Mr. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 448) speaks of Jack Raker
as if he really had existed: I rather think that he was an imaginary
person, whose name had become proverbial.
v. 110. _crakar_] i. e. vaunter, big talker.
Page 123. v. 114. _despyghtyng_] “I _Dispyte_ I grutche or reprime
agaynst a thing.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxiiii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 115. _nat worthe a myteyng_]—_myteyng_ (which occurs in our author’s
_Elynour Rummyng_ as a term of endearment, v. 224. vol. i. 102) is
here perhaps equivalent to “_Myte_ the leest coyne that is _pite_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlviii. (Table of
Subst.).
v. 117. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 118. _occupyed no better your tole_] i. e. used no better your tool,
pen: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 119. _Ye xulde haue kowththyd me a fole_] i. e. You should have made
me known for, shewn me to be, a fool.
v. 121. _wyse_] i. e. think, intend.
v. 122. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 123. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
—— _Sarsens_] i. e. Saracen’s.
v. 124. _Row_] i. e. Rough.
—— _here_] i. e. hair.
v. 125. _heuery_] i. e. every.
v. 127. _peson_] i. e. pease.
v. 129. _geson_] i. e. scarce, scanty.
v. 131.
_Your skyn scabbyd and scuruy,_
_Tawny, tannyd, and shuruy_, &c.]
—_shuruy_, i. e., perhaps, “_shrovy_, squalid.” Forby’s _Vocab. of East
Anglia_. With this passage compare _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_
(see note, p. 177. v. 4);
“Fy! skolderit skyn, thow art bot skyre and skrumple.”
...
“Ane crabbit, _skabbit_, evill facit messane tyk.”
...
“Thow lukis _lowsy_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 70, 84, 72. ed. Laing.
Page 124. v. 139. _Xall kyt both wyght and grene_] i. e. Shall cut both
white and green,—an allusion to the dress which our author appears to
have worn as Laureat; see _Account of Skelton and his Writings_.
v. 140. _to grett_] i. e. too great.
v. 143. _puauntely_] i. e. stinkingly, strongly.
v. 155. _crawes_] i. e. crops, stomachs.
v. 157. _perke_] i. e. perch.
v. 158. _gummys_] i. e. gums.
Page 124. v. 159. _serpentins_] “His campe was enuironed with artilerie,
as fawcones, _serpentynes_, cast hagbushes,” &c. Hall’s _Chronicle_
(Henry viii.), fol. xxviii. ed. 1548.
v. 160. _bynde_] i. e. bend; so in the next poem we find “_wyll_” for
“_well_,” and “_spynt_” for “_spent_,” peculiarities to be attributed to
the transcriber, not to Skelton.
v. 162. _scorpyone_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_ (see note,
p. 177. v. 4) “_scorpion_ vennemous.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75. ed. Laing.
v. 163. _bawdy babyone_] i. e. filthy baboon; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
v. 165. _mantycore_] See note, p. 127. v. 294.
v. 168. _gresly gargone_] i. e. grisly Gorgon.
—— _glaymy_] i. e., I suppose, slimy, clammy.
v. 169. _seymy_] i. e. greasy.
Page 125. v. 170. _murrionn_] i. e. Moor; see note, p. 178. v. 22.
—— _mawment_] “_Mawment._ Idolum. Simulacrum.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“_Maument marmoset, poupee._” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. xlvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Mawment_, a puppet.” Brockett’s
_Gloss. of North Country Words_.—(_Mawmet_, i. e. Mahomet.)
v. 172. _marmoset_] A sort of ape or monkey.
v. 173. _I wyll nat dy in they det_]—_they_, i. e. thy; as in the next
poem.—Compare _Cocke Lorelles Bote_;
“Yf he call her calat she calleth hym knaue agayne
She _shyll not dye in his dette_.”
Sig. B i.
v. 175. _xulddst_] i. e. shouldst.
v. 176. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 177. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 178. _Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd_] I do not understand this
line: _pelfry_ is, perhaps, pilfery; but does it not rather mean—petty
goods,—which Garnesche had _pachchyd_, fraudulently got together?
“Muche of theyr fishe they do barter with English men, for mele, lases,
and shoes, and other _pelfery_.” Borde’s _Boke of knowledge_, sig. I,
reprint. “Owt of whyche countre the sayd Scottys fled, and left mych
corne, butters, and other _pylfre_, behinde theim, whyche the ost hade.”
