This powerful and original poem must have been circulated in MS.,
probably for a considerable time, before it was given to the press; for
from a passage towards the conclusion, v. 1239, we learn that those
against whom its satire was directed would not “suffer it to be printed.”
In _Colyn Cloute_ Skelton appears to have commenced his attacks on Wolsey.
“I could never conceive, Mr. Warton, to what Drayton alludes, in the
preface to his Eclogues, where he says, that ‘the Colin Clout of SCOGAN,
under Henry the seventh, is pretty.’ He is speaking of pastoral poetry;
and adds, that ‘Barklays ship of fools hath twenty wiser in it.’ You
somewhere say [_Hist. of E. P._ iii. 76, note, ed. 4to], ‘he must mean
SKELTON;’ but what PASTORAL did HE write?” Ritson’s _Obs. on Warton’s
Hist. of E. P._, p. 20 (note); see too his _Bibl. Poet._, p. 99. I
believe that Drayton did mean Skelton. _Colyn Cloute_ is surely as much
a _pastoral_ as Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_,—as much perhaps as even
Barclay’s _Egloges_.
—— _Quis consurget mecum, &c._] _Vulg. Psal._ xciii. 16, where “Quis
consurget _mihi_,” &c.
—— _Nemo, Domine_] _Id. Joan_. viii. 11.
Page 311. v. 1.
_What can it auayle_
_To dryue forth a snayle_]
So in _Gentylnes and Nobylyte_, n. d. (attributed without grounds to
Heywood);
“In effect it shall no more _auayle_
Than with a whyp _to dryfe a snayle_.”
Sig. C ii.
Page 311. v. 9. _bokes_] i. e. books.
Page 312. v. 20. _He pryeth and he peketh_] See note, p. 244. v. 667. So
Gascoigne;
“That other _pries and peekes_ in euerie place.”
_The Steele Glasse_, fol. 301,—_Workes_, ed. 1587.
v. 28. _fole_] i. e. fool.
v. 29. _scole_] i. e. school.
v. 30. _a thre foted stole_] i. e. a three-footed stool.
v. 36. _The deuyll, they say, is dede_] Heywood has six Epigrams on this
proverbial expression,—_Workes_, sig. N 2. ed. 1598. Ray gives, “Heigh
ho, _the Devil is dead_.” _Proverbs_, p. 55. ed. 1768.
Page 313, v. 51. _connyng bagge_] i. e. bag, store, of knowledge or
learning.
v. 52. _hagge_] See note, p. 99. v. 19.
v. 53. _though my ryme be ragged_] So Sir D. Lyndsay; “my rural _raggit_
vers.” _Prol. to Monarchie_,—_Works_, ii. 330. ed. Chalmers; and Spenser,
“My _ragged rimes_.” _F. Queene_, i. xii. 23.
v. 54. _iagged_] See note, p. 163. v. 124.
v. 56. _moughte eaten_] i. e. moth-eaten.
v. 66. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 67. _The tone agayng_] i. e. The one against.
v. 68. _shoder_] i. e. shudder.
v. 69. _hoder moder_] i. e. hugger-mugger.
Page 314. v. 70. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 71. _ben so haut_] i. e. be so haughty.
v. 72. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 77. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 79. _wull_] i. e. wool.
v. 80. _Vnethes_] i. e. Scarcely.
v. 82. _connynge_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
v. 83, _A glommynge_] i. e. A glumming, a looking gloomy, sour.
—— _a mummynge_] Compare our author elsewhere;
“Men of suche maters make but a _mummynge_.”
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 200. vol. i. 370.
“Thhere was amonge them no worde then but _mum_.”
_Id_. v. 1118. p. 406.
“But play scylens and glum,
Can say nothynge but _mum_.”
v. 906 of the present poem.
v. 84. _iape_] i. e. jest, joke.
v. 87. _hole_] i. e. whole.
Page 314. v. 89. _the forked cap_] i. e. the mitre.
“No wise man is desirous to obtayne
_The forked cappe_ without he worthy be.”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 236. ed. 1570.
v. 90. _to lewd_] i. e. too wicked, vile.
v. 91. _all beshrewd_] i. e. altogether cursed.
v. 99. _For other mennes skyll_]—_skyll_, i. e. reason: the line seems to
mean—Notwithstanding other men’s reasons.
Page 315. v. 107. _solfa so alamyre_]—_alamire_ is the lowest note but
one in Guido Aretine’s scale of music: Gayton, in his _Notes upon Don
Quixote_, 1654, says (metaphorically) that Maritornes “plaid her part
so wel, that she run through all the keyes from _A-la-mi-re_ to double
Gammut,” &c. p. 83.
v. 108. _premenyre_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 115. _heedes_] i. e. heads.
v. 119. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 316. v. 137.
_A great parte is for slouth,_
_But the greattest parte_
_Is for they haue but small arte_
_And ryght sklender connyng_
_Within theyr heedes wonnyng_]
—— _sklender connyng_, i. e. slender knowledge, learning: _wonnyng_, i.
e. dwelling. The meaning of the passage is—a great part of this is owing
to their laziness, but it is chiefly to be attributed to their ignorance,
&c.
Page 317. v. 151. _werkes_] i. e. works.
v. 152. _Ure_] i. e. Urias.
v. 154. _werryn_] i. e. hinder, ward off.
v. 159. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 160. _Set nought by_] i. e. Value not.
—— _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 162. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 163.
_loth to hang the bell_
_Aboute the cattes necke_]
So Heywood;
“And I will _hang the bell about the cats necke_:
For I will first breake and ieoperd the first checke.”
_Dialogue, &c._ sig. D 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See _Pierce Plowman_, where one of the rats proposes that a bell should
be hung about the cat’s neck. Sig. A iii. ed. 1561; and Ray’s _Proverbs_,
p. 85. ed. 1768.
Page 317. v. 166. _to play deuz decke_] An allusion, I suppose, to some
game.
v. 167. _for the becke_] i. e. to obey the nod of command.
v. 169. _Moche herted_] i. e. Much hearted.
v. 178. _combred_] i. e. encumbered.
