—— flode] i. e. flood.

v. 2585. Ensordyd] Could only, I presume, mean—defiled: but qy., as the context seems to require, “Ensorbyd,” i. e. sucked in, swallowed?

—— wawys] i. e. waves.

—— wode] i. e. mad, raging.

v. 2586. brast] i. e. burst,—break.

v. 2588. hym] Must be an error of the press for “hymselfe;” compare v. 2581.

v. 2590. syttynge] i. e. proper, becoming.

v. 2591. ryalte] i. e. royalty.

v. 2593. indeuer] i. e. endure, continue, dwell.

COLYN CLOUTE.

This powerful and original poem must have been circulated in MS., probably for a considerable time, before it was given to the press; for from a passage towards the conclusion, v. 1239, we learn that those against whom its satire was directed would not “suffer it to be printed.” In Colyn Cloute Skelton appears to have commenced his attacks on Wolsey.

“I could never conceive, Mr. Warton, to what Drayton alludes, in the preface to his Eclogues, where he says, that ‘the Colin Clout of Scogan, under Henry the seventh, is pretty.’ He is speaking of pastoral poetry; and adds, that ‘Barklays ship of fools hath twenty wiser in it.’ You somewhere say [Hist. of E. P. iii. 76, note, ed. 4to], ‘he must mean Skelton;’ but what PASTORAL did HE write?” Ritson’s Obs. on Warton’s Hist. of E. P., p. 20 (note); see too his Bibl. Poet., p. 99. I believe that Drayton did mean Skelton. Colyn Cloute is surely as much a pastoral as Barclay’s Ship of Fooles,—as much perhaps as even Barclay’s Egloges.

—— Quis consurget mecum, &c.] Vulg. Psal. xciii. 16, where “Quis consurget mihi,” &c.

—— Nemo, Domine] Id. Joan. viii. 11.

Page 311. v. 1.

So in Gentylnes and Nobylyte, n. d. (attributed without grounds to Heywood);

Page 311. v. 9. bokes] i. e. books.

Page 312. v. 20. He pryeth and he peketh] See note, p. 244. v. 667. So Gascoigne;

v. 28. fole] i. e. fool.

v. 29. scole] i. e. school.

v. 30. a thre foted stole] i. e. a three-footed stool.

v. 36. The deuyll, they say, is dede] Heywood has six Epigrams on this proverbial expression,—Workes, sig. N 2. ed. 1598. Ray gives, “Heigh ho, the Devil is dead.” Proverbs, p. 55. ed. 1768.

Page 313, v. 51. connyng bagge] i. e. bag, store, of knowledge or learning.

v. 52. hagge] See note, p. 99. v. 19.

v. 53. though my ryme be ragged] So Sir D. Lyndsay; “my rural raggit vers.” Prol. to Monarchie,—Works, ii. 330. ed. Chalmers; and Spenser, “My ragged rimes.” F. Queene, i. xii. 23.

v. 54. iagged] See note, p. 163. v. 124.

v. 56. moughte eaten] i. e. moth-eaten.

v. 66. blother] i. e. gabble.

v. 67. The tone agayng] i. e. The one against.

v. 68. shoder] i. e. shudder.

v. 69. hoder moder] i. e. hugger-mugger.

Page 314. v. 70. faute] i. e. fault.

v. 71. ben so haut] i. e. be so haughty.

v. 72. loke] i. e. look.

v. 77. sely] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.

v. 79. wull] i. e. wool.

v. 80. Vnethes] i. e. Scarcely.

v. 82. connynge] i. e. knowledge, learning.

v. 83, A glommynge] i. e. A glumming, a looking gloomy, sour.

—— a mummynge] Compare our author elsewhere;

v. 84. iape] i. e. jest, joke.

v. 87. hole] i. e. whole.

Page 314. v. 89. the forked cap] i. e. the mitre.

v. 90. to lewd] i. e. too wicked, vile.

v. 91. all beshrewd] i. e. altogether cursed.

v. 99. For other mennes skyll]—skyll, i. e. reason: the line seems to mean—Notwithstanding other men’s reasons.

Page 315. v. 107. solfa so alamyre]—alamire is the lowest note but one in Guido Aretine’s scale of music: Gayton, in his Notes upon Don Quixote, 1654, says (metaphorically) that Maritornes “plaid her part so wel, that she run through all the keyes from A-la-mi-re to double Gammut,” &c. p. 83.

v. 108. premenyre] i. e. præmunire.

v. 115. heedes] i. e. heads.

v. 119. warke] i. e. work.

Page 316. v. 137.

