Chapter 3

Gentle Paule, laie doune thy sweard,[116]For Peter of Westminster hath shauen thy beard.”[117]

Gentle Paule, laie doune thy sweard,[116]

For Peter of Westminster hath shauen thy beard.”[117]

From the vengeance of the Cardinal,[118]who had sentout officers to apprehend him, Skelton took sanctuary at Westminster, where he was kindly received and protected by the abbot Islip,[119]with whom he had been long acquainted. In this asylum he appears to have remained till his death, which happened June 21st, 1529. What he is reported to have declared on his death-bed concerning the woman whom he had secretly married, and by whom he left several children, has been already mentioned:[120]he issaid also to have uttered at the same time a prophecy concerning the downfal of Wolsey.[121]He was buried in the chancel of the neighbouring church of St. Margaret’s; and, soon after, this inscription was placed over his grave,

Joannes Skeltonus, vates Pierius, hic situs est.[122]

Concerning the personal appearance of Skelton we are left in ignorance;[123]for the portraits which are prefixed tothe old editions of several of his poems must certainly not be received as authentic representations of the author.[124]

The chief satirical productions of Skelton (and the bent of his genius was decidedly towards satire) areThe Bowge of Courte,Colyn Cloute, andWhy 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;[125]and I am somewhat surprised that Mr. D’Israeli, who has lately come forward as the warm eulogist of our author,[126]should have passed overThe Bowge of Courtewithout the slightest notice.—Colyn Clouteis a general satire on the corruptions of the Church, the friars and the bishops being attacked alike unsparingly; nor, when Skelton himself pronounced of thispiece that “though his ryme be ragged, it hath in it some pyth,”[127]did he overrate its vigour and its weighty truth:Colyn Cloutenot only shews that fearlessness which on all occasions distinguished 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.—InWhy come ye nat to Courtethe 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 occasionally give rise to vivid descriptions which 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[128]); but all must confess thathe wields his weapon with prodigious 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 lamenting for the sparrow that was “slayn at Carowe,” has engrafted on the subject so many far-sought and whimsical embellishments, that his epicede is really what the old editions term it,—a “boke.”Phyllyp Sparoweexhibits such fertility and delicacy of fancy, such graceful sportiveness, and such ease of expression, that it might well be characterised by Coleridge as “an exquisite and original poem.”[129]

InThe Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng, which would seem to have been one of Skelton’s most popular performances, we have a specimen of his 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 influence 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.

TheGarlands of Laurell, one of Skelton’s longest 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 theGarlande of Laurellstands 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. HisEnterlude of Vertue[130]and hisComedy callyd Achademios[131]have perished; so perhaps has hisNigramansir;[132]but hisMagnyfycenceis 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 superiority, however, to the similar efforts of his contemporaries, is, I apprehend, unquestionable.[133]

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 nameSkeltonical, 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 beyond the reach of his numerous imitators.[134]“The Skeltonical short verse,” observes Mr. D’Israeli, speaking of Skelton’s own productions, “contracted 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. Thevelocity of his verse has a carol of its own. The chimes ring in the ear, and the thoughts are flung about like coruscations.”[135]

Skelton has been frequently termed a Macaronic poet, but it may be doubted if with strict propriety; 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 Skelton.”[136]He ought to have been “quite certain” that it didnot.[137]