Page 318. v. 181. _Sho the mockysshe mare_] So in our author’s _Why come
ye nat to Courte_;
“And _Mocke_ hath lost her shoo.”
v. 83. vol. ii. 29.
v. 182. _wynche and keke_] i. e. wince and kick.
v. 183. _not worth a leke_] An expression not uncommon in our early
poetry:
“No fallow _wourth ane leik_.”
G. Douglas’s _King Hart_,—Pinkerton’s _An._ _Scot. Poems from Maitl.
MSS._ i. 42.
“Such loue I preise not _at a leke_.”
Chaucer’s _Rom. of the Rose_, fol. 130,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
v. 190.
_Amende whan ye may,_
_For, usque ad montem Sare,_
_Men say ye can not appare_]
—_appare_, i. e. impair. The meaning of this passage,—in which (as I
have already noted _ad loc._) it seems probable from a comparison of
the MS. and the printed copies, that Skelton used the forms “Seire” and
“appeire,”—is—Amend when ye may, for it is said by every body, even as
far as Mount Seir, that ye cannot be worse than ye are. The Latin words
are a quotation from the Vulgate: “Et circuit de Baala contra occidentem,
_usque ad montem Seir_.” _Josue_, xv. 10.
v. 194. _hauke on hobby larkes_] See notes, p. 258. v. 1358. p. 262. v.
1582.
v. 195. _warkes_] i. e. works.
v. 198. _The gray gose for to sho_] Hoccleve uses this proverbial
expression;
“Ye medle of al thyng, ye moot _shoo the goos_.”
_Poems_, p. 13. ed. 1796.
and Heywood has the following Epigram;
“_Of common medlers._
”He that medleth with all thing, may _shoe the gosling_.
If all such medlers were set to goose shoing,
No goose need go barefoote betweene this and Greece,
For so we should haue as many goose shoers as geese.”
Sig. P 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
See also Davies’s _Scourge of Follie (Prouerbs)_, n. d. p. 175.
Page 319. v. 209. _pranes_] i. e. prawns.
v. 211. _werynge_] i. e. wearing.
v. 213. _ne peason_] i. e. nor peas.
v. 214. _loke to be let lose_] i. e. look to be let loose.
v. 215. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 216.
_Your gorge not endewed_
_Without a capon, &c._]
Equivalent to—You not digesting any thing except, &c.: see notes, p. 207.
v. 78. and v. 87.
v. 218. _a stewed cocke_] Compare the following passage in the _Interlude
of the iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“_Tauerner._ Though all capons be gone what than
yet I can get you _a stewed hen_
That is redy dyght.
_Humanyte._ yf she be fat yt wyll do well.
_Tauerner._ Fat or lene I cannot tell
But as for this I wot well
She lay at the stewes all nyght.”
Sig. B. vi.
v. 219.
_To knowe whate ys a clocke_
_Vnder her surfled_ [MS. _surfuld_] _smocke_]
Compare Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.;
“Howbeit suddenly she minded on a day,
To pick the chest locke, wherein this bagge lay:
...
But streight as she had forthwith opened the locke,
And look’t in the bagge, _what it was a clocke_,” &c.
Sig. K 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
In our author’s _Garlande of Laurell_ we find,
“With burris rowth and bottons _surffillyng_ [MS. _surfullinge_].”
v. 803. vol. i. 394.
which is cited (_Dict._ in v. _Surfel_) by Richardson, who, after quoting
from Gifford that “To _surphule_ or _surfel_ the cheeks, is to wash them
with mercurial or sulphur water,” &c., adds that Gifford’s “explanation
does not extend to the passage from Skelton.” The fact seems to be that
Skelton uses _surfle_ for _purfle_, i. e. border, embroider: and I may
notice that Brathwait, on the other hand, seems to employ _purfle_ for
_surfle_;
“With painting, _purfling_, and a face of Art.”
_A Strappado for the Diuell_, 1615. p. 150.
Page 319. v. 222.
_And howe whan ye gyue orders_
_In your prouinciall borders,_
_As at Sitientes, &c._]
_Sitientes_ is the first word of the Introit of the Mass for Passion
Sunday (_“Sitientes, venite ad aquas, dicit Dominus,” &c._, _Isaiah_ lv.
1). For this note I am indebted to W. Dyce, Esq., who further observes
that _Sitientes_ Saturday was of old, and is now abroad, the Saturday
before Passion Sunday.
Page 320. v. 233. _renne they in euery stede_] i. e. run they in every
place.
v. 234. _nolles_] i. e. heads.
v. 239. _Pystle_] i. e. Epistle.
v. 243. _prymes and houres_] i. e. the devotions so named.
v. 248. _vagabundus_] i. e. vagabonds.
v. 251. _ale stake_] i. e. stake set up before an ale-house by way of
sign.
v. 252. _welcome hake and make_] An expression which I have not elsewhere
met with. Ray gives among _North Country words_, “To _hake_, To sneak,
or loiter:” in Hunter’s _Hallam. Gloss._ is “A _haking_ fellow, an
idle loiterer;” and in a song cited by Mr. J. P. Collier (_Hist. of
Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 472) from a MS. drama called _Misogonus_ by T.
Richards, we find,—
“With Bes and Nell we love to dwell
In kissinge and in _hakinge_.”
—_make_ is common in the sense of—mate, companion.
Page 321. v. 262. _stylla_] i. e. still.
v. 263. _wylla_] i. e. will.
v. 264. _pekes_] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 266. _faute_] i. e. fault.
v. 267. _apposed_] i. e. questioned, examined. “He was _apposed_,
or examyned of his byleue. De religione _appellatus est_.” Hormanni
_Vulgaria_, sig. D ii. ed. 1530.
v. 269. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
Page 322. v. 284. _Tom a thrum_] See note, p. 189. v. 204.
v. 293.
_There shall no clergy appose_
_A myter nor a crose,_
_But a full purse_]—_clergy_, i. e. erudition.
“Androgeus by kyng Mynos was sent,
For he should profite in _cleargy_,
To Athens.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. I. leaf xii. ed. Wayland.
—_appose_ seems to be used in a different sense from that in which we
have just had it (v. 267), and to be equivalent to—procure: _crose_, i.
e. crosier.