—— sklender connyng, i. e. slender knowledge, learning: wonnyng, i. e. dwelling. The meaning of the passage is—a great part of this is owing to their laziness, but it is chiefly to be attributed to their ignorance, &c.

Page 317. v. 151. werkes] i. e. works.

v. 152. Ure] i. e. Urias.

v. 154. werryn] i. e. hinder, ward off.

v. 159. heery] i. e. hairy.

v. 160. Set nought by] i. e. Value not.

—— ne] i. e. nor.

v. 162. mell] i. e. meddle.

v. 163.

So Heywood;

See Pierce Plowman, where one of the rats proposes that a bell should be hung about the cat’s neck. Sig. A iii. ed. 1561; and Ray’s Proverbs, p. 85. ed. 1768.

Page 317. v. 166. to play deuz decke] An allusion, I suppose, to some game.

v. 167. for the becke] i. e. to obey the nod of command.

v. 169. Moche herted] i. e. Much hearted.

v. 178. combred] i. e. encumbered.

Page 318. v. 181. Sho the mockysshe mare] So in our author’s Why come ye nat to Courte;

v. 182. wynche and keke] i. e. wince and kick.

v. 183. not worth a leke] An expression not uncommon in our early poetry:

v. 190.

—appare, i. e. impair. The meaning of this passage,—in which (as I have already noted ad loc.) it seems probable from a comparison of the MS. and the printed copies, that Skelton used the forms “Seire” and “appeire,”—is—Amend when ye may, for it is said by every body, even as far as Mount Seir, that ye cannot be worse than ye are. The Latin words are a quotation from the Vulgate: “Et circuit de Baala contra occidentem, usque ad montem Seir.” Josue, xv. 10.

v. 194. hauke on hobby larkes] See notes, p. 258. v. 1358. p. 262. v. 1582.

v. 195. warkes] i. e. works.

v. 198. The gray gose for to sho] Hoccleve uses this proverbial expression;

and Heywood has the following Epigram;

See also Davies’s Scourge of Follie (Prouerbs), n. d. p. 175.

Page 319. v. 209. pranes] i. e. prawns.

v. 211. werynge] i. e. wearing.

v. 213. ne peason] i. e. nor peas.

v. 214. loke to be let lose] i. e. look to be let loose.

v. 215. gose] i. e. goose.

v. 216.

Equivalent to—You not digesting any thing except, &c.: see notes, p. 207. v. 78. and v. 87.

v. 218. a stewed cocke] Compare the following passage in the Interlude of the iiii Elementes, n. d.;

v. 219.

Compare Heywood’s Dialogue, &c.;

In our author’s Garlande of Laurell we find,

which is cited (Dict. in v. Surfel) by Richardson, who, after quoting from Gifford that “To surphule or surfel the cheeks, is to wash them with mercurial or sulphur water,” &c., adds that Gifford’s “explanation does not extend to the passage from Skelton.” The fact seems to be that Skelton uses surfle for purfle, i. e. border, embroider: and I may notice that Brathwait, on the other hand, seems to employ purfle for surfle;

Page 319. v. 222.

Sitientes is the first word of the Introit of the Mass for Passion Sunday (“Sitientes, venite ad aquas, dicit Dominus,” &c., Isaiah lv. 1). For this note I am indebted to W. Dyce, Esq., who further observes that Sitientes Saturday was of old, and is now abroad, the Saturday before Passion Sunday.

Page 320. v. 233. renne they in euery stede] i. e. run they in every place.

v. 234. nolles] i. e. heads.

v. 239. Pystle] i. e. Epistle.

v. 243. prymes and houres] i. e. the devotions so named.

v. 248. vagabundus] i. e. vagabonds.

v. 251. ale stake] i. e. stake set up before an ale-house by way of sign.

v. 252. welcome hake and make] An expression which I have not elsewhere met with. Ray gives among North Country words, “To hake, To sneak, or loiter:” in Hunter’s Hallam. Gloss. is “A haking fellow, an idle loiterer;” and in a song cited by Mr. J. P. Collier (Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet., ii. 472) from a MS. drama called Misogonus by T. Richards, we find,—

—make is common in the sense of—mate, companion.

Page 321. v. 262. stylla] i. e. still.

v. 263. wylla] i. e. will.

v. 264. pekes] See note, p. 129. v. 409.

v. 266. faute] i. e. fault.

v. 267. apposed] i. e. questioned, examined. “He was apposed, or examyned of his byleue. De religione appellatus est.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. D ii. ed. 1530.

v. 269. connyng] i. e. knowledge, learning.

Page 322. v. 284. Tom a thrum] See note, p. 189. v. 204.

v. 293.

