“That this piece was composed subsequently to the year 1515, seems
evident from the mention made in one place [v. 283] of ‘Kynge Lewes of
Fraunce’ as an example of liberality [and as dead, v. 285]; and this
could only mean Louis xii., who died in that year, as his immediate
predecessor of that name [who died in 1483] was the most niggardly of
wretches.” _MS. note by Ritson on a transcript of_ Magnyfycence.
Page 226. v. 4. _probate_] In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ mention
is made of
“Macrobius that did trete
Of Scipions dreme what was the treu _probate_.”
v. 367. vol. i. 376.
where _probate_ is proof, meaning, or, perhaps, interpretation: but in
what sense Skelton uses the word here I cannot determine, the greater
part of this speech being beyond my comprehension.
v. 5. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 6. _vnhappely be vryd_] See note, p. 232. v. 95.
v. 9. _amense_] i. e., perhaps, amends.
v. 10. _by_] i. e. buy, acquire.
v. 16. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 17. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 22. _wonnys_] i. e. dwells.
—— _and a man wolde wyt_] i. e. if a man would know.
v. 24. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
Page 227. v. 33. _Ye, to knackynge ernyst what and it preue_]—i. e. Yea,
what if it prove mocking earnest: compare the preceding line, and see
Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scott. Lang._ in v. _Knack_.
v. 35. _in the mew_] i. e. in confinement,—properly, the place in which
hawks were kept, or in which fowls were fattened: see note on _Why come
ye nat to Courte_, v. 219.
v. 36. _a cue_] Is explained (see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict_. &c.)—a
farthing, as being merely the sound of _q̄_, the abbreviation of
_quadrans_. But Minsheu has; “_Cue_, halfe a farthing, so called because
they set down in the Battling or Butterie Bookes in Oxford and Cambridge
the letter q. for halfe a farthing, and in Oxford when they make that Cue
or q. a farthing, they say, Cap my q., and make it a farthing thus qͣ.
But in Cambridge,” &c. _Guide into Tongues_, ed. 1617.
v. 37. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 227. v. 39. _condyssende_] “I _Condescende_ I agre to a mater.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cxciiii. (Table of
Verbes).
v. 44. _countenaunce_] i. e. continence, restraint.
v. 45. _let_] i. e. hinder, restrain.
v. 47. _corage_] i. e. inclination, desires.
v. 56. _parcell_] i. e. part, portion.
v. 57. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 60.
_Somwhat I coulde enferre,_
_Your consayte to debarre_]
i. e. I could bring in somewhat to hinder, contravene, your conception of
the subject. So again in our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_;
“Madame, your apposelle is wele _inferrid_,
And at your auauntage quikly it is
Towchid, and hard for to be _debarrid_.”
v. 141. vol. i. 367.
Page 228. v. 65. _fet_] i. e. fetch.
v. 72. _the surpluse of my sawe_] i. e. the remainder of my saying.
v. 74. _where as_] i. e. where.
v. 80. _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 86. _wonder_] I may observe that the Roxburgh reprint, without
authority, and against the sense, has “no _wonder_.”
v. 89. _ken_] i. e. instruct.
v. 90. _wonders_] i. e. wondrous.
v. 92. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 229. v. 94. _other_] i. e. either.
v. 95.
_To you I arecte it, and cast_
_Therof the reformacyon_]
So Skelton again;
“Syth vnto me formest this processe is _erectyd_.”
v. 2507 of the present drama.
“_Arrectinge_ vnto your wyse examinacion
How all that I do is vnder refformation.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 410. vol. i. 378.
He has also,
“_Arectyng_ my syght towarde the zodyake.”
_Id._ v. 1. p. 361.
“My supplycacyon to you I _arrect_.”
_Id._ v. 55. p. 363.
_Arect_ in our early writers frequently signifies—impute, a meaning
foreign to the present passages: in the two last cited, there can be no
doubt that it is used in the sense of—raise: in the others it seems to
mean—offer, refer.