Page 322. v. 299. _a hermoniake_] A term I am unable to explain.
v. 303. _Ouer_] i. e. Besides.
—— _the foresayd laye_] i. e. the above-mentioned laity.
v. 305. _anker_] i. e. anchorite.
v. 310.
_To ryde vpon a mule_
_With golde all betrapped_]
Perhaps, as Warton thinks (note on _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to),
an allusion to Wolsey: afterwards in this poem, the Cardinal appears to
be pointed at more plainly.
Page 323. v. 312. _purple and paule_] An expression which frequently
occurs, more particularly in ballad-poetry (considered by Percy and
others as equivalent to—purple robe): _paule_, i. e. pall, rich or fine
cloth.
v. 316. _Raynes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2042.
v. 317. _morowes mylke_] i. e. morning’s milk.
v. 318. _tabertes_] _Tabards_,—jackets or coats, without sleeves, close
before and behind, and open at the sides, are still worn by heralds:
but those mentioned in the text were longer,—a sort of riding-cloaks.
“_Tabard_ a garmêt _mâteau_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._,
1530. fol. lxviii. (Table of Subst.). And see Du Cange’s _Gloss._ in v.
_Tabartum_; Roquefort’s _Gloss._ in v. _Tabar_; and Strutt’s _Dress and
Habits_, &c. ii. 301.
v. 319. _Theyr styrops of myxt gold begared_]—_begared_, or _begarded_,
means—faced, bordered,—adorned. The line, I suspect, (see various
readings _ad l._) ought to stand,—
“Theyr styrops _with_ gold begared.”
v. 321. _moyles_] i. e. mules.
v. 323.
_What care they though Gil sweate,_
_Or Jacke of the Noke_]
So afterwards, v. 857, the same terms are used to signify the labouring
poor of both sexes. _Jacke of the Noke_, i. e. (I suppose) Jack of the
Nook: see “_Nocata terræ_” in Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
v. 325. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 331. _farly_] i. e. strange.
v. 332. _iangle_] i. e. babble, chatter.
v. 335. _all to-mangle_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
Page 324. v. 337. _ascrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v.
903. p. 152. v. 1358.
v. 341. _Ware_] i. e. Were. (MS. “Was:” see note _ad loc._)
v. 342. _Poules_] i. e. Paul’s.
Page 324. v. 346. _trones_] i. e. thrones.
v. 347. _Lyke prynces aquilonis_] i. e. Like so many Lucifers.
v. 352. _For prestes and for lones_]—_prestes_, i. e. sums in advance.
“_Prest_ and _loan_,” Sir H. Nicolas observes to me, “seem to have been
used in nearly, if not precisely, the same sense in the 16th century.
Perhaps, strictly, _prest_ meant a compulsory advance. In fiscal records
it has much the meaning of _charge_ or _imprest_.”
v. 356. _tonge tayde_] i. e. tongue-tied.
v. 360. _shrewd_] i. e. evil.
v. 362. _poollynge_] i. e. polling, plundering.
Page 325. v. 365. _Ye make monkes to haue the culerage, &c._] A passage
which I do not understand: but _culerage_ perhaps has here the meaning
which it conveys as the name of an herb, “Arse-smart. _Cul-rage._”
Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 373. _ouerthwarted_] Has been explained before (p. 211. v.
230)—cavilled, wrangled: but here it seems to mean—crossly, perversely
opposed or controlled.
v. 376. _fayne_] i. e. glad.
v. 379. _corum_] i. e. quorum.
v. 388. _apostataas_] See note, p. 212. v. 290.
Page 326. v. 391. _sely nonnes_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless nuns.
v. 392. _ronnes_] i. e. runs.
v. 396. _quere_] i. e. quire.
v. 397. _heuy chere_] “_Heavy chear_, Tristitia, Mœstitia.” Cole’s _Dict._
v. 399. _fucke sayles_] So in a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar;
“The dust upskaillis, mony fillok wiih _fuk saillis_.”
_Poems_, ii. 27. ed. Laing.
and in another by Sir R. Maitland;
“Of fynest camroche thair _fuk saillis_.”
_Anc. Scot. Poems from Maitland MSS._, ii. 326. ed. Pink.
_Focke_, a foresail, German. In the Expenses of Sir John Howard, first
Duke of Norfolk, we find, “Item, the same day my mastyr paid to the said
Clayson, for a _fuk_ maste for the said kervelle, iij_s._ iiij_d._”
_Manners and Household Expenses of England_, &c., p. 206. ed. Roxb.
v. 401. _shales_] See note, p. 97. v. 19.
v. 403. _The lay fee people_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 404. _fawte_] i. e. fault.
v. 409. _Boke and chalys_] i. e. Book and chalice.
Page 327. v. 417. _melles_] i. e. meddles.
v. 418. _tytyuelles_] This word occurs not unfrequently, and with some
variety of spelling, in our early writers. So Lydgate;
“_Tytyuylles_ tyrauntes with tormentoures.”
_Le Assemble de dyeus_, sig. c i. n. d. 4to.
and Heywood;
“There is no moe such _titifyls_ in Englandes ground,
To hold with the hare, and run with the hound.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. C,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Some have considered the word as derived from the Latin, _titivilitium_,
a thing of no worth. Jamieson “suspects that it is a personal
designation,” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ in v. _Tutivillaris_. In
_Juditium, Towneley Mysteries_, p. 310, _Tutivillus_ is a fiend; and in
the Moral Play of _Mankind_ he represents the sin of the flesh, _Hist. of
Engl. Dram. Poet._, ii. 297, by Mr. J.P. Collier, who says (ii. 223) that
“the name afterwards came to mean any person with evil propensities,”
and refers to the comedy of _Rauf Royster Doyster_, Skelton’s Works, and
the Enterlude of _Thersytes_: when he objected to the derivation of the
word from _titivilitium_ and proposed “the more simple etymology, _totus_
and _vilis_,” he was probably not aware that some writers (wrongly)
“_totivillitium_ volunt, quasi _totum vile_:” see Gronovius’s note on the
_Casina_ of Plautus, ii. 5, 39. ed. Var.
Page 327. v. 421. _Of an abbay ye make a graunge_] A proverbial
expression.