—appose seems to be used in a different sense from that in which we have just had it (v. 267), and to be equivalent to—procure: crose, i. e. crosier.

Page 322. v. 299. a hermoniake] A term I am unable to explain.

v. 303. Ouer] i. e. Besides.

—— the foresayd laye] i. e. the above-mentioned laity.

v. 305. anker] i. e. anchorite.

v. 310.

Perhaps, as Warton thinks (note on Hist. of E. P., ii. 347. ed. 4to), an allusion to Wolsey: afterwards in this poem, the Cardinal appears to be pointed at more plainly.

Page 323. v. 312. purple and paule] An expression which frequently occurs, more particularly in ballad-poetry (considered by Percy and others as equivalent to—purple robe): paule, i. e. pall, rich or fine cloth.

v. 316. Raynes] See note, p. 268. v. 2042.

v. 317. morowes mylke] i. e. morning’s milk.

v. 318. tabertes] Tabards,—jackets or coats, without sleeves, close before and behind, and open at the sides, are still worn by heralds: but those mentioned in the text were longer,—a sort of riding-cloaks. “Tabard a garmêt mâteau.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxviii. (Table of Subst.). And see Du Cange’s Gloss. in v. Tabartum; Roquefort’s Gloss. in v. Tabar; and Strutt’s Dress and Habits, &c. ii. 301.

v. 319. Theyr styrops of myxt gold begared]—begared, or begarded, means—faced, bordered,—adorned. The line, I suspect, (see various readings ad l.) ought to stand,—

v. 321. moyles] i. e. mules.

v. 323.

So afterwards, v. 857, the same terms are used to signify the labouring poor of both sexes. Jacke of the Noke, i. e. (I suppose) Jack of the Nook: see “Nocata terræ” in Cowel’s Law Dictionary, &c. ed. 1727.

v. 325. pore] i. e. poor.

v. 331. farly] i. e. strange.

v. 332. iangle] i. e. babble, chatter.

v. 335. all to-mangle] See note, p. 100. v. 32.

Page 324. v. 337. ascrye] i. e. call out against: see notes, p. 145. v. 903. p. 152. v. 1358.

v. 341. Ware] i. e. Were. (MS. “Was:” see note ad loc.)

v. 342. Poules] i. e. Paul’s.

Page 324. v. 346. trones] i. e. thrones.

v. 347. Lyke prynces aquilonis] i. e. Like so many Lucifers.

v. 352. For prestes and for lones]—prestes, i. e. sums in advance. “Prest and loan,” Sir H. Nicolas observes to me, “seem to have been used in nearly, if not precisely, the same sense in the 16th century. Perhaps, strictly, prest meant a compulsory advance. In fiscal records it has much the meaning of charge or imprest.”

v. 356. tonge tayde] i. e. tongue-tied.

v. 360. shrewd] i. e. evil.

v. 362. poollynge] i. e. polling, plundering.

Page 325. v. 365. Ye make monkes to haue the culerage, &c.] A passage which I do not understand: but culerage perhaps has here the meaning which it conveys as the name of an herb, “Arse-smart. Cul-rage.” Cotgrave’s Dict.

v. 373. ouerthwarted] Has been explained before (p. 211. v. 230)—cavilled, wrangled: but here it seems to mean—crossly, perversely opposed or controlled.

v. 376. fayne] i. e. glad.

v. 379. corum] i. e. quorum.

v. 388. apostataas] See note, p. 212. v. 290.

Page 326. v. 391. sely nonnes] i. e. silly, simple, harmless nuns.

v. 392. ronnes] i. e. runs.

v. 396. quere] i. e. quire.

v. 397. heuy chere] “Heavy chear, Tristitia, Mœstitia.” Cole’s Dict.

v. 399. fucke sayles] So in a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar;

and in another by Sir R. Maitland;

Focke, a foresail, German. In the Expenses of Sir John Howard, first Duke of Norfolk, we find, “Item, the same day my mastyr paid to the said Clayson, for a fuk maste for the said kervelle, iijs. iiijd.” Manners and Household Expenses of England, &c., p. 206. ed. Roxb.

v. 401. shales] See note, p. 97. v. 19.

v. 403. The lay fee people] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.

v. 404. fawte] i. e. fault.

v. 409. Boke and chalys] i. e. Book and chalice.

