THE

POETICAL WORKS

JOHN SKELTON

PRINCIPALLY ACCORDING TO THE EDITION

REV. ALEXANDER DYCE.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOLUME I.

BOSTON:

LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY.

NEW YORK : BLAKEMAN AND SIASON.

CINCINNATI: RICKEY AND CARROLL.

M.DCCC.LXII.

154156

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDOK: PRINTED BY II. O. HOUGHTON A.ND COMPANY.

STEREOTYPED BY STO.NE A.\D SMART.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Poems of Skelton are here reprinted ^from the excellent edition prepared by the Rev. j? Alexander Dyce. The various readings of .the ^text have in general been omitted, the space s- which they occupy being out of proportion to the ^advantage derived from them by most renders. =The latest improvements made by Mr. Dyce have ^received proper attention. A very small num- ^ber of his notes have been abridged, or dropped -•^as superfluous ; about as many have been added, ''or enlarged, and a few have been altered, — it is

, for the better. The American editor is responsible, wholly or in part, for those annotations which are marked with an asterisk. CAMBRIDGE, July, 1855.

PREFACE.

THE very incomplete and inaccurate volume of 1736, and the reprint of it in Chalmers's English Poets,1 1810, have hitherto been the only editions of Skelton accessible to the general reader.

In 1814, the Quarterly Reviewer, — after cen- suring Chalmers for having merely reprinted the volume of 1736, with all its errors, and without

1 " Mr. A. Chalmers,' : says Haslewood, " has since given place [sic] to Skelton's name among the English poets [vol. ii. p. 227] : and having had an opportunity to compare the ori- ginal edition [that of Marshe, 1568] with Mr. Chalmers's vo- lume, I can pronounce the text verbally accurate, although taken from the reprint of 1736." Biit. Bibliogr. iv. 389. As Haslewood was generally a careful collator, I am greatly sur- prised at the above assertion : the truth is, that the reprint of ' 1736 (every word of which I have compared with Marshe's edition — itself replete with errors) is in not a few places grossly inaccurate. — The said reprint is without the editor's name; but I have seen a copy of it in which Gifford had written with a pencil, " Edited by J. Bowie, the stupidest of all two-legged animals.''

Vl PREFACE.

the addition of those other pieces by Skelton which were known to be extant, — observed, that " an editor who should be competent to the task could not more worthily employ himself than by giv- ing a good and complete edition of his works." l Prompted by this remark, I commenced the pre- sent edition, — perhaps with too much self-conii- dence, and certainly without having duly estimated the difficulties which awaited me. After all the attention which I have given to the writings of Skelton, they still contain corruptions which defy my power of emendation, and passages which I am unable to illustrate ; nor is it, therefore, without a feeling of reluctance that I now offer these vo- lumes to the very limited class of readers for whom they are intended. In revising my Notes for press, I struck out a considerable portion of conjectures and explanations which I had origin- ally hazarded, being unwilling to receive from any one that equivocal commendation which Joseph Scaliger bestowed on a literary labourer of old ; " Laudo tamen studium tuum ; quia in rebus obscuris ut errare necesse est, ita fortuitum non

enure.

Having heard that Ritson had made some col- 1 lections for an edition of our author, I requested

1 Q. Rev. xi. 485. The critique in question was written by Mr. Southey, — who, let me add, took a kind interest in the progress of the present edition.

2 Joanni Isacio Pontano — Epist. p. 490. ed. 1627.

PREFACE. Vii

the use of those papers from his nephew, the late Joseph Frank, Esq., who most obligingly put them into my hands : they proved, however, to be only a transcript of Vox Populi, vox Dei (from the Harleian MS.) and a few memoranda con- cerning Skelton from very obvious sources.

The individual to whom I have been the most indebted for assistance and encouragement in this undertaking has not survived to receive my ac- knowledgments ; I mean the late Mr. Heber, who not only lent me his whole collection of Skelton's works, but also took a pleasure in communicating to me from time to time whatever information he supposed might be serviceable. Indeed, without such liberality on the part of Mr. Heber, a com- plete edition of the poet's extant writings could not have been produced; for his incomparable library (now unfortunately dispersed) contained some pieces by Skelton, of which copies were not elsewhere to be found.

To Miss Richardson Currer ; the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville; the Hon. and Rev. G. N. Grenville, Master of Magdalene College, Cam- bridge ; Sir Harris Nicolas ; Sir Francis Palgrave ; Rev. Dr. Bandinel ; Rev. Dr. Bliss ; Rev. John Mitford ; Rev. J. J. Smith of Caius College, Cam- bridge; Rev. Joseph Hunter; Rev. Joseph Ste- venson ; W. H. Black, Esq. ; Thomas Amyot, Esq. ; J. P. Collier, Esq. ; Thomas Wright, Esq. ; J. 0. Halliwell, Esq. ; Albert Way, Esq. ; and

David Laing, Esq. ; — I have to return my grate- ful thanks for the important aid of various kinds which they so readily and courteously afforded me.

ALEXANDER DYCE. London, Gray's Inn, Nov. 1st, 1843

CONTENTS

OF VOLUME I.

Page ADVERTISEMENT iii

PREFACE v

SOME ACCOUNT OF SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS . . xiii

APPENDIX I.

Merie Tales of Skelton, and Notices of Skelton from various sources Ixix

APPENDIX II.

List of Editions, &c cviii

APPENDIX III.

Extracts from pieces which are written in, or which contain examples of, the metre called Skeltonical ... cxxiii

Of the death of the noble prince, Kynge Edwarde the

Forth 3

Poeta Skelton laureatus libellum suum metrice alloquitur . . 8

Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaiince

of the most honorable Erie of Northumberlande . . 8

Tetrastichon ad Magistrum Rukshaw 18

X CONTENTS.

Page Agaynste a comely coystrowne, that curyowsly chawn-

tyd, and curryshly cowntred, &c 19

Contra alium cantitantem et organisantem asinum, &c 22

Vppon a deedmans bed, that was sent to hym from an

honorable jentyllwoman for a token, &c 23

" Womanhod, wanton, ye want," &c 25

DTUEES BALETTYS AND DYTIES SOLACYOUS: —

" My darlyng dere, my daysy floure," &c 27

" The auncient acquaintance, madam, betwen vs

twayn," &c 28

" Knolege, aquayntance, resort, fauour with grace,"

&c , 31

" Cuncla licet cecidisse putas discrimina rerum," &c. . 33

" Though ye suppose all jeperdys ar paste," &c. ... 33

" Go, pytyous hart, rasyd with dedly wo," &c 33

Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale , 35

^-K' The Bowge of Courte 37 v

1'hyllyp Sparowe 61

7^ The tunnyng of Elynour Eummyng 109

Poems against Garnesche 132

Against venemous tongues, &c 154

How euery thing must haue a tyme 160

Prayer to the Father of Heauen 162

To the Seconde Parson 163

To the Holy Gooste 163

" Woffully araid," &c 165

" Now synge we, as we were wont," &c 168

" I, liber, etpropera, regem tupronus odbra," &c 172

Ware the Hauke 173

Epitaplie. A Deuoute Trentahfor old John Clarke, &c. .. 187

CONTENTS. XI

Page

" Diligo j-ustincum cum porta.nl," &c 194

Lamentatio urbis Nordcen 194

In Bedel, &c 195

" Hanc tolo transcribas," &c 196

" lyitur quid sunt qui mala cunctafremunt" &c 196

" Salve plus decies quam sunt momenta dierum," &c 197

Henrici Septimi Epitaphium 198

Eulogiumpro suontm temporum conditione, tantis principi-

bus non indignum 199

Tttrastichon veritatis 201

Against the Scottes 202

Vnto diuers people that remord this rymynge, &c 209

Chorus de Dis contra Scottos, &c 211

Chorus de Dis, &c. super triumphali victoria contra Gallos,

&c..f 212

Vilitisslmus Scotus Dundas dttegat caudas contra Anglige-

nas 213

Eltgia in Margareta nuper comilissa de Derby funebre mi-

nisterium : 217

Why were ye Cattle embrawdred with letters of golde ? 219

Cur tibi contexta esl aurea Calliope ? 220

The Boke of Three Fooles 221

A replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of

late, &c • 230

SOME ACCOUNT

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS.

JOHN SKELTON1 is generally said to have been descended from the Skeltons of Cumberland ;2 but there is some reason to believe that Norfolk was his native county. The time of his birth, which is left to conjecture, cannot well be carried back to an earlier year than 1460.

1 Sometimes written Schelton : and Blomefield says, " That his Name was Sheltonor Skelton, appears from his Successor's Institution, viz. ' 1529, 17 July, Thomas Clerk, instituted on the Death of John Shelton, last Rector [Lib. Inst. No. 18.] ' " Hist, of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.

2 " John Skelton was a younger branch of the Skeltons of Skelton in this County [Cumberland]. I crave leave of the Reader, (hitherto not having full instructions, and) preserving the undoubted Title of this County unto him, to defer his character to Norfolk, where he was beneficed at Diss therein." Fuller's Worthies, p. 221 (Cumberland), ed. 1662. "John Skelton is placed in this County [Norfolk] on a double proba- bility. First, because an ancient family of his name is emi

XIV SOME ACCOUNT OF

[The following entry pertaining to a John Skel- ton was discovered by Mr. W. H. Black in the Public Record Office.]

23d Feb. 12 Edw. iv. [1473]. " Tribus subdericis, videlicet Roberto Lane, Nicholao Neubold, et Johanni Skelton, videlicet praedicto Koberto l.s. et praedictis Nicholao et Johanni cuilibet eorum xl.s." (A like payment was made to John Skeltm on the 9th of Dec. preceding, when he is mentioned with others under the general denomination of clerksj Books of the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer, — A 4. 38. fols. 26, 27, (Public Record Office.)

There is, Mr. Black thinks, a possibility that Skelton had been employed, while a youth, as an under-clerk in the Receipt of the Exchequer ; and he observes, that it would seem to have been a temporary occupation, as there is no trace of any person of that name among the admissions to offi- ces in the Black Book.

nently known long fixed therein. Secondly, because he was beneficed at Dis," &c. Id. p. 257 (Norfolk).—" John Skelton .... was originally, if not nearly, descended from the Skel- tons of Cumberland." Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. 49. ed. Bliss. See also Tanner's Biblioth. p. 675. ed. 1748. — " I take it, that Skelton was not only Rector, but a Native of this Place [Diss], being son of William Skelton, and Margaret his Wife, whose Will was proved at Norwich, Nov. 7, 1612 [Regr. Johnson]." Blomefield's Hist, of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739. Through the active kindness of Mr. Amyot, I have received a copy of the Will of William Skelton (or Shelton,) who, though perhaps a relation, was surely not the father of the poet ; for in this full and explicit document the name of John Skelton does not once occur.— From an entry which will be afterwards cited, it would scorn that the Christian name of Skelton's mother

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XV

The statement of his biographers, that he was educated at Oxford,1 1 am not prepared to contra- dict: but if he studied there, it was at least after he had gone through an academical course at the sister university ; for he has himself expressly de- clared,

"Alma parens 0 Cantabrigensis,

. . . tibi quondam cams alumnus eram ;"

adding in a marginal note, " Can tab rig ia Skelton- idi laureate primam mamraam eruditionis pientis- sime propinavit."2 Hence it is probable that the poet was the " one Scheklton," who, according to Cole, became M. A. at Cambridge in 1484.8

was Johanna. — In Skelton's Latin lines on the city of Nor- wich (see vol. i. 194) we find,

"Ah decus, ah patrics specie pulcherrima dudum ! Urbs Norvicensis," &c.

Does "patHa" mean his native county?

1 " Having been educated in this university, as Joh. Baleus attests." Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. 50. ed. Bliss*. Wood's refer- ence in the note is " In lib. De Scriptoribus Anglicis, MS. inter cod. MSS. Selden, in bib. Bodl. p. 69 b." The printed copy of Bale's work contains no mention of the place of Skelton's education. Part of Bale's information concerning Skelton, as appears from the still extant MS. collections for his Script. Illust. Brit., was received " Ex Guilhelmo Herman," the author of the Vulgaria. — See also Tanner's Bibliolh. p. 676. ed. 1748.— Warton says that Skelton " studied in both our universities." Hist, of E. P. ii. 336. ed. 4to.

2 A Replycacion, &c. vol. i. 231.

8 " Wood reckons him of Ox. on the author, of Bale in a MS. in the Bodleian Libr., but with much better reason he

XVI SOME ACCOUNT OF

Of almost all Skelton's writings which have descended to our times, the first editions 1 have perished ; and it is impossible to determine either at what period he commenced his career as a poet, or at what dates his various pieces were origin- ally printed. That he was the author of many compositions which are no longer extant, we learn from the pompous enumeration of their titles in the Garlande of Laurell.2 The lines, Of the death of the noble prince, Kynge Edwarde the forth? who deceased in 1483, were probably among his earliest attempts in verse.

In 1489 Skelton produced an elegy Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of

may be called ours ; for I find one Scheklton M. A. in the year 1484, at which time allowing him to be 24 years of age, he must be at his death A. D. 1629, 68 or 69 years old, which 'tis probable he might be. v. Bale 653." Cole's Collections, — Add. MSS. (Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199.

1 1 suspect that, during Skelton's lifetime, two of his most celebrated pieces, Colyn Cloule (see v. 1239, vol. ii. 167,) and Why come ye nat to Courte, were not committed to the press, but wandered about in manuscript among hundreds of eager readers. A portion of Speke, Parrot, and the Poems Against Garnesche, are now for the first time printed.

2 Vol. ii. 221 sqq. No poetical antiquary can read the titles of some of the lighter pieces mentioned in that catalogue, — such as The Balade of the Mustarde Tarte, The Murnyng of the mapely rote (see Notes, vol. iii 343,) &c.— without regretting their loss. " Many of the songs or popular ballads of this time," observes Sir John Hawkins, " appear to have been written by Skelton." Hist, of Mudc, iii. 39.

« Vol i. 3.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XVII

the most honorable Erie of Nortliumberlande* who was slain during a popular insarrection in York- shire. His son Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth earl, who is there mentioned as the " yonge lyon, but tender yet of age," 2 appears to have afterwards extended his patronage to the poet : 3 at a time when persons of the highest rank were in general grossly illiterate, this nobleman was both a lover and a liberal encourager of letters.

Skelton had acquired great reputation as a scho- lar, and had recently been laureated at Oxford,4 when Caxton, in 1490, published The boke of Eneydos complyed by Vyrgyle,5 in the Preface to

iVol. i. 8: see Notes, vol. iii. 7.

2 He was only eleven years old at his father's death. See more concerning the fifth earl in Percy's Preface to The Northumberland Household Book, 1770, in VVarton's Hist, of E. P. ii. 338. ed. 4to, and in Collins's Peerage, ii. 304. ed. Brydges. — Warton says that the Earl " encouraged Skelton to write this elegy," an assertion grounded, I suppose, on the Latin lines prefixed to it.

3 A splendid MS. volume, consisting of poems (chiefly by Lydgate), finely written on vellum, and richly illuminated, which formerly belonged to the fifth earl, is still preserved in the British Museum, MS. Reg. 18. D ii : at fol. 165 is Skel- ton's Elegy on the earl's father.

* For a notice of Skelton's laureatiou at Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Bliss obligingly searched the archives of that university, but without success: " no records," he informs me, " remain between 1463 and 1498 that will give a correct list of de- grees."

6 This work (a thin folio), translated by Caxton from the French, is a prose romance founded on the ^Eneid. It con- sists of 65 chapters, the first entitled " How the ryght puys- VOL. I. B

xviii SOME ACCOUNT OF

which is the following passage : rt But I praye mayster John Skelton, late created poete laureate in the vnyuersite of oxenforde, to ouersee and cor- recte this sayd booke. And taddresse and expowne where as shalle be founde faulte to theym that shall requyre it. For hym I knowe for suffy- cyent to expowne and englysshe etiery diffyculte that is therin. For he hath late translated the epystlys of Tulle,1 and the boke of dyodorus sycu- lus,2 and diuerse other werkes oute of latyn in to

sant knyge pryamus edyfyed the grete Cyte of Troye," the last, " How Ascanyus helde the royalme of Ytalye after the dethe of Eneas hys fader." Gawin Douglas, in the Preface to his translation of Virgil's poem, makes a long and elaborate attack on Caxton's performance; " Wylliame Caxtoun had no compatioun

Of Virgill in that buk he preyt in prois,

Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,

Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;

It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,

Nor na mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,1' &c.

Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.

1 A work probably never printed, and now lost : it is men- tioned by Skelton in the Garlande of Laurett;

" Of Tullis Familiars the translacyoun." vol. ii. 222.

2 A work mentioned in the same poem ; " Dlodorus Siculus of my translacyon

Out of fresshe Latine into owre Englysshe playne, Recountyng commoditis of many a straunge nacyon; Who redyth it ones wolde rede it agayne; Sex volumis engrosid together it doth containe."

vol. ii. 237.

It is preserved in Ms. at Cambridge : see Appendix II. to this Memoir.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. xx

englysshe, not in rude and olde langage, but in polysshed and ornate termes craftely, as he that hath redde vyrgyle, ouyde, tullye, and all the other noble poetes and oratours, to me vnknowen : And also he hath redde the ix. muses and vnder- stande theyr musicalle scyences, and to whom of theym eche scyence is appropred. I suppose he hath dronken of Elycons well. Then I praye hym & suche other to correcte adde or mynysshe where as he or they shall fynde faulte," 1 Sec. The laureatship in question, however, was not the office of poet laureat according to the modern ac- ceptation of the term : it was a degree in gram- mar, including rhetoric and versification, taken at the university, on which occasion the graduate was presented with a wreath of laurel.2 To this academical honour Skelton proudly alludes in his fourth poem Against Garnesche ;

" A kyng to me myn habyte gaue : At Oxforth, the vniversyte,

1 Sig. A ii.

2 For more about poet laureat, both in the ancient and, modern acceptation, see Selden's Titles of Honor, p. 405. ed. 1631; the Abbe" du Resnel's Recherches sur les Poetes Couron- nez, — Hist. de TAcad. des Inscript. (Mem. de Litterature, ) x. 507 ; Warton's Hist, of E. P. ii. 129. ed. 4to; Malone's it/e o/ Dry. den, (Prose Works,) p. 78; Devon's Introd. to Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, p. xxix., and his Introd. to Issues of the Exchequer, &c., p. xiii. — Churchyard, in his verses pro fixed to Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Wbrkes, 1568, says,

" Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,

And past in schoels, ye knoe." See Appendix I. to this Memoir.

XX SOME ACCOUNT OF

Auaunsid I was to that degre; By hole consent of theyr senate, I was made poete lawreate." 1

Our laureat, a few years after, was admitted ad eundem at Cambridge: "An. Dom. 1493, et Hen. 7 nono. Conceditur Johi Skelton Poete in parti- bus transmarinis atque Oxon, Laurea ornato, ut apud nos eadem decoraretur ; " again, "An. 1504-5, Conceditur Johi Skelton, Pbetae Laureat. quod possit stare eodem gradu hie quo stetit Oxoniis, et quod possit uti habitu sibi concesso a Principe." Warton, who cites both these entries,2 remarks, " the latter clause, I believe, relates to some dis- tinction of habit, perhaps of fur or velvet, granted him by the king." There can be no doubt that Skelton speaks of this peculiar apparel in the lines just quoted, as also in his third poem Against Garnesche, where he says,

" Your sworde ye swere, I wene,

So tranchaunt and so kene,

Xall kyt both wyght and grene :

Your foly ys to grett

The kynges colours to threte ; " 8

1 Vol. i. 149.

2 Sisl. ofE. P. 5i. 130, (note,) ed. 4to.— The second entry was printed in 1736 by the Abbe" du Resnel (who received it from Carte the historian,) in RechercJies sur ks Poetes Couron- nez,— IIist.de fAcad. des Inscript. (Mem. de Literature,) x. 522. Both entries were given in 1767 by Farmer in the second edi- tion of his Essay on Ihe Learning of Shakespeare, p. 60. — The Rev. Joseph Romilly, registrar of the University of Cam- bridge, has obligingly ascertained for me their correctness.

9 Vol. i. 144.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXI

from which we may infer that he wore, as laureat, a dress of white and green, or, perhaps, a white dress with a wreath of laurel. It was most pro- bably on some part of the same habit that the word Calliope was embroidered in letters of silk and gold :

" Calliope, As ye may se, Regent is she

Of poetes al, Whiche gaue to me The high degre Laureat to be

Of fame royall ; Whose name enrolde With silke and golde I dare be bolde

Thus for to were,'1 * &c.

In the following passage Barclay perhaps glances at Skelton, with whom (as will afterwards be shewn) he was on unfriendly terms ;

" But of their writing though I ensue the rate, No name I chalenge of Poete laureate : That name vnto them is mete and doth agree Which writeth matters with curiositee. Mine habite blacke accordeth not with grene, Blacke betokeneth death as it is dayly sene ; The grene is pleasour, freshe lust and iolite ; These two in nature hath great diuersitie. Then who would ascribe, except he were a foole, The pleasaunt laurer vnto the mourning cowle '} " 3

1 Vol. i. 219.

2 Prologe to Eyloges, sig. A 1. ed. 1570.

XXli SOME ACCOUNT OF

Warton has remarked, that some of Skelton's Latin verses, which are subscribed — " Haec lau- reatus Skeltonis, regius orator " — " Per Skelton- ida laureatum, oratorem regium," — seem to have been written in the character of royal laureate ; * and perhaps the expression " of fame royall " in Skelton's lines on Calliope, already cited, may be considered as strengthening this supposition. There would, indeed, be no doubt that Skelton was not only a poet laureated at the universities, but also poet laureat or court poet to Henry the Eighth, if the authenticity of the following state- ment were established ; " la patente qui declare Skelton poete laureat d'Henry viii. est datee de la cinquieme anne*e de son regne, ce qui tombe en 1512 ou 1513 :" so (after giving correctly the se- cond entry concerning Skelton's laureation at Cam- bridge) writes the Abbe" du Resnel in an essay already mentioned ; having received, it would seem, both these statements concerning Skelton from Carte the historian,2 who, while he commu- nicated to Du Resnel one real document, was not

1 Hist. ofE. P. ii. 132 (note,) ed. 4to, where Warton gives the subscription of the former as the title of the latter poem: his mistake was occasioned by the reprint of Skelton's Works, 1736. See the present edition, vol. i. 211, 212.

2 Du Resnel expressly says that he was made acquainted with the Cambridge entry by " M. Carte, autrement M. Phillips." Eecherches sur les Poetes Couronnfz,—Hist. de tAcad. des Inscript. (Mem. de Litter attire,) x. 522. — Carte as- sumed the name of Phillips when he took refuge in France.

SKELTO?^ AND HIS WRITINGS. XXlil

likely to have forged another for the purpose of misleading the learned Frenchman. On this sub- ject I can only add, that no proof has been dis- covered of Skelton's having enjoyed an annual salary from the crown in consequence of such an office.

The reader will have observed that in the first entry given above from the Cambridge Univ. Regist. Skelton is described as having been laureated not only at Oxford but also " transmarinis partibus." That the foreign seat of learning at which he re- ceived this honour was the university of Louvaine,1 may be inferred from the title of a poem which I subjoin entire, not only because it occurs in a vol- ume of the greatest rarity, but because it evinces the celebrity which Skelton had attained.

"IN CLARISSIMI SCHELTONIS iO{7^JV/£JVS;S POETJE LAUBES EPIGRAM. MA.

Quum terra omnifero Isetissima risit amictu,

Plena novo fcetu quselibet arbor erat; Vertice purpurei vultus incepit honores

Extensis valvis paudere pulchra rosa ; Et segetum tenero sub cortice grana tumescunt,

Flavescens curvat pendula spica caput. Vix Cancri tropicos sestus lustravit anhelans

Pythius, et Nemeae vertit ad ora ferae,

1 A gentleman resident at Louvaine obligingly examined for me the registers of that university, but could find in them no mention of Skelton.

xiv SOME ACCOUNT OF

Vesper solis equos oriens dum clausit Olympo,

Agmina stellarum surgere cunctajubet: Hie primo aspiceres ut Cynthia vecta screno

Extulerut surgens cornua clara polo ; Inde Hydram cernas, stravit quam clava trinodis

AlcidsE, nitidis emicuisse comis; Turn ! Procyon subiit, prsepes Lepus, hinc Jovis ales,

Arctos, et Engonasus, sidus et Eridani ; Ignivomis retinet radiis quse stellifer orbis

(Quid multis vemorer?) sidera cuncta micant. Nutat Atlantenm convexum pondus, ocellis

Dum lustro hsec aegris, vergit et oceano. Turn furtim alma quies repens mihi membra soporat,

Curaque Lethaeo flumine mersa jacet: 0 mihi quam placidis Icelos tulit aurea somnis

Somnin, musiphilis non caritura fide! Nuncia percelebris Polyhymnia blanda salutans

Me Clarii ut visam numina sacra citat. Ut sequar hauc latus, mihi visus amcena vireta

Et nemorum umbrosos prateriisse sinus: Scilicet haec montes monstraverat inter eundum

Et fontes Musae quos coluere sacros ; Castalios latices, Aganippidos atque Medusei

Vidimus nlipedis flumina rupta pede; Antra hinc Libethri monstrat Pimpleidos undas,

Post vada Cephisi, Phocidos atque lacus; Nubifer assurgit mons Pierus atque Cithaeron,

Gryneumque nemus dehinc Heliconque sacer: Inde et Parnasi bifidi secreta subimus,

Tota ubi Mnemosynes sancta propago manet. Turba pudica novem dulce hie cecinere sororum;

Delius in mcdio plectra chelynque sonat: Aurinuis laudut modulis monumenta suorum

Vatum, quos dignos censet honore poll:

1 The original has " Cum: " but the initial letters of the lines were intended to form a distich; see the conclusion of the poem.

SKELTON AXD HIS WRITINGS.

De quo certamnt Salamin, Curaae, vel Athenae,

Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, primus Homerus erat; Laudat et Orpheum, domuit qui voce leones,

Eurydicen Stygiis qui rapuitque rogis; Antiquum meminit Musaeum Eumolpide natum,

Te nee Aristophanes Euripidesque tacet; Vel canit illustreni genuit quern Teia tellus,

Quemque fovit dulci Coa catnena siim; Deinde cothurnatum celebrem dat laude Sophoclem,

Et quam Lesbides pavit amore Phaon; jEschylus, Amphion, Thespis nee honore carebant,

Pindarus, Alcjeus, quern tuleratqne Paros ; Sunt alii plures genuit quos terra Pelasga,

Daphnasum cecinit qnos meruisse decus: Tersa Latinorum dehinc multa poemata texit,

Laude nee Argivis inferiora probat : Insignem tollit ter vatem, cui declit Andes

Cdnas urbs, clarum Parthenopsea taphum; Blanda Corinna, tui Ponto religatus amore,

Sulmoni natus Naso secundus erat; Inde nitore fluens lyricus genere Appulus ille

Qui Latiis primus mordica metra tulit; Statius J£acidem sequitur Thebaida pingens,

Emathio hinc scribens praslia gesta solo; Cui Verona parens hinc mollis scriptor amorum,

Tu nee in obscuro, culte Tibulle, lates; Haud reticendus erat cui patria Bilbilis, atque

Persius hinc mordax crimina spurca notans; Eximius pollet vel Seneca luce tragoedus,

Comicus et Latii bellica pra;da duels; Laudat et hinc alios quos saeeula prisca fovebant;

Hos omnes longum jam meminisse foret. Turn * Smintheus, paulo spirans, ait, ecce, sorores,

Quse clausa oceano terra Britanna nitet ! Oxoniam claram Pataraea ut regna videtis,

Aut Tenedos, Delos, qua mea fama viret:

1 Here again the original has " Cum."

XXVI SOME ACCOUNT OF

Nonne fluunt istic nitidas ut Permessidos undse,

Istic et Aonige sunt juga visa mihi? Alma fovet vates nobis hoec terra ministros,

Inter quos Schelton jure canendus adest : Numina nostra colit ; canit hie vel carmina cedro

Digna, Palatinis et socianda sacris; Grande decus nobis addunt sua scripta, linenda

Auratis, digna ut posteritate, notis; Laudiflua excurrit serie sua culta poesis,

Certatim palmam lectaque vcrba petunt; Ora lepore fluunt, sicuti dives Tagus nuro,

Aut pressa Hyblceis dulcia mella favis; Ehetoricus sermo riguo fecundior horto,

Pulchrior est multo puniceisque rosis, Unda limpidtor, Parioque politior albo,

Splendidior vitro, candidiorque nive, Mitior Alcinois pomis, fragrantior ipso

Thureque Pantlieo, gratior et violis ; Vincit te, suavi Demostheue, vincit Ulyxim

Eloquio, atque senem quern tulit ipse Pylos; Ad fera bella trnhat verbis, nequiit quod Atrides

Aut Brisis, rigidum te licet, jEacides ; Tantum ejus verbis tribuit Suadela Venusque

Et Charites, animos quolibet ille ut agat, Vel Lacedsemonios quo Tyrtseus pede claudo

Pieriis vincens martia tela modis, Magnus Alexander quo belliger actus ab ilia

Mceonii vatis grandisonante tuba; Gratia tanta suis virtusque est diva camenis,

Ut revocet manes ex Acheronte citos ; Leniat hie plectro vel pectora sasva leonum,

Hie strepitu condat mcenia vasta lyrse ; Omnimodos animi possit depellere morbos,

Vel Niobes luctus Heliadumque truces ; Beprimat hie rabidi Saulis sedetqu'e furores,

Liter delphinas alter Arion erit; Ire Cupidineos quovis hie cogat amores,

Atque diu assuetos hie abolere queat;

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXV11

Auspice me tripodas sentit, me inflante calores

Concipit aethereos, mystica diva canit; Stellaram cursns, naturam vasti et Olympi,

Aeris et vires hie aperire potest, Vel quid cunctiparens gremio tellus fovet almo ;

Gurgite quid teneat velivolumque mare ; Monstratur digito phoenice ut rarior uno,

Ecce virum de quo splendida fama volat ! Ergo decus nostrum quo fulget honorque, sorores,

Heroas laudes accumulate viro ; Laudes accuruulent Satyri, juga densa Lycaei,

Pindi, vel Rhodopes, Msenala quique colunt; Ingeminent plausus Dryades facilesque Napsese,

Oreadum Celebris turba et Hamadryadum ; Blandisonum vatem, vos Oceanitidesque atque

Naiades, innumeris tollite prseconiis ; -Eterno vireat quo vos celebravit honore,

Illius ac astris fama perennis eat : Nunc maduere satis vestro, nunc prata liquore.

Flumina, Pierides, sistite, Phoebus ait. Sat oecinisse tuum sit, mi Schelton, tibi laudi

Hsec Whitintonum: culte poeta, vale.

Ex capitalibus hexametrorum litteris solerter compositis emer- git hoc distichon ;

Quse Whitintonus canit ad laudes tibi, Schelton, Anglorum vatum gloria, sume libens." l

Another laudatory notice of Skelton by a con- temporary writer will not here be out of place ;

" To all auncient poetes, litell boke, submytte the, Whilom flouryng in eloquence facundious,

1 From the 4to volume entitled Opusculum Robertl tyhittin- toni in florentissima Oxoniensi achademia Laurenti. At the end, Expliciut Roberti Whilintoni Oxonie Protouatis Ejyygrammata : una cu quibusda Panegyricis. Impressa Lodini ptr me wynandu deworde. Anno post virgineu par fa. M. ccccc xix. decimo vero katidas Mail.

XXV1U SOME ACCOUNT OP

And to all other whiche present nowe be ; Fyrst to maister Chaucer and Ludgate sentencious, Also to preignaunt Barkley nowe beying religious, To inuentiue Skelton and poet laureate ; Praye them all of pardon both erly and late." 1

Skelton frequently styles himself "orator re- gius ; " 2 but the nature of the office from which he derived the title is not, I believe, understood. The lines in which, as we have just seen, Whit- tington so lavishly praises his " rhetoricus sermo," allude most probably to his performances in the capacity of royal orator.

In 1498 Skelton took holy orders. The days on which, during that year, he was ordained suc- cessively subdeacon, deacon, and priest, are ascer- tained by the following entries :

" [In ecclesia conuentuali domus fiue hospitalis sancti Thome martins de Aeon ciuitatis London, per Thomam Roth- lucensem episcopum vltimo die mensis Marcii]

M, Johannes Skelton London, dioc. ad titulum MOD. beate Marie de Graciis iuxtft Turrim London."

" [In cathedra sancti Pauli London, apud sumraum altare

1 Henry Bradshaw's Lyfe of Saynf Werburghe, 1. ii. c. 24. printed by Pynson 1521, 4to.

2 See the two subscriptions already cited, p. xxii ; and vol. i. 154,230, vol. ii. 275 — "Clarus & fucundus in utroque.scri- bendi genore, prosn atque metro, habebatnr." Bale, Script. Jttust. Brit. &c. p. 651. ed. 1559. " Inter Rhetores regius ora- tor factus." Pits, De Illust. Angl. Script, p. 701. ed. 1019. " With regard to the Orator Regius,"1 says Warton, " I find one John Mallard in that office to Henry the eighth, and his epistolary secretary," &c. Hist, of E. P. ii. 132 (note), ed. 4to.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXIX

eiusdem per Thomam permissione diuina London, episcopum in sabbato sancto viz. xiiii die mensis Aprilis]

Johannes Skelton poete [sic] laureatus Lond. dioc. ad titu- lum Mon. de Graciis juxta turrim London."

" [In ecclesia conuentuali hospitalis beate Marie de Elsyng per Thomam Rothlucensem episcopum ix die mensis lunii]

M. Johannes Skellon poetn, lureatus [sic] London, diorc. ad titulum Mon. de Graciis iuxta turrim London." *

When Arthur, the eldest son of Henry the Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, in 1489,2 Skelton celebrated the event in a composition (probably poetical) called Prince Arturis Creacyoun,3 of which the title alone re- mains ; and when Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Eighth, was created Duke of York, in 1494,4 he was hailed by our* author in some Latin verses — Carmen ad principem, quando insignitus erat duds Ebor. titulo, — a copy of which (not to be found at present) was once among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, having been seen by Tanner, who cites the initial words, — " Si quid habes, mea Musa."5

As at the last mentioned date Prince Henry

1 Register Bill 1489-1505, belonging to the Diocese of Lon don.

2 1st Octr. : see Sandford's Geneal. Hist. p. 475. ed. 1707. 8 See the Garlande of Law-ell, vol. ii. 221.

4 Henry was created Duke of York 31st Octr. an. 10. Hen. vii. 1 1494); see Sandford's Geneal Elst. p. 480. ed. 1707. See also The Creation of-Henry Duke of Yorke, &c. (from a Cottonian MS.) in Lord Somers's Tracts, i. 24. ed. Scott,

6 BMoth. p. 676. ed. 1748.

XXX SOME ACCOUNT OF

was a mere infant, there can be no doubt that the care of his education had not yet been intrusted to our poet. It must have been several years after 1494 that Skelton was appointed tutor to that prince, — an appointment which affords a striking proof of the high opinion entertained of his talents and learning, as well as of the respect- ability of his character. He has himself recorded that he held this important situation :

" The honor of Englond I lernyd to spelle, In dygnyte roialle that doth excelle : Note and marke wyl * thys parcele ; I yaue hym drynke of the sugryd welle Of Eliconys waters crystallyne, Aqueintyng hym with the Musys nyne. Yt commyth the1 wele me to remorde, That creaunser2 was to thy sofre[yne] lorde: It plesyth that noble prince roialle Me as hys master for to calle In hys lernyng prhnordialle." 8

And in another poem he informs us that he com- posed a treatise for the edification of his royal pupil :

1 i. e. well.

2 i.e. tutor: see Notes, vol. iii. 146.— When ladies attempt to write history, they sometimes say odd things : e. g. " It 18 affirmed that Skelton had been tutor to Henry [viii.] in some department of his education. How probable it is that the cor- ruption imparted by this ribald and ill-living wretch laid the foundation for his royal pupil's grossest crimes ! " Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland, vol. iv. 104.

3 Fourth Poem Against Garnesche, vol. i. 160.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXXI

" The Duke of Yorkis creauncer whan Skelton was, Now Henry the viii. Kyng of Englonde,

A trat}-se he deuysid and browght it to pas, Callid Speculum Principis, to bere in his honde, Therin to rede ; and to vnderstande

All the demenour of princely astate,

To be our Kyng, of God preordinate." 1

The Speculum Principis has perished: we are unable to determine whether it was the same work as that entitled Methodos Skeltonidis laureati, sc. PrcKcepta qu&dam moralia Henrico principi, po- stea Henr. viii, missa. Dat. apud Eltham A.D. MDL, which in Tanner's days2 was extant (mu- tilated at the beginning) among the MSS. in the

1 Garlande of Laurell, vol.ii.224.— After noticing that while 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 legis- lator." Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth, \. 2. But the description of the Speculum Principis, quoted above, is some- what 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 Pals- grave'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.

2 Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748.

XXXli SOME ACCOUNT OF

Lincoln-Cathedral Library, but which (like the Latin verses mentioned in a preceding page) has since been allowed to wander away from that ill- guarded collection.

When Prince Henry was a boy of nine years old, Erasmus dedicated to him an ode De Laudi- bus Britannia, Regisque Henrici Septimi ac Re- giorum Liberorum. The Dedication contains the following memorable encomium on Skelton ; " Et haec quidem interea tamquam ludicra munuscula tuae pueritias dicavimus, uberiora largituri ubi tua virtus una cum tetate accrescens uberiorem car- minum materiam suppeditabit. Ad quod equi- dem te adhortarer, nisi et ipse jamdudum sponte tua velis remisque (ut aiunt) eo tenderes, et domi haberes Skeltonum, unum Britannicarum litera- rum lumen ac decus, qui tua studia possit, non so- lum accendere, sed etiam consummare ; " and in the Ode are these lines ;

" Jam puer Henricus, genitoris nomine Isetus,

Monslrantefonteis vate Skeltono sacros, Palladias teneris meditatur ab unguibus arteis." l

l Erasmi Opera, 5. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.— The Ode is ap- pended to Erasmus's Latin version of the Hecuba and Jjthi- genia 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

SKELTOX AND HIS WRITINGS. XXXHJ

The circumstances which led to the production of this Ode are related by Erasmus in the following curious passage : " Is erat labor tridui, et tamen labor, quod jam annos aliquot nee legeram nee gcripseram ullum carmen.. Id partim pudor a nobis extorsit, partim dolor. Pertraxerat me Thomas Morus,1 qui turn me in prredio Montjoii2 agentem inviserat, ut animi causa in proximum vlcum3 expatiaremur. Nam illic educabantur om- nes liberi regii, uno Arcturoexcepto, qui turn erat natu maximus. Ubi ventum est in aulam, conve-

were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms." Biog. Hist, of Engl. \. 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 wryt- ing of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did by Rpedke parrot, Ware the hauke, the Tunning of Elynour Rumming, Why come ye iwt to the Courte f 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.)

1 Then a student of Lincoln's Inn.

2 The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy. 8 Probably Eltham.

VOL. I. C

XXXIV SOME ACCOUNT OF

nit tota pompa, non solum domusillius, verum eti- am Montjoiicas. Stabat in medio Henricus annos natus novem, jam turn indolem quandam regiam prae se ferens, h. e. animi celsitudinem cum sin- gulari quadam humanUate conjunctam. A dex- tris erat Margareta, undecim ferme annos nata, quae post nupsit Jacobo Scotorum Regi. A sinis- tris, Maria lusitans annos nata quatuor. Nam Edmondus adhuc infans, in ulnis gestabatur. Mo- rus cum Arnoldo sodali salutato puero Henrico, quo rege nunc floret Britannia, nescio quid script- orum obtulit. Ego, quoniam hujusmodi nihil ex- pectabam,nihil habens quod exhiberem, pollicitus sum aliquo pacto meum erga ipsum studium ali- quandodeclaraturum. Interim subirascebar Moro, quod non prgemonuisset ; et eo magis, quod puer Epistolio inter prandendum ad me inisso, meum calamum provocaret. Abii domum, ac vel invi- tis Musis, cum quibus jam longum fuerat divor- tium, Carmen intra tridum absolvi. Sic et ultus sum dolorem meum et pudorem sarsi."1

The mother of Henry the Seventh, the Count- ess of Richmond and Derby, is well known to have used her utmost exertions for the advancement of literature ; she herself translated some pieces from

l 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 Afountjoy." i. 11. ed. 8vo.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXXV

the French; and, under her patronage, several works (chiefly works of piety) were rendered into English by the most competent scholars of the time. It is to her, I apprehend, that Skelton al- ludes in the following passage of the Gfarlande of Laurel!, where he mentions one of his lost per- formances ;

" Of my ladys grace at the contemplacyoun,

0\vt of Frenshe into Englysshe prose, Of Marines Lyfe the Peregrynacioun, He did translate, enterprete, and disclose." '

According to Churchyard, Skelton was " seldom out of princis grace :" 2 yet among the Actes, Or- ders, and Decrees made by the King and his Counsell, remaining amongst the Records of the Court, now commonly called the Court of Requests, we find, under anno 17. Henry vii. ; " 10 Junii apud Westminster Jo. Skelton commissus carceri- bus Janitoris Domini Regis."8 What could have occasioned this restraint, I cannot even conjecture : but in those days of extrajudicial imprisonments he might have been incarcerated for a very slight offence. It is, however, by no means certain that the " Jo. Skelton " of the above entry was the in- dividual who forms the subject of the present

1 Vol. ii. 224.

2 Lines prefixed to Marshe's ed. of Skelton'8 Workes, 1568; see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

3 p. 30,— 1592, 4to.

XXXVI SOME ACCOUNT OF

essay ; 1 and it is equally doubtful whether or not the following entry, dated the same year, relates to the mother of the poet;

(Easter term, 17. Henry vii.) " Johanne ) »• ft. • s:-d,, Skellon vidue de regard. Domini Regis 2 ) J'

It has been already shewn that Skelton took holy orders in 1498.3 How soon after that period he became rector of Diss in Norfolk, or what por- tion of his life was spent there in the exercise of his duties, cannot be ascertained. He certainly resided there in 1504 and 1511,4and, as it would

1 According to the xiv"> of the Merie Tales of Skellon (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 sup- posing that at some period or other Skelton was really im- prisoned 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.

2 By Writ of Privy Seal— Auditor's Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 101 (b.), in the Public Record Office.

* Ritson (Bibliog. Poet. p. 102) says that Skelton was " chap- lain to king Henry the eighth: " qy. on what authority?

< " 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, 4 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 [Skeiton'sJ Institution does

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXXV11

seem from some of his compositions,1 in 1506, 1507 and 1513 ; in the year of his decease he was, at least nominally, the rector of Diss.2

We are told3 that for keeping, under the title

not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that wore collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is cer- tain 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.

1 See A deuoute trtnlale for old John Clarke, who died in 1506, vol. i. 187 ; Lamentatio urbls Norvicen., written in 1507, p. 194; and Chorus de Dis, &c. in 1513, p. 211.

2 1 may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under " Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate," —

" Mr. Skdton in goodes xl. U.''

Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B. 4. 15, fol. 7,— Pub- lic Record Office. Qy. was this our author?

3 " Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, pnecipue Do- minicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quain sibi secreto ob Antichrist! metum desponsauerat, sub concubinse titulo cnstodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitoe articulo super ea re in- terrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse. . . . animam egit . . . relictis liberis." Bale, Script. Must. Brit. pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559. — "In Monachos praesertim Praedicatores S. Dominici saepe stylura acuit, & tenninos pratergressus modestise, con- tra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exas- perauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qni habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo cas- titatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suse diu tenuisse." Pits, De Jttusl. Angl. Script, p. 701. ed. 1619.—" The Domini- can Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness

XXXV111 SOME ACCOUNT OF

of a concubine, a woman whom he had secretly married, Skelton was called to account, and sus- pended from his ministerial functions by his dio- cesan, the bloody-minded and impure Richard Nykke (or Nix),1 at the instigation of the friars,

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 cowardli- ness 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 cer- tain 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 lan- guage against the monks and dominicans in his writings." Atk. Oxon. i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, " Mr. Thomas Delafield in his MS. Cullection of Poets Laureate, £c. among Cough'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." — Tan- ner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton's taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, " propter quod uxorem habuit." Bibliotii. p. 675. ed. 1748. — In the xiii"1 of the Merie Tales (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skel- ton's wife is mentioned.

1 " Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum aestuante, ut atro carbone libidines ejus notar.dae videantur, si vera sunt qua? de illo a Nevillo perhibentur." Godwin De Prcesul. Anyl. p. 440. ed. 1743.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. XXXIX

chiefly the Dominicans, whom the poet had se- verely handled in his writings. It is said, too, that by this woman he had several children, and that on his death-bed he declared that he consci- entiously regarded her as his wife, but that such had been his cowardliness, that he chose rather to confess adultery (concubinage) than what was then reckoned more criminal in an ecclesiastic — mar- riage.

It has been supposed that Skelton was curate of Trumpington near Cambridge l (celebrated as the scene of Chaucer's Milleres Tale,) because at the end of one of his smaller poems are the following words ;

" Auctore Skelton, rectore de Dis. Finis, &c. Apud Trumpinton scriptum 2 per Curatum ejus-

1 " In the Edition of his Workes in 8vo. Land. 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 Cambi-idyeshire, in The Crawne of Lawrell." Cole's Collections,— Add. MSS. (Brit, llus.) 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 turn- ing to the passage in question, Garlande of Laurtll, v. 1416, vol. ii.232.— 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. Diet, 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.

2 The old ed. has " scrioter."

XI SOME ACCOUNT OF

dem, quinto die Januarii Anno Domini, secundum computat. Angliae, MDVII." 1

But the meaning evidently is, that the curate of Trumpington had written out the verses composed by the rector of Diss ; and that the former had borrowed them from the latter for the purpose of transcription, is rendered probable by two lines which occur soon after among some minor pieces of our author;

" Hanc volo transcribas, transcriptam moxque remittas Pagellam; quia sunt qui mea scripta sciunt." 2

Anthony Wood affirms that " at Disse and in the diocese " Skelton " was esteemed more fit for the stage than the pew or pulpit." 8 It is at least certain that anecdotes of the irregularity of .his life, of his buffoonery as a preacher, &c. &c. were current long after his decease, and gave rise to that tissue of extravagant figments which was put together for the amusement of the vulgar, and entitled the Merie Tales of Skelton*

Churchyard informs us that Skelton's " talke was as he wraet [wrote] ; " 6 and in this propen-

1 vol. i. 193.

2 vol. i. 196.

« Alh. Oxon. \. 50. ed. Bliss.

< 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 Talet for tiie Icing and nobles " ! ! ! i. 279.

6 Lines prefixed to Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Wwkes, 1568; see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. xli

sity to satire, as well in conversation as in writ- ing, originated perhaps those quarrels with Gar- nesche, Barclay, Gaguin, and Lily, which I have now to notice.

As the four poems Against Garnesche were composed " by the kynges most noble commaunde- ment," we may conclude that the monarch found amusement in the angry rhymes with which Skel- ton overwhelmed his opponent. Garnesche it ap- pears, was the challenger in this contest ; * and it is to be regretted that his verses have perished, because in all probability they would have thrown some light on the private history of Skelton. The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy '2 bears a con- siderable resemblance to the verses against Gar- nesche ; but the two Scottish poets are supposed to have carried on a sportive warfare of rude raillery, while a real animosity' seems to have ex-

1 " Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, Mfaster] Ganiesche," &c.; see vol. i. 132.'

2 In the Notes on the poems Against Garnesche I have cited several parallel expressions from The Flyting of Duinbar 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.

xlii SOME ACCOUNT OF

isted between our author and his adversary.1 At the time of this quarrel (the exact date of which cannot be determined) Christopher Garnesche was gentleman usher to Henry the Eighth, and digni- fied with knighthood;2 and (if Skelton may be credited) had risen from the performance of very menial offices to the station which he then occu- pied. As he had no claims on the remembrance of posterity, little is known concerning him ; but since we have evidence that his services were called for on more than one occasion of import- ance, he must have been a person of considerable note. He is twice incidentally mentioned in con- nection with the royal sisters of Henry the Eighth. In 1514, when the Princess Mary embarked for France, in order to join her decrepit bridegroom Louis the Twelfth, Garnesche formed one of the numerous retinue selected to attend her, and had an opportunity of particularly distinguishing him- self during that perilous voyage : " The ii. daye of October at the hower of foure of the clocke in the morenyngethys fayre ladye tooke her ship with

1 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 Dlcars Dreame ; and some other writers took a part in the controversy : these rare pieces (known only by tlieir titles to Ritson, Blbliog. Pwl. p. 151, and to Chalmers, Life of Churchyard, p. 63) are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.

2 In the first poem Against Garnesche he is called " Mat- ter : " but see Notes, vol. iii. 123.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. xliii

all her noble compaignie ; and when they had sayled a quarter of the see, the wynde rose and seuered some of the shyppes to Caleys, and some in Flaunders, and her shippe with greute diffi- cultie was brought to Bulleyn, and with great ieopardy at the entryng of the hauen, for the master ran the ship hard on shore, but the botes were redy and receyued this noble lady, and at the landyng Sir Christopher Garnyshe stode in the water, and toke her in his armes, and so caryed her to land, where the Duke of Vandosme and a Cardynall with many estates receyued her and her ladyes," * &c. Again, in a letter, dated Har- bottle 18th Oct. 1515, from Lord Dacre of Gilles- land and T. Magnus to Henry the Eighth, con- cerning the confinement in childbed of Margaret widow of James the Fourth, &c. we find ; ." Sir Christofer Garneis came to Morpeth immediatly vpon the queneis delyueraunce, and by our aduice hath contynued there with suche stuff as your grace hath sent to the said quene your suster till Sondaye laste paste, whiche daye he delyuered your letter and disclosed your credence, gretely to the quenes comforte. And for somiche as the quene lieth as yet in childe bedde, and shall kepe her chumbre these thre wookes at the leiste, we haue aduise the said sir Christofer Garneis to re- maigne at Morpeth till the queneis comyng thid-

l Hall's Chron. («. yere Hen. viii.) fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.

Xliv SOME ACCOUNT OF

der, and then her grace may order and prepare euery parte of the said stuf after her pleasure and as her grace semeth moste conuenient," &C.1 A few particulars concerning Garnesche may be gleaned from the Books in the Public Record Office:

(Easter Term, 18 Hen. vii.) " Cristofero J

Garneys de regardo de denariis per Jo- > xl. H." hannein Crawford et al. per manuc. for.2 )

(i. e. in reward out of moneys forfeited by John Crawford and another upon bail-bond,)

(1st Henry viii.) " Item to Cristofer Gar--* nisshe for the kinges offring at S. Ed- I • ... ,,, •wardes sliiryue the next day after the f Coronacion 8 J

(Easter Term, 1-2 Henry viii.)" Cristofero} Garneys vni generosorum hostiariorum regis [one of the king's gentlemen- [• x. li. ushers] de annuitate sua durante regis j beneplacito per annum J

Eidem Cristofero de feodo suo ad xx. K. ) j. „ per annum pro termino vite sue * (

and we find that afterwards by letters patent dated 21st May, 7th Henry viii., in consideration of his services the king granted him an annuity of thirty

1 MS. Cott. Calig. B. vi. fol. 112.

2 Auditor's Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 108 (b). « Priry Purse Accounts, A. 5. 16. p. 21.

« Auditor's Calendar, &c. fol. 162 (b).

SKELTON AND HIS WHITINGS. xlv

pounds for life, payable half-yearly at the Exche- quer.1

(llth Henry viii.) " Item to Sir Christofer Garnisshe knight opon a warraunt for the hyre of his howse at Grenewyche 2 at x. II. by the yere for one half a yere due at Ester last and so after half yerely during x yeres 3

(20th Henry viii.) " Cristofero Gamyshe^ militi de annuitate sua ad xxx /. per breve currens Rec. den. profesto Michls }. xxx. li." ult. pret. viz. pro vno anno integro per j rnanus Ricardi Alen * J

see above : this entry is several times repeated, and occurs for the last time in 26th Henry viii.6

1 Auditor's Patent Book, No. 1. fol. 6 (b).

2 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 men- tion of " Master Garnyshe house." See Rutland Papers, p. 82, (printed for the Camden Society.) That a knight was fre- quently called " Master," I have shewn in Notes, vol. iii. 123.

8 Privy Purse Accounts, A. 5, 17. p. 175.

* Teller's Book, A. 3. 24. p. 293.

6 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 peroeyue 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

xlvi SOME ACCOUNT OF

Bale mentions among the writings of Alexander

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 mun-yn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieug 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 sub- stanciall 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 gra- cious 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 purveyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, with- out any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not with- standing, 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 xviii">-day of Aprill,

By your seruants, John Peache,

Wyllym Sandys, Robert Wotton,

Edward Guldeferd, Crysto/yr Garneys. To my Lorde cardynalls grace,

Legnte a Latere and chan-

celer of England."

In Proceed, and Ordin. of the Privy Council (vol. vii. 1S3, 196), 1541, mention is made of a Lady Garnishe (probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. xlvii

Barclay a piece " against Skelton." 1 It has not come down to us ; but the extant works of Bar- clay bear testimony to the hearty dislike with which he regarded our author. At the conclusion of The Ship of Fools is this contemptuous notice of one of Skelton's most celebrated poems ;

" Holde me excused, for why my will is good Men to induce vnto vertue and goodnes ; I write no ieste ne tale of Robin Hood, Nor sowe no sparkles ne sede of viciousnes; Wise men loue vertue, wilde people wantonnes ; It longeth not to my science nor cunning, For Philip (he Sparow the, Dirige to singe : " 3

a sneer to which Skelton most probably alludes, when, enumerating his own productions in the Garlande of Laurell, he mentions,

" Of Phillip Sparow the lamentable fate,

The dolefull desteny, and the carefull chaunce,

Dyuysed by Skelton after the funerall rate ; Yet sum there be therewith that take greuaunce, And grudge therat wlthfrownyng countenaunce ;

But what of that? hard it is to please all men;

Who list amende it, let hym set to his penne." 3

That a portion of the following passage in Bar-

in Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary (p. 120) we find under June 1543, " Item my lady garnyshe seruaunt for bring- ing cherys xiirf."