“Our changes are soch that _an abbeye turneth to a graunge_.”
Bale’s _Kynge Iohan_, p. 23. Camd. ed.
“To bring _an Abbey to a Grange_.” Ray’s _Proverbs_, p. 174. ed. 1768.
v. 424. _beade rolles_] i. e. prayers,—properly, lists of those to be
prayed for.
v. 429.
_But where theyr soules dwell,_
_Therwith I wyll not mell_]
—_mell_, i. e. meddle. So Dunbar;
“Now _with thair sawle we will nocht mell_.”
_Poems_, ii. 52. ed. Laing.
v. 434. _reporte me_] i. e. refer.
v. 440. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
Page 328. v. 447.
_splendore_
_Fulgurantis hastæ_]
From the Vulgate. “Ibunt in _splendore fulgurantis hastæ_ tuæ.” _Habac._
iii. 11. “Et micantis gladii, et _fulgurantis hastæ_.” _Nahum_, iii. 3.
v. 456. _eysell_] i. e. vinegar.
v. 458. _ypocras_] Was a favourite medicated drink, composed of wine
(usually red), with spices and sugar. It is generally supposed to have
been so named from Hippocrates (often contracted, as in our author’s
_Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1426. vol. i. 417, to “Ipocras”); perhaps
because it was strained,—the woollen bag used by apothecaries to strain
syrups and decoctions for clarification being termed _Hippocrates’s
sleeve_.
Page 328. v. 459. _Let the cat wynke_] See note, p. 168. v. 305.
v. 460. _Iche wot_] Seems to mean here—Each knows (not, I know); and
therefore in the remainder of the line the reading of Kele’s ed., “yche,”
ought not to have been rejected.
v. 467. _theologys_] i. e. theologians.
v. 468. _astrologys_] i. e. astrologers.
Page 329. v. 469. _Ptholome_] See note, p. 133. v. 503.
v. 474. _pretendynge_] Equivalent to—portending.
“What misfortune, aduersitie, or blame,
Can all the planets to man or childe _pretende_,
If God most glorious by his might vs defende?”
Barclay’s _Ship of Fooles_, fol. 129. ed. 1570.
Here Skelton seems to allude to Wolsey; and from these lines (called in
the Lansdown MS., see note _ad loc._, “The profecy of Skelton”) perhaps
originated the story of our poet having prophesied the downfal of the
Cardinal.
v. 476. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 479. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
Page 330. v. 489. _bruted_] i. e. reported, talked of.
v. 492. _wrest vp_] i. e. screw up: see note, p. 238. v. 137.
v. 493. _twynkyng_] i. e. tinking, tinkling.
v. 498. _the lay fee_] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.
v. 504. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 515. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
Page 331. v. 523. _resydeuacyon_] i. e. recidivation, backsliding.
v. 528. _ipostacis_] i. e. hypostasis.
v. 533. _fore top_] i. e. (as the context shews) simply,—head, pate.
v. 535. _knowe and ken_] A pleonasm,—unless _ken_ be explained—see.
v. 542.
_And some haue a smacke_
_Of Luthers sacke_]
Concerning the wine called _sack_ (about which so much has been written)
see Henderson’s _Hist. of Anc. and Mod. Wines_, p. 298.
v. 544. _brennyng_] i. e. burning.
v. 545. _warke_] i. e. work.
Page 332. v. 549. _carpe_] i. e. talk, prate.
v. 551. _Called Wicleuista_] From Wicliffe.
v. 553. _Hussyans_] i. e. followers of Huss.
v. 554. _Arryans_] i. e. followers of Arius.
v. 555. _Pollegians_] i. e. Pelagians,—followers of Pelagius.
v. 559. _to mykel_] i. e. too much.
Page 332. v. 564. _tryalytes_] i. e. three benefices united.
v. 565. _tot quottes_] So Barclay;
“Then yf this lorde haue in him fauour, he hath hope
To haue another benefyce of greater dignitie,
And so maketh a false suggestion to the pope
For a _tot quot_, or els a pluralitie.”
_Ship of Fooles_, fol. 60. ed. 1570.
Page 333. v. 572. _persons and vycaryes_] i. e. parsons and vicars.
v. 576. _loselles_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 577. _lewdely_] i. e. wickedly, vilely.
v. 578. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 581. _mought_] i. e. might.
v. 582. _so dysgysed_] See note, p. 205. v. 22.
Page 334. v. 597. _lokes_] i. e. looks.
v. 598. _bokes_] i. e. books.
v. 600. _wroken_] i. e. wreaked.
v. 602. _iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 604. _face_] See note, p. 216. v. 33.
—— _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 606. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 607. _layser_] i. e. leisure.
v. 619. _connyng_] i. e. knowledge, learning.
—— _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
Page 335. v. 624. _dykes_] i. e. ditches.
“Where the blinde leadeth the blinde, both fall in the _dyke_.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c.—_Workes_, ed. 1598, sig. G 2.
v. 625. _Set nothyng by_] i. e. Value not, regard not.
v. 637. _ye, shall_] i. e. yea, I shall.
v. 648. _shule_] i. e. shovel.
Page 336. v. 654. _mamockes_] See note, p. 268. v. 2035.
v. 663. _kynde_] i. e. nature.
v. 664. _Many one ye haue vntwynde_] The reading of the MS., which at
least gives a sense to the line: _vntwynde_, i. e. destroyed; see note,
p. 127. v. 284.
v. 668. _fote_] i. e. foot.
v. 672. _in the deuyll way_] A common expression in our early writers.
“Our Hoste answerd: Tell on _a devil way_.”
Chaucer’s _Milleres Prol._, v. 3136. ed. Tyr.
“In the _twenty deuyll way, Au nom du grant diable_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccccxlii. (Table of Aduerbes).
“What reason is that, _in the twenty deuell waye_, that he shulde bere
suche a rule? Quænam (_malum_) ratio est,” &c. Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig.
dd iii. ed. 1530.