Page 229. v. 103. _Come of, therfore, let se_] Compare Chaucer;
“—— _let see, come off_, and say.”
_Court of Loue_,—_Workes_, fol. 331. ed. 1602.
and _Reynard the Fox_; “Why tarye ye thus longe, _come of_.” Sig. b 7.
ed. 1481: and _Morte d’Arthur_; “_Come of_ thenne sayd they alle, and do
hit.” Book xx. cap. iiii. vol. ii. 394. ed. Southey.
v. 106. _reason and skyll_] An expression which Skelton has elsewhere;
but the words are nearly synonymous. “_Skyll_. Racio.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499.
v. 113. _chere_] i. e. spirit,—or reception.
v. 114. _intere_] i. e. entire.
v. 115. _Oracius to recorde_] i. e. Horace to witness.
v. 117. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 126. _Measure is treasure_] Lydgate mentions this as “an olde
prouerbe:” see his verses on Moderation, _MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 29, and
his poem beginning “Men wryte of oold how _mesour is tresour.” Id._ 2255.
fol. 143.
—— _this_] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.
Page 230. v. 131. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 133. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 134. _renne_] i. e. run.
v. 137. _a rest_] i. e. a wrest—by which the strings of harps and other
musical instruments were drawn up.
v. 138. _All trebyllys and tenours be rulyd by a meyne_] “Intercentus, a
_meane_ of a songe.” _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. In the
notes on Shakespeare, in Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ &c., _mean_ is wrongly
explained—tenor: what the _mean_ was, depended entirely on the nature of
the composition.
v. 139. _beste_] i. e. beast.
v. 149. _skyll_] i. e. reason: see note on v. 106.
v. 150. _sad_] i. e. grave, serious, sober.
v. 151. _It is no maystery_] “_Maystry_ done by delyuernesse _ung tovr
de souplesse, appertise_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. xlvi. (Table of Subst.); and see note, p. 113. v. 329.
“So me helpe God! queth Beues tho,
_Hit were no meistri_ me to slo,
For this is the ferthe dai agon
Mete ne drinke ne bot I non.”
_Sir Beues of Hamtoun_, p. 68. Maitl. ed.
“That is _lytel maystry_ sayd syre launcelot to slee myn hors.” _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. xix. c. iiii. vol. ii. 369. ed. Southey.
Page 230. v. 153. _herdely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 231. v. 166. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 175. _Conuenyent_] i. e. Fit, suitable.
—— _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 178. _syttynge_] i. e. proper, becoming,—a word very common in our
early poetry (altered unnecessarily to “fyttynge” in the Roxburgh reprint
of this piece).
v. 182. _his large_] i. e. his range.
v. 184. _hooly_] i. e. wholly.
v. 189. _sawe_] i. e. sow.
v. 190. _nother to_] i. e. neither too.
—— _lawe_] i. e. low: so again in v. 2541, “nowe hy, nowe _lawe_ degre.”
v. 193. _consayte_] i. e. conception.
Page 232. v. 202. _losyll so lyther_] i. e. scoundrel so wicked.
v. 209. _plenarly_] i. e. fully, entirely.
v. 213. _Had I wyste_] See note, p. 86. v. 40.
v. 216. _to fer_] i. e. too far.
v. 219. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 226. _mone_] i. e. moon.
v. 230. _lyghtly_] “_Lightly_ or sone [i. e. soon]. Leuiter.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499: or, easily.
Page 233. v. 231. _to moche_] i. e. too much.
v. 233. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 234. _a poppynge fole_]—_fole_, i. e. fool. “He is a _popte fole_
or a starke fole for the nones. Homo fatuitate monstrabilis.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. P iii. ed. 1530. And see note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 239. _delyaunce_] i. e. dalliance, delay.
v. 249. _endure_] i. e. remain, dwell.
v. 256. _Here is none forsyth whether you flete or synke_]—_forsyth_, i.
e. regardeth, careth: _flete_, i. e. float, swim. So Chaucer;
“Him _recketh neuer whether she flete or sinke_.”