Letter from Gray to Crumwell, _State Papers_, iii. 155,—the Vocabulary to
which renders _pylfre_, pillage—wrongly, I believe.
v. 179. _houyr wachyd_] i. e. over watched.
v. 180. _thou xuldyst be rachchyd_] i. e. thou shouldest be
stretched—have thy neck stretched. So in _The Flytyng of Dunbar and
Kennedy_ (see note, p. 177. v. 4);
“For substance and geir thow hes _a widdy_ teuch
On Mont Falcone, about _thy craig to rax_.”
Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 79. ed. Laing.
Page 125. v. 182. _be bedawyd_] Does it mean—be daunted? or, be called
simple fellow? see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 183. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 184. _gronde_] i. e. ground.
v. 186. _Syr Dalyrag_] So our author elsewhere;
“Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with _syr Delarag_.”
_Speke, Parrot_, v. 91. vol. ii. 6.
“Adue nowe, sir Wrig wrag,
Adue, _sir Dalyrag_!”
_Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c. v. 297. vol. ii. 76.
v. 187. _brag_] i. e. proud, insolent.
v. 189. _kyt_ ... _to large_] i. e. cut ... too large.
v. 190. _Suche pollyng paiaunttis ye pley_] i. e. Such plundering
pageants, thievish pranks, you play. The expression to “play a
pageant”—to play a part,—has before occurred, see note, p. 88. v. 85.
With the present passage compare: “This one _pageant_ hath stayned al
other honest dedes ... _flagitium_.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. N v. ed.
1530. “That was a wyly _pageaunt_ ... _commentum_.” Id. sig. N vi. “Thou
gatest no worshyp by this _pageant_ ... _facinore_.” _Id._ sig. P v.
“He had thought to playe me a _pagent_: _Il me cuyda donner le bont._”
_Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. (Table of
Verbes). “A felowe which had renued many of Robin Hodes _Pagentes_.”
Fabyan’s _Chron._ vol. ii. fol. 533. ed. 1559. “After he had _plaied_ all
his troublesome _pageants_,” &c. Holinshed’s _Chron._ (Hen. viii.) vol.
iii. 830. ed. 1587.
v. 191. _poynt_] i. e. appoint, equip.
—— _fresche_] i. e. smart.
v. 192. _he_] i. e. Godfrey; see note on title of the second of these
poems, p. 180.
v. 193. _rowllys_] i. e. rolls.
v. 194. _sowllys_] i. e. souls.
v. 197.
_That byrd ys nat honest_
_That fylythe hys owne nest_]
—_fylythe_, i. e. defileth. This proverb occurs in _The Owl and the
Nightingale_ (a poem of the 12th century), p. 4. Rox. ed.
v. 199. _wyst what sum wotte_] i. e. knew what some know.
Page 126. v. 204. _Jake a thrum_] In his _Magnyfycence_ our author
mentions “_Jacke a thrommys_ bybyll,” v. 1444. vol. i. 272 (also in his
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 209. vol. i. 370); and in his _Colyn Cloute_ he
uses the expression,—
“As wyse as _Tom a thrum_.”
v. 284. vol. i. 322,—
where the MS. has “_Jacke_ athrum.”—Compare: “And therto acordes
too worthi prechers, _Jacke a Throme_ and Ione Brest-Bale.”
_Burlesques,—Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), i. 84.
_goliardum_] Equivalent, probably, to buffoon, or ridiculous rhymer. See
Du Cange’s Gloss. in v., Tyrwhitt’s note on Chaucer’s _Cant. Tales_, v.
562, and Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Goliard_.
_lusty Garnyshe well beseen Crystofer_] See note on title of the third of
these poems, p. 183.
Page 126. v. 1. _gargone_] i. e. _Gorgon_.
v. 3. _Thowthe ye kan skylle of large and longe_] i. e. Though you be
skilled in large and long; see note, p. 95. v. 49.
v. 4.
_Ye syng allway the kukkowe songe:_
...
_Your chorlyshe chauntyng ys al o lay_]
—_o lay_, i. e. one strain. So Lydgate;
“_The cokkowe syng can_ than _but oon lay_.”
_The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151.
v. 12. _Cicero with hys tong of golde_] So Dunbar speaking of Homer and
_Tully_;
“Your _aureate tongis_ both bene all to lyte,” &c.
_Poems_, i. 13. ed. Laing.
v. 17. _xalte_] i. e. shalt.
—— _warse_] i. e. worse.
v. 18. _They_] i. e. Thy; as in the preceding poem.
