Chapter VI: Part 6

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

ELYNOUR RUMMYNGE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

HORACE.

“Eleonora Rediviva.

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

W. R.”

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

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

“_Skeltons Ghost._

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

[270] _Leigh_] Meant for “Liege.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P. 95. v. 1.

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

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

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

p. 74. Bann. ed.

and the Prol. to _Kyng Alisaunder;_

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

Weber’s _Met. Rom._ i. 5.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Page 96. v. 27.

_Her nose somdele hoked,_
_And camously croked_]

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

v. 34. _gowndy_] So Lydgate;

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

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

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

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

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

Page 96. v. 40.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sig. F,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.

and Jonson in his Masque, _The Gipsies Metamorphosed;_

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

_Works_ (by Gifford), vii. 376.

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

Page 97. v. 56.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“London hath scarlet, and _Bristowe_ pleasaunt _red_.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“And a hundred _trim trams_ mo.”

Sig. B iiii. ed. Copland.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“For we can neyther _swyncke nor sweate_.”

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

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

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

Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 37.

and _Jyl of Braintfords Testament_, n. d.;

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

sig. B ii.

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

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

sig. A ii.

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

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

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

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

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

Utterson’s _Early Pop. Poet._ ii. 15.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

v. 149.

_Some loke strawry,_
_Some cawry mawry_]

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

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

sig. F ii. ed. 1561.

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

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

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

v. 29. vol. i. 117.

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

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

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

_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 156.

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

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

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

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

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

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

v. 174.

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

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

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

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

Page 101. v. 185.

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

—_preuynge_, i. e. proving.

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

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

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

“_God geve it yvell chevynge._”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

p. 96.

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

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

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

“My mouse my _nobs_ and _cony_ swete.”

Sig. E.

_conny_, i. e. rabbit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _spone_] i. e. spoon.

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

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

v. 251.

_Some fyll theyr pot full_
_Of good Lemster woll_]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 14.

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

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

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

“Thé sange _terly terlow_.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

v. 305.

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

So in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;

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

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

Sig. C ii.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

v. 324.

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

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

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

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

Compare too an epigram by Heywood;

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

_Workes_, sig. Q 3. ed. 1598.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _gaspy_] i. e. gasp.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _a fyest_] So Hawes;

“She let no ferte nor yet _fyste_ truelye.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sig. A ii. ed. n. d.

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

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

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

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

Page 107. v. 364.

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

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

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

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

See also _Reves Tale_, v. 4149.

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

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

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

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

p. 56. Rox. ed.

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

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

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

v. 388.

—— _folys fylly_
_That had a fole wyth wylly_]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sig. G ii. ed. 1561.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What, _Margery Mylke Ducke_, mermoset!”

v. 462. vol. i. 240.

Compare one of the _Coventry Mysteries_;

“Malkyn _Mylkedoke_ and fayr Mabyle.”

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

v. 419.

_Her kyrtell she did vptucke_
_An ynche aboue her kne_]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

_Poems_, i. 213. ed. Laing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“From _qui fuit aliquid_ to shyre shakynge nought.”

v. 1319. vol. i. 267.

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

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

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

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

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

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

v. 6958. ed. Tyrwhitt,—

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

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

v. 496.

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

Compare _The foure P. P._ by Heywood;

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

Sig. D i. ed. n. d.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _hyght_] i. e. called.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _croppy_] i. e. crop, stomach.

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

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

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

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

v. 583.

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

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

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

v. 922. vol. i. 347.

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

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

v. 952. vol. i. 348.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“At _wurthy festys_ riche men woll bene.”

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

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

_Quod_] i. e. Quoth.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

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

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

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

“_Termygantis_ temptis and Vespasius thy eme.”

Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 85. ed. Laing.

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

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

—— _talle_] i. e. valiant.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _gomys_] i. e. gums.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—— _here_] i. e. hair.

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

—— _gere_] i. e. dress.

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

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

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

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

—— _ble_] i. e. colour, complexion.

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

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

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