[15]Sometimes writtenSchelton: and Blomefield says, “That his Name wasSheltonor Skelton, appears from his Successor’s Institution, viz. ‘1529, 17 July, Thomas Clerk, instituted on the Death of JohnShelton, last Rector [Lib. Inst. No. 18].’”Hist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.[16]“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’sWorthies, p. 221 (Cumberland), ed. 1662. “John Skelton is placed in this County [Norfolk] on a double probability. First, because an ancient family of his name is eminently 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 Skeltons of Cumberland.” Wood’sAth. Oxon.i. 49. ed. Bliss. See also Tanner’sBiblioth.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, 1512 [Regr. Johnson].” Blomefield’sHist. 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 ofJohnSkelton does not once occur.—From an entry which will be afterwards cited, it would seem that the Christian name of Skelton’s mother was Johanna.—In Skelton’s Latin lines on the city of Norwich (see vol. i. 174) we find,“Ah decus, ahpatriæspecie pulcherrima dudum!Urbs Norvicensis,” &c.Does “patriæ” mean his native county?[17]“Having been educated in this university, as Joh. Baleus attests.” Wood’sAth. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss. Wood’s reference 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 hisScript. Illust. Brit., was received “Ex Guilhelmo Horman,” the author of theVulgaria.—See also Tanner’sBiblioth.p. 675. ed. 1748.—Warton says that Skelton “studied in both our universities.”Hist. of E. P.ii. 336. ed. 4to.[18]A Replycacion, &c. vol. i. 207.[19]“Wood reckons him of Ox. on the author. of Bale in a MS. in the Bodleian Libr., but with much better reason he 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. 1529, 68 or 69 years old, which ’tis probable he might be. v. Bale 653.” Cole’sCollections,—Add. MSS.(Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199.[20]I suspect that, during Skelton’s lifetime, two of his most celebrated pieces,Colyn Cloute(see v. 1239, vol. i. 359), andWhy come ye nat to Courte, were not committed to the press, but wandered about in manuscript among hundreds of eager readers. A portion ofSpeke, Parrot, and the PoemsAgainst Garnesche, are now for the first time printed.[21]Vol. i. 408 sqq. No poetical antiquary can read the titles of some of the lighter pieces mentioned in that catalogue,—such asThe Balade of the Mustarde Tarte,The Murnyng of the mapely rote(see Notes, vol. ii. 330), &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 Music, iii. 39.I take the present opportunity of giving from a MS. in my possession a much fuller copy than has hitherto appeared of the celebrated song which opens the second act ofGammer Gurtons Nedle, and which Warton calls “the firstchanson à boireordrinking-ballad, of any merit, in our language.”Hist. of E. P.iii. 206. ed. 4to. The comedy was first printed in 1575: the manuscript copy of the song, as follows, is certainly of an earlier date:“backe & syde goo bare goo barebothe hande & fote goo coldebut belly god sende the good ale inowghewhether hyt be newe or olde.but yf that Imaye have trwlygoode ale my belly fullI shall looke lyke oneby swete sainte Johnnwere shoron agaynste the woolethowthe I goo baretake yow no careI am nothynge coldeI stuffe my skynneso full withinof joly goode ale & olde.I cannot eatebut lytyll meatemy stomacke ys not goodebut sure I thynckethat I cowde drynckewith hym that werythe an hoodedryncke ys my lyfealthowgthe my wyfesome tyme do chyde & scoldeyete spare I notto plye the potteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I love noo rostebut a browne tosteor a crabbe in the fyera lytyll breadeshall do me steademooche breade I neuer desyerNor froste nor snoweNor wynde I trowCanne hurte me yf hyt woldeI am so wrappedwithin & lappedwith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I care ryte nowghteI take no thowtefor clothes to kepe me warmehave I goode drynckeI surely thynckenothynge canne do me harmefor trwly thanI feare nomanbe he neuer so boldewhen I am armed& throwly warmedwith joly good ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.but nowe & thanI curse & bannethey make ther ale so smallgod geve them care& evill to faarethey strye the malte & allsooche pevisshe peweI tell yowe trwenot for a c[r]ovne of goldether commethe one syppewithin my lyppewhether hyt be newe or olde.backe & syde, &c.good ale & strongemakethe me amongefull joconde & full lytethat ofte I slepe& take no kepefrome mornynge vntyll nytethen starte I vppe& fle to the cuppethe ryte waye on I holdemy thurste to stauncheI fyll my paynchewith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.and kytte my wyfethat as her lyfelovethe well good ale to sekefull ofte drynkythe shethat ye maye sethe tears ronne downe her chekethen dothe she trouleto me the bolleas a goode malte worme sholde& saye swete harteI have take my parteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.They that do dryncketyll they nodde & wynckeeven as good fellowes shulde dothey shall notte mysseto have the blyssethat good ale hathe browghte them to& all poore soulesthat skowre blacke bolles& them hathe lustely trowldegod save the lyvesOf them & ther wyveswether they be yonge or olde.backe & syde,” &c.[22]Vol. i. 1.[23]Vol. i. 6: see Notes, vol. ii. 89.[24]He was only eleven years old at his father’s death. See more concerning the fifth earl in Percy’s Preface toThe Northumberland Household Book, 1770, in Warton’sHist. of E. P.ii. 338. ed. 4to, and in Collins’sPeerage, 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.[25]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 Skelton’s Elegy on the earl’s father.[26]For a notice of Skelton’s laureation 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 degrees.”[27]This work (a thin folio), translated by Caxton from the French, is a prose romance founded on theÆneid. It consists of 65 chapters, the first entitled “How the ryght puyssant kynge 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 compatiounOf Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois,Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,Norna mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,” &c.Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.[28]A work probably never printed, and now lost: it is mentioned by Skelton in theGarlande of Laurell;“OfTullis Familiarsthe translacyoun.”vol. i. 409.[29]A work mentioned in the same poem;“Diodorus Siculusof my translacyonOut 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. i. 420.It is preserved in MS. at Cambridge: see Appendix II. to this Memoir.[30]Sig. A ii.[31]For more about poet laureat, both in the ancient and modern acceptation, see Selden’sTitles of Honor, p. 405. ed. 1631; the Abbé du Resnel’sRecherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 507; Warton’sHist. of E. P.ii. 129. ed. 4to; Malone’sLife of Dryden (Prose Works), p. 78; Devon’s Introd. toIssue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, p. xxix., and his Introd. toIssues of the Exchequer, &c., p. xiii.—Churchyard in his verses prefixed to Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes,1568, says,“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,And past in schoels, ye knoe.”see Appendix I. to this Memoir.[32]Vol. i. 128.[33]Hist. of E. P.ii. 130 (note), ed. 4to.—The second entry was printed in 1736 by the Abbé du Resnel (who received it from Carte the historian) inRecherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522. Both entries were given in 1767 by Farmer in the second edition of hisEssay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 50.—The Rev. Joseph Romilly, registrar of the University of Cambridge, has obligingly ascertained for me their correctness.[34]Vol. i. 124.[35]Vol. i. 197.[36]PrologetoEgloges, sig. A 1. ed. 1570.[37]Hist. of E. 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’sWorks, 1736. See the present edition, vol. i. 190, 191.[38]Du Resnel expressly says that he was made acquainted with the Cambridge entry by “M. Carte, autrement M. Phillips.”Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522.—Carte assumed the name of Phillips when he took refuge in France.[39]A gentleman resident at Louvaine obligingly examined for me the registers of that university, but could find in them no mention of Skelton.[40]The original has “Cum:” but the initial letters of the lines were intended to form a distich; see the conclusion of the poem.[41]Here again the original has “Cum.”[42]From the 4to volume entitledOpusculum Roberti Whittintoni in florentissima Oxoniensi achademia Laureati. At the end,Expliciūt Roberti Whitintoni Oxonie Protouatis Epygrammata: una cū quibusdā Panegyricis. Impressa Lōdini per me wynandū de worde. Anno post virgineū partū.M. ccccc xix.decimo vero kalēdas Maii.[43]Henry Bradshaw’sLyfe of Saynt Werburghe, l. ii. c. 24. printed by Pynson 1521, 4to.[44]See the two subscriptions already cited, p. xiv.; and vol. i. 132, 206, vol. ii. 25.—“Clarus & facundus in utroque scribendi genere, prosa atque metro, habebatur.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.&c. p. 651. ed. 1559. “Inter Rhetores regius orator factus.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script. p. 701. ed. 1619. “With regard to theOrator Regius,” 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.[45]RegisterHill1489-1505, belonging to the Diocese of London.[46]1st Octr.: see Sandford’sGeneal. Hist.p. 475. ed. 1707.[47]See theGarlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.[48]Henry was created Duke of York 31st Octr. an. 10. Hen. vii. [1494]; see Sandford’sGeneal. Hist.p. 480. ed. 1707. See alsoThe Creation of Henry Duke of Yorke, &c. (from a Cottonian MS.) in Lord Somers’sTracts, i. 24. ed. Scott.[49]Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748.[50]i. e. well.[51]i. e. tutor: see Notes, vol. ii. 193.—When ladies attempt to write history, they sometimes say odd things: e. g. “It is affirmed that Skelton had been tutor to Henry [viii.] in some department of his education.How probable it isthat the corruption 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.[52]Fourth PoemAgainst Garnesche, vol. i. 129.[53]Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 410.—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 legislator.”Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth, i. 2. But the description of theSpeculum Principis, quoted above, is somewhat at variance with such a conclusion. The same lady observes in another part of her work, “To Skelton, who in conjunction with Giles Dewes, clerk of the library to Henry the Seventh, had the honour of being tutor to Henry the Eighth, this king evinced his approbation,” ii. 590, and cites in a note the Epistle to Henry the Eighth prefixed to Palsgrave’sLesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, 1530, where mention is made of “the synguler clerke maister Gyles Dewes somtyme instructour to your noble grace in this selfe tong.” Though Dewes taught French to Henry, surely it by no means follows that he was “his tutor in conjunction with Skelton:” a teacher of French and a tutor are very different.[54]Biblioth.p. 676. ed. 1748.[55]Erasmi Opera, i. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.—The Ode is appended to Erasmus’s Latin version of theHecubaandIphigenia in Aulideof 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 vateLaurigerosacros.”“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man [Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy, pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms.”Biog. Hist. of Engl.i. 102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did bySpeake parrot,Ware the hauke,the Tunning of Elynour Rumming,Why come ye not to the Courte?Philip Sparrowe, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus, vnder hisprayse of Folly, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c.The Golden Aphroditis, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote fromCensura Liter. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).[56]Then a student of Lincoln’s Inn.[57]The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy.[58]Probably Eltham.[59]Catal. (Primus) Lucubrationum, p. 2. prefixed to the above-cited vol. ofErasmi Opera.—In Turner’sHist. of the Reign of Henry the Eighth, it is erroneously stated that Erasmus “had the interview which he thus describes,at the residence of Lord Mounjoy,” i. 11. ed. 8vo.[60]Vol. i. 410.[61]Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.[62]p. 30,—1592, 4to.[63]According to the xivᵗʰ of theMerie Tales of Skelton(see Appendix I. to the present Memoir), he was “long confined in prison at Westminster by the command of the cardinal:” but the tract is of such a nature that we must hesitate about believing a single statement which it contains. Even supposing that at some period or other Skelton was really imprisoned by Wolsey, that imprisonment could hardly have taken place so early as 1502. As far as I can gather from his writings, Skelton first offended Wolsey by glancing at him in certain passages ofColyn Cloute, and in those passages the cardinal is alluded to as being in the fulness of pomp and power.[64]By Writ of Privy Seal—Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 101 (b.), in the Public Record Office.[65]Ritson (Bibliog. Poet.p. 102) says that Skelton was “chaplainto king Henry the eighth:” qy. on what authority?[66]“He ... was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511, as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note) 1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton, Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat ... Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’sHist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains is long posterior to his death.[67]SeeA deuoute trentale for old John Clarke, who died in 1506, vol. i. 168;Lamentatio urbis Norvicen., written in 1507, p. 174; andChorus de Dis, &c. in 1513, p. 190.[68]I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—“Mr Skeltonin goodesxl.li.”Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B.4. 15, fol. 7,—Public Record Office. Qy. was this our author?[69]“Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat, sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse ... animam egit ... relictis liberis.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script.p. 701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him (as it seems) a suspension from his benefice.... We must not forget, how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’sWorthies, p. 257 (Norfolk), ed. 1662.—Anthony Wood, with his usual want of charity towards the sons of genius, says that Skelton “having been guilty of certain crimes, (as most poets are,) at least not agreeable to his coat, fell under the heavy censure of Rich. Nykke bishop of Norwich his diocesan; especially for his scoffs and ill language against the monks and dominicans in his writings.”Ath. