This poem appears to have been produced (at intervals perhaps) during
1522 and part of the following year.
—— _sadly_] See note, p. 267. v. 1966: _loke_, i. e. look.
Page 26. v. 3. _To_] i. e. Too (as in the next seven lines).
v. 5. _scarce_] i. e. sparing.
v. 6. _large_] i. e. liberal.
v. 8. _haute_] i. e. haughty.
Page 27. v. 23. _appall_] i. e. make pale, make to decay.
v. 33. _rage_] i. e. toy wantonly (see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s
_Cant. Tales_).
v. 34. _basse_] i. e. kiss.
v. 37. _corage_] i. e. desire, inclination.
Page 28. v. 39. _ouerage_] Seems here to be—over-age (excessive age);
while, again, in our author’s poem _Howe the douty duke of Albany_, &c.,
it appears to be—over-rage (excessive rage);
“It is a rechelesse rage,
And a lunatyke _oueraye_.”
v. 417. vol. ii. 80.
v. 43. _a graunt domage_] Meant for French perhaps.
v. 44. _set by_] i. e. valued, regarded.
v. 46. _rynne_] i. e. run.
v. 50. _boskage_] i. e. thicket, wood.
v. 56. _defaute_] i. e. default, want.
v. 58. _theyr hedes mew_] i. e. hide their heads; see note on v. 219.
v. 62. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 63. _In faythe, dycken, thou krew_] See note, p. 115. v. 360.
Page 29. v. 68. _banketynge_] i. e. banqueting.
v. 69. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 70. _gambaudynge_] i. e. gambolling.
v. 74. _The countrynge at Cales_]—_countrynge_ does not, I apprehend,
mean—encountering, but is a musical term (see note on heading of poem, p.
92) used here metaphorically, as in other parts of Skelton’s works. The
allusion seems to be to the meeting between Henry the Eighth and Francis
in 1520, when (as perhaps few readers need be informed) Henry went over
to Calais, proceeded thence to Guisnes, and met Francis in the fields
between the latter town and Ardres. If “_Cales_” is to be understood
as—Cadiz (see note, p. 195. last v.) I know not any occurrence there of
sufficient consequence to suit the present passage.
Page 29. v. 75. _Wrang vs on the males_] See note, p. 142. v. 700.
v. 77. _grouchyng_] i. e. grudging.
v. 79. _talwod_] “_Tallwodde_ pacte wodde to make byllettes of
_taillee_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxix.
(Table of Subst.). “Talshide or _Talwood_ (Taliatura) is Fire-wood, cleft
and cut into Billets of a certain Length.... This was anciently written
_Talghwode_.” Cowel’s _Law Dictionary_, &c. ed. 1727.
—— _brent_] i. e. burned.
v. 81. _We may blowe at the cole_] See note, p. 313. v. 610.
v. 83. _Mocke hath lost her sho_] See note, p. 331. v. 1396.
v. 87. _As ryght as a rammes horne_] See note, p. 298. v. 1201.
v. 90. _all to-torne_] See note, p. 100. v. 32.
v. 92. _Fauell_] See note, p. 107. v. 134.
v. 93, _Iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 94. _Hauell_] Which occurs again in v. 604, is a term of reproach
found less frequently than _javel_ in our early writers: whether it
be connected with _haveril_,—one who _havers_ (see the Gloss. to _The
Towneley Myst._ in v. _Hawvelle_) I cannot pretend to determine.
—— _Haruy Hafter_] See note, p. 107. v. 138.
v. 97. _pollynge and shauynge_]—_pollynge_, i. e. shearing,
clipping,—plundering.
v. 99. _reuynge_] i. e. reaving.
Page 30. v. 101. _vayleth_] i. e. availeth.
v. 105. _reason and ... skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 106. _garlycke pyll_] i. e. peel garlic.
v. 108. _shyll_] i. e. shell.
v. 109. _rost a stone_] So Heywood;
“I doe but _roste a stone_
In warming her.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. F 2,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 110. _no man but one_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 114. _cammocke_] See note, p. 179. v. 30.
v. 115. _This byll well ouer loked_] i. e. This writing being well
overlooked, examined.
v. 117. _There went the hare away_] A proverbial expression:
“_Man._ By my fayth a lytell season
I folowed the counsell and dyet of reason.
_Gloto._ There went the hare away
Hys dyet quod a,” &c.
Medwall’s _Interlude of Nature_, n. d., sig. g ii.
“heere’s the King, nay stay:
And heere, I heare [ay, here]: _there goes the Hare away_.”
_The Spanish Tragedie_ (by Kyd), sig. G 3. ed. 1618.
Page 30. v. 118. _the gray_] i. e. the badger: see note, p. 303. v. 101.
v. 119. _the buck_] Qy. does Skelton, under these names of animals,
allude to certain persons? If he does, “the buck” must mean Edward Duke
of Buckingham, who, according to the popular belief, was impeached and
brought to the block by Wolsey’s means in 1521: so in an unprinted poem
against the Cardinal;
“Wherfor nevyr looke ther mowthes to be stoppyd
Tyll ther money be restoryd thow sum hedes be of choppyd
As thowe dyd serue _the Buckke_
For as men sey by the that was done
That sens had this lande no good lucke.”
_MS. Harl._ 2252. fol. 158.
v. 123. _Ge hame_] Scottice for—Go home.
v. 125. _tot quot_] See note, p. 287. v. 565.
v. 127. _lome_] i. e. loom.
v. 128. _lylse wulse_] i. e. linsey-woolsey,—an evident play on the
Cardinal’s name.
v. 130. _cule_] i. e. fundament.
v. 132. _warse_] i. e. worse.
Page 31. v. 136. _Bothombar_] I know not what place is meant here.
v. 139. _gup, leuell suse_]—_gup_ has occurred frequently before: see
note, p. 99. v. 17; the rest of this slang I do not comprehend.
v. 145. _nat worth a flye_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 150.
_Yet the good Erle of Surray,_
_The Frenche men he doth fray, &c._]
This nobleman (before mentioned, see note, p. 317. v. 769), Thomas Howard
(afterwards third Duke of Norfolk), commanded, in 1522, the English force
which was sent against France, when Henry the Eighth and the Emperor
Charles had united in an attack on that kingdom. In Stow’s _Annales_,
p. 517. ed. 1615, the marginal note “Earle of Surrey brent Morles in
Brytaine. I. Skelton,” evidently alludes to the present passage of our
poem. Both Turner and Lingard in their _Histories of Engl._ mistake this
nobleman for his father.
Page 31. v. 158. _mated_] i. e. confounded (I may just observe that
Palsgrave, besides “I _Mate_ at the chesses, _Ie matte_,” gives “I _Mate_
or ouercome, _Ie amatte_.”) _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol.
ccxcix. (Table of Verbes).
v. 163. _vrcheons_] i. e. hedge-hogs.
Page 32. v. 166. _ouer shote_] i. e. over-shoot.
v. 167. _scutus_] “_Scutum_, Moneta Regum Francorum, ita appellata quod
in ea descripta essent Franciæ insignia in scuto.” Du Cange’s _Gloss._
(Ital. _scudo_, Fr. _écu_).
v. 170. _wonders warke_] i. e. work of wonder.
v. 175. _They shote at him with crownes, &c._] On the immense gifts and
annuities which Wolsey received from foreign powers, see Turner’s _Hist.
of Reign of Hen. the Eighth_, i. 236. ed. 8vo.
v. 178. _his eyen so dased_]—_dased_, i. e. dazzled, or, according to
Skelton’s distinction—dulled; for in his _Garlande of Laurell_ we find
“eyn dasild and _dasid_.” v. 1389. vol. i. 416.
v. 179. _ne se can_] i. e. can not see.
v. 185. _the Chambre of Starres_] i. e. the Star-Chamber.
v. 190. _renayenge_] i. e. contradicting.
v. 194. _Good euyn, good Robyn Hood_] “Good even, good Robin Hood,”
was, as Ritson observes, a proverbial expression; “the allusion is to
_civility_ extorted by _fear_.” _Robin Hood_, i. lxxxvii. Warton mistook
the meaning of this line, as is proved by his mode of pointing it: see
_Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346. ed. 4to.
Page 33. v. 197. _thwartyng ouer thom_] i. e. overthwarting them,
perversely controlling them.
v. 202. _With, trompe vp, alleluya_] i. e., says Warton, “the pomp in
which he celebrates divine service.” _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 346 (note),
ed. 4to. Compare Wager’s _Mary Magdalene_, 1567;
“Ite Missa est, _with pipe vp Alleluya_.”
Sig. A iii.
v. 203. _Philargerya_] i. e. Φιλαργυρία, argenti amor, pecuniæ cupiditas.
She was one of the characters in Skelton’s lost drama, _The Nigramansir_.
v. 204. _herte_] i. e. heart.
v. 206. _Asmodeus_] The name of the evil spirit in the Book of _Tobit_.
v. 208. _Dalyda_] i. e. Dalilah.
“Unto his lemman _Dalida_ he told,
That in his heres all his strengthe lay.”
Chaucer’s _Monkes Tale_, v. 14069. ed. Tyr.
See too Gower’s _Conf. Am._, Lib. viii. fol. clxxxix. ed. 1554, and
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xxxiii. ed. Wayland.
