Arthur was yet alive, Henry was destined by his father to be archbishop
of Canterbury, “it has been remarked,” says Mrs. Thomson, “that the
instructions bestowed upon Prince Henry by his preceptor, Skelton, were
calculated to render him a scholar and a churchman, rather than an
enlightened legislator.” _Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth_, i.
2. But the description of the _Speculum Principis_, quoted above, is
somewhat at variance with such a conclusion. The same lady observes in
another part of her work, “To Skelton, who in conjunction with Giles
Dewes, clerk of the library to Henry the Seventh, had the honour of
being tutor to Henry the Eighth, this king evinced his approbation,”
ii. 590, and cites in a note the Epistle to Henry the Eighth prefixed
to Palsgrave’s _Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse_, 1530, where
mention is made of “the synguler clerke maister Gyles Dewes somtyme
instructour to your noble grace in this selfe tong.” Though Dewes taught
French to Henry, surely it by no means follows that he was “his tutor
in conjunction with Skelton:” a teacher of French and a tutor are very
different.
[54] _Biblioth._ p. 676. ed. 1748.
[55] _Erasmi Opera_, i. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.—The Ode is appended to
Erasmus’s Latin version of the _Hecuba_ and _Iphigenia in Aulide_ of
Euripides, printed by Aldus in 1507; and in that edition the second line
which I have quoted is found with the following variation,
“Monstrante fonteis vate _Laurigero_ sacros.”
“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man
[Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy,
pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would
have spoken of him in less honourable terms.” _Biog. Hist. of Engl._ i.
102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works
there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable
wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that
he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following
passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that
great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as
thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish
theames: as Skelton did by _Speake parrot_, _Ware the hauke_, _the
Tunning of Elynour Rumming_, _Why come ye not to the Courte?_ _Philip
Sparrowe_, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can
be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his
fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus,
vnder his _prayse of Folly_, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c.
_The Golden Aphroditis_, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote from _Censura
Liter_. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).
[56] Then a student of Lincoln’s Inn.
[57] The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy.
[58] Probably Eltham.
[59] _Catal. (Primus) Lucubrationum_, p. 2. prefixed to the above-cited
vol. of _Erasmi Opera_.—In Turner’s _Hist. of the Reign of Henry the
Eighth_, it is erroneously stated that Erasmus “had the interview which
he thus describes, _at the residence of Lord Mounjoy_,” i. 11. ed. 8vo.
[60] Vol. i. 410.
[61] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568: see
Appendix I. to this Memoir.
[62] p. 30,—1592, 4to.
[63] According to the xivᵗʰ of the _Merie Tales of Skelton_ (see Appendix
I. to the present Memoir), he was “long confined in prison at Westminster
by the command of the cardinal:” but the tract is of such a nature that
we must hesitate about believing a single statement which it contains.
Even supposing that at some period or other Skelton was really imprisoned
by Wolsey, that imprisonment could hardly have taken place so early as
1502. As far as I can gather from his writings, Skelton first offended
Wolsey by glancing at him in certain passages of _Colyn Cloute_, and in
those passages the cardinal is alluded to as being in the fulness of pomp
and power.
[64] By Writ of Privy Seal—_Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to
1522_, fol. 101 (b.), in the Public Record Office.
[65] Ritson (_Bibliog. Poet._ p. 102) says that Skelton was “_chaplain_
to king Henry the eighth:” qy. on what authority?
[66] “He ... was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511,
as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note)
1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton,
Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas
Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat ...
Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the
Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope,
had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those
Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences
that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’s _Hist.
of Norfolk_, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no
information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains
is long posterior to his death.
[67] See _A deuoute trentale for old John Clarke_, who died in 1506,
vol. i. 168; _Lamentatio urbis Norvicen._, written in 1507, p. 174; and
_Chorus de Dis_, &c. in 1513, p. 190.
[68] I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry
viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—
“_Mr Skelton_ in goodes xl. _li._”
_Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B._ 4. 15, fol. 7,—Public Record
Office. Qy. was this our author?