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, “Mr. Thomas Delafield in his MS.Collection of Poets Laureate, &c. among Gough’s MSS. in the Bodleian, says it was in return for his being married, an equal crime in the ecclesiastics of those days, bishop Nykke suspended him from his church.”—Tanner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton’s taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, “propter quod uxorem habuit.”Biblioth.p. 675. ed. 1748.—In the xiiiᵗʰ of theMerie Tales(see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skelton’swifeis mentioned.[70]“Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum æstuante, ut atro carbone libidines ejus notandæ videantur, si vera sunt quæ de illo a Nevillo perhibentur.” GodwinDe Præsul. Angl.p. 440. ed. 1743.[71]“In the Edition of his Workesin 8vo. Lond.1736, which I have, at p. 272 he mentionsTrumpinton, and seems to have beenCuratethere, 5. Jan. 1507. At p. 54 he also mentionsSwafhamandSoham, 2 Towns inCambridgeshire, inThe Crowne of Lawrell.” Cole’sCollections,—Add. MSS.(Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199. To conclude from the mention of these towns that Skelton resided in Cambridgeshire is the height of absurdity, as the reader will immediately perceive on turning to the passage in question,Garlande of Laurell, v. 1416, vol. i. 417.—Chalmers, on the authority of a MS. note by Kennet, a transcript of which had been sent to him, states that “in 1512, Skelton was presented by Richard, abbot of Glastonbury, to the vicarage of Daltyng.”Biog. Dict.xxviii. 45: if Chalmers had consulted Wood’s account of the poet, he might have learned that the rector of Diss and the vicar of Dultyng were different persons.[72]The old ed. has “scripter.”[73]vol. i. 173.[74]vol. i. 175.[75]Ath. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss.[76]Reprinted in Appendix I. to this Memoir; where see also the extracts fromA C mery Talys, &c.—The biographer of Skelton, inEminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’sCyclop.), asserts that “he composed his Merie Tales for the king and nobles”!!! i. 279.[77]Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.[78]“Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,” &c.; see vol. i. 116.[79]In the Notes on the poemsAgainst GarnescheI have cited several parallel expressions fromThe Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. That curious production may be found in the valuable edition of Dunbar’sPoems(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’sSpeke, Parrotbears a considerable resemblance to a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar, and entitledA General Satyre(Poems, ii. 24); and that as the great Scottish poet visited England more than once, it is probable that he and Skelton were personally acquainted.[80]At a later period there was a poetical “flyting” between Churchyard and a person named Camel, who had attacked a publication of the former calledDavie Dicars Dreame; and some other writers took a part in the controversy: these rare pieces (known only by their titles to Ritson,Bibliog. Poet.p. 151, and to Chalmers,Life of Churchyard, p. 53) are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.[81]In the first poemAgainst Garneschehe is called“Master:” but see Notes, vol. ii. 177.[82]Hall’sChron. (vi. yere Hen. viii.), fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.[83]MS. Cott. Calig. B.vi. fol. 112.[84]Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 108 (b).[85]Privy Purse Accounts, A.5. 16. p. 21.[86]Auditor’s Calendar, &c. fol. 162 (b).[87]Auditor’s Patent Book, No. 1.fol. 6 (b).[88]In an account of the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to England in June 1522, among the lodgings which were occupied on that occasion at Greenwich we find mention of “Master Garnyshe house.” SeeRutland Papers, p. 82 (printed for the Camden Society). That a knight was frequently called “Master,” I have shewn in Notes, vol. ii. 178.[89]Privy Purse Accounts, A.5. 17. p. 175.[90]Teller’s Book, A.3. 24. p. 293.[91]To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill, Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke, the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,By your seruants,John Peache,Wyllm Sandys,Robert Wotton,Edward Guldeferd,Crystoffyr Garneys.To my Lorde cardynalls grace,Legate a Latere and chancelerof England.”InProceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council(vol. vii. 183, 196), 1541, mention is made of aLady Garnishe(probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and inPrivy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary(p. 120) we find under June 1543,“Item mylady garnysheseruaunt for bringing cherysxiid.”[92]“Contra Skeltonum, Lib.i.”Script. Illust. Brit.p. 723. ed. 1559.[93]fol. 259. ed. 1570.[94]vol. i. 411.[95]i. e. snipe.[96]See Notes, vol. ii. 159. If this line alludes to Skelton, it preserves a trait of his personal appearance.[97]i. e. deprived, devoid.[98]sig. c. v. ed. 1570.[99]Vol. i. 376.[100]Vol. i. 409.[101]In a volume of various pieces by Gaguin, dated 1498, is a treatise on metre, which shews no mean acquaintance with the subject.[102]“Inuectiuam In Guil. Lilium, Lib.i.”Script. Illust. Brit., &c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the description, “Lib. i.,” that the invective in question extended to a volume: it was, I presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece was “written in verse and very carping.”Ath. Ox.i. 52. ed. Bliss: but most probably he was acquainted with it only through Bale. He also informs us (i. 34) that Lily wrote a tract entitled“Apologia ad{Joh. Skeltonum.{Rob. Whittington.”for a copy of which I have sought in vain.[103]See Weever’sFun. Monum.p. 498. ed. 1631; Stowe’s Collections,MS. Harl.540. fol. 57; and Fuller’sWorthies(Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662. “And this,” says Fuller, “I will do for W. Lilly, (though often beaten for his sake,) endeavour to translate his answer:“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?Why are my verses by thee weigh’dIn a false scale? may truth be said?Whilst thou to get the more esteemA learned Poet fain wouldst seem,Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,Neither learned, nor a Poet.”[104]Vol. i. 419.[105]See vol. i. 361.[106]See Notes, vol. ii. 318.[107]It was granted to him by the king for life.[108]Vol. i. 419. Concerning this college, see Notes, vol. ii. 334.[109]A Replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late, &c.vol. i. 206. InTypograph. Antiq.ii. 539. ed. Dibdin, where theReplycacionis 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 saidThomaswas Cardinal Wolsey, is truly marvellous.[110]Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 424.[111]See vol. ii. 83, where thisLenuoy(which will be more particularly noticed presently) is appended to the poemHowe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.[112]Vol. i. 199.[113]Animadversions vppon the annotacions and correctōns of some imperfectōns of impressōnes of Chaucers Workes, &c. p. 13,—in Todd’sIllust. of Gower and Chaucer.I may notice here, that among theHarleian MSS.(2252, fols. 156, 158) are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection Wanley has described as “Skelton’s libels;” but they are evidently not by him.[114]Wolsey had previously been named a Cardinal in 1515.—Fiddes (Life of Wolsey, p. 99. ed. 1726) says that he became Legatea laterein 1516: but seeState Papers(1830), i. 9 (note). Lingard’sHist. of Engl.vi. 57. ed. 8vo, &c.—Hoping to ascertain the exact date of theReplycacion, &c. (which contains the first of the passages now under consideration), I have consulted various books for some mention of the “young hereticks” against whom that piece was written; but without success.[115]We cannot settle this point by a comparison of old editions, the poem against Albany and the two L’Envoys which follow it being extant only in the ed. of Marshe.—It may be doubted, too, if the L’Envoy which I have cited at p. xli, “Perge, liber,” &c. belongs to theGarlande of Laurell, to which it is affixed in Marshe’s edition as asecondL’Envoy: in Faukes’s edition of that poem, which I conceive to be the first that was printed, it is not found: the Cott. MS. of theGarlandeis unfortunately imperfect at the end.[116]i. e. sword.[117]Chron.(Hen.viii.) fol. cx. ed. 1548.[118]“Ob literas quasdam in Cardinalem Vuolsium inuectiuas, ad Vuestmonasteriense tandem asylum confugere, pro uita seruanda, coactus fuit: ubi nihilominus sub abbate Islepo fauorem inuenit.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.p. 651. ed. 1559.—“Vbi licet Abbatis Islepi fauore protegeretur, tamen vitam ibi, quantumuis antea iucunde actam, tristi exitu conclusit.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script.p. 701. ed. 1619.—“But Cardinal Wolsey (impar congressus, betwixt a poor Poet and so potent a Prelate) being inveighed against by his pen, and charged with too much truth, so persecuted him, that he was forced to take Sanctuary at Westminster, where Abbot Islip used him with much respect,” &c. Fuller’sWorthies(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’sAth. Oxon.i. 51. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note; “The original MS. register of this sanctuary, which must have been a great curiosity, was in Sir Henry Spelman’s library, and was purchased at the sale of that collection by Wanley for Lord Weymouth. MS. note in Wanley’s copy of Nicholson’sHistorical Libraryin the Bodleian.”[119]John Islip was elected abbot in 1500, and died in 1532: see Widmore’sHist. of West. Abbey, 119, 123. “John Skelton ... is said by the late learned Bishop of Derry, Nicholson (Hist. Lib.chap. 2.) to have first collected the Epitaphs of our Kings, Princes, and Nobles, that lie buried at the Abbey Church of Westminster: but I apprehend this to be no otherwise true, than that, when he, to avoid the anger of Cardinal Wolsey, had taken sanctuary at Westminster, to recommend himself to Islip, the Abbot at that time, he made some copies of verses to the memories of King Henry the Seventh and his Queen, and his mother the Countess of Richmond, and perhaps some other persons buried in this church.”Account of Writers, &c., p. 5, appended to Widmore’sEnquiry into the time of the found. of West. Abbey.—Widmore is mistaken: neither in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568, nor in theReges, Reginæ, Nobiles, &c., 1603, is there any copy of verses by our authoron the Queen of Henry the Seventh: see in vol. i. 178, 179, 195, the three pieces which I have given from those sources: two of them at least were composed before the poet had sought refuge at Westminster, for one (written at Islip’s request) is dated 1512, and another, 1516; the third has no date.[120]See p. xxix.[121]“De morte Cardinalis uaticinium edidit: & eius ueritatem euentus declarauit.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.p. 652. ed. 1559.—“The wordVatesbeing 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, thatPride goeth before a fall.” Fuller’sWorthies(Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662.—Did not this anecdote originate in certain verses ofCotyn Cloute? See the fragment fromLansdown MSS., vol. i. 329, note.[122]“Vuestmonasterii tandem, captiuitatis suæ tempore, mortuus est: & in D. Margaritæ sacello sepultus, cum hac inscriptione alabastrica: Johannes Skeltonus, uates Pierius, hic situs est. Animam egit 21 die Junii, anno Dn̄i 1529, relictis liberis.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit., p. 652. ed. 1559. See also Pits (De Illust. Angl. Script., p. 703. ed. 1619) and Fuller (Worthies, Norfolk, p. 257. ed. 1662), who giveJoannes Sceltonus vates Pierius hic situs estas the whole of Skelton’s epitaph. Weever, however (Fun. Momum., p. 497. ed. 1631), makes “animam egit, 21Junii1529” a portion of it, and in a marginal note substitutes “ejicit” for “egit,” as ifcorrectingthe Latinity!! So too Wood (Ath. Oxon.i. 52. ed. Bliss.), who places “ejicit” between brackets after “egit,” and states (what the other writers do not mention) that the inscription was put on the tomb “soon after” Skelton’s death.In theChurch-Wardens Accompts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster(Nichols’sIllust. of Manners and Expences, &c. 4to. p. 9), we find this entry;£.s.d.“1529. Item, of Mr. Skelton for viii tapers028”The institution of the person who succeeded Skelton as rector of Diss is dated 17th July: see first note on the present Memoir.[123]See note, p. xxxvi.[124]e. g. the portrait on the title-page ofDyuers Balettys and Dyties solacyous(evidently from the press of Pynson; see Appendix II. to this Memoir) is given as a portrait of “Doctor Boorde” in theBoke 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 theGarlande of Laurell, 1523 (poorly imitated inThe Brit. Bibliogr.iv. 389) is a copy of an early French print.[125]“Warton has undervalued him [Skelton]; which is the more remarkable, because Warton was a generous as well as a competent critic. He seems to have been disgusted with buffooneries, which, like those of Rabelais, were thrown out as a tub for the whale; for unless Skelton had written thus for the coarsest palates, he could not have poured forth his bitter and undaunted satire in such perilous times.” Southey,—Select Works of Brit. Poets(1831), p. 61.[126]Amen. of Lit.ii. 69.[127]Vol. i. 313.[128]“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-composition of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu).[129]Remains, ii. 163.[130]“Of Vertualsothesouerayneenterlude.”Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.[131]“His commedy, Achademioscallyd by name.”Id.p. 409.[132]See Appendix II. to this Memoir.—Mr. Collier is mistaken in supposing Skelton’s “paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde” to have been dramatic compositions: see Notes, vol. ii. 330.[133]A writer, of whose stupendous ignorance a specimen has been already cited (p. xxx, note 3), informs us thatMagnyfycence“is one of the dullest plays in our language.”Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’sCyclop.), i. 281.[134]See Appendix III. to this Memoir, andPoems attributed to Skelton, vol. ii. 385.[135]Amen. of Lit.ii. 69.[136]Hist. of E. P.ii. 356.[137]“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to beAmonge the blyssyd companyomnium supernorumTher as is alle merth joye and gleeInter agmina angelorumIn blyse to abyde.”Coventry Mysteries,—MS. Cott. Vesp. D.viii. fol. 112.A reprint of Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkeshaving appeared 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,Andbeastly SkeltonHeads 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 Epistle of the Second Book of Horace imitated, 1737. But Pope was unjust to Skelton; for, though expressions of decided grossness occur in his writings,they are comparatively 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 employ them in the presence of Anne Bulleyn and her maids of honour.