1 " Contra Skeltonum, Lib. i." Script. lUust. Brit. p. 723. ed. 1559.

2 fol 259. ed. 1570. « vol. ii. 225.

xlviii SOME ACCOUNT OF

clay's Fourth Eyloge was levelled at Skelton, ap- pears highly probable ;

"Another thing yet is greatly more damnable: Of rascolcle poetes yet is a shamfull rable, Which voyde of wisedome presumeth to indite, Though they haue scantly the cunning of a snite;1 And to what vices that princes moste intende, Those dare these fooles solemnize and commende. Then is he decked as Poete laureate, When stinking Thais made him her graduate: When Muses rested, she did her season note, And she, with Bacchus her camous 2 did promote. Such rascokle drames, promoted by Thais, Bacchus, Licoris, or yet by Testalis, Or by suche other newe forged Muses nine, Thinke in their mindes for to haue wit diuine; They laude their verses, they boast, they vaunt and iet, Though all their cunning be scantly worth a pet: If they haue smelled the artes triuiall, They count them Poetes hye and heroicall. Such is their foly, so foolishly they dote, Thinking that none can their playne errour note : Yet be they foolishe, auoyde of honestie, Nothing seasoned with spice of grauitie, Auoyde of pleasure, auoyde of eloquence, With many wordes, and fruitlesse of sentence; Unapt to learne, disdayning to be taught, Their priuate pleasure in snare hath them so caught; And worst yet of all, they count them excellent, Though they be fruitlesse, rashe and improuident. To such ambages who doth their minde incline, They count all other as priuate 8 of doctrine, And that the faultes which be in them alone, Also be common in other men eche one." 4

1 i. e. snipe.

2 See Notes, vol. iii. 97. If this line alludes to Skelton, it preserves a trait of his personal appearance.

8 i. e. deprived, devoid. * sig. c. v. ed. 1570.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. xx

In the Garlande of Laurell we are told by Skelton, that among the famous writers of all ages and nations, whom he beheld in his vision, was

" a frere of Fraunce men call sir Gaytcyne,

That frownyd on me full angerly and pale; " l

and in the catalogue of his own writings which is subsequently given in the same poem, he mentions a piece which he had composed against this per- sonage,

" The Recuk ageinst Gaguyne of the Frenshe nacyoun." 2 Robert Gaguin was minister-general of the Matu- rines, and enjoyed great reputation for abilities and learning.8 He wrote various works ; the most im- portant of which is his Compendium supra Fran- corum gestis from the time of Pharamond to the author's age. In 1490 he was sent by Charles the Eighth as ambassador to England, where he probably became personally acquainted with Skel- ton.

That Skelton composed certain Latin verses against the celebrated grammarian William Lily, we are informed by Bale,4 who has preserved the initial words, viz.

" Urgeor impulsus tibi, Lilli, retundere: "

i Vol. ii. 186. 2 Vol. ii. 222.

8 In a volume of various pieces by Gaguin, dated 1498, is a treatise on metre, which shews no mean acquaintance with the subject.

* " Jnuectiuam in Gull. Lilium, Lib. i." Script. Must. Brit. &c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the VOL. I. D

1 SOME ACCOUNT OF

and that Lily repaid our poet in kind, we have the following prqtf ;

" Lilii Hendecasyllabiin Scheltonum ejuscarmina calumniantem.^ " Quid me, Scheltone, fronte sic aperta Carpis, vipereo potens veneno ? Quid versus trutina meos iniqua Libras? dicere vera num licebit? Doctrince tibi dum parare famam Et doctus fieri studes poeta, Doctrinam nee habes, nee es poeta."

It would seem that Skelton occasionally repented of the severity of his compositions, and longed to recall them ; for in the Garlande of Laurell, after

description, " Lib. i.," that the invective in question extend- ed to a volume: it was, 1 presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece was " written in verse and very carping." Aili. 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

( Joh. Skeltonum. « Apologia ad j ^ wmingim." for a copy of which I have

sought in vain.

i See Weever's Fun. Monum. p. 498. ed. 1631 ; Stowe's Col- lections, MS. Harl. 640. fol. 67; and Fuller's Worthies, (Nor- folk,) 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, Mid 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."

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. Jl

many of them have been enumerated, we mete with the following curious passage ;

" Item Apollo that whirllid vp his chare, That made sum to snurre and snuf in the wynde ; It made them to skip, to stampe, and to stare, Whiche, if they be happy, haue cause to beware In ryming and raylyng with hym for to mell For drede that he lerne them there A, B, C, to spell.

With that I stode vp, halfe sodenly afrayd;

Suppleyng to Fame, I besought her grace, And that it ivolde please her, full tenderly Jprayd,

Oict of her bokis Apollo to rase.

Nay, sir, she sayd, what so in this place Of our noble courte is ones spoken owte, It must nedes after rin all the worlde aboute.

God wote, theis wordes made me full sad;

And when that I sawe it wolde no better be, But that my peticyon wolde not be had,

What shulde I do but take it in gre ?

For, by Juppiter and his high mageste, 1 did what I cowde to scrape out the scrollis, Apollo to rase out of her ragman rollis." 1

The piece which commenced with the words "Apollo that whirllid vp his chare," and which gave such high displeasure to some of Skelton's contemporaries, has long ago perished, — in spite of Fame's refusal to erase it from her books !

The title-page of the Garlands of Laurett,2 ed. 1523, sets forth that it was " studyously dyusysed at Sheryfhotton Castell" in Yorkshire ; and there seems no reason to doubt that it was written by Skelton during a residence at that mansion. The

i Vol. ii. 235. 2 See vol. ii. 170.

Hi SOME ACCOUNT OF

date of its composition is unknown ; but it was certainly produced at an advanced period of his life ; l and the Countess of Surrey, who figures in it so conspicuously as his patroness, must have been Elizabeth Stafford, daughter of Edward Duke of Buckingham, second wife of Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey, and mother of that illus- trious Surrey " whose fame for aye endures." Sheriff-Hutton Castle was then in the possession of her father-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk,2 the victor of Flodden Field ; and she was probably there as his guest, having brought Skelton in her train. Of this poem, unparalleled for its egotism, the greater part is allegorical ; but the incident from which it derives its name, — the weaving of a garland for the author by a party of ladies, at the desire of the Countes, seems to have had some foundation in fact.

From a passage in the poem just mentioned, we may presume that Skelton used sometimes to re- side at the ancient college of the Bonhommes at Ashridge ;

" Of the Bonehoms of Ashrige besyde Barkamstede,

That goodly place to Skelton moost kynde, Where the sank royall is, Crystes blode so rede, Whervpon he metrefyde after his mynde ; A pleasaunter place than Ashrige is, harde were to fynde," &c.«

1 See Notes, vol. iii. 325.

2 It was granted to him by the king for life.

8 Vol. ii. 235. Concerning this college, see Notes, vol. iii. 349.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. illl

That Skelton once enjoyed the patronage of Wolsey, at whose desire he occasionally exercised his pen, and from whose powerful influence he expected preferment in the church, we learn from the following passages in his works :

" Honorificatissimo, amplisssmo, longeque reverendissimo in Christo patri, ac -domino, domino Thomas, &c. tituli sanctse Ceciliae, sacrosanctse Romanae ecclesiae presbytero, Cardinal! meritissimo, et apostolicse sedis legato, a latereque legato superillustri, &c. Skeltonis laureatus, ora. reg., humillimum dicit obsequium cum omni debita reverentia, tanto tamque magnifico digna principe sacerdotum, totiusque justitia? aequa- bilissimo moderatore, necnon prsesentis opusculi fautore ex- cellentissimo, &c., ad cujus auspicatissimam contemplationem, sub memorabili prelo gloriosae immortalitatis, prsesens pagella felicitatur, &c." 1

"Ad serenissimam Majestatem Regiam, pariter cum Dominc Cardinal!, Legato a latere honorificatissimo, &c.

Lautre Envoy.

Perge, liber, celebrem pronus regem venerare Henricum octavum, resonans sua proemia laudis. Cardineum dominum pariter venerando salutes, Legatum a latere, et fiat memor ipse precare Prebendse, quam promisit mihi credere quondam, Meque suum referas pignus sperare salutis Inter spemque metum.

1 A Replycacian agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late, $c. vol. i. 230. In Typograph. Antiq. ii. 639. ed. Dibdin, where the Replycation 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 marvel- lous.

v SOME ACCOUNT OF

Twene hope and drede My lyfe I lede, But of my spede

Small sekernes; Howe be it I rede Both worde and dede Should be agrede

In noblenes : Or els, &c." i

u To my Lorde Cardynals right noble grace, &c.

Lenuoy.

Go, lytell quayre, apace, -. In moost humble wyse, Before his noble grace,

That caused you to deuise

This lytel enterprise ; And hym moost lowly pray,

In his mynde to comprise Those wordes his grace dyd saye Of an ammas gray. lefoy interment en sa bone grace." 2

We also find that Skelton " gaue to my lord Car- dynall " The Boke of Three Fooles*

What were the circumstances which afterwards alienated the poet from his powerful patron, can- not now be discovered : we only know that Skel- ton assailed the full-blown pride of Wolsey with a boldness which is astonishing, and with a fierce-

1 Garlande ofLaurell, vol. ii. 241.

2 See vol. ii. 339. where this Lenuoy (which will be more particularly noticed presently) is appended to the poem Howe the dvuty Duke of Albany, &c.

8 Vol. i. 221.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. Iv

ness of invective which has seldom been surpassed. Perhaps it would have been better for the poet's memory, if the passages just quoted had never reached us ; but nothing unfavourable to his char- acter ought to be hastily inferred from the alter- ation in his feelings towards Wolsey while the cause of their quarrel is buried in obscurity. The provocation must have been extraordinary, which transformed the humble client of the Cardinal into his " dearest foe."

We are told by Francis Thynne, that Wolsey was his father's " olde enymye, for mauye causes, but mostly for that my father had furthered Skel- ton to publishe his Collin Cloute againste the Car- dinall, the moste parte of whiche Booke was com- piled in my father's howse at Erithe in Kente." * But though Colyn Cloute contains passages which ' manifestly point at Wolsey, it cannot be termed a piece " againste the Cardinall:" and I have no doubt that the poem which Thynne had in view, and which by mistake he has mentioned under a wrong title, was our author's Why come ye nat to Courte. In Golyn Cloute Skelton ventured to "•" aim only a few shafts at Wolsey : in Why come

1 Animadversions vppon the annotations and corrections of some imperfectons of impressones of Chaucers Workes, &c. p. 13, — iu Todd's lllust. of Cower and Chaucer.

I may notice here, that among the Harleian 3fSS. (2252, fols. 156, 158) are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection Wanley has described as " Skel- ton's libel? ; " but they are evidently not by him.

Ivi SOME ACCOUNT OP

ye not to Courte, and in Speke, Parrot, he let loose against him the full asperity of reproach.

The bull appointing Wolsey and Campeggio to be legates a latere jointly, is dated July 27th, 1518, that appointing Wolsey to be sole Legate a latere 10th June, 1519 ; * and from the first two passa- ges which I have cited above (p. liii.) we as- certain the fact, that Wolsey continued to be the patron of Skelton for at least some time after he had been invested with the dignity of papal legate. If the third passage cited above (p. liv.) " Go lytell quayre, apace," &c. really belong to the poem How the douty Duke of Albany, &c. to which it is appended in Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568, our author must have been soliciting Wol- sey for preferment as late as November 1523 : but his most direct satire on the Cardinal, Why come ye not to Courte, was evidently composed anterior to that period; and his Speke, Parrot (which would require the scolia of a Tzetzes to render it intelligible) contains seeming allusions to events of a still earlier date. The probability (or rather

1 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 Stale Papers (1830,) i. 9 (note.) Lingard's Hist, of Engl. vi. 57. ed. 8vo, &c. — Hoping to ascer- tain the exact date of the Eeplycadon, &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 with- out success.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. Ivil

certainty) is, that the L'Envoy, "Go, lytell quayre," <fcc. has no connexion with the poem on the Duke of Albany : in Marshe's volume the various pieces are thrown together without any attempt at arrangement ; and it ought to be par- ticularly noticed that between the poem against Albany and the L'Envoy in question, another L 'Envoy is interposed? Wolsey might have for- given the allusions made to him in Colyn Cloitte ; but it would be absurd to imagine that, in 1523, he continued to patronize the man who had writ- ten Why come ye not to Courts,

The following anecdote is subjoined from Hall : "And in this season [15 Henry viii.] the Cardi- nall by his power legantine dissolued the Conuo- cacion at Paules, called by the Archebishop of Canterbury [Warham,] and called hym and all the clergie to his conuocacion to Westminster, which was neur seen before in Englande, wherof master Skelton, a rnery Poet, wrote,

Gentle Paule, laie doune thy sweard,2

For Peter of Westminster hath shauen thy beard." 3

1 We cannot settle this point by a comparison of old edi- tions, 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'Euvoy which I have cited at p. liii. "Perye, liber," &c. belongs to the Garlande of Laurdi, to which it is affixed in Marshe's edition as a second L'Euvoy: 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.

2 i. e. sword. 3 Chron. (Hen. viii.) fol. ex. ed. 1548.

Iviii SOME ACCOUNT OF

From the vengeance of the Cardinal,1 who had sent out officers to apprehend him, Skelton took sanctuary at Westminster, where he was kindly received and protected by the abbot Islip,2 with

1 " 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, lllust. Brit. p. 651. ed. 1559.— " Vbi licet Abbatis Islepi fauore protegeretur, tamen vitam ibi, quantumuis antea iucunde actam, tristi exitu conclusit." Pits, De lUust. Angl. Script, p. 701. ed. 1619.—" But Cardinal Wolsey (impar conyressits, 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 Alh. 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 Nichol- son's Historical Library in the Bodleian."

2 John Islip was elected abbot in 1500, and died in 1532: see Widmore's Hist, of West. Abbey. 119, 123. " John Skel- ton .... is said by the late learned Bishop of Derry, Nichol- son (Hist. Lib. chap. 2.) to have first collected the Epitaphs of our Kings, Princes, and Nobles, that lie buried at the Ab- bey 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

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. lix

whom he had been long acquainted. In this asy- lum he appears to have remained till his death, which happened June 21st, 1529. What he is reported to have declared on his death-bed con- cerning the woman whom he had secretly married, and by whom he left several children, has been already mentioned : 1 he is said also to have ut- tered at the same time a prophecy concerning the downfall of Wolsey.2 He was buried in the chan- cel of the neighbouring church of St. Margaret's ;

Seventh and his Queen, and his mother the Countess of Rich- mond, 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 mis- taken: neither in Harshe's ed. of Skeltou's Workes, 1568, nor in the Reges, Regime, Nobiles, &c., 1603, is there any copy of verses by our author on the Queen of Henry the Seventh: see in vol. i. 198, 199, 217, 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.

1 See p. xxxix.

2 " De morte Cardinalis uaticinium edidit: & eius uerita- tem euentus declarauit." Bale, Script, lllust. Brit. p. 652. ed. 1559.—" The word Vales 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 Colyn Cloute f See the fragment from Lansdown MSB. vol. ii. 141, note.

IX SOME ACCOUNT OP

and, soon after, this inscription was placed over his grave,

Joannes Skeltonus, vates Pierius, hie situs esl.1 Concerning the personal appearance of Skelton we are left in ignorance ; 2 for the portraits which are prefixed to the old editions of several of his poems must certainly not be received as authentic representations of the author.3

1 " Vuestmonasterii tandem, captiuitatis SUZE tempore, mor- tuus est : & in D. Margaritas sacello sepultus, cum hac in- scriptione alabastrica: Johannes Skeltonus, uates Pierius, hie situs est. Aniinam egit 21 die Junii, anno Diii 1529, relictis liberis." Bale, Sciipt. Jllust. Brit. p. 652. ed. 1559. See also Pits (De Must. Angl. Script, p. 703. ed. 1619) and Fuller ( Worthies, Norfolk, p. 257. ed. 1662,) who give Joannes Seel- tonus vates Pierius hie situs est as the whole of Skelton's epi- taph. Weever, however (Fun. Monum. 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 " eyit," and states (what the other writers do not mention) that the inscription WHS put on the tomb " soon after" Skelton's death.

In the Church- Wardens Accompts of St. MuryartVs, West- minster (Nichols's Jllust. of Manners and Expences, &c. 4to. p. 9,) we find this entry;

£. s. d.

" 1529. Item, of Mr. Skelton for viii tapers . . 028"

The institution of the person who succeeded Skelton as rector of Diss is dated 17th July : see first note on the present Memoir.

2 See note, p. xlviii.

» e. g. the portrait on the title-page of Dyuers Salettys and Dyties solacyous (evidently from the press of Pynson ; see Ap- pendix II. to this Memoir) is given as a portrait of " Doctor

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. Ixi

The chief satirical productions of Skelton (and the bent of his genius was decidedly towards sa- tire) are The Bowge of Courte, Colyn Cloute, and

Why come ye nat to Courte. — In the first of these, an allegorical poem of considerable invention, he introduces a series of characters delineated with a boldness and discrimination which no preceding poet had displayed since the days of Chaucer, and which none of his contemporaries (with the sole exception of the brilliant Dunbar) were able to attain : the merit of those personifications has been allowed even by Warton, whose ample critique on Skelton deals but little in praise ; * and I am somewhat surprised that Mr. D'Israeli, who has lately come forward as the warm eulogist of our author,2 should have passed over The Bowge of

Courte without the slightest notice. — Colyn Cloute

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 ofLaurett, 1523 (poorly imitated in The Brit. Bibliogr. iv. 389) is a copy of an early French print.

1 " 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.

2 Amen, of Lit. ii. 69.

Ixii SOME ACCOUNT OF

is a general satire on the corruptions of the Church, the friars and the bishops being attacked alike un- sparingly ; nor, when Skelton himself pronounced of this piece that " though his ryme be ragged, it hath in it some pyth," l did he overrate its vigour and its weighty truth : Colyn Gloute not only shews that fearlessness which on all occasions distinguish- ed him, but evinces a superiority to the prejudices of his age, in assailing abuses, which, if manifest to his more enlightened contemporaries, few at least had as yet presumed to censure. — In Why come ye nat to Courte the satire is entirely personal, and aimed at the all-powerful minister to whom the author had once humbly sued for preferment. While throughout this remarkable poem, Skelton either overlooks or denies the better qualities, the commanding talents, and the great attainments of Wolsey, and even ungenerously taunts him with the meanness of his origin ; he fails not to attack his character and conduct in those particulars against which a satirist might justly declaim, and with the certainty that invectives so directed would find an echo among the people. The regal pomp and luxury of the Cardinal, his insatiate ambition, his insolent bearing at the council-board, his inaccessibility to suitors, &c. &c. are dwelt on with an intensity of scornful bitterness, and occa- sionally give rise to vivid descriptions which

Vol. ii. 127.

SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS. Ixiti

history assures us are but little exaggerated. Some readers may perhaps object, that in this poem the satire of Skelton too much resembles the " oyster-knife that hacks and hews," to which that of Pope was so unfairly likened *) ; but all must confess that he wields his weapbn with pro- digious force and skill ; and we know that Wolsey writhed under the wounds which it inflicted.

When Catullus bewailed the death of Lesbia's bird, he confined himself to eighteen lines and truly golden lines ; but Skelton, while lament- ing for the sparrow that was " slayn at Carowe," has engrafted on the subject so many far-sought and whimsical embellishments, that his epicode is really what the old editions term it, — " a boke." Phyllyp Sparowe exhibits such fertility and deli- cacy of fancy, such graceful sportiveness, and such ease of expression, that it might well be charac- terized by Coleridge as " an exquisite and original poem." 2

In The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng, which would seem to have been one of Skelton's most popular performances, we have a specimen of his

1 " Satire should, like a polish'd razor, keen,

Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen: Thine is an oyster-knife that hacks and hews," &c.

Verses addressed to the imitator of the First Satire of the Second Book of Horace (the joint composi- tion of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu.)

2 Remains, ii. 163.

Ixiv SOME ACCOUNT OF

talent for the low burlesque ; — a description of a real ale-wife, and of the various gossips who keep thronging to her for liquor, as if under the influ- ence of a spell. If few compositions of the kind have more coarseness or extravagance, there are few which have greater animation or a richer humour.

The Garlande of Laurell, one of Skelton's long- est and most elaborate pieces, cannot also be reckoned among his best. It contains, however, several passages of no mean beauty, which shew that he possessed powers for the higher kind of poetry, if he had chosen to exercise them ; and is interspersed with some lyrical addresses to the ladies who weave his chaplet, which are very happily versified. In one respect the Garlande of Laurell stands without a parallel: the history of literature affords no second example of a poet having deliberately written sixteen hundred lines in honour of himself.

Skelton is to be regarded as one of the fathers of the English drama. ' His Enterlude of Vertue1 and his Comedy callyd Achademios 2 have perish- ed: so perhaps has his Nigramansir ; 8 but his

1 " Of Verlu also the souerayne enterlude."

Garlande of Laurett, vol. ii. 221.

2 " His commedy, Achademios callyd by name." Id. p. 222.

» See Appendix II. to this Memoir.— Mr. Collier is mistaken in supposing Skelton's " paiauntis that were played in loyows Garde " to have been dramatic compositions: see Notes, vol. iii. 344.

SKT.LTOX AND HIS WTIITIXGS. IxV

Maynyfycence is still extant. To those who carry their acquaintance with our early play-wrights no farther back than the period of Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, this " goodly interlude" by Skelton will doubtless appear heavy and inartificial : its supe- riority, however, to the similar efforts of his con- temporaries, is, I apprehend, unquestionable.1

If our author did not invent the metre which he uses in the greater portion of his writings, and which is now known by the name Skeltoniccd, he was certainly the first who adopted it in poems of any length ; and he employed it with a skill, which, after he had rendered it popular, was be- yond the reach of his numerous imitators.2 " The Skeltonical short verse," observes Mr. DTsraeli, speaking of Skelton's own productions, " contract- ed into five or six, and even four syllables, is wild and airy. In the quick returning rhymes, the playfulness of the diction, and the pungency of new words, usually ludicrous, often expressive, and sometimes felicitous, there is a stirring spirit which will be best felt in an audible reading. The velocity of his verse has a carol of its own. The

1 A writer, of whose stupendous ignorance a specimen has been already cited (p. xl, note 4,) informs us that Magnyfy- cence " is one of the dullest plays in our language." Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner's Cyclop.) i. 281.

2 See Appendix III. to this Memoir, and Poems attributed to Skelton, vol. ii. 345.

VOL. I. E

1XV1 SOME ACCOUNT OF

chimes ring in the ear, and the thoughts are flung about like coruscations." 1

Skelton has been frequently termed a Macaro- nic poet, but it may be doubted if with strict pro- priety ; for the passages in which he introduces snatches of Latin and French are thinly scattered through his works. " This anomalous and motley mode of versification," says Warton, " is I believe supposed to be peculiar to our author. I am not, however, quite certain that it originated with Skel- ton." 2 He ought to have been " quite certain " that it did not.9

1 Amen, of Lit. ii. 69. ZEist.ofKP.ii. 356.

8 " In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to be

Amonge the blyssyd company omnium aupernorum Ther as is alle merth joye and glee Inter agmina cmgelorum

In blyse to abyde." Coventry Mysteries,— MS. Cott. Vesp. D. viii. fol. 112.

A reprint of Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes having ap- peared in 1736, Pope took occasion, during the next year, to mention them in the following terms, — casting a blight on our poet's reputation, from which it has hardly yet recovered ;

" Chaucer's worst ribaldry is learn'd by rote, And beastly Skelton Heads of Houses quote " —

Note—" Skelton, Poet Laureat to Hen. 8. a Volume of whose Verses has been lately reprinted, consisting almost wholly of Ribaldry, Obscenity, and Billingsgate Language." The First Epistk of the Second Book of Horace imitated, 1737. But Pope was unjust to Skelton; for, though expressions of de- cided grossness occur in his writings, they are comparatively

SKELTON AKD HIS WRITINGS. xv

few; and during his own time, so far were such expressions from being regarded as offensive to decency, that in all probability his royal pupil would not have scrupled to em ploy them in the presence of Anne Bulleyn and her maids of honour.

ADDITIONAL NOTES.

P. xxvii. The following verses are transcribed from a MS. (in the collection of the late Mr. B. H. Bright,) consist- ing of Hymni, &c.,by Picus Mirandula: —

" Pici Mirandulce Carmen Extemporale.

Quid tibi facundum nostra in praeconia fontem

Solvere collibuit,

JEterna vates, Skelton, dignissime lauro,

Castalidumque decus?

Nos neque Pieridum celebramus antra sororum,

Fonte nee Aonio

Ebibimus vatum ditantes ora liquores.

At tibi Apollo chelym [sic]

Auratam dedit, et vooalia plectra sorores;

Inque tuis labiis

Dulcior Hyblseo residet suadela liquore:

Se tibi Calliope

Infudit totam : tu carmine vincis olorem ;

Cedit et ipse tibi

Ultro porrecta cithara Rhodopeius Orpheus :

Tu modulante lyra

Et mulcere feras et duras ducere quercus,

Tu potes et rapidos

Flexanimis fidibus fluviorum sistere cursus;

Flectere saxa potes.

Graecia Mseonio quantum debebat Homero,

Mantua Virgilio,

Tantum Skeltoni jam se debere fatetur

Terra Britanna suo :

Primus in hanc Latio dednxit ab orbe Camenas ;

Primus hie edocuit

SOME ACCOUNT OF

Exculte pureque loqui: te principe, Skelton, Anglia nil metuat

Vel cum Romanis versa certare poetis. Vive valeque diu!"

P. xlv. To my notices of Garnesche add the following, (collected by Mr. D. E. Davy) from Gent. Mag. for Sept. 1844, p. 229: —

" Sir Christopher Garncys, knt., -whom I suppose to be the person who was the object of Skelton's satire, was the second son of Edmund Garneys, esq. of Beccles, who was the second son of Peter Garneys, esq. of Beccles, whose eldest son, Thomas, was of Kenton. He, ' Sir Christopher,' was janitor of Caleys, and often employed in the wars temp. H. viii . . .

In a window of the chapel in the north aisle of St. Peter's Mancroft Church, Norfolk, was. the following inscription : ' . . . anda . a . . Dei, pro anihiabus Thome Elys tercia vice hujus civitatis Norwici Majoris et Margarete consortis sue. — Oran- dumqne est pro animabus Edmundi Garnysh armigeri, et Matilde ejus consortis, filie predictorum Thome Elis et Mar- garete, ac pro longevo statu Christopheri Garnysh militis, dicti serenissimi Principis ville sue Calisie Jauitoris.'- See Blomf. Norf. vol. iv. p. 199. [vol. ii. 628. ed. fol.J

' A description of the Standards borne in the field by Peers and Knights in the reign of Hen. Eighth, from a MS. in the College of Arms marked I. 2. Compiled between the years 1510 and 1525.'— Syr Christoffer Garnys. ' A on a wreath, Argent & Gules, an arm erased below the elbow, and erect proper, holding a falchion Argent, pomel and hilt Or, the blade imbrued in 3 places Gules. (Imperfect.) — Anns. Argent a chevron Azure between 3 escallops Sable.' Ex- cerpta Historica, p. 317.

' Standards, temp. H. viii. Harl. MS. 4632. Syr Xr'ofer Garneyshe. Blue. The device, on a wreath Argent and Gules, an arm erased, grasping a scymitar, Proper. — Motto, " Oublere ne dois." ' Collect. Topog. vol. iii. p. 64.

' The names of the Inglishmen which were sent in Am- bassade to the French King, before the Qwenes Landing, and oder Gentilmen in their Compaigne.' — « Sir Christopher Gar- neys' (inter al.).— Leland's Collect, vol. ii. p. 704.

SKELTOX AND HIS WRITINGS. xx

In the Athenaeum for July 18, 1840, p. 572. there is a long 'letter, dated 'at Morpeth, the xxviij day of Decembre,' and signed ' C. Garneys,1 whom the editor supposes to have been one of the medical attendants sent by the King, upon the illness of Queen Margaret: it was more probably [certainly, see p. xliii.] Sir Christ. Garneys, knt.

Sir Christopher was knighted at Touraine, 25 Dec., 5 H.

viii. 1513, and married Jane, daughter of She

died 27th March, 1552. Her will was dated 27th Aug. 1550, and proved 12th May, 1552; she was buried at Greenwich. Her husband was dead when she made her will. She names her son, Arthur Dymoke, esq. Bequeathes most of her per- sonal estate for charitable purposes."

APPENDIX I.

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON

( see Memoir, p. xl. ) ; AND NOTICES OF SKELTON FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

MERIE TALES

Newly Imprinted & made by Ma- ster Skelton

Poet Laureat.

T Imprinted at London

in Fleetstreat beneath the

Conduit at the signe of S.

John Euangelist,

by Thomas

ColwelL

[IS-"-. n. d.]

Here begynneth certayne

merye tales of Skelton,

Poet Lauriat.

TT How Skelten came late home to Oxford from Abington. Tale i.

SKELTON was an Englysheman borne as Skogyn was, and hee was educated & broughte vp in Oxfoorde : and there was he made a poete lauriat. And on a tyme he had ben at Ab- bington to make mery, wher that he had eate salte meutes, and hee did com late home to Oxforde, and he did lye in an ine named y« Tabere whyche is now the Angell, and hee dyd drynke, & went to bed. About midnight he was so thyrstie or drye that hee was constrained to call to the tapster for drynke, & the tapster harde him not. Then hee cryed to hys oste & hys ostes, and to the ostler, for drinke ; and no man wold here hym : alacke, sayd Skelton, I shall peryshe for lacke of drynke! what reamedye? At the last he dyd crie out and sayd, Fyer, fyer, fyer ! When Skelton hard euery man bustled hymselfe vpward, & some of them were naked, & some were halfe asleepe and amased, and Skelton dyd crye, Fier, fier, styll, that euerye man knewe not whether to re- sorte ; Skelton did go to bed, and the oste and ostis, & the tapster with the ostler, dyd runne to Skeltons chamber with candles lyghted in theyr handes, saying, Where, where, where is the fyer? Here, here, here, said Skelton, & poynted hys fynger to hys moouth, saying, Fetch me some drynke to quenche the fyer and the heate and the drinesse in my mouthe : & so they dyd. Wherfore it is good for euerye man to helpe hys owne selfe in tyme of neede wythe some policie or crafte, so bee it there bee no deceit nor falshed vsed.

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

T How Skelton drest the Kendallman in the sweat time. [Tale ii.]

On a time Skelton rode from Oxforde to London with a Kendalman, and at Uxbridge they beyted. The Kendallman layd hys cap vpon the borde in the hall, and he went to senis hys horse. Skelton tooke ye Kendalmans cappe, and dyd put betwixte the linyng & the vtter syde a dishe of butter : and when the Kendalman had drest hys horse, hee dyd come in to diner, and dyd put on hys cappe (that tyme the sweat- ing sycknes was in allEnglande); at the last, when the butter had take heate of the Kendallmans heade, it dyd begynne to run ouer hys face and aboute hys cheekes. Skelton sayde, Syr, you sweate soore : beware yt you haue not the sweat- ynge sycknesse. The Kendalman sayde, By the myssc, Ise wrang; I bus goe tyll bed. Skelton sayd, I am skild on phisicke, & specially in the sweatynge sycknesse, that I wyll warant any man. In gewd faith, saith the Kendallman, do see, and Ise bay for your skott to London. Then sayde Skel- ton, Get you a kerchiefe, and I wyll bryng you abed : the whiche was donne. Skelton caused the capp to bee sod in boat lee, & dryed it: in the mornyng Skelton and the Kendal- man dyd ride merely to London.

IT Howe Skelton tolde the man that Chryst was very busye in the woodes with them that made fagots. Tale iii.

When Skelton did cum to London, ther were manye men at the table at diner. Amongest all other there was one sayde to Skelton, Be you of Oxforde or of Cambridge a scoler? Skelton sayd, I am of Oxford. Syr, sayde the man, 1 will put you a question : you do know wel that after Christ dyd rise from death to life, it was xl. days after ere he dyd ascend into heauen, and hee was but certaine times wyth hys discyples, and when that he did appeare to them, hee dyd neuer tary longe amongest them, but sodainely vanished from them; I wold fayne know (saith the man to Skelton) where Chryste was all these xl. dayes. Where hee was, saythe Skelton, God knoweth; he was verye busye in the woods

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON. IxXV

among hys labourers, that dyd make fagottes to burne here- tickes, & such as thou art the whych doest aske such diffuse questions : but nowe I wyll tell thee more ; when hee was not with hys mother & hys disciples, hee was in Paradyce, to comforte the holye patriarches and prophets soules, the which before he had fet out of hell. And at the daye of hys ascen- cion, hee tooke them all vp wyth him into heauen.

If Howe the Welshman dyd desyre Skelion to ayde hym in hys sute to the kynge for a patent to sell drynke. The iiii. Tale.

Skelton, when he was in London, went to the kynges conrte, where there did come to hym a Welshman, saying, Syr, it is so, that manye dooth come vpp of my country to the kyngs court, and some doth get of the kyng by patent a castell, and some a parke, & some a forest, and some one fee and some another, and they dooe lyue lyke honest men; and I shoulde lyue as honestly as the best, if I myght haue a patyne for good dryncke : wherefore I dooe praye you to write a fewe woords for mee in a lytle byll to geue the same to the kynges handes, and I wil geue you well for your laboure. I am con- tented, sayde Skelton. Syt downe then, sayde the Welsh- man, and write. WThat shall I wryte? sayde Skelton. The Welshman sayde, Wryte dryncke. Nowe, sayd the Welsh- man, wryte, more dryncke. What now? sayde Skelton. Wryte nowe, a great deale of dryncke. Nowe, sayd the Welshman, putte to all thys dryncke a littell crome of breade, and a great deale of drynke to it, and reade once agayne. Skelton dyd reade, Dryncke, more dryncke, & a great deale of dryncke, and a lytle crome of breade, and a great deale of dryncke to it. Then the Welsheman sayde, Put out the litle crome of breade, and sett in, all dryncke, and no breade : and if I myght haue thys sygned of the kynge, sayde the Welsheman, I care for no more as longe as I dooe lyue. Well then, sayde Skelton, when you haue thys signed of the kyng, then will I labour for a patent to' haue bread, that you wyth your drynke, and I with the bread, may fare well, and seeke our liuinge with bagge and staffe.

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

H Of Swanborne the kiiaue, that was buried vnder Si Peters wall in Oxford. [Tale v.]

There was dwelling in Oxford a stark knaue, whose name was Swariborn; and he was such a notable knaue that, if any scoler had fallen out thone wyth thother, the one woulde call thother Swanborn, the whyche they dyd take for a worser woorde than knaue. Hys wife woulde diuers tymes in the weeke kimbe his head with a iii. footed stoole: then hee woulde runne out of the doores wepinge, and if anye man had asked hym what he dyd aile, other whyle he woulde saye hee had the megrym in hys head, Or ells, there was a great smoke wy thin the house : & if the doores were shut, hys wyfe woulde beate him vnder the bed, or into the bench hole, and then he woulde looke out at the cat hole ; then woulde his wife saye, Lookest thou out, whoreson? Yea, woulde he saye, thou shalt neuer let me of my manly lookes. Then with her distaff she would poore in at hym. I knewe him when that he was a boye in Oxforde; hee was a littell olde fellowe, and woulde lye as fast as a horse woulde trotte. At last hee dyed, and was buried vnder the wall of S. Peters church. Then Skelton was desyred to make an epitaphe vppon the churche wall, and dyd wryte wyth a role, saying, Belsabub his soule saue, Qui iacet hie hee a knaue : Jam scio ! mortuus est, Et iacet Me hee a beast : Sepultus 2 est amonge the weedes : God forgiue him his misdeedes !

TT Howe Skelton was complayned on to the bishop of Norwich. Tale vi.

Skelton dyd keepe a musket at Dys, vpon the which he ras complayned on to the bishop of Norwych. The byshoppe

1 scio] Old ed. " sci."

2 Sepultus] Old ed. " Sepuitus." — This epitaph is made up from portions of Skelton's verses on John Clarke and Adam Uddersal: see vol. i. 188, 192.

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON. Ixxvii

sent for Skelton. Skelton dyd take two capons, to geue theym for a presente to the byshop. And as soone as hee had sa- luted the byshopp, hee sayde, My lorde, here I haue brought you a couple of capons. The byshop was blynde, and sayde, Who bee you? 1 am Skelton, sayd Skelton. The byshop sayd, A hoare head ! I will none of thy capons : thou keep- est vnhappye rule in thy house, for the whyche thou shalt be punished. What, sayde Skelton, is the winde at that doore? and sayd, God be with you, my lorde ! and Skelton with his capons went hys way. The byshop sent after Skelton to come agayne. Skelton sayde, What, shal I come * agayne to speake wythe a madde man ? At last hee retouraed to the byshop, whyche sayde to hym, I would, sayd the byshop, that you shoulde not lyue suche a sclaunderouse lyfe, that all your parisshe shoulde not wonder & complaine on you as they dooe : I pray you amende, and hereafter lyue honestlye, that I heare no more suche woordes of you ; and if you wyll tarye dynner, you shall be welcome ; and I thanke you, sayde the byshoppe, for your capons. Skelton sayde, My lord, my capons hane proper names ; the one is named Alpha, the other is named Omega: my lorde, sayd Skelton, this capon is named Alpha, thys is the fyrst capon that I dyd euer geue to you ; and this capon is named Omega, and this is the last capon that euer I wil giue you : & so fare you well, sayd Skelton.

II Howe Skelton, when hee came from the bishop, made a sermon. Tale vii.

Skelton the nexte Sondaye after wente into the pulpet to prech, and sayde, Vos estis, vos estis, that is to save, You be, you be. And what be you? sayd Skelton: I save, that you bee a sorte of knaiies, yea, and a man might save worse then knaues ; and why, I shall shew you. You haue complayned of mee to the bysop that I doo keepe a fayre wench in my house: I dooe tell you, if you had any fayre wiues, it were some what to helpe me at neede ; I am a man as you be : you

l shal 1 come] Old ed. " shall I /come."

Ixxviii MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

haue foule wyues, and I haue a faire wenche, of the whyche I haue begotten a fayre boye, as I doe thinke, and as you all shall see. Thou wyfe, sayde Skelton, that hast my childe, be not afraid ; bring me hither my childe to me : the whyche was doone. And he, shewynge his childe naked to all the parishe, sayde, How saye you, neibours all ? is not this child as fayre as is the beste of all yours ? It hathe nose, eyes, handes, and feete, as well as any of your : it is not lyke a pygge, nor a calfe, nor like no foule nor no monstruous beast. If I had, sayde Skelton, broughte forthe thys chylde without annes or legges, or that it wer deformed, being a monstruous thyng, I woulde neuer haue blamed you to haue complayned to the bishop of me ; but to complain without a cause, I say, as I said before in my antethem, ws estis, you be, and haue be, & wyll and shall be knaues, to complayne of me wythout a cause resonable. For you be presumptuous, & dooe exalte yourselues, and therefore you shall be made low : as I shall shewe you a famyller example of a parish priest, the whyche dyd make a sermon in Rome. And he dyd take that for hys antethem, the which of late dayes is named a theme, and sayde, Qui se exaltat humUiabitur, et qui se * humitiat exaltabitur, that is to say, he that doth exalte himselfe or dothe extoll hymselfe shalbe made meke, & he that doth humble hym- selfe or is meke, shalbe exalted, extoulled, or eleuated, or sublimated, or such lyke : and that I will shewe you by this my cap. This cappe was fyrste my hoode, when that I was studente in Jucalico, & then it was so proude that it woulde not bee contented, but it woulde slippe and fall from my shoulders. I perceyuynge thys that he was proude, what then dyd IV shortly to conclude, I dyd make of hym a payre of breches to my hose, to brynge hym lowe. And when that I dyd see, knowe, or perceyue that he was in that case, and allmoste worne cleane oute, what dyd I then to extoll hym vppe agayne V you all may see that this my cap was made of it that was my breches. Therefore, sayde Skelton, vos esiit,

i Qui se exaltat humitiabitur, et yui se\ Old ed. " Que se ex- altat humilabitui, et quese."

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

therfore you bee, as I dyd saye before : if that you exalte yourselfe, and cannot be contented that I haue my wenche still, some of you shall weare homes ; and therfore vos estis : and so farewell. It is merye in the hall, when beardes

H How the fryer asked leaue of Skelton lo preach at Dys, which Skelton wold not grant. Tale viii.

There was a fryer y« whych dydde come to Skelton to haue licence to preach at Dys. What woulde you preache there ? sayde Skelton : dooe not you thynke that I am sufficiente to preache there in myne owne cure ? Syr, sayde the freere, I am the limyter of Norwych, and once a yeare one of our place dothe vse to preache wyth you, to take the deuocion of the people j and if I may haue yoor good wil, so bee it, or els I will come and preach against your will, by the authentic of the byshope of Rome, for I haue hys bulles to preache in euerye place, and therfore I wyll be there on Sondaye nexte cummyng. Come not there, freere, I dooe counsell thee, sayd Skelton. The Sundaye nexte followynge Skelton layde watch for the comynge of the frere : and as sone as Skelton had knowledge of the freere, he went into the pulpet to preache. At last the freere dyd come into the churche with the bish- oppe of^ Eomes bulles in hys hande. Skelton then sayd to all hys parishe, See, see, see, and poynted to thee fryere. All the parish gased on the frere. Then sayde Skelton, Maisters, here is as wonderfull a thynge as euer was scene : you all dooe knowe that it is a thynge daylye seene, a bulle dothe begette a calfe; but here, contrarye to all nature, a calfe bathe gotten a bulle ; for thys fryere, beeynge a calfe, hath gotten a bulle of the byshoppe of Rome. The fryere, beynge ashamed, woulde neuer after that time presume to preach at Dys.

U How Skelton handled the fryer that woulde ne*des lye with him In his inne. Tale ix.

As Skelton ryd into y6 countre, there was a frere that hap-

1XXX MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

ened in at an alehouse wheras Skelton was lodged, and there the frere dyd desire to haue lodgyng. The alewife sayd, Syr, I haue but one bed whereas master Skelton doth lye. Syr, sayd the frere, I pray you that I maye lye with you. Skel- ton said, Master freere, I doo vse to haue no man to lye with me. Syr, sayd the frere, I haue lyne with as good men as you, and for my money I doo looke to haue lodgynge as well as you. Well, sayde Skelton, I dooe see than that you wyll lye with me. Yea, syr, sayd the frere. Skelton did fill all the cuppes in the house, and whitled the frere, that at the last, the frere was in myne eames peason. Then sayde Skel- ton, Mayster freere, get you to bed, and I wyll come to bed within a while. The frere went, and dyd lye vpright, and snorted lyke a sowe. Skelton wente to the chaumber, and dyd see that the freere dyd lye soe ; sayd to the wyfe, Geue me a washyng betle. Skelton then caste downe the clothes, and the freere dyd lye starke naked : then Skelton dyd shite vpon the freeres nauil and bellye ; and then he did take the washyng betle, and dyd strike an harde stroke vppon the nauill & bellye of the freere, and dyd put out the candell, and went out of the chaumber. The freere felt hys bellye, & smelt a foule sauour, had thought hee had ben gored, and cried out and sayde, Helpe, helpe, helpe, I am kylled ! They of the house with Skelton wente into the chaumber, and asked what the freere dyd ayle. The freere sayde, I am kylled, one hathe thrust me in the bellye. Fo, sayde Skel- ton, thou dronken soule, thou doost lye ; thou hast beshytten thyselfe. Fo, sayde Skelton, let vs goe oute of the chaum- ber, for the knaue doothe stynke. The freere was ashamed, and cryed for water. Out with the whoreson, sayd Skelton, and wrap the sheetes togyther, aud putte the freere in the hogge stye, or in the barne. The freere said, geue me some water into the barne : and there the freere dyd wasshe him- selfe, and dydde lye there all the nyght longe. The chaum- ber and the bedde was dressed, and the sheetes shyfted; and then Skelton went to bed.

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON. Ixxxi

H Howe the cardynall desyred Skeltcm to make ail epitaphe vpon his graue. Tale x.

Thomas Wolsev, cardynall and archbyshop of Yorke, had made a regall tombe to lye in after hee was deade: and he desyred Master Skelton to make for his tombe an epytaphe, whyche is a memoriall to shewe the lyfe with the actes of a noble man. Skelton sayde, If it dooe lyke your grace, I canne not make an epytaphe vnlesse that I do se your tombe. The cardynall sayde, I dooe praye you to meete wyth mee to morowe at the West Monesterye, and there shall you se my tombe a makynge. The pointment kept, and Skelton, seyng the sumptuous coste, more pertaynyng for an empe- roure or a maxymyous kynge, then for suche a man as he was (although cardynals wyll compare wyth kyngs), Well, sayd Skelton, if it shall like your grace to creepe into thys tombe whiles you be alyue, I can make an epitaphe ; for I am sure that when that you be dead you shall neuer haue it. The whyche was verifyed of truthe.

H Howe the hosller dyd byte Skeltoiis mare viider the 'ale, for biting him by the arme. Tale xi.

Skelton vsed muche to ryde on a mare ; and on a tyme hee happened into an inne, wher there was a folish ostler. Skel- ton said, Ostler, hast thou any mares bread ? No, syr, sayd the ostler: I haue good horse bread, but I haue no mares bread. Skeltou saide, I must haue mares bread. Syr, sayde the ostler, there is no mares bred to get in all the towne. Well, sayd Skelton, for this once, serue my mare wyth horse bread. In the meane time Skelton commaunded the ostler to sadle his mare ; & the hosteler dyd gyrde the mare hard, and the hostler was in hys ierkyn, and hys shirte sleues wer aboue his elbowes, and in the girding of the mare hard the mare bitte the hostler by the arme, and bitte him sore. The hostler was angry, and dyd bite the mare vnder the tayle, saying, A whore, is it good byting by the bare arme 'i Skel- tou sayde then, Why, fellowe, haste thou hurt my mare? VOL. I. F

Ixxxii MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

Yea, saycte the hostler, ka me, ka thee : yf she dooe hurte me, 1 wyll displease her.

IT Howe the cobler tolde maister Skelton, it is good sleeping in a whole skinne. Tale xii.

In the parysshe of Dys, whereas Skelton was person, there dwelled a cobler, beyng halfe a souter, which was a tall man and a greate slouen, otherwyse named a slouche. The kynges maiestye hauynge warres byyonde the sea, Skelton sayd to thys aforsayd doughtie man, Neybour, you be a tall man, and in the kynges warres you must bere a standard. A standerd ! said the cobler, what a thing is that? Skelton saide, It is a great banner, such a one as thou dooest vse to beare in Ro- gacyon weeke ; and a lordes, or a knyghtes, or a gentlemannes armes shall bee vpon it ; and the souldiers that be vnder the aforesayde persons fayghtynge vnder thy banner. Fayght- ynge! sayde the cobbeler; I can no skil in faighting. No, said Skelton, thou shalte not fayght, but holde vp, and ad- uaunce the banner. By my fay, sayd the cobler, I can no skill in the matter. Well, sayd Skelton, there is no reamedie but thou shalte forthe to dooe the kynges seruice in hys warres, for in all this countrey theare is not a more likelier manne to dooe suche a l feate as thou arte. Syr, sayde the cobbeler, I wyll geue you a fatte capon, that I maye bee at home. No, sayde Skelton, I wyll not haue none of thy ca- pons ; for thou shalte doe the kyng seruice in his wars. Why, sayd the cobler, what shuld I doo V wyll you haue me to goe in the kynges warres, and to bee killed for my labour? then I shall be well at ease, for I shall haue my mendes in my nown handes. What, knaue, sayd Skelton, art thou a cow- arde, hauyng so great bones ? No, sayde the cobler, I am not afearde : it is good to slope in a whole skinne. Why, said Skelton, thou shalte bee harnessed to keepe away the strokes from thy skynne. By my fay, sayde the cobler, if I must needes forthe, I will see howe yche shall bee ordered. Skel-

i a] Old ed. " as."

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

ton dyd harnesse the doughtye squirell, and dyd put an hel- met on his head ; and when the helmet was on the coolers heade, the cobler sayde, What shall those hoales serue for? Skelton sayd, Holes to looke out to see thy enemyes. Yea, sayde the cobler, then am I in worser case then ener I was ; for then one may come and thrust a nayle into one of the holes, and prycke out myne eye. Therfore, said the cobler to Master Skelton, I wyll not goe to warre : my wyfe shall goe in my steade, for she can fyghte and playe the deuell wyth her distaffe, and with stole, staffe, cnppe, or candle- sticke ; for, by my fay, I cham sicke ; I chill go home to bed ; I thinke I shall dye.

«; Hmv Master Skelions miller deceyued hym manye times by play- iiige the theefe, and howe he was pardoned by Masier Skelton, after the stealinge awaye of a preest oute of his bed at midnight. Tale xiii.

When Maister Skelton dyd dwell in the countrey, hee was agreede with a miller to haue hys corne grounde tolle free ; and manye tymes when hys maydenfs] shoulde bake, they wanted of their mele, and complained to their mystres that they could not make their stint of breade. Mystres Skelton, beeynge verve angrye, tolde her husbande of it. Then Mas- ter Skelton sent for his miller, and asked hym howe it chansed that hee deceyued hym of his corne. I! saide John miller; nay, surely I neuer deceyued you ; if that you can proue that by mee, do with mee as you lyste. Surely, sayd Skelton, if I doe fynde thee false anye more, thou shalt be hanged up by the necke. So Skelton apoynted one of hys seruauntes to stand at the mill whyle the corne was a grindyng. John myller, beyng a notable theefe, would feyn haue deceued him as he had don before, but beyng afrayd of Skeltons seruaunte, caused his wyfe to put one of her chyldren into y« myll dam, and to crye, Help, help, my childe is drowned ! With that, John myller and all went out of the myll ; & Skeltons ser- uaunte, being dilygent to helpe the chylde, thought not of the meale, and the while the myllers boye was redy wyth a sacke, and stole awaye the corne ; so when they had taken vp the

MJERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

childe, and all was safe, they came in agnyne ; & so the ser uaunt, hanyng hys gryste, went home mistrastyngnothynge; and when the maydes came to bake againe, as they dyd be- fore, so they lacked of theyr meale agayne. Master Skelton calde for hys man, and asked him howe it chaunced that he was deceaned; & hee sayd that hee conlde not tell. For I dyd your commanndement. And then Master Skelton sent for the myller, and sayde, Thou hast not vsed mee well, for I want of my mele. Why, what wold yon bane me ao? sayde the miller ; yon hane set your own man to watche mee. Well, then, sayd Skelton, if thon doest not tell me wbych waye thon hast played the theefe wyth mee, thon shalt be hanged. I praye yon be good master vnto me, & I wyll tell yon the trntthe: yonr semannt wold not from my myll, & when I sawe none other remedye, I cansed my wyfe to put one of my chyldren into the water, & to crie that it was drowned ; and whiles wee were helpyng of the chylde out, one of my boyes dyd steale your come. Yea, sayde Skelton, if thou haue suche pretie fetchis, you can dooe more then thys ; and therfore, if thon dooeste not one thynge that I shaU tell thee, I wyll Mow the lawe on thee. What is that? sayd the myller. If that thon dooest not steale my cuppe of the table, when I am sette at meate, thon shalt not eskape my handes. O good master, sayd John miller. I pray you for- geue me, and let me not dooe thys; I am not able to dooe it Thou shalt nener be forgeuen, sayde Skelton, withoute thon dooest it. When the miller sawe no remedye, he went & charged one of hys boyes, in an euenyng (when that Skelton was at supper) to sette fyre in one of hys hogges sties, farre from any house, for doyng any harme. And it channced, that one of Skeltons seraanntes came oute, and spied the fire, and hee cryede, Helpe, helpe! for all that my master hath is lyke to be burnt. Hys master, hearing this, rose from hys supper with all the companie, and went to quenche the fyre; and the while John miller came in, and stole away hys cuppe, & went bys way. The fire being quickly slaked", Skelton cam in with his frendes, and reasoned wyth hys frendea which way they thought the fyre shonlde come ; and euerye man made answer as thei thought good. And as they wer

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON. IxXXV

resonyng, Skelton called for a cup of beare; and in no wise his cuppe whyche hee vsed to drynke in woulde not be founde. Skelton was verve augrie that his cup was mysynge, and asked whiche waye it shoulde bee gone; and no manne coulde tell hym of it. At last he bethought him of the mil- ler, & sayd, Surely, he, that theefe, hath done this deecle, and he is worthye to be hanged. And hee sent for the miller: so the miller tolde hym all howe hee had done. Truely, sayd Skelton, thou art a notable knaue ; and withoute thou canste do me one other feate, thou shalte dye. 0 good master, sayde the miller, you promised to pardon me, and wil you now breake your promise ? I, sayd Skelton ; wythout thou canste steale the sheetes of my bed, when my wyfe and I am aslepe, thou shalte be hanged, that all suche knaues shall take en- sample by thee. Alas, sayd the miller, whych waye shall I dooe this thinge? it is vnpossible for me to get theym while you bee there. Well, sayde Skelton, withoute thou dooe it, thou knowest the daunger. The myller went hys way, beyng very heauy, & studyed whiche waye he myght doo thys deede. He hauynge a little boy, whyche knewe all the cor- ners of Skeltons house & where hee lay, vpon a night when they were all busie, the boie crepte in vnder his bed, wyth a potte of yeste; and when Skelton & hys wyfe were fast aslepe, hee all to noynted the sheetes with yeste, as farre as hee could reache. At last Skelton awaked, & felt the sheetes all wete ; waked his wife, and sayd, What, hast thou beshitten the bed V and she sayd, Naye, it is you that haue doone it, I thynke, for I am sure it is not I. And so theare fel a great strife betweene Skelton and his wyfe, thinkyng that the bedd had ben beshitten ; and called for the mayde to geue them a cleane payre of shetes. And so they arose, & the mayde tooke the foule sheetes and threw them vnderueath the bed, thinkynge the nexte morning to haue fetched them away. The next time the maydes shuld goe to washynge, they looked all about, and coulde not fynde the sheetes ; for Jacke the myllers boy had stollen them awaye. Then the myller was sent for agayne, to knowe where the sheetes were be- come : & the myller tolde Mayster Skelton all how he deuised to steale the sheetes. Howe say ye ? sayde Skelton to hys

1XXXV1 MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

frendes ; is not this a notable theef ? is he not worthy to be hanged that canne dooe these deedes? 0 good maister, quoth the miller, nowe forgeue mee accordynge to youre promyse ; for I haue done all that you haue commaunded mee, and I trust now you wyll pardon me. Naye, quoth Skelton, thou shalt doo yet one other feate, and that shall bee thys ; thou shalte steale maister person out of hys bed at mid- night, that he shall not know where he is become. The mil- ler made great mone and lamented, saying, I can not tel in the world howe I shall dooe, for I am neuer able to dooe this feate. Well, sayde Skelton, thou shalt dooe it, or els thou shalt fynde no fauour at my hands ; and therfore go thy way. The miller beynge sorye, deuysed with himselfe which way he might bryng this thing to passe. And ii. or iii. nyghtes after, gathered a number of snailes, & greed with the sexten of the churche to haue the key of the churche dore, and went into the churche betwene the houres of a xi. and xii. in the night, & tooke the snayles, and lyghted a sorte of little waxe candles, & set vppon euerie snayle one, & the snayles crepte about the churche wy th the same candels vpon their backes ; and then he went into the vestrey, and put a cope vppon hys backe, & stoode very solemnely at the hye alter with a booke in hys hand; and afterwarde tolled the bell, that the preest lyinge in the churche yard might heare him. The preest, hearyng the bell tolle, starte oute of his slepe, and looked out of hys windowe, and sawe suche a lyght in the church, was very muche amased, and thought surely that the churche had ben on fire, and wente for to see what wonder it shoulde be. And when he came there', he founde the church dore open, 'and went vp into the quier; and see the miller standyng in hys vestementes, and a booke in hys hand, praying deuoutly, & all the lyghtes in the church, thought surely with hym- selfe it was some angeil come downe from heauen, or some other great miracle, blessed hymselfe and sayde, In the name of the Father, the Sonne, and the Holy Ghoste, what art thou that standest here in thys hollye place? 0, sayde the myl- ler, I am saynt Peter, whych kepe l the keyes of heauen gate,

i kepe] Old ed. " kepte."