_Annel. and Ar._,—_Workes_, fol. 244. ed. 1602.
v. 257. _lokyd_] i. e. looked.
v. 259. _hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
Page 234. v. 260. _iangelynge Jacke of the vale_] i. e. chattering, &c.;
see note, p. 104. v. 6.
v. 266. _Mary_] i. e. by the Virgin Mary.
v. 267. _largesse_] i. e. bounty, liberality.
v. 269. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
v. 272. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 274. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 280. _hardely_] i. e. firmly.
Page 234. v. 280. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 283. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
—— _Kynge Lewes_] i. e. King Louis the twelfth: see note on title, p. 236.
v. 285. _syth_] i. e. since.
v. 290. _Jacke shall haue Gyl_] So Heywood;
“Come chat at home, all is well, _Jack shall haue Gill_.”
_Dialogue_, sig. F 3.—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 235. v. 295. _broder_] i. e. brother.
v. 296. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
—— _Dauncaster cuttys_] i. e. Doncaster horses.—_Cut_ was a term for a
common horse, from its having the tail cut short.
v. 297. _bolte_] i. e. arrow (for a description of it, see Nares’s
_Gloss._ in v.).
—— _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 298. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 300. _this checke if ye voyde canne_] “_Checke_ a mery taunt.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, fol. xxiii. (Table of Subst.). “I
_Voyde_ a thyng out of the way or out of syght, _Ie oste_.” _Id._ fol.
ccclxxxxix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 301. _to longe to scole_] i. e. too long to school.
v. 302. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 303. _pole_] i. e. pool, water.
v. 304. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 306. _Go, shake the dogge, hay_] See note, p. 226. v. 28.
v. 310. _to play with me checke mate_] In allusion to the king being put
in _check_ at the game of chess.
v. 311. _your noble estate_] Equivalent to—your noble lordship.
v. 312. _recorde_] i. e. testimony.
v. 314. _Sad_] i. e. Grave, serious, sober.
v. 318. _hele_] i. e. health.
v. 319. _commaunde_] i. e. commend.
v. 321. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 322. _sone_] i. e. soon.
v. 323. _kepe_] i. e. heed, care, attention.
Page 236. v. 325. _after none_] i. e. afternoon.
v. 327. _Whylest_] i. e. Until.
v. 333. _mynde_] i. e. fancy.
v. 336. _beholde_] i. e. beholden.
v. 341. _By lakyn_] i. e. by our Lady: _lakyn_ is the contraction of
_ladykyn_, little lady.
v. 346. _Pountesse_] i. e. Pontoise.
Page 236. v. 347. _taken me_] i. e. committed, consigned to me.
Page 237. v. 355. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 357. _They bare me in hande that I was a spye_] i. e. They accused me,
laid to my charge, that, &c.
“This false knight, that hath this treson wrought,
_Bereth hire in hond_ that she hath don this thing.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 5039. ed. Tyr.
“I _Beare in hande_ I threp vpon a man that he hath done a dede, or
make hym byleue so, _Ie fais accroyre_” ... “What crime or yuell mayest
thou _beare me in hande of: Quel crime ou mal me peulx tu mettre sus_.”
Palgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxii. (Table of
Verbes). “Many be _borne an hande_ of a faute, and punysshed therfore,
that were neuer gylty. Plerique facinoris _insimulantur_,” &c. Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. m ii. ed. 1530. This expression occurs with a different
shade of meaning in our author’s _Why come ye nat to Courte_,—
“_He bereth the kyng on hand_,
That he must pyll his lande,” &c.
v. 449. vol. ii. 40.
v. 362.
_And wolde haue made me Freer Tucke,_
_To preche out of the pylery hole_]
Friar Tuck was one of Robin Hood’s merry companions. Concerning these
lines Ritson remarks that there is “an evident allusion to some game or
practice now totally forgotten and inexplicable.” _Robin Hood_, i. xxvi.
v. 364. _antetyme_] i. e. text. So in the absurd story of Skelton’s
preaching, _Merie Tales_, (reprinted in Appendix to _Account of his Life
and Writings_), “I say, as I said before in my _antethem, vos estis_.”