[16]“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’sWorthies, p. 221 (Cumberland), ed. 1662. “John Skelton is placed in this County [Norfolk] on a double probability. First, because an ancient family of his name is eminently 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 Skeltons of Cumberland.” Wood’sAth. Oxon.i. 49. ed. Bliss. See also Tanner’sBiblioth.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, 1512 [Regr. Johnson].” Blomefield’sHist. 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 ofJohnSkelton does not once occur.—From an entry which will be afterwards cited, it would seem that the Christian name of Skelton’s mother was Johanna.—In Skelton’s Latin lines on the city of Norwich (see vol. i. 174) we find,“Ah decus, ahpatriæspecie pulcherrima dudum!Urbs Norvicensis,” &c.Does “patriæ” mean his native county?

“Ah decus, ahpatriæspecie pulcherrima dudum!Urbs Norvicensis,” &c.

“Ah decus, ahpatriæspecie pulcherrima dudum!

Urbs Norvicensis,” &c.

Does “patriæ” mean his native county?

[17]“Having been educated in this university, as Joh. Baleus attests.” Wood’sAth. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss. Wood’s reference 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 hisScript. Illust. Brit., was received “Ex Guilhelmo Horman,” the author of theVulgaria.—See also Tanner’sBiblioth.p. 675. ed. 1748.—Warton says that Skelton “studied in both our universities.”Hist. of E. P.ii. 336. ed. 4to.

[18]A Replycacion, &c. vol. i. 207.

[19]“Wood reckons him of Ox. on the author. of Bale in a MS. in the Bodleian Libr., but with much better reason he 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. 1529, 68 or 69 years old, which ’tis probable he might be. v. Bale 653.” Cole’sCollections,—Add. MSS.(Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199.

[20]I suspect that, during Skelton’s lifetime, two of his most celebrated pieces,Colyn Cloute(see v. 1239, vol. i. 359), andWhy come ye nat to Courte, were not committed to the press, but wandered about in manuscript among hundreds of eager readers. A portion ofSpeke, Parrot, and the PoemsAgainst Garnesche, are now for the first time printed.

[21]Vol. i. 408 sqq. No poetical antiquary can read the titles of some of the lighter pieces mentioned in that catalogue,—such asThe Balade of the Mustarde Tarte,The Murnyng of the mapely rote(see Notes, vol. ii. 330), &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 Music, iii. 39.I take the present opportunity of giving from a MS. in my possession a much fuller copy than has hitherto appeared of the celebrated song which opens the second act ofGammer Gurtons Nedle, and which Warton calls “the firstchanson à boireordrinking-ballad, of any merit, in our language.”Hist. of E. P.iii. 206. ed. 4to. The comedy was first printed in 1575: the manuscript copy of the song, as follows, is certainly of an earlier date:“backe & syde goo bare goo barebothe hande & fote goo coldebut belly god sende the good ale inowghewhether hyt be newe or olde.but yf that Imaye have trwlygoode ale my belly fullI shall looke lyke oneby swete sainte Johnnwere shoron agaynste the woolethowthe I goo baretake yow no careI am nothynge coldeI stuffe my skynneso full withinof joly goode ale & olde.I cannot eatebut lytyll meatemy stomacke ys not goodebut sure I thynckethat I cowde drynckewith hym that werythe an hoodedryncke ys my lyfealthowgthe my wyfesome tyme do chyde & scoldeyete spare I notto plye the potteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I love noo rostebut a browne tosteor a crabbe in the fyera lytyll breadeshall do me steademooche breade I neuer desyerNor froste nor snoweNor wynde I trowCanne hurte me yf hyt woldeI am so wrappedwithin & lappedwith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I care ryte nowghteI take no thowtefor clothes to kepe me warmehave I goode drynckeI surely thynckenothynge canne do me harmefor trwly thanI feare nomanbe he neuer so boldewhen I am armed& throwly warmedwith joly good ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.but nowe & thanI curse & bannethey make ther ale so smallgod geve them care& evill to faarethey strye the malte & allsooche pevisshe peweI tell yowe trwenot for a c[r]ovne of goldether commethe one syppewithin my lyppewhether hyt be newe or olde.backe & syde, &c.good ale & strongemakethe me amongefull joconde & full lytethat ofte I slepe& take no kepefrome mornynge vntyll nytethen starte I vppe& fle to the cuppethe ryte waye on I holdemy thurste to stauncheI fyll my paynchewith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.and kytte my wyfethat as her lyfelovethe well good ale to sekefull ofte drynkythe shethat ye maye sethe tears ronne downe her chekethen dothe she trouleto me the bolleas a goode malte worme sholde& saye swete harteI have take my parteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.They that do dryncketyll they nodde & wynckeeven as good fellowes shulde dothey shall notte mysseto have the blyssethat good ale hathe browghte them to& all poore soulesthat skowre blacke bolles& them hathe lustely trowldegod save the lyvesOf them & ther wyveswether they be yonge or olde.backe & syde,” &c.