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

and thou knowes-t that none can enter into heauen excepte I let hym in ; and I am sent oute from heauen for thee. For mee ! quoth the preest: good saynt Peter, worship maye thou be ! I am glad to heare that newes. Because thou hast done good deedes, sayd the myller, and senied God, hee hath sent for thee afore domes day come, that thou shalt not knowe the troubles of ye worlde. 0, blessed be God ! sayde the preest ; I am very well contented for to goe : yet if it woulde please God to let me go home and distrybute such things as I haue to the poore, I woulde bee verye glad. No sayde the miller; if thou dooest delite more in thy goodes then in the joyes of heauen, thou art not for God; therefore prepare thy- selfe, and goe into this bagge which I have brought for thee. The miller hauyng a great quarter sacke, the poore priest wente into it, thyukyng verylye hee had gon to heaueii, yet was very sory to parte from hys goodes ; asked saynt Peter how long it wold be ere he came there. The miller sayd he should be there quickly ; and in he got the priest, and tied vp the sacke, and put out the lightes, & layed euery thynge in their place, and tooke the preest on his backe, & locked the church dores, & to go : and when he came to go ouer the church stile, the preest was verye heauye, and the miller caste hym ouer the stile that the priest cryed oh. 0 good seint Peter, sayde the preeste, whyther goe I nowe ? 0, sayde the myller, these bee the panges that ye must abyde before you come to heauen. 0, quoth the preest, I would I were there once ! Vp he got the priest agayn, & caried hym tyll hee came to the toppe of an hye hyll, a litle from hys house, and caste hym downe the hyll, that hys head had many shrewde rappes, that hys necke was almost burst. 0 good saynt Peter, said the priest, where am I nowe? You are almost nowe at heauen ; & caried hym with much a doo, tyll hee came to hys owne house, and then the miller threwe him ouer the thresholde. 0 good saynte Peter, sayde the preeste, where am I nowe V thys is the soreste pange that euer I bydde. 0, sayd the * myller, geue God thankes that thou haste had

Old ed. "that.'

Ixxxviii MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

pacience to abide all thys payne, for nowe thou arte goyng vppe- into heauen ; and tyed a rope aboute the sacke, and drewehym vppe to the toppe of the chymnye, and there let him hange. 0 good S. Peter, tell me nowe where I am,saydethe preest. Marye, sayd he, thou art now in the tope of John millers chimney. A vengeaunce on thee, knaue ! sayde the preeste : hast thou made me beleue al this while that I was goyng vp into heauen ? well, nowe I am here, & ever I come downe again, I wil make thee to repent it. But John myller was gladd that he had brought hym there. And in the morn- yng the sexten rang all in to seruise ; & when the people were come to churche, the preest was lackynge. The parish asked the sexten wher the preest was ; and the sexten sayd, I can not tell : then the parrishe sent to master Skelton, and tolde howe their prieste was lacking to saye them seraice. Mays- ter Skelton meruayled at that, and bethought hym of the crafty dooyng of the miller, sent for John myller; and when the miller was come, Skelton sayd to the miller, Canst thou tell wher the parish preest is ? The myller vp and told him all togither how he had doone. Maister Skelton, considering the matter, sayde to the miller, Why, thou vnreuerent knaue, hast thou hanled the poore preest on this fashion, and putte on the holy ornaments vpon a knaues backe? thou shalte be hanged, & it coste me all the good I haue. John miller fell vppon his knees, and desyred maister Skelton to pardon hym ; For I dyd nothynge, sayd the miller, but that you sayd you woulde forgeue me. Nay, not so, sayd Skelton ; but if thou canst steale my gelding out of my stable, my two men watch- ing him, I will pardon thee ; and if they take thee, they shall strike of thy heade; for Skelton thought it better that such a false knaue shoulde lose hys head then to liue. Then John miller was very sad, & bethought him how to bring it to passe. Then he remembred that ther was a man left hang- yng vppon the galowes the day before, went preuely in the nyglit and tooke him downe, and cut of his head, and put it vpon a pole, & brake a hole into the stable, and put in a can- dle lighted, thrustyng in the head a lytle & a ly tie. The men watching the stable, seynge that, got them selues neare to the hole (thinkiuge that it was his head), & one of them wyth

MERIE TALES OF SKELTON.

hys sworde cutte it of. Then they for gladnesse presented it vnto theyr master, leauynge the stable doore open: then John miller went in, and stole away the gelding. Master Skelton, lookyng vppon the head, sawe it was the theues head that was left hangyng vpon the galowes, sayd, Alas, how ofte hath this false knaue deceiued vs ! Go quickly to the stable agayne, for I thinke my geldyng is gone. Hys men, goyng backe agayn, found it euen so. Then they came agayn, and told their maister hys horse was gone. Ah, I thought so, you doltish knaues! said Skelton; but if I had sent wise men about it, it had not ben so. Then Skelton sent for the miller, and asked hym if h'ee coulde tell where hys horse was. Safe ynough, maister, sayde the miller: for hee tolde Skelton all the matter how hee had done. Well, sayd Skelton, consyd- eryng hys tale, sayd, that he was worthie to bee hanged, For thou doost excell all the theeues that euer I knew or heard of; but for my promise sake I forgeue thee, vpon condition thou wilte become an honest man, & leaue all thy crafte & false dealyng. And thus John miller skaped vnpunished.

IT How Skelton was in prison at the commaundement of the cardi- nall. [Tale xiv.]

On a tvme Skelton did meete with certain frendes of hys at Charyng crosse, after that hee was in prison at my lord cardynals commaundement : & his frende sayd, I am glad you bee abrode amonge your frendes, for you haue ben long pent in. Skelton sayd, By the masse, I am glad I am out indeede, for I haue ben pent in, like a roche or fissh, at West- minster in prison. The cardinal, hearing of those words, sent for him agayne. Skelton kneling of hys knees before hym, after long communication to Skelton had, Skelton de- syred the cardinall to graunte hym * a boun. Thou shalt haue none, sayd the cardynall. Thassistence desirid that he might haue it graunted, for they thought it should be some merye pastime that he wyll shewe your grace. Say on,

1 hym] Old ed. " gym.'

XC MERIE TALES OP SKELTON.

thou hore head, sayd the cardynall to Skelton. I pray your grace to let me lye doune and wallow, for I can kneele no longer.

IT Howe the vinteue.-s wife put water into Skeltons wine. Tale xv.

Skelton did loue wel a cup of good wyne. And on a daye he dyd make merye iu a tauerne in London : and the morow after hee sent to the same place agaiue for a quart of ye same wine he drunke of before ; the whiche was clene channged & brued again. Skelton perceiuing this, he went to the tauerne, & dyd sytte down in a chaire, & dyd sygh very sore, and made great lamentacion. The wife of the house, perceiuinge this, said to master Skelton, Howe is it with you, master Skelton ? He answered and said, I dyd neuer so euill ; and then he dyd reache another greate syghe, sayinge, I am afraide that I shal neuer be saued, nor cum to heauen. Why, said the wife, shuld you dispaire so much in Goddes mercy? Nay, said he, it is past all remedye. Then said the wife, I dooe praye you breake your mind vnto mee. 0, sayd Skelton, I would gladlye shewe you the cause of my dolour, if that I wist that you would keepe my counsel!. Sir, said shee, I haue ben made of councel of greater matters then you can shew me. Naye, nay, said Skelton, my matter passeth all other matters, for I think I shal sinke to hell for my great offences ; for I sent thys daye to you for wyne to say masse withall ; and wee haue a stronge lawe that euery priest is bounde to put into hys chalice, when hee doth singe or saye masse, some wyne and water; the which dothe signifye the water & bloude that dyd runne oute of Chrystes syde, when Longeous the blynde knyght dyd thrust a speare to Christes harte ; & thys daye I dyd put no water into my wyne, when that I did put wine into my chalys. Then sayd the vintiners wife, Be mery, maister Skelton, and keepe my counsell, for, by my faythe, I dyd put into the vessell of wyne that I did send you of to day x. gallandes of water; and therfore take no thought, master Skelton, for I warraunt you. Then said Skelton, Dame, I dooe beshrewe thee for thy laboure, for I thought so muche before ; for throughe such vses & brewyng

MKRIE TALES OF SKKLTON. xci

of wyne maye men be deceyued, and be hurte by drynkinge of suche euell wyne ; for all wines must be strong, and fayre, and well coloured ; it must haue a redolent sauoure ; it must be colde, and sprinkclynge in the peece or in 1

Thus eucleth the merie Tales of Muister Skellon, very pteasaunt for the recreacion of minde.

NOTICES OF SKELTON

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

From the imperfect copy of A G Mery Talys, small fol., printed by John Rastell. (See Singer's reprint, p. 65.)

" Of mayster Skelton that broughte the bysshop of JVorwiche ii lesaumys. xl.

IT fortuned ther was a great varyance bitwen the bysshop of Norwych and one mayster Skelton a poyet lauryat; in so much that the bysshop commaundyd hym that he shuld not come in his gatys. Thys mayster Skelton dyd absent hym- selfe for a long seson. But at the laste he thought to do hys dewty to hym, and studyed weys how he myght obtayne the bysshopys fauour, and determynyd hemself that he wold come to hym wyth some present, and humble hymself to the byshop ; and gat a cople of fesantes, and cam to the byssh- uppys place, and requyred the porter he myghte come in to speke wyth my lord. This porter, knowyng his lordys plea- sure, wold not suffer him to come in at the gatys ; wherfor thys mayster Skelton went on the baksyde to seke some other way to come in to the place. But the place was motyd that he cowlde se no way to come ouer, except in one place where there lay a long tree ouer the motte in maner of a brydge, that was fallyn down wyth wynd; wherfore thys mayster Skelton went along vpon the tree to come ouer, and whan he was almost ouer, hys fote slyppyd for lak of sure fotyng, and fel into the mote vp to myddyll ; but at the last

NOTICES OF SKELTON. XCiii

he recoueryd hymself, and, a3 well as he coud, drred hvm- self ageyne, and sodenly cam to the byshop, beyng in hys hall, than lately rysen from dyner: whyche, whan he saw Skelton commyng sodenly, sayd to hym, Why, thow caytyfe, I warnyd the thow shuldys neuer come in at my gatys, and chargyd my porter to kepe the out. Forsoth, my lorde, quod Skelton, though ye gaue suche charge, and though your gatys by neuer so suerly kept, yet yt ys no more possible to kepe me out of your dorys than to kepe out crowes or pyes; for I cam not in at your gatys, but I cam ouer the mote, that I haue ben almost drowiiyd for my labour. And shewyd hys clothys how euyll he was arayed, whych causyd many that stode therby to laughe apace. Than quod Skelton, Yf it lyke your lordeshyp, I haue brought you a dyshe to your super, a cople of fesantes. Nay, quod the byshop, I defy the and thy fesauntys also, and, wrech as thou art, pyke the out of my howse, for 1 wyll none of thy gyft how [something lost here] Skelton than, consyderynge that the bysshoppe called hym fole so ofte, sayd to one of hys famylyers thereby, that thoughe it were euyll to be christened a fole, yet it was moche worse to be confyrmyd a fole of suche a bysshoppe, for the name of confyrmacyon muste nedes abyde. Therfore he ymagened howe he myghte auoyde that confyrmacyon, and mused a whyle, and at the laste, sayde to the bysshope thus, If your lordeshype knewe the names of these fesantes, ye wold [be] contente to take them. Why, caytefe, quod the bisshoppe hastly andangrey, [what] be theyr names'? Ywys, my lorde, quod Skelton, this fesante is called Alpha, which is, in primys the fyrst, and this is called 0, that is, novissi- mus the last; and for the more.playne vnderstandynge of my mynde, if it plese your lordeshype to take them, I promyse you, this Alpha is the fyrste that euer I gaue you, and this 0 is the laste that euer I wyll gyue you whyle I lyue. At which auswere all that were by made great laughter, and they all defsired the bisphoppe] to be good lorde vnto him for his merye conceytes : at which [earnest entrety, as it] wente, the bysshope was contente to take hym vnto his fauer agayne. By thys tale ye may se that mery conceytes dothe [a man

XC1V NOTICES OF SKELTON

more] good than to frete hymselfe with afnger] and melan- choly."

From Tales, and quicke answeres, very mery, and pleasant to rede. 4to. n.d., printed by Thomas Berthelet. (See Sing- er's reprint, p. 9.)

" Of the beggers answere to M. Skelton the poete. xjii.

A POUBE begger, that was foule, blacke, and lothlye to be- holde, cam vpon a tyme vnto mayster Skelton the poete, and asked him his almes. To whom mayster Skelton sayde, I praye the gette the awaye fro me, for thou lokeste as though thou earnest out of helle. The poure man, perceyuing he wolde gyue him no thynge, answerd, For soth, syr, ye say trouth ; I came oute of helle. Why dyddest thou nat tary styl there ? quod mayster Skelton. Mary, syr, quod the beg- ger, there is no roume for such poure beggers as I am ; all is kepte for suche gentyl men as ye be."

Prefixed to Pithy pleasaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton, Poete Laureate. Nowe collected and newly published. Anno 1668. 12mo.

" IF slouth and tract of time

(That wears eche thing away) Should rust and canker worthy artes,

Good works would soen decay. If suche as present are

Forgoeth the people past, Our selu[e]s should soen in silence slepe,

And Iocs renom at last. No soyll nor land so rude

But som odd men can shoe :

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Than should the learned pas unknowne,

Whoes pen & skill did floe ? God sheeld our slouth 1 wear sutch,

Or world so simple nowe, That knowledge scaept without reward,

Who sercheth vertue throwe, And paints forth vyce aright,

And blames abues of men, And shoes what lief desarues rebuke,

And who the prayes of pen. You see howe forrayn realms

Aduance their poets all ; And ours are drowned in the dust,

Or flong against the wall. '

In Fraunce did Marrot raigne ;

And neighbour thear vnto Was Petrark, marching full with Dantte,

Who erst did wonders do ; Among the noble Grekes

Was Homere full of skill; And where that Ouid norisht was

The soyll did florish still With letters hie of style ;

But Virgill wan the fraes,2 And past them all for deep engyen,

And made them all to gaes Upon the bookes he made :

Thus eche of them, you see, Wan prayse and fame, and honor had,

Eche one in their degree. I pray you, then, my friendes,

Disdaine not for to vewe The workes and sugred verses fine

Of our raer poetes newe ;

i slmtth] Old ed. " sloulth."

2fracs] i. e. phrase. — In the Muses Library, 1737, p. 138 this word is altered to " bayes."

XCVl NOTICES OF SKELTON

Whoes barborus language rued

Perhaps ye may mislike ; But blame them not that ruedly playes

If they the ball do strike, Nor skorne not mother tunge, 0 babes of Englishe breed ! I haue of other language seen,

And you at full may reed Fine verses trimly wrought,

And coutcht in comly sort; But neuer I nor you, I troe,

In sentence plaine and short Did yet beholde with eye, * In any forraine tonge, A higher verse, a staetlyfer] style,

That may be read or song, Than is this daye indeede

Our Englishe verse and ryme, The grace wherof doth touch y« gods,

And reatch the cloudes somtime. Thorow earth and waters deepe The pen by skill doth passe, And featly nyps the worldes abuse,

And shoes vs in a glasse The vertu and the vice

Of euery wyght alyue : The hony combe that bee doth make

Is not so sweete in hyue As are the golden leues

That drops from poets head, Which doth surmount our common talke

As farre as dros doth lead : The flowre is sifted cleane,

The bran is cast aside, And so good come is knowen from chaffe,

And each fine graine is spide. Peers Plowman was full plaine, And Chausers spreet was great;

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Earle Surry had a goodly vayne ; Lord Vaus the marke did beat, And Phaer did hit the pricke In thinges he did translate, And Edwards had a special gift;

And diuers men of late Hath helpt our Englishe toung,

That first was baes and brute : — Ohe, shall I leaue out Skeltons name,

The blossome of 'my frute, The tree w heron indeed

My branchis all might groe ? Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,

And past in schoels, ye knoe ; A poet for his arte,

Whoes Judgment suer was hie, And had great practies of the pen,

His works they will not lie; His terms to taunts did lean, His talke was as he wraet, Full quick of witte, right sharp of words,

And skilfull of the staet; Of reason riep and good,

And to the haetfull mynd, That did disdain his doings still,

A skornar of his kynd ; Most pleasant euery way,

As poets ought to be, And seldom out of princis grace,

And great with eche degre. Thus haue you heard at full What Skelton was indeed; A further knowledge shall you haue,

If you his bookes do reed. I haue of meer good will

Theas verses written heer,

To honour vertue as I ought,

And make his fame apeer,

VOL. I.

NOTICES OF SKELTON

That whan the garland gay

Of lawrel leaues but laet: Small is my pain, great is his prayes,

That thus sutch honour gaet.

Finis quod Churchyarde."

From Jokannis ParKhvrsti Ludicra sine Epigrammata Juven- ilia. 1573, 4to.

"De Skeltono vate & sacerdote.

SKELTONUS grauidam reddebat forte puellam,

Insigni forma quae peperit puerum. Illico multorum fama hsec pervenit ad aures,

Esse patrem nato sacrificum puero. Skeltonum facti non poenitet aut pudet; aedes

Ad sacras festo sed venit ipse die : Pulpita conscendit facturus verba popello;

Inque hsec prorupit dicta vir ille bonus; Quid vos, 0 scurrae, capit admiratio tanta?

Non sunt eunuchi, credite, sacrifici : 0 stolidi, vitulum num me genuisse putatis?

Non genui vitulum, sed lepidum puerum ; Sique meis verbis non creditis, en puer, inquit;

Atque e suggesto protulit, ac abiit."

p. 103.

FROM; VARIOUS SOURCES.

From A Treatise Against Jvdicial Astrologie. Dedicated to the Right Honorable Sir Thomas Eyerton Kniyht, Lord Keeper of the Great Seale, and one of her Maiestles most honorable priuie GmncelL Written by John Chamber, one of the Pre- bendaries of her Maiesties free Cluippell of Windsor, and Fellow of Eaton Culieye. 1601. 4to.

" NOT much vnlike to merrie Skelton, who thrust his wife out at the doore, and receiued her in againe at the window. The storie is well known how the bishop had charged him to thrust his wife out of the doore: but that which was but a meriment in Skelton," &c. p. 99.

" So that the leape yeare, for any thing 1 see, might well vse the defence of merie Skelton, who being a priest, and hauing a child by his wife, euerie one cryed out, Oh, Skelton hath a child, fie on him, &c. Their mouthes at that time he could not stop : but on a holy day, in a mery mood, he brought the child to church with him, and in the pulpit stript it naked, and held it out, saying, See this child: is it not a pretie child, as other children be, euen as any of yours '! hath it not legs, armes, head, feet, limbes, proportioned euery way as it shuld be? If Skelton had begot a monster, as a calfe, or such like, what a life should poore Skelton haue had then '? So we say for the leape yeare, if it had changed the nature of things, as it is charged, how should it haue done then to defends itselfe?" p. 113.

NOTICES OF SKELTON

From The Life of Lang Meg of Westminster : containing the mad merry prankes she played in her life time, not onely in performing sundry quarrels with diuers ruffians about London : But also how valiantly she behaued her selfe in the warres of BoUoingne. 1635. 4to. ( Of this tract there is said to have been a much earlier edition. I quote from the reprint in Miscellanea Antiqua Anylicana, 1816.)

" CHAP. II.

Containing how he [the carrier] placed her in Westminster, and what shee did at her placing.

AFTER the carrier had set vp his horse, and dispatcht his lading, hee remembred his oath, and therefore bethought him how he might place these three maides: with that hee called to minde that the mistresse at the Eagle in Westminster had spoken diuers times to him for a seruant ; he with his car- riage passed ouer the fields to her house, where he found her sitting and drinking with a Spanish knight called sir James of Castile, doctor Skelton, and Will Sommers; told her how hee had brought vp to London three Lancashire lasses, and seeing she was oft desirous to haue a maid, now she should take her choyce which of them she would haue. Marry, quoth shee, (being a very merry and a pleasant woman,) car- rier, thou commest in good time ; for not onely I want a maid, but heere bee three gentlemen that shall giue me their opi- nions, which of them I shall haue. With that the maids were bidden come in, and she intreated them to giue their verdict. Streight as soone as they saw Long Meg, they began to smile; and doctor Skelton in his mad merry veine, blessing himselfe, began thus:

Domine, Domine, vnde hoc T What is she in the gray cassock? Me thinkes she is of a large length, Of a tall pitch, and a good strength, With strong armes and stifle bones; This is a wench for the nones :

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Cl

Her lookes are bonny and blithe,

She seemes neither lither iior lithe,

But young of age,

And of a merry visage,

Neither beastly nor bowsie,

Sleepy nor drowsie,

But faire fac'd and of a good size;

Therefore, hostesse, if you be wise,

Once be ruled by me,

Take this wench to thee;

For this is plaine,

Shee'l doe more worke than these twaine :

1 tell thee, hostesse, I doe not mocke ;

Take her in the gray cassocke.

What is your opinion ? quoth the hostesse to sir James of Castile. Question with her, quoth he, what she can do, and then He giue you mine opinion: and yet first, hostesse, aske Will Sommers opinion. Will smiled, and swore that his hostesse should not haue her, but king Harry should buy her. Why so, Will? quoth doctor Skelton. Because, quoth* Will Sommers, that she shall be kept for breed; for if the king would marry her to long Sanders of the court, they would bring forth none but souldiers. Well, the hostesse demanded what her name was. Margaret, forsooth, quoth she. And what worke can you doe'? Faith, little, mistresse, quoth she, but handy labour, us to wash and wring, to make cleane a house, to brew, bake, or any such drudgery : for my needle, to that I haue beene little vsed to. Thou art, quoth the host- esse, a good lusty wench, and therefore I like thee the better: I haue here a great charge, for I keepe a victualling house, and diuers times there come in swaggering fellowes, that, when they haue eat and dranke, will not pay what they call for: yet if thou take the charge of my drinke, I must be an- swered out of your wages. Content, mistresse, qnoth she ; for while I serue you, if any stale cutter comes in, and thinkes to pay the shot with swearing, hey, gogs wounds, let me alone ! He not onely (if his clothes be worth it) make him pay ere hee passe, but lend him as many bats as his crag will

Cii NOTICES OP SKELTON

carry, and then throw him out of doores. At this they all smiled. Nay, mistresse, quoth the carrier, 'tis true, for my poore pilch here is able with a paire of blew shoulders to sweare as much; and with that he told them how she had vsed him at her comming to London. I cannot thinke, quoth sir James of Castile, that she is so strong. Try her, quoth Skelton, for I haue heard that Spaniards are of wonderful! strength. Sir James in a brauery would needs make expe- rience, and therefore askt the maide if she durst change a box on the care with him. I, sir, quoth she, that I dare, if my mistresse will giue me leaue. Yes, Meg, quoth she; doe thy best. And with that it was a question who should stand first: Marry, that I will, sir, quoth she: and so stood to abide sir James his blow; who, forcing himselfe with all his might, gaue her such a box that she could scarcely stand, yet shee stirred no more than a post. Then sir James he stood, and the hostesse willed her not spare her strength. No, quoth Skelton; and if she fell him downe, He giue her a paire of new hose and shoone. Mistresse, quoth Meg (and with that she stroke vp her sleeue,) here is a foule fist, and it hath past much drudgery, but, trust me, I thinke it will giue a good blow: and with that she raught at him so strongly, that downe fell sir James at her feet. By my faith, quoth Will Sommers, she strikes a blow like an oxe, for she hath strooke down an asse. At this they all laught. Sir James was ashamed, and Meg was entertained into seruice." .

" CHAP. IV.

Containing the merry skirmish that was betweene her and sir James of Castile, a Spanish knight, and what was the end of their com- bat.

There was a great suter to Meg's mistresse, called sir James of Castile, to winne her loue: but her affection was set on doctor Skelton ; so that sir James could get no grant of any fauour. Whereupon he swore, if hee knew who were her paramour, hee would runne him thorow with his rapier. The mistresse (who had a great delight to bee pleasant) made a match .betweene her and Long Meg, that she should goe drest

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. Clll

in gentlemans apparell, and with her sword and buckler goe and meet sir James in Saint Georges fieldfs]; if she beat him, she should for her labour haue a new petticote. Let me alone, quoth Meg; the deuill take me if I lose a petticote. And with that her mistris deliuered her a suit of white sattin, that was one of the guards that lay at her house. Meg put it on, and tooke her whinyard by her side, and away she •went into Saint Georges fields to meet sir James. Presently after came sir James, and found his mistris very melancholy, as women haue faces that are fit for all fancies. What aile you, sweetheart? quoth he; tell me; hath any man wronged you? if he hath, be he the proudest champion in London, lie haue him by the eares, and teach him to know, sir James of Castile can chastise whom he list. Now, quoth she, shall I know if you loue me: a squaring long knaue, in a white sat- tin doublet, hath this day monstrously misused me in words, and I haue no body to reuenge it; and in a brauery went out of doores, and bad the proudest champion I had come into Saint Georges fields and quit my wrong, if they durst: now sir James, if euer you loued mee, learne the knaue to know how he hath wronged me, and I will grant whatsoeuer JTOU request at my hands. Marry, that I will, quoth he; and for that you may see how Twill vse the knaue, goe with me, you and master doctor Skelton, and be eye-witnesses of my man- hood. To this they agreed; and all three went into Saint Georges fields, where Long Meg was walking by the wind- mils. Yonder, quoth she, walkes the villain that abused me. Follow me, hostesse, quoth sir James; lie goe to him. As soone as hee drew nigh, Meg began to settle herselfe, and so did sir James: but Meg past on as though she would haue gone by. Nay, sirrah, stay, quoth sir James; you and I part not so, we must haue a bout ere we passe; for I am this gen- tlewomans champion, and flatly for her sake will haue you by the eares. Meg replied not a word; but only out with her sword: and to it they went. At the first bout Meg hit him on the hand, and hurt him a little, but endangered him diuers times, and made him giue ground, following so hotly, that shee strucke sir James' weapon out of his hand ; then when she saw him disarm'd, shee stept within him, and, drawing

Civ NOTICES OF SKELTON

her ponyard, swore all the world should not saue him. Oh, saue mee, sir! quoth hee; I am a knight, and 'tis but for a womans matter; spill not my blood. Wert thou twenty knights, quoth Meg, and were the king himselfe heere, hee should not saue thy life, vnlesse thou grant mee one thing. Whatsoeuer it bee, quoth sir James. Marry, quoth shee, that is, that this night thou wait on my trencher at supper at this womans house; and when supper is done, then confesse me to be thy better at weapon in any ground in England. I will do it, sir, quoth he, as I am a true knight. With this they departed, and sir James went home with his hostesse sorrow- full and ashamed, swearing that his adversary was the stout- est man in England. Well, supper was prouided, and sir Thomas Moore and diners other gentlemen bidden thither by Skeltons means, to make vp the jest ; which when sir James saw inuited, hee put a good face on the matter, and thought to make a slight matter of it, and therefore beforehand told sir Thomas Moore what had befallen him, how entring in a . quarrell of his hostesse, hee fought with a desperate gentle- man of the court, who had foiled him, and giuen him in charge to wait on his trencher that night. Sir Thomas Moore answered sir James, that it was no dishonour to be foyled by a gentleman [of England?], sith Caasar himselfe was beaten backe by their valour. As thus they were discanting of the valour of Englishmen, in came Meg marching in her mans attire: euen as shee entered in at the doore, This, sir Thomas Moore, quoth sir James, is that English gentleman whose prowesse I so highly commend, and to whom in all valour I account myselfe so inferiour. And, sir, quoth shee, pulling off her hat, and her haire falling about her eares, hee that so hurt him to day is none other but Long Meg of Westminster; and so you are all welcome. At this all the company fell in a great laughing, and sir James was amazed that a woman should so wap him in a whinyard : well, hee as the rest was faine to laugh at the matter, and all that supper time to wait on her trencher, who had leaue of her mistris that shee might be master of the feast; where with a good laughter they made good cheere, sir James playing the proper page, and Meg sitting in her maiesty. Thus was sir James

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. CV

disgraced for his loue, and Meg after counted for a proper woman."

Scogan and Skelton, 1600, a play by Richard Hathwaye and William Ranking, is mentioned in Henslowe's MSS. : see Ma- lone's Shakespeare (by Boswell,) iii. 324.

Notices of Skelton may also be found in : —

A Dialogue bottie pleasaunl and pietifull, wherein is a godlie regiment against the Feuer Pestilence, mth a consolation and comforte againste death. Newlie corrected by William Buttein, the authour thereof. 1573, 8vo. Of this piece I have seen only the above ed. ; but it appeared originally in 1564. It contains notices of several poets, introduced by way of in- terlude or diversion in the midst of a serious dialogue; and (at p. 17) Skelton is described as sitting "in the comer of a Filler, with a frostie bitten face, frownyng," and " writyng many a sharpe Disticons " against Wolsey —

" How the Cardinall came of nought, And his Prelacie solde and bought," &c.

(15 verses chiefly made up from Skelton's works). — The Re- warde of Wickednesse, discoursing the sundrye monstrous abuses of miked and vn godly Worddings, £c. Newly compiled by Rich- ard Rubinson, seruaunt in householle to the right honorable Earle of Shrewsbury, &c. 4to, n.d. (The Address to the Reader dated 1574,) sit sig. Q 2.— A Discourse of English Poetrie, &c., By William Wtbbe, Graduate, 1586, 4to, at sig. c iii. — The Arte of English Poesie, &c. (attributed to one Putteuham : but see D'Israeli's Amen, of Lit. ii. 278, sqq.), 1589, 4to, at pp. 48, 50, 69. — Fat-re Letters, andcertaine Sonnets : Especially touching Robert Greene, &c. (by Gabriell Harvey,) 1592, 4to, at p. 7. — Pierces Supererogation or a New Prayse of the Old Asse, &c. [by] Gabriell Haruey, 1593, 4to, at p. 75. — Palladia Tamia. Wits Treasury Being the Second part of Wits Com-

CV1 NOTICES OF SKULTOX

monwealth. By Francis Meres, &c., 1598, 12mo, at p. 279.— Vtrgidemiarvm. The three last Bookes. Of byting Salyres ( by Joseph Hall,) 1598, 12mo, at p. 83.— The Downfall of Robert Earle of Huntington, Afterward called Robin Hood of merrie Shencodde, &c. (by Anthony Munday,) 1601, 4to. In this play, which is supposed to be a rehearsal previous to its per- formance before He-iry the Eighth, Skelton acts the part of Friar Tuck.— In The Death of Robert, Earle of Hcntington, &c. (by Anthony Munday and Henry Qhettle,) 1601, 4to, which forms a Second Part to the drama just described, Skelton, though his name is not mentioned throughout it, is still sup- posed to act the Friar. Miscellanea, written out by " Johnes Mauritius " between 1604 and 1605 — MS. Reg. 12. B. v. — contains (at fol. 14;) and attributes to Skelton, a well-known indelicate jeu <? esprit. — Pimlyco, or Runne Red- Cap. Tis a mad world at Hogsdon, 1609, 4to. Besides a notice of Skelton, this poem contains two long quotations from his Elynour Rum- myng. — Cornv-cqnte. Pasquils Night- Cap : Or Anlidotfor the Head-ache (by Samuel Rowlands,) 1612, 4to, at sig. O 2 and sig. Q 3. The second notice of Skelton in this poem is as follows;

" And such a wondrous troupe the Hornpipe treads, One cannot passe another for their heads, That shortly we shall haue (as Skelton iests) A greater sort of Tiorned men than beasts: "

but I recollect nothing1 in his works to which the allusion can be applied. — An Halfe-pennywortli of Hit, in a Penny- worth of Paper. Or, The Hermites Tale. The third Im- pression. 1613, 4to. At p. 16 of this poem is a tale said to be '• in Skeltons rime " — to which, however, it bears no resemblance. — The Shepheards Pipe (by Browne and With- ers,) 1614, 12mo, in Eglogue i., at sig. C 7, — Hypercritica ; or A Rule of Judgment for writing, or reading our History's. &o. By Edmund Bolton, Author of Nero Ccesar (published by Dr. Anthony Hall together with Nicolai Triveti Annalium Continuatio, £c.), 1722, 8vo, at p. 235. At what period Bol- ton wrote this treatise is uncertain : he probably completed it about 1618; see Haslewood's Preface to Anc. Crit. Essays,

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. CVU

&c. ii. xvi.— Poems : By Michael Drayton Esyvire, n.d. folio, at p. 283. — The Golden Fleece Diuided into tiiree Parts, £c., by Orpheus Junior [Sir William Vaughan], 1626, 4to, at pp. 83, 88, 93, of the Third Part. In this piece " Scogin and Sktlton" figure as " the chiefs Aduocates for the Dogrel Rimers by the procurement of Zoilus, Momus, and others of the Popish Sect."— The Fortunate Jslts, and their Union. Celebrated in a Masque designed fur Hie Court, on the Twelfth- night, 1626, by Ben Jonson. In this masque are introduced " Skogan and Skelton, in like habits as they lived: " see Jon- son's Works, viii. ed. Gifford: see also his Tale of a Tub (licenced 1633), Works, vi. 231.— Wit and Fancy In a Maze. Or the JhconfMroMe Champion of Love and Beautie. A Mock- Romance, £c. Written originally in the British Tunyue, and made English by a person of much Honor. Si foret in ten-is rideret Democritus.1 1656, 12mo. In this romance (p. 101) we are told that " [In Elysium J the Brittish Bards (forsooth) were also ingaged in quarrel for Superiority; and who think you threw the Apple of Discord amongst them, but' Ben Jonson, who had openly vaunted himself the first and best

of English Poets Skelton, Gower, and the Monk of

Bury were at Daggers-drawing forChawcer:" and a mar- ginal note on " Skelton " informs us that he was " Henry 4. his Poet Lawreat, who wrote disguises for the young Princes " I

i Such is the title-page of the copy now before me: but some copies (see Jiestituta, iv. 196) are entitled Don Zara del Foao, &c. 1656; and others Romancio-Mastix, or a Ro'mance of Romances, &c. By Samuel Holland. Gent. 1660.

APPENDIX II.

LIST OF EDITIONS, &c.

Here begynneih a lytell treatyse named the bowge of courts. Colophon,

Thus endeth the Bowge of courte. Enprynted, at Westmyn- tter By me Wynkyn the Wwde. 4to, n.d.

On the title-page is a woodcut of a fox and a bear.

Here begynneih a lytell treatyse named the bowge of courte. Colophon,

Thus endeth the Bowge of courte Enprynted at London Bj, Wynken de Worde in flute strete, at the sygne ofthesonne. 4to, n.d.

On the title-page is a woodcut of three men and a woman.

Here folowythe dyuers Balettys and dyties solacyous deuysyd by Master Skelton Laureat.

Colophon, Cum priuilegio.

4to, n.d., and without printer's name, but evidently from the press of Pynson. (Consisting of 4 leaves.)

On the title-page is a woodcut representing Skelton seated in his study, crowned with a laurel wreath, and over his head, " Arboris omne genus viridi concedite lauro " (see Memoir, p. lx. note.)

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. cix

It contains —

The ballad, " My darlyng dere, my daysy floure," &c.

The verses, " The auncient acquaintance, madam, betwen vs twayne," &c.

The verses, " Knolege, acquayntance, resort, fauour with grace," &c.

The Latin verses, "Cuncta licet cecidisse putas," &c., with an English translation, " Though ye suppose," &c.

The verses, " Go, pytyous hart, rasyd with dedly wo," &c.

Skelton Laureate agaynste a comely Coystrowne that curyoicsly chawniyd And cvrryshly coientred, And madly in hys Jfusykkys mokkyshlymade, Agaynste the .ix. Jfusys of polytyke Poems $ Poettys matryculat.

Colophon, Cum priuilegio.

4to, n.d., and without printer's name, but evidently from the press of Pynson. (Consisting of 4 leaves.)

On the title-page is a woodcut, the same as in the last men- tioned tract, but with a different border.

It contains —

The verses mentioned in the title-page.

" Contra aliu Catitate & Organisante Asinum, qui impug- nabat Skeltouida pierium Sarcasrnos."

" Skelton Laureat uppon a deedmans hed y' was sent to hym from an honorable Jetyllwoman for a token Deuysyd this gostly medytacyon in Englysh Couenable in sentence Comedable, Lametable, Lacrymable, Profytable for the sonle."

The verses, " Womanhod, wanton, ye want," &c.

Honorificatissimo, Amplissimo, longeque reuerendissimo in Christo patri: Ac domino, domino Thomee cfc. T'duli sanctce Cecilia, sacrosancta Romance ecclcsitz presbytero Curdinali mer itissimo, et Apostolicce sedis legato. A latereque legato superil- lustri (j-c. Skdtonis laureaius Ora, reg. IlumiUunum, dit.il

CX LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

obsequium cum omni debita reuerentia, tanto tamque magnijico dignaprincipe sacerdiitum, totiusque iustitue equabilissimo modera- tore. Ntcnon presentis opusculi fautort exctllentissimo $c. Ad cuius avspiiotissitnam contemplationem, sub memorabili prelo gbriose immortalitaiis presens pagellaftlicitatur tfc.

A replication agaynst certayne yong scoters, abiured of late <fc.

Aryumentum.

Crassantes nimium, Nimium sterilesque labruscas ( Vinea quas dornini sabaot non sustinet ultra Laxias txpandi) nostra est resecare uuluntas.

Cum priuileyio a rege indvlto. Colophon,

Thus endeth the RepUcacyon of Skel. L. <f c. Imprinted by Richard Pynson, printer to the kynyes mast noble grace. 4to, n.d.

A ryght delectable tratyse vpon a goodly Garlande or Chapelet of Laurett by maysler Sktlton Poete laureat studyously dyitysed at Sheryflwtton Casfell. In y foresle of goitres, teher in ar coprysyde many <f dyuers solacyons <f ryght pregnant allectyues of syngular pleasure, as more at large it doth apere in y> proces folou-ynge.

Colophon,

Here endith a rytfht delectable tratyse vpon a goodly garlonde or chajielel oflaurell dyuysed by mayster Skelton Poete laureat.

Lnprynted by me Ryiharde faukes dwellydg [sic] in dura rent or els in Powlls ihyrihe yarde at the sygne of the A. B. C. The yere of our lorde god . M.ccccc.xxm. The .Hi. day of Octobre, 4to.

On the title-page is a woodcut representing Skelton seated in his study, and on the reverse of the title-page a woodcut (copied from a French print — see Memoir, p. Ix. note,) — a whole-length figure of a man holding a branch in one hand

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. Cxi

and a flower in the other, — having at top the words " Skelton Poeta," and at bottom the following verses;

Eterno mansura die dum sidera fulgent

Equora dumq ; tument hec laurea nostra virebil.

Hinc nostrum cdebre et name referetur ad astra

Vndiq ; Skeltmis memorabitur allera donis [alter Adonis],

On the reverse of A ii. are small woodcuts of " The quene of Fame " and " Dame Pallas." After the colophon is the de- vice of the printer, " Kichard Fakes."

Magnyfycence, A goodly interlude and a mery deuysed and made by mayster Skelton poet laureate late deceased. Colophon, Cum priuileyio.

folio, n.d., and without printer's name. This edition was in all probability from Rastell's press.

Here after foloweth the boke of Pliillyp Sparowe compyled by mayster Skdton Poete Laureate.

Colophon,

Prynted at London at the poultry by Rychard Kele.

12ino, n.d. On reverse of the last leaf is a woodcut repre- senting Phyllyp Sparowe's tomb.

An edition by Kele, 4to, n.d., is mentioned in Typogr. Antiq. iv. 305, ed. Dibdin : but qy. ?

Here after foloweth a lltle booke of Pliillyp Sparow, compiled by Mayster Skelto Poete Laureate.

Colophon,

Imprynted at London in paules churche yerde by Robert Toy.

12mo, n.d. On reverse of the last leaf is the same wood- cut as in the ed. last described.

CXU LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Here after fuloweth a litle boke of Phillip sparow. Compyled by mayster Sktlton Poete Laureate;

Colophon,

Imprinted at London inpoules churchyard, at the sygne of the Sunne, by Antony Kitson.

Coldphon in some copies,

Imprinted at London in poules churchyard at the sygne of the Lamb, by Abraham Weale [sic].

Colophon in some other copies,

Imprinted at London in Foster-lane by Ihon Walley.

12mo, n.d.

An edition Imprinted at London in paules churche yerde by John Wyijht, with a woodcut of " Phyllyp Sparowes tomb " on the last page, is mentioned in Typogr. Antiq. iv. 379. ed. Dibdin.

Sere after foloweth certaine bolces copyled by mayster SkeUo, Poet Laureat, whose names here after shall appere.

Speake Parol.

The death of the noble Prynce Kynge Edwarde tlie fourth.

A treatyse of the Stottes.

Ware the Hawke.

The Tunnynge of Elynoure Rummyng. Colophon,

Thus endeth these lytle workes compiled by maister Skelton Poet Laureat.

Impryntedat London, in Crede Lane, by John Kynge and Thomas Marche.

12mo, n.d.

Heare after foloweth certain bokes Compiled by Muster Skel- ton, Poet Laureat, whose names here after doth appere.

(Enumeration of pieces as above.)

Imprynted at London by Ihon Day. Colophon,

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. Cxiii

Thus endetk these litle, works compiled by maister Skelton, Poet Laurent. 12mo, n.d.

Here after foloweth certayne bokes, copyled by maysler Skelton, Poet Laureat, whose names here after shall appere. y

(Enumeration of pieces as above.)

Printed at London by Richard Lant,for Henry Tab, dwelling in Pauls churchyard, at Hie sygne of Judith.

Colophon,

Thus endethe these lytett workes compyfed by mayster Skdton Poet Laureat. Andprynted by Richard Lant, for Henry Tab, dwellyng in Poules churche yard at the sygne of Judith.

12mo, n.d. On the fly-leaf of the copy which I used, but perhaps not belonging to it, was pasted a woodcut represent- ing the author, with the words " Skelton Poet " (copied from Pynson's ed. of Dyuers Balellys, £c., and the same as that on the reverse of the last leaf of Kele's ed. of Why come ye nai to Courte.)

An edition printed for W. Bonham, 1547, 12mo, is men- tioned by Warton, Hist, of E. P. ii. 336 (note,) ed. 4to.

The various editions of these "certaine bokes" contain, besides the pieces specified on the title-page, the following poems —

" All noble men, of this take hede," &c. [prefixed to the eds. of Why come ye nat to Courte.]

" Howe euery thing must haue a tyme."

" Prayer to the Father of Heauen."

" To the seconde Person."

u To the Holy Ghost."

Here after foloweth a litel boke called Colyn Chute compyled by mayster Skelton poete Laureate.

Quis cosurgat mecu adcersus malignantes, out quisslabit mecH adversus operantes iniquitatem. Nemo domine. VOL. I. H

Cxiv LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Colophon,

Imp-inted at London by me Rycliarde Kde dwellyng in the powltry at the long shop vnder saynt Myldredes chyrche.

12mo, n.d.

An edition by Kele, 4to, n.d., is mentioned in Typogr. Antlq. iv. 305. ed, Dibdin: but qy.V

Here after foloweth a title booke called Colyn Clout compiled by master Sktlton Poete Laureate,

Quis cosurgat , &c. (as above.) Colophon,

Jiymnted at London in Paules Cliurche yarde at the Sygne of the Mose by John Wyyhte.

12mo, n.d.

Here after foloweth a litle boke called Colyn Clout compiled by master Skelton Poete Laureate.

Quis consurgat, &c. (as above.) Colophon,

Jmprynted at London in Paules Churche yarde at the Sygne of the Sunne by Anthony Kytson.

Colophon in some copies,

Jmprynted at London in Paules Churche yarde at the Sygne of the Lambe by Abraham Veale.

12mo, n.d.

An edition Imprynted at London by [Thomas Godfray.J

Cum priuilegio regali, is mentioned in Typogr. Antiq. iii. 71. ed. Dibdin.

Here after foloweth a lytell boke, whiche hath to name, Why come ye nat to courte, compyled by mayster Skelton poete Lau- reate.

Colophon,

Imprinted at london by me Richard Icele dwelllg in the powltry at the longe shop vnder saynt myldredes chyrch.

12mo, n.d. On the reverse of the title-page is a woodcut

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. CXV

representing two figures, one of them perhaps meant for Wolsey, the other headed " Skelton ; " and on the reverse of the last leaf is a woodcut (copied from Pynson's edof Dyuers Bakttys, &c.) with the words " Skylton poyet."

An edition by Kele, 4to, n.d., is mentioned in Typogr. Antiq. iv. 305. ed. Dibdin: but qy.?

Here after foloweth a litlk booke, whiche hath to name Whi come ye not to courte, compiled by mayster Skelio Poete Laureate,

Colophon,

Imprynted at London in Paules churche yarde at the Syyne of the Rose by John Wyyht.

12mo, n.d. On the reverse of the title-page is a woodcut, which I am unable to describe, because in the copy used by me it was much damaged as well as pasted over.

Here after foloweth a litle boke whyche hathe to name, whye come ye not to Courte. Compiled by mayster Skelton Poete Lau- reate.

Colophon,

Imprynled at London in Ponies church yard at the syne of the sunne by Anthony Kytson.

Colophon in some copies,

Imprynted at London in Potties church yard at the syne of the Lamb by Abraham Veale.

Colophon in some other copies,

Imprynted at London in Foster lane by John Wallye

12mo, n.d.

An edition, Imprynted at London, in Paules church yarde at the Sygne of the BM by ^Robert Toy, is mentioned in Typogr. Antiq. iii. 576. ed. Dibdin.

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Pithy pleasaunl and profitable, workes of maister Skellon, Poete Laureate. Nowe collected and newly published. Anno 1568. Imprinted at London in Fletestreate, neare vnto saint Dunstonea chtirche by Thomas Marthe. 12mo.

On the reverse of the title-page are the Latin lines, " Salve, plus decies," &c. (see vol. i. 197); next, Churchyard's verses, "If slouth and tract of time," &c. (see Appendix I. p. xciv); and then the contents of the volume are thus enumerated;

" Workes ofSkellon newly collected by I. S. asfoloweth.

1. The crowne of lawrel.

2. The bouge of court. 8. The duke of Albany. 4. Speake parrot.

6. Edward the fourth.

6. Against the Scottes. [Chorus de Dys contra

Scottes, &c.

Chorus de dis, &c. su- per triumphali victoria contra gallos, &c.]

7. Ware the hauke. [Libertas veneranda, &c. All noble men of this

take hede, &c.]

8. Howe euery thinge must

haue a time.

9. A prayer to the father

of hcnuen.

10. To y« second person.

11. To the holy ghost.

12. The tunning of Elinour

Rumming.

13. The relucet mirror.

14. Why come ye not to

court.

15. Colyn Clout

16. Philip sparowe.

17. Of a comly Coystrowne. [Contra alium Cantita-

tem & Organisantem Asinam, &c.J

18. Upo a deadmas heed.

19. To maistris Anne.

20. Of thre fooles.

21. En parlement a Paris.

22. Epitaphes of two knaues

of clise. [Diligo rustincum, &c.]

23. Lamentation for Nor-

wiche.

24. Against y Scottes [i. e.

against Dundas].

25. Praise of ye palmtre. [Diligo rusticum, &c.]

26. Bedel quoda Belial.

27. The dolorus death of

the Lord Percie Erie of Northumber- Innde.

[Ad magistrum Ruk- shaw.]

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. CXVli

28. Epitnphium Margarcte 31. A parable by William

countisse de Derbi. Cornishe in y* Fleete.

29. Epita. Hen. septi. 32. Against venemous

30. Eulogium pro suorum tongues.

temporum. 33. Of Calliope.

How the very dull poem (31) by William Cornishe came to be inserted in this collection, I know not: but I may just observe that it is found (with a better text) in MS. Reg. 18. D. ii. where it immediately precedes Skeltou's verses on the Death of the Earl of Northumberland.

" Now synge we, as we were wont," &c. — in an imperfect volume (or fragments of volumes) of black-letter Christmat CaroUes,—Bibttoyra])h. MsceU. (edited by the Rev. Dr. Bliss,) 1813, 4to, p. 48.

Concerning the comparatively modern edition of Elynow Rummynge, 1624, 4to (cetebrated for the imaginary portrait of Elynour,) see Notes, vol. iii. 88 sqq.

Wood mentions as by Skelton (Ath. Oxon.i. 52. ed. Bliss)—

Poetical Fancies and Satyrs, Lond. 1512, Oct.

Tanner mentions (Biblloth. p. 676) —

Miseries of England under Henry vii. Lond. . . . 4to. [Qy.

is it the same piece as Vox Populi, Vox Dei f] Warton mentions (Hist, of E. P. ii. 336, note, ed. 4to) — A collection of Skelton's pieces printed for A. Scolocker

1582, 12mo.

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Bliss mentions (add. to Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. 53)— A collection of Skelton's pieces printed in 12mo by A. Scho- loker, n.d., and Another by John Wight in 8vo, 1588.

Of Skelton's drama, The Nigramansir, the following ac- count is given by Warton : —

" I cannot quit Skelton, of whom I yet fear too much has been already said, without restoring to the public notice a play, or MORALITY, written by him, not recited in any cata- logue of his works, or annals of English typography; and, I believe, at present totally unknown to the antiquarians in this sort of literature. It is, The NIGRAMANSIR, a morall ENTER- LUDE andapithie written by Maister SKELTON laureate and plaid before the king and otlier estatys at Woodsloke on Palme Sunday. It was printed by Wynkin de Worde in a thin quarto, in the year J504.1 It must have been presented before king Henry the seventh, at the royal manor or palace, at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, now destroyed. The characters are a Necromancer or conjurer, the devil, a notary public, Simonie, and Philargyria or Avarice. It is partly a satire on some abuses in the church ; yet not without a due regard to decency, and an apparent respect for the dignity of the audience. The story, or plot, is the tryal of SIMONY and AVARICE: the devil is the judge, and the notary public acts

i " My lamented friend Mr. William Collins, whose Odes will be remembered while any taste for true poetry remains, shewed me this piece at Chichester, not many months before his death: and he pointed it out as a very rare and valuable curiosity. He intended to write the HISTORY OF THE RESTO- RATION OF LEARNING .UNDER LEO THE TENTH, and With a

view to that design, had collected many scarce books. Some few of these fell into my hands at his death. The rest, among which, I suppose, was this INTERLUDE, were dispersed."