[69] “Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis,
bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo,
mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat,
sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super
ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram
Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse ... animam egit ... relictis
liberis.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._ pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In
Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos
prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto
suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus
eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo
concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits, _De Illust. Angl. Script._ p.
701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with,
whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell
heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of
Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him
(as it seems) a suspension from his benefice.... We must not forget, how
being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the
aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in
the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather
confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed
a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’s _Worthies_, p. 257 (Norfolk),
ed. 1662.—Anthony Wood, with his usual want of charity towards the sons
of genius, says that Skelton “having been guilty of certain crimes, (as
most poets are,) at least not agreeable to his coat, fell under the
heavy censure of Rich. Nykke bishop of Norwich his diocesan; especially
for his scoffs and ill language against the monks and dominicans in his
writings.” _Ath. Oxon._ i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, “Mr. Thomas
Delafield in his MS. _Collection of Poets Laureate_, &c. among Gough’s
MSS. in the Bodleian, says it was in return for his being married, an
equal crime in the ecclesiastics of those days, bishop Nykke suspended
him from his church.”—Tanner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton’s
taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, “propter
quod uxorem habuit.” _Biblioth._ p. 675. ed. 1748.—In the xiiiᵗʰ of the
_Merie Tales_ (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skelton’s _wife_ is
mentioned.
[70] “Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat
nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum æstuante, ut atro
carbone libidines ejus notandæ videantur, si vera sunt quæ de illo a
Nevillo perhibentur.” Godwin _De Præsul. Angl._ p. 440. ed. 1743.
[71] “In the Edition of his Workes _in 8vo. Lond._ 1736, which I have, at
p. 272 he mentions _Trumpinton_, and seems to have been _Curate_ there,
5. Jan. 1507. At p. 54 he also mentions _Swafham_ and _Soham_, 2 Towns in
_Cambridgeshire_, in _The Crowne of Lawrell_.” Cole’s _Collections,—Add.
MSS._ (Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199. To conclude from the mention of these
towns that Skelton resided in Cambridgeshire is the height of absurdity,
as the reader will immediately perceive on turning to the passage in
question, _Garlande of Laurell_, v. 1416, vol. i. 417.—Chalmers, on the
authority of a MS. note by Kennet, a transcript of which had been sent
to him, states that “in 1512, Skelton was presented by Richard, abbot of
Glastonbury, to the vicarage of Daltyng.” _Biog. Dict._ xxviii. 45: if
Chalmers had consulted Wood’s account of the poet, he might have learned
that the rector of Diss and the vicar of Dultyng were different persons.
[72] The old ed. has “scripter.”
[73] vol. i. 173.
[74] vol. i. 175.
[75] _Ath. Oxon._ i. 50. ed. Bliss.
[76] Reprinted in Appendix I. to this Memoir; where see also the extracts
from _A C mery Talys_, &c.—The biographer of Skelton, in _Eminent Lit.
and Scient. Men of Great Britain_, &c. (Lardner’s _Cyclop_.), asserts
that “_he composed his Merie Tales for the king and nobles_”!!! i. 279.
[77] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568: see
Appendix I. to this Memoir.
[78] “Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,” &c.; see vol. i.
116.
[79] In the Notes on the poems _Against Garnesche_ I have cited several
parallel expressions from _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_. That
curious production may be found in the valuable edition of Dunbar’s
_Poems_ (ii. 65) by Mr. D. Laing, who supposes it to have been written
between 1492 and 1497 (ii. 420). It therefore preceded the “flyting” of
Skelton and Garnesche. I may add, that the last portion of our author’s
_Speke, Parrot_ bears a considerable resemblance to a copy of verses
attributed to Dunbar, and entitled _A General Satyre_ (_Poems_, ii. 24);
and that as the great Scottish poet visited England more than once, it is
probable that he and Skelton were personally acquainted.
[80] At a later period there was a poetical “flyting” between Churchyard
and a person named Camel, who had attacked a publication of the former
called _Davie Dicars Dreame_; and some other writers took a part in the
controversy: these rare pieces (known only by their titles to Ritson,
_Bibliog. Poet._ p. 151, and to Chalmers, _Life of Churchyard_, p. 53)
are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.