Page 327. v. 417. melles] i. e. meddles.

v. 418. tytyuelles] This word occurs not unfrequently, and with some variety of spelling, in our early writers. So Lydgate;

and Heywood;

Some have considered the word as derived from the Latin, titivilitium, a thing of no worth. Jamieson “suspects that it is a personal designation,” Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v. Tutivillaris. In Juditium, Towneley Mysteries, p. 310, Tutivillus is a fiend; and in the Moral Play of Mankind he represents the sin of the flesh, Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet., ii. 297, by Mr. J.P. Collier, who says (ii. 223) that “the name afterwards came to mean any person with evil propensities,” and refers to the comedy of Rauf Royster Doyster, Skelton’s Works, and the Enterlude of Thersytes: when he objected to the derivation of the word from titivilitium and proposed “the more simple etymology, totus and vilis,” he was probably not aware that some writers (wrongly) “totivillitium volunt, quasi totum vile:” see Gronovius’s note on the Casina of Plautus, ii. 5, 39. ed. Var.

Page 327. v. 421. Of an abbay ye make a graunge] A proverbial expression.

“To bring an Abbey to a Grange.” Ray’s Proverbs, p. 174. ed. 1768.

v. 424. beade rolles] i. e. prayers,—properly, lists of those to be prayed for.

v. 429.

—mell, i. e. meddle. So Dunbar;

v. 434. reporte me] i. e. refer.

v. 440. the lay fee] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.

Page 328. v. 447.

From the Vulgate. “Ibunt in splendore fulgurantis hastæ tuæ.” Habac. iii. 11. “Et micantis gladii, et fulgurantis hastæ.” Nahum, iii. 3.

v. 456. eysell] i. e. vinegar.

v. 458. ypocras] Was a favourite medicated drink, composed of wine (usually red), with spices and sugar. It is generally supposed to have been so named from Hippocrates (often contracted, as in our author’s Garlande of Laurell, v. 1426. vol. i. 417, to “Ipocras”); perhaps because it was strained,—the woollen bag used by apothecaries to strain syrups and decoctions for clarification being termed Hippocrates’s sleeve.

Page 328. v. 459. Let the cat wynke] See note, p. 168. v. 305.

v. 460. Iche wot] Seems to mean here—Each knows (not, I know); and therefore in the remainder of the line the reading of Kele’s ed., “yche,” ought not to have been rejected.

v. 467. theologys] i. e. theologians.

v. 468. astrologys] i. e. astrologers.

Page 329. v. 469. Ptholome] See note, p. 133. v. 503.

v. 474. pretendynge] Equivalent to—portending.

Here Skelton seems to allude to Wolsey; and from these lines (called in the Lansdown MS., see note ad loc., “The profecy of Skelton”) perhaps originated the story of our poet having prophesied the downfal of the Cardinal.

v. 476. trone] i. e. throne.

v. 479. euerychone] i. e. every one.

Page 330. v. 489. bruted] i. e. reported, talked of.

v. 492. wrest vp] i. e. screw up: see note, p. 238. v. 137.

v. 493. twynkyng] i. e. tinking, tinkling.

v. 498. the lay fee] i. e. the laity: see note, p. 234. v. 267.

v. 504. to] i. e. too.

v. 515. depraue] i. e. vilify, defame.

Page 331. v. 523. resydeuacyon] i. e. recidivation, backsliding.

v. 528. ipostacis] i. e. hypostasis.

v. 533. fore top] i. e. (as the context shews) simply,—head, pate.

v. 535. knowe and ken] A pleonasm,—unless ken be explained—see.

v. 542.

Concerning the wine called sack (about which so much has been written) see Henderson’s Hist. of Anc. and Mod. Wines, p. 298.

v. 544. brennyng] i. e. burning.

v. 545. warke] i. e. work.

Page 332. v. 549. carpe] i. e. talk, prate.

v. 551. Called Wicleuista] From Wicliffe.

v. 553. Hussyans] i. e. followers of Huss.

v. 554. Arryans] i. e. followers of Arius.

v. 555. Pollegians] i. e. Pelagians,—followers of Pelagius.

v. 559. to mykel] i. e. too much.

Page 332. v. 564. tryalytes] i. e. three benefices united.

v. 565. tot quottes] So Barclay;

Page 333. v. 572. persons and vycaryes] i. e. parsons and vicars.

v. 576. loselles] See note, p. 209. v. 138.

v. 577. lewdely] i. e. wickedly, vilely.

v. 578. sely] i. e. silly, simple, harmless.

v. 581. mought] i. e. might.

v. 582. so dysgysed] See note, p. 205. v. 22.

Page 334. v. 597. lokes] i. e. looks.

v. 598. bokes] i. e. books.

v. 600. wroken] i. e. wreaked.

v. 602. iauell] See note, p. 271. v. 2218.

v. 604. face] See note, p. 216. v. 33.

—— crake] i. e. vaunt, talk bigly.

v. 606. kayser] See note, p. 247. v. 796.

v. 607. layser] i. e. leisure.

v. 619. connyng] i. e. knowledge, learning.