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. CX1X

as an assessor or scribe. The prisoners, as we may suppose, are found guilty, and ordered into hell immediately. There is no sort of propriety in calling this phy the Necromancer: for the only business and use of this character, is to open the subject in a long prologue, to evoke the devil, and summon the court. The devil kicks the necromancer, for waking him so soon in the morning: a proof that this drama was per- formed in the morning, perhaps in the chapel of the palace. A variety of measures, with shreds of Latin and French, is used: but the devil speaks in the octave stanza. One of the stage-directions is, Enter Balsebub with a Berde. To make him both frightful and ridiculous, the devil was most com- monly introduced on the stage wearing a visard with an im- mense beard. Philargyria quotes Seneca and saint Austin: and Simony offers the devil a bribe. The devil rejects her offer with much indignation: and swears by the foule Eu~ menides, and the hoary beard of Charon, that she shall be well fried and roasted in the unfathomable sulphur of Cocy- tus, together with Mahomet, Pontius Pilate, the traitor Judas, and king Herod. The last scene is closed with a view of hell, and a dance between the devil and the necromancer. The dance ended, the devil trips up the necromancer's heels, and disappears in fire and smoke." Hist, of E. P. ii. 360. ed. 4to.

In the Garlande of LaureU (vol. ii. 221, sqq.) Skelton enu- merates many of his compositions which are no longer ex- tant.

PIECES ATTRIBUTED TO SKELTON.

Verses presented to King Henry the Seventh at the feast of St. George celebrated at Windsor in the third year of his reign— first printed by Ashmole (see vol. ii. 345 of the present work.)

The Epitaffe of the moste noble and valyittnt Juspar late Duke of Beddeforde, printed by Pynson, 4to, n.d. (see vol. ii. 347.)

Elegy on King Henry the Setentii— an imperfect broadside (see vol. ii. 362.)

CXX LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Merie Tales Newly Imprinted <$• made by Master Skellon Poet Laureat. Imprinted at London in Fleetstreat beneath the Con- duit at the signe of S. John Euangelist, by Thomas Colwell, 12mo, n.d. (see the preceding Appendix.) Warton, Hist, of E. P. ii. 336 (note,) gives the date 1575 to these tales, — on what authority I know not.

Other pieces might be mentioned.

Of the death of the noble prince, Kynge Edwarde the forth. In a vol. belonging to Miss Richardson Currur, which has fur- nished a stanza hitherto unprinted (vol. i. 3.)

Vpon the doulourus dethe and muclie lamentable chaunce of the most honorable Erie of NorOiumberlande. MS. Reg. 18 D ii. fol. 165 (vol. i. 8.)

Manerly Margery Mi/Dc and Ale. Fairfax MS.— Add. MSS. (Brit. Mus.) 5465, fol. 109 (vol. i. 35.)

Poems against Garnesche. MS. Harl 367, fol. 101. Now for the first time printed (vol. i. 132.)

" Wofully araid," &c. Fairfax MS.,— Add. MSS. 5465, fol. 76 and fol. 86 (Brit. Mus.): and MS. copy in a very old hand on the fly-leaves of Boelius de Disdp. Schol. cum notabiU commento, Daventrie, 1496, 4to (in the collection of the late Mr. Heber,) which has supplied several stanzas hitherto un- printed (vol. i. 165.)

" /, liber, et jrropera, reaem tu promts adora," &c. MS. C. C. C.— No. ccccxxxii. of Nasmith's Catal. p. 400 (vol. i. 172.)

" Salve plus decies quarn sunt momenta diemm" &c. Add. MSS. (Brit. Mus.) 4787, fol. 224 (vol. i. 197.)

Colyn Cloute. MS. Harl. 2252, fol. 147 (vol. ii. 125.)— In MS. Lansdoton 762, fol. 75, is a fragment of this poem, " The profecy of Skelton " (vol. ii. 141.)

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C. CXxi

Garlande of Laurett. MS. Cott. Vil. EX. fol. 200; very imperfect (vol. ii. 170.)

Speke, Parrot. MS. Harl. 2252, fol. 133, which has sup- plied much now for the first time printed (vol. ii. 245.)

Diodorus Siculus translated into English [by Skellon poet-tau- reat]. MS. <?. (7. C— No. ccclvii. of Nasmith's Catal. p. 362.

For the following account of this MS. I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Wright:—

" MS. Corp. Chr. Camb. No. 357.

At the head of the first folio—' Interpretatio Skeltoni poetae Laureati,' written in a different hand from the MS. (by Na- smith said to be by Archb. Parker himself) over something which has been erased, but which seems to have been ' Pro- hemye of Poggius.'

At the end of this preface is written in the same hand as MS. ' Thus endeth the prohemye of Poggius.' fol. 2 verso.

At fol. 3 begins ' The prohemy of Diodorus thauctour.' This ends at fol. 7 thus,—

If ' Now we wyll enforce to begynne our processe historyall. qnod Skelton.

If Here endeth the prohemy of all the hole processe.'. The words ' quod Skelton ' are written in rather a different hand, and with different ink, but apparently contemporary. I think it not impossible that they may have been added by the original hand at another time.

It is imperfect at the end : but on a leaf bound up with it is written in a much later hand (perhaps by Parker,) ' Hec charta de industria vacua relicta est, ut occasio daretur ju- veni in litteris exercitato aggrediendi translationem historise que hie diminuta est, ut sic humeri sui vires experiatur quid ferre valennt, quidve recusent, turn cognoscet quid hie trans- lator prestiterit, fortassis non ita facile in hoc genere a mul- tis superandus.' "

Tanner (Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748) mentions the following two pieces as extant in his day among the MSS. of Lincoln Cathedral Library (see Memoir, pp. xxi, xxiii.) —

Methodos Skeltonidis laureati, sc. Prcecepla qucedam moraJia Henrico principi, posted Henr. viii, missa, Dat. apud Eltham A.D. MDI. Principium deest.

LIST OF EDITIONS, &C.

Carmen adprincipem, quando insignitus erat duds Ebor. iitvlo. Pr. " Si quid habes, mea Musa."

MSS. OF PIECES ATTRIBUTED TO SKELTON.

Vox Popult, vox Dei. MS. 2567 Cambridge Public Li brary. MS. Hart. 367. fol. 130 (see vol. ii. 364.)

The Image of Jpocrysy. MS. Lansdoim 794 (see vol. ii. 388.)

Other pieces might be mentioned.

APPENDIX III.

EXAMPLES

OF THE METRE CALLED SKELTONICAL.

The Genealogye of Ileresye. Compyled by Ponce Pantolabus. Imprynted at London In Pater noster rowe. At the signe of our ladyepytye [some copies, ourfadyr Pyte] By Johan Red- man. Ad impnmendutn solum, 1542 : another edition was printed by Robert Wyer: vide Typograph. Antiq. iii. 69, 182. ed. Dibdin (the size of them not mentioned.) The author was John Huntingdon.

These editions I have not seen: the whole of the tract, however, seems to be quoted in A mysterye of inyquyte con- tayned within the heretycall Genealoyye of Ponce Pantolabus, is here both dysclused $ confuted By Juhan Bale An. M.D.XLII. 12mo, Geneva, 1545, from which 1 subjoin the following pas- sages:

" Blynde obstynacye Begate heresye, By a myschaunce, Of daine ignoraunce. Heresye begute Stryfe and debate.

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

Debate and ambycyon Begate supersticyon. Supersticion playne Begate disdayne. Dysdayne of trowthe Begate slowthe. Slowthe & sluggyshnesse Begate wylfulnesse. Wylfulnesse, verelye Nygh cosyne to heresye, Begate myschefe, Father of Wyclefe, Which ded bringe inne His grandfather synne. After this brother Came forth an other; His name to discusse, Menne called him Husse; He and his cumpanye Began in Germanye. And after that Came in a gnat Of the same kynde, Whose sowle is blynde; His name you shall here, Menne call him Luthere. He by his meane Hath bannyshed cleane Out of that coste The Holye Glioste, And hath brought inne Lyberte and synne. Next after him, Is his ehefe lym One Melanchtonus, Nequaquam bonus. Next after this whelpe Came in to helpe

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

One Oecolampadius, With his brother Zuinglius.

And for this tyme Here endeth my ryme, The Geneulogye Of stynkynge heresye : Wherin I requyre And humblye desyre All menne ywys That shall rede this, Aboue all thinge To praye for our kynge, And the queue also Where so euer she go, And for the sauegarde Of our prince Edwarde, Whom 1 praye Jesu Longo to contynewe! Amen."

From A pore, Jielpe.

The bukler and defence Of mother holy kyrke, And weape to driue hence Al that against her wircke. 12mo, without date or printer's name.

" Wyll none in all this lande Step forth and take in hande These felowes to withstande, In nombre lyke tlie sande, That with the Gospell melles, And wyll do nothynge elles But tratlynge tales telles

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

Agaynst our holy prelacie

And holy churches dygnitie,

Sayinge it is but papistrie,

Yea, fayned and hipocrisy,

Erronious and heresye,

And taketh theyr aucthoritie

Out of the holy Euangelie,

All customcs ceremoniall

And rytes ecclesiasticall,

Not grounded on Scripture,

No longer to endure ?

And thus, ye maye be sure,

The people they alure

And drawe them from your lore,

The ivhiche wyll greve you sore;

Take hede, I save, therfore,

Your nede was neuer more.

But sens ye be so slacke,

It greueth me, alacke,

To heare behynde your backe

Howe they wyll carpe and cracke,

And none of you that dare

With J one of them compare.

Yet some there be that are

So bolde to shewe theyr ware,

And is no priest nor deacon,

And yet wyll fyre his becone

Agaynst suche fellowes frayle,

Make out with tothe and nayle,

And hoyste vp meyne sayle,

And manfully to fyght,

In holy prelates ryght,

With penne and ynke and paper,

And lyke no triflynge iaper

To touche these felowes indede

Old ed. " Whiche."

CALLED SKELTOXICAL. CXXvii

With all expedient spede,

And not before it nede:

And I indede am he

That wayteth for to se

Who dare so hardy be

To encounter here with me ;

I stande here in defence

Of some that be far hence,

And can both blysse and sence,

And also vndertake

Ryght holy thynges to make,

Yea, God within a cake;

And who so that forsake

His breade shall bo dowe bake ;

I openly professe

The holy blyssed masse

Of strength to be no lesse

Then it was at the fyrst:

But I wolde se who durst

Set that amonge the worst,

For he shulde be accurst

With boke, bell, and candell,

And so I wolde hym handell

That he shulde ryght well knowe

Howe to escape, I trowe,

So hardy on his heade,

Depraue our holy breade,

Or els to prate or patter

Agaynst our holy watter.

This is a playne matter,

It nedcth not to flatter:

They be suche holy thynges

As hath ben vsed with kynges;

And yet these lewde loselles,

That bragge vpon theyr Gospelles,

At ceremonies swelles,

And at our christined belles,

And at our longe gownes,

And at your shauen crownes,

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

And at your typ[i]ttes fyne,

The iauelles wyll repyne.

They saye ye leade euyll lyues

With other mennes wyues,

And wyll none of your owne,

And so your sede is sowne

In other mennes grounde,

True wedlocke to confounde ;

Thus do they rayle and raue,

Callynge euery priest knaue,

That loueth messe to saye,

And after ydle all daye :

They wolde not haue you playe

To dryue the tyme awaye,

But brabble on the Byble,

Whiche is but impossible

To be learned in all your lyfe ;

Yet therin be they ryfe,

Whiche maketh all this stryfe," &c.

From The Vpcheringe of the Messe : Inprinted at Lodon by John Daye and WiUyam Seres, 12mo, n.d.

" Who hath not knowen or herd How we were made afeard That, magre of our beard, Our messe shulde cleane awaye, That we did dayly saye, Aud vtterly decaye For euer and for aye ? So were we brought in double That all that are deuout Were like to go withoute The messe that hath no peere, Which longe hath taried here, Yea, many an hundreth yere,

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

And to be destitute

Of that whiche constitute

Was of the highe depute

Of Christe and his apostles;

Althoughe none of the Gospels

No mention maketh or tells,

We must belue (what ells?)

Of things done by councells,

Wherein the high professours,

Apostlique successours,

Take holde to be possessours ;

And some were made confessours;

Some of them were no startars,

But were made holi marters :

Yet plowmen, smythcs, £ cartars,

With such as be their hartars,

Will enterprise to taxe

Thes auncyeut inens actes

And holy fathers factes.

Thoughe messe were made bi men,

As popes nyne or ten,

Or many more, what then ?

Or not of Scripture grounded,

Is yt therfore confounded

To be a snpersticion V

Nay, nay, they mysse the quission:

Make better inquyssiciou;

Ye haue an euyll condicion

To make suche exposicion;

Ye thinke nothinge but Scripture

Is only clene and pure ;

Yes, yes, I you ensure,

The messe shalbe hir better,

As light as ye do set hir.

The Scripture hath nothing Wherby profyte to bryng, But a lytyll preaching, With tattling and teaching;

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

And nothing can ye espie Nor se with outwarde eye, But must your ears applie To learnyng iiuvardlye; And who so it will folowe; In goods though he may walow, If Scripture once him swalowe, She wyll vndo him holowe ; Wherfore no good mes singers Will come within hir fyngers, But are hir vnder styrigers, For she wolde fayne vudo All such as lyueth so.

To the messe she is an enymye, And wolde distroye hir vtterlye, Wef not for sum that frendfully In time of nede will stand hir by. Yet is the messe and she as lyke As a Christian to an heretike : The messe hath holy vestures, And many gay gestures, And decked with clothe of golde, And vessells many folde, Right galaunt to beholde, More then may well be tolde, With basen, ewer, and towell, And many a prety jwelle, With goodly candellstyckes, And many proper tryckys, With cruetts gilt and chalys, Wherat some men haue malice, With sensers. and with pax, And many other knackys, With patent, and with corporaa, The fyncst thing that euer was. Alasse, is it not pitie That men be no more wittye But on the messe to iest, Of all suche thinge the best?

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

For if she were supprest, A pyu for all the rest.

A, good mestres Missa, Shal ye go from vs thissa? Wei, yet I muste ye kissa: Alacke, for payne I pyssa, To se the mone here issa, Because ye muste departe ! It greueth many a herte That ye should from them start: But what then? tushe, a farte! Sins other shifte is none, But she must neades be gone, Nowe let vs synge eche one, Boeth Jak and Gyll and Jone, Reipiiem eternam, Lest penam sempiternam For vitam supernam, And iinbram infernam For veram lucemam, She chaunce to enherite, According to hir tnerite.

Pro cuius memoria Ye maye wel be soria ; Full smale maye be your gloria, When ye shal heare thys storia; Then wil ye crie and roria, We shal se * hir no moria: Et dicam vobis quare She may no longer stare, Nor here with you regnare, But trudge ad vitro, mare, And after habltare In reyno PliUonico El euo acronyco,

•se] Olded.

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

Cum cetu Babikmico Et canlu diabolico, With pollens and piller[s], And nl liir well willers, And ther to dwel euer: And thus wil I leaue hir."

From Phylogamus, 12mo, without date or printer's name — of which the title-page and five leaves are preserved in a volume of Ballads and Fragments in the British Museum. The late Mr. Douce has written below the title-page " Probably by Skelton; " but it is certainly not his.

" Gyue place, ye poetes fine, Bow doune now & encline; For nowe y« Muses nyne, So sacred and diuine In Parnase holy hyll Haue wrought theyr worthy wyll, And by theyr goodly skyll Vppon that myghtymountayne In Hellycons fouutayne, &c.

0 poete so impudent, Whyche neuer yet was studente, To thee the goddes prudente Minerua isilludente! Thou wrytest thynges dyffuse, Incongrue and confuse, Obfuscate and obtuse ; No man the lyke doth use Among the Turckes or Jewes; Alwayes inuentyng newes That are incomparable, They be so fyrme aud stable :

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

Lyke as a shyppe is able, Wythout ancre and cable, Roother, maste, or sayle, Fully, rope, or nayle, In wynde, weather, or Imyle, To guyde both top and tayle, And not the course to fayle; So thys our poet maye, Wythout a stopp or staye, In cunnynge wend the way, As wel by darke as day, And neuer go astray, Yf yt be as they save.

0 poet rare and recent, Dedecorate and indecent, Insolent and insensate, Contendyng and concleusate, Obtused and obturate, Obumbylate, obdurate, Sparyng no priest or curate, Cyuylyan or rurate,

That be alredy marryed, And from theyr vow bene varyed, Wherto the Scrypture them caried ! They myght as wcl haue taryed ;

1 sweare by the north doore rood, That stowte was whyle he stood, That they had bene as good

To haue solde theyr best blew hood; For I am in suche a moode, That for my power and parte, Wytli all iny wyt and arte, Wyth whole intent and harte, I wyl so at them darte," &c.

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

The Copye of a letter, sent by John Bradford to the right honor- able lordes the Erles ofAmntlel, Darbie, Shrewsbury, ef Pen- broke, declarig tiie nature of sjtaniardes, and discouering the most detestable treasons, tchuhe they haue pretended moste fahelye againste oure moste noble kymjdome of Englcmde. Whereunto is added a tragical blast of the papistical/, tropet for mayntenaunce of the Popes kinydome in Enylande. by. T. K Ifyebeleue the ti-ueth, ye snue your lines, £c. 12mo, and without date or printer's name on the title-page : the copy now before me is imperfect at the end, where perhaps both are given. According to Herbert's Ames's Typ. Antiq. iii. 1582, this piece was printed in 1555.

In the two subjoined passages (perhaps in more) of this tract, the author adopts the Skeltoiiio metre, though the whole is printed as prose : —

" There be many other noble menne [among the Spaniards, besides the duke of Medena-zeliej vndoubtedly very wise and politik, which can throughe their wisdome binde themselues for a time from their nature, and applye their condicions to the manors of those menne with whom they would gladlye beefrended; whose mischeuouse maners a man shal neuer knowe, til! he come vnder their subiection. But then shall ye perceiue perfectly their puffed pride, with many mis- cheffes beside, their prowling and poling, their bribinge and Bhauing, their most deceitfull dealing, their braging and bost- ing, their flatteringe and faininge, their abominable whore- hunty.nge, with most rufull ruling, | their doings vniust, | with insaciate lust, | their stout stubbernnes, | croked crabbed- nes, | and vnmeasurable madnes, | in enui, pride, and leche- rie, | which, thei sale, God loueth hartelie, | vaineglorie and hipocrisie, | with al other vilanie | of what kinde soeuer it be; | supersticion, desolacion, extorcion, adulacion, dissimu- lacion, exaltacion, suppression, inuocacion, and all abomina- cion; with innumerable moe mischeues, whiche I coulde plainlie declare, that no nacion in the world can suffer. Their masking and mumbling | in the holi time of lent | maketh

CALLED SKELTONICAL. CXXXV

many wiues brente, | the king being present, | nighte after nighte, | as a prince of raoste mighte, | which hath power in his hande | that no man dare withstande: | yet if that were the greatest euil, | we might suffer it wel, | for there ia no man liuing | but would suffer the king | to haue wife, sister, doughter, maide and all. | bothe great & smal, | so many as he liste, | no man would him resist ; | but the worst of all the companie | must haue my wife priuelie, | when I am present bi ; | this is more vilanie, | that one muste kepe the dore ; | will not that greue you sore ? | & dare not speake for your life, | when another hath youre wife," | &c. Sig. B i.

" Ye wil say, the Spaniards kepe their olde rentaking : how can that be, when euery poore man must pay yerely for euery chimney in his house, and euery other place that is to make fire in, as ouen, fornes, and smithes forge, a Frenche crowne? wil Englishmen, or can thei, suffer to be poled and pilled moste miserably, in payeng continually suche poling pence and intollerable tollages for all maner graine and breado, befe, beare and mutton, goose, pigge and capone, henne, mal- lard and chicken, milk, butter and chese, egges, apples & peares, | wine white and reade, | with all other wines beside, | salt white and graye ? | al thinges must pay ; | small nuttes and wallnuttes, | cheries and chestnuttes, | plumbes, damas- sens, philbeardes, and al | both gret & smal, | whatsouer thei maye se, | to fede the pore commenalte ; | salmon and hear- ing; | this is a shamefull thing; | tench, ele or conger; | this shall kepe vs vnder, | and make vs die for hunger; | flounders, floucke, plaice or carpe; | here is a miserable warke | that Englande must abide | to maintaine Spanishe pride," &c. Sig. F ii.

CXXXvi EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

From Doctaur Doubble Ale, — 12mo, without printer's name or date.

" Although I lacke intelligence, And can not skyll of eloquence, Yet wyll I do my diligence To say sumtLing or 1 go hence, Wherein I may demonstrate The figure, gesture, and estate Of one that is a curate, That harde is and endnrate, And ernest in the cause Of piuish popish lawes, That are not worth two strawes, Except it be with dawes, That knoweth not good from euels, Nor Gods worde from the deuels, Nor wyll in no wise heare The worde of God so cleare, But popishnes vpreare, And make the pope Gods peare.

Now let vs go about To tell the tale out Of this good felow stout, That for no man wyll dout, But kepe his olde condicions For all the newe comyssions, And vse his supersticions, And also mens tradycions, And syng for dead folkes soules, And reade hys beaderolles, And all such thinges wyll vse As honest men refuse : But take hym for a cruse, And ye wyll tell me newes; For if he ons begyn, He leaueth nought therin;

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

He careth not a pyn

How much ther be wythin,

So he the pot may wyn,

He wyll it make full thyn ;

And wher the drinke doth please

There wyll he take his ease,

And driuke therof his fyll,

Tyll ruddy be his byll;

And fyll both cup and can,

Who is so glad a man

As is our curate than ?

I wolde ye knewe it, a curate

Not far without Newgate ;

Of a parysh large

The man hath mikle charge,

And none within this border

That kepeth such order,

Nor one a this syde Nauerne

Louyth better the ale tauerne :

But if the drinke be small,

He may not well withall ;

Tush, cast it on the wall!

Itfrettethouthisgall;

Then seke an other house,

This is not worth a louse,

As dronken as a mouse,

Monsyre yybei a vous !

And ther wyll byb and bouse,

Tyll heuy be his brouse.

Thus may ye beholde This man is very bolde, And in his learning olde Intendeth for to syt: I blame hym not a whyt, For it wolde vexe his wyt, And cleane agaynst his earning, To folow such learning

CXXXV111 EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

As now a daycs is taught; It wolde sone bryng to naught His olde popish brayne, For then he must agayne Apply hym to the schole, And come away a fole, For nothing shulde he get, His braytie hath bene to het And with good ale so wet; Wherefore he may uow set In feldes and in medes, And pray vpon his beades, For yet he hath a payre Of beades that be right fayre, Of corall, gete, or ambre, At home within his chambre ; For in matins or masse Primar and portas, And pottes and beades, Hislyfeheleades: But this I wota, That if ye nota How this idiota Doth folow the pota, I holde you a grota Ye wyll rede by rota That he may were u cota In Cocke Lorels 1 bota. Thus the durty doctour, The popes oune proctour, Wyll bragge and boost Wyth ale and a toost, And lyke a rutter Hys Latin wyll vtter, And turne and tosse hym, Wyth lu non possum

Lorels] Old ed. " losels."

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

Loquere Lalinum;

This alumfinum

Is bonus then vinum ;

Ego volo quare

Cum tu drinkare

Pro tuum capul,

Quia apud

Te propiciacio,

Tu non potes facio

Tut (foam ego ;

Qiuam librum tu lego,

Caue de me

Appanere te :

Juro per Deum

Hoc est lifum meum,

Quia drinkum staluin

Nonfacere malum.

Thus our dominus dodkin

Wyth ita vera bodkin

Doth leade his lyfe,

Which to the ale wife

Is very profitable :

It is pytie he is not able

To mayntayne a table

For beggers and tinkers

And all lusty drinkers,

Or captayne or beddle

Wyth dronkardes to meddle.

Ye cannot, I am sure,

For keping of a cure

Fynde such a one well,

If ye shulde rake hell:

And therefore nowe

No more to you,

Sed perlegas isia,

Si veils, papista ;

Farewell and adewe,

With a whirlary whewe,

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

And a tirlary typpe ; Beware of the whyppe."

From A Commemoration or Dirige of Bastarde Edmonde Boner, alias Sauage, vsurped Bisslioppe of tendon. Compiled by Le- meke Auale. Ejnscopalum eius «ct ijritt alter. Anno Domini. 1569. Imprinted by P. 0. 8vo. (a tract, chiefly in verse and of various metres: see Notes, vol. iii. 47. )

" The f fie lesson. Homo natus.

" Homo natus Came to heauen gatus. Sir, you do come to latus, With your shorne patus : Frequentiafalsa £uangflii, For the loue of your bealie, Cum auro <f argento, You loued the rules of Lento, Whiche the Pope did inuento: You are spurius de muliere, Not legittimate nor lawful here: 0 quam l venenosa pestis. Fur, periurus, lutro, mechus, Homicidis2 tantuni decus ! De salute animarum,

Of Christes flocke thou hadest small carum : Thou art Jilius jwpuli : Go, go to Constanlinopoli, To your maister the Turke ; There shall you lurke

i 0 quam, (fc.] A line which ought to have rhymed with this one is wanting. * Homicidis] Old ed. " Homicidus."

CALLED SKELTONICAL. Cxli

Emong the heathen soules.

Somtyme your shonie brethren of Poules

Were as blacke as monies,

With their cappes fower forked,

Their shoes warme corked;

Nosed like redde grapes,

Constant as she apes,

In nature like blacke monkes,

And shoote in sparowes trunkes,

And boule when thei haue dinde,

And kepe them from the winde ;

And thei whiche are not able

Doe sitte still at the table,

With colour scarlet pale,

So small is their good ale:

Thus from God thei did tourne,

Long before their church did burne.

Theii when riche men wer sicke,

Either dedde or quicke,

Valde diliyenier nolant

Vbi diuites eyrolant ; Ibl currunt, nee cessabunt Donee ipsos tuinilabunl ;

Oues alienas tondunt,

L'tperoihius conj'undunt.

These felowes pilde as ganders,

Muche like the friers of Flanders,

Whiche serue Sathan about the cloisters,

Thei loue red wine and oisters.

Qui vult Satanas seruire,

Claustnim debel inlroire,

And euer haue suclie an hedde

As bastarde Boner that is dedde.

He would for the Pope take pain ;

Therfore help, you friers of Spain,

You enquisiters, take paine:

It is a greate maino

Vnto the Pope, your hedde,

That Bouer is thus dedde,

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

And buried in a misers graue,

Like a common k[uaue].

Lo, lo, now is he dedde,

That was so well fedde,

And had a softe bedde !

Estate forth in beUo,

Good Hard yng and thy fellowe ;

If you be papistes right,

Come steale hym awaie by night,

And put hym in a shrine ;

He was the Popes deuine;

Why, shall he be forgotten,

And lye still and rotten ?

Come on, and doe not fainte ;

Translate with spede your sainct,

And put hym in a tombe:

His harte is now at Rome.

Come forth, you loughtes of Ixraen,

And steale awaie this slouen :

You are so full of ire,

And popishe desire,

And Romishe derision,

And hellishe deuision,

Therefore I am sure

Your kyngdome will not dure."

Sig. B iiL

" Retponde.

Ne recorderis peccata, But open heauen gata, Sainct Peter, with your kaies ; Shewe my lorde the right waies: He dwelt ones at Poules, And had cure of our soules: 1 wisse, he was not a baste, But holie, meke, and chaste; It is a greate pitie That he is gone from our citie;

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

A man of greate honor;. 0 holy sainct Boner! You blessed friers That neuer wer liers. And you holy nunnes That neuer had sonnes, Set this child of grace In some angelles place."

Sig. B viL

A SMtonkatt Salutation, Or condiyne yralulation, And lust vexation Oftiie Spanish Nation, That in a bravado, Spent many a Ci'usado, In setting forth an Armado Enyland to inrado.

Imprinted at London for Toby Cooke. 1589, 4to.

" 0 king of Spaine, Is it not a paine To thy heart and braine And euery vaine, To see thy traine For to sustaine, Withouten gaine, The worlds disdaiue, Which doth dispise As toies and lies, With shoutes and cries, Thy enterprise, As fitter for pies And butter-flies, Theu men so wise?

EXAMPLES OF TI1E METKE

0 waspish king, Wheres now thy sting, Thy dart or sling, Or strong bow-string, That should vs wring, And vnderbring, Who euery way Thee vexe and pay, And beare the sway By night and day, To thy dismay, In battle aray, And every fray ? 0 puf te with pride, What foolish guide Made thee provide To over-ride This land so wide From side to side, And then, vntride, Away to slide, And not to abide, But all in a ring Away to fling? 0 conquering, 0 vanquishing, With fast flying, And no replying, For feare of frying!

But who but Philippus, That seeketh to nip vs, To rob vs, and strip vs, And then for to whip vs, Would ever haue ment, Or had intent, Or hither sent Such ships of charge, So strong and so large,

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

Nay, the worst barge,

Trusting to treason,

And not to reason,

Which at that season

To him was geson,

As doth appeare

Both plaine and cleare

To fur and neere,

To his confusion,

By this conclusion,

Which thus is framed.

And must be named

Argumentum a minwe,

Cum liorrore et timore ?

If one Drake o,

One poore snake o,

Make vs shake o,

Tremble and quake o,

Were it not, trow yee,

A madnes for me

To vndertake

A warre to make

With such a lande,

That is so mande,

Wherein there be

Of certaintie

As hungrie as he

Many a thousand more,

That long full sore

For Indian golde,

Which makes men bolde? " &o.

VOL. I.

EXAMPLES OF THE METRE

See also — Jacke of the N&rthe, &c. printed (most incor- rectly) from C.C.C. MS. in Hartshorne's Anc. Met. Tales, p. 288. — A recantation of famous Pasyuin of Rome. An. 1570. Imprinted at London by John Daye, 8vo, which (known to me only from Brit. Bibliog. ii. 2fc9) contains Skeltonical pas- sages.— The Riddles of Heraclitus and Democritus. Printed at London by Ann HatfieU for John Norton, 1598, 4to, which (known to me only from Restiluta, i. 175) has Skeltonical rhymes on the back of the title-page. — The Wisdome of Doctor Dodypoll As it hath bene sundrie times Acted by the Children of Powles, 1600, 4to, which has some Skeltonical lines at sig. C 4.— The Downfall of Robert Earle of Huntington, &c. (by Anthony Munday,) 1601, 4to, and The Death of Robert, Earle of Hvntington, &c. (by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle), 1601, 4to, (two plays already noticed, p. cvi.), in which are various Skeltonical passages. — Hobson's Horse-load of Letters, or a President for Epistles. The First Part, 1617, 4to, which concludes with three epistles in verse, the last entitled " A merry-mad Letter in SkeUons rime," &c. — Poems: By Michael Drayton Esqvire, &c., n.d., folio, which contains, at p. 301, a copy of verses entitled " A Skeltoniad." — The Fortunate Isles, &c. 1626, a masque by Ben Jonson (already noticed, p. cvii.), in which are imitations of Skelton's style.— All The W&rkes of John Taylor The Water-poet, &c. 1630, folio, which con- tains, at p. 245, " A Skellonicall salutation to those that know how to reade, and not marre the sense with hacking or mis-construc- tion " (printed as prose). — Hesperides : or, The Works Both Humane $ Divine of Robert Ihrrick Esq., 1648, 8vo, among which, at pp. 10, 97, 268, are verses in Skelton's favourite metre.— The Works of Mr. John Cleveland, Containing hit Poems, Orations, Epistles, Collected into One Volume, 1687, 8vo, in which may be found, at p. 306, a piece of disgusting gross- ness (suggested by Skelton's Elynour Rummynge), entitled " The Old Gill."

A poem called Philargyrie of yreate Britayne, 1551, printed (and no doubt written) by Robert Crowly, has been frequently

CALLED SKELTONICAL.

mentioned as a " Skeltonic " composition, but improperly, as the following lines will shew ;

" Geue eare awhyle, And marke my style, You that Imth wyt in store; For wyth wordes bare I wyll declare Thyngs done long tyme before.

Sometyme certayne Into Britayne, A lande full of plentie, A gyaunte greate Came to seke meate, Whose name was Philargyrie," &c.

" See also," says Warton (Hist, of E. P. ii. 358, note, ed. 4to), " a doggrel piece of this kind, in imitation of Skelton, intro- duced into Browne's Sheperd's Pipe," — a mistake; for the poem of Hoccleve (inserted in Egloyue i.), to which Warton evidently alludes, is neither doggrel nor in Skelton' s manner.

POEMS OF SKELTON.

OF THE DEATH

OF THE NOBLE PRINCE, KYNGE EDWARDE THE FORTH, PEE SKELTONIDEM LAUREATUM.*

Miseremini mei, ye that be my frendis !

This world hath formed me downe to fall : How may I endure, when that eueri thyng endis ?

What creature is borne to be eternall ?

* From the ed. by Kynge and Marche of Certaine bakes compyled by Muysler Skellon, n. d.— collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., and ed. Lant, n. d. ; with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568; occasionally with the Mrraurfor Afaffistrales, 1587 (in the earlier eds. of which the poem was incorporated,) and with a contemporary MS. in the possession of Miss Richardson Currer, which last has furnished a stanza hitherto unprinted.

4 OF THE DEATH OF

Now there is no more but pray for me all : Thus say I Edward, that late was youre kyngc,

And twenty two yeres ruled this imperyall, Some vnto pleasure, and some to no lykynge : Mercy I aske of my mysdoynge ;

What auayleth it, frendes, to be my foo, 10

Sith I can not resyst, nor amend your com- plaining?

Quia, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio !

I slepe now in molde, as it is naturall /\ That erth vnto erth hath his reuerture:J3

What ordeyned God to be terestryall.A Without recours to the erth of nature ? $ Who to lyue euer may himselfe assure ?P

What is it to trust on mutabilyte^L

Sith that in this world nothing may indure 8

For now am I gone, that late was in prosperyte :C«>

To presume thervppon, it is but a vanyte,-C

Not certayne, but as a cheryfayre, full of wo :£)

Reygned not I of late in greate felycite ? C Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio ! £>

Where was in my lyfe such one as I,

Whyle lady Fortune with me had continu-

aunce ? Graunteu not she me to haue victory,

In England to rayne, and to contribute

Fraunce ? She toke me by the hand and led me a daunce,

KYNGE EDWARDE THE FORTH. 5

And with her sugred lyppes on me she smyled ; w But, what for her dissembled countenaunce,

I coud not beware tyl I was begyled :

Now from this world she hath me excyled, When I was lothyst hens for to go,

And I am in age but, as who sayth, a chylde, JEt, ecce, mine in pulvere dormio !

I se wyll,* they leve that doble my }eris : This dealid this world with me as it lyst,

And hat he me made, to }ow that be my perys, Example to thynke on Had I wyst : «

I storyd my cofers and allso my chest

With taskys takynge of the comenalte ;

I toke ther tresure, but of ther pray^eris mist ;

Whom I beseche with pure humylyte

For to forgeve and have on me pety ;

I was }our kynge. and kept }ow from }owr foo :

I wold now amend, but that wull not be, [ Quiet,] ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio !

I had ynough, I held me not content,

Without remembraunce that I should dye ; so

And more euer to incroche redy was I bent, I knew not how longe I should it occupy : I made the Tower stronge, I wyst not why ;

I knew not to whom I purchased Tetersall ; I amendid Douer on the mountayne hye,

* Ise wyll, &c.] This stanza only found in MS.

6 OF THE DEATH OF

And London I prouoked to fortify the wall ; I made Notingam a place full royall,

Wyndsore, Eltam, and many other mo : Yet at the last I went from them all,

Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio ! «>

Where is now my conquest and victory ?

Where is my riches and my royal aray ? Wher he my coursers and my horses hye ?

Where is my myrth, my solas, and my play ?

As vanyte, to nought al is wandred away. O lady Bes, longe for me may ye call I

For I am departed tyl domis day ; But loue ye that Lorde that is soueraygne of all. Where be my castels and buyldynges royall ?

But Windsore alone, now I haue no mo, 70 And of Eton the prayers perpetual!,

JEt, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio !

Why should a man be proude or presume hye ?

Sainct Bernard therof nobly doth trete, Seyth a man is but a sacke of stercorry,

And shall returne vnto wormis mete.

Why, what cam of Alexander the greate ? Or els of stronge Sampson, who can tell ?

Were not wormes ordeyned theyr flesh to frete ? And of Salomon, that was of wyt the well ? » Absolon profferyd his heare for to sell,

Yet for al his bewte wormys ete him also ; And I but late in honour dyd excel,

Et, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio !

KYNGE EDWARDE THK FORTH. 7

I haue played my pageyond, now am I past ;

Ye wot well all I was of no great yeld : This al thing concluded shalbe at the last,

When death approchyth, then lost is the felde :

Then sythen this world me no longer vphelde, Nor nought would conserue me here in my place, x

In manus tuas, JDomine, my spirite vp I yelde, Humbly beseching the", God, of thy grace ! O ye curtes commyns, your hertis vnbrace

Benyngly now to pray for me also ; For ryght wel you know your kyng I was,

JEt, ecce, nunc in pulvere dormio !

UPON THE DETHE OF

FOETA SKELTON LAUREATUS LIBELLUM SUTJM METEICE ALLOQUITUR.*

Ad dominum proper ato meum, meapagina, Percy,

Qui Nor thumbrorum jura paterna gerit ; Ad nutum Celebris tu prona repone leonis

Quceque suo patri tristia justa cano. Ast ubi perlegit, dubiam sub mente volutet

Fortunam, cuncta qua malefida rotat. Qui leo sit felix, et Nestoris occupet annos ;

Ad libitum cujus ipse paratus era.

SKELTON LAUREAT

VPON THB

DOULOUR[U]S DETHE AND MUCHE LAMENTABLE CHAUNCE OF THE MOST HONORABLE F.RLE OF NORTHUMBERLANDE.

I WAYLE, I wepe, I sobbe, I sigh ful sore/.

The dedely fate, the dolefulle destenyB Of hym that is gone, alas, without restore,

Of the bloud royall descending nobelly ;

* From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568, collated with a copy of the poem in a MS. vol. now in the British Museum (MS. Reg. 18. D ii fol. 165,) which formerly belonged to the fifth Earl of Northumberland, son of the nobleman whose fate is here lamented: vide Account of Skelton, &c. This elegy was printed by Percy in his Rdiques of An. Engl. Poet. (i. 95, ed. 1794,) from the MS. just mentioned.

THE ERLE OF NORTHTJMBERLANDE. 9

Whose lordshyp doutles was slayne lamentably Thorow treson, again him compassed and wrought, Trew to his prince in word, in dede, and thought.

Of heuenly poems, O Clyo, calde by name In the colege of Musis goddes hystoriall,

Adres the to me, whiche am both halt and lame "> In elect vteraunce to make memoryall ! To the for souccour, to the for helpe I call,

Mine homely rudnes and dryghnes to expell

With the freshe waters of Elyconys well.

Of noble actes aunciently enrolde

Of famous pryncis and lordes of astate,

By thy report ar wont to be extold,

Regestringe trewly euery formare date ; Of thy bountie after the vsuall rate

Kyndell in me suche plenty of thy nobles, a>

These sorowfulle dites that I may shew expres.

In sesons past, who hath herde or sene Of formar writyng by any presidente

That vilane hastarddis in their furious tene, Fulfylled with malice of froward entente, Confetered togeder of commonn concente

Falsly to slee theyr moste singuler good lord ?

It may be regestrede of shamefull recorde.

So noble a man, so valiaunt lord and knyght, Fulfilled with honor, as all the world doth ken ; so

10 UPON THE DETHE OF

At his commaundement which had both day and

nyght

Knyghtes and squyers, at euery season when He calde vpon them, as meniall housholdmen ; Were not these commons vncurteis karlis of kind To slo their owne lord ? God was not in their mynd.

And were not they to blame, I say, also,

That were aboute him, his owne seruants of

trust, To suffre him slayn of his mortall fo ?

Fled dway from hym, let hym ly in the dust ; They bode not till the reckenyng were discust ; « What shuld I flatter? what shuld I glose or

paint ? Fy, fy for shame, their hartes were to faint.

In England and Fraunce which gretly was re-

douted, Of whom both Flaunders and Scotland stode

in drede, To whom great estates obeyed and lowted,

A mayny of rude villayns made hym for to

blede ; Unkyndly they slew him, that holp them oft at

nede :

He was their bulwark, their paues, and their wall, Yet shamfully they slew hym ; that shame mot them befal !

THE ERLE OF NOKTHUMBERLANDE. 11

I say, ye comoners, why wer ye so stark mad ? « What frantyk frensy fyll in your brayne ?

Where was your wit and reson ye should haue

had?

What wilful foly made yow to ryse agayne Your naturall lord ? alas, I can not fayne :

Ye arinyd you with will, and left your wit behynd ;

Well may ye1 be called comones most vnkynd.

He was your chefteyne, your shelde, your chef

defence, Redy to assyst you in euery time of nede ;

Your worshyp depended of his excellence : Alas, ye mad men, to far ye did excede ; w Your hap was vnhappy, to ill was your spede :

What moued you againe him to war or to fyght ?

What alyde you to sle your lord again all ryght ?

The ground of his quarel was for his souerain

lord,

The well concerning of all the hole lande, Demandyng suche duties as nedes most acord To the ryght of his prince, which shold not be

withstand ; For whose cause ye slew him with your owne

hand :

But had his noble men done wel that day, Ye had not bene able to haue sayd hym nay. n

1 ye] So us. Dyce, "you." C.

12 UPON THE DETHE OP

But ther uas f'als packing, or els I am begylde ; How be it the mater was euydent and playne, For if they had occupied their spere and their

shilde,

This noble man doutles had not bene slayne. But men say they wer lynked with a double

chaine,

And held with the comones vnder a cloke, Which kindeled the wild fyr that made al this smoke.

The commons renyed ther taxes to pay,

Of them demaunded and asked by the kynge ;

With one voice importune they plainly sayd nay ; «

They buskt them on a bushment themselfe in

baile to bring, Againe the kyngs plesure to wrestle or to

wring ;

Bluntly as bestis with boste and with crye They sayd they forsed not, nor carede not to dy.

The nobelnes of the north, this valiant lord and

knight,

As man that was innocent of trechery or traine, Presed forth boldly to withstand the myght, And, lyke marciall Hector, he faught them agayne, [maine,

Vygorously vpon them with might and with Trustyng in noble men that were with him there ; » But al they fled from hym for falshode or fere.

THK ERLE OF NORTHUMBERLANDE. 13

Barones, knyghtes, squiers, one and all, Together with seruauntes of his famuly,

Turned their backis, and let their master fal, Of whos [life] they counted not a flye ; Take vp whose wold, for ther they let him ly.

Alas, his gold, his fee, his annual rent

Upon suche a sort was ille bestowd and spent !

He was enuirond aboute on euery syde aa

With his enemyes, that wer starke mad and

wode ; Yet while he stode he gaue them woundes

wyde : Alias for ruth ! what thoughe his mynd wer

gode,

His corage manly, yet fther he shed his blode : Al left alone, alas, he foughte in vayne ! For cruelly among them ther he was slayne.

Alas for pite ! that Percy thus was spylt, The famous Erie of Northumberland ;

Of knyghtly prowes the sword, pomel, and hylt, The myghty lyon doutted by se and lande ; O doloruschaunce of Fortunes froward hande! no

What man, remembryng howe sharnfully he was slaine,

From bitter weping himself can restrain ?

0 cruell Mars, thou dedly god of war !

O dolorous tewisday, dedicate to thy name,

14 UPON THE DETHE OP

When thou shoke thy sworde so noble a man

to mar !

O ground vngracious, vnhappy be thy fame, Which wert endyed with rede bloud of the

same

Most noble erle ! 0 foule mysuryd ground, Whereon he gat his finall dedely wounde !

0 Atropos, of the fatall systers iii 120

Goddes most cruel vnto the lyfe of man,

All merciles, in the is no pite !

O homicide, which sleest all that thou can, So forcibly -vpon this erle thou ran,

That with thy sword, enharpit of mortall drede,

Thou kit asonder his perfight vitall threde !

My wordes vnpullysht be, nakide and playne,

Of aureat poems they want ellumynynge ; But by them to knowlege ye may attayne

Of this lordes dethe and of his murdrynge ; 'so Which whils he lyued had fuyson of euery

thing, Of knights, of squyers, chyf lord of toure and

towne, Tyl fykkell Fortune began on hym to frowne:

Paregall to dukes, with kynges he might compare, Surmountinge in honor al erlis he did excede ;

To all countreis aboute hym reporte me I dare ; Lyke to Eneas benigne in worde and dede,

THE ERLE OP NORTHUMBERLANDE. 15

Valiant as Hector in euery marciall nede, Prouydent, discrete, circumspect, and wyse, Tyll the chaunce ran agayne hym of Fortunes "o duble dyse.

What nedeth me for to extoll his fame

With my rude pen enkankered all with rust, Whose noble actes show worshiply his name, Transendyng far myne homly Muse, that

muste Yet somwhat wright supprised with herty

lust,

Truly reportyng his right noble estate, Immortally whiche is immaculate ?

His noble blode neuer destayned was,

Trew to his prince for to defend his ryght,

Doblenes hatyng fals maters to compas, iso

Treytory and treason he banysht out of syght, With truth to medle was al his holl delyght,

As all his countrey can testyfy the same :

To sle suche a lorde, alas, it was great shame !

If the hole quere of the Musis nyne In me all onely wer set and comprysed,

Enbrethed with the blast of influence deuyne, As perfytly as could be thought or deuised ; To me also allthough it were promised

Of laureat Phebus holy the eloquence, i«

All were to lytell for his magnificence.

16 UPON THE DETHE OF

0 yonge lyon, but tender yet of age,

Grow and encrese, remembre thyn estate ; God the assyst unto thyn herytage,

And geue the grace to be more fortunate !

Agayn rebellyones arme the to make debate ; And, as the lyone, whiche is of bestes kynge, Unto thy subiectes be curteis and benygne.

1 pray God sende the prosperous lyfe and long,

Stable thy mynde constant to be and fast, no Ryght to mayntayn, and to resyst all wronge : All flateryng faytors abhor and from the

cast; Of foule detraction God kepe the from the

blast!

Let double delyng in the" haue no place, And be not lyght of credence in no case.

With heuy chere, with dolorous hart and mynd, Eche man may sorow in his inward thought This lordes death, whose pere is hard to fynd, Algife Englond and Fraunce were thorow

saught. Al kynges, all princes, al dukes, well they iso

ought,

Both temporall and spiritual, for to complayne This noble man, that crewelly was slayne :

More specially barons, and those knygtes bold, And al other gentilmen with him enterteyned

THE ERLE OF NORTHUMBERLANDE. 17

In fee, as menyall men of his housold, Whom he as lord worshyply mainteyned ; To sorowful weping they ought to be con-

streined,

As oft as they call to theyr remembraunce Of ther good lord the fate and dedely chaunce.

O perlese Prince of heuen emperyall ! 190

That with one word formed al thing of noughte ; Heuen, hell, and erthe obey unto thy call ; Which to thy resemblaunce wondersly hast

wrought All mankynd, whom thou full dere hast

bought,

With thy bloud precious our finaunce thou did pay, And vs redemed from the fendys pray ;

To the pray we, as Prince incomparable, As thou art of mercy and pyte the well,

Thou bring unto thy joye eterminable

The soull of this lorde from alldaungerof hell, 2« In endles blys with the* to byde and dwell

In thy palace aboue the orient,

Where thou art Lord and God omnipotent.

O quene of mercy, 0 lady full of grace,

Mayden most pure, and Goddes moder dere,

To sorowful hartes chef comfort and solace, Of all women O flowre withouten pere ! Pray to thy Son aboue the sterris clere, VOL. i. 2

18 UPON THE DETHE, ETC.

He to vouchesaf, by thy mediacion,

To pardon thyseruaunt,and brynge to saluacion. 210

In joy triumphaunt the heuenly yerarchy, With all the hole sorte of that glorious place,

His soull mot receyue into theyr company,

Thorow bounty of Hym that formed all solace ; "Wei of pite, of mercy, and of grace,

The Father, the Sonn, and the Holy Ghost,

In Trinitate one God of myghtes moste !

Non sapit, humanis qui certam ponere rebus Spem cupit : est hominum raraque ficta fides.

TETRASTICHON SKELTON. LAUREATI AD MAGISTECM RUK- SHAW, SACR.E THEOLOGIZE EGREGIUM PROFESSOREM.

Accipe nunc demum, doctor celeberrime Rukshaw, Carmina, de calamo qua cecidere meo ;

Et quanquam placidis non suntmodulata camenis, Sunt tamen ex nostro pectore prompta pio.

Vale feliciter, virorum laudatissime.

AGAYNSTE A COMELY COYSTUOWNE. 19

SKELTON LAUREATE

AGAYNSTE

A comely coystrowne, that curyowsly chawntyd, and curryshly cowntred, and madly in hys musykkys mokkyshly made agaynste the ix Musys of polytyke poems and poettys matryculat.*

OF all nacyons vnder the heuyn,

These frantyke foolys I hate most of all ;

For though they stumble in the synnys seuyn, In peuyshnes yet they snapper and fall, Which men the viii dedly syn call.

This peuysh proud, thys prendergest,

When he is well, yet can he not rest.

A swete suger lofe and sowre bayardys bun Be sumdele lyke in forme and shap,

The one for a duke, the other for dun, i«

A maunchet for morell theron to snap. Hys hart is to hy to haue any hap;

But for in his gamut carp that he can,

Lo, Jak wold be a jentylman !

* This poem, and the three pieces which follow it, are given from a tract of four leaves, n. d., and without printer's name (but evidently from the press of Pynson,) collated with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

20 AGATNSTE A COMELY COYSTKOWNE.

Wyth, Hey, troly, loly, lo, whip here, Jak,

Alumbek sodyldym syllorym ben ! Curyowsly he can both counter and knak

Of Martyn Swart and all hys mery men.

Lord, how Perkyn is proud of hys pohen ! But ask wher he fyndyth among hys monacordys » An holy water clarke a ruler of lordys.

He can not fynd it in rule nor in space : He solfyth to haute, hys trybyll is to hy ;

He braggyth of his byrth, that borne was full bace ; Hys musyk withoute mesure, to sharp is hys

my; He trymmyth in hys tenor to counter pyrdewy ;

His dyscant is besy, it is withoute a mene ;

To fat is hys fantsy, hys wyt is to lene.

He lumbryth on a lewde lewte, Roty bully joyse, Rumbyll downe, tumbyll downe, hey go, now,

now ! He fumblyth in hys fyngeryng an vgly good

noyse,

It semyth the sobbyng of an old sow : a*

He wold be made moch of, and he wyst how ; Wele sped in spyndels and turnyng of tauellys ; A bungler, a brawler, a pyker of quarellys.

Comely he clappyth a payre of clauycordys ; He whystelyth so swetely, he makyth me to swete ;

AGAYNSTE A COMELY COYSTHOWNE. 21

His descant is dasshed full of dyscordes ; A red angry man, but easy to intrete : An vssher of the hall fayn wold I get, «

To poynte this proude page a place and a rome, For Jak wold be a jentylman, that late was agrome.

Jak wold jet, and yet Jyll sayd nay ; [the best : He counteth in his countenaunce to checke with

A malaperte medler that pryeth for his pray, In a dysh dare he rush at the rypest ; Dremyng in dumpys to wrangyll and to wrest :

He fyndeth a proporcyon in his prycke songe,

To drynk at a draught a larg and a long.

Nay, iape not with hym, he is no small fole, so It is a solemnpne syre and a solayne ;

For lordes and ladyes lerne at his scole ;

He techyth them so wysely to solf and to fayne, That neyther they synge wel prycke songe nor

playne :

Thys docter Deuyas commensyd in a cart, A master, a mynstrell, a fydler, a farte.

What though ye can cownter Custodi nos ? As well it becomyth yow, a parysh towne clarke,

To syng Sospitati dedit cegros :

Yet bere ye not to bold, to braule ne to bark « At me, that medeled nothyng with youre wark :

Correct fyrst thy self; walk, and be nought !

Deme what thou lyst, thou knowyst not my thought.

22 CONTRA CANTITANTEM ASINDM 8ARCASMOS.

A prouerbe of old, say well or be styll : Ye are to vnhappy occasyons to t'ynde

Vppon me to clater, or els to say yll.

Now haue I shewyd you part of your proud

mynde ; Take thys in worth, the best is behynde.

Wryten at Croydon by Crowland in the Clay,

On Candelmas euyn, the Kalendas of May. 70

CONTRA ALIUM CANTITANTEM ET OEGANISANTEM ASINUM, QUI IMPUGNABAT SKELTONIDA PIEKIUM, SARCASMOS.

Prceponenda meis non sunt tua plectra camenis,

Nee quantum nostra fistula clara tua est : Scepe licet lyricos modularis arundine psalmos,

Et tremulos calamis concinis ipse modos ; Quamvis mille tuus digitus dat carmine plausus,

Nam tua quam tua vox est mage docta manus ; Quamvis cuncta fads tumida sub mente superbus,

Gratior est Phcebo fistula nostra tamen. Ergo tuum studeas animo deponere fastum,

Et violare sacrum desine, stulte, virum.

Qd Skelton, laureat.

VPPON A DEEDMANS HED. 23

SKELTON LAUREAT,

Vppon a deedmans hed, that was sent to Tiymfrom an honorable jentyllw oman for a token, deuysyd this gostly jnedytacyon in Englysh couenable, in sentence comendable, lamentable, lacrymable,pro- fy table for the soule.

YOURE vgly tokyn My mynd hath brokyn From worldly lust ; For I haue dyscust "We ar but dust, And dy we must.

It is generall To be mortall : I haue well espyde

No man may hym hyde w

From Deth holow eyed, "With synnews wyderyd, With bonys shyderyd, With hys worme etyn maw, And his gastly jaw Gaspyng asyde, Nakyd of hyde, Neyther flesh nor fell.