[81] In the first poem _Against Garnesche_ he is called _“Master_:” but
see Notes, vol. ii. 177.
[82] Hall’s _Chron. (vi. yere Hen. viii.)_, fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.
[83] _MS. Cott. Calig. B._ vi. fol. 112.
[84] _Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522_, fol. 108 (b).
[85] _Privy Purse Accounts, A._ 5. 16. p. 21.
[86] _Auditor’s Calendar_, &c. fol. 162 (b).
[87] _Auditor’s Patent Book, No. 1._ fol. 6 (b).
[88] In an account of the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to
England in June 1522, among the lodgings which were occupied on that
occasion at Greenwich we find mention of “Master Garnyshe house.” See
_Rutland Papers_, p. 82 (printed for the Camden Society). That a knight
was frequently called “Master,” I have shewn in Notes, vol. ii. 178.
[89] _Privy Purse Accounts, A._ 5. 17. p. 175.
[90] _Teller’s Book, A._ 3. 24. p. 293.
[91] To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the
original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:
“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse
letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill,
Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take
some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing
of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee
had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles
with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been
in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres
past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we
be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which
hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers,
lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto
vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde
ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the
same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for
his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers
in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue
vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii
wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this
toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke,
the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings
toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses
considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may
haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other
vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun
may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to
make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth
for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the
kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen
to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the
Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly
disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which
god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,
By your seruants,
John Peache,
Wyllm Sandys,
Robert Wotton,
Edward Guldeferd,
_Crystoffyr Garneys_.
To my Lorde cardynalls grace,
Legate a Latere and chanceler
of England.”
In _Proceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council_ (vol. vii. 183, 196),
1541, mention is made of a _Lady Garnishe_ (probably the widow of Sir
Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and in _Privy Purse Expenses
of the Princess Mary_ (p. 120) we find under June 1543,
“Item my _lady garnyshe_ seruaunt for bringing cherys xii _d._”
[92] “_Contra Skeltonum, Lib._ i.” _Script. Illust. Brit._ p. 723. ed.
1559.
[93] fol. 259. ed. 1570.
[94] vol. i. 411.
[95] i. e. snipe.
[96] See Notes, vol. ii. 159. If this line alludes to Skelton, it
preserves a trait of his personal appearance.
[97] i. e. deprived, devoid.
[98] sig. c. v. ed. 1570.
[99] Vol. i. 376.
[100] Vol. i. 409.
[101] In a volume of various pieces by Gaguin, dated 1498, is a treatise
on metre, which shews no mean acquaintance with the subject.
[102] “_Inuectiuam In Guil. Lilium, Lib._ i.” _Script. Illust. Brit._,
&c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the description,
“Lib. i.,” that the invective in question extended to a volume: it was,
I presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece
was “written in verse and very carping.” _Ath. Ox._ i. 52. ed. Bliss:
but most probably he was acquainted with it only through Bale. He also
informs us (i. 34) that Lily wrote a tract entitled
“_Apologia ad_ { _Joh. Skeltonum._
{ _Rob. Whittington._”
for a copy of which I have sought in vain.
[103] See Weever’s _Fun. Monum._ p. 498. ed. 1631; Stowe’s Collections,
_MS. Harl._ 540. fol. 57; and Fuller’s _Worthies_ (_Norfolk_), p. 257.
ed. 1662. “And this,” says Fuller, “I will do for W. Lilly, (though often
beaten for his sake,) endeavour to translate his answer:
“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,
Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?
Why are my verses by thee weigh’d
In a false scale? may truth be said?
Whilst thou to get the more esteem
A learned Poet fain wouldst seem,
Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,
Neither learned, nor a Poet.”
[104] Vol. i. 419.
[105] See vol. i. 361.
[106] See Notes, vol. ii. 318.
[107] It was granted to him by the king for life.
[108] Vol. i. 419. Concerning this college, see Notes, vol. ii. 334.