Page 33. v. 208. _mell_] i. e. meddle (in sensu obsc.).
v. 212. _Simonia_] i. e. Simony.
v. 213. _Castrimergia_] “The true reading is CASTRIMARGIA, or _Gulæ
concupiscentia_, Gluttony. From the Greek, Γαστριμαργία, ingluvies,
helluatio. Not an uncommon word in the monkish latinity. Du Cange cites
an old Litany of the tenth century, ‘A spiritu CASTRIMARGIÆ _Libera
nos_, domine!’ Lat. Gloss. i. p. 398. Carpentier adds, among other
examples, from the statutes of the Cistercian order, 1375 [1357], ‘Item,
cum propter detestabile CASTRIMARGIÆ vitium in labyrinthum vitiorum
descendutur, &c.’ Suppl. tom. i. p. 862.’” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii.
346 (note), ed. 4to.
v. 215. _ypocras_] See note, p. 285. v. 458.
v. 217. _In Lent for a repast, &c._] So Roy in his satire against Wolsey,
_Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“_Wat._ Whatt abstinence useth he to take?
_Jeff._ _In Lent_ all fysshe he doth forsake,
_Fedde with_ partriges and plovers.
_Wat._ He leadeth then a Lutheran’s lyfe?
_Jeff._ O naye, for he hath no wyfe,
But whoares that be his lovers.”
_Harl. Miscel._ ix. 32. ed. Park.
v. 219. _partriche mewed_]—_mewed_, i. e. cooped up. “I kepe _partryches
in a mewe_ agaynst your comyng.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. e ii. ed. 1530.
v. 222. _ne_] i. e. nor.
v. 223. _a postels lyfe_] i. e. an apostle’s life.
v. 224. _herte_] i. e. heart.
Page 34. v. 232. _kues_] See note, p. 236. v. 36.
v. 235. _The sygne of the Cardynall Hat_] “These allowed Stew-houses [in
Southwark] had Signs on their Fronts, towards the Thames, not hanged out,
but painted on the Walls, as a Boar’s-Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the
Castle, the Crane, _the Cardinal’s Hat_,” &c. Stow’s _Survey_, B. iv. 7.
ed. 1720.
v. 236. _shyt_] i. e. shut.
v. 237. _gup_] }
...
v. 239. _iast_] }
See note, p. 99. v. 17.
v. 240. _Wyll ye bere no coles_] Steevens, in his note on the opening
of Shakespeare’s _Romeo and Juliet_, cites the present line among the
examples which he gives of the expression to _bear_ or _carry coals_,
i. e. to bear insults, to submit to degradation. In the royal residences
and great houses the lowest drudges appear to have been selected to carry
coals to the kitchens, halls, &c.; see note on Jonson’s _Works_, ii. 169,
by Gifford, who afterwards (p. 179) observes, “From the mean nature of
this occupation it seems to have been somewhat hastily concluded, that a
man who would carry coals would submit to any indignity.”
Page 34. v. 241. _A mayny of marefoles_] i. e. (as appears from the
expressions applied to horses four lines above) a set of mare-foals,
fillies.
Page 35. v. 257. _next_] i. e. nearest.
v. 261. _Poppynge folysshe dawes_] See note, p. 231. v. 39.
v. 262. _pyll strawes_]—_pyll_, i. e. peel.
v. 264. _Huntley bankes_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 269. _Lorde Dakers_] Thomas Lord Dacre (of Gillesland, or of the
North) was warden of the West Marches. The accusation here thrown out
against him (because, perhaps, he was on the best terms with Wolsey) of
“agreeing too well with the Scots” is altogether unfounded. He was for
many years the able and active agent of Henry in corrupting by gold and
intrigues the nobles of Scotland, and in exciting ceaseless commotions in
that kingdom, to the destruction of its tranquillity and good government.
He died in 1525. And see notes on vv. 283, 353.
v. 270. _Jacke Rakers_] See note, p. 186. v. 108.
v. 271. _crakers_] i. e. vaunters, big-talkers.
v. 273. _Stronge herted_] i. e. Strong-hearted.
v. 275. _To_] i. e. Too.
v. 278. _the red hat_] i. e. Wolsey.
v. 280. _lure_] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 281. _cure_] i. e. care.
v. 283. _Lorde Rose_] i. e. Thomas Manners, Lord Roos. In 14 Henry viii.
he was constituted warden of the East Marches towards Scotland; and by
letters patent in 17 Henry viii. he was created Earl of Rutland. He died
in 1543. See Collins’s _Peerage_, i. 465. sqq. ed. Brydges. Hall makes
the following mention of him: “In this sommer [xiiii yere of Henry the
VIII] the lorde Rosse and the lorde Dacres of the North whiche were
appointed to kepe the borders against Scotland did so valiantly that they
burned the good toune of Kelsy and lxxx. villages and ouerthrew xviii.
towers of stone with all their Barnkyns or Bulwerkes.” _Chron._ fol. ci.
ed. 1548.
v. 285. _a cockly fose_] A term which I do not understand.
Page 35. v. 286. _Their hertes be in thyr hose_] See note, p. 233. v.
107,—where, however, I neglected to observe that we find in _Prima
Pastorum_,
“A, _thy hert is in thy hose_.”
_Towneley Myst._, p. 95.
Page 36. v. 287. _The Erle of Northumberlande, &c._] i. e. Henry Algernon
Percy, fifth Earl of Northumberland. In 14 Henry viii. he was made warden
of the whole Marches, a charge which for some reason or other he soon
after resigned: _vide_ Collins’s _Peerage_, ii. 305. ed. Brydges. That he
found himself obliged to pay great deference to the Cardinal, is evident
from Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, where (pp. 120-128. ed. 1827) see
the account of his being summoned from the north, &c. when his son Lord
Percy, (who was then, according to the custom of the age, a “servitor”
in Wolsey’s house) had become enamoured of Anne Boleyn. This nobleman,
who encouraged literature, and appears to have patronised our poet (see
_Account of Skelton_, &c.), died in 1527.
v. 291. _Rynne_] i. e. Run.
v. 292. _mayny of shepe_] i. e. flock of sheep.
v. 293. _loke ... dur_] i. e. look ... door.
v. 294. _mastyue cur_] }
v. 295. _bochers dogge_] }
i. e. Wolsey: see note, p. 349. v. 478.
v. 296. _wyrry_] i. e. worry.
v. 297. _gnar_] i. e. snarl, growl.
v. 300. _blode_] i. e. blood.
v. 301. _hode_] i. e. hood.
v. 308. _astate_] i. e. estate, state, rank, dignity.
v. 312. _foles and dawes_] i. e. fools and simpletons; see note, p. 113.
v. 301.
v. 313. _eke_] i. e. also.
v. 315. _pletynge_] i. e. pleading.
v. 316. _Commune Place_] i. e. Common Pleas.
Page 37. v. 326. _huddypeke_] See note, p. 255. v. 1176.
v. 327. _Thy lernynge is to lewde_]—_to lewde_, i. e. too bad, too mean.
So in our author’s _Speke, Parrot_ we find “_lewdlye_ ar they _lettyrd_.”
v. 296. vol. ii. 15.
v. 328. _well thewde_] i. e. well mannered.
v. 338. _rowte_] See note, p. 298. v. 1223.
v. 343. _the Scottysh kynge_] i. e. James the Fifth.
v. 346. _stalworthy_] i. e. strong, stout.
v. 347. _whipling_] Perhaps the same as—_pipling_: see note on l. 26
(prose), p. 229.
Page 38. v. 352. _calstocke_] “_Calstoke_. Maguderis.” _Prompt. Parv._
ed. 1499. “_Calstocke pie de chov_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang.
Fr._, 1530. fol. xxii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 353.
_There goth many a lye_
_Of the Duke of Albany, &c._]
This passage relates to the various rumours which were afloat concerning
the Scottish affairs in 1522, during the regency of John Duke of Albany.
(The last and disastrous expedition of Albany against England in 1523
had not yet taken place: its failure called forth from Skelton a long
and furious invective against the Duke; see vol. ii. 68.) In 1522, when
Albany with an army eighty thousand strong had advanced to Carlisle, Lord
Dacre by a course of able negotiations prevailed on him to agree to a
truce for a month and to disband his forces: see _Hist. of Scot._, v. 156
sqq. by Tytler,—who defends the conduct of Albany on this occasion from
the charge of cowardice and weakness.
v. 356. _quycke_] i. e. alive.
v. 358. _The mountenaunce of two houres_] “_Mowntenaunce._ Quantitas.
Estimata mensura.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“And largely _the mountenaunce of an houre_
They gonne on it to reden and to poure.”
Chaucer’s _Troil. and Cres._, B. ii. fol. 157. _Workes_, ed. 1602.
“Racynge and foynynge to _the mountenaunce of an houre_.” _Morte
d’Arthur_, B. vii. cap. iiii. vol. i. 191. ed. Southey.
v. 359. _sayne_] i. e. say.
v. 367. _Burgonyons_] i. e. Burgundians.
v. 373.
_God saue my lorde admyrell!_
_What here ye of Mutrell?_]
—_Mutrell_ is Montreuil; and the allusion must be to some attack intended
or actual on that town, of which I can find no account agreeing with the
date of the present poem. To suppose that the reference is to the siege
of Montreuil in 1544, would be equivalent to pronouncing that the passage
is an interpolation by some writer posterior to the time of Skelton.
v. 375. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 380.
_For drede of the red hat_
_Take peper in the nose_]
i. e. For dread that the Cardinal, Wolsey, take offence.