I take the present opportunity of giving from a MS. in my possession a much fuller copy than has hitherto appeared of the celebrated song which opens the second act ofGammer Gurtons Nedle, and which Warton calls “the firstchanson à boireordrinking-ballad, of any merit, in our language.”Hist. of E. P.iii. 206. ed. 4to. The comedy was first printed in 1575: the manuscript copy of the song, as follows, is certainly of an earlier date:

“backe & syde goo bare goo barebothe hande & fote goo coldebut belly god sende the good ale inowghewhether hyt be newe or olde.but yf that Imaye have trwlygoode ale my belly fullI shall looke lyke oneby swete sainte Johnnwere shoron agaynste the woolethowthe I goo baretake yow no careI am nothynge coldeI stuffe my skynneso full withinof joly goode ale & olde.I cannot eatebut lytyll meatemy stomacke ys not goodebut sure I thynckethat I cowde drynckewith hym that werythe an hoodedryncke ys my lyfealthowgthe my wyfesome tyme do chyde & scoldeyete spare I notto plye the potteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I love noo rostebut a browne tosteor a crabbe in the fyera lytyll breadeshall do me steademooche breade I neuer desyerNor froste nor snoweNor wynde I trowCanne hurte me yf hyt woldeI am so wrappedwithin & lappedwith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.I care ryte nowghteI take no thowtefor clothes to kepe me warmehave I goode drynckeI surely thynckenothynge canne do me harmefor trwly thanI feare nomanbe he neuer so boldewhen I am armed& throwly warmedwith joly good ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.but nowe & thanI curse & bannethey make ther ale so smallgod geve them care& evill to faarethey strye the malte & allsooche pevisshe peweI tell yowe trwenot for a c[r]ovne of goldether commethe one syppewithin my lyppewhether hyt be newe or olde.backe & syde, &c.good ale & strongemakethe me amongefull joconde & full lytethat ofte I slepe& take no kepefrome mornynge vntyll nytethen starte I vppe& fle to the cuppethe ryte waye on I holdemy thurste to stauncheI fyll my paynchewith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.and kytte my wyfethat as her lyfelovethe well good ale to sekefull ofte drynkythe shethat ye maye sethe tears ronne downe her chekethen dothe she trouleto me the bolleas a goode malte worme sholde& saye swete harteI have take my parteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.They that do dryncketyll they nodde & wynckeeven as good fellowes shulde dothey shall notte mysseto have the blyssethat good ale hathe browghte them to& all poore soulesthat skowre blacke bolles& them hathe lustely trowldegod save the lyvesOf them & ther wyveswether they be yonge or olde.backe & syde,” &c.

“backe & syde goo bare goo barebothe hande & fote goo coldebut belly god sende the good ale inowghewhether hyt be newe or olde.

“backe & syde goo bare goo bare

bothe hande & fote goo colde

but belly god sende the good ale inowghe

whether hyt be newe or olde.

but yf that Imaye have trwlygoode ale my belly fullI shall looke lyke oneby swete sainte Johnnwere shoron agaynste the woolethowthe I goo baretake yow no careI am nothynge coldeI stuffe my skynneso full withinof joly goode ale & olde.

but yf that I

maye have trwly

goode ale my belly full

I shall looke lyke one

by swete sainte Johnn

were shoron agaynste the woole

thowthe I goo bare

take yow no care

I am nothynge colde

I stuffe my skynne

so full within

of joly goode ale & olde.

I cannot eatebut lytyll meatemy stomacke ys not goodebut sure I thynckethat I cowde drynckewith hym that werythe an hoodedryncke ys my lyfealthowgthe my wyfesome tyme do chyde & scoldeyete spare I notto plye the potteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.

I cannot eate

but lytyll meate

my stomacke ys not goode

but sure I thyncke

that I cowde dryncke

with hym that werythe an hoode

dryncke ys my lyfe

althowgthe my wyfe

some tyme do chyde & scolde

yete spare I not

to plye the potte

of joly goode ale & olde.

backe & syde, &c.

I love noo rostebut a browne tosteor a crabbe in the fyera lytyll breadeshall do me steademooche breade I neuer desyerNor froste nor snoweNor wynde I trowCanne hurte me yf hyt woldeI am so wrappedwithin & lappedwith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.

I love noo roste

but a browne toste

or a crabbe in the fyer

a lytyll breade

shall do me steade

mooche breade I neuer desyer

Nor froste nor snowe

Nor wynde I trow

Canne hurte me yf hyt wolde

I am so wrapped

within & lapped

with joly goode ale & olde.

backe & syde, &c.

I care ryte nowghteI take no thowtefor clothes to kepe me warmehave I goode drynckeI surely thynckenothynge canne do me harmefor trwly thanI feare nomanbe he neuer so boldewhen I am armed& throwly warmedwith joly good ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.

I care ryte nowghte

I take no thowte

for clothes to kepe me warme

have I goode dryncke

I surely thyncke

nothynge canne do me harme

for trwly than

I feare noman

be he neuer so bolde

when I am armed

& throwly warmed

with joly good ale & olde.

backe & syde, &c.

but nowe & thanI curse & bannethey make ther ale so smallgod geve them care& evill to faarethey strye the malte & allsooche pevisshe peweI tell yowe trwenot for a c[r]ovne of goldether commethe one syppewithin my lyppewhether hyt be newe or olde.backe & syde, &c.

but nowe & than

I curse & banne

they make ther ale so small

god geve them care

& evill to faare

they strye the malte & all

sooche pevisshe pewe

I tell yowe trwe

not for a c[r]ovne of golde

ther commethe one syppe

within my lyppe

whether hyt be newe or olde.

backe & syde, &c.

good ale & strongemakethe me amongefull joconde & full lytethat ofte I slepe& take no kepefrome mornynge vntyll nytethen starte I vppe& fle to the cuppethe ryte waye on I holdemy thurste to stauncheI fyll my paynchewith joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.

good ale & stronge

makethe me amonge

full joconde & full lyte

that ofte I slepe

& take no kepe

frome mornynge vntyll nyte

then starte I vppe

& fle to the cuppe

the ryte waye on I holde

my thurste to staunche

I fyll my paynche

with joly goode ale & olde.

backe & syde, &c.

and kytte my wyfethat as her lyfelovethe well good ale to sekefull ofte drynkythe shethat ye maye sethe tears ronne downe her chekethen dothe she trouleto me the bolleas a goode malte worme sholde& saye swete harteI have take my parteof joly goode ale & olde.backe & syde, &c.

and kytte my wyfe

that as her lyfe

lovethe well good ale to seke

full ofte drynkythe she

that ye maye se

the tears ronne downe her cheke

then dothe she troule

to me the bolle

as a goode malte worme sholde

& saye swete harte

I have take my parte

of joly goode ale & olde.

backe & syde, &c.

They that do dryncketyll they nodde & wynckeeven as good fellowes shulde dothey shall notte mysseto have the blyssethat good ale hathe browghte them to& all poore soulesthat skowre blacke bolles& them hathe lustely trowldegod save the lyvesOf them & ther wyveswether they be yonge or olde.backe & syde,” &c.

They that do dryncke

tyll they nodde & wyncke

even as good fellowes shulde do

they shall notte mysse

to have the blysse

that good ale hathe browghte them to

& all poore soules

that skowre blacke bolles

& them hathe lustely trowlde

god save the lyves

Of them & ther wyves

wether they be yonge or olde.

backe & syde,” &c.

[22]Vol. i. 1.

[23]Vol. i. 6: see Notes, vol. ii. 89.

[24]He was only eleven years old at his father’s death. See more concerning the fifth earl in Percy’s Preface toThe Northumberland Household Book, 1770, in Warton’sHist. of E. P.ii. 338. ed. 4to, and in Collins’sPeerage, 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.