_Tale vii_.
v. 366. _moche warke_] i. e. much work, trouble.
v. 367. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 369. _made largesse as I hyght_] i. e. made donation of money
according to my name (Fancy’s assumed name being Largesse, see v. 272).
v. 375. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate or rank.
Page 238. v. 384. _ye_] i. e. yea.
v. 385. _mesure is a mery mene_] Heywood in his _Epigrammes vpon
Prouerbs_ has ten on “Measure is a mery meane.” Sig. N iiii.,—_Workes_,
ed. 1598.
v. 388. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 391. _oder_] i. e. other.
v. 405. _blunderyng_] i. e. disturbance. “I _Blonder, Ie perturbe_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxviii. (Table of
Verbes).
Page 238. v. 406. _betake_] i. e. commit, consign.
v. 411. _to put the stone_] i. e. to throw the stone above hand, from the
uplifted hand, for trial of strength.
Page 239. v. 413. _gyse_] i. e. guise, fashion, manner.
v. 417. _I set not by_] i. e. I value not.
v. 423. _lurdayne_] i. e. lumpish, lazy fellow, clown,—worthless person
in general.
v. 425. _tappyster_] i. e. woman presiding over the tap in a public house.
v. 429. _can_] i. e. know.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 430. _occupy_] i. e. use: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
—— _kayes_] i. e. keys.
v. 433. _at all assayes_] Occurs again in v. 2303. “_At all assayes, En
tous poynts_, or _a tous poynts_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxxxviii. (Table of Aduerbes). “He is a frende _at
all assayes_. _Omnium horarum_ amicus est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Y
iiii. ed. 1530.
v. 435. _mekyll_] i. e. much.
v. 444. _sleyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
Page 240. v. 446. _fayty bone geyte_] Perhaps corrupted French—_fait a
bon get_ or _geste_.
v. 449. _consayte_] i. e. conceit, conception.
v. 453. _noppe is rughe_] i. e. nap is rough.
v. 455. _chafer_] i. e. merchandise.
v. 458. _The courtly gyse of the newe iet_] A somewhat pleonastic
expression,—the courtly guise of the new fashion. “_Gette_ a custome
_guise nouuelle_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
xxxvi. (Table of Subst.).
“Yit a poynte _of the new gett_ to telle wille I not blyn.”
_Juditium_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 312.
v. 460. _ferre fet_] i. e. far fetched.
v. 461. _ymet_] i. e. met.
v. 462. _Margery Mylke Ducke_] See note, p. 172. v. 418.
—— _mermoset_] A kind of ape or monkey.
v. 465. _fresshe_] i. e. smart.
v. 469. _praty_] i. e. pretty.
v. 470. _iet_] i. e. strut; see note, p. 94. v. 43.
v. 472. _pope holy_] See note, p. 230. l. 24.
v. 473. _sadnesse_] i. e. gravity, seriousness, soberness, discreetness.
Page 240. v. 475. _not worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 477. _occupy_] i. e. use; see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 478. _worshyp_] i. e. honour, dignity.
Page 241. v. 482. _tehe wehe_] See note, p. 232. v. 75.
v. 485. _knokylbonyarde_] Compare Palsgrave’s _Acolastus_, 1540; “Do I
raygne here on this facion, being a swynherde amongest swyne of Boeatia.
i. amongest a meyny of iacke holde my staues, or _knockyldeboynyardes_,
beinge but of late a kynge,” &c. Sig. Y iiii.; and Heywood’s _Dialogue_,
&c.,—
“He is a _knuckilbonyard_ very meete
To match a minion neither fayre nor sweete.”