“Hee _taketh pepper in the nose_, that I complayne
Vpon his faultes.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. G.,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
Page 38. v. 383. _Of by the harde arse_] Compare the _Interlude of the
iiii Elementes_, n. d.;
“Ye but yet I seruyd another wors
I smot _of_ his legge _by the hard ars_
As sone as I met hym there.”
Sig. E i.
v. 384. _trauarse_] i. e. thwarting contrivance.
Page 39. v. 386. _makys our syre to glum_] i. e. makes our lord (Wolsey)
have a gloomy or sour look.
v. 391. _go or ryde_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
v. 397. _frayne_] i. e. ask, inquire.
v. 401. _Hampton Court_] The palace of Wolsey; which he afterwards, with
all its magnificent furniture, presented to the King.
v. 407. _Yorkes Place_] The palace of Wolsey, as Archbishop of York,
which he had furnished in the most sumptuous manner: after his disgrace,
it became a royal residence under the name of Whitehall.
v. 409.
_To whose magnifycence, &c._
...
_Embassades of all nacyons_]
—_Embassades_, i. e. Embassies. “All ambassadors of foreign potentates
were always dispatched by his discretion, to whom they had always access
for their dispatch. His house was also always resorted and furnished with
noblemen, gentlemen, and other persons, with going and coming in and
out, feasting and banqueting all ambassadors diverse times, and other
strangers right nobly.” Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 112. ed. 1827.
Page 40. v. 417. _tancrete_] “_Tancrit_: Transcrit, copié.” Roquefort’s
_Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._
v. 418. _obstract_] i. e. abstract.
v. 425. _Whan him lyst_] i. e. When it pleases him.
v. 434. _vndermynde_] i. e. undermine.
v. 435. _sleyghtes_] i. e. artful contrivances.
v. 438. _coarted_] i. e. coarcted, confined.
v. 440. _nutshales_] i. e. nutshells.
v. 444. _taken in gre_] i. e. taken kindly, in good part: see note, p.
95. v. 68.
v. 449.
_He bereth the kyng on hand,_
_That he must pyll his lande_]
—_bereth on hand_, i. e. leads on to a belief, persuades.
“Lordings, right thus, as ye han understond,
_Bare_ I stifly min old husbondes _on hond_,
That thus they saiden in hir dronkennesse.”
Chaucer’s _Wif of Bathes Prol._, 5961. ed. Tyr.
“He is my countre man: as he _bereth me an hande_,—vti mihi vult
persuasum.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. X viii. ed. 1530. The expression
occurs in a somewhat different sense in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, see
note, p. 241. v. 357: _pyll_, i. e. strip, spoil.
Page 41. v. 463. _a cæciam_] “_Cæcia_, σκοτοδινία [a vertigo with loss
of sight].” Du Cange’s _Gloss._ See note _ad loc._ Qy. is “accidiam” the
right reading (“_Acedia_, _Accidia_ ... tædium ... tristitia, molestia,
anxietas,” &c. (Gr. ἀκηδία): see _Du Cange_)?
v. 476. _a Mamelek_] i. e. a Mameluke. Compare _The Image of Ipocrisy_,
(a poem in imitation of Skelton, which is appended to the present
edition);
“And crafty inquisitors,
Worse then _Mamalokes_.”
Part Four.
v. 478. _potshordes_] i. e. potsherds.
Page 42. v. 483. _God to recorde_] i. e. God to witness.
v. 485. _reason or skyll_] See note, p. 238. v. 106.
v. 486.
_the primordyall_
_Of his wretched originall_]
—_primordyall_, i. e. first beginning.
v. 490. _sank_] i. e. blood.
v. 491. _bochers_] i. e. butcher’s: see note, p. 349. v. 478.
v. 495. _rowme_] i. e. room, place, office.
v. 505. _parde_] i. e. _par dieu_, verily.
v. 508. _saw_] i. e. saying,—branch of learning. So in our author’s
_Colyn Cloute_;
“Some lernde in other _sawe_.”
v. 734. vol. i. 339.
v. 511. _quatriuials_] }
v. 512. _triuials_] }
See note, p. 343. v. 171. This depreciation of Wolsey’s acquirements
is very unjust: his learning, there is reason to believe, was far from
contemptible.
Page 43. v. 517. _worth a fly_] See note, p. 219. v. 104.
v. 518. _Haly_] }
v. 519. _Ptholomy_] }
v. 520. _Albumasar_] }
See notes, p. 133. vv. 501. 503. 505.
v. 522. _mobyll_] i. e. moveable.
v. 526. _humanyte_] i. e. _humaniores literæ_, polite literature.
v. 533. _our processe for to stable_]—_processe_, i. e. story, account;
see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969, &c. and compare our author’s
Fourth Poem _Against Garnesche_, “But now my _proces for to saue_,” v.
157. vol. i. 131.
v. 538. _conceyght_] i. e. conceit,—good opinion, favour.
v. 540. _exemplyfyenge_] i. e. following the example of.
Page 44. v. 550. _A wretched poore man, &c._] i. e. Abdalonimus (or
Abdolonimus) whom Alexander made king of Sidon: see Justin, xi. 10.
Cowley touches on the story at the commencement of _Plant. Lib. iv._;
and in his English version of that commencement, under the title of _The
Country Life_, he has greatly improved the passage.
v. 557. _occupyed a showell_] i. e. used a shovel: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 566. _renowme_] i. e. renown.
v. 569. _with lewde condicyons cotyd_] i. e. quoted, noted, marked, with
evil qualities: see note, p. 183. v. 12.
v. 570. _ben_] i. e. be.
v. 573. _Couetys_] i. e. Covetise, covetousness.
v. 575. _wode_] i. e. mad.
v. 576. _mode_] i. e. mood, passion.
v. 577. _swerde_] i. e. sword.
v. 579. _sone_] i. e. soon.
Page 45. v. 583. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 584. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or rank.
v. 585. _play checke mate_] In allusion to the king’s being put in
_check_ at the game of chess.
v. 586. _ryall_] i. e. royal.
v. 591. _fynd_] i. e. fiend.
v. 594. _Lyke Mahounde in a play_] In none of the early miracle-plays
which have come down to us is Mahound (Mahomet) a character, though he is
mentioned and sworn by.
v. 601. _rebads_] i. e. ribalds.
v. 602. _beggers reiagged_] i. e. beggars all-tattered.
v. 603. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant.
v. 604. _hauell_] See note on v. 94. p. 353.
v. 605. _Rynne_] i. e. Run.
—— _iauell_] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.
v. 606. _peuysshe pye_] i. e. silly magpie.
v. 607. _losell_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow, scoundrel.
v. 613. _Iacke breche_] i. e. Jack-ass (-arse).
Page 46. v. 618. _shrewdly_] i. e. badly.
v. 621. _kayser_] See note, p. 247. v. 796.
v. 622.
_My lorde is nat at layser;_
_Syr, ye must tary a stounde, &c._]
—_layser_, i. e. leisure: _a stounde_, i. e. a time, a while. Compare
_A Character of the insolent behaviour of Cardinal Wolsey as given by
Thomas Allen Priest and Chaplain to the Earl of Shrewsbury in a Letter
to his Lordshyp about Apr._ 1517, among Kennett’s Collections,—_MS.
Lansd._ 978. fol. 213. “Pleseth your Lordshyp to understande upon Monday
was sennight last past I delivered your Letter with the examinacyon to
my Lord Cardynall at Guilford, whence he commanded me to wait on him to
the Court. I followed him and there gave attendance and could have no
Answer. Upon ffriday last he came from thence to Hampton Court, where he
lyeth. The morrow after I besought his Grace I might know his plesure;
I could have no Answer. Upon Mondaye last as he walked in the parke at
Hampton Court, I besought his Grace I might knowe if he wolde command me
anye servyce. He was not content with me that I spoke to hym. So that who
shall be a Suitour to him may have no other busynesse but give attendance
upon his plesure. He that shall so doe, it is needfull shuld be a wyser
man then I am. I sawe no remedy, but came without Answere, except I wolde
have done as my Lord Dacre’s Servaunt doth, who came with Letters for the
Kynges servyce five moneths since and yet hath no Answere. And another
Servaunt of the Deputy of Calais likewyse who came before the other to
Walsyngham, I heard, when he aunswered them, ‘If ye be not contente to
tary my leysure, departe when ye wille.’ This is truthe, I had rather
your Lordshyp commaunded me to Rome then deliver him Letters, and bring
Aunswers to the same. When he walketh in the Parke he will suffer no
Servaunt to come nyghe him, but commands them awaye as farre as one might
shoote an arrowe.”
Page 46. v. 631. _flyt_] i. e. remove.
v. 635. _neuer the nere_]—_nere_, i. e. nearer.
“That they were early vp, and _neuer the neere_.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. A 3,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 636. _daungerous dowsypere_] “He hath a _daungerous_ loke. Atollit
supercilium, adducit, contrahit supercilia.”—“I can not away with
suche _daungorous_ felowes. Ferre non possum horum supercilium, vel
superciliosos, arrogantes, fastuosos, vel arrogantiam, aut fastum
talium.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sigs. L i, P iiii. ed. 1530:—_dowsypere_,
i. e. lord, noble (properly, one of the _Douze-Pairs_ of France);
“Erll, duke, and _douch-spere_.”
_Golagros and Gawane_, p. 182,—_Syr Gawayne_, &c. ed. Madden.