[25]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 Skelton’s Elegy on the earl’s father.

[26]For a notice of Skelton’s laureation 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 degrees.”

[27]This work (a thin folio), translated by Caxton from the French, is a prose romance founded on theÆneid. It consists of 65 chapters, the first entitled “How the ryght puyssant kynge 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 compatiounOf Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois,Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,Norna mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,” &c.Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.

“Wylliame Caxtoun had no compatiounOf Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois,Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,Norna mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,” &c.Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.

“Wylliame Caxtoun had no compatioun

Of Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois,

Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,

Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;

It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,

Norna mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,” &c.

Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.

[28]A work probably never printed, and now lost: it is mentioned by Skelton in theGarlande of Laurell;“OfTullis Familiarsthe translacyoun.”vol. i. 409.

[28]A work probably never printed, and now lost: it is mentioned by Skelton in theGarlande of Laurell;

“OfTullis Familiarsthe translacyoun.”vol. i. 409.

“OfTullis Familiarsthe translacyoun.”

vol. i. 409.

[29]A work mentioned in the same poem;“Diodorus Siculusof my translacyonOut 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. i. 420.It is preserved in MS. at Cambridge: see Appendix II. to this Memoir.

[29]A work mentioned in the same poem;

“Diodorus Siculusof my translacyonOut 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. i. 420.

“Diodorus Siculusof 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. i. 420.

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

[30]Sig. A ii.

[31]For more about poet laureat, both in the ancient and modern acceptation, see Selden’sTitles of Honor, p. 405. ed. 1631; the Abbé du Resnel’sRecherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 507; Warton’sHist. of E. P.ii. 129. ed. 4to; Malone’sLife of Dryden (Prose Works), p. 78; Devon’s Introd. toIssue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, p. xxix., and his Introd. toIssues of the Exchequer, &c., p. xiii.—Churchyard in his verses prefixed to Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes,1568, says,“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,And past in schoels, ye knoe.”see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,And past in schoels, ye knoe.”

“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,

And past in schoels, ye knoe.”

see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[32]Vol. i. 128.

[33]Hist. of E. P.ii. 130 (note), ed. 4to.—The second entry was printed in 1736 by the Abbé du Resnel (who received it from Carte the historian) inRecherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522. Both entries were given in 1767 by Farmer in the second edition of hisEssay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 50.—The Rev. Joseph Romilly, registrar of the University of Cambridge, has obligingly ascertained for me their correctness.

[34]Vol. i. 124.

[35]Vol. i. 197.

[36]PrologetoEgloges, sig. A 1. ed. 1570.

[37]Hist. of E. 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’sWorks, 1736. See the present edition, vol. i. 190, 191.

[38]Du Resnel expressly says that he was made acquainted with the Cambridge entry by “M. Carte, autrement M. Phillips.”Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez,—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522.—Carte assumed the name of Phillips when he took refuge in France.

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

[40]The original has “Cum:” but the initial letters of the lines were intended to form a distich; see the conclusion of the poem.

[41]Here again the original has “Cum.”

[42]From the 4to volume entitledOpusculum Roberti Whittintoni in florentissima Oxoniensi achademia Laureati. At the end,Expliciūt Roberti Whitintoni Oxonie Protouatis Epygrammata: una cū quibusdā Panegyricis. Impressa Lōdini per me wynandū de worde. Anno post virgineū partū.M. ccccc xix.decimo vero kalēdas Maii.

[43]Henry Bradshaw’sLyfe of Saynt Werburghe, l. ii. c. 24. printed by Pynson 1521, 4to.

[44]See the two subscriptions already cited, p. xiv.; and vol. i. 132, 206, vol. ii. 25.—“Clarus & facundus in utroque scribendi genere, prosa atque metro, habebatur.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.&c. p. 651. ed. 1559. “Inter Rhetores regius orator factus.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script. p. 701. ed. 1619. “With regard to theOrator Regius,” 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.

[45]RegisterHill1489-1505, belonging to the Diocese of London.

[46]1st Octr.: see Sandford’sGeneal. Hist.p. 475. ed. 1707.

[47]See theGarlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.

[48]Henry was created Duke of York 31st Octr. an. 10. Hen. vii. [1494]; see Sandford’sGeneal. Hist.p. 480. ed. 1707. See alsoThe Creation of Henry Duke of Yorke, &c. (from a Cottonian MS.) in Lord Somers’sTracts, i. 24. ed. Scott.

[49]Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748.

[50]i. e. well.

[51]i. e. tutor: see Notes, vol. ii. 193.—When ladies attempt to write history, they sometimes say odd things: e. g. “It is affirmed that Skelton had been tutor to Henry [viii.] in some department of his education.How probable it isthat the corruption 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.

[52]Fourth PoemAgainst Garnesche, vol. i. 129.

[53]Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 410.—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 legislator.”Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth, i. 2. But the description of theSpeculum Principis, quoted above, is somewhat at variance with such a conclusion. The same lady observes in another part of her work, “To Skelton, who in conjunction with Giles Dewes, clerk of the library to Henry the Seventh, had the honour of being tutor to Henry the Eighth, this king evinced his approbation,” ii. 590, and cites in a note the Epistle to Henry the Eighth prefixed to Palsgrave’sLesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, 1530, where mention is made of “the synguler clerke maister Gyles Dewes somtyme instructour to your noble grace in this selfe tong.” Though Dewes taught French to Henry, surely it by no means follows that he was “his tutor in conjunction with Skelton:” a teacher of French and a tutor are very different.

[54]Biblioth.p. 676. ed. 1748.

[55]Erasmi Opera, i. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.—The Ode is appended to Erasmus’s Latin version of theHecubaandIphigenia in Aulideof 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 vateLaurigerosacros.”“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man [Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy, pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms.”Biog. Hist. of Engl.i. 102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did bySpeake parrot,Ware the hauke,the Tunning of Elynour Rumming,Why come ye not to the Courte?Philip Sparrowe, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus, vnder hisprayse of Folly, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c.The Golden Aphroditis, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote fromCensura Liter. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).

“Monstrante fonteis vateLaurigerosacros.”

“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man [Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy, pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms.”Biog. Hist. of Engl.i. 102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did bySpeake parrot,Ware the hauke,the Tunning of Elynour Rumming,Why come ye not to the Courte?Philip Sparrowe, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus, vnder hisprayse of Folly, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c.The Golden Aphroditis, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote fromCensura Liter. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).

[56]Then a student of Lincoln’s Inn.

[57]The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy.

[58]Probably Eltham.

[59]Catal. (Primus) Lucubrationum, p. 2. prefixed to the above-cited vol. ofErasmi Opera.—In Turner’sHist. of the Reign of Henry the Eighth, it is erroneously stated that Erasmus “had the interview which he thus describes,at the residence of Lord Mounjoy,” i. 11. ed. 8vo.

[60]Vol. i. 410.

[61]Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[62]p. 30,—1592, 4to.

[63]According to the xivᵗʰ of theMerie Tales of Skelton(see Appendix I. to the present Memoir), he was “long confined in prison at Westminster by the command of the cardinal:” but the tract is of such a nature that we must hesitate about believing a single statement which it contains. Even supposing that at some period or other Skelton was really imprisoned by Wolsey, that imprisonment could hardly have taken place so early as 1502. As far as I can gather from his writings, Skelton first offended Wolsey by glancing at him in certain passages ofColyn Cloute, and in those passages the cardinal is alluded to as being in the fulness of pomp and power.

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

[65]Ritson (Bibliog. Poet.p. 102) says that Skelton was “chaplainto king Henry the eighth:” qy. on what authority?

[66]“He ... was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511, as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note) 1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton, Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat ... Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’sHist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains is long posterior to his death.

[67]SeeA deuoute trentale for old John Clarke, who died in 1506, vol. i. 168;Lamentatio urbis Norvicen., written in 1507, p. 174; andChorus de Dis, &c. in 1513, p. 190.

[68]I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—“Mr Skeltonin goodesxl.li.”Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B.4. 15, fol. 7,—Public Record Office. Qy. was this our author?