Then, by my councell, Loke that ye spell a>

Well thys gospell :

24 VPPON A DEEDMAXS HED.

For wher so we dwell Deth wyll us qwell, And with us mell.

For all oure pamperde paunchys, Ther may no f'raunchys, Nor worldly blys, Redeme vs from this : Oure days be datyd, To be chekmatyd With drawttys of deth, Stoppyng oure breth ; Oure eyen synkyng, Oure bodys stynkyng, Oure gummys grynnyng, Oure soulys brynnyng. To whom, then, shall we sew, For to haue rescew, But to swete Jesu, On vs then for to rew ?

O goodly chyld Of Mary mylde, Then be oure shylde ! That we be not exyld To the dyne dale Of boteles bale, Nor to the lake Of fendys blake.

But graunt vs grace To se thy face, And to purchace

WOMANHOD, WANTON, YE WANT. 25

Thyne heuenly place, And thy palace, Full of solace, Aboue the sky, That is so hy ; Eternally To beholde and se The Trynyte !

Amen. «>

Myrres vous y.

WOMANHOD, wanton, ye want ;

Youre medelyng, mastres, is manerles ;

Plente of yll,of goodnes skant, Ye rayll at ryot, recheles : To prayse you re porte it is nedeles ;

For all your draffe yet and youre dreggys,

As well borne as ye full oft tyrae beggys.

Why so koy and full of skorne ?

Myne horse is sold, I wene, you say ; My new furryd gowne, when it is worne,

Put vp youre purs, ye shall non pay.

By crede, I trust to se the day, As proud a pohen as ye sprede, Of me and other ye may haue nede.

26 WOMANHOD, WANTON, TE WANT.

Though angelyk be youre smylyng, Yet is youre tong an adders tayle,

Full lyke a scorpyon styngyng

All those by whom ye haue auayle : Good mastres Anne, there ye do shayle :

What prate ye, praty pyggysny ?

I truste to quyte you or I dy.

Youre key is mete for euery lok,

Youre key is commen and hangyth owte

Youre key is redy, we nede not knok, Nor stand long wrestyng there aboute ; Of youre doregate ye haue no doute :

But one thyng is, that ye be lewde :

Holde youre tong now, all beshrewde !

To mastres Anne, that farly swete,

That wonnes at the Key in Temmys strete.

BALETTYS ETC. 27

Here folowythe dyuers Balettys and Dyties sola- cyous, deuysyd by Master Skelton, Laureat.*

WITH, Lullay, lullay, lyke a chylde, Thou slepyst to long, thou art begylde.

My darlyng dere, my daysy floure,

Let me, quod he, ly in your lap. Ly styll, quod she, my paramoure,

Ly styll hardely, and take a nap.

Hys bed was heuy, such was his hap, All drowsy dremyng, dround in slepe, That of hys loue he toke no kepe,

With, Hey, lullay, &c.

With ba, ba, ba, and bas, bas, bas,

She cheryshed hym both cheke and chyn,

That he wyst neuer where he was ; 10

He had forgoten all dedely syn. He wantyd wyt her loue to wyn :

He trusted her payment, and lost all hys pray : *

She left hym slepying, and stale away, Wyth, Hey, lullay, &c.

* A tract so entitled, of four leaves, n. d. and without print- er's name, but evidently from the press of Pynson, consists of the five following pieces.

lpray\ Qy. "pay"? C.

28 DYUERS BALETTYS AN'O

The ryuers rowth, the waters wan, She sparyd not, to wete her fete ;

She wadyd ouer, she found a man

That halsyd her hartely and kyst her swete : Thus after her cold she cought a hete.

My lefe, she sayd, rowtyth iu hys bed ;

I wys he hath an heuy hed,

Wyth, Hey, lullay, &c.

What dremyst thou, drunchard, drousy pate !

Thy lust and lykyng is from the" gone ; Thou blynkerd blowboll, thou wakyst to late,

Behold, thou lyeste, luggard, alone !

Well may thou sygh, well may thou grone, To dele wyth her so cowardly : I wys, powle hachet, she bleryd thyne I.

Qd Skelton, laureate.

THE auncient acqusuatance, madam, betwen vs

twayn,

The famylyaryte, the formar dalyaunce, Causyth me that I can not myself refrayne

Butthat Irnust wryteformy plesaunt pastaunce : Remembryng your passying goodly counte-

naunce,

Your goodly port, your bewteous visage, Ye may be countyd comfort of all corage.

DYTIES SOLACYOUS. 29

Of all your feturs fauorable to make tru discrip-

cion, I am insuffycyent to make such enterpryse ;

For thus dare I say, without [conjtradiccyon, 10. That dame Menolope was neuer half so wyse : Yet so it is that a rumer begynnyth for to ryse,

How in good horsmen ye set your hole delyght,

And haue forgoten your old trew louyng khyght.

Wyth bound and rebound, bounsyngly take vp Hys jentyll curtoyl, and set nowght by small

naggys

Spur vp at the hynder gyrth, with, Gup, morell,

gup! With, Jayst ye, jenet of Spayne, for your tayll

waggys ! Ye cast all your corage vppon such courtly

haggys. Haue in sergeaunt ferrour, myne horse behynd 20

is bare ; He rydeth well the horse, but he rydeth better

the mare.

Ware, ware, the mare wynsyth wyth her wanton

hele! She kykyth with her kalkyns and keylyth with

a clench ;

She goyth wyde behynde, and hewyth neuer a dele : Ware gallyng in the widders, ware of that wrenche !

30 DYUERS BALETTYS AND

It is perlous for a horseman to dyg in the

trenche. Thys greuyth your husband, that ryght jentyll

knyght, And so with youre seruantys he fersly doth fyght.

So fersly he fytyth, his mynde is so fell,

That he dryuyth them doune with dyntes on

ther day wach ; »

He bresyth theyr braynpannys and makyth them

to swell, Theyre browys all to-brokyn, such clappys they

each ; Whose jalawsy malycyous makyth them to lepe

the hach ; By theyr conusaunce knowing how they serue a

wily py: Ask all your neybours whether that I ly.

It can be no counsell that is cryed at the cros :

For youre jentyll husband sorowfull am I ; How be it, he is not furst hath had a los : Aduertysyng you, madame, to warke more

secretly,

Let not all the world make an owtcry ; «

Play fayre play, madame, and loke ye play clene, Or ells with gret shame your game wylbe sene. Qd Skelton, laureat.

DYTIES SOLACYOUS. 31

KNOLEGE, aquayntance, resort, fauour with grace ;

Delyte, desyre, respyte wyth lyberte ; Corage wyth lust, conuenient tyme and space ;

Dysdayns, dystres, exylyd cruelte ;

Wordys well set with good habylyte ; Demure demenaunce, womanly of porte ; Transendyng plesure, surmountyng all dysporte ;

Allectuary arrectyd to redres

These feuerous axys, the dedely wo and payne Of thoughtfull hertys plungyd in dystres ; 10

Refresshyng myndys the Aprell shoure of rayne ;

Condute of comforte, and well most souerayne ; Herber enverduryd, contynuall fressh and grene ; Of lusty somer the passyng goodly quene ;

The topas rych and precyouse in vertew ;

Your ruddys wyth ruddy rubys may compare ; Saphyre of sadnes, enuayned wyth indy blew ; The pullyshed perle youre whytenes doth

declare ;

Dyamand poyntyd to rase oute hartly care ; Geyne surfetous suspecte the emeraud com- a

endable ; Relucent smaragd, obiecte imcomperable ;

Encleryd myrroure and perspectyue most bryght, Illumynyd wyth feturys far passyng my reporte ;

32 DTUERS BALETTYS AND

Radyent Esperus, star of the clowdy nyght, Lode star to lyght these louers to theyr porte, Gayne dangerous stormy s theyr anker of sup-

porte,

Theyr sayll of solace most comfortably clad, Whych to behold makyth heuy hartys glad :

Remorse haue I of youre most goodlyhod,

Of youre behauoure curtes and benynge, so

Of your bownte and of youre womanhod,

Which makyth my hart oft to lepe and

sprynge, And to remember many a praty thynge ;

But absens, alas, wyth tremelyng fere and drede

Abashyth me, albeit I haue no nede.

You I assure, absens is my fo,

My dedely wo, my paynfull heuynes ;

And if ye lyst to know the cause why so,

Open myne hart, beholde my mynde expres : I wold ye coud ! then shuld ye se, mastres, «

How there nys thynge that I couet so fayne

As to enbrace you in myne armys twayne.

Nothynge yerthly to me more desyrous

Than to beholde youre bewteouse countenaunce :

But, hatefull absens, to me so enuyous,

Though thou withdraw me from her by long

dystaunce, Yet shall she neuer oute of remembraunce ;

DTTIES SOLACYOUS. 33

For I haue grauyd her wythin the secret wall Of my trew hart, to loue her best of all !

Qd Skelton, laureat.

Ouncta licet cecidisse putas discrimina rerum,

Et prius incerta nunc tibi certa manent, Consiliis usure meis tamen aspice caute,

Subdola non f allot te dea fraude sua : Scepe solet placido mortales fallere vultu,

Et cute sub placida tabida scepe dolent ; Ut quando secura putas et cuncta serena,

Anguis sub viridi gramine scepe latet. Though ye suppose all jeperdys ar paste,

And all is done that ye lokyd for before, » Ware yet, I rede you, of Fortunes dowble cast,

For one fals poynt she is wont to kepe in store,

And vnder the fell oft festered is the sore : That when ye thynke all daunger for to pas, Ware of the lesard lyeth lurkyng in the gras. Qd Skelton, laureat.

Go, pytyous hart, rasyd with dedly wo,

Persyd with payn, bleding with wondes smart,

Bewayle thy fortune, with vaynys wan and bio. O Fortune vnfrendly, Fortune vnkynde thow art,

VOL. I. 3

34 DYUERS BALETTY3, ETC.

To be so cruell and so ouerthwart, To suffer me so careful! to endure, That wher I loue best I dare not dyscure !

One ther is, and euer one shalbe,

For whose sake my hart is sore dyseasyd ;

For whose loue, welcom dysease to me ! 10

I am content so all partys be pleasyd : Yet, and God wold, I wold my payne were

But Fortune enforsyth me so carefully to endure, That where I loue best I dare not dyscure.

Skelton, laureat, At the instance of a nobyll lady.

MANERLY MARGERY.

MANERLY MARGERY MYLK AND ALE.*

AY, besherewe yow, be my fay,

This wanton clarkes be nyse all way ;

Avent, avent, my popagay !

What, will ye do no thyng but play ?

Tully valy, strawe, let be, I say !

Gup, Cristian Clowte, gup, Jak of the vale !

With, Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale.

Be God, ye be a praty pode,

And I loue you an hole cart lode.

Strawe, Jamys foder, ye play the fode,

I am no hakney for your rode ;

Go watch a bole, your bak is brode ;

Gup, Cristian Clowte, gup, Jak of the vale !

With, Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale.

* From the Fairfax MS., which formerly belonged to Ralph Thoresby, and now forms part of the Additional MSS. (5465. fol. 109) in the British Museum. It was printed (together with the music,) by Hawkins, Hist, of Music, iii. 2. This song was inserted also in the first edition of Ancient Songs, 1790, p. 100, by Ritson, who observes. — " Since Sir J. Hawkins's transcript was made, the MS. appears to have received certain alterations, occasioned, as it should seem, but certainly not authorised, by the over-scrupulous delicacy of its late or present possessor." p. 102.

36 MANERLY MARGERY.

I wiss ye dele vncurtesly ;

What wolde ye frompill me ? now, fy !

What, and ye shalbe my piggesnye ?

Be Crist, ye shall not, no hardely ;

I will not be japed bodely :

Gup, Oistian Clowte, gup, Jake of the vale!

With, Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale.

Walke forth your way, ye cost me nought ; Now haue I f'owned that I haue sought, The best chepe flessh that euyr I bought. Yet, for His loue that all hath wrought, Wed me, or els I dye for thought ! Gup, Cristian Clowte, your breth is stale ! Go, Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale ! Gup, Cristian Clowte, gup, Jak of the vale ! With, Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 37

HERE BEGYNNETH A LTTELL TREATT8B, NAMED

THE BOWGE OF COURTE.*

THE PROLOGUE TO THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

IN autumpne, whan the sonne in Virgine By radyante hete enrypcd hath our come ;

Whan Luna, full of mutabylyte,

As emperes the dyademe hath worne

Of our pole artyke, smylynge halfe in scorne

At our foly and our vnstedfastnesse ;

The tyme whan Mars to werre hym dyde dres ;

I, callynge to mynde the greate auctoryte Of poetes olde, whyche full craftely,

Vnder as couerte termes as coude be, * 10

Can touche a trouth and cloke it subtylly Wyth fressh'e vtteraunce full sentencyously ;

Dyuerse in style, some spared not vyce to wryte,1

Some of moralyte nobly dyde endyte ;

# From the ed. of Wynkyn de "Worde, n. d., in the Advo- cates' Library, Edinburgh, collated with another ed. by Wynkyn de Worde, n. d., in the Public Library, Cambridge, and with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

1 wryte} Qy. " wyte " (i. e. blame)?

38 THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

Wherby I rede theyr renome and theyr fame Maye neuer dye, bute euermore endure :

I was sore moued to aforce the same,

But Ignoraunce full soone dyde me dyscure, And shewed that in this arte I was not sure ;

For to illumyne, she sayde, I was to dulle, «

Auysynge me my penne alwaye to pulle,

And not wryte ; for he so wyll atteyne Excedynge ferther than his connynge is,

His hede maye be harde, but feble is his brayne, Yet haue I knowen suche er this ; But of reproche surely he maye not mys,

That clymmeth hyer than he may fotynge haue ;

What and he slyde downe, who shall hym saue ?

Thus vp and down my mynde was drawen and cast,

That I ne wyste what to do was beste ; so

So sore enwered, that I was at the laste

Enforsed to slepe and for to take some reste ;

And to lye downe as soone as I me dreste, At Harwyche Porte slumbrynge as I laye, In myne hostes house, called Powers Keye,

Methoughte I sawe a shyppe, goodly of sayle, Come saylynge forth into that hauen brood,

Her takelynge ryche and of hye apparayle : She kyste an anker, and there she laye at rode. Marchauntes her horded to see what she had « lode:

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 39

Therein they founde royall raarchaundyse, Fraghted with plesure of what ye coude deuyse.

But than I thoughte I woulde not dwell behynde Amonge all other I put myselfe in prece.

Than there coude I none aquentaunce fynde : There was moche noyse ; anone one cryed, Cese ! Sharpely comraaundynge eche man holde hys pece:

Maysters, he sayde, the shyp that ye here see,

The Bowge of Courte it hyghte for certeynte :

The owner therof is lady of estate, no

Whoos name to tell is dame Saunce-pere ;

Her marchaundyse is ryche and fortunate,

But whowyllhaue itmustepaye therfore dere; This royall chaffre that is shypped here

Is called Fauore, to stonde in her good grace.

Than sholde ye see there pressynge in a pace

Of one and other that wolde this lady see ; Whiche sat behynde a traues of sylke fyne,

Of golde of tessew the f'ynest that myghte be, In a trone whiche fer clerer dyde shyne « Than Phebus in his spere celestyne ;

Whoos beaute, honoure, goodly porte,

I haue to lytyll connynge to reporte.

But, of eche thynge there as I toke hede, Amonge all other was wrytten in her trone,

40 THE BOWGE OF COTJRTE.

In golde letters, this worde, whiche I dyde rede,

Garder 1 le fortune, que est mauelz et bone !

And, as I stode redynge this verse myselfe allone,

Her chyef gentylwoman, Daunger by her name,

Gaue me a taunte, and sayde I was to blame ro

To be so perte to prese so proudly vppe : She sayde she trowed that I had eten sause ;

She asked yf euer I dranke of saucys cuppe. And I than softly answered to that clause, That, so to saye, I had gyuen her no cause.

Than asked she me, Syr, so God the spede,

What is thy name ? and I sayde, it was Drede/

What mouyd the, quod she, hydder to come ? Forsoth, quod I, to bye some of youre ware.

And with that worde on me she gaue a glome « With browes bente, and gan on me to stare Full daynnously, and fro me she dyde fare,

Leuynge me stondynge as a mased man :

To whome there came an other gentylwoman ;

Desyre her name was, and so she me tolde, Sayenge to me, Broder, be of good chere,

Abasshe you not, but hardely be bolde,

Auaunce yourselfe to aproche and come nere : What though our chaffer be neuer so dere,

Yet I auyse you to speke, for ony drede : so

Who spareth to speke, in fayth he spareth to spede. i Carder] Marshe's ed. " Garde." Qy. " Gardezt "

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 41

Maystres, quocl I, I haue none aquentaunce, That wyll for me be medyatoure and mene ;

And this an other, I haue but smale substaunce. Pece, quod Desyre, ye speke not worth a bene : Yf ye haue not, in fayth I wyll you lene

A precyous Jewell, no rycher in this londe ;

Bone Auenture haue here now in your honde.

Shyfte now therwith, let see, as ye can,

In Bowge of Courte cheuysaunce to make ; 100

For I dare saye that there nys erthly man But, an x he can Bone Auenture take, There cau no fauour nor frendshyp hym forsake ;

Bone Auenture may brynge you in suche case

That ye shall stonde in fauoure and in grace.

But of one thynge I werne you er 2 I goo,

She that styreth the shyp, make her your frende.

Maystres, quod I, I praye you tell me why soo, And how I maye that waye'and meanes fynde. Forsothe, quod she, how euer blowe the no wynde

Fortune gydeth and ruleth all oure shyppe :

Whome she hateth shall ouer the see boorde skyp ;

Whome she loueth, of all plesyre is ryche,

Whyles she laugheth and hath luste for to playe ; Whome she hateth, she casteth in the dyche,

1 an] W. de Worde's ed. P. L. C., and Marshe'sed. "and."

2 er] W. de Worde's ed. P. L. C., "or."

42 THE BOWGE OF COTJRTE.

For whan she frouneth, she thynketh to make

a fray ; She cheryssheth him, and hym she casseth a

awaye.

Alas, quod I, how myghte I haue her sure ? In fayth, quod she, by Bone Auenture.

Thus, in a rowe, of martchauntes a grete route i» Suwed to Fortune that she wold be theyre frynde :

They thronge in fast, and flocked her aboute ; And I with them prayed her to haue in mynde. She promysed to vs all she wolde be kynde :

Of Bowge of Court she asketh what we wold haue ;

And we asked Fauoure, and Fauour she vs gaue.

Thus endeth the Prologue ; and hegynneth the Bowge of Courte breuely compyled.

The sayle is vp, Fortune ruleth our helme, We wante no wynd to passe now ouer all ;

Fauoure we haue tougher than ony elme,

That wyll abyde and neuer from vs fall : is But vnder hony ofte tyme lyeth bytter gall ;

For, as me thoughte, in our shyppe I dyde see

Full subtyll persones, in nombre foure and thre.

i ccasedi] W. de Worde's ed. P. L. C., " casteth." Marshe'a ed. "chasseth."

THE BOWGE OP COURTE. 43

The fyrste was Fauell, full of flatery,

Wyth fables 'false that well coude fayne a

tale;

The seconde was Suspecte, whiche that dayly Mysdempte eche man, with face deedly and

pale ; And Haruy Hafter^that well coude picke a

male ;

With other foure of theyr affynyte, Dysdayne, Ryotte, Dyssymuler, Subtylte. MO

Fortune theyr frende, with whome oft she dyde

daunce ; They coude not faile, thei thought, they were

so sure ;

And oftentymes I wolde myselfe auaunce With them to make solace and pleasure ; But my dysporte they coude not well en- dure ;

They sayde they hated for to dele with Drede. Than Fauell gan wyth fayre speche me to fede.

FAUELL.

Noo thynge erthely that I wonder so sore As of your connynge, that it is so excellent ;

Deynte to haue with vs suche one in store, iso So vertuously that hath his dayes spente : Fortune to you gyftes of grace hath lente :

Loo, what it is a man to haue connynge !

All erthly tresoure it is surmountynge.

^Hafter] Eds. "Raster." See notes.

44 THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

Ye be an apte man, as ony can be founde,

To dwell with vs, and serue rny ladyes grace ;

Ye be to her yea worth a thousande pounde ; I herde her speke of you within shorte space, Whan there were dyuerse that sore dyde you manace ;

And, though I say it, I was myselfe your frende,

For here be dyuerse to you that be vnkynde. i«»

But this one thynge ye maye be sure of me ; For, by that Lorde that bought dere all man-

kynde, I can not flater, I muste be playne to the* ;

And ye nede ought, man, shewe to me your

mynde,

For ye haue me whome faythfull ye shall fynde ; Whyles I haue ought, by God, thou shall not

lacke, And yf nede be, a bolde worde I dare cracke.

Nay, naye, be sure, whyles I am on your syde, Ye maye not fall, truste me, ye maye not wo

fayle;

Ye stonde in fauoure, and Fortune is your gyde, .And, as she wyll, so shall our grete shyppe

sayle:^ Thyse lewde cok wattes shall neuermore pre-

uayle

Ageynste you hardely, therfore lie not afrayde : Farewell tyll soone ; but no worde that I sayde.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 45 DREDE.

Than thanked I hym for his grete gentylnes : But, as me thoughte, he ware on hym a cloke,

That lyned was with doubtfull doiiblenes ;

Me thoughte, of wordes that he had full a poke ; His stomak stuffed ofte tymes dyde reboke : iso

Suspycyon, me thoughte, mette hym at a brayde,

And I drewe nere to herke what they two sayde.

In faythe, quod Suspecte, spake Drede no worde

of me? Why, what than? wylte thou lete men to

^speke ?

He sayth, he can not well accorde with the". Twyst,1 quod Suspecte, goo playe, hym I ne

reke. By Cryste, quod Fauell, Drede is soleyne

freke :

What lete vs holde him vp, man, for a whyle ? Ye soo, quod Suspecte, he maye vs bothe begyle.

And whan he came walkynge soberly, tw

Wyth whom and ha, and with a croked loke,

Me thoughte, his hede was full of gelousy, His eyne rollynge, his hondes faste they

quoke ; And to me warde the strayte waye he toke :

i Taytl] W. de Worde's ed. P. L. C., " Whist." Marshe's ed. " Twysshe."

4b THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

God spede, broder ! to me quod he than ; And thus to talke with me he began.

STJSPYCYON.

Ye remembre the gentylman ryghte nowe

That commaunde with you, me thought, a party

space ? 1 Beware of him, for, I make God auowe,

He wyll begyle you and speke fayre to your

face ;

Ye neuer dwelte in suche an other place, 201 For here is none that dare well other truste ; But I wolde telle you a thynge, and I durste.

Spake he a fayth no worde to you of me ?

• I wote, and he dyde, ye wolde me telle.

I haue a fauoure to you, wherof it be

That I muste shewe you moche of my counselle : But I wonder what the deuyll of helle

He sayde of me, whan he with you dyde talke :

By myne auyse vse not with him to walke. «">

The soueraynst thynge that ony man maye haue, Is lytyll to saye, and moche to here and see ;

For, but I trusted you, so God me saue, I wolde noo thynge so playne be ; To you,oonly, me thynke, I durste shryue me ;

i a party space] So W. de Worde's ed. P. L. C. Other eds. ' a party spake." Qy. " &praty (pretty) space? "

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 47

For now am I plenarely dysposed To shewe you thynges that may not be dis closed.

Than I assured hym my fydelyte,

His counseyle secrete neuer to dyscure,

Yf he coude fynde in herte to truste me ; 220

Els I prayed hym, with all my besy cure, To kepe it hymselfe, for than he myghte be sure

That noo man erthly coude hym bewreye,

Whyles of hys mynde it were lockte with the keye.

By God, quod he, this and thus it is ;

And of his mynde he shewed me all and some. Farewell, quod he, we wyll talke more of this :

Soo he departed there he wolde be come.

I dare not speke, I promysed to be dome : But, as I stode musynge in my mynde, 230

Haruy Hafter came lepynge, lyghte as lynde.

Vpon his breste he bare a versynge boxe ;

His throte was clere, and lustely coude fayne ;

Me thoughte, his gowne was all furred wyth foxe ;

And euer he sange, Sythe I am no thynge

playne. To kepe him frome pykyng it was a grete

payne :

He gased on me with his gotyshe berde ; Whan I loked on hym, my purse was half aferde.

48 THE BOWGE OF CODKTE. HARUY HAFTEK.

Syr, God you saue ! why loke ye so sadde ? What thynge is that I maye do for you ? •*«

A wonder thynge that ye waxe not madde ! For, and I studye sholde as ye doo no\ve, My wytte wolde waste, I make God auowe.

Tell me your mynde : me thynke, ye make a verse ;

I coude it skan, and ye wolde it reherse.

But to the poynte shortely to precede,

Where hathe your dwellynge ben, er ye cam here ?

For, as I trowe, I haue sene you indede

Er this, whan that ye made me royall chere. Holde vp the helme, loke vp, and lete God stere :

I wolde be mery, what wynde that euer blowe, «si

Heue and how rombelow, row the bote, Norman,

Prynces of yougthe can ye synge by rote ? Or shall I sayle wyth you a felashyp assaye ;

For on the booke I can not synge a note.

Wolde to God, it wolde please you some daye A balade boke before me for to laye,

And lerne me to synge, Re, my, fa, sol !

And, whan I fayle, bobbe me on the noil.

Loo, what is to you a pleasure grete, *»

To haue that connynge and wayes that ye haue !

THE BOWGE OP COURTE. 49

By Goddis soule, I wonder how ye gete

Soo greate pleasyre, or who to you it gaue : Syr, pardone me, I am an homely knaue,

To be with you thus perte and thus bolde ;

But ye be welcome to our housholde.

And, I dare saye, there is no man here inne But wolde be glad of your company :

I wyste neuer man that so soone coude wynne The fauoure that ye haue with my lady ; 270 I praye to God that it maye neuer dy :

It is your fortune for to haue that grace ;

As I be saued, it is a wonder case.

For, as for me, I serued here many a daye, And yet vnneth I can haue my lyuynge :

But I requyre you no worde that I saye ; For, and I knowe ony erthly thynge That is agayne you, ye shall haue wetynge : ' And ye be welcome, syr, so God me saue :

I hope here after a frende of you to haue. a»

DREDE.

Wyth that, as he departed soo fro me,

Anone ther mette with him, as me thoughte, A man, but wonderly besene was he ;

He loked hawte, he sette eche man at

noughte ; His gawdy garment with scornnys was all

wrought ; VOL. i. 4

50 THE BOWGE OP COURTE.

With indygnacyon lyned was his hode ; He frowned, as he wolde swere by Cockes blode;

He bote the lyppe, he loked passynge coye ; His face was belymmed, as byes had him stounge :

It was no tyme with him to jape nor toye ; 29* Enuye hathe wasted his lyuer and his lounge, Hatred by the herte so had hym wrounge,

That he loked pale as asshes to my syghte :

Dysdayne, I wene, this comerous crabes hyghte.

To Heruy Hafter than he spake of me,

And I drewe nere to harke what they two sayde.

Now, quod Dysdayne, as I shall saued be, I haue grete scorne, and am ryghte euyll

apayed. Than quod Heruy, why arte thou so dysmayde ?

By Cryste, quod he, for it is shame to saye ; 300

To see Johan Dawes, that came but yester daye,

How he is now taken in conceyte,

This doctour Dawcocke, Drede, I wene, he

hyghte : By Goddis bones, but yf we haue som sleyte,

It is lyke he wyll stonde in our lyghte.

By God, quod Heruy, and it so happen myghte ;. Lete vs therfore shortely at a worde Fynde some mene to caste him ouer the borde.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 51

By Him that me boughte, than quod Dysdayne, I wonder sore he is in suche conceyte. su

Turde, quod Hafter, I wyll the* no thynge layne, There muste for hym be layde some prety beyte ;' We tweyne, I trowe, be not withoute dysceyte :

Fyrste pycke a quarell, and fall oute with hym then,

And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.

Forthwith he made on me a prowde assawte, With scornfull loke meuyd all in moode ;

He wente aboute to take me in a fawte ;

He frounde, he stared, he stampped where he

stoode. I lokyd on hym, I wende he had be woode. a»

He sent the arme proudly vnder the syde;

And in this wyse he gan with me to chyde.

DISDAYNE.

Remembrest thou what thou sayd yester nyght ? Wylt thou abyde by the wordes agayne ?

By God, I haue of the now grete dyspyte ; I shall the angre ones in euery vayne : It is greate scorne to see suche an hayne

As thou arte, one that cam but yesterdaye,

With vs olde seruauntes suche rnaysters to playe.

I tell the, I am of countenaunce : sao

What weneste I were ? I trowe, thou knowe not me.

52 THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

By Goddis woundes, but for dysplesaunce, Of my querell soone wolde I venged be : But no force, I shall ones mete with the" ;

Come whan it wyll, oppose the I shall,

What someuer auenture therof fall.

Trowest thou, dreuyll, I saye, thou gawdy knaue, That I haue deynte to see the* cherysshed thus ?

By Goddis syd, my sworde thy berde shall shaue ; Well, ones thou shalte be chermed, I wus : 340 Naye, strawe for tales, thou shalte not rule vs ;

We be thy betters, and so thou shalte vs take,

Or we shall the* oute of thy clothes shake.

DBEDE.

Wyth that came Ryotte, russhynge all at ones, A rusty gallande, to-ragged and to-rente ;

And on the borde he whyrled a payre of bones, Quater ireye dews he clatered as he wente ; Now haue at all, by saynte Thomas of Kente !

And euer he threwe and kyst I wote nere what :

His here was growen thorowe oute his hat. 350

Thenne I behelde how he dysgysed was :

His hede was heuy for watchynge ouer nyghte,

His even blereed, his face shone lyke a glas ; His gowne so shorte that it ne couer myghte His rumpe, he wente so all for somer lyghte ;

His hose was garded wyth a lyste of grene,

Yet at the knee they were broken, I wene.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 53

His cote was checked with patches rede and blewe ;

Of Kyrkeby Kendall was his shorte demye ; And ay he sange, In fayth, decon thou crewe ; 360

His elbowe bare, he ware his gere so nye ;

His nose a droppynge, his lyppes were full drye ; And by his syde his whynarde and his pouche, The deuyll myghte daunce therin for ony crowche.

Counter he coude 0 lux vpon a potte ; An eestryche fedder of a capons tayle

He set vp fresshely vpon his hat alofte :

What,reuell route! quod he, and gan to rayle How oft he hadde hit Jenet on the tayle,

Of Felyce fetewse, and lytell prety Gate, sro

How ofte he knocked at her klycked gate.

What sholde I tell more of his rebaudrye ? I was ashamed so to here hym prate :

He had no pleasure but in harlotrye. Ay, quod he, in the deuylles date, What art thou ? I sawe the nowe but late.

Forsothe, quod I, in this courte I dwell nowe.

Welcome, quod Ryote, I make God auowe.

RTOTE.

And, syr, in fayth why comste not vs amonge, To make the mery, as other felowes done ? sso

Thou muste swere anJ stare, man, al daye longe, And wake all nyghte, and slepe tyll it be none ; Thou mayste not studye, or muse on the mone ;

54 THE BOWGE OF COURTS.

This worlde is nothynge but ete, drynke, and slepe, And thus with vs good company to kepe.

Plucke vp thyne herte vpon a mery pyne,

And lete vs laugh a placke or tweyne at nale :

What the deuyll, man, myrthe was neuer one ! What, loo, man, see here of dyce a bale ! A brydelynge caste for that is in thy male ! 390

Now haue at all that lyeth vpon the burde !

Fye on this dyce, they be not worth a. turde !

Haue at the hasarde, or at the dosen browne,

Or els I pas a peny to a pounde ! Now, wolde to God, thou wolde leye money downe !

Lorde, how that I wolde caste it full rounde !

Ay, in my pouche a buckell I haue founde ! The armes of Calyce, I haue no coyne nor crosse ! I am not happy, I renne ay on the losse.

Now renne muste I to the stewys syde, 400

To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte :

I lete her to hyre, that men maye on her ryde, Her armes easy ferre and nere is soughte : By Goddis sydes, syns I her thyder broughte,

She hath gote me more money with her tayle

Than hath some shyppe that into Bordews sayle.

i placke] Marshe's ed. " plucke," — perhaps the right read- ing.

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 55

Had I as good an hors as she is a mare,

I durst auenture to iourney through Fraunce ;

Who rydeth on her, he nedeth not to care,

For she is trussed for to breke a launce ; «« It is a curtel that well can wynche and praunce :

To her wyll I nowe all my pouerte lege ;

And, tyll I come, haue here is myne hat to plege.

DEEDE.

Gone is this knaue, this rybaude foule and leude ;

He ran as fast as euer that he myghte : Vnthryftynes in hyrn may well be shewed,

For whome Tyborne groneth both daye and nyghte.

And, as I stode and kyste asyde my syghte, Dysdayne I sawe with Dyssymulacyon Standynge in sadde communicacion. «o

But there was poyntynge and noddynge with the

hede,

And many wordes sayde in secrete wyse ; They wandred ay, and stode styll in no stede : Me thoughte, alwaye Dyscymular dyde deuyse ; Me passynge sore myne herte than gan agryse,1 I dempte and drede theyr talkynge was not

good. A.none Dyscymular came where I stode.

i agryse] Eds. " aryse." See notes.

56 THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

Than in his hode I sawe there faces tweyne ; That one was lene and lyke a pyned goost,

That other loked as he wolde me haue slayne ; *ao And to me warde as he gan for to coost, Whan that he was euen at me almoost,

I sawe a knyfe hyd in his one sleue,

Wheron was wryten this worde, Myscheue.

And in his other sleue, me thought, I sawe A spone of golde, full of hony swete,

To fede a fole, and for to preue a dawe ; And on that sleue these wordes were wrete, A false abstracte comethfrom afals concrete:

His hode was syde, his cope was roset graye : «c

Thyse were the wordes that he to me dyde saye.

DYSSYMULATION.

How do ye, mayster ? ye loke so soberly : As I be saued at the dredefull daye,

It is a perylous vyce, this enuy :

Alas, a connynge man ne dwelle maye

In no place well, but foles with hym fraye !

But as for that, connynge hath no foo

Saue hym that nought can, Scrypture sayth soo.

I knowe your vertu and your lytterature

By that lytel connynge that I haue : <«

Ye be malygned sore, I you ensure ;

But ye haue crafte your selfe alwaye to saue : It is grete scorne to se a mysproude knaue

THE BOWGE OF COURTE. 57

With a clerke that conuynge is to prate : ^Lete theym go lowse theym, in the deuylles date !

For all be it that this longe not to me,

Yet on my backe I bere suche lewde delynge :

Ryghte now I spake with one, I trowe, I see ; But, what, a strawe ! I maye not tell all thynge. By God, I saye there is grete herte brennynge

Betwene the persone ye wote of, you ; «i

Alas, I coude not dele so with a Jew !

I 'wolde eche man were as playne as I ; It is a worlde, I saye, to here of some ;

I hate this faynynge, fye vpon it, fye ! A man can not wote where to be come : I wys I coude tell, — but humlery, home ;

I dare not speke, we be so layde awayte,

For all our courte is full of dysceyte. ««>

Now, by saynte Fraunceys, that holy man and

frere, I hate these wayes agayne you that they take :

"Were I as you, I wolde ryde them full nere ; And, by my trouthe,'b"ut yf an ende they make, Yet wyll I saye some wordes for your sake,

That shall them angre, I holde thereon a grote ;

For some shall wene be hanged by the throte.

I haue a stoppynge oyster in my poke, Truste me, and yf it come to a nede :

58 THE BOWGE OF COURTE.

But I am lothe for to reyse a smoke, Yf ye coude be otherwyse agrede ; «o

And so I wolde it were, so God me spede, For this maye brede to a confusyon, Withoute God make a good conclusyon.

Naye, see where yonder stondeth the teder man !

A flaterynge knaue and false he is, God wote ; The dreuyll stondeth to herken, and he can :

It were more thryft, he boughte him a newe cote ;

It will not be, his purse is not on flote : All that he wereth, it is borowed ware ; His wytte is thynne, his hode is threde bare. «o

More coude I saye, but what this is ynowe : Adewe tyll soone, we shall speke more of this :

Ye muste be ruled as I shall tell you howe ; Amendis maye be of that is now amys ; And I am your, syr, so haue I blys,

In euery poynte that I can do or saye ;

Gyue me your honde, farewell, and haue good daye.

DREDE.

Sodaynly, as he departed me fro,

Came pressynge in one in a wonder araye :

Er I was ware, behynde me he sayde, Bo ! so" Thenne I, astonyed of that sodeyne fraye, Sterte all at ones, I lyked no thynge his playe ;

THE BOWGE OF COUBTE. 59

For, yf I had not quyckely fledde the touche, He had plucte oute the nobles of my pouche.

He was trussed in a garmente strayte : I haue not sene suche an others page ;

For he coude well vpon a casket wayte ;

His hode all pounsed and garded lyke a cage ; Lyghte lyme fynger, he toke none other wage.

Harken, quod he, loo here myne honde in thyne ;

To vs welcome thou arte, by saynte Quyntyne. sn

DISCEYTE.

But, by that Lorde that is one, two, and thre, I haue an errande to rounde in your ere :

He tolde me so, by God, ye maye truste me, Parte 1 remembre whan ye were there, There I wynked on you, — wote ye not where ?

In A loco, I menejuxta B :

Woo is hym that is blynde and maye not see !

But to here the subtylte and the crafte,

As I shall tell you, yf ye wyll harke agayne ; 520

And, whan I sawe the horsons wolde you hafte, To holde myne honde, by God, I had grete

payne ; For forthvvyth there I had him slayne,

But that I drede mordre wolde come oute :

Who deleth with shrewes hath nede to loke aboute.

i Parte] Qy. " Parde " (Par dieu—m sooth) ?

60 THE BOWGE OF COURTE. DBEDE.

And as he rounded thus in myne ere Of false collusyon confetryd by assente,

Me thoughte, I see lewde felawes here and there Came for to slee me of mortall entente ; 529 And, as they came, the shypborde faste I hente,

And thoughte to lepe ; and euen with that woke,

Caughte penne and ynke, and wrote thys lytyll boke.

I wolde therwith no man were myscontente ;

Besechynge you that shall it see or rede, In euery poynte to be indyfferente,

Syth all in substaunce of slumbrynge doth pro- cede :

I wyll not saye it is mater in dede, But yet oftyme suche dremes be fouude trewe : Now constrewe ye what is the resydewe.

Thus endeth the Bowge of Courte.

PHTLLTP SPAROWE. 61

HERE AFTER FOLOWETH THE BOKE OF

PHYLLYP SPAROWE.

COMPYLED BY MAYSTER SKELTON, POETE LAUREATE.*

Pla ce bo,

Who is there, who ? Di le xi, Dame Margery ; Fa, re, my, my, Wherfore and why, why ? For the sowle of Philip Sparowe, That was late slayn at Carowe, Among the Nones Blake, For that swete soules sake, »o

And for all sparowes soules, Set in our bederolles, Pater noster qui, With an Ave Mari, And with the corner of a Crede, The more shalbe your mede. Whan I remember agayn How mi Philyp was slayn,

* From the ed. by Kele, n. d., collated with that by Kitson, n. d. (which in some copies is said to be printed by Weale,) and with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's WwTces, 1568.

62 PHYLLTP SPAROWE.

/ /

Neuerhajfe the payne Was betwene you twayne, Pyramtis and Thesbe, As than befell to me : I wept and I wayled, The tearys downe hayled ; But nothynge it auayled To call Phylyp agayne, Whom Gyb our cat hath slayne.

Gib, I saye, our cat Worrowyd her on that Which I loued best : It can not be exprest My sorrowfull heuynesse, But all without redresse ; For within that stounde, Halfe slumbrynge, in a sounde I fell downe to the grounde.

Vnneth I kest myne eyes Towarde the cloudy skyes : But whan I dyd beholde My sparow dead and colde, No creatuer but that wolde Haue rewed vpon me, To behold and se What heuynesse dyd me pange ; Wherewith my handes I wrange, That my senaws cracked, As though I had been racked,

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 63

So payned and so strayned, That no lyfe wellnye remayned.

I syghed and I sobbed, so

For that I was robbed Of my sparowes lyfe. 0 mayden, wydow, and wyfe, Of what estate ye be, Of hye or lowe degre, Great sorowe than ye myght se And lerne to wepe at me ! Such paynes dyd me frete, That myne hert dyd bete, My vysage pale and dead, «

Wanne, and blewe as lead ; The panges of hatefull death Wellnye had stopped my breath.

Jfeu, /ieu, me, That I am wo for the" ! Ad Dominum, cum tribularer, clamavi : Of God nothynge els craue I But Phyllypes soule to kepe From the marees deepe Of Acherontes well, 70

That is a node of hell ; And from the great Pluto, The prynce of endles wo ; And from foule Alecto, With vysage blacke and bio ; And from Medusa, that mare, That lyke a fende doth stare :

64 PHYLLTP SPAROWE.

And from Megeras edders, For rufflynge of Phillips fathers, And from her fyry sparklynges, For burnynge of his wynges ; And from the smokes sowre Of Proserpinas bowre ; And from the dennes darke, Wher Cerberus doth barke, Whom Theseus dyd afraye, Whom Hercules dyd outraye, As famous poetes say ; From that hell hounde, That lyeth in cheynes bougie, With gastly hedes thre, To Jupyter pray- we That Phyllyp preserued may be ! Amen, say ye with me !

Do mi nus,

Helpe nowe, swete Jesus ! Levavi oculos meos in monies : Wolde God I had Zenophontes, Or Socrates the wyse, To shew me their deuyse, Moderatly to take This sorow that I make For Phyllip Sparowes sake ! So feruently I shake, I fele my body quake ; So vrgently I am brought Into carefull thought.

PHYLLTP SPAJIOWE. 65

Like Andromach, Hectors wyfe,

Was wery of her lyfe,

Whan she had lost her ioye, uo

Noble Hector of Troye ;

In lyke maner also

Encreaseth my dedly wo,

For my sparovve is go.

It was so prety a fole, It wold syt on a stole, And lerned after my scole For to kepe his cut, With, Phyllyp, kepe your cut !

It had a veluet cap, 120

And wold syt vpon my lap, And seke after small wormes, And somtyme white bred crommes ; And many tymes and ofte Betwene my brestes softe It wolde lye and rest ; It was propre and prest.

Somtyme he wolde gaspe Whan he sawe a waspe ; A fly or a gnat, iso

He wolde flye at that ; And prytely he wold pant Whan he saw an ant ; Lord, how he wolde pry After the butterfly ! Lorde, how he wolde hop After the gressop !

VOL. I. 5

PHYLLYP SFAROWE.

And whan I sayd, Phyp, Phyp, Than he wold lepe and skyp, And take 'me by the lyp. Alas, it wyll me slo, That Phillyp is gone me fro !

Sin in i qui ta tes Alas, I was euyll at ease ! De pro fun dis da ma vi, Whan I sawe my sparowe dye !

Nowe, after my dome, Dame Sulpicia at Rome, Whose name regystered was For euer in tables of bras, Because that she dyd pas In poesy to endyte, And eloquently to wryte, Though she wolde pretende My sparowe to commende, I trowe she coude not amende Reportynge the vertues all Of my sparowe royall.

For it wold come and go, And fly so to and fro ; And on me it wolde lepe Whan I was aslepe, And his fethers shake, Wherewith he wolde make Me often for to wake, And for to take him in Vpon my naked skyn ;

PHYLLYP SPAKOWE. 67

God wot, we thought no syn : \

What though he crept so lowe ?

It was not hurt, I trowe, >»

He dyd nothynge perde

But syt vpon my kne :

Phyllyp, though he were nyse,

In him it was no vyse ;

Phyllyp had leue to go

To pyke my lytell too ;

Phillip myght be bolde

And do what he wolde ;

Phillip wolde seke and take

All the flees blake "»

That he coulde there espye

With his wanton

Opera, La, soil, fa, fa,

Confitebor tibi, Domine, in toto corde meo. Alas, I wold ryde and go A thousand myle of grounde ! If any such might be found, It were worth an hundreth pound Of kynge Cresus golde, '

Or of At talus the olde, The ryche prynce of Pargame, Who so lyst the story to se. Cadmus, that his syster sought, And he shold be bought For golde and fee, He shuld ouer the see,

68 PHYLLTP SPAKOWE.

To wete if he coulde brynge

Auy of the ofsprynge,

Or any of the blode.

But whoso vnderstode

Of Medeas arte,

I wolde I had a parte

Of her crafty magyke !

My sparowe than shuld be quycke

With a charme or twayne,

And playe with me agayne.

But all this is in vayne

Thus for to coraplayne.

I toke my sampler ones, Of purpose, for the nones, To sowe with stytchis of sylke My sparow whyte as mylke, That by representacyon Of his image and facyon, To me it myght importe Some pleasure and comforte For my solas and sporte : But whan I was sowing his beke, Methought my sparow did speke. And opened his prety byll, Saynge, Mayde, ye are in wyll Agayne me for to kyll, Ye prycke me in the head ! With that my nedle waxed red, Methought, of Phyllyps blode ; Myne hear ryght vpstode,

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. by

And was in suche a fray,

My speche was taken away.

I kest downe that there was, 230

And sayd, Alas, alas,

How commeth this to pas ?

My fyngers, dead and colde,

Coude not my sampler holde ;

My nedle and threde

I threwe away for drede.

The best now that I maye,

Is for his soule to pray :

Aporta inferi,

Good Lorde, haue mercy 240

Vpon my sparovves soule,

Wryten in my bederoule !

Au di vi vo cem, Japhet, Cam, and Sem, Ma gnifi cat, Shewe me the ryght path To the hylles of Armony, Wherfore the birdes l yet cry Of your fathers bote,

That was sometyme aflote, 250

And nowe they lye arid rote ; Let some poetes wryte Deucalyons flode it hyght : But as verely as ye be The naturall sonnes thre

i birdes] So other eds. Kele's ed. " bordes," -which, per- haps, is the right reading. See notes.

70 PHYLLYP SPAR OWE.

Of Noe the patryarke, That made that great arke, Wherin he had apes and owles, Beestes, byrdes, and foules, That if ye can fynde Any of my sparowes kynde, God send the soule good rest ! I wolde haue yet a nest As prety and as prest As my sparowe was. But my sparowe dyd pas All the sparows of the wode , That were syns Noes flode, Was neuer none so good ; Kynge Phylyp of Macedony Had no such Phylyp as I, No, no, syr, hardely.

That vengeaunce I aske and crye, By way of exclamacyon, On all the hole nacyon Of cattes wylde and tame ; God send them sorowe and shame ! That cat specyally That slew so cruelly My lytell prety sparowe That I brought vp at Carowe.

0 cat of carlyshe kynde, The fynde was in thy mynde Whan thou my byrde vntwynde I I wold thou haddest ben blynde !

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 71

The leopardes sauage,

The lyons in theyr rage,

Myght catche the in theyr pawes,

And gnawe the in theyr iawes !

The serpentes of Lybany **>

Myght stynge the venymously !

The dragones with their tonges

Might poyson thy lyuer aud longes !

The mantycors of the mountaynes

Myght fede them on thy braynes !

Melanchates, that hounde That plucked Acteon to the grounde, Gaue hym his mortall wounde, Chaunged to a dere,

The story doth appere, *»

Was chaunged to an harte : So thou, foule cat that thou arte, The selfe same hounde Myght the confounde, That his owne lord bote, Myght byte asondre thy throte !

Of Inde the gredy grypes Myght tere out all thy trypes ! Of Arcady the beares

Might plucke awaye thyne eares ! 310

The wylde wolfe Lycaon Byte asondre thy backe bone ! Of Ethna the brennynge hyll, That day and night brenneth styl Set in thy tayle a blase,

72 PHYLLYP SPAROWE.

That all the world may gase

And wonder vpon the,

From Occyan Ihe greate se

Vnto the lies of Orchady,

From Tyllbery fery

To the playne of Salysbery !

So trayterously my byrde to kyll

That neuer ought the euyll wyll !

Was neuer byrde in cage More gentle of corage In doynge his homage Vnto his souerayne. Alas, I say agayne, Deth hath departed vs twayne ! The false cat hath the slayne : Farewell, Phyllyp, adew ! Our Lorde thy soule reskew ! Farewell without restore, Farewell for euermore !

And it were a Jewe, It wolde make one rew, To se my sorow new. These vylanous false cattes Were made for myse and rattes, And not for byrdes smale. Alas, my face waxeth pale, Tellynge this pyteyus tale, How my byrde so fayre, That was wont to repayre, And go in at my spay re,

PHTLLYP SPAROWE. 73

And crepe in at my gore l

Of my gowne before,

Flyckerynge with his wynges !

Alas, my hert it stynges,

Kemembrynge prety ihynges ! aso

Alas, myne hert it sleth

My Phyllyppes dolefull deth,

Whan I remembre it,

How pretely it wolde syt,

Many'tymes and ofte

Vpon my fynger aloft !

I played with him tjrttell tattyll,

And fed him with my spattyl,

With his byll betwene my lippes ;

It was my prety Phyppes ! aso

Many a prety kusse

Had I of his swete musse ;

And now the cause is thus,

That he is slayne me fro,

To my great payne and wo.

Of fortune this the chaunce Standeth on varyaunce : Oft tyme after pleasaunce Trouble and greuaunce ; No man can be sure sro

Allway to haue pleasure :

l Kitson's ed. ;

" And often at my spayre And gape in at my gore"

74 PHYLLYP SPAKOWE.

As well perceyue ye maye How my dysport and play From me was taken away By Gyb, our cat sauage, That in a furyous rage Caught Phyllyp by the head, And slew him there starke dead. Kyrie, eleison, Christe, eleison, Kyrie, eleison ! For Phylyp Sparowes soule, Set in our bederolle, Let vs now whysper A Pater noster.

Lauda, anima mea, Dominum ! To wepe with me loke that ye come, All manner of byrdes in your kynd ; Se none be left behynde. To mornynge loke that ye fall With dolorous songes funerall, Some to synge, and some to say, Some to wepe, and some to pray, Euery byrde in his laye. The goldfynche, the waglayle ; The ianglynge iay to rayle, The fleckyd pye to chatter Of this dolorous mater ; And robyn redbrest, He shall be the preest The requiem masse to synge,

PHYLLYP SPAKOWE. 75

Softly warbelynge,

With helpe of the red sparow,

And the chattrynge swallow,

This herse for to halow ;

The larke with his longe to ;

The spynke, and the martynet also;

The shouelar with his brode bek ;

The doterell, that folyshe pek,

And also the mad coote, «o

With a balde face to toote ;

The feldefare, and the snyte ;

The crowe, and the kyte ;

The rauyn, called Rolfe,

His playne songe to solfe ;

The partryche, the quayle ;

The plouer with vs to wayle ;

The woodhacke, that syngeth chur

Horsly, as he had the mur ;

The lusty chauntyng nyghtyngale ; *»

The popyngay to tell her tale,

That toteth oft in a glasse,

Shal rede the Gospell at masse ;

The mauys with her whystell

Shal rede there the pystell.

But with a large and a longe

To kepe iust playne songe,

Our chaunters shalbe the cuckoue,

The culuer, the stockedovvue,

With puwyt the lapwyng, 430

The versycles shall syng.

76 PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

The bitter with his bumpe, The crane with his trumpe, The swan of Menander, The gose and the gander, The ducke and the drake, Shall watche at this wake ; The pecocke so prowde, Bycause his voyce is lowde, And hath a glorious tayle, He shall syng the grayle ; The owle, that is so foule, Must helpe vs to houle ; The heron so gaunce, And the cormoraunce, "With the fesaunte, And the gaglynge gaunte, And the churlysshe chowgh ; The route and the kowgh ; The barnacle, the bussarde, With the wilde mallarde ; The dyuendop to slepe ; The water hen to wepe ; The puffin and the tele Money they shall dele To poore folke at large, That shall be theyr charge ; The seraewe and the tytmose ; The wodcocke with the longe nose The threstyl with her warblyng ; The starlyng with her brablyng ;

PHYLLYP SFAUOWE. 77

The roke, with the ospraye That putteth fysshes to a fraye ; And the denty curlewe, With the turtyll most trew.

At this Placebo We may not well forgo The countrynge of the coe : The storke also,

That maketh his nest <ro

In chymneyes to rest ; Within those walles No broken galles May there abyde Of cokoldry syde, Of els phylosophy Maketh a great lye.

The estryge, that wyll eate An horshowe so great,

In the stede of meate, «o

Such feruent heat His stomake doth freat ; He can not well fly, Nor syn.ge tunably, Yet at a brayde He hath well assayde To solfe aboue ela, Ga,1 lorell, fa, fa ;

Ne quando «o

Male cantando,

i Ga] JIarshe's ed. "Fa."

78 PHYLLTP SPAROWE.

The best that we can, To make hym our belraan, And let hym ryng the bellys ; He can do nothyng ellys. — Chaunteclere, our coke, Must tell what is of the clocke By the ostrology That he hath naturally Conceyued and cought, And was neuer tought By Albumazer The astronomer, Nor by Ptholomy Prince of astronomy, Nor yet by Haly ; And yet he croweth dayly And nightly the tydes That no man abydes, -With Partlot his hen, Whom now and then Hee plucketh by the hede Whan he doth her trede. The byrde of Araby, That potencyally May neuer dye, And yet there is none But one alone ; ~" A phenex it is This herse that must blys With armatycke gummes

PHYLLTP SPAROWE. 79

That cost great summes,

The way of thurifycation

To make a fumigation,

Swete of reflary,1

And redolent of eyre,

This corse for to sence

With greate reuerence,

As patryarke or pope

In a blacke cope ;

Whyles 2 he senseth [the herse], ™

He shall synge the verse,

Libera me,

In de, la, soil, re,

Softly bemole

'For my sparowes soule.