[109] _A Replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late,
&c._ vol. i. 206. In _Typograph. Antiq._ ii. 539. ed. Dibdin, where the
_Replycacion_ is described and quoted from Heber’s copy, we are told
that it has “a Latin address to Thomas —— who [_sic_] he [Skelton] calls
an excellent patron,” &c. That the editor should have read the address
without discovering that the said _Thomas_ was Cardinal Wolsey, is truly
marvellous.
[110] _Garlande of Laurell_, vol. i. 424.
[111] See vol. ii. 83, where this _Lenuoy_ (which will be more
particularly noticed presently) is appended to the poem _Howe the douty
Duke of Albany_, &c.
[112] Vol. i. 199.
[113] _Animadversions vppon the annotacions and correctōns of some
imperfectōns of impressōnes of Chaucers Workes_, &c. p. 13,—in Todd’s
_Illust. of Gower and Chaucer_.
I may notice here, that among the _Harleian MSS._ (2252, fols. 156, 158)
are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection
Wanley has described as “Skelton’s libels;” but they are evidently not by
him.
[114] Wolsey had previously been named a Cardinal in 1515.—Fiddes (_Life
of Wolsey_, p. 99. ed. 1726) says that he became Legate _a latere_ in
1516: but see _State Papers_ (1830), i. 9 (note). Lingard’s _Hist. of
Engl._ vi. 57. ed. 8vo, &c.—Hoping to ascertain the exact date of the
_Replycacion_, &c. (which contains the first of the passages now under
consideration), I have consulted various books for some mention of the
“young hereticks” against whom that piece was written; but without
success.
[115] We cannot settle this point by a comparison of old editions, the
poem against Albany and the two L’Envoys which follow it being extant
only in the ed. of Marshe.—It may be doubted, too, if the L’Envoy which
I have cited at p. xli, “_Perge, liber_,” &c. belongs to the _Garlande
of Laurell_, to which it is affixed in Marshe’s edition as a _second_
L’Envoy: in Faukes’s edition of that poem, which I conceive to be the
first that was printed, it is not found: the Cott. MS. of the _Garlande_
is unfortunately imperfect at the end.
[116] i. e. sword.
[117] _Chron._ (_Hen._ viii.) fol. cx. ed. 1548.
[118] “Ob literas quasdam in Cardinalem Vuolsium inuectiuas, ad
Vuestmonasteriense tandem asylum confugere, pro uita seruanda, coactus
fuit: ubi nihilominus sub abbate Islepo fauorem inuenit.” Bale, _Script.
Illust. Brit._ p. 651. ed. 1559.—“Vbi licet Abbatis Islepi fauore
protegeretur, tamen vitam ibi, quantumuis antea iucunde actam, tristi
exitu conclusit.” Pits, _De Illust. Angl. Script._ p. 701. ed. 1619.—“But
Cardinal Wolsey (_impar congressus_, betwixt a poor Poet and so potent
a Prelate) being inveighed against by his pen, and charged with too
much truth, so persecuted him, that he was forced to take Sanctuary at
Westminster, where Abbot Islip used him with much respect,” &c. Fuller’s
_Worthies_ (_Norfolk_), p. 257. ed. 1662.—“He [Skelton] was so closely
pursued by his [Wolsey’s] officers, that he was forced to take sanctuary
at Westminster, where he was kindly entertained by John Islipp the abbat,
and continued there to the time of his death.” Wood’s _Ath. Oxon._ i.
51. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note; “The original MS. register of this
sanctuary, which must have been a great curiosity, was in Sir Henry
Spelman’s library, and was purchased at the sale of that collection
by Wanley for Lord Weymouth. MS. note in Wanley’s copy of Nicholson’s
_Historical Library_ in the Bodleian.”