See too Spenser’s _F. Queene_, iii. x. 31.
v. 642. _With a poore knyght_] “He [Wolsey] fell in acquaintance with
one Sir John Nanphant, a very grave and ancient knight, who had a great
room in Calais under King Henry the Seventh. This knight he served,
and behaved him so discreetly and justly, that he obtained the especial
favour of his said master; insomuch that for his wit, gravity, and just
behaviour, he committed all the charge of his office unto his chaplain.
And, as I understand, the office was the treasurership of Calais, who
was, in consideration of his great age, discharged of his chargeable
room, and returned again into England, intending to live more at quiet.
And through his instant labour and especial favour his chaplain was
promoted to the king’s service, and made his chaplain.” Cavendish’s _Life
of Wolsey_, p. 70. ed. 1827. According to Nash, it was Sir _Richard_
Nanfan (father of Sir John) who was “captain of Calais, made a knight,
and esquire of the body to Henry vii.” _Hist. of Worcestershire_, i. 85.
Page 46. v. 643. _hyght_] i. e. be called.
v. 646. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 649. _doddypatis_] i. e. thick-heads.
Page 47. v. 651. _iack napis_] i. e. jackanapes, ape, monkey.
v. 652. _bedleme_] i. e. bedlamite.
v. 653. _reame_] i. e. realm.
v. 661. _loselry_] i. e. wickedness, evil practice.
v. 664. _hart rote_] i. e. heart-root.
v. 665. _kote_] i. e. coot (water-fowl).
v. 668. _he wyll tere it asonder_] So Roy, in his satire against Wolsey,
_Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“His power he doth so extende,
That _the Kyngis letters to rende_
He will not forbeare in his rage.”
_Harl. Miscell._, ix. 69. ed. Park.
v. 670. _hoddypoule_] i. e. dunder-head.
v. 674. _settys nat by it a myte_] i. e. values it not at a mite, cares
not a mite for it.
v. 679. _demensy_] i. e. madness.
Page 48. v. 682. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 683. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 684. _How Frauncis Petrarke, &c._] “Vidi Aquensem Caroli sedem,
& in templo marmoreo verendum barbaris gentibus illius principis
sepulchrum, vbi fabellam audiui, non inamœnam cognitu, a quibusdam
templi sacerdotibus, quam scriptam mihi ostenderunt, & postea apud
modernos scriptores accuratius etiam tractatam legi, quam tibi quoque ut
referam incidit animus: ita tamen, ut rei fides non apud me quæratur,
sed (vt aiunt) penes auctores maneat. Carolum Regem quem Magni nomine
[_ed. Bas._ cognomine] æquare Pompeio & Alexandro audent, mulierculam
quandam perdite & efflictim amasse memorant, eius blanditiis eneruatum,
neglecta fama (cui plurimum inseruire consueuerat) & posthabitis regni
curis, aliarum rerum omnium & postremo suiipsius oblitum, diu nulla
prorsus in re nisi illius amplexibus acquieuisse, summa cum indignatione
suorum ac dolore. Tandem cum iam spei nihil superesset (quoniam aures
regias salutaribus consiliis insanus amor obstruxerat), fœminam ipsam
malorum causam insperata mors abstulit, cuius rei ingens primum in regia
sed latens gaudium fuit: deinde dolore tantum priore grauiore, quantum
fœdiori morbo correptum regis animum videbant, cuius nec morte lenitus
furor, sed in ipsum obscœnum cadauer & exangue translatus est, quod
balsamo & aromatibus conditum, onustum gemmis, & velatum purpura, diebus
ac noctibus tam miserabili quam cupido fouebat amplexu. Dici nequit quam
discors & quam male se compassura conditio est amantis ac regis: nunquam
profecto contraria sine lite iunguntur. Quid est autem regnum, nisi iusta
& gloriosa dominatio? Contra quid est amor, nisi fœda seruitus & iniusta?
Itaque cum certatim ad amantem (seu rectius ad amentem) Regem, pro summis
regni negotiis legationes gentium, præfectique & prouinciarum præsides
conuenirent, is in lectulo suo miser, omnibus exclusis & obseratis
foribus, amato corpusculo cohærebat, amicam suam crebro, velut spirantem
responsuramque compellans, illi curas laboresque suos narrabat, illi
blandum murmur & nocturna suspiria, illi semper amoris comites lachrymas
instillabat, horrendum miseriæ solamen, sed quod vnum ex omnibus Rex
alioquin (vt aiunt) sapientissimus elegisset. Addunt fabulæ quod ego
nec fieri potuisse nec narrari debere arbitror. Erat ea tempestate in
aula Coloniensis Antistes, vir, vt memorant, sanctitate & sapientia
clarus, necnon comis, et consilii Regii prima vox, qui domini sui statum
miseratus, vbi animaduertit humanis remediis nihil agi, ad Deum versus,
ilium assidue precari, in illo spem reponere, ab eo finem mali poscere
multo cum gemitu: quod cum diu fecisset, nec desiturus videretur, die
quodam illustri miraculo recreatus est: siquidem ex more sacrificanti, &
post deuotissimas preces pectus & aram lachrymis implenti, de cœlo vox
insonuit, Sub extinctæ mulieris lingua furoris Regii causam latere. Quo
lætior, mox peracto sacrificio, ad locum vbi corpus erat se proripuit,
& iure notissimæ familiaritatis regiæ introgressus, os digito clam
scrutatus, gemmam perexiguo annulo inclusam sub gelida rigentique
lingua repertam festinabundus auexit. Nec multo post rediens Carolus, &
ex consuetudine ad optatum mortuæ congressum properans, repente aridi
cadaueris spectaculo concussus, obriguit, exhorruitque contactum,
auferri eam quantocius ac sepeliri iubens. Inde totus in Antistitem
conuersus, illum amare, illum colere, illum indies arctius amplecti.
Denique nihil nisi ex sententia illius agere, ab illo nec diebus nec
noctibus auelli. Quod vbi sensit vir iustus ac prudens, optabilem forte
multis sed onerosam sibi sarcinam abiicere statuit, veritusque ne si
vel ad manus alterius perueniret, vel flammis consumeretur, domino suo
aliquid periculi afferret, annulum in vicinæ paludis præaltam voraginem
demersit. Aquis forte tum rex cum proceribus suis habitabat, ex eoque
tempore cunctis ciuitatibus sedes illa prælata est, in ea nil sibi palude
gratius, ibi assidere & illis aquis mira cum voluptate, illius odore
velut suauissimo delectari. Postremo illuc regiam suam transtulit, & in
medio palustris limi, immenso sumptu, iactis molibus, palatium templumque
construxit, vt nihil diuinæ vel humanæ rei eum inde abstraheret.
Postremo ibi vitæ suæ reliquum egit, ibique sepultus est: cauto prius vt
successores sui primam inde coronam & prima imperii auspicia capescerent,
quod hodie quoque seruatur, seruabiturque quam din Romani frena imperii
Theutonica manus aget.” Petrarchæ _Fam. Epist._, lib. i. Ep. iii. p. 10,
_et seq._, ed. 1601.—On this story, which he found in a French author,
Mr. Southey has composed a ballad: see his _Minor Poems_.
Page 48. v. 694. _carectes_] i. e. characters, magical inscriptions.
v. 703. _Acon_] i. e. Aix la Chapelle: “_Acon_ in Almayne whyche is a
moche fayr cytee, where as kyng charles had made his paleys moche fayr &
ryche and a ryght deuoute chapel in thonour of our lady, wherin hymself
is buryed.” Caxton’s _History and Lyf of Charles the Grete_, &c. 1485.
sig. b 7.
v. 709. _obsolute_] i. e. absolute, absolved.
v. 710. _practyue_] i. e. practise.
—— _abolete_] i. e. antiquated, abolished.
Page 49. v. 713.
_But I wyll make further relacion_
_Of this isagogicall colation_]
—_isagogicall colation_ seems to be equivalent here to—comparison
introduced, or discourse introduced for the sake of comparison.
v. 715. _How maister Gaguine, &c._] Concerning Gaguin see the _Account
of Skelton’s Life_, &c. The passage here alluded to, will be found in
_Roberti Gaguini ordinis sanctæ trinitatis ministri generalis de origine
et gestis francorum perquamutile compendium_, lib. x. fol. cxiiii. (where
the marginal note is “Balluæ cardinalis iniquitas”), ed. 1497. Cardinal
Balue (whom the reader will probably recollect as a character in Sir W.
Scott’s _Quentin Durward_) was confined by order of Louis xi. in an iron
cage at the Castle of Loches, in which durance he remained for eleven
years. But there is no truth in Skelton’s assertion that he “was hedyd,
drawen, and quarterd,” v. 737; for though he appears to have deserved
that punishment, he terminated his days prosperously in Italy.
Page 49. v. 720. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or
rank.
v. 728. _so wele apayd_] i. e. so well satisfied, pleased.
v. 731. _him lyst_] i. e. pleased him.
v. 732. _cheked at the fyst_] Seems to be equivalent here to—attacked,
turned against the hand which fed him. “_Check_ is when Crowes, Rooks,
Pyes, or other birds comming in the view of the Hawk, she forsaketh her
naturall flight to fly at them.” Latham’s _Faulconry_ (_Explan. of Words
of Art_), 1658.
v. 733. _agayne_] i. e. against.
Page 50. v. 748. _dyscust_] See note, p. 321. v. 881.
v. 752. _rote_] i. e. root.
v. 753.
_Yet it is a wyly mouse_
_That can bylde his dwellinge house_
_Within the cattes eare_]
This proverbial saying occurs in a poem attributed to Lydgate;
“An hardy _mowse that is bold to breede_
_In cattis eeris_.”
