, preceding page.

v. 272. _hardely_] i. e. assuredly.

v. 273. _vengeaunce I aske and crye_] Compare _Magnus Herodes_;

“_Venjance I cry and calle._”

_Townley Myst._ p. 149.

v. 281. _Carowe_] See note on v. 8. p. 121.

v. 282. _carlyshe kynde_] i. e. churlish nature.

v. 283. _fynde_] i. e. fiend.

Page 59. v. 284. _vntwynde_] i. e. tore to pieces, destroyed: so again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;

“This goodly flowre with stormis was _vntwynde_.”

v. 1445. vol. i. 418.

Page 60. v. 290. _Lybany_] i. e. Libya.

v. 294. _mantycors_] “Another maner of bestes ther is in ynde that ben callyd _manticora_, and hath visage of a man, and thre huge grete teeth in his throte, he hath eyen lyke a ghoot and body of a lyon, tayll of a Scorpyon and voys of a serpente in suche wyse that by his swete songe he draweth to hym the peple and deuoureth them And is more delyuerer to goo than is a fowle to flee.” Caxton’s _Mirrour of the world_, 1480. sig. e vii. See also R. Holme’s _Ac. of Armory_, 1688. B. ii. p. 212.—This fabulous account is derived from Pliny.

v. 296. _Melanchates, that hounde, &c._] See the story of Actæon in Ovid’s _Metam._;

“Prima _Melanchætes_ in tergo vulnera fecit.” iii. 232.

v. 305.

_That his owne lord bote,_
_Myght byte asondre thy throte!_]

—_bote_, i. e. bit.—So in _Syr Tryamoure_;

“He toke the stuarde by the _throte_,
And _asonder_ he it _botte_.”

_Early Pop. Poetry_ (by Utterson), i. 28.

v. 307. _grypes_] i. e. griffins.

v. 311. _The wylde wolfe Lycaon_] See Ovid’s _Metam._ i. 163 sqq. for an account of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, being transformed into a wolf. I ought to add, that he figures in a work well known to the readers of Skelton’s time—_The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy_.

v. 313. _brennynge_] i. e. burning.

Page 61. v. 325. _gentle of corage_]—_corage_, i. e. heart, mind, disposition. So in our author’s _Magnyfycence_; “Be _gentyll_ then _of corage_.” v. 2511. vol. i. 308.

v. 329. _departed_] i. e. parted. So in our old marriage-service; “till death us _depart_.”

v. 336. _rew_] i. e. have compassion.

v. 345.

_And go in at my spayre,_
_And crepe in at my gore_
_Of my gowne before_]