Page 337. v. 673. _ouer_] i. e. besides.
v. 675. _hear_] i. e. hair.
v. 679. _tonsors_] i. e. tonsures.
v. 688. _the male dothe wrye_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
Page 338. v. 692. _Ye bysshops of estates_]—_of estates_, i. e. of great
estate, rank, dignity.
v. 698. _awtentyke_] i. e. authentic.
v. 704. _intoxicate_] i. e. poison (Lat. _intoxico_).
v. 705. _conquinate_] i. e. coinquinate,—pollute, defile, defame.
v. 710. _The Churchis hygh estates_] i. e. the dignitaries of the Church.
Page 339. v. 728. _marke_] i. e. marks,—the coins so called.
v. 730. _werke_] i. e. work.
v. 734. _sawe_] i. e. saying,—branch of learning.
v. 737. _pore_] i. e. poor.
v. 739. _frere_] i. e. friar.
Page 340. v. 747.
_of the order_
_Vpon Grenewyche border,_
_Called Obseruaunce_]
The statement that Edward the Third founded a religious house at
Greenwich in 1376 appears to rest on no authority. A grant of Edward
the Fourth to certain Minorites or Observant Friars of the order of St.
Francis of a piece of ground which adjoined the palace at Greenwich, and
on which they had begun to build several small mansions, was confirmed
in 1486 by a charter of Henry the Seventh, who founded there a convent
of friars of that order, to consist of a warden and twelve brethren at
the least; and who is said to have afterwards rebuilt their convent
from the foundation. The friars of Greenwich were much favoured by
Katherine, queen of Henry the Eighth; and when, during the question of
her divorce, they had openly espoused her cause, the king was so greatly
enraged that he suppressed the whole order throughout England. The
convent at Greenwich was dissolved in 1534. Queen Mary reinstated them in
their possessions, and new-founded and repaired their monastery. Queen
Elizabeth suppressed them, &c. See Lysons’s _Environs of London_, iv.
464. ed. 1796.
v. 754. _Babuell besyde Bery_] When by an order of Pope Urban the Fourth,
the Grey Friars were removed out of the town and jurisdiction of Bury St.
Edmund, in 1263, “they retired to a place just without the bounds, beyond
the north gate, called Babwell, now the Toll-gate, which the abbat and
convent generously gave them to build on; and here they continued till
the dissolution.” Tanner’s _Not. Mon._ p. 527. ed. 1744.
Page 340. v. 755. _To postell vpon a kyry_] i. e. to comment upon a Kyrie
eleison: (a _postil_ is a short gloss, or note).
v. 757. _coted_] i. e. quoted.
Page 341. v. 779. _blother_] i. e. gabble.
v. 780.
_make a Walshmans hose_
_Of the texte and of the glose_]
So again our author in his _Garlande of Laurell_;
“And after conueyauns as the world goos,
It is no foly to vse _the Walshemannys hose_.”
v. 1238. vol. i. 411.
Compare _The Legend of the Bischop of St Androis_;
“Of omnigatherene now his glose,
He _maid it lyk a Wealchman hose_.”
_Scot. Poems of the Sixteenth Century_, (by Dalyell), p. 332.
“WELCHMAN’S HOSE. Equivalent, I imagine, to the breeches of a Highlander,
or the dress of a naked Pict; upon the presumption that Welchmen had no
hose.” Nares’s _Gloss._ in v. Unfortunately, however, for this ingenious
conjecture, the expression is found varied to “_shipman’s hose_,”—which
certainly cannot be considered as a non-entity. “Hereunto they adde also
a Similitude not very agreeable, how the Scriptures be like to a Nose
of Waxe, or _a Shipmans Hose_: how thei may be fashioned, and plied al
manner of waies, and serue al mennes turnes.” Jewel’s _Defence of the
Apologie_, &c. p. 465. ed. 1567. “And not made as _a shippe mans hose_ to
serue for euery legge.” Wilson’s _Arte of Rhetorike_, p. 102. ed. 1580.
Surely _Welshman’s hose_ (as well as shipman’s) became proverbial from
their pliability, power of being stretched, &c.
v. 784. _broke_] i. e. brook.
v. 785. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 786. _boke_] i. e. book.
Page 342. v. 800. _the brode gatus_] Means perhaps, Broadgates Hall,
Oxford, on the site of which Pembroke College was erected.
v. 801. _Daupatus_] i. e. Simple-pate: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 803. _Dronhen as a mouse_] So Chaucer;
“We faren as he that _dronke is as a mous_.”
_The Knightes Tale_, v. 1263. ed. Tyr.
v. 805. _his pyllyon and his cap_]—_pyllyon_, from Lat. _pileus_. Compare
Barclay;
“Mercury shall geue thee giftes manyfolde,
His _pillion_, scepter, his winges, and his harpe.”
_Fourth Egloge_, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.
and Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_; “and upon his head a round _pillion_,
with a noble of black velvet set to the same in the inner side” [where
surely we ought to read, “and upon his head a round _pillion_ of black
velvet, with a noble set to the same in the inner side”]. p. 105. ed.
1827.
Page 342. v. 811. _As wyse as Waltoms calfe_] So Heywood;
“And thinke me _as wise as Waltams calfe_, to talke,” &c.
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Ray gives, “_As wise as Waltham’s calf_, that ran nine miles to suck a
bull.” _Proverbs_, p. 220. ed. 1768.
v. 812. _a Goddes halfe_] See note, p. 174. v. 501.
v. 817. _scole matter_] i. e. school-matter.
Page 343. v. 820. _elenkes_] i. e. elenchs (_elenchus_—in logic).
v. 822. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 826. _neuen_] i. e. name.
v. 831. _mo_] i. e. more.
v. 836. _Lymyters_] i. e. Friars licensed to beg within certain districts.
v. 840. _Flatterynge, &c._] Compare Barclay;
“We geue wooll and _cheese_, our wiues coyne and egges,
When _freers flatter_ and prayse their proper legges.”
_Fifth Egloge_, sig. D v. ed. 1570.
v. 843. _lese_] i. e. lose.
Page 344. v. 846. _bacon flycke_] i. e. flitch of bacon.
v. 849. _couent_] i. e. convent.
v. 852. _theyr tonges fyle_]—_fyle_, i. e. smooth, polish: the expression
occurs in earlier and in much later writers.
v. 854.