[68]I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—

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

[69]“Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat, sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse ... animam egit ... relictis liberis.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script.p. 701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him (as it seems) a suspension from his benefice.... We must not forget, how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’sWorthies, p. 257 (Norfolk), ed. 1662.—Anthony Wood, with his usual want of charity towards the sons of genius, says that Skelton “having been guilty of certain crimes, (as most poets are,) at least not agreeable to his coat, fell under the heavy censure of Rich. Nykke bishop of Norwich his diocesan; especially for his scoffs and ill language against the monks and dominicans in his writings.”Ath. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, “Mr. Thomas Delafield in his MS.Collection of Poets Laureate, &c. among Gough’s MSS. in the Bodleian, says it was in return for his being married, an equal crime in the ecclesiastics of those days, bishop Nykke suspended him from his church.”—Tanner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton’s taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, “propter quod uxorem habuit.”Biblioth.p. 675. ed. 1748.—In the xiiiᵗʰ of theMerie Tales(see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skelton’swifeis mentioned.

[70]“Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum æstuante, ut atro carbone libidines ejus notandæ videantur, si vera sunt quæ de illo a Nevillo perhibentur.” GodwinDe Præsul. Angl.p. 440. ed. 1743.

[71]“In the Edition of his Workesin 8vo. Lond.1736, which I have, at p. 272 he mentionsTrumpinton, and seems to have beenCuratethere, 5. Jan. 1507. At p. 54 he also mentionsSwafhamandSoham, 2 Towns inCambridgeshire, inThe Crowne of Lawrell.” Cole’sCollections,—Add. MSS.(Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199. To conclude from the mention of these towns that Skelton resided in Cambridgeshire is the height of absurdity, as the reader will immediately perceive on turning to the passage in question,Garlande of Laurell, v. 1416, vol. i. 417.—Chalmers, on the authority of a MS. note by Kennet, a transcript of which had been sent to him, states that “in 1512, Skelton was presented by Richard, abbot of Glastonbury, to the vicarage of Daltyng.”Biog. Dict.xxviii. 45: if Chalmers had consulted Wood’s account of the poet, he might have learned that the rector of Diss and the vicar of Dultyng were different persons.

[72]The old ed. has “scripter.”

[73]vol. i. 173.

[74]vol. i. 175.

[75]Ath. Oxon.i. 50. ed. Bliss.

[76]Reprinted in Appendix I. to this Memoir; where see also the extracts fromA C mery Talys, &c.—The biographer of Skelton, inEminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’sCyclop.), asserts that “he composed his Merie Tales for the king and nobles”!!! i. 279.

[77]Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.

[78]“Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,” &c.; see vol. i. 116.

[79]In the Notes on the poemsAgainst GarnescheI have cited several parallel expressions fromThe Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. That curious production may be found in the valuable edition of Dunbar’sPoems(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’sSpeke, Parrotbears a considerable resemblance to a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar, and entitledA General Satyre(Poems, ii. 24); and that as the great Scottish poet visited England more than once, it is probable that he and Skelton were personally acquainted.

[80]At a later period there was a poetical “flyting” between Churchyard and a person named Camel, who had attacked a publication of the former calledDavie Dicars Dreame; and some other writers took a part in the controversy: these rare pieces (known only by their titles to Ritson,Bibliog. Poet.p. 151, and to Chalmers,Life of Churchyard, p. 53) are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.

[81]In the first poemAgainst Garneschehe is called“Master:” but see Notes, vol. ii. 177.

[82]Hall’sChron. (vi. yere Hen. viii.), fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.

[83]MS. Cott. Calig. B.vi. fol. 112.

[84]Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 108 (b).

[85]Privy Purse Accounts, A.5. 16. p. 21.

[86]Auditor’s Calendar, &c. fol. 162 (b).

[87]Auditor’s Patent Book, No. 1.fol. 6 (b).

[88]In an account of the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to England in June 1522, among the lodgings which were occupied on that occasion at Greenwich we find mention of “Master Garnyshe house.” SeeRutland Papers, p. 82 (printed for the Camden Society). That a knight was frequently called “Master,” I have shewn in Notes, vol. ii. 178.

[89]Privy Purse Accounts, A.5. 17. p. 175.

[90]Teller’s Book, A.3. 24. p. 293.

[91]To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill, Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke, the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,By your seruants,John Peache,Wyllm Sandys,Robert Wotton,Edward Guldeferd,Crystoffyr Garneys.To my Lorde cardynalls grace,Legate a Latere and chancelerof England.”InProceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council(vol. vii. 183, 196), 1541, mention is made of aLady Garnishe(probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and inPrivy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary(p. 120) we find under June 1543,“Item mylady garnysheseruaunt for bringing cherysxiid.”

[91]To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:

“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill, Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke, the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,By your seruants,John Peache,Wyllm Sandys,Robert Wotton,Edward Guldeferd,Crystoffyr Garneys.To my Lorde cardynalls grace,Legate a Latere and chancelerof England.”

By your seruants,

John Peache,Wyllm Sandys,Robert Wotton,Edward Guldeferd,Crystoffyr Garneys.

To my Lorde cardynalls grace,Legate a Latere and chancelerof England.”

InProceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council(vol. vii. 183, 196), 1541, mention is made of aLady Garnishe(probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and inPrivy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary(p. 120) we find under June 1543,

[92]“Contra Skeltonum, Lib.i.”Script. Illust. Brit.p. 723. ed. 1559.

[93]fol. 259. ed. 1570.

[94]vol. i. 411.

[95]i. e. snipe.

[96]See Notes, vol. ii. 159. If this line alludes to Skelton, it preserves a trait of his personal appearance.

[97]i. e. deprived, devoid.

[98]sig. c. v. ed. 1570.

[99]Vol. i. 376.

[100]Vol. i. 409.

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

[102]“Inuectiuam In Guil. Lilium, Lib.i.”Script. Illust. Brit., &c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the description, “Lib. i.,” that the invective in question extended to a volume: it was, I presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece was “written in verse and very carping.”Ath. Ox.i. 52. ed. Bliss: but most probably he was acquainted with it only through Bale. He also informs us (i. 34) that Lily wrote a tract entitled“Apologia ad{Joh. Skeltonum.{Rob. Whittington.”for a copy of which I have sought in vain.

for a copy of which I have sought in vain.

[103]See Weever’sFun. Monum.p. 498. ed. 1631; Stowe’s Collections,MS. Harl.540. fol. 57; and Fuller’sWorthies(Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662. “And this,” says Fuller, “I will do for W. Lilly, (though often beaten for his sake,) endeavour to translate his answer:“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?Why are my verses by thee weigh’dIn a false scale? may truth be said?Whilst thou to get the more esteemA learned Poet fain wouldst seem,Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,Neither learned, nor a Poet.”

“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?Why are my verses by thee weigh’dIn a false scale? may truth be said?Whilst thou to get the more esteemA learned Poet fain wouldst seem,Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,Neither learned, nor a Poet.”

“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,

Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?

Why are my verses by thee weigh’d

In a false scale? may truth be said?

Whilst thou to get the more esteem

A learned Poet fain wouldst seem,

Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,

Neither learned, nor a Poet.”

[104]Vol. i. 419.

[105]See vol. i. 361.

[106]See Notes, vol. ii. 318.

[107]It was granted to him by the king for life.

[108]Vol. i. 419. Concerning this college, see Notes, vol. ii. 334.

[109]A Replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late, &c.vol. i. 206. InTypograph. Antiq.ii. 539. ed. Dibdin, where theReplycacionis 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 saidThomaswas Cardinal Wolsey, is truly marvellous.

[110]Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 424.

[111]See vol. ii. 83, where thisLenuoy(which will be more particularly noticed presently) is appended to the poemHowe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.

[112]Vol. i. 199.

[113]Animadversions vppon the annotacions and correctōns of some imperfectōns of impressōnes of Chaucers Workes, &c. p. 13,—in Todd’sIllust. of Gower and Chaucer.I may notice here, that among theHarleian MSS.(2252, fols. 156, 158) are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection Wanley has described as “Skelton’s libels;” but they are evidently not by him.

[113]Animadversions vppon the annotacions and correctōns of some imperfectōns of impressōnes of Chaucers Workes, &c. p. 13,—in Todd’sIllust. of Gower and Chaucer.

I may notice here, that among theHarleian MSS.(2252, fols. 156, 158) are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection Wanley has described as “Skelton’s libels;” but they are evidently not by him.

[114]Wolsey had previously been named a Cardinal in 1515.—Fiddes (Life of Wolsey, p. 99. ed. 1726) says that he became Legatea laterein 1516: but seeState Papers(1830), i. 9 (note). Lingard’sHist. of Engl.vi. 57. ed. 8vo, &c.—Hoping to ascertain the exact date of theReplycacion, &c. (which contains the first of the passages now under consideration), I have consulted various books for some mention of the “young hereticks” against whom that piece was written; but without success.

