“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!”