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.