“Of grasse and floures, _Inde_ and Pers.”
_Romaunt of the Rose_,—_Workes_, fol. 109. ed. 1602.
(monstrously explained in Urry’s ed. “Indian and Persian”): and Lydgate,
“Nor stonys al by nature, as I fynde,
Be not saphires that shewethe _colour ynde_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 150.
Sir John Mandeville says that the beak of the Phœnix “is coloured blew as
_ynde_.” _Voiage and Travaile_, &c., p. 58. ed. 1725.
Page 25. v. 20. _Geyne_] i. e. Against.
———— _the emeraud comendable;_
_Relucent smaragd_]
_Emeraud_ (emerald) and _smaragd_ are generally considered as synonymous;
but here Skelton makes a distinction between them. So too Drayton in his
_Muses Elizium_, 1630. p. 78; and Chamberlayne in his _Pharonnida_, 1659.
B. ii. c. 4. p. 150. And so R. Holme: “The _Emrauld_ is green.”—“The
_Smaradge_ is of an excellent fresh green, far passing any Leaf.” _Ac. of
Armory_, 1688. B. ii. pp. 39, 41. James I. in his _Quair_ mentions
“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.