_The Order of Foles_,—_MS. Harl._ 2251. fol. 304.
And so Heywood;
“I haue heard tell, it had need to bee
_A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare_.”
_Dialogue_, &c. sig. G 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
v. 766. _sad_] See note, p. 264. v. 1711.
v. 768. _heale_] i. e. health.
v. 774.
_that mastyfe ..._
_Let him neuer confounde_
_The gentyll greyhownde_]
See note, p. 349. v. 478.
Page 51. v. 782. _borde_] i. e. jest.
v. 783. _stede_] i. e. place.
v. 784. _maister Mewtas_] John Meautis was secretary for the French
language to Henry the Seventh and Henry the Eighth. It appears from
Rymer’s _Fœdera_ that he was allowed, in consideration of his services,
to import Gascon wine and to dispose of it to the best advantage, T. v.
P. iv. p. 78 (anno 1494), T. vi. P. i. p. 146 (anno 1518), ed. Hagæ;
and that he was occasionally employed on business with foreign powers,
T. v. P. iv. pp. 110, 113 (anno 1497). Among some, says Ashmole, who
became Poor Knights of Windsor “probably out of devotion, rather than
cause of poverty,” was “John Mewtes Secretary of the French Tongue (Pat.
18. H. 7. p. 1).” _Order of the Garter_, p. 161. Several unimportant
entries concerning this person occur in the unpublished Books of Payments
preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster.
Page 51. v. 795. _a bull vnder lead_]—_lead_, i. e. a leaden seal.
v. 798. _Dymingis Dale_] So in _Thersytes_, n. d.;
“Mother bryce of oxforde and greate Gyb of hynxey
Also mawde of thrutton and mable of chartesey
And all other wytches that walke in _dymminges dale_
Clytteringe and clatteringe there youre pottes with ale.”
p. 68. Roxb. ed.
v. 799. _Portyngale_] i. e. Portugal.
v. 806. _calodemonyall_] i. e. consisting of good angels.
v. 807. _cacodemonyall_] i. e. consisting of evil angels.
v. 808. _puruey_] i. e. provide.
Page 52. v. 831. _euerychone_] i. e. every one.
v. 838. _rewth_] i. e. pity.
v. 845. _recorde_] i. e. witness, evidence.
Page 53. v. 856. _set by_] i. e. valued, regarded.
v. 867. _askrye_] i. e. a shout. The verb has occurred several times
before: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358. p. 191. v. 66.
v. 877. _haute ... base_] i. e. high ... low.
v. 880.
_Marke me that chase_
_In the tennys play_]
See the latter part of note, p. 205. v. 62. “_Marquez bien cette chasse._
Heed well that passage, marke well the point, whereof I have informed
you.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ in v. _Chasse_.
Page 54. v. 883. _a tall man_] “_Tall_ or semely.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed.
1499.
v. 885. _Hay, the gye and the gan_] In one of his copies of verses
_Against Venemous Tongues_, Skelton has,
“Nothing to write, but _hay the gy of thre_.”
v. 13. vol. i. 134,
where there seems to be some allusion to the dance called _heydeguies_.
In the present passage probably there is a play on words: _gye_ may
mean—goose; and _gan_ gander.
v. 886. _gose_] i. e. goose.
v. 887. _The waters wax wan_] Horne Tooke in his _Div. of Purley_, Part
ii. p. 179. ed. 1805, citing this line from the ed. of Skelton’s _Works_,
1736, thus,
“The waters _were_ wan,”
considers “wan” as the past participle of the verb “wane,”—_wand_,
decreased; and he is followed by Richardson, _Dict._ in v. _Wan_. But
“were” is merely a misprint of ed. 1736; and that “wan” is here an
adjective expressing the colour of the water, is not to be doubted. So
Skelton elsewhere;
“For worldly shame I _wax_ bothe _wanne_ and bloo.”
_Magnyfycence_, v. 2080. vol. i. 292.
“The ryuers rowth, the _waters wan_.”
_Balett_, v. 15. vol. i. 22.
So too in Henry’s _Wallace_;
“Bot rochis heich, and _wattir_ depe and _wan_.”
B. vii. 814. ed. Jam.
Page 54. v. 888. _ban_] i. e. curse.
v. 891. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 896. _Sem ... Cam_] i. e. Shem ... Ham.
v. 898. _cupbord_] “_Cupborde of plate_ or to sette plate vpon _buffet_.”
Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxviii. (Table of
Subst.). It had a succession of “desks” or stages, on which the plate
was displayed: see the description of a magnificent entertainment in
Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, p. 195. ed. 1827, and the editor’s note.
v. 904. _alcumyn_] i. e. a sort of mixed metal.
v. 905. _A goldsmyth your mayre_] “A.D. 1522 ... Maior, Sir John Mundy,
Goldsmith, Son to William Mundy of Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.” Stow’s
_Survey_, B. v. 129. ed. 1720.
v. 908. _trotters_] “_Trotters_ shepes fete.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la
Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 909. _potshordis_] i. e. potsherds.
v. 910. _shrewdly_] i. e. badly.
Page 55. v. 914. _syr Trestram_] See note, p. 137. v. 634. The name is,
of course, used here for a person of rank generally.
v. 916. _Cane_] i. e. Caen, in Normandy.
v. 917. _wane_] i. e. decreased.
v. 918. _royals_] }
v. 919. _nobles_] }
The coins so called.
v. 920. _Burgonyons_] i. e. Burgundians.
v. 928. _With, laughe and lay downe_] A punning allusion to the game at
cards so called.
v. 930. _Sprynge of Lanam_]—_Lanam_, i. e. Langham in Essex. In the
Expenses of Sir John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, we find, under the
year 1463, “Item, Apylton and _Sprynge off Lanam_ owyth my mastyr, as
James Hoberd and yonge Apylton knowyth wele [a blank left for the sum].”
_Manners and Household Expenses of England_, &c. p. 180. ed. Roxb. It
seems probable, however, from the early date, that the person mentioned
in the entry just cited was the father (or some near relative) of the
Spring noticed by Skelton. But Stow certainly alludes to the clothier of
our text, where he records that, during the disturbances which followed
the attempt to levy money for the king’s use in 1525, when the Duke of
Norfolk inquired of the rebellious party in Suffolk “what was the cause
of their disquiet, and who was their captaine?... one Iohn Greene a
man of fiftie yeeres olde answered, that pouertie was both cause and
captaine. For the rich clothiers _Spring of Lanam_ and other had giuen
ouer occupying, whereby they were put from their ordinarie worke and
liuing.” _Annales_, p. 525. ed. 1615. Neither Hall nor Holinshed, when
relating the same circumstance, make any mention of Spring.
Page 55. v. 935. _He must tax for his wull_] i. e. He must pay tax for
his wool.
Page 56. v. 952. _the streytes of Marock_] i. e. the straits of Morocco.
“Thurghout the see of Grece, unto _the straite_
_Of Maroc_.”
Chaucer’s _Man of Lawes Tale_, v. 4884. ed. Tyr.
v. 953. _the gybbet of Baldock_] See note, p. 340. v. 75.
v. 958. _mellys_] i. e. meddles.
v. 972. _fendys blake_] i. e. fiends black.
v. 974. _crake_] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.
v. 975.
_he wolde than make_
_The deuyls to quake_]
So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be nott wrothe_, &c.;
“Yf he be as thou hast here sayde,
I wene the devils will be afrayde
To have hym as a companion;
For what with his execracions,
And with his terrible fulminacions,
He wolde handle theym so,
That for very drede and feare,
All the devils that be theare
Wilbe glad to let hym go.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 29. ed. Park.
v. 978. _fyer drake_] i. e. fiery dragon.
v. 979. _a cole rake_] “_Colerake ratissover_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de
la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xxv. (Table of Subst.).
Page 57. v. 980. _Brose them on a brake_]—_Brose_, i. e. bruise, break:
_brake_ (which has occurred before in a different sense, see note, p.
168. v. 324) means here an engine of torture: “I Brake on _a brake_ or
payne bauke as men do mysdoers to confesse the trouthe.” Palsgrave’s
_Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes). In the
Tower was a celebrated _brake_ known by the nick-name of the Duke of
Exeter’s Daughter: see the woodcut in Steevens’s note on _Measure for
Measure_,—_Shakespeare_ (by Malone and Boswell), ix. 44.
Page 57. v. 984. _a grym syer_]—_syer_, i. e. sire, lord.
“Ryght _a grym syre_ at domys day xal he be.”
_Coventry Mysteries_,—_MS. Cott. Vesp. D_ viii. fol. 37.
v. 985. _potestolate_] Equivalent, I suppose, to—legate.
v. 986. _potestate_] “_Potestat._ A Potestat, principall Officer, chiefe
Magistrate.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._
v. 989. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 990. _trone_] i. e. throne.
v. 996. _Folam peason_] i. e. Fulham pease.
v. 997. _geson_] i. e. scarce, rare.
v. 1000. _herbers_] See note, p. 101. v. 13.
v. 1001. _bryght and shene_] Are synonymous: yet Spenser also has;
“Her garment was so _bright_ and wondrous _sheene_,” &c.
_The Faerie Queene_,—_Mutabilitie_, vii. 7.
Page 58. v. 1014. _The deuyll spede whitte_] See note, p. 252. v. 1018.
v. 1016. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 1019. _bended_] i. e. banded. “A knotte or a _bende_ of felowes.”
Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Z viii. ed. 1530.
v. 1020. _condyscended_] See note, p. 237. v. 39.
Page 59. v. 1055. _Remordynge_] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 1056. _flytynge_] i. e. scolding, rating.
v. 1058. _dawis_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 1059. _sawis_] i. e. sayings, texts.
v. 1060. _gygawis_] i. e. gewgaws, trifles.
v. 1066. _let_] i. e. hinder, obstruct.
v. 1067. _maumet_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
v. 1070. _crakynge_] i. e. vaunting, talking bigly.
Page 60. v. 1077. _him lykys_] i. e. pleases him.
v. 1086. _For all priuileged places, &c._.] See note, p. 342. v. 126.
v. 1094. _Saint Albons to recorde, &c._.] Wolsey, at that time Archbishop
of York and Cardinal, was appointed to hold the abbacy of St. Alban’s _in
commendam_; and is supposed to have applied its revenues to the expensive
public works in which he was then engaged, the building of his colleges
at Oxford and Ipswich, &c.,—a great infraction, as it was considered, of
the canon law.
Page 60. v. 1100. _legacy_] i. e. legatine power.
v. 1104. _ben_] i. e. be.
v. 1105. _take_] i. e. took.
Page 61. v. 1113. _He is periured himselfe, &c._] “And York [Wolsey]
perceiving the obedience that Canterbury [Warham] claimed to have of
York, intended to provide some such means that he would rather be
superior in dignity to Canterbury than to be either obedient or equal
to him. Wherefore he obtained first to be made Priest Cardinal, and
_Legatus de Latere_; unto whom the Pope sent a Cardinal’s hat, with
certain bulls for his authority in that behalf.” ... “Obtaining this
dignity, [he] thought himself meet to encounter with Canterbury in
his high jurisdiction before expressed; and that also he was as meet
to bear authority among the temporal powers, as among the spiritual
jurisdictions. Wherefore remembering as well the taunts and checks before
sustained of Canterbury, which he intended to redress, having a respect
to the advancement of worldly honour, promotion, and great benefits, [he]
found the means with the king, that he was made Chancellor of England;
and Canterbury thereof dismissed, who had continued in that honourable
room and office, since long before the death of King Henry the Seventh.”
Cavendish’s _Life of Wolsey_, pp. 90, 92. ed. 1827. It appears, however,
from the contemporary testimonies of Sir Thomas More and Ammonius,
that this statement was founded on false information, and that Wolsey
did not employ any unfair means to supersede Warham. The latter had
often requested permission to give up the chancellorship before the
king would receive his resignation. When the seals were tendered to the
Cardinal, either from affected modesty, or because he thought the office
incompatible with his other duties, he declined the offer, and only
accepted it after the king’s repeated solicitations. See Singer’s note on
Cavendish, _ubi supra_, and Lingard’s _Hist. of Engl._ vi. 57. ed. 8vo.
v. 1127.
_he setteth neuer a deale_
_By his former othe_]
i. e. he values not a bit, regards not a bit, his former oath.
v. 1130. _pretens_] i. e. pretension, claim.
v. 1131. _equipolens_] i. e. equality of power.
v. 1137. _pore_] i. e. poor.
Page 62. v. 1151.
_That wyll hed vs and hange vs,_
...
_And he may fange vs_]
—_fange_, i. e. catch, lay hold of. Compare Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Satyre of
the Three Estaitis_, Part ii.;
“Sum sayis ane king is cum amang us,
That purposis _to hede and hang us_:
Thare is na grace, _gif he may fang us_,
But on an pin.”
_Works_, ii. 81. ed. Chalmers.
Page 62. v. 1163. _Naman Sirus_] i. e. Naaman the Syrian.
“And _Naaman Syrus_ thu pourgedest of a leprye.”
Bale’s _Promyses of God_, &c. 1538. sig. E i.
v. 1167. _pocky_] So Roy in his satire against Wolsey, _Rede me, and be
nott wrothe_, &c.;
“He had the pockes, without fayle,
Wherfore people on hym did rayle
With many obprobrious mockes.”
_Harl. Miscell._ ix. 32. ed. Park.
This was one of the charges afterwards brought against Wolsey in
parliament.
Page 63. v. 1178. _ouerthwart_] i. e. cross, perverse.
v. 1181. _Balthasor_] “Balthasar de Guercis was Chirurgeon to Queen
Catharine of Arragon, and received letters of naturalization, dated
16 March, 13 Hen. 8. [1521-2]. See Rymer’s _Collect. ined._ MS. Add.
Brit. Mus. 4621. 10.” Sir F. Madden’s additional note on _Privy Purse
Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 281. He is mentioned in the following
letter (now for the first time printed) from Wolsey’s physician,
Dr. Augustine (Augustinus de Augustinis, a Venetian), to Cromwell,
requiring medical assistance for the Cardinal: “Honᵈᵒ Mr Crumweƚƚ, dopo
le debite raccomadatione, ui mādo el prȩsente messo a posta, qual è
un mio seruitore, per pregarui si da ꝑte de Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ si da parte mia
instantemēte cħ ad ogni modo uogliati operar cħ mᵒ buths [Dr. Butts]
& mᵒ Walter [Cromer] siano qui auāti nocte, se nō ambidoi almeno uno
de loro, & l’altro potra uenir dimane, ꝑcħ res multū urget; prudēti &
amico pauca. Item uorria uolontieri parlasti a mᵒ Balthasar, cħ trouasse
o facesse trouare (se ꝑho in Londra nō ce ne fusse) di bona sorte di
sanguisuge seu hyrudine, accio bisognādo per Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ antedetto fusseno
preste & preparate, i. famelice etc & se ꝑ caso mᵒ Balthasar nō potesse
o nō uolesse trouare ditte sanguisuge, & qui uenir ad administrarle (se
bisognera) ui piaccia parlar a mᵒ Nicolas genero de mᵒ Marcellus, alquale
ho fatto ne li tempi passati administrarle, si cħ cū l’uno o l’altro
fati le cose siano in ordine, accio poi nō si perda tempo: q̃a periculū
est in mora. Aspetto ur̃a risposta per el pñte almeno in inglese ma
uoi medemo dimane Monsʳ Rᵐᵒ ad ogni modo ui aspetta. ditte prȩterea a
li prȩfati doctori cħ portino seco qualche electó uomitiuo de piu sorte
cioe debile, mediocre, & forte, accio, bisognādo, se ueggia el meglio, et
nō si p̃di tempo in mādar a Londra. per el mio seruitore etiā o uero p̃
un de prȩfati doctori mādati la manna da bonuisi o da qualcħ un’ altro
doue meglio se atrovera. Xp̃o da mal ui guardi. in Asher. 1529. ad. 19.
gennaio. mādati etiā qualche granati & arācij
a ūri cōmādi Aug.ᵒ augⁱ.”
_MS. Cott. Tit._ B i. fol. 365.
Page 63. v. 1182. _wheled_] i. e. whealed, wealed, or waled.
v. 1185. _It was nat heled alderbest_]—_alderbest_, i. e. best of
all,—thoroughly.
v. 1187. _Domyngo Lomelyn, &c._] In _The Privy Purse Expenses of King
Henry the Eighth_ are several entries, relating to payments of money won
by this Lombard from the King at cards and dice, amounting, in less than
three years, to above 620 _l._: see pp. 17, 32, 33, 37, 190, 204, 205,
267, 270 of that work, edited by Sir H. Nicolas, who observes (p. 316)
that Domingo “was, like Palmer and others, one of Henry’s ‘diverting
vagabonds,’ and seems to have accompanied His Majesty wherever he went,
for we find that he was with him at Calais in October, 1532.”
v. 1192. _puskylde pocky pose_]—_puskylde_, i. e. pustuled: _pose_, i. e.
defluxion.
v. 1197. _neder_] i. e. nether, lower.
v. 1201. _toke ... warke_] i. e. took ... work.
Page 64. v. 1209. _To wryght of this glorious gest, &c._] If the text
be right, _gest_ must mean—guest: so in _Magnyfycence_; “thou art a
fonde _gest_.” v. 1109. vol. i. 261. But perhaps the true reading of the
passage is,
“To wryght this glorious gest
Of this vayne gloryous best,”
in which case, _gest_ would signify—story: see note, p. 177. v. 622.
v. 1210. _best_] i. e. beast.
v. 1213. _Quia difficile est, &c._] From Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 30.
v. 1221. _ouerse_] i. e. overlook.
v. 1224. _Omne animi vitium, &c._] From Juvenal, _Sat._ viii. 140.
v. 1226. _defaute_] i. e. default, defect.
v. 1227. _a great astate_] i. e. a person of great estate, or rank.
v. 1233. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
v. 1234. _can_] i. e. know.
v. 1235. _conuenyent_] i. e. fitting.
Page 64. v. 1238. _sadnesse_] See note, p. 259. v. 1382.
Page 65. v. 1239. _lack_] i. e. fault, blame.
v. 1246. _it shall nat skyl_] See note, p. 262. v. 1615.
v. 1247. _byl_] i. e. writing.
v. 1248. _daucock_] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
EPITOMA, &c.
—— _Polyphemo_] In allusion to what Skelton has before said,—that the
cardinal had the use of only one eye.
v. 2. _Pandulphum_] So he terms Wolsey, because Pandulph was legate from
the Pope in the time of King John.
Page 66. v. 27. _Mauri_] i. e. Terentianus Maurus.