Page 127. v. 23. _lest good kan_] i. e. that knows the least good.
v. 25. _wylage_] i. e. village.
v. 28. _Lothsum as Lucifer_] So in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_
(see note, p. 177. v. 4), “_Luciferis_ laid.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 75.
ed. Laing.
v. 29. _gasy_] i. e. gaze, look proudly.
v. 30. _Syr Pers de Brasy_] i. e. Pierre de Brézé, grand-seneschal of
Anjou, Poitou, and Normandy, and a distinguished warrior during the
reigns of Charles vii. and Lewis xi.: he fell at the battle of Montlhéry
in 1465.
v. 31. _caytyvys carkes_] i. e. caitiff’s carcass.
v. 32. _blasy_] i. e. blaze, set forth.
v. 33. _Gorge Hardyson_] Perhaps the “George Ardeson” who is several
times mentioned in the unpublished _Bokis of Kyngis Paymentis Temp.
Hen._ vii. _and_ viii., preserved in the Chapter-House, Westminster: one
entry concerning him is as follows;
“[xxiii. of Hen. vii.]
_George Ardeson_ and Domynicke Sall er }
bounden in an obligacion to pay for the }
lycence of cccl buttes of malvesey viˢ viiiᵈ }cxviˡⁱ xiiiˢ.”
for euery but within iii monethes next }
after they shalbe layde vpon lande }
Page 127. v. 34. _habarion_] i. e. habergeon. “_Haburion._ Lorica.”
_Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
v. 35. the _Januay_] i. e. the Genoese. “The _ianuays_ ... Genuenses.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. k iii. ed. 1530.
v. 36. _trysyd hys trowle away_] i. e. (I suppose) enticed away his trull.
v. 37. _paiantes_] See note, p. 189. v. 190.
v. 39. _gate_] i. e. got.
—— _gaudry_] i. e., perhaps, trickery. In the _Towneley Mysteries_,
_gawde_, trick, occurs several times.
v. 41. _Fanchyrche strete_] i. e. Fenchurch Street.
v. 42. _lemmanns_] i. e. mistresses.
v. 43. _Bas_] i. e. Kiss.
—— _buttyng_] A term of endearment, which I do not understand.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 47. _Bowgy row_] i. e. Budge Row: “This Ward [Cordwainers Street Ward]
beginneth in the East, on the West side of Walbrooke, and runneth West,
thorow _Budge row_ (a street so called of the Budge Furr, and of Skinners
dwelling there),” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 15. ed. 1720.
v. 50. _mow_] i. e. mouth,—mock.
Page 128. v. 54. _lust_] i. e. liking, inclination.
v. 55. _broke_] i. e. badger.
v. 56. _Gup, Syr Gy_] See notes, p. 99. v. 17. p. 184. v. 70.
v. 57. _xulde_] i. e. should.
v. 59. _herey_] i. e. hairy.
v. 60. _on Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.
v. 61. _pray_] i. e. prey.
v. 63. _auncetry_] i. e. ancestry.
v. 66. _askry_] See notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358.
v. 68. _Haroldis_] i. e. Heralds.
v. 69. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
v. 73. _brothells_] i. e. harlots. “_Brothell pailliarde putayn._”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of
Subst.).
Page 128. v. 75. _Betweyn the tappett and the walle_] A line which occurs
again in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1249. vol. i. 265: _tappett_, i.
e. tapestry, hangings.
v. 76. _Fusty bawdyas_] An expression used again by Skelton in his
_Garlande of Laurell_;
“Foo, _foisty bawdias_! sum smellid of the smoke.”
v. 639. vol. i. 387.
It occurs in the metrical tale _The Kyng and the Hermyt_;
“When the coppe comys into the plas,
Canst thou sey _fusty bandyas_, [_baudyas_]
And think it in your thouht?
And you schall here a totted frere
Sey _stryke pantnere_,
And in ye [the] cope leve ryht nouht.”
_Brit. Bibliogr._ iv. 90.
and several times after, in the same poem.
v. 77. _harres_] Equivalent to—collection. Fr. _haras_, a stud. “_Haras_
of horse. Equicium.” _Prompt. Parv._,—_MS. Harl._ 221.
v. 78. _clothe of Arres_] i. e. tapestry; so called from Arras in Artois,
where the chief manufacture of such hangings was.
v. 79. _eylythe_] i. e. aileth.
—— _rebawde_] i. e. ribald.
v. 82. _Auaunsid_] i. e. Advanced.
v. 83. _hole_] i. e. whole.
v. 85. _lorell_] See note, p. 183. v. 14.
—— _to lewde_] i. e. too ignorant, vile.
v. 86. _Lythe and lystyn_] i. e. Attend and listen—a sort of pleonastic
expression common in our earliest poetry.
—— _all bechrewde_] See note, p. 97. v. 28.
Page 129. v. 88. _pointyd_] i. e. appointed.
v. 89. _semyth_] i. e. beseemeth.