_To Margery and to Maude,_
_Howe they haue no fraude_]
As we find the name “Mawte” in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 159.
vol. i. 100, and as in the second of these lines the MS. (see note _ad
l._) has “fawte” (i. e. fault), the right reading is probably,
“To Margery and to _Mawte_,
Howe they haue no _fawte_.”
v. 856. _prouoke_] i. e. incite.
v. 857. _Gyll and Jacke at Noke_] See note on v. 323. p. 283.
v. 861. _In open tyme_] i. e. In the time when no fasts are imposed.
v. 864. _an olde sayd sawe_] “_Oulde sayd sawe prouerbe_.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. li. (Table of Subst.).
Page 344. v. 866. _Some walke aboute in melottes_] “Circuierunt in
melotis.” _Vulgate_,—_Heb._ xi. 37. “_Melotes_,” as Mr. Albert Way
observes to me, “is explained in the _Catholicon_ to be a garment used by
the monks during laborious occupation, made of the skin of the badger,
and reaching from the neck to the loins,” and according to other early
dictionaries, it was made of the hair or skin of other animals. So
the original Greek word, μηλωτή, which properly means _pellis ovina_,
signifies also _pellis quævis_.
v. 867. _heery_] i. e. hairy.
v. 868. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 869. _in remotes_] i. e. in retired places.
Page 345. v. 874.
_And by Dudum, theyr Clementine,_
_Agaynst curates they repyne;_
_And say propreli they ar sacerdotes,_
_To shryue, assoyle, and reles_
_Dame Margeries soule out of hell_]
—_shryue, assoyle_, i. e. confess, absolve.—“On a de Clément V une
compilation nouvelle, tant des décrets du concile général de Vienne,
que de ses épîtres ou constitutions. C’est ce qu’on appelle les
_Clémentines_.” _L’Art de vérifier les Dates, &c. (depuis la naissance de
Notre-seigneur_), iii. 382. ed. 1818. Skelton alludes here to _Clement._
lib. iii. tit. vii. cap. ii. which begins, “_Dvdum_ à Bonifacio Papa
octauo prædecessore nostro,” &c., and contains the following passages.
“Ab olim siquidem inter Prælatos & Rectores, seu Sacerdotes ac Clericos
parochialium Ecclesiarum per diuersas Mundi prouincias constitutos ex
vna parte, & Prædicatorum & Minorum ordinum fratres ex altera (pacis
æmulo, satore zizaniæ procurante), grauis & periculosa discordia
extitit, suscitata super prædicationib. fidelium populis faciendis,
eorum confessionibus audiendis, pœnitentiis iniungendis eisdem, &
tumulandis defunctorum corporibus, qui apud fratrum ipsorum Ecclesias
siue loca noscuntur eligere sepulturam.... Statuimus etiam & ordinamus
auctoritate prædicta, vt in singulis ciuitatibus & diœcesibus, in quibus
loca fratrum ipsorum consistere dignoscuntur, vel in ciuitatibus &
diœcesibus locis ipsis vicinis, in quibus loca huiusmodi non habentur,
Magistri, Priores prouinciales Prædicatorum, aut eorum Vicarij &
Generales, et Prouinciales Ministri & custodes Minorum & ordinum
prædictorum ad præsentiam Prælatorum eorundem locorum se conferant per
se, vel per fratres, quos ad hoc idoneos fore putauerint, humiliter
petituri, vt fratres, qui ad hoc electi fuerint, in eorum ciuitatibus
& diœcesibus confessiones subditorum suorum confiteri sibi volentium
audire liberè valeant, & huiusmodi confitentibus (prout secundùm Deum
expedire cognouerint) pœnitentias imponere salutares, atque eisdem
absolutionis beneficium impendere de licentia, gratia, & beneplacito
eorundem: Ac deinde præfati Magistri, Priores, Prouinciales, & Ministri
ordinum prædictorum eligere studeant personas sufficientes, idoneas, vita
probatas, discretas, modestas, atque peritas, ad tam salubre ministerium
et officium exequendum: quas sic ab ipsis electas repræsentent,
vel faciant præsentari Prælatis, vt de eorum licentia, gratia, &
beneplacito in ciuitatib. & dioecesibus eorundem huiusmodi personæ
sic electæ confessiones confiteri sibi volentium audiant, imponant
pœnitentias salutares, & beneficium absolutionis (in posterum) impendant,
prout superiùs est expressum: extra ciuitates & diœceses, in quibus
fuerint deputatæ, per quas eas volumus & non per prouincias deputari,
confessiones nullatenus audituræ. Numerus autem personarum assumendarum
ad huiusmodi officium exercendum esse debet, prout vniuersitas cleri &
populi, ac multitudo vel paucitas exigit eorundem. Et si iidem Prælati
petitam licentiam confessionum huiusmodi audiendarum concesserint: illam
præfati Magistri, Ministri, & alij cum gratiarum recipiant actione,
dictæque personæ sic electæ commissum sibi officium exequantur. Quòd si
fortè iam dicti Prælati quenquam ex dictis fratribus præsentatis eisdem
ad huiusmodi officium nollent habere, vel non ducerent admittendum: eo
amoto, vel subtracto loco ipsius similiter eisdem præsentandus Prælatis
possit, & debeat alius surrogari. Si verò iidem Prælati præfatis
fratribus ad confessiones (vt præmittitur) audiendas electis, huiusmodi
exhibere licentiam recusârint, nos ex nunc ipsis, vt confessiones sibi
confiteri volentium liberè licitèque audire valeant, & eisdem pœnitentias
imponere salutares, atque eisdem beneficium absolutionis impertiri,
gratiosè concedimus de plenitudine Apostolicæ potestatis. Per huiusmodi
autem concessionem nequaquam intendimus personis, seu fratribus ipsis ad
id taliter deputatis, potestatem in hoc impendere ampliorem quàm in eo
curatis vel parochialibus Sacerdotib. est à iure concessa: nisi forsan
eis Ecclesiarum Prælati vberiorem in hac parte gratiam specialiter
ducerent faciendam.” Pp. 184-190. (_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600.)
Page 345. v. 879.