Plinni sheweth all

In his story naturall

What he doth fynde

Of the phenyx kynde ;

Of whose incyneracyon 540

There ryseth a new creacyon

Of the same facyon

Without alteracyon,

Sauyng that olde age

Is turned into corage

Of fresshe youth agayne ;

This matter trew and playne,

1 reflary] Qy. " reflayre ? "

2 Wlnjles, &c.] So, perhaps, Skelton wrote: the line is im- perfect in eds.

80 PHYLLTP SPAROWE.

Playne matter indede, Who so lyst to rede./

But for the egle doth flye Hyest in the skye, He shall be the scdeane, The quere to demeane, As prouost pryncypall, To teach them theyr ordynall ; Also the noble fawcon, With the gerfawcon, The tarsell gentyll, They shall morne soft and styll In theyr amysse of gray ; The sacre with them shall say Dirige for Phyllyppes soule ; The goshauke shall haue a role The queresters to controll ; The lanners and the marlyons Shall stand in their morning gounes ; The hobby and the muskette The sensers and the crosse shall fet ; The kestrell in all this warke Shall be holy water clarke.

And now the darke cloudy nyght Chaseth away Phebus bryght, Taking his course toward the west, God sende my sparoes sole good rest ! Requiem teternam dona eis, Domine ! Fa, fa, fa, my, re, re, A por ta in fe ri,

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 81

Fa, fa, fa, my, my.

Credo videre bona Domini, I pray God, Phillip to heuen may fly ! sso Domine, exaudi orationem meam ! . To heuen he shall, from heuen he cam !

Do mi nus vo bis cum! Of al good praiers God send him sum !

Oremus.

Deus, cui proprium est misereri et parcere, On Phillips soule haue pyte ! For he was a prety cocke, And came of a gentyll stocke, And wrapt in a maidenes smocke, • sw

And cherysshed full dayntely, Tyll cruell fate made him to dy : Alas, for dolefull desteny ! But whereto shuld I Lenger morne or crye ? To Jupyter I call, Of heuen emperyall, That Phyllyp may fly Aboue the starry sky,

To treade the prety wren, soo

That is our Ladyes hen: Amen, amen, amen !

Yet one thynge is behynde, That now commeth to mynde ; An epytaphe I wold haue For Phyllyppes graue : But for I am a mayde, VOL. i. 6

!

PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

Tymerous, halfe afrayde, That neuer yet asayde Of Elyconys well, "Whore the Muses dwell ; Though I can rede and spell, Recounte, reporte, and tell . Of the Tales of Caunterbury, Some sad storyes, some(mery As Palamon and Arcet, Duke Theseus, and Partelet ; And of the Wyfe of Bath, That worketh moch scath Whan her tale is tolde Amonge huswyues bolde, How she controlde Her husbandes as she wolde, And them to despyse In the homylyest wyse, Brynge other wyues in thought Their husbandes to set at nought" And though that rede haue I Of Gawen and syr Gay, And tell can a great pece Of the Golden Flece, How Jason it wan, Lyke a valyaunt man ; Of Arturs rounde table, With his knightes commendable, And dame Gaynour, his quene, Was somewhat wanton, I wene ;

PHTLLYP SPAROWE. 83

How syr Launcelote de Lake

Many a spere brake

For his ladyes sake ; «o

Of Trystram. and kynge Marke,

And al the hole warke

Of Bele Isold his wyfe,

For whom was moch stryfe ;

Some say she was lyght,

And made her husband knyght

Of the comyne hall,

That cuckoldes men call ;

And of syr Lybius,

Named Dysconius ; «o

Of Quater Fylz Amund,

And how they were sommonde

To Rome, to Charlemayne,

Vpon a great payne,

And how they rode eche one

On Bayarde Mountalbon ;

Men se hym now and then

In the forest of Arden :

What though I can frame

The storyes by name «eo

Of Judas Machabeus,

And of Cesar Julious ;

And of the loue betwene

Paris and Vyene ;

And of the duke Hannyball,

That made the Romaynes all

Fordrede and to quake ;

How Scipion dyd wake

84 PHTLLTP SPAROWE.

The cytye of Cartage, Which by his vnmerciful rage He bete down to the grounde : And though I can expounde Of Hector of Troye, That was all theyr ioye, Whom Achylles slew, Wherfore all Troy dyd rew ; And of the loue so hote That made Troylus to dote Vpon fayre Cressyde, And what they wrote and sayd, And of theyr wanton wylles Pandaer bare the bylles From one to the other ; His maisters loue to further, Somtyme a presyous thyng, An ouche, or els a ryng ; From her to hym agayn Somtyme a prety chayn, Or a bracelet of her here, Prayd Troylus for to were That token for her sake ; How hartely he dyd it take, And moche therof dyd make ; And all that was in vayne, For she dyd but fayne ; The story telleth playne, He coulde not optayne, Though his father were a kyng, Yet there was a thyng

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 85

That made the male to wryng; TOO

She made him to syng

The song of louers lay ;

Musyng nyght and day,

Mournynge all alone,

Comfort had he none,

For she was quyte gone ;

Thus in conclusyon,

She brought him in abusyon ;

In ernest and in game

She was moch to blame ; no

Disparaged is her fame,

And blemysshed is her name,

In maner half with shame ;

Troylus also hath lost

On her moch loue and cost,

And now must kys the post ;

Pandara, that went betvvene,

Hath won nothing, I wene,

But lyght for somer grene ;

Yet for a speciall laud

He is named Troylus baud,

Of that name he is sure

Whyles the world shall dure :

Though I remembre the fable Of Penelope most stable To her husband most trew, Yet long tyrne she ne knew Whether he were on lyue or ded ; Her wyt stood her in sted,

PHTLLTP SPAROWE.

That she was true and iust

For any bodely lust

To Ulixes her make,

And neuer wold him forsake :

Of Marcus Marcullus A proces I could tell vs ; And of Anteocus ; And of Josephus De Antiquitatibus ; And of Mardocheus, And of great Assuerus, And of Vesca his queene, Whom he forsoke with teene, And of Hester his other wyfe, With whom he ledd a plesaunt life ; Of kyng Alexander ; And of kyng Euander ; And of Porcena the great, That made the Romayns to sweat :*

Though I haue enrold A thousand new and old Of these historious tales, To fyll bougets and males With bokes that I haue red, Yet I am nothyng sped, And can but lytell skyll Of Ouyd or Virgyll, Or of Plutharke, Or Frauncys Petrarke.

i sweat] Eds. " smart."

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 87

Alcheus or Sapho,

Or such other poetes mo, "o

As Linus and Homerus,

Euphorion and Theocritus,

Anacreon and Arion,

Sophocles and Philemon,

Pyndarus and Symonides,

Philistion and Phorocides ;

These poetes of auncyente,

They ar to diffuse for me :

For, as I tofore haue sayd, I am but a yong mayd, * TTO

And cannot in effect My style as yet direct With Englysh wordes elect: Our natural! tong is rude, . And hard to be enneude With pullysshed termes lusty ; Our language is so rusty, So cankered, and so full Of frowardes, and so dull, That if I wolde apply ™>

To wryte ornatly, I wot not where to fynd Termes to serue my mynde

Gowers Englysh is olde, • And of no value told ; His mater is worth gold, And worthy to be enrold.

In Chauser I am sped, His tales I haue red :

PHTLLTP SPAROWE.

His mater is delectable, Solacious, and commendable ; His Englysh well alowed, So as it is enprowed, For as it is en ployed, There is no Englysh voyd, At those dayes moch commended, And now men wold haue amended His Englysh, whereat they barke, And mar all they warke : Chaucer, that famus clerke, His termes were not darke, But plesaunt, easy, and playne ; No worde he wrote in vayne.

Also Johnn Lydgate Wryteth after an hyer rate ; It is dyffuse to fynde The sentence of his mynde, Yet wryteth he in his kynd, No man that can amend Those maters that he hath pende ; Yet some men fynde a faute, And say he wryteth to haute. Wherfore hold me excused If I haue not well perused Myne Englyssh halfe abused ; Though it be refused, In worth I shall it take, And fewer wordes make. But, for my sparowes sake,

PHYLLYP SPAR OWE.

Yet as a woman may, My wyt I shall assay An epytaphe to w-ryght In Latyne playne and lyght, Wherof the elegy Foloweth by and by : Flos volucrum formose, vale ! Philippe, sub isto Marmorejam recubas, Qui mihi cams eras. Semper erunt nitido Radiantia sidera ccelo ; Impressusque meo Pectore semper eris. Per me laurigerum Britonum Skeltonida vatem ffcec cecinisse licet Ficta sub imagine texta. Cuju's eras 1 volucris, Prcestanti corpore virgo ; Candida Nais erat, Formosior ista Joanna est ; Docta Ccrinnafuit, Sed magis ista sapit. Bien men souient.

i eras] Eds. " eris."

90 PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

THE COMMENDACIOXS.

Seati im ma cu la ti in via, 0 gloriosa fcemina ! Now myne hole imagination And studyous medytacion Is to take this commendacyon In this cousyderacion ; And vnder pacyent tolleracyon Of that most goodly mayd That Placebo hath sayd, And for her sparow prayd In lamentable wyse, Now wyll I enterpryse, Thorow the grace dyuyne Of the Muses nyne, Her beautye to commende, If Arethusa wyll send Me enfluence to endyte, And with my pen to wryte ; If Apollo wyll promyse, Melodyously it to deuyse, His tunable harpe stryngges With armony that synges Of princes and of kynges And of all pleasaunt thynges, Of lust and of delyght, Thorow his godly myght ; To whom be the laude ascrybed That my pen hath enbybed

PHYLLTP SPAROWE. 91

With the aureat droppes,

As verely my hope is,

Of Thagus, that golden flod,

That passeth all erthly good ;

And as that flode doth pas

Al floodes that euer was

With his golden sandes,

Who so that vnderstandes «>

Cosmography, and the stremys

And the floodes in straunge remes,

Ryght so she doth excede

All other of whom we rede,

Whose fame by me shall sprede

Into Perce and Mede,

From Brytons Albion

To the Tow re of Babilon.

I trust it is no shame, And no man wyll me blame, w

Though I regester her name In the courte of Fame ; For this most goodly floure, This blossome of fresshe coulour, So Jupiter me socour, She floryssheth new and new In bewte and vertew ; Hac claritate gemina 0 gloriosa foemina,

JRetribue servo tuo, vivifica me ! wo

Labia mea laudabunt te.

But enforsed am I

92 PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

Openly to askry,

And to make an outcri

Against odyous Enui,

That euermore wil ly,

And say cursedly ;

With his ledder ey,

And chekes dry ;

With vysage wan,

As swarte as tan ;

His bones crake,

Leane as a rake ;

His gummes rusty

Are full vnlusty ;

Hys herte withall

Bytter as gall ;

His lyuer, his longe

With anger is wronge ;

His serpentes tonge

That many one hath stonge ;

He frowneth euer ;

He laugheth neuer,

Euen nor morow,

But other mennes sorow

Causeth him to gryn

And reioyce therin ;

No slepe can him catch,

But euer doth watch.

He is so bete

With malyce, and frete

With angre and yre,

His foule desyre

PHYLLYP SFAROWE. 93

Wyll sufFre no slepe

In his lied to crepe ;

His foule semhlaunt

All displeasaunte ;

Whan other ar glad,

Than is he sad ;

Frantyke and mad ; 9W

His tong neuer styll

For to say yll,

Wrythyng and wringyng,

Bytyng and styngyng ;

And thus this elf

Consumeth himself,

Hymself doth slo

Wyth payne and wo.

This fals Enuy

Sayth that I «o

Vse great folly

For to endyte,

And for to wryte,

And spend my tyme

In prose and ryme,

For to expres

The noblenes

Of my maistres,

That cause th me

Studious to be «"

To make a relation

Of her commendation ;

And there agayne

94 PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

Enuy doth complayne, And hath disdayne ; But yet certayne I wyll be playne, And my style dres To this prosses.

Now Phebus me ken To sharpe my pen, And lede my fyst As hym best lyst, That I may say Honour alway Of womankynd ! Trouth doth me bynd And loyalte Euer to be Their true bedell, To wryte and tell How women excell In noblenes ; As my maistres, Of whom I thynk With pen and ynk For to compyle Some goodly style ; For this most goodly floure, This blossome of fresh coloure, So Jupyter me socoure, She flourissheth new and new In beaute and vertew :

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 95

Hac claritate gemina 0 gloriosafcemina, Legem pone mihi, domina, in viam jus-

tificationum tuarum! Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum.

How shall I report All the goodly sort

Of her i'etures clere, 1000

That hath non erthly pere ? Her i fauour of her face Ennewed all with grace, Confer t, pleasure, and solace, Myne hert doth so enbrace, And so hath rauyshed me Her to behold and se, That in wordes playne I cannot me refrayne To loke on her agayne : »«o

Alas, what shuld I fayne ? It wer a plesaunt payne With her aye to remayne.

Her eyen gray and stepe Caus.eth myne hert to lepe ; With her browes bent She may well represent Fayre Lucres, as I wene, Or els fayre Polexene,

96 PHTLLYP SPAROWE.

Or els Caliope,

Or els Penolope ;

For this most goodly floure,

This blossome of fresshe coloure,

So Jupiter me socoure,

She florisheth new end new

In beautye and vertew :

Hoc claritate gemina

0 gloriosa foemina,

Memor esto verbi tui servo tuo !

Servus tuus sum ego.

The Indy saphyre blew Her vaynes doth ennew ; The orient perle so clere, The whytnesse of her lere ; The * lusty ruby ruddes Resemble the rose buddes ; Her lyppes soft and mery Emblomed lyke the chery, It were an heuenly blysse Her sugred mouth to kysse.

Her beautye to augment, Dame Nature hath her lent A warte vpon her cheke, Who so lyst to seke In her vysage a skar, That semyth from afai Lyke to the radyant star, All with fauour fret,

1 The] Qy. "Her?"

PHYLLTP SFAROWE. 97

So properly it is set :

She is the vyolet, io»

The daysy delectable,

The columbine commendable,

The ielof'er amyable ;

[For] 1 this most goodly floure,

This blossom of t'ressh colour,

So Jupiter me succour,

She florysheth new and new

In beaute and vertew :

Hoc claritate gemina

0 gloriosa fcemina, ioso Boni tatem fecisti cum servo tuo, domina,

Et ex prcecordiis sonant prceconia !

And whan I perceyued Her wart and conceyued, It cannot be denayd But it was well conuayd, And set so womanly, And nothynge wantonly, But ryglit conuenyently, And full congruently, mo

As Nature cold deuyse, In most goodly wyse ; Who so lyst beholde, It makethe louers bolde To her to sewe for grace, Pier fauoure to purchase ;

1 [For\ Compare vv. 989, 1022, 1083, 1107, &c. VOL. I. 7

98 PHYLLYP SPAROWE.

The sker upon her chyn,

Enhached on her fayre skyn,

Whyter than the swan,

It wold make any man wwc

To forget deadly syn

Her fauour to wyn ;

For this most goodly floure,

This blossom of fressh coloure,

So Jupiter me socoure,

She flouryssheth new and new

In beaute and vertew :

Hoc claritate gemina

0 gloriosa foemina,

Defecit in salutatione tua * anima mea ; 1090

Quid petis filio, mater dulcissima? babce ! 2

Soft, and make no dyn, For now I wyll begyn To haue in remembraunce Her goodly dalyaunce, And her goodly pastaunce : So sad and so demure, Behauynge her so sure, With vvordes of pleasure She wold make to the lure »«

And any man conuert To gyue her his hole hert.

isalulalione tua] Eds. "salutare tuum" and "salutate tuum."

Eds. "baba."

PHYLLYP SPAROWE.

She made me sore amased

Vpon her whan I gased,

Me thought min hert was erased,

My eyne were so dased ;

For this most goodly flour,

This blossom of fressh colour,

So Jupyter me sooour,

She flouryssheth new and new »

In beauty and vertew :

Hac claritate gemina

0 gloriosa fcemina,

Quomodo dilexi legem tuam, domina! Recedant vetera, nova sint omnia.

And to amende her tale, Whan she lyst to auale, And with her fyngers smale, And handes soft as sylke, Whyter than the mylke, »

That are so quyckely vayned, Wherwyth my hand she strayned, Lorde. how I was payned ! Vnneth I me refrayned, How she me had reclaymed, And me to her retayned, Enbrasynge therwithall Her goodly myddell small With sydes longe and streyte ; To tell you what conceyte n

1 had than in a tryce, The matter were to nyse, And yet there was no vyce,

100 PHTLLYP SPAKOWE.

Nor yet no villany,

But only fantasy ;

For this most goodly floure,

This blossom of fressh coloure,

So Jupiter me succoure,

She floryssheth new and new

In beaute and vertew :

Hac claritate gemina

0 gloriosa fcemina,

Iniquos odio habui !

Non calumnientur me superbi.J

But whereto shulde I note How often dyd I tote Vpon her prety fote ? It raysed myne hert rote To se her treade the grounde With heles short and rounde. She is playnly expresse Egeria, the goddesse, And lyke to her image, Emportured with corage, A louers pylgrimage ; Ther is no beest sauage, Ne no tyger so wood, But she wolde chaunge his mood, Such relucent grace Is formed in her face ; For this most goodly floure, , This blossome of fresshe coloure,

So Jupiter me succour,

PHYLLTP SPAROWE. 101

She flouryssheth new and new In beaute and vertew : Hac claritate gemina 0 gloriosa fcemina, Miralilia testimonies tua ! Sicut novella plantationes in juventute sua. So goodly as she dresses, uro

So properly she presses The bryght golden tresses Of her heer so fyne, Lyke Phebus beames shyne. Wherto shuld I disclose The garterynge of her hose ? It is for to suppose How that she can were Gorgiously her gore ;

Her fresshe habylementes iia>

With other implementes To serue for all ententes, Lyke dame Flora, quene Of lusty somer grene ; For this most goodly floure, This blossom of fressh coloure, So Jupiter me socoure, She florisheth new and new In beautye and vertew: Hac claritate gemina uw

0 gloriosa fcemina, Olamavi in toto corde, exaudi me ! Misericordia tua magna est super me.

102 PHYLLYP SPAROWE.

Her kyrtell so goodly lased, And vnder that is brased - Such plasures that I may Neyther wryte nor say ; Yet though I wryte not with ynke, No man can let me thynke, For thought hath lyberte, Thought is franke and fre ; To thynke a niery thought It cost me lytell nor nought. Wolde God myne homely style Were pullysshed with the fyle Of Ciceros eloquence, To prase her excellence ! For this most goodly floure, This blossome of fressh coloure, So Jupiter me succoure, She flouryssheth new and new In beaute and vertew: Hac claritate gemina 0 gloriosa foemina, Principes persecuti sunt me gratis ! Omnibus consideratis, Paradisus voluptatis Heec virgo est dulcissima,

My pen it is vnable, My hand it is vnstable, My reson rude and dull To prayse her at the full ; Goodly maystres Jane, Sobre, demure Dyane ;

PHYLLYP SPABOWE. 103

Jane this inaystres hyght

The lode star of delyght,

Dame Venus of all pleasure,

The well of worldly treasure ;

She doth excede and pas

In prudence dame Pallas ; wso

[For] this most goodly floure,

This blossome of fresshe colour,

So Jupiter me socoure,

She floryssheth new and new

In beaute and vertew :

Hac claritate gemina

0 gloriosa foemina !

Requiem "frrnam dona eis, Domine! With this psalme, Domine, probasti me, Shall sayle ouer the see, i«o

With Tibi, Domine, commendamus, On pylgrimage to saynt Jamys, For sarympes, aad for prayns, And for stalkynge cranys ; And where my pen hath offendyd,

1 pray you it may be amendyd By discrete consyderacyon

Of your wyse reformacyon ;

I haue not offended, I trust,

If it be sadly dyscust. ««o

It were no gentle gyse

This treatyse to despyse

Because I haue wrytten and sayd

Honour of this fayre niayd ;

104 PHYLLYP SPAR OWE.

Wherefore shulde I be blamed, That I Jane haue named, And famously proclamed ? She is worthy to be enrolde "With letters of golde.

Car elk vault. izw

Per me laurigerum Britonum Skeltonida vatem Laudibus eximiis merito hcec redimita puella est : Formosam cecini, qua non formosior ulla est ; Formosam potius quam commendaret Homerus. Sicjuvat interdum rigidos recreare labores, Nee minus hoc titulo tersa Minerva mea est. Bien qu° play *c re. aijn

. Thus endeth the bo , .4 . , 'narow, and Jtere

foloweth an adu .._ ,'nter Skelton.

The gyse n, • • Of some ianglynge layes Is to discommende 12™

That they cannot amend, Though they wold spend All the wyttes they haue.

"What ayle them to depraue Phillip Sparowes graue ? His Dirige, her Commendacyon Can be no derogacyon, But myrth and consolacyon Made by protestacyon,

PHTLLTP SPAROWE. 105

No man to myscontent iaso

With Phillyppes enterement.

Alas, that goodly mayd, Why shuld she be afrayde ? Why shuld she take shame That her goodly name, Honorably reported, Sholde be set and sorted, To be matriculate With ladyes of estate ?

I coniure the, Phillip Sparow, isw

By Hercules that hell dyd harow, And with a venemous arow Slew of the ^ One of tin VN

Or Onoc i

Or Hipr

By who- . uiyne

An hart \\

With homes iwayne

Of glytteryng gold ; 1300

And the appels of gold Of Hesperides withhold, And with a dragon kept That neuer more slept,' By marcyall strength He wan at length ; And slew Gerion With thre bodyes in one ; With myghty corage

106 PHYLLYP SPAKOWE.

Adauntid the rage Of a lyon sauage ; Of Dyomedes stable He brought out a rable Of coursers and rounses With leapes and bounses ; And with mighty luggyng, Wrestlyng and tuggyng, He plucked the bull By the horned skull, And offred to Cornucopia ; Aud so forth per cetera :

Also by Ecates bower In Plutos gastly to'ver ;

By the vgly E.« ^onides, That neuer huu^ *t nor ease ;

By the venemmW' serpent, That in hell is neuo orent, In Lerna the Grekt* ff>n. That was engendred Urtfti ;

By Chemeras flames, And all the dedly names Of infernall posty, Where soules frye and rosty ;

By the Stygyall flood, And the streames wood Of Cocitus botumles well ;

By the feryman of hell, Caron with his beerd hore, That roweth with a rude ore

PHYLLYP SPAROWE. 107

And with his frownsid fore top i«°

Gydeth his bote with a prop :

I coniure Phylyp, and call In the name of kyng Saul ; Primo Regum expresse, He bad the Phitonesse To wytchcraft her to dresse, And by her abusyons, And dampnable illusyons Of marueylus conclusyons, And by her supersticyons, i»»

And wonderfull condityons, She raysed vp in that stede • Samuell that was dede ; But whether it were so, He were idem in numero, The selfe same Samuell, How be it to Saull dyd he tell The Philistinis shuld hym ascry, And the next day he shuld dye, I wyll my selfe dyscharge >a»

To lettred men at large :

But, Phylyp, I coniure th'ee Now by these names thre, Diana in the woodes grene, Luna that so bryght doth shene, Procerpina in hell, That thou shortly tell, And shew now vnto me What the cause may be Of this perplexite ! isro

108 PHYLLTP SPAROWE.

Inferias, Philippe,tuas Scroupe lpulchra Joanna Instanter petiit : cur nostri carminis illam Nunc pudet ? est sero ; minor est infamia vero.

Than suche as haue disdayned And of this worke coraplayned, I pray God they be payned No worse than is contayned In verses two or thre That folowe as ye 2 may se.

Luride, cur, livor, volucris piafunera damnas ? i38 Talia te rapiant rapiunt quce fata volucrem ! £st tamen invidia mors tibi continucu

1 Scroupe is to be considered hero as a monosyllable ; un- less we read " Scrope" as two short syllables.

2 ye] So other eds. Kele's cd. " you." C.

ELYNOUR KTJMMYNG. 109

HERE AFTER FOLOWETH THE BOOKE CALLED

ELYNOUR RUMMYNGE.*

THE TUNNYNG OF ELYNOUR RUMMYNG PER SKELTON LAUKEAT.

TELL you I chyll, If that ye wyll A whyle be styll, Of a comely gyll That dwelt on a hyll : But she is not gryll, For she is somwhat sage And well worne in age ; For her vysage

It would as wage 10

A mannes courage. Her lothely lere Is nothynge clere, But vgly of chere, Droupy and drowsy, Scuruy and lowsy ; Her face all bowsy,

* From the ed. by Kynge and Marche of Certaine bokes compyled by mayster Sketion, n. d., collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., and ed. Lant, n. d., with Marshe's ed. of Skel- ton's Workes, 1568, and occasionally with the comparatively modern ed. of Elinavr Rummin by Rand, 1624.

110 ELYNOUR RUMMTNG.

Comely crynklyd, Woundersly wrynkled, Lyke a rost pygges eare, Brystled wyth here.

Her lewde lyppes twayne, They slauer, men sayne, Lyke a ropy rayne, A gummy glayre : She is vgly fayre ; Her nose somdele hoked, And camously croked, Neuer stoppynge, But euer droppynge ; Her skynne lose and slacke, Grained lyke a sacke ; With a croked backe.

Her eyen gowndy Are full vnsowndy, For they are blered ; And she gray hered ; Jawed lyke a jetty ; A man would haue pytty To se how she is gumbed, Fyngered and thumbed, Gently ioynted, Gresed and annoynted Vp to the knockels ; The bones [of] her huckels Lyke as they were with buckles Togyther made fast : Her youth is farre past :

ELYNOUR RUMMYNG. Ill

Foted lyke a plane,

Legged lyke a crane ; so

And yet she wyll iet,

Lyke a iolly fet,

In her furred flocket,

And gray russet rocket,

With syraper the cocket.

Her huke of Lyncole grene,

It had ben hers, I wene,

More then fourty yere ;

And so doth it apere,

For the grene bare thredes w

Loke like sere wedes,

Wyddered lyke hay,

The woll worne away ;

And yet I dare saye

She thynketh herselfe gaye

Vpon the holy daye,

Whan she doth her aray,

And gyrdeth in her gytes

Stytched and pranked with pletes ;

Her kyrtel Brystow red, TO

With clothes vpon her hed

That wey a sowe of led,

Wrythen in wonder wyse,

After the Sarasyns gyse,

With a whym wham,

Knyt -with a trym tram,

Vpon her brayne pan,

Like an Egyptian,

112 ELYNOUR RUMMYNG.

Capped1 about:

Whan she goeth out

Herselfe for to shewe,

She dryueth downe the dewe

Wyth a payre of heles

As brode as two wheles ;

She hobles as a gose

"With her blanket hose

Ouer the fulowe ;

Her shone smered wyth talowe,

Gresed vpon dyrt

That baudeth her skyrt.

Primus passus.

And this comely dame, I vnderstande, her name Is Elynour Rummynge, At home in her wonnynge ; And as men say She dwelt 2 in Sothray, In a certayne stede Bysyde Lederhede. She is a tonnysh gyb ; The deuyll and she be syb. But to make vp my tale, She breweth noppy ale,

1 Capped] Lant's ed. " Lapped " — Brightly, perhaps.

2 dwelt] Qy. "dwels?"

ELYNOUR RUMMYNG. 113

And maketh therof port sale 1

To trauellars, to tynkers,

To sweters, to swynkers,

And all good ale drynkers,

That wyll nothynge spare,

But drynke till they stare

And brynge themselfe bare,

With, Now away the mare, uo

And let vs sley care,

As wyse as an hare !

Come who so wyll svv To Elynour on the hyll, Wyth, Fyll the cup, fyll, And syt there by styll, Erly and late : Thyther cometh Kate, Cysly, and Sare,

"With theyr legges bare, iao

And also theyr fete Hardely full vnswete ; Wyth theyr heles dagged, Theyr kyrtelles all to-iagged, Theyr smockes all to-ragged, Wyth tytters and tatters, Brynge dysshes and platters, Wyth all theyr myght runnynge

i port sale] So Lant's ed. Ed. of Kynge and Marche, " pore < sale." Day's ed. " poore sale." Marshe's ed. " poorte sale." (Rand's ed. " pot-safe.") See notes. VOL. I. 8

114 F.LYNOCR RUMMYNG.

To Elynour Rummynge, To haue of her tunnynge : She leneth them on the same, And thus begynneth the game. ^X

Some wenches come vnlased, Some huswyues come vnbrased, Wyth theyr naked pappes, That flyppes and flappes ; It wygges and it * wagges, Lyke tawny saffron bagges ; A sorte of foule drabbes All scuruy with scabbes : Some be .flybytten, Some skewed as a kytten ; Some wyth a sho clout Bynde theyr heddes about ; Some haue no herelace, Theyr lockes about theyr face, Theyr tresses vntrust, All full of vnlast ; Some loke strawry, Some cawry mawry ; Full vntydy tegges, Lyke rotten egges. Suche a lewde sorte To Elynour resorte From tyde to tyde : Abyde, abyde,

1 It .... it] Qy. "That .... that?"

ELYNOUR RUMMYNG. 116

And to you shall be tolde Howe hyr ale is solde To Mawte and to Molde.

Secundus passus.

Some haue no mony i«

That thyder commy, For theyr ale to pay, That is a shreud aray ; Elynour swered, Nay, Ye shall not beare away My ale for nought, By hym that me bought !

With, Hey, dogge, hay, Haue these hogges away ! With, Get me a staffe, m

The swyne eate my draffe ! Stryke the hogges with a clubbe, They haue dronke vp my swyllynge tubbe ! For, be there neuer so much prese, These swyne go to the hye dese, The sowe with her pygges ; The bore his tayle wrygges, His rumpe also he frygges Agaynst the hye benche ! With, Fo, ther is a stenche ! i«>

Gather vp, thou wenche ; Seest thou not what is fall ? Take vp dyrt and all, And bere out of the hall :

116 ELYNOUR RT7MMYNG.

God gyue it yll preuynge Clenly as yuell cheuynge ! But let vs turne playne, There we lefte agayne. For, as yll a patch as that, The hennes ron in the mashfat ; For they go to roust Streyght ouer the ale ioust, And donge, whan it commes, In the ale tunnes. Than Elynour taketh The mashe bolle, and shaketh The hennes donge away, And skommeth it into a tray Whereas the yeest is, With her maungy fystis : And somtyme she blennes The donge of her hennes And the ale together ; And sayeth, Gossyp, come hyther, This ale shal be thycker, And flowre the more quicker ; For I may tell you, I lerned it of a Jewe, Whan I began to brewe, And I haue founde it trew ; Drinke now whyle it is new ; And ye may it broke, It shall make you loke Yonger than ye be

ELTNOUK RTJMMTNG. 117

Yeres two or thre,

For ye may proue it by me ;

Beholde, she sayde, and se

How bryght I am of ble !

Ich am not cast away,

That can my husband say, z»

Whan we kys and play

In lust and in lykyng ;

He calleth me his whytyng,

His mullyng and his mytyng,1

His nobbes and his conny,

His swetyng and his honny,

With, Bas, my prety bonny,

Thou art worth good and monny.

This make I my falyre fonny,

Til that he dreme and dronny ; »

For, after all our sport,

Than wyll he rout and snort i^

Than swetely together we ly,

As two pygges in a sty.

To cease me semeth best, And of this tale to rest, And for to leue this letter, Because it is no better, And because it is no swetter ; We wyll no farther ryme a«

Of it at this tyme ;

1 mytyng] Eds. of Kynge and Marche, and of Lant, " nyt- yng." Day's ed. " nittinge." Marshe's ed. " nittine." (Rand's ed. " mittine.") See notes.

118 ELYNOTJR RTJMMYNG.

But we wyll turne playne "Where we left agayne.

Tertius passus.

Instede of coyne and monny,1 Some brynge her a conny, And some a pot with honny, Some a salt, and some a spone, Some theyr hose, some theyr shone : Some ran a good trot With a skellet or a pot ; Some fyll theyr pot full Of good Lemster woll : An huswyfe of trust, Whan she is athrust, Suche a webbe can spyn, Her thryft is full thyn.

Some go streyght thyder, Be it slaty or slyder ; They holde the hye waye, They care not what men say, Be that as be maye ;

i Instede of coyne, &c.] In Skelton's Workes, 1736, the .passage is thus exhibited:

" Some instede ofceine and monny Will come and brynge her a conny Or else a pot with honni Some a knife and some a spone Some brynge their hose, some ther shone."

ELYNOUR RUMMYNG. 119

Some, lothe to be espyde, Start in at the backe syde, Ouer the hedge and pale, And all for the good ale.

Some renne tyll they swete, Brynge wyth them malte or whete, And dame Elynour entrete To byrle them of the best.

Than cometh an other gest ; wo

She swered by the rode of rest, Her lyppes are so drye, Without drynke she must dye ; Therefore fyll it by and by, And haue here a pecke of ry.

Anone cometh another, As drye as the other, And wyth her doth brynge Mele, salte, or other thynge, Her haruest gyrdle, her weddynge rynge, ««> To pay for her scot As cometh to her lot. Som bryngeth her husbandes hood, Because the ale is good ; Another brought her his cap To offer to the ale tap, Wyth flaxe and wyth towe ; And some brought sowre dowe ; Wyth, Hey, and wyth, howe, Syt we downe a rowe, **>

And drynke tyll we blowe, And pype tyrly tyrlowe !

120 ELYNOUR RUMMYNG.

Some layde to pledge Theyr hatchet and theyr wedge, Theyr hekell and theyr rele, Theyr rocke, theyr spynnyng whele ; And some went so narrowe, They layde to pledge theyr wharrowe, Theyr rybskyn and theyr spyndell, Theyr nedell and theyr thymbell : Here was scant thryft Whan they made suche shyft.

Theyr thrust was so great, They asked neuer for mete, But drynke, styll drynke, And let the cat wynke, Let vs washe our gomnies From the drye crommes.

Quartus passus. Some for very nede Layde downe a skeyne of threde, And some a skeyne of yarne ; Some brought from the barne Both benes and pease ; Small chaffer doth ease Sometyme, now and than : Another there was that ran "With a good brasse pan ; Her colour was full wan ; She ran in all the hast Vnbrased and vnlast ;

ELTNOUR RUMMYNG. J 21

Tawny, swart, and sallowe, Lyke a cake of tallowe ; I swere by all hallow, It was a stale to take The deuyll in a brake.

And than came haltyng Jone, And brought a gambone Of bakon that was resty : But, Lorde, as she was testy, Angry as a waspy ! $»

She began to yane and gaspy, And bad Elynour go bet, And fyll in good met ; It was dere that was farre fet.

Another brought a spycke Of a bacon flycke ; Her tonge was verye quycke, But she spake somwhat thycke : Her felow did stammer and stut, But she was a foule slut, 340

For her mouth fomyd And her bely groned : Jone sayne she had eaten a fyest ; By Christ, sayde she, thou lyest, I haue as swete a breth As thou, wyth shamfull deth !

Than Elynour sayde, Ye callettes, I shall breake your palettes, Wythout ye now cease ! And so was made the peace. aso

122 ELYNOUR RUMMYXG.

Than thyder came dronken Ales And she was full of tales, Of tydynges in Wales, And of sainct James in Gales, And of the Portyngales ; Wyth, Lo, gossyp, I wys, Thus and thus it is, There hath ben great war Betwene Temple Bar And the Crosse in Chepe, And there came an hepe Of mylstones in a route : She speketh thus in her snout, Sneuelyng in her nose, As thoughe she had the pose ; Lo, here is an olde typpet, And ye wyll gyue me a syppet Of your stale ale, God sende you good sale ! And as she was drynkynge, She fyll in a wynkynge Wyth a barlyhood, She pyst where she stood ; Than began she to wepe, And forthvvyth fell on slepe. Elynour toke her vp, And blessed her wyth a cup Of newe ale in cornes ; Ales founde therin no thornes, But supped it vp at ones, She founde therin no bones.

ELTNOUR BUMMYNG. 123

Quintus passus.

Nowe in cometh another rabell ; Fyrst one wyth a ladell, Another wyth a cradell, And wyth a syde sadell : And there began a fabell, A clatterynge and a babell Of folys fylly * That had a fole wyth wylly, With, last you, and, gup, gylly ! 39°

She coulde not lye stylly.

Then came in a genet, And sware by saynct Benet, I dranke not this sennet A draught to my pay ; Elynour, I the pray, Of thyne ale let vs assay, And haue here a pylche of gray ; I were skynnes of conny, That causeth I loke so donny. «o

Another than dyd hyche her, And brought a pottel pycher, A tonnel, and a bottell, But she had lost the stoppell ; She cut of her sho sole, And stopped the r wyth the hole.

Amonge all the blommer, Another brought a skommer,

i fylly] Marsha's ed." silly."

124 ELYNOUR RUMMYNG.

A f'ryinge pan, and a slyce ; Elynour made the pryce For good ale eche whyt.

Than sterte in mad Kyt, That had lyttle wyt ; She semed somdele seke, And brought a peny cheke To dame Elynour, For a draught of lycour.

Than Margery Mylkeducke Her kyrtell she did vptueke An ynche aboue her kne, Her legges that ye myght se ; But they were sturdy and stubbed, Myghty pestels and clubbed, As fayre and as whyte As the fote of a kyte : She was somwhat foule, Crokenecked lyke an oule ; And yet she brought her fees, A cantell of Essex chese Was well a fote thycke, Full of maggottes quycke ; It was huge and greate, And myghty stronge rneate For the deuyll to eate ; It was tart and punyete.

Another sorte of sluttes, Some brought walnuttes, Some apples, some peres, Some brought theyr clyppynge sheres,

ELYNODR 11UMMYNG. 125

Some brought this and that, <«°

Some brought I wote nere what, Some brought theyr husbandes hat, Some podynges and lynkes, Some trypes that stynkes.

But of all this thronge One came them amonge, She semed halfe a leche, And began to precbe Of the tewsday in the weke Whan the mare doth keke ; «o

Of the vertue of an vnset leke ; Of her husbandes breke ; Wyth the feders of a quale She could to Burdeou sayle ; And wyth good ale barme She could make a charme To helpe wythall a stytch . She semed to be a wytch.

Another brought two goslynges, That were noughty froslynges ; «•

She brought them in a wallet, She was a cumly callet : The goslenges were untyde ; Elynour began to chyde, They be wretchockes thou hast brought, They are shyre shakyng nought !

Sextus passus.

Maude Ruggy thyther skypped : She was vgly hypped,

126 ELYNOUR RUMMYNG.

And vgly thy eke lypped,

Lyke an onyon syded,

Lyke tan ledder hyded :

She had her so guyded

Betwene the cup and the wall,

That she was there wythall

Into a palsey fall ;

Wyth that her hed shaked,

And her handes quaked :

Ones hed wold haue aked

To se her naked :

She dranke so of the dregges,

The dropsy was in her legges ;

Her face glystryng lyke glas ;

All foggy fat she was ;^,

She had also the gout

In all her ioyntes about ;

Her breth was soure and stale,

And smelled all of ale :

Suche a bedfellaw

Wold make one cast his craw ;

But yet for all that

She dranke on the mash fat.

There came an old rybybe ; She halted of a kybe, And had broken her shyn At the threshold comyng in, And fell so wyde open That one myght se her token, The deuyll thereon be wroken ! "What nede all this be spoken ?

ELYNOUR BUMMYNG. 127

She yelled lyke a calfe : sot

Ryse vp, on Gods halfe,

Said Elynour Rummy ng,

I beshrevv the for thy cummyng!

And as she at her did pluck,

Quake, quake, sayd the duck

In that lampatrams lap;

Wyth, Fy, couer thy shap

Wyth sum flyp flap !

God gyue it yll hap,

Sayde Elynour for shame, sit

Lyke an honest dame.

Vp she stert, halfe lame,

And skantly could go

For payne and for wo.

In came another dant, Wyth a gose and a gant : She had a wide wesant ; She was nothynge plesant ; Necked lyke an olyfant ; It was a bullyfant, 520

A gredy cormerant.

Another brought her garlyke hedes ; Another brought her bedes Of iet or of cole, To offer to the ale pole : Some brought a wymble, Some brought a thymble, Some brought a sylke lace, Some brought a pyncase,

128 ELYNOUB RUMMTNG.

Some her husbandes gowne, wo

Some a pyllow of downe,

Some of1 the napery ;

And all this shyfte they make

For the good ale sake.

A stravve, sayde Bele, stande vtter, For we haue egges and butter, And of2 pygeons a payre.

Than sterte forth a fysgygge, And she brought a bore pygge ; The fleshe therof was ranke, wo

And her brethe strongly stanke, Yet, or she went, she dranke, And gat her great thanke Of Elynour for her ware, That she thyther bare To pay for her share. Now truly, to my thynkynge, This is a solempne drinkynge.

Septimus passus. Soft, quod one, hyght Sybbyll, And let me wyth you bybyll. &>

She sat downe in the place, With a sory face Whey wormed about;

1 Some of, &c.] The line which rhymed with this has dropt out

2 And of, Sac,.] The line which rhymed with this has dropt out

ELYNOUR RUMMYNG. 129

Garnyshed was her snout

Wyth here and there a puscull,

Lyke a scabbyd muscull.

This ale, sayde she, is noppy ;

Let vs syppe and soppy,

And not spyll a droppy,

For so mote I hoppy, sec

It coleth well my croppy.

Dame Elynoure, sayde she, Haue here is for me, A cloute of London pynnes ; And wyth that she begynnes The pot to her plucke, And dranke a good lucke ; She swynged vp a quarte At ones for her parte ; Her paunche was so puffed, 570

Ana so wyth ale stuffed, Had she not hyed apace, She had defoyled the place.

Than began the sporte Amonge that dronken sorte : Dame Eleynour, sayde they, Lende here a cocke of hey, To make all thynge cleane ; Ye wote well what we meane.

But, syr, among all sao

That sat in that hall, There was a pryckemedenty, Sat lyke a seynty,

130 ELTNOUR RU3IMYNG.

And began to paynty, As thoughe she would faynty ; She made it as koy As a lege de moy ; She was not halfe so wyse As she was peuysshe nyse. She sayde neuer a worde, But rose from the borde, And called for our dame, Elynour by name. We supposed, I wys, That she rose to pys ; But the very grounds Was for to compounde Wyth Elynour in the spence, To pay for her expence : I haue no penny nor grote To pay. sayde she, God wote, For washyng of my throte ; But my bedes of amber Bere them to your chamber. Then Elynour dyd them hyde Wythin her beddes syde.

But some than sat ryght sad That nothynge had There of theyr awne, Neyther gelt nor pavvne ; Suche were there menny That had not a penny, But, whan they should walke,

\

ELYNOUR RTJMMYNG. 131

Were fayne wyth a cbalke To score on the balke,

Or score on the tayle^

God gyue it yll hayle !

For my fyngers ytche ;

I haue wrytten to mytche

Of this mad mummynge KM

Of Elynour Rummynge.

Thus endeth the gest

Of this worthy fest.

Quod Skelton, Laureat.

LAUEEATI SKELTONIDIS IN DESPECTU MALIGNANTIUM DISTICHON.

Quamvis insanis, quamvis marcescis inanis,

Invide, cantamus ; hcBC loca plena jocis.

Bien men souuient.

Omnes fceminas, qua velnimis bibulce sunt, vel qua sordida labe squaloris, aut qua spurca fcedi- tatis macula, aut verbosa loquacitate notantur,poeta invitat ad audiendum hunc libellum, fyc.

Ebria, squalida, sordida fcemina, prodiga verbis, Hue currat, properet, veniat! Sua gesta libellus Iste volutabit : Pcean sua plectra sonando Materiam risus cantabit carmine rauco. Finis.

Quod Skelton, Laureat.

132 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.*

SKJELTON LAURIATE DEFENDER] AGENST MfASTER] GAltXESCHE CHALEXGEB, ET CETERA.

SITHE ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,

Ruduly revilyng me in the kynges noble hall, Soche an odyr chalyngyr cowde me no man wysch,1 But yf yt war Syr Tyrmagant that tyrnyd with

out nail ; 2 For Syr Frollo de Franko was neuer halfe so

talle. But sey me now, Syr Satrapas, what autoryte ye

haue In your chalenge, Syr Chystyn, to cale me knaue ?

What, haue ye kythyd yow a knyght, Syr Dugles

the dowty, So currysly tobeknaue me in the kynges place ? 8

* These Poems against Garnesche (now for the first time printed) are from a MS. in the Harleian Collection, 367 (fol. 101), which is in many parts scarcely legible, being written in a hand very difficult to decipher, as well as being much injured by damp.

1 teysch] So MS. seems to read.

2 with out naQ\ Seems to be the reading of MS., — " nail " having been added, instead of " alle," which is drawn through with the pen.

8j>foceJ Might be read perhaps " palace."

POEMS AGAINST GAKNESCHE. 133

Ye stronge sturdy stalyon, so sterne and stowty, 10 Ye here yow bolde as Barabas, or Syr Terry

of Trace ; Ye gyrne grymly with your gomys and with

your grysly face. But sey me yet, Syr Satropas, what auctoryte ye

haue

In your chalange, Syr Chesten, to calle me a knaue ?

Ye fowle, fers, and felle, as Syr Ferumbras the

ffreke,

Syr capten of Caty wade, catacumbas of Cayre, Thow ye be lusty as Syr Lybyus launces to

breke, Yet your contenons oncomly, your face ys nat

fayer : For alle your proude prankyng, your pride may

apayere.

But sey me yet, Syr Satrapas, wat auctoryte ye

haue 20

In your chalenge, Syr Chesten, to cal me a knaue ?

Of Mantryble the Bryge, Malchus the murryou, Nor blake Baltazar with hys basnet routh as a

bere,

Nor Lycon, that lothly luske, in myn opynyon, Nor no bore so brymly brystlyd ys with here, As ye ar brystlyd on the bake for alle your gay gere.

134 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

[But sey me yet, Syr Satrapas, what auctoryte

ye haue In your chalenge,. Syr Chesten, to calle me a

knaue ?]

Your wynde schakyn shankkes, your longe lothy

Crokyd as a camoke, and as a kowe calfles, so

Bry ngges yow out of fauy r with alle femall teggys :

That mastres Punt put yow of, yt was nat alle

causeles ;

At Orwelle hyr hauyn your anggre was laules. [But sey me yet, Syr Satrapas, what auctoryte

ye haue

In your chalenge, Syr Chesten, to calle me a knaue ?]

I sey, ye solem Sarson, alle blake ys your ble ;

As a glede glowynge, your ien glyster as glasse,

Rowlynge in yower holow hede, vgly to see ; =»

Your tethe teintyd with tawny ; your seniely

snowte doth passe,

Howkyd as an hawkys beke, lyke Syr Topyas. Boldly bend you to batell, and buske your selfe

to saue :

Chalenge your selfe for a fole, call me no more knaue.

Be the kynges most noble commanderaent.

POEMS AGAINST GAENESCHE. 135

SKELTON LAURYATE DEFENDER AGENST M[ ASTER] GAR-

NESCHE CHALANGAR, WITH GRESY, GORBELYD

GODFREY [ET] CETERA.

How may I your mokery mekely tollerate, [Your]1 gronynge, jour grontynge, your groin-

ynge lyke a swyne ?

[Your] pride ys alle to peuiche, your porte im- portunate ; [You] mantycore,2 ye maltaperte, ye can bothe

wins and whyne ; [Your] lothesum lere to loke on, lyke a gresyd

bote dothe schyne. Ye cappyd Cayface copious, your paltoke on your

pate,

Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware yet of chek mate.

Hole ys your brow that ye brake with Deu[ra]n-

dall your awne sworde ; Why holde ye on yer cap, syr, then ? your

pardone ys expyryd : Ye hobble very homly before the kynges borde ; 10

1 Your] The beginning of this line, and of the next three lines, torn off in MS.

2 mantycore] MS. "mantyca."

136 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

Ye countyr vmwhyle to capcyously, and ar ye

be dysiryd ; Your moth etyn mokkysh maneres, they be all

to myryd. Ye cappyd Cayface copyous, your paltoke on your

pate,

Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware of cheke mate.

O Gabionyte of Gabyone, why do ye gane and

gaspe ? Huf a galante Garnesche, loke on your comly

cors! Lusty Garnysche, lyke a lowse, ye jet full lyke a

jaspe ; As wytles as a wylde goos, ye haue but small

remorrs Me for to chalenge that of your chalennge

makyth so lytyll fors.

Ye capyd Cayfas copyous, your paltoke on your pate, . ao

Tho ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware of cheke mate.

Syr Gy, Syr Gawen, Syr Cayus, for and Syr

Olyuere, Pyramus, nor Priamus, nor Syr Pyrrus the

prowde, In Arturys auncyent actys no where ys prouyd

your pere ;

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 137

The facyoun of your fysnamy the devyl in a

clowde ; Your harte ys to hawte, I wys, yt wyll nat be

alowde. Ye capyd Cayfas copyus, your paltoke on your

pate,

Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware of cheke mate.

Ye grounde yow vpon Godfrey, that grysly gar-

gons face,

Your stondarde, Syr Olifranke, agenst me for

to splay : so

Baile, baile at yow bothe, frantyke folys ! follow

on the chase ! Cum Garnyche, cum Godfrey, with as many as

36 may ! I advyse yow be ware of thys war, rannge yow

in aray. Ye cappyd Cayfas copyous, [your paltoke on

your pate,

Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware of cheke mate.] .

Gup, gorbellyd Godfrey, gup, Garnysche, gaudy

fole! To turney or to tante with me ye ar to fare to

seke: For thes twayne whypslouens calle for a coke

stole :

138 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

Thow mantycore, ye marmoset, garnyshte lyke

a GrekeT

Wranglynge, waywyrde, wytles, wraw, and

nothyng meke. «

Ye cappyd [Cayfas copyous, your paltoke on your

pate,

Thow ye prate lyke prowde Pylate, be ware of cheke mate.]

Mirres vous y, Loke nat to by.

By the kynges most noble commaundment.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 139

SKELTON LAWRYATE DEFENDER AGENYST LUSTY GARNYCHB

WELLE BE SEYN CRYSTEOUYR CHALANNGER, ET

CETERA.

I HAUE your lewde letter receyuyd,

And well I haue yt perseyuyd.

And your skrybe I haue aspyed,

That your mad mynde contryuyd.

Sauynge your vsscheres rod,

I caste me nat to be od

With neythyr of yow tewyne :

Wherfore I wryght ageyne ;

How the fauyr of your face

Is voyd of all good grace ; 10

For alle your carpet cousshons,

Ye haue knauyche condycyonns.

Gup, marmeset, jast ye, morelle !

I am laureat, I am no lorelle.

Lewdely your tyme ye spende,

My lyuyng to reprehende ; l

And wyll neuer intende

Your awne levvdnes to amende :

Your Englyshe lew[d]ly ye sorte,

And falsly }e me reporte. »

Garnyche, ye gape to wyde :

l My lyuyng to reprehende] Added to MS. in a different hand.

140 POEMS AGAINST GABXESCHE.

Yower knavery I wyll nat hyde,

For to aswage your pride.

• Whan ye war yonger of age,

Ye war a kechyn page,

A dyshwasher, a dryvyll,

In the pott your nose dedde sneuyll ;

Ye fryed and ye broylyd,

Ye rostyd and ye boylyd,

Ye rostyd, lyke a fonne,

A gose with the fete vponne ;

Ye slvfferd l vp sowse

In my lady Brewsys howse.

"Wherto xulde I wryght

Of soche a gresy knyght ?

A bawdy dyscheclowte,

That bryngyth the worlde abowte

With haftynge and with polleynge,

With lyenge and controlleynge.

At Gynys when ye ware But a slendyr spere, Dekkyd lewdly in your gere ; For when ye dwelt there, Ye had a knauysche cote Was skantly worthe a grote ; In dud frese ye war schrynyd, With better frese lynyd ; The oute syde euery day, Ye myght no better a way ;

i dvfferd} Might perhaps be read " slooferd.'

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 141

The insyde ye ded calle »

Your best gowne festyvalle. Your drapry $e ded wante, The warde with yow was skante. When ye kyst a shepys ie, . 1mastres Andelby,

Gynys vpon a gonge, . . . sat sumwhat to longe ; . . . hyr husbandes hed,

malle of lede,

. . . that ye ther prechyd, «>

To hyr loue ye nowte rechyd : Ye wolde haue bassyd hyr bumme, So that sche wolde haue kum On to your lowsy den ; But sche of all men Had yow most in despyght, Ye loste hyr fauyr quyt ; Your pyllyd garleke hed Cowde hocupy there no stede ; She callyd yow Syr Gy of Gaunt, »

Nosyd lyke an olyfaunt, A pykes or a twybyll ; Sche seyd how ye ded brydell, Moche lyke a dromadary ; Thus with yow sche ded wary, With moche mater more That I kepe in store.

1 A portion of MS. torn off here.

142 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

Your brethe ys stronge and quike ; Ye ar an eldyr steke ; Ye wot what I thynke ; At bothe endes ye stynke ; Gret daunger for the kynge, Whan hys grace ys fastynge, Hys presens to aproche : Yt ys to your reproche. Yt fallyth for no swyne Nor sowtters to drynke wyne, ,

Nor seche a nody polle A pryste for to controlle.

Lytyll wyt in your scrybys nolle That scrybblyd your fonde scrolle, Vpon hym for to take Agennst me for to make, Lyke a doctor dawpate, A lauryate poyete for to rate. Yower termys ar to grose, To far from the porpose, To contaminate And to violate The dygnyte lauryate.

Bolde bayarde, ye are to blynde, And grow all oute of kynde, To occupy so your mynde ; For reson can I non fynde Nor good ryme in yower mater ; I wondyr that ye smatyr, So for a knaue to clatyr ;

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 143

Ye wolde be callyd a maker,

And make moche lyke Jake Rakar ;

Ye ar a comly crakar, no

Ye lernyd of sum py bakar.