—— _pyllyd pate_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.
v. 91. _scryue_] i. e. write.
v. 92. _cumys_] i. e. becomes.
v. 93. _tumrelle_] i. e. tumbrel.
v. 94. _melle_] i. e. meddle.
v. 95. _The honor of Englande_] i. e. Henry the Eighth.
v. 97. _wyl_] i. e. well; as afterwards in this poem.
—— _parcele_] i. e. part, portion.
v. 98. _yaue_] i. e. gave.
v. 99. _Eliconys_] i. e. Helicon’s.
v. 101. _commyth_] i. e. becometh.
Page 129. v. 101. _remorde_] Fr. “_Remordre._ To bite again; also, to
carpe at, or find fault with.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ The word is frequently
used by Skelton (see, for instance, vol. i. 188, where he introduces it
with other terms nearly synonymous,—“reprehending” and “rebukynge”).
v. 102. _creaunser_] i. e. tutor: see _Account of Skelton and his
Writings_.—Erasmus, in his _Paraph. in Epist. Pauli ad Galat._ cap. 4. v.
2,—_Opp._ vii. 956. ed. 1703-6, has these words; “sed metu cohibetur, sed
alieno arbitrio ducitur, sub _tutoribus_ et actoribus agens,” &c.: which
are thus rendered in _The Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament_,
vol. ii. fol. xiii. ed. 1548-9; “but is kept vnder with feare, and ruled
as other men wyll, passyng that tyme vnder _creansers_ and gouernours,”
&c. (Fr. _creanser_.)
v. 105. _primordialle_] i. e. original, earliest.
v. 106. _rybawde_] i. e. ribald.
—— _reclame_] i. e. tame,—a metaphor from falconry; see note, p. 148. v.
1125.
v. 111. _warlde_] i. e. world.
v. 114. _bawdy_] i. e. foul; see note, p. 161. v. 90.
Page 130. v. 117. _Thow_] i. e. Though.
—— _pyllyd_] See note, p. 184. v. 68.
—— _sade_] i. e. sad,—sober, discreet,—wise (see the preceding line).
v. 120. _Thowth_] i. e. Though.
v. 122. _throw_] i. e. little while, moment.
v. 125. _thé froo_] i. e. from thee.
v. 127. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.
—— _shrow_] i. e. curse.
v. 132. _Prickyd_] i. e. Pointed.
v. 133.
_I wold sum manys bake ink horne_
_Wher thi nose spectacle case_]
—_manys_, i. e. man’s: _bake_, i. e. back: _Wher_, i. e. Were. Compare
our author’s poem against Dundas, v. 37. vol. i. 194, and Bale’s _Kynge
Iohan_, p. 35. Camden ed.
v. 135. _wyll_] i. e. well; as before in this poem.
v. 136. _ouyrthwarthe_] i. e. overthwart,—cross, perverse, cavillous,
captious.
v. 144. _steuyn_] i. e. voice.
v. 145. _follest_] i. e. foulest.
v. 146. _lyddyr_] Or _lither_,—is—sluggish, slothful, idle; but the word
is often used in the more general meaning of wicked, evil, depraved.
Page 130. v. 146. _lewde_] i. e. ignorant.
v. 147. _well thewde_] i. e. well dispositioned, well mannered.
Page 131. v. 148. _Besy_] i. e. Busy.
v. 149. _Syr Wrig wrag_] A term several times used by Skelton; see note,
p. 189. v. 186.
v. 151. _slyght_] i. e. trick, contrivance.
v. 153. _to mykkylle_] i. e. too much.
v. 154. _I xulde but lese_] i. e. I should but lose.
v. 155. _tragydese_] i. e. tragedies. Skelton does not mean here dramatic
pieces: compare his piece _Against the Scottes_, v. 72. vol. i. 184. So
Lydgate’s celebrated poem, _The TRAGEDIES, gathered by Iohn Bochas, of
all such Princes as fell from theyr estates_, &c.
v. 157. _my proces for to saue_]—_proces_, i. e. story; see notes, p.
143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. So our author in his _Why come ye nat to
Courte_;
“Than, our _processe for to stable_.”
v. 533. vol. ii. 43.
v. 158. _xall_] i. e. shall.
v. 162. _a tyd_] i. e. betime.
v. 164. _Haruy Haftar_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 166. _xulde_] i. e. should.
v. 170. _hay ... ray_] Names of dances, the latter less frequently
mentioned than the former:
“I can daunce _the raye_, I can both pipe and sing.”
Barclay’s _First Egloge_, sig. A ii. ed. 1570.
v. 171. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 173. _lewdenes_] i. e. ignorance, baseness, worthlessness.
v. 176. _spynt_] i. e. spent, employed.
v. 180. _I xall thé aquyte_] i. e. I shall requite thee.