_But when the freare fell in the well,_
_He coud not syng himselfe therout_
_But by the helpe of Christyan Clout_]
The name “_Cristian Clowte_” has occurred before in our author’s
_Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale_, vol. i. 28. The story alluded to in this
passage appears to be nearly the same as that which is related in a
comparatively modern ballad, entitled,
“_The Fryer Well-fitted:
or,
A Pretty Jest that once befel,
How a Maid put a Fryer to cool in the Well.
To a merry new Tune. Licens’d and Enter’d according to Order._”
The Friar wishes to seduce the Maid;
“But she denyed his Desire,
And told him, that she feared Hell-fire;
_fa, la_, &c.
Tush, (quoth the Fryer) thou needst not doubt,
_fa, la_, &c.
If thou wert in Hell, I could sing thee out;
_fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid then tells him that he “shall have his request,” but only on
condition that he brings her “an angel of money.” While he is absent,
“She hung a Cloth before the Well;” and, when he has returned, and given
her the angel,—
“Oh stay, (quoth she) some Respite make,
My Father comes, he will me take;
_fa, la_, &c.
Alas, (quoth the Fryer) where shall I run,
_fa, la_, &c.
To hide me till that he be gone?
_fa, la_, &c.
Behind the Cloth run thou (quoth she),
And there my Father cannot thee see;
_fa, la_, &c.
Behind the Cloth the Fryer crept,
_fa, la_, &c.
And into the Well on sudden he leapt,
_fa, la_, &c.
Alas, (quoth he) I am in the Well;
No matter, (quoth she) if thou wert in Hell;
_fa, la_, &c.
Thou say’st thou could’st sing me out of Hell,
_fa, la_, &c.
Now prithee sing thyself out of the Well,
_fa, la_, &c.”
The Maid at last helps him out, and bids him be gone; but when he asks
her to give him back the angel,—
“Good Sir, (said she) there’s no such matter,
I’ll make you pay for fouling my Water;
_fa, la_, &c.
The Fryer went along the Street,
_fa, la_, &c.
Drapping wet, like a new-wash’d Sheep,
_fa, la_, &c.
Both Old and Young commended the Maid,
That such a witty Prank had plaid;
_fa, la, la, la, la,_
_fa, la, la, lang-tree down-dily._”
_Ballads_, Brit. Mus. 643. m.
Page 345. v. 882.
_Another Clementyne also,_
_How frere Fabian, with other mo,_
_Exivit de Paradiso_]
—_mo_, i. e. more. Some corruption, if not considerable mutilation of the
text, may be suspected here. There seems to be an allusion to _Clement_,
lib. v. tit. xi. cap. i., which begins, “_Exiui de paradiso_, dixi,
rigabo hortum plantationum, ait ille cœlestis agricola,” &c. P. 313.
(_Decret._ tom. iii. ed. 1600).
v. 892. _abiections_] i. e. objections.
Page 346. v. 901. _hertes_] i. e. hearts.
v. 903. _coueytous_] i. e. covetise, covetousness.
v. 906. _play scylens and glum, &c._] See note on v. 83. p. 278.
v. 911. _leuer_] i. e. more willingly, rather.
v. 914. _Worsshepfully_] i. e. According to their honour, or dignity.
Page 347. v. 922. _payntes_] See note, p. 176. v. 583.
v. 924. _them lyke_] i. e. please them.
v. 931. _crosse_] See note, p. 116. v. 363.
v. 932. _predyall landes_] i. e. farm-lands.
v. 943. _palles_] See note on v. 312. p. 283.
v. 944. _Arras_] i. e. tapestry: see note, p. 192. v. 78.
v. 947. _lusty_] i. e. pleasant, desirable,—beautiful.
Page 348. v. 950. _shote_] i. e. shoot.
v. 951. _tyrly tyrlowe_] This passage was strangely misunderstood by
the late Mr. Douce, who thought that “_tyrly tyrlowe_” alluded to the
note of the crow, that bird being mentioned in the preceding line!
_Illust. of Shakespeare_, i. 353. The expression has occurred before,
in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 292. vol. i. 104: here it is
equivalent to the modern _fa, la, la_, which is often used with a sly or
wanton allusion,—as, for instance, at the end of each stanza of Pope’s
court-ballad, _The Challenge_.
Page 348. v. 953. _a lege de moy_] See note, p. 176. v. 587.
v. 956. _With suche storyes bydene_]—_bydene_, that is “by the dozen,”
says Warton, erroneously, quoting this passage, _Hist. of E. P._, ii.
343. ed. 4to (note). The word occurs frequently in our early poetry, with
different significations: here it may be explained—together—(with _a
collection of_ such stories); so in _The Worlde and the Chylde_, 1522;
“Now cryst ...
...
Saue all this company that is gathered here _bydene_.”
Sig. C iiii.
v. 957. _Their chambres well besene_]—_well besene_, i. e. of a good
appearance,—well-furnished, or adorned: see note, p. 112. v. 283.
v. 962. _Nowe all the worlde stares, &c._] “This is still,” as Warton
observes (_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 343. ed. 4to, note), “a description of
tapestry.”
v. 963. _chares_] i. e. chariots.
v. 964. _olyphantes_] i. e. elephants.
v. 965, _garlantes_] i. e. garlands.
v. 974. _estate_] i. e. high rank, dignity.
v. 975. _courage_] i. e. heart, affections.
v. 977.
_Theyr chambres thus to dresse_
_With suche parfetnesse_]
—_parfetnesse_, i. e. perfectness. “We should observe,” says Warton,
after citing the passage, “that the satire is here pointed at the subject
of these tapestries. The graver ecclesiastics, who did not follow the
levities of the world, were contented with religious subjects, or such as
were merely historical.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 344. ed. 4to.
Page 349. v. 983. _remorde_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 987. _mellyng_] i. e. meddling.
v. 990. _besy_] i. e. busy.
v. 991. _For one man to rule a kyng_] An allusion, I apprehend, to
Wolsey’s influence over Henry the Eighth: so again our author speaking
of Wolsey, in the Latin lines at the end of _Why Come ye nat to Courte_,
“Qui regnum _regemque regit_.” Vol. ii. 67. I may observe too in further
confirmation of the reading “_kyng_” instead of “gyng” (see note _ad
loc._), that we have had in an earlier passage of the present poem,
“_To rule_ bothe _kyng_ and kayser.”
v. 606.
v. 996. _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 998. _quysshon_] i. e. cushion.
v. 1000. _Cum regibus amicare_] “_Amico_, to be frend.” _Medulla
Gramatice_, MS. (now in the possession of Mr. Rodd).