DECASTICHON, &c.
v. 1. _maris lupus_] A wretched play on words,—sea-wolf—wolf-sea—Wolsey.
v. 8. _mulus_] See note, p. 350. v. 510.
HOWE THE DOUTY DUKE OF ALBANY, LYKE A COWARDE KNYGHT, RAN AWAYE
SHAMFULLY, &c.
Page 68.—— _tratlande_] i. e. prattling, idle-talking.
John duke of Albany (son of Alexander duke of Albany, the brother of
James the Third) was regent of Scotland during the minority of James the
Fifth; and this poem relates to his invasion of the borders in 1523; an
expedition, which, according to Pinkerton, “in its commencement only
displays the regent’s imprudence, and in its termination his total
deficiency in military talents, and even in common valour.” _Hist. of
Scot._, ii. 230. Mr. Tytler, however, views the character and conduct
of Albany in a very different light; and his account of the expedition
(_Hist. of Scot._, v. 166 sqq.) may be thus abridged. Albany’s army
amounted in effective numbers to about forty thousand men, not including
a large body of camp-followers. With this force,—his march impeded by
heavy roads, the nobles corrupted by the gold and intrigues of England,
they and their soldiers jealous of the foreign auxiliaries, and symptoms
of disorganisation early appearing,—the regent advanced as far as
Melrose. Having vainly endeavoured to persuade his discontented army
to cross the Tweed, he encamped on its left bank, and laid siege to
Wark Castle with his foreign troops and artillery. There the Frenchmen
manifested their wonted courage; but the assaulting party, receiving no
assistance from the Scots, and fearing that the river flooded by rain and
snow would cut off their retreat, were obliged to raise the siege, and
join the main body. The Earl of Surrey (see notes, p. 317. v. 769. p.
354. v. 150), who had in the mean while concentrated his troops, hearing
of the attack on Wark Castle, now advanced against the enemy. At the news
of his approach, the Scottish nobles being fixed in their resolution not
to risk a battle, Albany retreated to Eccles, (a monastery six miles
distant from Wark,) with his foreign auxiliaries and artillery; and the
rest of his forces dispersed, rather with flight than retreat, amidst
a tempest of snow. From Eccles Albany retired to Edinburgh, and, soon
after, finally withdrew to France. His army had been assembled on the
Burrow-Muir near Edinburgh towards the end of October; and its dispersion
took place at the commencement of the following month.
Page 68. v. 19. _Huntley banke_] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 20. _Lowdyan_] See note, p. 217. v. 59.
v. 21. _Locryan_] See note, p. 217. v. 61.
v. 22. _the ragged ray_]—_ray_ seems here to be merely—array; but Skelton
in his _Replycacion_, &c., has,
“ye _dawns_ all in a sute
The heritykes _ragged ray_.”
v. 168. vol. i. 214:
and see note, p. 194. v. 170.
v. 24. _Dunbar, Dunde_] See note, p. 219. v. 121.
Page 69. v. 37. _With, hey, dogge, hay_] This line has occurred before,
in _Elynour Rummyng_, v. 168. vol. i. 100.
v. 38. _For Sir William Lyle, &c._] “And the seid mondaye at iij a clok
at aftir none, the water of Twede being soo high that it could not be
riden, the Duke sente ouer ij mˡ Frenchemen in bootis [boats] to gif
assaulte to the place, who with force entred the bas courte, and by Sir
William Lizle captain of the castell with c with hym were right manfully
defended by the space of one houre and an half withoute suffring theym
tentre the inner warde; but fynally the seid Frenchemen entred the inner
warde, whiche perceiued by the seid Sir William and his company frely set
vpon theym, and not onely drove theym oute of the inner warde, but alsoo
oute of the vttir warde, and slewe of the seid Frenchemen x personys.
And so the seid Frenchemen wente ouer the water,” &c. Letter from Surrey
to Henry the Eighth,—_MS. Cott. Calig. B._ vi. fol. 304. Mr. Tytler says
that the assaulting party left “three hundred slain, of which the greater
number were Frenchmen.” _Hist. of Scot._, v. 169.
v. 45. _lacke_] i. e. blame, reproach.
Page 69. v. 52. _reculed_] i. e. recoiled, retreated.
v. 55. _That my lorde amrell, &c._]—_amrell_, i. e. admiral,—Surrey.
Page 70. v. 63. _With sainct Cutberdes banner_] An earlier passage of the
letter just cited is as follows. “At whiche tyme I being at Holy Island,
vij myles from Berwike, was aduertised of the same [Albany’s attack on
Wark Castle] at v a clok at night the seid sondaye; and incontynente
sente lettres to my lord cardynallis company, my lord of Northumbreland,
my lord of Westmereland at Sainte Cutbertes baner lying at Anwike and
thereaboutes, and in likewise to my lord Dacre and other lordes and
gentilmen lying abrode in the contre too mete me at Barmer woode v myles
from Werk on mondaye, whoo soo dede.”
v. 68. _crake_] i. e. vaunt.
v. 73. _ascry_] i. e. call out against, raise a shout against—assail; see
notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358, &c.
v. 78. _stoutty_] i. e. stout.
v. 91. _But ye meane a thyng, &c._] That Albany aimed at the destruction
of James v. was a popular rumour, but, according to Mr. Tytler, entirely
without foundation.
Page 71. v. 101. _cast_] i. e. contrivance, stratagem.
v. 110. _beyght_] i. e., perhaps, (not bait, but) noose. _Beight, bight_,
or _bought_, is any thing bent, folded: in Markham’s _Masterpiece_ (as
Stevenson observes, Additions to Boucher’s _Gloss._ in v.) it is used
both to express a noose formed of a rope, and the bent or arched part of
a horse’s neck. In Hormanni _Vulgaria_ we find “_Boughtes_.... Chartæ
complicatæ.” Sig. Q iii. ed. 1530.
v. 115. _recrayd_] i. e. recreant.
v. 120. _puaunt_] i. e. stinking.
v. 126. _Vnhaply vred_] See note, p. 232. v. 95.
v. 128. _discured_] i. e. discovered.
Page 72. v. 132. _echone_] i. e. each one.
v. 135. _flery_] i. e. fleer.
v. 146. _Mell nat_] i. e. Meddle not.
v. 152. _byrne_] i. e. burn.
v. 155. _at ylke mannes hecke_] i. e. at each man’s hatch, door.
v. 156. _fynde_] i. e. fiend.
v. 159. _shake thy dogge, hay_] See note, p. 226. v. 28.
v. 161.
_We set nat a flye_
_By, &c._]
i. e. We value not at a fly, care not a fly for.
v. 163. _prane_] i. e. prawn.
Page 72. v. 164. _dronken drane_] See note, p. 222. v. 172.
Page 73. v. 165. _We set nat a myght_] So Chaucer;
“I nolde _setten_ at his sorow _a mite_.”
_Troilus and Creseide_, B iii.—_Workes_, fol. 161. ed. 1602.
v. 167. _proude palyarde_] See note, p. 348. v. 427.
v. 168. _skyrgaliarde_] See note, p. 218. v. 101.
v. 171. _coystrowne_] See note on title of poem, p. 92.
v. 172. _dagswayne_] See note, p. 270. v. 2195. I know not if the word
was ever used as a term of reproach by any writer except Skelton.
v. 182. _mell_] i. e. meddle.
v. 189.
_Right inconuenyently_
_Ye rage and ye raue,_
_And your worshyp depraue_]
—_inconuenyently_, i. e. unsuitably, unbecomingly: _your worshyp
depraue_, i. e. debase, degrade, lower your dignity. “I am also
aduertised that he [Albany] is so passionate that and he bee aparte
amongis his familiers and doth here any thing contrarius to his myende
and pleasure, his accustumed maner is too take his bonet sodenly of his
hed and to throwe it in the fire, and no man dare take it oute but let
it to bee brent. My lord Dacre doth affirme that at his last being in
Scotland he ded borne aboue a dosyn bonettes aftir that maner.” Letter
from Lord Surrey to Wolsey,—_MS. Cott., Calig. B_ vi. fol. 316.
v. 192. _Duke Hamylcar_] }
v. 195. _Duke Hasdruball_] }
—_Duke_, i. e. leader, lord. So Lydgate;
“_Duke_ whylom of Cartage
Called _Amylchar_.”
_Fall of Prynces_, B. v. leaf cxxvi. ed. Wayland.
“_Duke Hasdrubal_, whome bokes magnify.”
_Ibid._ B. ii. leaf xlv.
v. 198. _condicions_] See note, p. 183. v. 12.
Page 74. v. 209. _Howe ye wyll beres bynde_]—_beres_, i. e. bears.
Compare;
“With mede men may _bynde berys_.”
_Coventry Mysteries_,—_MS. Cott. Vesp. D viii._ fol. 195.
“Som man is strong _berys for to bynde_.”
Lydgate’s verses _Against Self-love_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 10.
“That with the strenth of my hand
_Beres may bynd_.”
_The Droichis Part of the Play_, attributed to Dunbar,—_Poems_,
ii. 37. ed. Laing.
“Makynge the people to beleve he coulde _bynde bears_.”
Bale’s _Kynge Johan_, p. 72. ed. Camd.
Page 74. v. 210. _the deuill downe dynge_] See note, p. 270. v. 2210.
v. 227. _entrusar_] i. e. intruder.
“But an _intrusour_, one called Julyan.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. viii. leaf ii. ed. Wayland.
v. 230. _to_] i. e. too.