Caste vp your curyows wrytyng,

And your dyrty endytyng,

And your spyghtfull despyghtyng,

For alle ys nat worthe a myteyng,

A makerell nor a wyteyng :

Had ye gonne with me to scole,

And occupyed no better your tole,

Ye xulde haue kowththyd me a fole.

But now, gawdy, gresy Garnesche, ««> Your face I wyse to varnyshe So suerly yt xall nat tarnishe. Thow a Sarsens bed ye bere, Row and full of lowsy here, As heuery man wele seethe, Ful of grett knauys tethe, In a felde of grene peson Ys ryme yet owte of reson ; Your wyt ys so geson, Ye rayle all out of seson. ta«

Your x skyn scabbyd and scuruy, Tawny, tannyd, and shuruy, Now vpon thys hete Rankely whan ye swete, Men sey ye wyll wax lowsy, Drunkyn, drowpy, drowsy.

i Tour] Added to MS. in a different hand.

144 POEMS AGAIXST GARXESCHE.

Your sworde ye swere, I wene,

So tranchaunt and so kene,

Xall kyt both wyght and grene :

Your foly ys to grett

The kynges colours to threte.

Your brethe yt ys so felle

And so puauntely dothe smelle,

And so haynnously doth stynke,

That naythyr pump nor synke

Dothe sauyr halfe so souer

Ageynst a stormy shouer.

O ladis of bryght colour,

Of bewte that beryth the flower,

When Garnyche cummyth yow amonge

With hys brethe so stronge,

Withowte ye haue a confectioun

Agenst hys poysond infeccioun,

Els with hys stynkyng jawys

He wyl cause yow caste your crawes,

And make youer stomoke seke

Ovyr the perke to pryk.

Now, Garnyche, garde thy gummys ; My serpentins and my gunnys Agenst ye now I bynde ; Thy selfe therfore defende. Thou tode, thow scorpyone, Thow bawdy babyone, Thow bere, thow brystlyd bore, Thou Moryshe mantycore, Thou rammysche stynkyng gote,

POEMS AGAINST GAKXE3CHE. 145

Thou fowle chorlyshe parote,

Thou gresly gargone glaymy,

Thou swety slouen seymy,

Thou murrionn, thow mawment, iro

Thou fals stynkyng serpent,

Thou mokkyshe marmoset,

I wyll nat dy in they 1 det.

Tyburne thou me assynyd,

Where thou xulddst haue bene shrynyd ;

The nexte halter ther xall be

I bequeth yt hole to the :

Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd,

And so thy selfe houyr wachyd

That ther thou xuldyst be rachchyd, iao

If thow war metely machchyd.

Ye may wele be bedawyd, Ye ar a fole owlelauyd ; And for to telle the gronde, Pay Stokys hys fyue pownd. I say, Syr Dalyrag, Ye bere yow bold and brag With othyr menys charge : Ye kyt your clothe to large : Soche pollyng paiaunttis ye pley, iw

To poynt yow fresche and gay.

And he that scryblyd your scroller, I rekyn yow in ray rowllys, For ij dronken sowllys.

l they] Compare v. 18 of the next poem. VOL. I. 10

146 POEMS AGAINST GAKNESCHE.

Rede and lerne ye may, How olde proverbys say, That byrd ys nat honest That fylythe hys owne nest. Yf he wyst what sum wotte, The flesche bastyng of his cote Was sowyd with slendyr threfde] : God sende you wele good spede, With Dominus vobiscum ! Good Latyn for Jake a thrum, Tyll more matyr may cum.

By the kynges most noble commaundment.

DONUM LAUREATI DISTICHON CONTRA GOLIARDOM GARNISHE ET SCRIBAM EJUS.

Tu, Garniske, fatuus,fatuus tuus est mage scriba . Qui sapuit puer, insanitvir, versus in hydram.

SKELTON LAUREATE DEFENDAR AGEINST LUSTY GARNYSHE WELL BE8EEN CRYSTOFER CHALANGAR, ET CETERA.

GAKNYSHE, gargone, gastly, gryme, I haue receyuyd your secunde ryme. Thowthe ye kan skylle of large and longe, Ye syng allway the kukkowe songe :

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 147

Ye rayle, ye ryme, with Hay, dog, hay !

Your chorlyshe chauntyng ys all o lay.

Ye, syr, rayle all in deformite :

Ye haue nat red the properte

Of naturys workys, how they be

Myxte with sum incommodite,

As prouithe well, in hys Rethorikys olde,"

Cicero with hys tong of golde.

That nature wrowght in yow and me,

Irreuocable ys hyr decre ;

Waywardly wrowght she hath in the,

Beholde thi selfe, and thou mayst se ;

Thow xalte beholde no wher a warse,

They myrrour may be the deuyllys ars.

Wyth, knaue, syr knaue, and knaue ageine !

To cal me knaue thou takyst gret payne : ao

The prowdyst knaue yet of vs tewyne

Within thy skyn he xall remayne ;

The starkest knaue, and lest good kan,

Thou art callyd of euery man ;

The corte, the centre, wylage, and towne,

Sayth from thy to vnto thi croune,

Of all prowde knauys thow beryst the belle,

Lothsum as Lucifer lowest in helle.

On that syde, on thys syde thou dost gasy,

Thou thynkyst thy selfe Syr Pers de Brasy, so

a Observa prologum libri 2' in veteri Rhetorica Ciceronis. Incipit autem sc. g. Crotoniati quondam cum florerent omni- bus copiis, et cetera. [Side Note.]

148 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

Thy caytyvys carkes cours and crasy ; Moche of thy maneres I can blasy.

Of Lumbardy Gorge Hardyson, Thow wolde haue scoryd hys habarion ; That jentyll Jorge the Januay, Ye wolde haue trysyd hys trowle away : Soche paiantes with your fryndes ye play, With trechery ye them betray. Garnyshe, ye gate of Gorge with gaudry Crimsin velvet for your bawdry. Ye haue a fantasy to Fanchyrche strete, With Lumbardes lemmanns for to mete, With, Bas me, buttyng, praty Cys ! Yower lothesum lypps loue well to kyse, Slaueryng lyke a slymy snayle ; I wolde ye had kyst hyr on the tayle !

Also nat fare from Bowgy row, Ye pressyd pertely to pluk a crow : Ye lost your holde, onbende your bow, Ye wan nothyng there but a mow ; Ye wan nothyng there but a skorne ; Sche wolde nat of yt thow had sworne Sche seyd ye war coluryd with cole dust ; To daly with yow she had no lust. Sche seyd your brethe stanke lyke 'a broke With, Gup, Syr Gy, ye gate a moke. Sche sware with hyr ye xulde nat dele, For ye war smery, lyke a sele, And ye war herey, lyke a calfe ; Sche praiid yow walke, on Goddes halfe !

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 149

And thus there ye lost yower pray ; Get ye anothyr where ye may.

Dysparage ye myn auncetry ? Ye ar dysposyd for to ly : I sey, thow felle and fowle flessh fly, In thys debate I the askry. Thow claimist the jentyll, thou art a curre ; Haroldis they know thy cote arraur : Thow thou be a jantyll man borne, Yet jentylnes in the ys thred bare worne ; TO

Haroldes from honor may the devors, For harlottes hawnte thyn hatefull cors : Ye here out brothells lyke a bawde ; Ye get therby a slendyr laude Betweyn the tappett and the walle, — Fusty bawdyas ! I sey nat alle. Of harlottes to vse soche an harres, Yt bredth mothys in clothe of Arres.

What eylythe the", rebawde, on me to raue ? A kyng to me myn habyte gaue : «

At Oxforth, the vniversyte, Auaunsid I was to that degre ; By hole consent of theyr senate, I was made poete lawreate. To cal me lorell ye ar to lewde : Lythe and lystyn, all bechrewde ! Of the Musys nyne, Calliope Hath pointyd me to rayle on the. It semyth nat thy pyllyd pate Agenst a poyet lawreat ••

150 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

To take vpon the for to scryue : It cumys the better for to dryue A dong cart or a tumrelle Than with my poems for to melle.

The honor of Englond I lernyd to spelle, In dygnyte roialle that doth excelle : Note and marke wyl * thys parcele ; I yaue hym drynke of the sugryd welle Of Eliconys waters crystallyne, Aqueintyng hym with the Musys nyne. «»

Yt commyth the wele me to remorde, That creaunser was to thy sofre[yne] lorde : ' It plesyth that noble prince roialle Me as hys master for to calle In hys lernyng primordialle. Auaunt, rybawde,2 thi tung reclame ! Me to beknaue thow art to blame ; Thy tong vntawte, with poyson infecte, Withowte thou leue thou shalt be chekt,8 And takyn vp in such a frame, no

That all the warlde vvyll spye your shame. Auaunt, auaunt, thow slogysh . . .

And sey poetis no dys

It ys for no bawdy knaue

The dignite lawreat for to haue.

1 wyl] Compare v. 135.

2 rybawde} MS. seems to have " rylowde."

8 Withowte thou leue, $c.} In MS. the latter part of this liue, and the concluding portions of the next two lines, are so in- jured by stains that I can only guess at the words. The end- ings of the third and fourth lines after this are illegible.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 151

Thow callyst me scallyd, thou callyst me mad: Thow thou be pyllyd, tbow ar nat sade. Thow ar frantyke and lakkyst wyt, To rayle with me that the can hyt. Thowth it be now ful tyde with the", 120

Yet ther may falle soche caswelte, Er thow be ware, that in a throw Thow mayst fale downe and ebbe full lowe : Wherfore in welthe beware of woo, For welthe wyll sone departe the" froo. To know thy selfe yf thow lake grace, Lerne or be lewde, I shrew thy face.

Thow seyst I callyd the a pecok : Thow liist, I callyd the a wodcoke ; For thow hast a long snowte, iao

A semly nose and a stowte, Prickyd lyke an vnicorne : I wold sum manys bake ink home Wher thi nose spectacle case ; Yt wold garnyche wyll thy face.

Thow demyst my raylyng ouyrthwarthe ; I rayle to the soche as thow art. If thow war aquentyd with alle The famous poettes saturicall, As Perftius and luuynall, i«

Horace and noble Marciall, If they wer lyueyng thys day, Of the wote I what they wolde say ; They wolde the wryght, all with one steuyn, The follest slouen ondyr heuen,

152 POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE.

Prowde, peuiche, lyddyr, and lewde, Malapert, medyllar, nothyng well thewde, Besy, braynles, to bralle and brage, • Wytles, wayward, Syr Wryg wrag, Dysdaynous, dowble, ful of dyseyte, i

Liing, spying by suttelte and slyght, Fleriing, flatyryng, fals, and fykkelle, S'cornefull and mokkyng ouer to mykkylle.

My tyme, I trow, I xulde but lese To wrygbt to the of tragydese, It ys nat mete for soche a knaue ; But now my proces for to saue, I have red, and rede I xall, Inordynate pride wyll haue a falle. Presumptuous pride ys all thyn hope : God garde the, Garnyche, from the rope ! Stop a tyd, and be welle ware Ye be nat cawte in an hempen snare. Harkyn herto, ye Haruy Haftar, Pride gothe before and schame commyth after.

Thow wrythtyst I xulde let the go pley : Go pley the, Garnyshe, garnysshyd gay ; I care nat what thow wryght or sey ; I cannat let the the knaue to play, To dauns the hay or rune the ray : Thy fonde face can me nat fray. Take thys for that, bere thys in mynde, Of thy lewdenes more ys behynde ; A reme of papyr wyll nat holde Of thi lewdenes that may be tolde.

POEMS AGAINST GARNESCHE. 153

My study myght be better spynt ;

But for 'to serue the kynges entent,

Hys noble pleasure and commandemennt,

Scrybbyl thow, scrybyll thow, rayle or wryght,

Wryght what thow wylte, I xall the* aquyte. iso

By the kyngys most noble commandemennt.

154 AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES.

SKELTON LAVREATE,

ORATOKIS EEGIS TERTIUS,1

AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES ENPOYSONED WITH SCi^AUN- DEE AND FALSE DETRACTIONS, &C.#

Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponatur tibi ad lin- guam dolosam 1 Psalm, c. xlij.

Deus destruet te injinem; evettet te, et emigrabit te de tabernaculo tuo, et radicem luam de terra viventium. Psal. Ixvii.

Al maters wel pondred and wel to be regarded, How shuld a fals lying tung then be rewarded ? Such tunges shuld be torne out by the harde

rootes, Hoyning like hogges that groynis and wrotes.

Dilexisti omnia verba prcecipitationis, lingua do- losa. Ubi s. fyc.

For, as I haue rede in volumes olde, A fals lying tunge is harde to withholde ; A sclaunderous tunge, a tunge of a skolde, Worketh more misehiefe than can be tolde ;

i Tertius] A misprint: qy. "Versus?"

* From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

AGAINST VENEMOTJS TONGUES. 155

That, it' I wist not to be controlde,

Yet soimvhat to say I dare well be bolde,

How some delite for to lye thycke and threfolde.

Ad sannam hominem redigit cornice et graphice.

For ye said, that he said, that I said, wote ye

what?

I made, he said, a windmil of an olde mat : If there be none other mater but that, Than ye may commaunde me to gentil Cok wat.

Hie notat purpuraria arte intextas literas Romanas in amictibus post ambulonum l ante et retro.

For before on your brest, and behind on your

back,

In Romaine letters I neuer founde lack ; In your crosse rowe nor Christ crosse you spede, Your Pater noster, your Aue, nor your Crede. Who soeuer that tale vnto you tolde, He saith vntruly, to say that I would Controlle the cognisaunce of noble men Either by language or with my pen.

Paedagogium meum de suUimiori Minerva con- stat esse : ergo, fyc.

My scoler is more solem and somwhat more haute Than to be founde in any such faute.

1 post ambulonum} The Rev. J. Mi t ford would read " ambu- lonum post:" post is probably an abridgment of positas. Gent. Mag. Sept, 1844, p. 244.

156 AGAINST VEKEMOUS TONGUES.

Ptedagogium meum male sanos maledicos sibilis complosisque manibus explodit, fyc.

My scoles are not for vnthriftes vntaught,

For frantick faitours half mad and half straught ;

But my learning is of an other degree

To taunt theim like liddrous, lewde as thei bee.

Laxent ergo antennam elationis SUCK inflatam vento vanitatis. li. ille, fyc.

For though some be lidder, and list for to rayle, Yet to lie vpon me they can not preuayle : Then leyt them vale a bonet of their proud sayle, And of their taunting toies rest with il hayle.

Nobilitati ignoUlis cedat vilitas, $c.

There is no noble man wil iudge in me

Any such foly to rest or to be :

I care muche the lesse what euer they say,

For tunges vntayde be renning astray ;

But yet I may say safely, so many \vel lettred

Embraudred, enlasid together, and fettred,

And so little learning, so lewdly alowed,

What fault find ye herein but may be auowed?

But ye are so full of vertibilite,

And of frenetyke folabilite, u

And of melancoly mutabilite, •

That ye would coarte and enforce me

Nothing to write, but hay the gy of thre,

And I to suffre you lewdly to ly

Of me with your language full of vilany !

AGAINST VENEMOUS TOXGUES. 157

Sicut novacula acuta fecisti dolum* Ubi s.

Malicious tunges, though they haue no bones, Are sharper then swordes, sturdier then stones.

Lege Philostratum de vita Tyancei Apollonii.

Sharper then raysors that shaue and cut throtes, More stinging then scorpions that stang Phara- otis.

Venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum. Ps.

More venemous and much more virulent Then any poysoned tode or any serpent.

Quid peregrinis egemtis exemplis ? ad domestica recurramus, fyc. li. ille.

Such tunges vnhappy hath made great diuision In realmes, in cities, by suche fals abusion ; Of fals fickil tunges suche cloked collusion Hath brought nobil princes to extreme confu- sion.

Quicquid loquantur, ut effbeminantur, ita effan- tur §c.

Somtime women were put in great blame, Men said they could not their tunges atame ; But men take vpon theim nowe all the shame, With skolding and sklaundering make their tungs lame.

15& AGAINST VENEMODS TONGUES.

Novarum rerum cupidissimi, captatores, delatores, adulatores, invigilator es, deliratores, §c. id genus, li. ille.

For men be now trailers and tellers of tales ; What tidings at Totnam, what nevvis in Wales, What shippis are sailing to Scalis Malis ? And all is not worth a* couple of nut shalis : But lering and lurking here and there like

spies ; The deuil tere their tunges and pike out their

ies ! Then ren they with lesinges and blow them

about,

With, He wrate suche a bil withouten dout ; With, I can tel you what such a man said ; And you knew all, ye would be ill apayd. 10

De more vulpino, gannientes ad aurem, jictas fa- bellas fabricant. il. ille.

fnauspicatum, male ominatum, infortunatum se fateatur habuisse horoscopum, quicunque male- dixerit vati Pierio, S[keltonidi~\ L[aureato],

Src.

But if that I knewe what his name hight, For clatering of me I would him sone quight ; For his false lying, of that I spake neuer, I could make him shortly repent him for euer : Although he made it neuer so tough, He might be sure to haue shame ynough.

AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES. 159

Cerberus horrendo barathri latrando sub antro Te rodatque voret, lingua dolosa, precor.

A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell

Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of

hel; .

Wherof hereafter I thinke for to write, Of fals double tunges in the dispite.

Recipit se scripturum opus sanctum, laudabile, acceptable, memorabileque, et nimis honorifi- candum.

Disperdat Dominus universa labia dolosa et lin- guam magniloquam !

160 ON TYME.

YE may here now, in this ryme, How. euery thing must haue a tyme.*

Tyme is a thing that no man may resyst ;

Tyme is trancytory and irreuocable ; Who sayeth the contrary, tyme passeth as hym

lyst;

Tyme must be taken in season couenable ; Take tyme when tyme is, for tyme is ay

mutable ;

All thynge hath tyme, who can for it prouyde ; Byde for tyme who wyll, for tyme wyll no man byde.

Tyme to be sad, and tyme to play and sporte ; 10 Tyme to take rest by way of recreacion ;

Tyme to study, and tyme to use comfort ; Tyme of pleasure, and tyme of consolation : Thus tyme hath his tyme of diuers maner facion :

# This and the next three poems are from the ed. by Kynge and Marche of Cerlaine bakes compyled by mayster Skelton, n. d., collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., and ed. Lant, and with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568. I may here notice that in those eds. the present piece is preceded by a copy of verses, " All nobyll men of this take hede," &c., which will be given afterwards, before Why come ye not to Ontrte i where it is repeated in al! the eds.

ON TYME. 161

Tyme for to eate and drynke for thy repast ; Tyme to be lyberall, and tyme to make no wast ;

Tyme to trauell, and tyme for to rest ;

Tyme for to speake, and tyme to holde thy

Tyme would be vsed when tyme is best ;

Tyme to begyn, and tyme for to cease ; 20

And when tyrne is, [to] put thyselfe in prease,

And when tyme is, to holde thyselfe abacke ;

For tyme well spent can neuer haue lacke.

The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere ; In tyme of somer flowres fresh and grene ;

In tyme of haruest men their corne shere ;

In tyme of wynterthe north wynde waxeth kene, So bytterly bytynge the flowres be not sene ;

The kalendis of Janus, with his frostes hore, «»

That tyme is when people mustlyuevpon the store. Quod Skelton, Laureat.

11

162

PRATER TO THE FATHER OF HEAUEN.

0 RADIANT Luminary of lyght intermynable, Celestial Father, potenciall God of myght, Of heauen and earth, O Lord incomperable, Of all perfections the essencial most perfyght ! O Maker of mankynde, that formyd day and

nyghte, Whose power imperyal comprehendeth euery

place ! Myne hert, my mynde, my thought, my hole

delyght Is, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face :

Whose magnifycence is incomprehensybyll,

All argumentes of reason which far doth excede, Whose Deite dowtles is indiuysybyll, «

From whom all goodnes and vertue doth pro- cede ;

Of thy support all creatures haue nede : Assyst me, good Lord, and graunte me of thy grace,

To lyue to thy pleasure in word, thoughte, and

dede, And, after this lyfe, to see thy glorious face.

PRAYERS. 163

TO THE SECONDS PAESON.

0 BENYGNE Jesu, my souerayne Lord and Kynge,

The only Sonne of God by filiacion, The Seconde Parson withouten beginnynge,

Both God and man our fayth maketh playne relacion,

Mary the mother, by way of incarnacion, Whose glorious passion our soules doth reuyue !

Agayne all bodely and goostely trybulacion Defende me with thy piteous woundis fyue.

O pereles Prynce, payned to the deth,

Rufully rent, thy body wan and bio, ">

For my redempcion gaue vp thy vytall breth,

Was neuer sorow lyke to thy dedly wo !

Graunte me, out of this world when I shall go, Thyne endles mercy for my preseruatyue ;

Agaynst the world, the flesh, the deuyl also, Defende me wyth thy pyteous woundis fyue.

TO THE HOLT GOOSTE.

O FIRY feruence, inflamed wyth all grace, Enkyndelyng hertes with brandis charitable,

164

The endles reward of pleasure and solace,

To the Father and the Son thou art communi- cable In unitate which is inseperable !

O water of lyfe, O well of consolacion !

Agaynst all suggestions dedly and dampnable

Rescu me, good Lorde, by your preseruacion :

To whome is appropryed the Holy Ghost by name, The Thyrde Parson, one God in Triuite,

Of perfyt loue thou art the ghostly flame :

O myrrour of mekenes, pease, and tranquylyte, My confort, my counsell, my parfyt charyte !

O water of lyfe, 0 well of consolacion ! Agaynst all stormys of harde aduersyte

Rescu me, good Lord, by thy preseruacion. Amen.

Quod Skelton, Laureat.

WOFFULLY ARAID. 165

WOFFULLY araid,*

My blode, man,

For the ran, It may not be naid ;

My body bloo and wan, Woffully araid.

Beholde me, I pray the", with all thi hole reson, And be not so hard hartid, and ffor this encheson, Sith I for thi sowle sake was slayne in good se§on, Begylde and betraide by Judas fals treson ; 10 Vnkyndly entretid, With sharpe corde sore fretid, The Jewis me thretid,

They mowid, they grynned, they scornyd me, Condempnyd to deth, as thou maist se, Woffully araid.

* From the Fairfax MS. (which once belonged to Ralph Thoresby, and now forms part of the Additional MSS., 5466, in the British Museum), where it occurs twice,— (fol. 76 and, 4ess perfectly, fol. 86); collated with a copy written in a very old hand on the fly-leaves of Soetius de Discip. Schol. cum no- tabili commento, Daventrie, 1496, 4to. (in the collection of the late Mr. Heber), which has supplied several stanzas not in the Fairfax MS. It was printed from the latter, not very correctly, by Sir John Hawkins, Hist, of Music, ii. 89. I have followed the metrical arrangement of the MS. in the Boetiva.

166 WOFFULLY AKAID.

Thus nakyd am I nailid, 0 man, for thy sake ! I loue the, then loue me; why slepist thou? awake ! Remembir my tendir hart rote for the brake, » With panys my vaynys constreyn[e]d to crake ; Thus toggid to and fro, Thus wrappid all in woo, Whereas neuer man was so, Entretid thus in most cruell wyse, Was like a lorn be offerd in sacrifice, Woffully araid.

Off sharpe thorne I haue worne a crowne on my

hede,

So paynyd, so straynyd, so rufull, so red ; Thus bobbid, thus robbid,1 thus for thy loue ded, Oufaynyd 2 not deynyd my blod for to shed ; » My fete and handes sore The sturdy nailis bore ; What myjt I suffir more Than I haue don, 0 man, for the ? Cum when thou list, wellcum to me, Woffully araide.8

Off record thy good Lord y haue beyn and schal

bee; Y am thyn, thou artt myne, my brother y call thee

1 bobbid . . robbid} MS. in the Boetius, " bowde . . rowyd."

2 Onfaynyd] MS. in the Boetius, " Unfraynyd."

» Woffully araide] Here the Fairfax MS. concludes : what follows is given from the MS. in the Boetiui.

WOFFULLY ARAID. 167

The love I enterly ; see wbatt ys befall me ! Sore bettyng, sore tbretyng, too mak thee, man, all fre :

Wby art thou wnkynde ? Why hast nott mee yn mynde ? Cum }ytt, and thou schalt fynde Myne endlys mercy and grace ; See how a spere my hert dyd race, Woyfully arayd.

Deyr brother, noo other thyng y off thee desyre Butt gyve me thyne hert fre to rewarde myn byre : Y wroujt the", I bowg^t the" frome eternal fyre ; Y pray the aray the tooward my hyjt empyre, so Above a the oryent, Wheroff y am regent, Lord God omnypotent, Wyth me too reyn yn endlys welthe ; Remember, man, thy sawlys helthe.

Woofully arayd,

My blode, man,

For the" rane, Hytt may nott be nayd ;

My body blow and wane, «c

Woyfully arayde.

Explicit qd. Skelton.

i Abwe] MS. " I love."

168 NOW STNGE WE, &C.

Now synge we, as we were wont, Vexilla regis prodeunt. *

The kinges baner on felde is [s]playd, The crosses mistry can not be nayd, To whom our Sauyour was betray d,

And for our sake ; Thus sayth he, I suffre for the",

My deth I take.

Now synge we, &c.

Beholde my shankes, behold my knees, Beholde my hed, armes, and thees, Beholde of me nothyng thou sees

But sorowe and pyne ; Thus was I spylt, Man, for thy gylte,

And not for myne.

Now synge we, &c.

* From Bibliographical Miscellanies (edited by the Rev. Dr. Bliss), 1813, 4to, p. 48, where it is given from an imperfect volume (or fragments of volumes) of black-letter Christmas CaroUes, partly (but probably not wholly) printed by Kele.

NOW SYNGE WE, &C. 169

Behold my body, how Jewes it donge

With knots of whipcord and scourges strong ;

As stremes of a well the blode out sprang

On euery syde ; 2°

The knottes were knyt, Eyght well made with wyt,

They made woundes wyde. Now synge we, &c.

Man, thou shalt now vnderstand, Of my head, bothe fote and hand, Are four c. and fyue thousand

Woundes and sixty ; Fifty and vii. Were tolde full euen

Vpon my body. 3°

Now synge we, &c.

Syth I for loue bought the* so dere,

As thou may se thy self here,

I pray the* with a ryght good chere

Loue me agayne, That it lykes me To suffre for the"

Now all this payne.

Now synge we, &c.

Man, vnderstand now thou shall,

In sted of drynke they gaue me gall,

And eysell mengled therwithall, «

170 NOW SYNGE WE, &C.

The Jewes fell ; These paynes on me I suffred for the*

To bryng the* fro hell.

Now synge we, &.c.

Now for thy lyfe thou hast mysled,

Mercy to aske be thou not adred ;

The lest drop of blode that I for the" bled

Myght dense the" soone Of all the syn The worlde within,

If thou haddest doone.'

Now synge we, &c.

I was more wrother with Judas, For he wold no mercy aske, Than I was for his trespas

Whan he me solde ; I was euer redy To graunt hym mercy,

But he none wolde.

Now synge we, &c.

Lo, how I hold my armes abrode,

The* to receyue redy isprode !

For the great loue that I to the" had

Well may thou knowe, Some loue agayne I wolde full fayne

NOW SYNGE WE, &C. 171

Thou woldest to me shewe. Now synge we, &c.

For loue I aske nothyng of the"

But stand fast in faythe, and syn thou fle,

And payne to lyue in honeste

Bothe nyght and day ;

And thou shalt have blys 70

That neuer shall mys

Withouten nay.

Now synge we, &c.

Now, Jesu, for thy great goodnes, That for man suffred great hardnes, Saue vs fro the deuyls cruelnes,

And to blys us send, And graunt vs grace To se thy face

Withouten ende.

Now synge we, &c.

172 I, LIBER, &C.

[" CCCCXXXII.

" Codex membranaceus in 4to, seculo xiv scrip- tus,Jiguris illuminatis, sed injuria temporis pene deletis ornatus, in quo continetur,

I. Polichronitudo basileos sive historia belli quod Ricardus I. gessit contra Sarracenos, Gallice.

Hoc opus Skeltono ascribitur a Cl. Stanleio ; primo autem intuitu satis liquet codicem ipsum longe ante tempus quo claruit Skeltonus fuisse scriptum, ab eoque regi dono missum, ut testantur sequentes versus diverso et recenti caractere primee pagince inscripti : *]

I, liber, et propera, regem tu promts adora ; Me sibi commendes humilem Skeltonida vatem : Ante suam majestatem, (per ccetera passim,) Inclyta bella refer, gessit quce maximus heros Anglorum, primus nostra de gente Ricardus, Hector ut intrepidus, contra validissima castra Gentis Agarence ; memora quos ille labores, Quos tulit angores, qualesque recepit honores. Sed

Chronica Francorum, validis inimica Britannis, Scepe solent celebres Britonum compescere laudes.

* Nasmith's Catal. Libr. Manuscript, quos Coll. Corporis Christi et £. Maria Virginia in Acad. Cantabrig. kgavit Rev- erendiss. in Christo Pater Matthasus Parker, Archiepisc. Can- tuar. p. 400. 1777, 4to.

WAKE THE HAUKE. 173

HERE AFTER FOLOWETH THE BOKE EVTTTULED

WAKE THE HAUKE,*

PER SKELTON, LAUREAT.

PROLOGUS SKEL.TONIDIS LAUREATI SUPER WAKE THE HAWKE.

THIS worke deuysed is

For such as do amys ;

And specyally to controule

Such as haue cure of soule,,

That be so f'arre abused,

They cannot be excused

By reason nor by law ;

But that they play the daw,

To hawke, or els to hunt

From the aulter to the funte, 10

With cry vnreuerent,

Before the sacrament,

Within the holy church bowndis,

That of our faith the grounde is.

That pryest that hawkys so,

.All grace is farre him fro ;

*' From the ed. by Kynge and Marche of Certaine boket compyled by mayster Skelton, n. d., collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., and ed. Lant, n. d., and with Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

t

174 WABE THE HAUKE.

He semeth a sysmatyke, Or els an heretyke, For fayth in him is faynte. Therefore to make complaynte Of such mysaduysed Parsons and dysgysed, This boke we haue deuysed, Compendiously comprysed, No good priest to offende, But suche dawes to amende, In hope that no man shall Be myscontent withall.

I shall you make relacion, By waye of apostrofacion, Vnder supportacion Of youre pacyent tolleracion, How I, Skelton Laureat, Deuysed and also wrate Vpon a lewde curate, A parson benyfyced, But nothing well aduysed : He shall be as now nameles, But he shall not be blameles, Nor he shal not be shameles ; For sure he wrought amys, To hawke in my church of Dis. This fonde frantyke fauconer, With his polutid pawtenar, As priest vnreuerent, Streyght to the sacrament

WARE THE HAUKE. 175

He made his hawke to fly,

With hogeous showte and cry.

The hye auter he strypt naked ;

There on he stode, and craked ; so

He shoke dovvne all the clothis,

And sware horrible othes

Before the face of God,

By Moyses and Arons rod,

Or that he thens yede,

His hawke shoulde pray and fede

Vpon a pigeons maw.

The bloude ran downe raw

Vpon the auter stone ;

The hawke tyrid on a bonne ; »

And in the holy place

She mutid there a chase

Vpon my corporas face.

Such sacrijtcium laudis

He made with suche gambawdis.

OBSERVATE.

His seconde hawke wexid gery,

And was with flying wery ;

She had flowin so oft,

That on the rode loft

She perkyd her to rest. n

The fauconer then was prest,

Came runnyng with a dow,

And cryed, Stow, stow, stow !

But she would not bow.

176 WARE THE HAUKE.

He then, to be sure,

Callid her with a lure.

Her mete was very crude,

She had not wel endude ;

She was not clene ensaymed,

She was not well reclaymed :

But the fawconer vnfayued

Was much more febler brayned.

The hawke had no lyst

To come to hys fyst ;

She loked as she had the frounce :

With that he gaue her a bounce

Full vpon the gorge :

I wyll not fayne nor forge ;

The hawke with that clap

Fell downe with euyll hap.

The church dores were sparred,

Fast boltyd and barryd,

Yet wyth a prety gyn

I fortuned to come in,

This rebell to beholde,

Wherof I hym controlde ;

But he sayde that he woulde,

Agaynst my mynde and wyll,

In my churche hawke styll.

CONSIDERATE.

On Sainct John decollacion He hawked on this facion, Tempore vesperarum, Sed non secundum Sarum,

WARE THE HAUKE. 177

But lyke a Marche harura,

His braynes were so parum.

He sayde he would not let

His houndis for to fet,

To hunte there by lyberte

In the dyspyte of me,

And to halow there the fox : no

Downe went my offerynge box,

Boke, bell, and candyll,

All that he myght handyll :

Cros, staffe, lectryne, and banner,

Fell downe on this manner.

DELIBERATE.

With, troll, cytrace, and trouy,

They ranged, hankin bouy,

My churche all aboute.

This fawconer then gan showte,

These be my gospellers, 120

These be my pystillers,

These be my querysters,

To helpe me to synge,

My hawkes to mattens rynge.

In this priestly gydynge

His hawke then flew vppon

The rode with Mary and John.

Delt he not lyke a fon ?

Delt he not lyke a daw ?

Or els is this Goddes law, i»

Decrees or decretals,

VOL. i. 12

178 WARE THE HAUKE.

Or holy sinodals, Or els prouincials, Thus within the wals Of holy church to deale, Thus to rynge a peale With his hawkis bels ? Dowtles such losels Make the churche to be In smale auctoryte : A curate in speciall To snappar and to fall Into this open cryme ; To loke on this were tyme.

But who so that lokys

In the officiallis bokis,

Ther he may se and reed

That this is matter indeed.

How be it, mayden Meed

Made theym to be agreed,

And so the Scrybe was feed,

And the Pharasay

Than durst nothing say,

But let the matter slyp,

And made truth to trip ;

And of the spiritual law

They made but a gewgaw,.

And toke it out in drynke,

And this the cause doth shrynke :

WARE THE HAUKE. 179

The church is thus abused, iso

Reproched and pollutyd : Correccion hath no place, And all for lacke of grace.

DEFLORATE.

Loke now in Exodi,

And de area Domini,

With Regum by and by ;

The Bybyll wyll not ly ;

How the Temple was kept,

How the Temple was swept,

Where sanguis taurorum, iro

Aut sanguis vitulorum,

Was offryd within the wallis,

After ceremoniallis ;

When it was poluted,

Sentence was executed,

By wey of expiaciou,

For reconciliacion.

DIVINITATE.1

Then muche more, by the rode,

Where Christis precious blode

Dayly offred is, . i»

To be poluted this ;

And that he wyshed withall

That the dowues donge downe might fal

i Divinitate] Qy. " Divinate V "

180 WARE THE HA.UKE.

Into my chalis at mas, When consecrated was The blessed sacrament :

0 prieest vnreuerent !

He sayde that he woulde hunt From the aulter to the funt.

EEFOKMATE.

Of no tyrande I rede, That so farre dyd excede * Neyther yet Dioclesyan, Nor yet Domisian, Nor yet croked Cacus, Nor yet dronken Bacus ; Nother Olibrius, Nor Dionisyus ; Nother Phalary, Rehersed in Valery ; Nor Sardanapall, Vnhappiest of all ; Nor Nero the worst, Nor Clawdius the curst ; Nor yet Egeas, Nor yet Syr Pherumbras ; Nother Zorobabell, Nor cruel Jesabell ; Nor yet Tarquinius, Whom Tytus Liuius In wrytynge doth enroll ;

1 haue red them poll by poll ;

WARE THE HATJKE. 181

The story of Arystobell,

And of Constantinopell,

Whiche citye miscreantys wan,

And slew many a Christen man ;

Yet the Sowden, nor the Turke,

Wrought neuer suche a worke,

For to let theyr hawkes fly

In the Church of Saint Sophy ;

With much matter more, z»

That I kepe in store.

PENSITATE.

Then in a tabull playne

I wroute a verse or twayne,

Whereat he made dysdayne :

The pekysh parsons brayne

Cowde not rech nor attayne

What the sentence ment ;

He sayde, for a crokid intent

The wordes were paruerted :

And this he ouerthwarted. 230

Of the which proces

Ye may know more expres,

If it please you to loke

In the resydew of this boke.

Here after followeth the tabull.

Loke on this tabull, Whether thou art abull

182 WARE THE HAUKE.

To rede or to spell What these verses tell.

Sicculo lutueris est colo buraard * Nixphedras uisarum caniuter tuntantes 2 Raterplas Natdbrian 8 umsudus itnugenus. 18 . 10 . 2 . 11 . 19 . 4 . 13 . 3 . 3 . 1 . teualet* Chartula stet,precor, hcec nullo temeranda petulco: Hos rapiet numeros non homo, sed mala bos. Exparte rem chartce adverte aperte, pone Musam Arethusam hanc.

Whereto should I rehers

The sentence of my vers? ««

In them be no scholys

For braynsycke frantycke folys :

Oonstruas hoc,

Domine Dawcocke !

Ware the hawke ! Maister sophista, Ye simplex syllogista, Ye deuelysh dogmatista, Your hawke on your fista,

1 bUraara] In Day's ed. the final letter of this word being blurred looks like &d; and Marshe's ed. has "bunraard." The meaning of this " tabull playne " is quite beyond my comprehension.

2 tuntantes] Marshe's ed. " tauntantes."

8 Natdbrian] Eds. of Day, and Marshe, " Natanbrian." The Editor of 1736 prints " Natanbrianum sudus." < teualet] Perhaps, " ten (10) valet."

WARE THE HAUKE. 183

To hawke when you lista a»

In ecclesia ista,

Domine concupisti,1

With thy hawke on thy fisty ?

Nunquid sic dixisti ?

Nunquid sic fecisti ?

Sed ubi hoc legisti

Aut unde hoc,

Doctor Dawcocke ?

Ware the hawke !

Doctor Dialetica, sw

Where fynde you in Hypothetica, Or in Categoria, Latino, sive Dorica, To vse your hawkys forica In propttiatorio, Tanquam diversorio ? Unde hoc, Domine Dawcocke ?

Ware the hawke !

Saye to me, Jacke Harys, wo

Quare aucuparis Ad sacramentum altaris ? For no reuerens thou sparys To shake my pygeons federis Super arcam fcederis : Unde hoc, Doctor Dawcocke ?

Ware the hawke ! l c&ncupisti] Eds. " racapisti " and " cacapisti."

184 WARE THE HAUKE.

Sir Dominus vobiscum, Per aucupium

\ Ye made your hawke to cum I Desuper candelabrum Christi crucifixi To fede vpon your fisty : Die, inimice crucis Christi, Ubi didicisti Facer e hoc, Domine Dawcocke?

Ware the hawke ! Apostata Julianus, Nor yet Nestorianus, Thou shalt no where rede That they dyd suche a dede, To let theyr hawkys fly Ad ostium tabernaculi, In quo est corpus Domini: Cave hoc, Doctor Dawcocke !

Ware the hawke ! This dowtles ye rauyd, Dys church ye thus deprauyd ; Wherfore, as I be sauyd, Ye are therefore beknauyd : Quare ? quia Evangelia, Concha et conchylia, Accipiter et sonalia, Et bruta animalia, Ccetera quoque talia

WARE THE HAUKE. 185

Tibi sunt cequalia :

Uhde hoc, sio

Domine Dawcocke?

Ware the hawke! Et relis et ralis, Et reliqualis, From Granado to Galis, From Wynchelsee to Walys, Non est braynsycke tails, Nee minus rationales, Nee magis bestialis,

That synggys with a chalys : 320

Constructs hoc, Doctor Dawcocke !

Ware the hawke ! Masyd, wytles, smery smyth, Hampar with your hammer vpon thy styth, And make hereof a syckyll or a saw, For thoughe ye lyue a c. yere, ye shall dy a daw.

Vos valete,

Doctor indiscrete !

8KELTONIS APOSTEOPHAT AD DIVUM JOHANNEM DECOL- LATUM, IN CUJUS PROFESTO FIEBAT HOC AUCUPIUM.

0 memoranda dies, qua, decollate Johannes, . Aucupium facit, haud quondam quod fecerit, intra Ecclesiam de Dis, violans tua sacra sacrorum !

186 DE LIBERA DICACITATE, &C.

Rector de Whipstok, doctor cognomine Daucock, Et dominus Wodcock ; probat is, probat hie, pro- bat hcec hoc.

IDEM ! DE LIBERA DICACITATE POETICA IN ^EXTOLLENDA PEOBITATE, ET IN PERFRICANDA IGNOBILITATE.

L/ibertas veneranda piis concessa poetis

Dicendi est qucecunque placent, qucecunque juva-

bunt,

Vel qucecunque vahntjustas defendere causas, Vel qucecunque valent stolidos mordere petulcos. Ergo dabis veniam.

Quod Skelton, laureat.

i Idem, ^c.] These lines follow Ware the Hawk in all the eds.

EPITAPHE. 187

EPITHAPHE*

THIS tretise devysed it is Of two knaues somtyme of Dis. Though this knaues be deade, Full of myschiefe and queed, Yet, where so euer they ly, Theyr names shall neuer dye.

Compendium de duobus versipellibus, John Jay- berd) et Adam all a knaue, deque illorum no- tissima vilitate.

A DEUOUTE TBENTALE FOB OLD JOHN CLARKE, SOMETYME THE HOLY PATBIARKE OF DIS.

Sequitur trigintale Tale quale rationale, Licet parum curiale, Tamen satis estformale, Joannis Glerc, hominis Cujusdam multinominis,

» From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

188 EPITAPHE.

Joannes Jayberd qui vocatur,

Clerc cleribus nuncupatur.

Obiit sanctus iste pater

Anno Domini MD. sexto.

In parochia de Dis

Non erat sibi similis ;

In malitia vir insignis,

Duplex corde et bilinguis ;

Senio confectus,

Omnibus suspectus,

Nemini dilectus,

Sepultus est amonge the wedes :

God forgeue hym his mysdedes !

Didce melos Penetrans ccelos.

Carmina cum cannis cantemus festa Joannis: Clerk obiit vere, Jayberd nomenque dedere ; Dis populo natus, Clerk cleribus estque vocatus, Hie vir Chaldaus, nequam ver, ceu Jebusceus, In Christum Domini Jremuit de more cameli, Rectori proprio tarn verba retorta loquendo

EPITAPHE. 189

Unde resultando- que Acheronta 1 boando tonaret. Nunquam sincere solitus sua crimina jlere ; Cui male lingua loquax- que dicax mendaxque, fuere Et mores tales

resident in nemine quales ; 20

Carpens vitales auras, turbare sodales Et cines socios, asimus, mulus velut, et bos. Omne suum studium rubeum pictum per amictum Discolor ; et victum faciens semper maledictum Ex intestinis ovium- que boumque caprorum ; so

Tendens adque forum, fragmentum colligit horum Dentibus exemptis mastigat cumque polenlis

i que Acheronta, $c que dicax, ^c.] Perhaps these

passages ought to be arranged thus for the sake of the rhyme ; " que Acheronta boando tonaret. Nunquam sincere,1' $c.

" que, dicax mendax- que, fuere Et mores tales," $c.

But from the rest of the poem it seems that Skelton intended each hexameter to be cut only into two parts.

190 EPITAPHE.

Lanigerum caput aut ovis 1

aut vacccp. mugientis.

Quidpetis, hie sit quis ?

John Jayberd, incola de Dis ;

Oui, dum vixerat is,

sociantur jurgia, vis, Us. «

Jamjacet Me starke deed, Neuer a toth in his heed. Adieu, Jayberd, adue, I faith, dikkon thou crue ! Fratres, orate For this knauate, By the holy rode, Dyd neuer man good : I pray you all,

And pray shall, *>

At this trentall On knees to fall To the fote ball ; With, fill the blak bowle For Jayberdes sowle.

JBibite multum : Ecce sepultum Sub pede stultum,

Asinum, et mulum ! «

The deuill kis his culum! so

Wit[h], hey, howe, rumbelowe,

i caput cut ovis] Ed. " caput capnt." I give the conjectu- ral reading of the Rev. J. Mitford. The rhyme suggests (but the metre will not allow) " bidentis."

EPITAPHE. 191

Rumpopulorum,

Per omnia secula seculorum ! Amen.

Requiem, fyc.

Per Fredericum ffely, Fratrem de Monte Carmeli, Qui condunt sine sale Hoc devotum trigintale. Vale Jayberd, valde male !

Adam Vddersall,1 Alias dictus Adam all

a knaue, his

Epitaph foloweth deuoutly ; He was somtime the holy

Baillyue of Dis.

Of Dis

Adam degebat :

dum vixit, falsa gerebat,

i Vddersall, cfc.J In this passage I have adopted the rangement proposed by the Rev. J. Mitford. — Ed. thus : " Adam Vddersale. alias dictus Adam all. a knaue his Epitaph. Foloweth deuoutly, He was somtime the holy baillyueofdis."

192 EPITAPHE. '

Namque extorquebat quicquid nativus habebat, Aut liber natus ; rapidus lupus inde vocatus : Ecclesiamque satus de Belial iste Pilatus Sub pede calcatus violavit, nunc violatus : Perfidus, iratus,

numquam fuit itte beatus: w

Uddersall stratus benedictis est spoliatus, Improbus, inflatus, maledictis jam laceratus : Dis,1 tibi bacchatus ballivus prcedominatus : Hie fuit ingratus,

porcus velut insatiatus, »

Pinguis, crassatus ; velut Agag sit reprobatus ! Crudelisque Cacus barathro, peto, sit tumulatus ! Belsabub his soule saue, Qui jacet hie, like a knaue! Jam scio mortuus est, fit jacet hie, like a best.

iDis,tiM, ^c.] The emendation of the Rev. J. Mitford: compare above, " Baillyue of Dis." — Ed. " Sis tibi baccattu Balians prcedominatus."

EPITAPHE. 193

Anima ejus

De malo in pejus. Amen. ao

De Dis hcec semper erit camena, Adam Uddersall sit anathema !

Auctore Skelton, rectors de Dis.

Finis, 3?c. Apud Trumpinton scriptum per Curatum ejusdem, quinto die Januarii Anno Domini, secundum computat. Anglia, MDVII.

Adam, Adam, ubi es ? Genesis. Re. Vbi nulla requies, ubi nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat. Job.

13

194 DILIGO RUSTINCUM, &C.

Diligo rustincum * cum portant bis duo quointum, Et cantant delos est mihi dulce melos. 1. Canticum dolor osum.

LAMENTATIO UEBIS NORVICEN.

0 lacrymosa lues nimis, 0 quam flebile fatum !

Ignibus exosis, urbs veneranda, ruis ; Fulmina sive Jovis sive ultima fata vocabant,

Vulcani rapidis ignibus ipsa peris. Ah decus, ah patrice specie pulcherrima dudum !

Urbs Norvicensis labitur in cineres. Urbs, tibi quid referam ? breviter tibi pauca re- ponam :

Prosper a rara manent, utere sorte tua ; Perpetuum mortale nihil, sors omnia versat .

Urbs miseranda, vale ! sors miseranda tua est.

Skelton.

* This and the following piece are from Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568. In that collection the present coup- let is twice printed: " rustincum" is the reading of the first copy, "rusticum" (which the metre will not admit) of the second : the first copy has " quonintum," the second "quoin- turn ; " the Editor of 1736 gave " quantum." See notes for the conjectures of the Rev. J. Mitford on this enigma. " Can- ticum doforosum" is probably part of the title of the next piece.

IN BEDEL, &C. 195

IN BEDEL, QUONDAM BELIAL INCABNATUM, DEVOTUM EPITAPHIUM.

Ismal, ecce, Bedel, non mel, sed fel, sibi des el ! l

Perfidus Achitophel, luridus atque lorell ; Nunc olet iste Jebal,* Nabal. S. Nabal, ecce, ri- baldus !

Omnibus exosus atque perosus erat ; In plateaque cadens animam spiravit oleto :

Presbyteros odiens sic sine mente ruit. Discite vos omnes quid sit violare sacratos

Presbyteros, quia sic corruit iste canis. Oocytus cui si detur 3 per Tartara totus,

Sit, peto, promotus Cerberus huncque voret. 10 At mage sanctu tamen mea Musa precabitur alros

Hos lemuresque eat sic Bedel ad superos ; Non eat, immo mat, non scandat, sed mage tendat,

Inque caput prteceps mox Acheronta petal.

Bedel. Quanta malignatus est inimicus in sanctol

Psa. 73.

Mortuus est asinus, Qui pinxit mulum :

1 des el] The Rev. J. Mitford proposes " dorell."

2 Jebal] Qy. ".label? " but I do not understand the line.

8 «i detur] So the Rev. J. Mitford reads. Ed. " sic petus."

196 IN BEDEL, &C.

Hie jacet barbarus ;

The deuill kys his calum! Amen.

Hanc volo transcribas, transcriptam moxque re-

mittas

Pagellam ; quia sunt qui mea scripta sciunt. Redd I ^tur 1u^a sunt 3™ ma^a cuncta fremunt, Igitur quia sunt qui bona cuncta premunt. Nee tamen expaveo de fatuo labio, Nee multum paveo de stolido rabulo.

SALVE, &C. 197

Salve plus * decies quam sunt momenta dierum ! Quotgenerum species, quot res, quot nomina rerum, Quot prati flores, quot sunt et in orbe colores, Quot pisces, quot aves, quot sunt et in eequore

naves,

Quot volucrum pennce, quot sunt tormenta gehennee, Quot caeli Stella, quot sunt et in orbe puellee, Quot sancti Romce, quot sunt miracula Thomas, Quot sunt virtutes, tantas tibi mitto salutes.

* From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Works, 1568, (where it is printed on the reverse of the title-page, ) collated with a copy in Additional MSS. Brit. Mus. (4787, fol. 224,) which is headed " Ex Jo. Skeltono Poeta Laureate."

198 EPITAPHIUM IN HENRICUM SEPT1MUM.

ORATOR REGIUS SKELTONIS LAUREATUS IN SINGULARS MERITISSIMUMQUE PR.ECONIUM NOBILISSIMI PEINCIPIS HENRICI SEPTIMI, NUPER STRENUISSIMI REGIS ANGLI^K HOC EPITAPHIUM EDIDIT, AD SIXCERAM CONTEMPLA- TIONEM REVERENDI IN CHRISTO PATRIS AC DOMINI, DOMINI JOHANNIS ISLIPPjE ABBATIS WESTMONASTERIEN- SIS OPTIME MERITI, ANNO DOMINI MDXII. PRIDIE DIVI ANDRE-E APOSTOLI, &C. *

Tristia Melpomenes cogor modo plectra sonare ,

Hos elegos foveat Cynthius ilk meos. Si quas fata movent lacrymas, lacrymare videtur

Jam bene maturum, si bene mente sapis. Flos Britonum, regum speculum, Salomonis imago,

Septimus Henricus mole sub hac tegitur. Punica, dum regnat, redolens rosa digna vocari,

Jam jam marcescit, ceu levis umbra fugit. Multa novercantis fortunce, multa faventis

Passus, et infractus tempus utrumque tulit. " Nobilis Anchises, armis meluendus Atrides,

Hie erat ; hunc Scottus rex timuit Jacobus. Spiramenta animce veaetans dum vescitur aura,

Francorum populus conticuit pavidus.

* This and the next piece from Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568, collated with the poems as given in Reges, Regime, NobUes, et alii in Ecclesia Collegiata B. Peiri West- monatterii sepulti, &c., 1603, 4to.

EULOGIUM PRO SUORUM TEMPORUM, &C. 199

Immensas sibi divitias cumulasse quid horres?

Ni cumulasset opes, forte, Britanne, luas. Urgentes casus tacita si menle volutes, Vix tibi sufficeret aurea ripa Tagi. Ni sua te probitas consulta mente laborans

Rexissit satius, vix tibi tuta salus. 20

Sed quid plura cano ? meditans quid plura voluto ?

Quisque vigil sibi sit : mors sine lege rapit. Ad Dominum, qui cuncta regit, pro principe tanto

Funde preces quisquis carmina nostra legis.

Vel mage,* si placeat, hunc timuit Jacobus, Scottorum dominus, qui sua fata luit ; Quern Leo Candidior Rubeum necat ense Leonem, Et jacet usque modo non tumulatus humo.

Refrigerii sedem, quietis beatitudinem, luminis habeat claritatem. Amen.

EULOGIUM PRO SUOEUM TEMPORUM CONDITIONE, TANTI8

PRINCIPIBUS NON INDIGNUM, PER SKELTONIDA

LAUREATUM, ORATOREM REGIUM.

Hue, pia Calliope, propera, mea casta puella, Et mecum resona carmina plena deo.

* humo} Not in Reyes, &c. These lines (containing an allu- sion to the battle of Flodden) are of a later date than the preceding poem, to the 12th verse of which they are intended as a sort of note. This is not the only passage in our author's Latin pieces where two pentameters occur without an inter- vening hexameter: see conclusion of The GarlandeofLaureO.

200 EULOGIUM PRO SUORUM TEMPORUM, &C.

Septimus ffenricus, Britonum memorabilia heros,

Anglica terra, tuus magnanimus Priamus, Attains Me opibus, rigidus Cato, clarus Acestes,

Sub gelido clausus marmore jam recubat. Sic honor omnis, opes, probitas, sic gloria regum,

Omnia nutabunt mortis ad imperium. Anglia, num lacrymas? rides; lacrymare quid obstas ?

Dum vixit, lacrymas ; dum moritur, jubilas. 10 Canta, tamen penses, dum vixerat, Angligenenses

Vibrabant enses, bella nee ulla timent. Uhdique bella fremunt nunc, undique preelia surgunt :

Noster honor solus, filius, ecce, suus ! Noster honor solus, qui pondera tanta subire

Non timet, intrepidus arma gerenda vocat ; Arma gerenda vocat, (superi sua coepta secun- dent !)