Page 349. v. 1002. _pravare_] In _Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de. Worde,
n. d., is “_Prauo_ ... prauum facere. _or to shrewe_,” and “Tirannus.
_shrewe_ or tyrande.” The meaning therefore of _pravare_ in our text may
be—to play the tyrant.
Page 350. v. 1003. _vre_] “_Evr_ happe or lucke with his compoundes
_bonevr_ and _malevr_,” &c. Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530.
fol. vi. (Thirde Boke).
“My goddesse bright, my fortune, and my _vre_.”
Chaucer’s _Court of Loue_, fol. 330,—_Workes_, ed. 1602.
“The grace and _ewer_ and hap of olde fortune.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. iv. sig. Z v. cd. 1555.
“But wayte his death & his fatall _eure_.”
_Id_. sig. A a i.
“And fortune which hath the such _vre_ y sent.”
_Poems by C. Duke of Orleans,—MS. Harl._ 682, fol. 24.
v. 1014. _played so checkemate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in
_check_ at the game of chess.
v. 1017. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1019. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 1020. _at the playsure of one, &c._] Meaning, surely, Wolsey.
v. 1025. _not so hardy on his hede_] An elliptical expression; compare v.
1154. In the _Morte d’Arthur_ when Bors is on the point of slaying King
Arthur, “_Not soo hardy_ sayd syr launcelot _vpon payn of thy hede_, &c.”
B. xx. c. xiii. vol. ii. 411. ed. Southey.
v. 1026. _To loke on God in forme of brede_]—_loke_, i. e. look: _brede_,
i. e. bread. A not unfrequent expression in our early writers.
“Whan I sacred our lordes body
Chryste Jesu _in fourme of brede_.”
_The Lyfe of saint Gregoryes mother_, n. d. sig. A v.
See too Ritson’s _An. Pop. Poetry_, p. 84; and Hartshorne’s _An. Met.
Tales_, p. 134.
Page 351. v. 1030. _sacryng_] “_Sacryng_ of the masse _sacrement_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lx. (Table of Subst.).
And see Todd’s _Johnson’s Dict._ in v.
v. 1041. _preas_] i. e. press.
v. 1047. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 1050. _warke_] i. e. work, business.
Page 352. v. 1051. _this_] Perhaps for—thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 1054. _vncouthes_] i. e. strange matters.
v. 1055. _ken_] i. e. know.
v. 1070. _premenire_] i. e. præmunire.
v. 1074. _fotyng_] i. e. footing.
Page 352. v. 1075. _motyng_] i. e. mooting. “Certamen ... anglice
flytynge chydynge or _motynge.” Ortus Vocab._ fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 1076. _totyng_] i. e. prying, peeping.
Page 353. v. 1084. _hole route_] i. e. whole crowd, set.
v. 1098. _escrye_] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p.
152. v. 1358. p. 283. v. 337.
v. 1102. _werke_] i. e. work.
Page 354. v. 1106. _hynderyng_] See note, p. 245. v. 719.
—— _dysauaylyng_] “I _Disauayle_ one, I hynder his auauntage, _Ie luy
porte dom̄aige_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 1116. _to be gramed_] i. e. to be angered: _gramed_ is doubtless
the right reading here, though the eds. have “greued” and the MS.
“grevyd”—(_grame_ has already occurred in _Magnyfycence_, v. 1864).
Page 355. v. 1134. _depraue_] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 1154. _Not so hardy on theyr pates_] See note on v. 1025, preceding
page.
v. 1155. _losell_] See note, p. 209. v. 138.
v. 1156. _wesaunt_] i. e. weasand.
v. 1157. _syr Guy of Gaunt_] See note, p. 184. v. 70.
v. 1158. _lewde_] i. e. wicked, vile.
Page 356. v. 1159. _doctour Deuyas_] See note, p. 95. v. 55.
v. 1162. _dawcocke_] i. e. simpleton: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
—— _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 1164. _Allygate_] i. e. Allege.
v. 1170. _lurdeyne_] See note, p. 242. v. 423.
v. 1171. _Lytell Ease_] “_Little Ease_ (prison), mala mansio, arcæ
robustæ.” Coles’s _Dict._—“LITTLE-EASE. A familiar term for a pillory, or
stocks; or an engine uniting both purposes, the bilboes.” Nares’s _Gloss._
v. 1178. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
Page 357. v. 1184. _Poules Crosse_] i. e. Paul’s Cross.
v. 1186. _Saynt Mary Spyttell_] In Bishopsgate Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_,
B. ii. 97. ed. 1720.
v. 1187. _set not by vs a whystell_] i. e. value us not at a whistle,
care not a whistle for us. Compare Lydgate;
“For he _set not by_ his wrethe _a whistel_.”
_The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.,—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 45.
v. 1188. _the Austen fryers_] In Broad-street Ward: see Stow’s _Survey_,
B. ii. 114, ed. 1720.
Page 357. v. 1190. _Saynt Thomas of Akers_] Concerning the “Hospital
intituled of S. Thomas of Acon or Acars [Acre in the Holy Land], near to
the great Conduit in Cheape,” see Stow’s _Survey_, B. iii. 37. ed. 1720,
and Maitland’s _Hist. of London_, ii. 886. ed. 1756.
v. 1191. _carpe vs_] Is explained by the various reading of the
MS.,—“clacke of us.”
—— _crakers_] i. e., as the context shews, (not—vaunters, but) noisy
talkers.
v. 1193. _reason or skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 1196. _at a pronge_] See note, p. 243. v. 506.
v. 1199. _fonge_] i. e. take, get.
v. 1201. _the ryght of a rambes horne_] An expression which our author
has again in _Speke, Parrot_, v. 498. vol. ii. 24. So in a metrical
fragment, temp. Edward ii.;
“As _ryt as ramis orn._”
_Reliquiæ Antiquæ_ (by Wright and Halliwell), ii. 19.