Sig. D 4.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 486. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 488. _warke_] i. e. work, business, matter.
v. 489. _yarke_] i. e. strike, lash.
v. 490. _custrell_] “_Coustrell_ that wayteth on a speare
_covsteillier_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
xxvii. (Table of Subst.). “_Coustillier_: An Esquire of the body; an
Armour-bearer unto a Knight; the servant of a man at Armes; also, a groom
of a stable, a horse-keeper.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 492. _this_] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38 (and so in the next
line).
—— _freers_] i. e. friars.
—— _famine_] “_Famen_, sermo, verbum.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
v. 506. _By God, I haue bene about a praty pronge_]—_praty_, i. e.
pretty: in the present line at least, _pronge_ seems to mean—prank (Dutch
_pronk_), whatever be its signification in the following passage of our
author’s _Colyn Cloute_;
“And howe at _a pronge_
We tourne ryght into wronge.”
v. 1196. vol. i. 357.
Page 242. v. 510. _pagent_] i. e. part: see notes, p. 88. v. 85; p. 189.
v. 190.
v. 512. _by lakyn_] See note on v. 341. p. 240.
v. 513. _heyre parent_] i. e. heir apparent.
v. 514. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 516. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 518. _Cockys harte_] i. e. God’s heart (_Cock_, a corruption of _God_).
v. 521. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 526. _hyght_] i. e. am called.
v. 529. _large_] A play on the meanings of the word,—big, and liberal.
Page 242. v. 533. _cofer kay_] i. e. coffer-key.
v. 535. _auowe_] i. e. vow: see note, p. 109. v. 199.
Page 243. v. 539. _alowde_] i. e. approved.
v. 554. _in same_] i. e. in the same place (a pleonasm,—since “_togyder_”
precedes).
v. 561. _Can_] i. e. Know.
v. 562. _spedde_] i. e. versed.
v. 564. _iapes_] i. e. jests, jokes.
v. 568. _ouerwharte_] i. e. overthwart—cross, perverse, wrangling.
v. 569. _beshrowe_] i. e. curse.
v. 571. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
Page 244. v. 573. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 575. _my botes and my spores_] i. e. my boots and my spurs.
v. 578. _Cockes woundes_] i. e. God’s wounds; see note on v. 518,
preceding page.
v. 580. _loketh_] i. e. looketh.
v. 585. _iurde hayte_] Words (French perhaps) which I do not understand.
v. 591. _quod_] i. e. quoth.
v. 592. _a leysshe of ratches to renne an hare_] i. e. a leash
of—three—hounds to run a hare.
v. 597. _prece_] i. e. press.
Page 245. v. 609. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 625. _Mary_] i. e. By the Virgin Mary.
v. 628. _do togyder_] i. e. put it together.
v. 629. _ony_] i. e. any.
v. 633. _wonne_] i. e. dwell.
v. 635. _a captyuyte_] Is rather, I suspect, a misprint for, than used in
the sense of—_in_: compare v. 2543.
Page 246. v. 639. _the playnesse_] i. e. the plain fact.
v. 644. _thee_] i. e. thrive.
v. 658. _a pystell of a postyke_]—_pystell_, i. e. epistle, letter; but I
do not understand the expression.
v. 659. _fonnysshe_] i. e. foolish.
v. 666. _freke_] i. e. fellow: see notes, p. 109. v. 187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 667. _peke_] “I _Peke_ or prie.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. cccxvii. [—xv.] (Table of Verbes).
Page 247. v. 672. _rome_] i. e. room, place.
v. 679. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 681. _Ye_] i. e. Yea.
v. 685. _By the armes of Calys_] See note, p. 118. v. 398.
v. 687. _slyght_] i. e. trick, artful contrivance.
v. 688. _fonde consayte_] i. e. foolish conceit,—fantasies.
Page 247. v. 690. _sadnesse_] See note on v. 473. p. 242.
v. 692. _Cockys body_] i. e. God’s body: see note on v. 518. p. 243.
v. 695. _whylyst_] i. e. until.
v. 698. _quyte_] i. e. acquit.
—— _praty_] i. e. pretty.