[115]We cannot settle this point by a comparison of old editions, the poem against Albany and the two L’Envoys which follow it being extant only in the ed. of Marshe.—It may be doubted, too, if the L’Envoy which I have cited at p. xli, “Perge, liber,” &c. belongs to theGarlande of Laurell, to which it is affixed in Marshe’s edition as asecondL’Envoy: in Faukes’s edition of that poem, which I conceive to be the first that was printed, it is not found: the Cott. MS. of theGarlandeis unfortunately imperfect at the end.

[116]i. e. sword.

[117]Chron.(Hen.viii.) fol. cx. ed. 1548.

[118]“Ob literas quasdam in Cardinalem Vuolsium inuectiuas, ad Vuestmonasteriense tandem asylum confugere, pro uita seruanda, coactus fuit: ubi nihilominus sub abbate Islepo fauorem inuenit.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.p. 651. ed. 1559.—“Vbi licet Abbatis Islepi fauore protegeretur, tamen vitam ibi, quantumuis antea iucunde actam, tristi exitu conclusit.” Pits,De Illust. Angl. Script.p. 701. ed. 1619.—“But Cardinal Wolsey (impar congressus, betwixt a poor Poet and so potent a Prelate) being inveighed against by his pen, and charged with too much truth, so persecuted him, that he was forced to take Sanctuary at Westminster, where Abbot Islip used him with much respect,” &c. Fuller’sWorthies(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’sAth. Oxon.i. 51. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note; “The original MS. register of this sanctuary, which must have been a great curiosity, was in Sir Henry Spelman’s library, and was purchased at the sale of that collection by Wanley for Lord Weymouth. MS. note in Wanley’s copy of Nicholson’sHistorical Libraryin the Bodleian.”

[119]John Islip was elected abbot in 1500, and died in 1532: see Widmore’sHist. of West. Abbey, 119, 123. “John Skelton ... is said by the late learned Bishop of Derry, Nicholson (Hist. Lib.chap. 2.) to have first collected the Epitaphs of our Kings, Princes, and Nobles, that lie buried at the Abbey Church of Westminster: but I apprehend this to be no otherwise true, than that, when he, to avoid the anger of Cardinal Wolsey, had taken sanctuary at Westminster, to recommend himself to Islip, the Abbot at that time, he made some copies of verses to the memories of King Henry the Seventh and his Queen, and his mother the Countess of Richmond, and perhaps some other persons buried in this church.”Account of Writers, &c., p. 5, appended to Widmore’sEnquiry into the time of the found. of West. Abbey.—Widmore is mistaken: neither in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkes, 1568, nor in theReges, Reginæ, Nobiles, &c., 1603, is there any copy of verses by our authoron the Queen of Henry the Seventh: see in vol. i. 178, 179, 195, the three pieces which I have given from those sources: two of them at least were composed before the poet had sought refuge at Westminster, for one (written at Islip’s request) is dated 1512, and another, 1516; the third has no date.

[120]See p. xxix.

[121]“De morte Cardinalis uaticinium edidit: & eius ueritatem euentus declarauit.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit.p. 652. ed. 1559.—“The wordVatesbeing 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, thatPride goeth before a fall.” Fuller’sWorthies(Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662.—Did not this anecdote originate in certain verses ofCotyn Cloute? See the fragment fromLansdown MSS., vol. i. 329, note.

[122]“Vuestmonasterii tandem, captiuitatis suæ tempore, mortuus est: & in D. Margaritæ sacello sepultus, cum hac inscriptione alabastrica: Johannes Skeltonus, uates Pierius, hic situs est. Animam egit 21 die Junii, anno Dn̄i 1529, relictis liberis.” Bale,Script. Illust. Brit., p. 652. ed. 1559. See also Pits (De Illust. Angl. Script., p. 703. ed. 1619) and Fuller (Worthies, Norfolk, p. 257. ed. 1662), who giveJoannes Sceltonus vates Pierius hic situs estas the whole of Skelton’s epitaph. Weever, however (Fun. Momum., p. 497. ed. 1631), makes “animam egit, 21Junii1529” a portion of it, and in a marginal note substitutes “ejicit” for “egit,” as ifcorrectingthe Latinity!! So too Wood (Ath. Oxon.i. 52. ed. Bliss.), who places “ejicit” between brackets after “egit,” and states (what the other writers do not mention) that the inscription was put on the tomb “soon after” Skelton’s death.In theChurch-Wardens Accompts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster(Nichols’sIllust. of Manners and Expences, &c. 4to. p. 9), we find this entry;£.s.d.“1529. Item, of Mr. Skelton for viii tapers028”The institution of the person who succeeded Skelton as rector of Diss is dated 17th July: see first note on the present Memoir.

In theChurch-Wardens Accompts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster(Nichols’sIllust. of Manners and Expences, &c. 4to. p. 9), we find this entry;

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

[123]See note, p. xxxvi.

[124]e. g. the portrait on the title-page ofDyuers Balettys and Dyties solacyous(evidently from the press of Pynson; see Appendix II. to this Memoir) is given as a portrait of “Doctor Boorde” in theBoke 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 theGarlande of Laurell, 1523 (poorly imitated inThe Brit. Bibliogr.iv. 389) is a copy of an early French print.

[125]“Warton has undervalued him [Skelton]; which is the more remarkable, because Warton was a generous as well as a competent critic. He seems to have been disgusted with buffooneries, which, like those of Rabelais, were thrown out as a tub for the whale; for unless Skelton had written thus for the coarsest palates, he could not have poured forth his bitter and undaunted satire in such perilous times.” Southey,—Select Works of Brit. Poets(1831), p. 61.

[126]Amen. of Lit.ii. 69.

[127]Vol. i. 313.

[128]“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-composition of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu).

[128]

“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-composition of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu).

“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.

“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-composition of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu).

[129]Remains, ii. 163.

[130]“Of Vertualsothesouerayneenterlude.”Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.

[130]

“Of Vertualsothesouerayneenterlude.”Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.

“Of Vertualsothesouerayneenterlude.”

Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.

[131]“His commedy, Achademioscallyd by name.”Id.p. 409.

[131]

“His commedy, Achademioscallyd by name.”Id.p. 409.

“His commedy, Achademioscallyd by name.”

Id.p. 409.

[132]See Appendix II. to this Memoir.—Mr. Collier is mistaken in supposing Skelton’s “paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde” to have been dramatic compositions: see Notes, vol. ii. 330.

[133]A writer, of whose stupendous ignorance a specimen has been already cited (p. xxx, note 3), informs us thatMagnyfycence“is one of the dullest plays in our language.”Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’sCyclop.), i. 281.

[134]See Appendix III. to this Memoir, andPoems attributed to Skelton, vol. ii. 385.

[135]Amen. of Lit.ii. 69.

[136]Hist. of E. P.ii. 356.

[137]“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to beAmonge the blyssyd companyomnium supernorumTher as is alle merth joye and gleeInter agmina angelorumIn blyse to abyde.”Coventry Mysteries,—MS. Cott. Vesp. D.viii. fol. 112.A reprint of Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkeshaving appeared 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,Andbeastly SkeltonHeads 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 Epistle of the Second Book of Horace imitated, 1737. But Pope was unjust to Skelton; for, though expressions of decided grossness occur in his writings,they are comparatively 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 employ them in the presence of Anne Bulleyn and her maids of honour.

[137]

“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to beAmonge the blyssyd companyomnium supernorumTher as is alle merth joye and gleeInter agmina angelorumIn blyse to abyde.”Coventry Mysteries,—MS. Cott. Vesp. D.viii. fol. 112.

“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to beAmonge the blyssyd companyomnium supernorumTher as is alle merth joye and gleeInter agmina angelorumIn blyse to abyde.”

“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to be

Amonge the blyssyd companyomnium supernorum

Ther as is alle merth joye and glee

Inter agmina angelorum

In blyse to abyde.”

Coventry Mysteries,—MS. Cott. Vesp. D.viii. fol. 112.

A reprint of Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’sWorkeshaving appeared 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,Andbeastly SkeltonHeads of Houses quote”—

“Chaucer’s worst ribaldry is learn’d by rote,

Andbeastly SkeltonHeads 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 Epistle of the Second Book of Horace imitated, 1737. But Pope was unjust to Skelton; for, though expressions of decided grossness occur in his writings,they are comparatively 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 employ them in the presence of Anne Bulleyn and her maids of honour.

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