Ut qualiat Pallas cegida seepe rogat, Sors tamen est versanda diu, sors ultima belli :

Myrmidonum dominus Marte silente ruit ; 20

Et quern non valuit validis superare sub armis

Mars, tamen occubuit insidiis Paridis. Nos incerta quidem pro certis ponere rebus

Arguit, et prohibet Delius ipse pater. Omnia sunt hominum dubio labentia fato,

Marte sub incerto militat omnis homo. Omne decus nostrum, nostra et spes unica tantum,

Jam bene qui regnat, hunc Jovis umbra tegat t

TETRASTICIIOX. 201

Ut quamvis mentem labor est inhibere volentem,

Pauca tamen liceat dicere pace sua : so

Pace tua liceat mihi nunc tibi dicere pauca,

Dulce meum decus, et sola Britanna salus. Summa rei nostrce remanet, celeberrime princeps,

In te prcecipuo, qui modo sceptra geris. Si tibi fata favent, faveant precor atque precabor,

Anglia, tune plaude ; sin minus, ipsa vale.

Polychronitudo basileos.

TETRASTICHOK VERITATIS.

Felix qui bustum formasti, rex, tibi cuprum ; Auro si tectus fueras, fueras spoliatus, Nudus, prostratus, tanta est rabiosa cupido Undique nummorum: rex, pace precor requiescas. Amen.

202 AGAINST THE SCOTTES.

SKELTON LAUREATE AGAINST THE SCOTTES.*

AGATNST the prowde Scottes clatterynge, That neuer wyll leaue tbeyr tratlynge : Wan they the felde, and lost theyr kynge ? They may well say, fye on that wynnynge !

Lo, these fonde sottes

And tratlynge Scottes,

How the! are blynde

In theyr owne mynde,

And wyll not know

Theyr ouerthrow M

At Branxton more !

They are so stowre,

So frantyke mad,

They say they had

And wan the felde

With spere and shelde :

* The following pieces, called forth by the battle of Flod- den, and the lines on the Battle of the Spurs annexed to them, are from the ed of Kynge and Marche of Certaine bokes com- pyled by maysler Skellon, n. d., collated with the same work, ed. Day, n. d., ed. Lant, n. d., and with Marshe's ed. of Skel- ton's Wvrkes, 1568.

AGAINST THE SCOTTES. 2l)3

That is as trew

As blacke is blew

And grene is gray.

What euer they say, «

Jemmy is (led

And closed in led,

That was theyr owne kynge :

Fy on that wynnynge !

At Floddon hyllys Our bowys, our byllys, Slewe all the floure Of theyr honoure. Are not these Scottya Folys and sottys, «

Suche boste to make, To prate and crake, To face, to brace, All voyde of grace, So prowde of hart, So ouerthwart, So out of frame, So voyde of shame, As it is enrolde,

"Wrytten and tolde «t

Within this quayre? Who lyst to repayre, And therin reed, Shall fynde indeed A mad rekenynge, Consyderynge al thynge,

204 AGAINST THE SCOTTES.

That the Scottis may synge Fy on the wynnynge!

Wfien the Scotte lyued. Joly Jemmy, ye scorneful Scot, Is it come vnto your lot A solempne sumner for to be ? It greyth nought for your degre Our kynge of Englande for to syght, Your souerayne lord, our prynce of might: Ye for to sende such a citacion, It shameth all your noughty nacion, In comparyson but kynge Koppynge Vnto our prince, annoynted kynge. Ye play Hob Lobbyn of Lowdean ; Ye shew ryght well what good ye can ; Ye may be lorde of Locrian, — Chryst sence you with a frying pan ! — Of Edingborrow and Saint lonis towne : Adieu, syr sumner, cast of youre crowne !

When the Scot was slayne. Continually I shall remember The mery moneth of September, With the ix * daye of the same, For then began our myrth and game ; So that now I haue deuysed, And in my minde I haue comprysed,

l »a:J Eds. " xi."

AGAINST THE SCOTTES. 205

Of the prowde Scot, kynge Jemmy, To wryte some lyttle tragedy, For no maner consyderacion Of any sorowful lamentacion, But for the special consolacion Of all 'our royall Englysh nacion.

Melpomone, O Muse tragediall, Vnto your grace for grace now I call, To guyde my pen and my pen to enbybe! Illumyn me, your poete and your scrybe, •

That with myxture of aloes and bytter gall I may compounde confectures for a cordiall, To angre the Scottes and Irysh keteringes withall, That late were discomfect with battayle marcyall.

Thalia, my Muse, for you also call I, To touche them with tauntes of your armony, A medley to make of myrth with sadnes, The hartes of England to comfort with gladnes : And now to begyn I wyll me adres, To you rehersynge the somme of my proces. »

Kynge Jamy, Jemmy, Jocky my jo, Ye summond our kynge, — why dyd ye so ? To you nothing it dyd accorde To summon our kynge, your soueraygne lord. A kyng, a sumner ! it was great wonder : Know ye not suger and salt asonder ? Your sumner to saucy, to malapert, Your harrold in armes not yet halfe experte. Ye thought ye dyd yet valyauntly, Not worth thre skyppes of a pye : no

206 AGAINST THE SCOTTES.

Syr skyrgalyard, ye were so skyt, Your wyll than ran before your wyt.

Your lege ye layd and your aly, Your frantick fable not worth a fly, Frenche kynge, or one or other ; Regarded ye should your lord, your brother. Trowid ye, Syr Jemy, his nobul grace From you, Syr Scot, would turne his face? With, Gup, Syr Scot of Galawey ! Now is your pryde fall to decay. Male vryd was your fals entent For to offende your presydent, Your souerayne lord most reuerent, Your lord, your brother, and your regent.

In him is fygured Melchisedec, And ye were disloyall Amalec. He is our noble Scipione, Annoynted kynge ; and ye were none, Thoughe ye vntruly your father haue slayne. His tytle is true in Fraunce to raygne ; And ye, proud Scot, Dunde, Dunbar, Pardy, ye were his homager, And suter to his parliament : For your vntruth now ar ye shent. Ye bare yourselfe somwhat to bold, Therfore ye lost your copyehold ; Ye were bonde tenent to his estate ; Lost is your game, ye are checkmate.

Vnto the castell of Norram, I vnderstande, to sone ye came.

AGAINST THE SCOTTES. 207

At Branxston more and Flodden hylles,

Our Englysh bowes, our Englysh by lies,

Agaynst you gaue so sharpe a shower,

That of Scotland ye lost the flower.

The Whyte Lyon, there rampaunt of moode,

He ragyd and rent out your hart bloode;

He the Whyte, and ye the Red,

The Whyte there slew the Red starke ded.

Thus for your guerdon quyt ar ye,

Thanked be God in Trinite, no

And swete Sainct George, our ladies knyght !

Your eye is out ; adew, good nyght !

Ye were starke mad to make a fray, His grace beyng out of the way : But, by the power and might of God, For your owrie tayle ye made a rod. Ye wanted wit, syr, at a worde ; Ye lost your spurres, ye lost your sworde. Ye myght haue buskyd you to Huntley bankys ; Your pryde was peuysh to play such prankys : «o Your pouerte coude not attayne With our kynge royal war to mayntayne.

Of the kyng of Nauerne ye might take heed, Vngraciously how he doth speed : In double delynge so he did dreme, That he is kynge without a reme ; And, for example ye would none take, Experlens hath brought you in suche a brake. Your welth, your ioy, your sport, your play, Your bragynge bost, your royal aray, »•

208 AGAINST THE SCOT1ES.

Your beard so brym as bore at bay,

Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay,

All haue ye lost and cast away.

Thus fortune hath tourned you, I dare well

saye,

Now from a kynge to a clot of clay : Out of your robes ye were shaked, And wretchedly ye lay starke naked. For lacke of grace hard was your hap: The Popes curse gaue you that clap.

Of the out yles the roughe foted Scottes, n» We haue well eased them of the bottes : The rude ranke Scottes, lyke dronken dranes, At Englysh bowes haue fetched theyr banes. It is not fytting 1 in tower and towne A sumner to were a kynges crowne : Fortune on you therfore did frowne ; Ye were to hye, ye are cast downe. Syr sumner, now where is your crowne? Cast of your crowne, cast vp your crowne ! Syr sumner, now ye haue lost your crowne. i» Quod Skelton laureate, oratoure to the Kynges most royall estate.

Scotia, redacta in formam provincia:, Regis parebit nutibus Anglice : Alioquin, per deserlum Sin, super cherubim, Cheriibin, seraphim, seraphinque, ergo, fyc.

ifytling] Other eds. " sytting " and " sitting," which, per- haps, Skeltou wrote, as he elsewhere uses the word.

AGAINST THE SCOTTES. 209

VNTO DIUERS PEOPLE THAT RESIOBD THIS RYMYHGB AGAYNST THE SCOT JES4BIY.

I AM now constrained,

With wordes nothynge fayned,

This inuectiue to make,

For some peoples sake

That lyst for to iangyll

And waywardly to wrangyll

Agaynst this my makynge,

Their males therat shakynge,

At it reprehending,

And venemously stingynge, i

Rebukynge and remordyng,

And nothing according.

Cause haue they none other, But for that he was brother, Brother vnnatural Vnto our kynge royall, Against whom he dyd fighte Falsly agaynst all ryght, Lyke that vntrue rebell Fals Kayn agaynst Abell. i

Who so theraf pyketh mood, The tokens are not good To be true Englysh blood ; For, yf they vnderstood His traytourly dispyght, He was a recrayed knyght, VOL. i. 14

210 AGAINST THE SCOTTES.

A subtyll sysmatyke, Ryght nere an heretyke, Of grace out of the state, And died excomunycate.

And for he was a kynge, The more shamefull rekenynge Of hym should men report, In ernest and in sport. He skantly loueth our kynge, That grudgeth at this thing : That cast such ouerthwartes Percase haue hollow hartes.

Si veritatem dico, quare non creditis mihit

CHORUS DE DIS CONTRA SCOTTOS. 211

CHORUS DE DIS CONTRA SCOTTOS CUM OMNI PROCESSIONALI

FESTIVITATE SOLEMNISAVIT HOC EPITOMA XXH

DIE SEPTEMBRIS, &C.

Salve, festa dies, toto resonabilis cevo,

Qua Scottus Jacobus, obrutus ense, cadit. Barbara Scottorum gens, perfida, plena malorum,

Vincitur ad Norram, vertitur inque fugam. Vasta palus, sed campestris, (borie memoratur

Branxton more), Scottis terra perosa fuit. Scottica castra fremunt Floddun sub montibus

altis,

Qua valide invadens dissipat Angla manus. Millia Scottorum trusit gens Anglica passim ;

Luxuriat tepido sanguine pinguis humus : 10 Pars animas miseri miseras misere sub umbras,

Pars ruit in foveas, pars subiil latebras. Jam quid agit Jacobus, damnorum germine cretus ?

Perjidus ut Nemroth, lapsus ad ima ruit. Die modo, Scottorum dudum male sane malorum

Rector, nunc regeris, mortuus, ecce, jaces ! Sic Leo te rapidus, Leo Gandidus, inclytus ursit,

Quo Leo tu Rubeus ultima fata luis. Anglia, due choreas; resonent tua tympana,

psallas ; *

Da laudes Domino, da pia vota Deo. »

ffcec laureatus Skeltonis, regius orator.

1 tympana, psaflas] Qy. " tympana psalmis? "

212 CHORUS DE DIS CONTRA GALLOS.

CHORUS DE DIS, &C. SUPER TRIUMPHAL! VICTORIA CONTRA

GALLOS, &C. CANTAVIT SOLEMNITER HOC ELOGITJM J»

PROFESTO DIVI JOHANJilS AD DECOLLATIONEM.

Salve, festa dies, toto memorabilis <EVO,

Qua rex Henricus GaUica bella prem.it. Henricus rutilans Octavus noster in armis

Tirwinnce gentis mcenia stravit humi. Sceptriger Anglorum bello validissimus Hector,

Francorum gentis colla superba terit. Dux armis nuper Celebris, modo dux inermis,

De Longville modo die quo tua pompa ruit ? De Clermount clarus dudum die, Galle superbe,

Unde superbus eris ? carcere nonne gemis ? "> Discite Francorum gens ccetera capta, Britannum

Noscite magnanimum, subdite vosque sibi. Gloria Cappadocis, divce milesque Maries,

Ittius hie sub ope Gallica regna reget. Hoc insigne bonum, divino numine gestum,

Anglica gens referat semper, ovansque canat. Per Skeltonida laureatum, oratorem regium.

CAUDATOS ANGLOS, &C. 213

V1LITISSIMUS a SCOTUS DUNDAS ALLEGAT CAUDA8 CONTRA AXGLIGEUAS.

Caudatos Anglos, spurcissime Scote, quid effers ? Effrons es, quoque sons, mendax, tua spurcaque bucca est.

Anylicus a tergo caudam gerit ; est canis ergo. Anglice caudate, cape caudam ne cadat a te. Ex causa caudte manet Anglica gens sine laude.

Diffamas patriam, qua non

est melior usquam. Cum cauda plaudis dum

possis, ad ostia pultas Mendicans ; mendicus em,

mendaxque Ulinguis,

1 ViKlissimus] So, perhaps, Skelton wrote ; but qy. " Vilis- simus? " — This poem from Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Worket, 1668.

214 CAUDATOS ANGLOS, &C.

Scabidus, horrililis, quern vermes sexquc pedales

Corrodunt misere ; miseris genus est maledictum.

Skeltou, nobilis poeta,

Gup, Scot, Ye blot: Laudate Caudate, Set in better Thy pentameter. This Dundas, This Scottishe as, He rymes and railes That Englishmen haue tailes.

Skeltonus laureatus, Anglicus natus, Provocat Musas Contra Dundas Spurcissiinum Scotum, Undique notum, Justice fotum, Vapide potum. Skelton laureat After this rate Def'endeth with his pen All Englysh men Agayn Dundas, That Scottishe asse.

CAUDATOS ANGLOS, &C. 215

Shake thy tayle, Scot, lyke a cur,

For thou beggest at euery inannes dur :

Tut, Scot, I sey,

Go shake thy 1 dog, hey !

Dundas of Galaway

With thy versyfyeng rayles so

How they haue tayles.

By Jesu Christ,

Fals Scot, thou lyest :

But behynd in our hose

We bere there a rose

For thy Scottyshe nose,

A spectacle case

To couer thy face,

With tray deux ase.

A tolman to blot, <•

A rough foted Scot !

Dundas, sir knaue,

Why doste thow depraue

This royall reame,

Whose radiant beame

And relucent light

Thou hast in despite,

Thou donghyll knyght ?

But thou lakest might,

Dundas, dronken and drowsy, *

Skabed, scuruy, and lowsy,

Of vnhappy generacion

And most vngracious nacion.

1 %] Qy- " tW ? " but see notes.

216 CAUDATOS ANGLOS, &C.

Dundas,

That dronke asse, That ratis and rankis, That prates and prankes On Huntley bankes, Take this our thankes ; Dunde, Dunbar, Walke, Scot, Walke, sot, Rayle not to far.

ELEGIA IN COM1TISSAM DE DERBY. 217

ELEGIA IN SERENISSIM^E rRINCIFIS ET DOMINIE, DOMIN.B MARGARETS NUPER COMITISS& DE DERBY, STRENUISSIMI REGIS IIEXRICI SEFTIMI MATRIS, FUNEBRE MIMSTERIUM, PER SKELTONIDA LAUREATUM, ORATOREM REGIUM, XVI. DIE MENSIS AUGUSTI, ANNO SALUTIS MDXVI. *

Aspirate meis elegis, pia turma sororum,

Et Margaretam collacrymate piam. ffac sub mole latet regis cehberrima mater

Henrici magni, quern locus iste fovet ; Quern locus iste sacer celebri celebrat polyandro,

lllius en genitrix hac tumulatur kumo ! Cui cedat Tanaquil (Titus hanc super astra re- portet),

Cedat Penelope, earns Ulixis amor : Huic Abigail, velut Hester, erat pietate secunda:

En tres jam proceres nobilitate pares ! 10

Pro domina, precor, implora, pro principe tanta

Flecte Deum precibus, qui legis hos apices. Plura referre piget, calamus torpore rigescit,

Dormit Meccenas, negligitur probttas ; Necjuvat, aut modicum prodest, mine ultima versu

Fata recensere (mortua mors reor est).

* From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568, collated with the piece as given in Reges, RegiiUB, Nobiles, tt alii in Ecdesia CuUegiata B. Petri Weslmmasterii sepulti, &c., 1603, 4to.

218 ELEGIA IN COMITISSABI DE DERBY.

Quceris quid decus est ? decus est modo dicier hircus ;

Cedit honos hirco, cedit honorque capro. Falleris ipse Charon ; ilenim surrexit Abyron,

Et Stygios remos despicit ille tuos. 20

Vivitur ex voto : mentis pracordia tangunt

Nalla sepulcra ducum, nee monumenta patrum; Non regum, non ulla hominum labentia fato

Tempora, nee totiens mortua turba ruens. Hinc statuo eerie periturce parcere chartce,

Ceu Juvcnalls avet eximius satirus.

Distickon execrationis in phagolcedoros.

Qui lacerat, violatve rapit prcesens epitoma, Hunc laceretque voret Cerberus absque moral

Galon, agaton, cum areta. Re. in pa. ffanc tccum statuas dominam, precort 0 sator orbis, Quo regnas rutilans rex sine fine manens !

CALLIOPE. 219

WHY were ye Calliope embrawdred with letters ofgolde?*

8KELTON LAUREATE, ORATO. REG. MAKETH THIS AUNSWERE, &C.

CALLIOPE, As ye may se, Regent is she

Of poetes al, Whiclie gaue to me The high degre Laureat to be

Of fame royall ; Whose name enrolde With silke and golde u

I dare be bolde

Thus for to were. Of her I holde And her housholde ; Though I waxe olde

And somdele sere, Yet is she fayne,

* These pieces on Calliope from Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

CALLIOPE.

Voyde of disdayn, Me to retayne

Her seruiture : With her certayne I wyll remayne, As my souerayne

Moost of pleasure, Maulqre touz malheureux.

LATINUJI CARMEN 6EQUITUK.

Cur tibi contexta cst aurea Calliope ?

BESPOXSIO EJUSDEM VATIS.

Candida Cattiope, vatum regina, coronans Pierios lauro, radiante intexta sub auro ! Hanc ego Pierius tanto dignabor honore, Dum mihi vita manet, dum spiritus hos regit artus : Quamquam conficior senio marcescoque sensim, Ipse tamen gestare sua hcec pia pignora certo, Assensuque suo placidis parebo camenis. Inclyta Calliope, et semper mea maxima cura est.

Hcec Pierius omni Spartano liberior. CAJ^UOPE,

Musarum excellentissima, speciosissima, formosis- sima, heroicis praeest vers

THE BOKE OP THREE FOOLES. 221

{A

HE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.*

<m lo

-TOETE LAUREATE, GAUE TO SIT LORD

CARDYNALL.

THE FTRST FOOLE.

THE man that doth wed a wyfe For her goodes and her rychesse,

And not for lygnage femynatyfe, Procureth doloure and dystresse, With infynyte payne and heuynesse ;

For she wyll do hym moche sorowe,

Bothe at euyn and at morowe.

THE SECONDE FOOLE.

The dartes ryght cursed of Enuye Hath rayned sythe the worlde began,

Whiehe bryngeth man euydently Into the bondes of Sathan ; Wherfore he is a dyscrete man

That can eschewe that euyll synne

Where body and soule is lost in.

THE THTRD FOOLE.

Dyuers by voluptuousnes

Of women, the which be present,

* From Marshe's ed. of Skelton's Workes, 1568.

222 THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.

Be brought into full great dystres, Forgettyng vertues excellent Of God, the whych is permanent,

And suffreth themselfe to be bounde

In cordes, as it were a hounde.

Come hyther, and take this boke, and rede therein for your lernyng with clere iyen,and loke in this boke, that sheweth you folysh fooles with- out wyt or vnderstanding. Pecunyous fooles, that bee auaryce, and for to haue good tyme and to lyue meryly, weddeth these olde wyddred women, whych hath sackes full of nobles, claryfye here your syghte, and ye shal know what goodnes commeth therby, and what joye and gladnes. Some there be that habandoneth themselfe for to gather togyther the donge that yssueth oute of theyr asses arse, for to fynde euermore grese : it is grete foly trulye; but yet the yonge man is more folyssher the whiche weddeth an olde wyfe, for to haue her golde and syluer. I say that he is a great foole that taketh anne olde wyfe for her goodes, and is much to blame.

They the whiche do so procureth all trybula- tions: for with her he shall neither haue ioy, recreacion, nor rest. He noryssheth stryfes and greate debates, thoughte, payne, anguyshe. and melancoly : and yf he wolde accomplysshe the workes of maryage, hee may not, for shee is so dubylyte, colde, vnpropyce, vnnaturall, and vndys-

THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES. 223

currente, for the coldenes that is in her. The husbande of this olde wyfe hath none esperaunce to haue lygnage by her, for he neuer loued her. The man is a verye foole to make his demoraunce vpon such an olde wife. Whan he thinketh som- time vpon such thynges, he leseth his naturall wit, in cursynge hymselfe more then a m. tymes with the golde and the syluer, and the cursed hasarde of Fortune. And when he seeth his poore lyfe in suche dystresse, hie hert is all oppressed with melancoly and dolour : but wha.n the vnhappye man seeth that it is force,, andthat hee is con- strayned to haue pacience, he putteth his cure to draw to hym the money of the olde wyddred woman in makyng to her glade chere. And whan hee hath the money and the bagge with nobles, God knoweth what chere he maketh, wythoute thynkinge on them that gathered it. And when he hath spente al, he is more vnhappyer than hee was before. Yf that the foole be vnhappye, it is well ryghte, for hee hath wedded auaryce, mother of all euylles : yf hee had taken a wyfe that had ben fayre and yonge, after his complection, he had not fallen into so great an inconuenience. It is wryten in auncient bokes, that hee whiche weddeth a wyfe by auaryce, and not for to haue lygnage, hath no cure of the honestie of matrymonye, and thynketh full euyll on his conscience. The vnyon of maryage is decayed ; for, vnder the coloure of good and loyall maryage, is wedded auaryce, as

224 THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.

we se euery day by experience through the world. And one wil haue a wife, and that hee marke his to be demaunded in maryage, they will enquyre of his ryches and conninge. And on the other syde he wyl demaunde great goodes with her, to norysshe her with : for and her father and mother and frendes haue no greate ryches, he wyll not of her; but and she be ryche, hee demaundeth none other thynge. It is written, that one were better haue his house in deserte, whereas no raencion shoulde be of hym,thenne to bide with suche wyues, for they be replete with all cursednes. And the pore foole breketh his hearte ; he loseth his soule, and corrompeth his body. He selleth his youth vnto the olde wife that weddeth her for auaryce, and hath but noyse and discention, in vsyng his lyfe thus in synne. Consydre, you fooles, what seruy- tude ye put your self in, when ye wedde such wyues. I pray you be chast, if that ye wyll lyue without vnhap. My frends, whiche be not in that bande, put you not therin, and yee shalbe well happy. Notwithstanding, I defende you not to mary, but I exhorte you to take a wyfe that ye may haue progeny by, and solace bodely and gostly, and thereby to wyn the ioyes of Paradyse.

OF ENUYE, THE SECONDS FOOLE.

Approche, you folyshe enuyous, the which can say no good by them that ye hate, come and se in this booke youre peruerse and euyll condycions.

THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES. 225

O Enuy, that deuoureth Ihe condycions of men, and dyssypers of honour ! Thou makest to haue rauisshynge heartes farayshed ; thou brennest tlie desyres, and sleeth the soule in the ende ; thou engcndrest the darte enuyronned with mischefe, that whiche traueyleth diuers folkes. Cursed foole, howe haste thou thy heart so replete with cruelte? for, if I haue temporall goodes, thou wilte haue enuye therat ; or, if that I can vvorke well, and that I apply mee vnto dyuers thynges the whiche be honest, or if that I haue castels, landes, and tenementes, or if that I am exalted vnto honoure by my science, or won it by my hardynes truely and iustlye, or if that I am be- loued of dyuers persons whiche reclaymeth mee good and vertuous and of a noble courage, thou wylt vilepende me with thy wordes : thou wottest neuer in what maner thou mayst adnychell mine honour. Thy malicious hert is hurt with a mor- tall wounde, in such wise that thou haste no ioye nor solace in this world, for the darte of Enuye perceth thy herte lyke a spere. Thou hast wylde lycoure, the whiche maketh all thy stomacke to be on a flambe. There is no medicyne that maye hele thy mortall wounde. I, beynge in a place where as myne honoure was magnyfyed, thoughte for to haue taken alyaunce with an odyfferaunt floure, but all sodaynely I was smyten with a darte of Enuye behinde my backe, wherthronghe all tho that were on my partye turned theyr VOL. i. 15

226 THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.

backes vpon me, for to agree to one of Venus dissolatc seruauntes, procedynge frome a hearte enuenymed with enuye. Wherfore I shall specy- fye vnto you the condycyons of the enuyous. Who that holdeth hyin of the subgectes of Enuye, she constytueth to deuoure and byte euery bodye ; gyuynge vnhappes and ' myseryes vnto her ser- uauntes. Suche folkes doth the innocente a thou- sande wronges. They be replenysshed with so many treasons, that they can not slepe in theyr beddes ; they haue no swete cantycles nor songes. They haue theyr tonges honyed with swete words vnder the coloure of loue ; they be lene, and in- fecte of rygoure these enuyous, more bytterer thenne the gall of the fyshe glauca, wyth theyr eyen beholdinge a trauers, of storaackes chaufed syntillously, and without their mouthes, as the vyne that is newe cut, they be enuyroned with rage and greate anguysshe, beholdynge euermore to destroy some body. Conceyue the history of Joseph in your myndes, the which had vii. brethren, that were enuyous against him which was the yongeste, and solde hym vnto the mar- chauntes of Egypte bj,enuy, and betrayed him ; the which were delybered of a longe time to haue destroyed him. These enuious neuer laughe but whan some good man hath domage vpon the see or lande; or at the disfortune of some body, he drynketh his bloud as milke. Notwithstandinge his heart is euer enbraced with enuy, and as longe

THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES. 227

as he lyueth it shall gnawe his hert. Hee re- sembleth vnto Ethna whiche brenneth alwayes. As of Romulus, and Remus his brother, the whiche Romulus edefyed first Rome, and gaue it to name Rome, after his owne name. Neuertheles they were pastours, for they establyshed lawes in the citie. And Romulus punished euerye body egally. He dyd instytute lyrnittes or markes aboute the citie, and ordeyned that he that passed the lymyttes shuld be put to death. His brother passed them, wherfore he was put vnto death in- continente in the same place. Wee rede also how Cayme slewe his owne brother by enuye. Haue we not ensample semblablye of Atreus, of whom his brother occupyed the parke, howe well that they were in the realme stronge and puys- saunte, for to defende them ? It was Thesius that expulsed his brother oute of the realme by enuy, and was called agayne bycause that he had taken the parke, and fynally was banyshed, and by enuye and vnder the colour of peace he was sent for. And when hee was commen vuto a feast, he made his two children for to be rested, and made theim to drynke their bloude. 0 what horroure was it to see his twoo children dye that were so dyscrete ! In lykewise Ethiocles by his brethren receyued great enormyties by that cursed Enuye. O thou prudent man, if thou wilt be discrete, good, and wise, flye from Enuy, and thou shalt finde thy selfe sounde of body and soule !

228 THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES.

OP THE VOLUPTUOCSNES COBPOKALL, THE THIRD FOOLE.

Ryghte heartely I beseche you, folysshe and lecherous people, that it will please you for to come and make a litell collacion in this booke ; and if there be any thinge that I can do for you, I am all yours both body and goodes ; for truelye I haue an ardaunte desyre to doo you some meri- torious * dede, bicause that I haue euer frequented your seruyce.

Nowe herken what I haue found you, cautellous women. They that the pappes be sene all naked, their heyre combed and trussed in dyuers places merueylously, be vnreasonable fooles, for they dresse theim like voluptuous harlottes, that make their heyre to appere at theyr browes, yalowe as fine golde, made in lytel tresses for to drawe yonge folke to theyr loue. Some, for to haue their goodes, presenteth to theim their beddes for to take their carnall desires ; and after that they haue taken all their disportes, they pill theim as an onion. The other, for to haue their plesures mondayne, cheseth theim that she loueth best, and maketh sygnyfyaunce to theim, sayeng that she is anamoured on theim. Thou art a verye idyot so to abandone thy selfe vnto the vyle synne of lecherye, for thou lettest thy selfe be wrapped

1 meritorious} ed. " meditorious." C.

THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES. 229

therein, lyke as a calfe or a shepe is bounde in a corde, in suche wise that ye can not vnbynde youre selfe. O foole, haue aspecle vnto that wlriche thou commyttest ! for thou puttest thy poore soule in great daunger of damnation eter- nall ; thou puttest thy goodes, thyne vnderstand- inge, and thy ioy, vnto dolorous perdicion : and for all that yee bee in your wor[l]dly pleasures, yet it is mengled with dystres or with mysery, greate thoughte or melancoly. I requyre thee, leue thy wor[l]dlye pleasures, that endurc-th no lenger then the grasse of the feelde. Yf you haue ioye one only momente, thou shall haue twayne of sorow for it. Wee rede of Sardanapalus, that for his lecherye and lybidinosite fell into hell ; the whiche put him selfe in the guise of a poore woman : his men, seinge hym so obstinate in that vile sinne, slewe him, and so fynished hee his dayes for folowinge of his pleasaunce mondayne. The soueraigne Creatour was more puyssante thenne this wretched sinner. Let vs not apply our selfe therto, sith that hee punysheth sinners so asprely ; but with all our hertes enforce we our selfe for to resist againste that vyle and ab- homynable sinne of lechery, the whiche is so full of enfeccion and bytternes, for it distayneth the soule of man. Fie frome the foolisshe women, that pylleth the louers vnto the harde bones, and you shal be beloued of God and also of the worlde.

230 A REPLYCACION, &C.

ffonorificatissimo, * amplissimo, longeque reve- rendissimo in Christo patri, ac domino, domino Thomte, fyc. tituli sanctce Cecilice, sacrosanctce Romance ecclesice presbytero, Cardinali meritissi- mo, et apostolicce sedis- legato, a latereque legato super illustri, fyc., Skeltonis latireatus, ora. reg., humillimum dicit obsequium cum omni debita reverentia, tanto tamque magnifico digna principe sacerdotum, totiusque justitice cequabilissimo mode- ratore, necnon prcesentis opusculi fautore excel- lentissimo, fyc., ad cujus auspicatissimam contem- plationem, sub memorabili prelo gloriosce immor- talitatis, prcesens pagella felicitatur, 8fC.

A EEPLTCACION AGAYNST CERTAYNE YOSG SCOLERS ABIUBED OF LATE, &C.

Argumentum.

Orassantes nimium, nimium sterilesque labruscas, Vinea quas Domini Sabaot non sustinet ultra Laxius expandi, nostra est resecare voluntas.

Cum privilegio a rege indulto.

* The portion of this piece given on the present page forms the title-page of the original edition by Pynson, n. d.

A REPLTCACION, &C. 231

Protestacion ahvay canonically prepensed, pro- fessed, and with good delyberacion made, that this lytell pamphilet, called the Replicacion of Skelton laureate, ora. reg., remordyng dyuers recrayed and moche vnresonable errours of cer- tayne sophystycate scolers and rechelesse yonge heretykes lately abiured, &c. shall euermore be, with all obsequious redynesse, humbly submytted vnto the ryght discrete reformacyon of the reue- rende prelates and moche noble doctours of our mother holy Churche, &c.

Ad almam Universitatem Cantabrigensem, tyc. Eulogium consolationis.

Alma parens 0 Cantabrigensis, ske/u^T*

Cur lacrymaris ? Esto. tui sint laureate pri-

7-» 1 • ^T T 7 n'Um mam'

Uegeneres hijiholi, sea n^m erudj-

Non ob inertes, 0 pia mater. tissime pro-

7- .7 7 pinavit.

Insciolos vet decolor esto. Progenies non nobilis omnis, Quam tuaforsan mamma fovebat. Tu tamen esto Palladis almce Gloria pollens plena Minervce, Dum radiabunt astra polorum : Jamque valeto, meque foveto> Namque tibi quondam earns alumnus eram.

232 A REPLYCACION, &C.

»ebhb,flaii1va ^ow yon° sc°lers "owe a dayes en- •ihiiaus ab bolned with the flyblowen blast of the iutumescere moche vayne glorious pipplyng wynde, archas con- whan they haue delectably lycked a {hododxa^°r" b'te11 of tbe b'corous electuary of lusty Eruditioiiis lei'nyng, in the moche studious scole- ?e*°erdaUauda- u»us °^ scrupulous Philology, countyng cique juveu- them selfe clerkes exellently enformed moderatioius and transcendingly sped in moclie high

ffenura pos- f

tuiat. Alio- connyng, and whan they haue ones su-

quin scientia ... . .

effrenaia in- perClllUsly Caught flataque spu-

maelationic, quod dulce venenumest, suhiiliteriiitoxicnt interimitque incautum possessorem suum, &c. h. il. Nou sit igilur lihi, Philologia, ralione iniuinperatoe loquaciiaiis SUEE, ino.'dinaia: dicufiluiis, incugi- tatffi procacitatis, in singulium et scrupulum cortlis tui, &c. h. iL Eloquentiam sine sapienliu prodeEse nunquam, nbesst plerumque, sa- tis coiislal evidenter i. veierum rhetoris.

rethorike, «te, logicari A lesse lumpe of losyke.

meuculose

i A pece or a patch e of philosophy, ' Than forthwith by and by

argulf "m They tumble so in theology,

Drowned in dregges of diuinite,

That the7 iuge them selfe able t0 be

Slmce^n- Doctours of the chayre in the Uyntre

aiienalToT.'"8 At the Tfare Cranes»

em, fascuien- To magnifye their names : "i

tarn, uniiir-

caiam,«emu- But madly it frames,

hasc3™' Vos For all that they preche and teche

Is farther than their wytte wyll reche.

Thus by demeryttes of their abusyon,

A KEPLYCACION, &C. 233

Finally they fall to carefull confusyon, anseres sue.

J J J pentes inter

To beare a fa°x>t, or to be enflamed : canoros oio-

rni i i res> releKa-

Inus are they vndone and vtterly mus ad ues

' J grues hac-

shamed. chaw Bro-

raio initiates, pro foribus

Vinitoris, propter fluentu Thamisise. Ubi poti potati cum fasciculo iiiambusto ambustum futurum fuscieulum pensitate, &c. haec il.

Ergo

Licet non enclitice, Tamen enthymematice, Notandum imprimis^ Ut ne quid nimis. Tantum pro primo.

Ouer this, for a more ample processe to be farther delated and contynued, and of euery true christenman lauda- bly to be enployed, iustifyed, and con- stantly mainteyned ; as touchyng the tetrycall theologisacion of these demy diuines, and Stoicall studiantes, and fris- Stoicam caioly yonkerkyns, moche better bayned non primus than brayned, basked and baththed in juveiies their wylde burblyng and boyling blode, ttToptT" feruently reboyled with the infatuate SlS™ d* flames of their rechelesse youthe and ^riaifre fa" wytlesse wontonnesse, enbrasedand en- quei"er fieri

* f sclent sediti-

terlased with a moche fantasticall frenesy osi- »»c of their insensate sensualyte, surmysed

234 A REPLYCACION, &C.

iiksnlLatii?e vnsure^7 'n their perihermeniall princi- unerp:emtio, pies, to prate and to preche proudly and leudly, and loudly to lye ; and yet they fior^AU.^ were but febly enformed m maister Por- GoVdhuuTnf P*"™5 probleme?, and haue waded but perato.is weakly in his thre maner of clerklv

CC.XLIX. &C. * . .

Aiiaiytica, workes, analeticall, topicall, and logy-

libri priorum .. , , . . «> i /• n

et posierio- call : howbeit they were puffed so full "ropicaj i. of vaynglorious pompe and surcudant elacyon, that popholy and peuysshe pre- ere, sumpc»<>n prouoked them to publysshe

"'OUS^J» ho we it was idolatry to offre to Hi- ymages of our blessed lady, or to pray

eronymum , . .

ad Jovenia- and go on pylgnmages, or to make

num, tc, . ,

idoiatria ODlacions to any ymages or sayntes in poaitaexkio- churches or els where.

lo (quod est

simulacrum) Agaynst whiche erronyous errours, (qnodestcui- odyous, orgulyous, and fly bio wen

nos, tc. opynions, &c.,

De latria, hyperdulia,

dulia, quid sanctitas aposlolica cum Constantino magno Constanli- nopoii ordinavit in concilio Laireu^i, inanifeste reperies et infra.

To the honour of our blessed lady, And her most blessed baby, I purpose for to reply a»

v Co^enu<^ Agaynst this horryble heresy lici injuria- Of these yong heretikes, that stynke

tores sanctae

etaposioiicse vnbrent,

A REPLYCACIOX, &C. 235

Whom I nowe sommon and content,

That leudly haue their tyme spent,

In their study abhomynable,

Our glorious lady to disable,

And heynously on her to bable ntis babere

With langage detestable ; diam, cujns

ITT-.. i u j matrem iufi-

\\lth your lyppes polluted ciamim ease

Agaynst her grace disputed, Whiche is the most clere christaU Of all pure clen'nesse virgynall, That our Sauyour bare, miWic»r*r

Whiche vs redemed from care. diaB» **•

I save, thou madde Marche hare, Conrenio

* toe, O- Ari-

I wondre howe ye dare ani, jniiano

^ , apoetata ex-

Open your langlyng lawes, ec

To preche in any clawes, Lyke pratynge poppyng dawes, Agaynst her excellence, .«

Agaynst her reuerence, Agaynst her preemynence, Agaynst her magnifycence, That neuer dyde offence. Ye heretykes recrayed, Wotte ye what ye sayed ISimi,"Po"

Of Mai-y. mother and mayed? With baudrie at her ye brayed ; With baudy wordes vnmete ti»ic-

Your tonges were to flete ; »

Your sermon was nut swete ; Ye were nothyng discrete ;

236 A REPLYCACION, &C.

Ye were in a dronken hete. voc°"venk, Lyke heretykes cojnfettred, sad' liiera- Ye count vourselfe wele lettred :

rum proles- *

•ores, &c. Your lernyng is starke nought,

For shamefully ye haue wrought, And to shame your selfe haue brought. Convenio Bycause ye her mysnamed,

saeij o Ju- And wolde haue her defamed, *>

namei, o Your madnesse she attamed;

&c?n*a For ye were worldly shamed, At Poules crosse openly, All men can testifye ; Nonvacat, There, lyke a sorte of sottes,

O contemp- __

tores Mari Ye were fayne to beare fagottes ; At the feest of her concepcion

fact is

iligna

rece

in del

virgi

Ye suffred suche correction. Sive per tequivocum,

S*ve Per

haec il. gftve gfo^

Ye are brought to, Lo, lo, lo ! Convenio Se where the heretykes go, lesa'ni, vani, Wytlesse wandring to and fro ! chrisiiaai. With, Te he, ta ha, bo ho, bo ho !

And suche wondringes many mo.

Helas, ye wreches, ye may be wo !

Ye may syng wele away,

And curse bothe nyght and day,

Whan ye were bredde and borne, Convemo And whan ye were preestes shorne,

Thus to be laughed to skorne,

A REPLTCACION, &C. 237

Thus tattred and thus torne,

Thorowe your owne foly,

To be blowen with the flye ^

Of horryble heresy.

Fayne ye were to reny,

And mercy for to crye,

Or be brende by and by,

Oonfessyng hovve ye dyde lye »o

In prechyng shamefully.

Your selfe thus ye discured As clerkes vnassured, With ignorance obscured :

Ye are vnhappely vred. Convenio

In your dialeticall theriani.

And principles silogisticall, If ye to remembrance call Howe syllogisari

Non est ex particular}, 100

Neque neqativis, Neque

. non, neque

Recte concludere si vis, legas.

Et c&tera id genus,

Ye coude nat corde tenus,

Nor answere verbo tenus,

Whan prelacy you opposed ;

Your hertes than were hosed,

Your relacions reposed ; . Quoniam

ignoiantibus

And yet ye supposed auppoiitio-

• » r r lies ventatii

Respondere ad quantum, no proposiiio-

num non re-

But ye were confuse tantum, lucent, &c.

Surrendring your supposycions,

238 A REPLTCACION, &C.

For there ye myst you[r] quosshons.

Wolde God, for your owne ease, te^gh^ia- That wyse Harpocrates

atoiouuiteSsi° ^ad y°ur raoutaes Stopped,

LTisidisieni- And your tonges cropped, pio^&c. - Whan ye logyke chopped,

&c. And folysshly there fopped,.

And porisshly forthe popped Your sysraatfcate saweT~" Agaynst Goddes lawes, And shewed your selfe dawes ! Sum prae- Ye argued argumentes,

terea non-

nuiii hujus As it were vpon the elenkes, quibus hie De rebus apparentibus "aiuiiloc"" Et non existentibus ;

And ye wolde appere wyse, But ye were folysshe nyse: Yet be meanes of that vyse Ye dyde prouoke and tyse, Oftnar than ones or twyse, Many a good man And many a good woman, By way of their deuocion To helpe you to promocion, Whose charite wele regarded Can nat be vnrewarded. Convenio I saye it for no sedicion,

vos; O H«ro- *

diani. But vnder pacient tuicyon,

It is halfe a supersticyon

A KEPLYCACIOX, &C.

To gyue you exhibycion

To inainteyne with your skoles,

And to proue your selfe suclie foles.

Some of you had ten pouride, Therwith for to be founde At the vnyuersyte, Employed whiche myght haue be Moche better other wayes. But, as the man sayes, The blynde eteth many a flye : What may be ment hereby, Ye may soone make construction With right lytell instruction ; For it is an auncyent brute, Suche apple tre, suche frute. What shulde I prosecute, Or more of this to clatter? Ketourne we to our matter.

Ye scored ouer hye In the ierarchy Of louenyans heresy, Your names to magnifye, Among the scabbed skyes Of WyclhTes flesshe flyes ; Ye strynged so Luthers lute, That ye dawns all in a sute The heritykes ragged ray, That bringes you out of the way Of holy churches lay ; Ye shayle inter enigmata

Obscurm sarcasmofi.

Ex fructi- bus eorura cognoscetis eos, &.c.

Sublimius sequo aucu- piuin agunt,

Convenio yos.OWich-

lii'tistae.

240 A REPLYCACION, &C.

And inter paradigmata, Marked in your cradels To beare fagottes for babyls. •

And yet some men "say7 Howe ye are this day, And be nowe as yll, And so ye wyll be styll, As ye were before. What shulde I recken more ? Convcnio Men haue you in suspicion

vos. O ver- *

bosi sophis- Howe ye haue small contrycion Of that ye haue mys wrought : For, if it were well sought, One of you there was That laughed whan he dyd pas With his fagot in processyon ; He counted it for no correction, But with scornefull affection Toke it for a sporte, His heresy to supporte ; Whereat a thousande gased, As people halfe amased, And thought in hym smale grace His foly so to face.

Some iuged in this case Your penaunce toke no place, Your penaunce was to lyght ;

v s^oTil0 ^"nt* tnouo'lt' if >'e had right* boiici dog- Ye shulde take further payne

matisue, &c.

lo resorte agayne

A KEPLYCACION, &C. 241

To places where ye haue preched,

And your lollardy lernyng teched,

And there to make relacion

In open predycacion,

And knowlege your offence

Before open audyence,

Howe falsely ye had surraysed,

And deuyllysshely deuysed aio

The people to seduce,

And chase them thorowe the muse

Of your noughty counsell,

To hunt them into hell,

With blowyng out your homes,

Full of mockysshe scornes,

With chatyng and rechatyng,

And your busy pratyng :

Of the gospell and the pystels

Ye pyke out many thystels, ' *» . Sunt Ple"

And bremely with your bristels sed noi>

,r ... , , alieni, qui

Ie cobble and ye clout tamundem

„. paene enun-

Holy Scripture so about, - tiam, &c.

That people are in great dout

And feare leest they be out

Of all good Christen order.

Thus all thyng ye disorder

Thorowe out euery bord[e]r.

It had ben moche better Convcnio

-v i i 11 vofl>

Ye had neuer lerned letter, 230 doct

For your ignorance is gretter, I make you fast and sure, VOL. i. 16

242 A REPLTCACION, &C.

Than all your lytterature. Ye are but lydder logici, But moche worse isagogici, For ye haue enduced a secte With heresy all infecte ; Wherfore ye are well checte, And by holy churche correcte, And in maner as abiecte, M

For euermore suspecte, And banysshed in effect From all honest company, Bycause ye haue eaten a flye, To your great vyllony, That neuer more may dye. ve£°oyhy£- Come forthe, ye popeholy,

critae, &c. Full Q{. melancoly .

Your madde ipocrisy,

And your idiosy, a

And your vayne glorie,

Haue made you eate the flye,

Pufte full of heresy,

To preche it idolatry,

Who so dothe magnifye M2riXK That glorious mayde Mary ; p«r"dcapita That glorious mayde and mother,

' So was there neuer another tici, phrene- Jjut that princesse alone,

To whom we are bounde echone '• M

The ymage of her grace

To reuerence in euery place.

A REPLYCACION, &C. 243

I saye, ye braynlesse beestes, vo?nJeML

Why iangle you suche iestes, ehantaai,

In your diuynite Of Luthers affynite, To the people of lay fee, Raylyng in your rages To worshyppe none ymages, Nor do pylgrymages ? aro

I saye, ye deuyllysshe pages, Full of suche dottages, Count ye your selfe good clerkes, And snapper in suche werkes ?

Saynt Gregorie and saynt Ambrose, vo^°^'e"^° Ye haue reed them, I suppose, moniaci m*.

ruliiuu, &c.

Saynt Jerome and saynt Austen,

With other many holy men,

Saynt Thomas de Aquyno,

With other doctours many mo, 290

Whiche de latria do trete ;

They saye howe latria is an honourgrete,

Belongyng to the Deite :

To this ye nedes must agre.

But, I trowe, your selfe ye ouerse What longeth to Christes humanyte. If 'ye haue reed de hyperdulia, Nota de

Than ye knowe what betokeneth dulia : wwdnlia, du- Than shall ye fynde it fyrme and stable, And to our faithe moche agreable, 290 To worshyppe ymages of sayntes. Wherfore make ye no mo restrayntes,

244 A REPLYCACION, &C.

quSfhoc sii>i ^Ut mende y°ur myndes that are mased; SI'S' Or els doutlesse 7e shalbe

ihe inflam- And be brent at a stake,

If further busynesse that ye make.

m°di™ per- Therfore I V7se 7OU to forsake

nuanm te Ve" Of heresy the deuyllysshe scoles,

And crye Godmercy, lyke frantyke foles.

Tantum pro secundo.

Peroratio ad nuper abjuratos quosdam hypotheticos hcereticos, fyc.

Audite, viri Ismaelitce, non dico Is- raelites ;

Audite, inquam, viri Madianitce, As- calonitce ;

Ammonitfe, Gabaonitce, audite verba qua loquar.

Opus evangelii est cibus perfectorum ; Sed quia non estis de genere bonorum, Qui caterisatis1 categorias cacodcemo- niorum,

Ergo

Et reliqua vestra problemata, schemata, Dilemmata, sinto anathemata ! Ineluctabile argumentum est.

1 caterisatis] Qy. " catarrhizatis ? "

A REPLYCACION, &C. 245

A confutacion responsyue, or an in- ^ euytably prepensed answere to all way- warde or frowarde altercacyons that can or may be made or objected agaynst Skelton laureate, deuyser of this Reply- cacyon, &c.

"Why fall ye at debate soo

With SkeltQn laureate, ' Reputyng hym vnable To gainsay replycable Opinyons detestable Of heresy execrable ?

Ye saye that poetry Tota erras

via, si doc-

Maye nat flye so hye tos poetas

(illis autem

In theology, non desunt

x, charismata)

JN Or analogy, arguis de in-

Nor philology, Nor philosophy, To answere or reply Agaynst suche heresy. Wherfore by and by Nowe consequently I call to this rekenyng Dauyd, that royall kyner, David rex

m. IT- et Pr°Pheta

Whom rlieronymus, per divum

rrii i i Hierony-

Inat UOCtOUr gloriOUS, mum matri-

Dothe bothe write and call soo nobilicatato-

Poeteofpoetesall, ?y°nPc°o~

And prophete princypall. ^hzfu!

246 A REPLYCACION, &C.

oVi8U- This may nat be remorded,

?um f°ubes In Ilis P7ste11 ad

cite cum ig- Presbuterum divinum.

Dominion *

vcrecundia, Where worde for worde ye may

exitiosaque

confusioope- Kede what Jerome there dothe say.

riat facies yestras. haec

David, inguit, Simonides nosier, Pin- darus, et Alcceus, Flaccus quoqite, Ca- tullus, atque Serenus, Christum lyra personal, et in decachordo psalterio ab inferis excitat resurgentem. Hcec Hier.

(\^.j^ l\ <*>"\^^'.' The Englysshe.

Kyng Dauid the prophete, of prophetes

principall,

Of poetes chefe poete, saint Jerome

dothe wright, 330

Resembled to Symonides, that poete

lyricall Among the Grekes most relucent of

tyght, In that faculte whiche shyned as Phe-

bus bright ;

Lyke to Pyndarus in glorious poetry, Lyke vnto Alcheus, he dothe hym mag- nify.

A REPLYCACION, &C. 247

Flaccus nor Catullus with hym may nat

compare, Nor solempne Serenus, for all his

armony In metricall muses, his harpyng we may

spare; For Dauid, our poete, harped so me-

loudiously

Of our Sauyour Christ in his deca-

corde psautry, sio

That at his resurrection he hai-ped out

of hell

Olde patriarkes and prophetes in heuen with him to dwell.

Eeturne we to our former processe. Than, if this noble kyng Thus can harpe and syng With his harpe of prophecy And spyrituall poetry, As saynt Jerome saythe, To whom we must gyue faythe, Warblyng with his strynges Of suche theologicall thynges, sso

Why haue ye than disdayne trivia* T~

At poetes, and complayne scripia' in

r * quadam

Howe poetes do but fayne ? chartuia im-

^r , , mortalitatis

Ie do moche great outrage, et scheduia

•n ,. gratiae in-

For to disparage niarcescibi-

And to discorage

'

248 A REPLTCACION, &C.

The fame matryculate Of poetes laureate.

For if ye sadly loke, And wesely rede the Boke see

Of Good Aduertysement, With me ye must consent And infallibly agre Of necessyte,

Howe there is a spyrituall, And a mysteriall, And a mysticall Energia Effecte energiall,

Greece, La- tine efficax As Grekes do it call,

operatic, in-

ternoque Of suche an industry, so

quodamspir-

itus impuisu And suche a pregnacy,

inop'inabili- ~ ,, ,

ter originata, Ur heuenly inspyracion In laureate creacyon, Of poetes commendacion,

inEnobi^US That of diuyne myseracion agritante ca- Qo^ maketh his habytacion

lescimus illo. »

Sodibus In poetes whiche excelles,

ffitheriis spi- ... . , , . , .,

ritus iste ye- And soiourns with them and dwelles.

nit. h Ovi.

Dona Dei, JL>y whose innammacion dum, facun- Of spyrituall instygacion aso

dia praestans, . , ,.

Miuiturex And diuyne inspyracion, perdue da- We are kyndled in suche facyon Bapt. Alan. With hete of the Holy Gost,

Which is God of myghtes most, That he our penne dothe lede, And maketh in vs suche spede,

A REPLYCACION, &C. 249

That forthwith we must nede "ancfiPigr^

With penne and ynke precede, roiiy ie~

Sorntyme for affection, ^Lcn*

Somtyme for sadde dyrection, 390

Spratymejbr correction,

Soratyme vnder protection meacSiimus

Of pacient sufferance, dterLibet

"With sobre cyrcumstance, tie. h. psai.

Our myndes to auaunce ,^o>*

To no raannes anoyance ;

Therfore no greuance,

I pray you, for to take,

In this that I do make

Agaynst these frenetykes, > 100

Agaynst these lunatykes,

Agaynst these sysmatykes,

Agaynst these heretykes,

No we of late abiured,

Most vnhappely vred :

For be ye wele assured,

That frensy nor ielousy

Nor heresy wyll neuer dye.

Dixi

iniquis, Nolitc inique agere ; et delin- PffiC P83'' quentibus, Nolite exaltare cornu.

Tantum pro tertio.

De raritate poetarum, deque gymnoso- tarum, philosophorum, theologo-

250 A KEPLYCACION, &C.

rum, cceterorumque eruditorum infi- nita numerositate, Skel. L. epitoma.

Quae fiunt Suntinjiniti,sunt innumerique sophistce, bus » sicm Sunt infiniti, sunt innumerique logistce, Gag. &c. Innumeri sunt philosophi, sunt theolo-

gique,

Sunt infiniti doctores, suntque magistri Innumeri; sed suntpauci rarique poetce, Hinc omne est rarum carum : reor ergo

poetas

Ante olios omnes divino flamine flatos. Sic Plato divinat, divinat sicque So-

crates ; ieriumeivilx ^c maffnus Macedo, sic Oaesar, maxi-

imum de in- mus ner0s

signi venera-

tione poeta- Romanus. celebres semper coluere poe-

Thus endeth the Replicacyon of Skel. L. &c.

i sodabus] Qy. " sociatos? "

END OF VOL. I.

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