Page 248. v. 707. _haftynge_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 713. _geste_] i. e. guest.
v. 719. _hynder_] “_Hyndringe_ or harmynge. Dampnificacio.” _Prompt.
Parv._ ed. 1499. “I _Hynder_ I hurte, _Ie porte dommage_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxii. (Table of Verbes).
“Lest the reporte in _hinderyng_ of his name,” &c.
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iii. sig. Q ii. ed. 1555.
v. 720. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 722. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 730. _lacke_] i. e. blame.
v. 732. _sped_] i. e. versed.
v. 733. _lytherly_] i. e. wickedly.
v. 734. _Paynte_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
Page 249. v. 737. _fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
—— _tyned_] i. e. pointed, pronged.
v. 745. _shrewdenes_] i. e. wickedness, evil.
v. 746. _grete estates_] i. e. persons of great estate, or rank.
v. 748. _flery_] i. e. fleer.
—— _pretence_] i. e. intent.
v. 751. _bronde_] i. e. brand.
v. 752. _mase_] i. e. bewilder, confound.
—— _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 754. _bale_] i. e. sorrow, trouble.
v. 755. _Huffa, huffa_] See note, p. 181. v. 16.
v. 756. _a_] i. e. he.
v. 757. _Rutty bully_] See note, p. 94. v. 29.
—— _ioly rutterkyn, heyda_] Occurs in a song preserved in the Fairfax MS.
which once belonged to Ralph Thoresby, and is now among the Additional
MSS. in the British Museum (5465, fol. 114):
“Hoyda _joly rutterkyn hoyda_
Lyke a rutterkyn hoyda.
Rutterkyn is com vnto oure towne
In a cloke withoute cote or gowne
Save a raggid hode to kouer his crowne
Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn can speke no englissh
His tonge rennyth all on buttyrd fyssh
Besmerde with grece abowte his disshe
Like a rutter hoyda.
Rutterkyn shall bryng you all good luk
A stoup of bere vp at a pluk
Till his brayne be as wise as a duk
Like a rutter hoyda.
When rutterkyn from borde will ryse
He will piss a galon pott full at twise
And the ouerplus vndir the table of the newe gyse
Like a rutter hoyda.”
Sir John Hawkins printed the above song (with the music) and tells us
that it “is supposed to be a satire on those drunken Flemings who came
into England with the princess Anne of Cleve, upon her marriage with
king Hen. viii.” _Hist. of Music_, iii. 2. But if it be the very song
quoted in our text, it must allude to “rutterkyns” of a considerably
earlier period; and, as the Fairfax MS. contains two other pieces which
are certainly known to be from Skelton’s pen, there is a probability that
this also was composed by him.
_Court. Ab._ in his next speech but one says, “am not I a ioly _rutter_?”
and (v. 846)
“My robe russheth
So _ruttyngly_.”
_Rutter_, which properly means—a rider, a trooper (Germ. _reiter_,
_reuter_), came to be employed, like its diminutive _rutterkin_, as a
cant term, and with various significations, (see Hormanni _Vulgaria_,
sig. q iii. ed. 1530; Drant’s _Horace His Arte of Poetrie, pistles_, &c.
sig. D ii. ed. 1567). When _Court. Ab._ asks “am not I a ioly _rutter_?”
he evidently uses the word in the sense of—dashing fellow, gallant,
alluding to his dress, on which he afterwards enlarges in a soliloquy. In
v. 805 _Cr. Con._ terms him “this ioly _ietter_.” Compare the following
passage of Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d.;
“And whan he is in suche aray
There goth _a rutter_ men wyll say
_a rutter huf a galand_.”
Sig. d ii.
Page 249. v. 759. _Decke your hofte, &c._.]—_hofte_, i. e. head. If I
rightly understand the passage, _Court. Ab._ desires _Cl. Col._ to put on
his hat, or cap: see note below the text.
v. 760. _Say vous, &c._] i. e. _Savez vous_, &c.: the last three words of
the line seem to be the beginning of some French song.