Page 75. v. 237. _lorde amrell_] i. e. lord admiral (Surrey).
v. 240. _marciall shoure_] See note, p. 219. v. 133.
v. 243. _derayne_] i. e. contest.
v. 248. _keteryng_] See note, p. 218. v. 83.
v. 250. _hert_] i. e. heart.
v. 251. _The fynde of hell mot sterue the_] i. e. May the fiend of hell
cause thee to die, destroy thee. (To _sterue_ in our old writers is
common in the sense of—die, perish.)
v. 255. _Caried in a cage, &c._] In no historian can I find any allusion
to the strange vehicle here mentioned.
v. 257. _mawment_] See note, p. 188. v. 170.
Page 76. v. 268. _warke_] i. e. work.
v. 270.
_Therin, lyke a royle,_
_Sir Dunkan, ye dared_]
Compare;
“By your reuellous riding on euery _royle_,
Welny euery day a new mare or a moyle.”
Heywood’s _Dialogue_, &c. sig. H 4,—_Workes_, ed. 1598.
“_Nulla in tam, magno est corpore mica salis_, There is not one crum
or droppe of good fashion in al that great _royls_ bodye. For Catullus
ther speaketh of a certaine mayden that was called Quintia,” &c. Udall’s
_Flowers, or Eloquent Phrases of the Latine speach_, &c. sig. G 5. ed.
1581. Grose gives “_Roil_ or _royle_, a big ungainly slamakin, a great
awkward blowze or hoyden.” _Prov. Gloss._:—_Sir Dunkan_ is a Scottish
name used here at random by Skelton, as he elsewhere uses other Scottish
names, see note, p. 219. v. 121: _dared_, see note, p. 258. v. 1358; and
compare; “_Daren_ or preuyly ben hyd. Latito.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499.
“Vnder freshe floures sote and fayre to se,
The serpent _dareth_ with his couert poyson.”
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. iv. leaf cvii. ed. Wayland.
“the snayl goth lowe doun,
_Daryth_ in his shelle.”
Poem by Lydgate (entitled in the Catalogue, _Advices for people to
keep a guard over their tongues_),—_MS. Harl._ 2255. fol. 133.
Page 76. v. 274. _sely_] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.
v. 282. _It made no great fors_] i. e. It was no great matter, it
mattered not greatly.
v. 285. _a gon stone_] See note, p. 314. v. 629.
v. 287. _sir Topias_] See note, p. 180. v. 40.
v. 288. _Bas_] The _Bass_ is an island, or rather rock, of immense height
in the Firth of Forth, about a mile distant from the south shore.
v. 290. _[l]as_] I may just notice, in support of this reading, that “a
lusty _lasse_” occurs in our author’s _Magnyfycence_, v. 1577. vol. i.
276.
v. 292. _I shrewe_] i. e. I beshrew, curse.
—— _lugges_] i. e. ears.
v. 293. _munpynnys_] Compare;
“Syrs, let us cryb furst for oone thyng or oder,
That thise wordes be purst, and let us go foder
Our _mompyns_.”
_Prima Pastorum_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 89
(a passage which the writer of the _Gloss._ altogether misunderstands),
and;
“Thy _mone pynnes_ bene lyche olde yuory,
Here are stumpes feble and her are none,” &c.
Lydgate, _The prohemy of a mariage_, &c.—_MS. Harl._ 372. fol. 45.
_Munpynnys_ is, I apprehend, mouth-pins, teeth. Ray gives “The _Munne_,
the Mouth.” _Coll. of Engl. Words_, &c.—Preface, p. x. ed. 1768: and
Jamieson has “_Munds_. The mouth.”—“_Muns._ The hollow behind the
jaw-bone.” _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Suppl._
—— _crag_] i. e. neck, throat.
v. 295. _hag_] See note, p. 99. v. 19.
v. 296. _sir Wrig wrag_] }
v. 297. _sir Dalyrag_] }
See note, p. 189. v. 186.
Page 77. v. 298. _mellyng_] i. e. meddling.
v. 301. _huddypeke_] See note, p. 255. v. 1176.
v. 303. _a farly freke_] i. e. a strange fellow: see notes, p. 109. v.
187; p. 178. v. 15.
v. 304. _an horne keke_] A term which I am unable to explain.
v. 308. _swerde_] i. e. sword.
v. 309. _the Lyon White_] See note, p. 220. v. 135.
v. 316. _render the_] i. e. consign thee.
v. 317. _the flingande fende_] i. e. the flinging fiend. So in Ingelend’s
_Disobedient Child_, n. d.;
“_The flyings and_ [sic] _fiende_ go with my wyfe.”
Sig. F ii.
Northern readers at least need not be informed that to _fling_ means—to
throw out the legs;
“Sumtyme, in dansing, feirelie I _flang_.”
Sir D. Lyndsay’s _Epistill_ before his _Dreme_,—_Workes_, i. 187. ed.
Chalmers.
v. 319. _borde_] i. e. jest.
v. 322. _parbrake_] i. e. vomit.
v. 323. _auauns_] i. e. vaunts. “The braging _avaunts_ of the Spaniards
be so accalmed,” &c. _Letter of Wolsey_,—Burnet’s _Hist. of the Reform._,
iii. P. ii. 9. ed. 1816.
v. 324. _wordes enbosed_] i. e. swollen, big words.
v. 329. _lewde_] i. e. evil, vile.
v. 330. _Sir Dunkan_] See note on v. 270. p. 379.
—— _in the deuill waye_] See note, p. 287. v. 672.
Page 78. v. 336. _lurdayne_] See note, p. 242. v. 423.
v. 341. _varry_] i. e. fall at variance, contend.
v. 344. _stownde_] i. e. moment.
v. 348. _ryn_] i. e. run.
v. 352. _loke_] i. e. look.
v. 353. _defoyle_] i. e. defile.
v. 360. _wele_] i. e. well.
v. 366. _bace_] i. e. low.
Page 79. v. 375. _cordylar_] i. e. cordelier,—a Franciscan friar, whose
cincture is a _cord_.
v. 377. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 380. _daucockes_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 381. _reme_] i. e. realm.
v. 382. _Ge heme_] Scottice for—Go home (as before in _Why come ye nat to
Courte_, v. 123. vol. ii. 30).
v. 383. _fonde_] i. e. foolish.
Page 79. v. 386. _mate you with chekmate_] In allusion to the king’s
being put in _check_ at the game of chess. And see note, p. 355. v. 158.
v. 389. _pype in a quibyble_] The word _quibyble_, as far as I am aware,
occurs only in Skelton. Chaucer has a well-known passage,
“And playen songes on a small ribible;
Therto he song somtime a loud _quinible_.”
_The Milleres Tale_, v. 3331, where Tyrwhitt (apparently against the
context) supposes _quinible_ to be an instrument: and I may notice that
Forby gives “_Whybibble_, a whimsy; idle fancy; silly scruple, &c.” _Voc.
of East Anglia._
v. 398. _faytes_] i. e. facts, doings.
v. 399. _me dresse_] i. e. address, apply myself.
Page 80. v. 406. _auaunce_] i. e. advance.
v. 410. _nobles_] i. e. noblesse, nobleness.
v. 417. _rechelesse_] i. e. reckless.
v. 418. _a lunatyke ouerage_] See note, p. 352. v. 39.
v. 420. _ennewde_] See note, p. 144. v. 775.
v. 431. _Lyke vnto Hercules_] Barclay goes still farther in a compliment
to the same monarch;
“_He passeth Hercules_ in manhode and courage.”
_The Ship of Fooles_, fol. 205. ed. 1570.
v. 436. _foy_] i. e. faith.
Page 81. v. 439. _Scipiades_] i. e. Scipio.
v. 442. _Duke Iosue_]—_Duke_, i. e. leader, lord. So Hawes;
“And in lyke wyse _duke Iosue_ the gente,” &c.
_The Pastime of Pleasure_, sig. c ii. ed. 1555.
v. 448. _animosite_] i. e. bravery.
v. 457. _to_] i. e. too.
v. 459. _losels_] i. e. good-for-nothing fellows, scoundrels.
v. 461. _astate_] i. e. estate, high dignity.
v. 468. _domage_] i. e. damage.
v. 470. _rydes or goos_] See note, p. 125. v. 186.
Page 82. v. 475. _a knappishe sorte_] “_Knappish._ Proterve, pervers,
fascheux.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “_Knappish_. Tart, testy, snappish.”
Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._: _sorte_, i. e. set.
v. 477. _enbosed iawes_] See note, p. 301. v. 24.
v. 478. _dawes_] i. e. simpletons: see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 479. _fende_] i. e. fiend.
v. 487. _hart blode_] i. e. heart-blood.
v. 488. _gode_] i. e. good,—goods.
v. 494. _faytour_] See note, p. 195. v. 2.
Page 82. v. 495. _recrayed_] i. e. recreant.
v. 500. _rede ... loke_] i. e. advise ... look.
Page 83. v. 506. _Sainct George to borowe_] i. e. St. George being my
surety or pledge: the expression is common in our early poetry.
v. 508. _quayre_] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 523. _wrate_] i. e. wrote.
—— _Lenuoy_] Concerning this second _L’envoy_, which, I believe, does not
belong to the poem against Albany, see _Account of Skelton_, &c.
Page 84. v. 9. _ammas_] i. e. amice: see note, p. 134. v. 560.
—— _Ie foy enterment, &c._] i. e. Je fie entièrement, &c.