[119] John Islip was elected abbot in 1500, and died in 1532: see
Widmore’s _Hist. of West. Abbey_, 119, 123. “John Skelton ... is said
by the late learned Bishop of Derry, Nicholson (_Hist. Lib._ chap. 2.)
to have first collected the Epitaphs of our Kings, Princes, and Nobles,
that lie buried at the Abbey Church of Westminster: but I apprehend
this to be no otherwise true, than that, when he, to avoid the anger
of Cardinal Wolsey, had taken sanctuary at Westminster, to recommend
himself to Islip, the Abbot at that time, he made some copies of verses
to the memories of King Henry the Seventh and his Queen, and his mother
the Countess of Richmond, and perhaps some other persons buried in this
church.” _Account of Writers_, &c., p. 5, appended to Widmore’s _Enquiry
into the time of the found. of West. Abbey_.—Widmore is mistaken: neither
in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568, nor in the _Reges, Reginæ,
Nobiles_, &c., 1603, is there any copy of verses by our author _on the
Queen of Henry the Seventh_: see in vol. i. 178, 179, 195, the three
pieces which I have given from those sources: two of them at least were
composed before the poet had sought refuge at Westminster, for one
(written at Islip’s request) is dated 1512, and another, 1516; the third
has no date.
[120] See p. xxix.
[121] “De morte Cardinalis uaticinium edidit: & eius ueritatem euentus
declarauit.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._ p. 652. ed. 1559.—“The
word _Vates_ being Poet or Prophet, minds me of this dying Skeltons
prediction, foretelling the ruine of Cardinal Wolsey. Surely, one
unskilled in prophecies, if well versed in Solomons Proverbs, might have
prognosticated as much, that _Pride goeth before a fall_.” Fuller’s
_Worthies_ (_Norfolk_), p. 257. ed. 1662.—Did not this anecdote originate
in certain verses of _Cotyn Cloute_? See the fragment from _Lansdown
MSS._, vol. i. 329, note.
[122] “Vuestmonasterii tandem, captiuitatis suæ tempore, mortuus est:
& in D. Margaritæ sacello sepultus, cum hac inscriptione alabastrica:
Johannes Skeltonus, uates Pierius, hic situs est. Animam egit 21 die
Junii, anno Dn̄i 1529, relictis liberis.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._,
p. 652. ed. 1559. See also Pits (_De Illust. Angl. Script._, p. 703.
ed. 1619) and Fuller (_Worthies, Norfolk_, p. 257. ed. 1662), who give
_Joannes Sceltonus vates Pierius hic situs est_ as the whole of Skelton’s
epitaph. Weever, however (_Fun. Momum._, p. 497. ed. 1631), makes
“_animam egit_, 21 _Junii_ 1529” a portion of it, and in a marginal note
substitutes “ejicit” for “_egit_,” as if _correcting_ the Latinity!! So
too Wood (_Ath. Oxon._ i. 52. ed. Bliss.), who places “ejicit” between
brackets after “_egit_,” and states (what the other writers do not
mention) that the inscription was put on the tomb “soon after” Skelton’s
death.
In the _Church-Wardens Accompts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster_
(Nichols’s _Illust. of Manners and Expences_, &c. 4to. p. 9), we find
this entry;
_£._ _s._ _d._
“1529. Item, of Mr. Skelton for viii tapers 0 2 8”
The institution of the person who succeeded Skelton as rector of Diss is
dated 17th July: see first note on the present Memoir.
[123] See note, p. xxxvi.
[124] e. g. the portrait on the title-page of _Dyuers Balettys and
Dyties solacyous_ (evidently from the press of Pynson; see Appendix II.
to this Memoir) is given as a portrait of “Doctor Boorde” in the _Boke
of Knowledge_ (see reprint, sig. I); and (as Mr. F. R. Atkinson of
Manchester obligingly informed me by letter some years ago) the strange
fantastic figure on the reverse of the title-page of Faukes’s ed. of the
_Garlande of Laurell_, 1523 (poorly imitated in _The Brit. Bibliogr._ iv.
389) is a copy of an early French print.
[125] “Warton has undervalued him [Skelton]; which is the more
remarkable, because Warton was a generous as well as a competent critic.
He seems to have been disgusted with buffooneries, which, like those of
Rabelais, were thrown out as a tub for the whale; for unless Skelton had
written thus for the coarsest palates, he could not have poured forth his
bitter and undaunted satire in such perilous times.” Southey,—_Select
Works of Brit. Poets_ (1831), p. 61.
[126] _Amen. of Lit._ ii. 69.
[127] Vol. i. 313.
[128]