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_.”