—— auaunce] i. e. advance.

Page 335. v. 624. dykes] i. e. ditches.

v. 625. Set nothyng by] i. e. Value not, regard not.

v. 637. ye, shall] i. e. yea, I shall.

v. 648. shule] i. e. shovel.

Page 336. v. 654. mamockes] See note, p. 268. v. 2035.

v. 663. kynde] i. e. nature.

v. 664. Many one ye haue vntwynde] The reading of the MS., which at least gives a sense to the line: vntwynde, i. e. destroyed; see note, p. 127. v. 284.

v. 668. fote] i. e. foot.

v. 672. in the deuyll way] A common expression in our early writers.

“In the twenty deuyll way, Au nom du grant diable.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxlii. (Table of Aduerbes). “What reason is that, in the twenty deuell waye, that he shulde bere suche a rule? Quænam (malum) ratio est,” &c. Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. dd iii. ed. 1530.

Page 337. v. 673. ouer] i. e. besides.

v. 675. hear] i. e. hair.

v. 679. tonsors] i. e. tonsures.

v. 688. the male dothe wrye] See note, p. 142. v. 700.

Page 338. v. 692. Ye bysshops of estates]—of estates, i. e. of great estate, rank, dignity.

v. 698. awtentyke] i. e. authentic.

v. 704. intoxicate] i. e. poison (Lat. intoxico).

v. 705. conquinate] i. e. coinquinate,—pollute, defile, defame.

v. 710. The Churchis hygh estates] i. e. the dignitaries of the Church.

Page 339. v. 728. marke] i. e. marks,—the coins so called.

v. 730. werke] i. e. work.

v. 734. sawe] i. e. saying,—branch of learning.

v. 737. pore] i. e. poor.

v. 739. frere] i. e. friar.

Page 340. v. 747.

The statement that Edward the Third founded a religious house at Greenwich in 1376 appears to rest on no authority. A grant of Edward the Fourth to certain Minorites or Observant Friars of the order of St. Francis of a piece of ground which adjoined the palace at Greenwich, and on which they had begun to build several small mansions, was confirmed in 1486 by a charter of Henry the Seventh, who founded there a convent of friars of that order, to consist of a warden and twelve brethren at the least; and who is said to have afterwards rebuilt their convent from the foundation. The friars of Greenwich were much favoured by Katherine, queen of Henry the Eighth; and when, during the question of her divorce, they had openly espoused her cause, the king was so greatly enraged that he suppressed the whole order throughout England. The convent at Greenwich was dissolved in 1534. Queen Mary reinstated them in their possessions, and new-founded and repaired their monastery. Queen Elizabeth suppressed them, &c. See Lysons’s Environs of London, iv. 464. ed. 1796.

v. 754. Babuell besyde Bery] When by an order of Pope Urban the Fourth, the Grey Friars were removed out of the town and jurisdiction of Bury St. Edmund, in 1263, “they retired to a place just without the bounds, beyond the north gate, called Babwell, now the Toll-gate, which the abbat and convent generously gave them to build on; and here they continued till the dissolution.” Tanner’s Not. Mon. p. 527. ed. 1744.

Page 340. v. 755. To postell vpon a kyry] i. e. to comment upon a Kyrie eleison: (a postil is a short gloss, or note).

v. 757. coted] i. e. quoted.

Page 341. v. 779. blother] i. e. gabble.

v. 780.

So again our author in his Garlande of Laurell;

Compare The Legend of the Bischop of St Androis;

“Welchman’s hose. Equivalent, I imagine, to the breeches of a Highlander, or the dress of a naked Pict; upon the presumption that Welchmen had no hose.” Nares’s Gloss. in v. Unfortunately, however, for this ingenious conjecture, the expression is found varied to “shipman’s hose,”—which certainly cannot be considered as a non-entity. “Hereunto they adde also a Similitude not very agreeable, how the Scriptures be like to a Nose of Waxe, or a Shipmans Hose: how thei may be fashioned, and plied al manner of waies, and serue al mennes turnes.” Jewel’s Defence of the Apologie, &c. p. 465. ed. 1567. “And not made as a shippe mans hose to serue for euery legge.” Wilson’s Arte of Rhetorike, p. 102. ed. 1580. Surely Welshman’s hose (as well as shipman’s) became proverbial from their pliability, power of being stretched, &c.

v. 784. broke] i. e. brook.

v. 785. loke] i. e. look.

v. 786. boke] i. e. book.

Page 342. v. 800. the brode gatus] Means perhaps, Broadgates Hall, Oxford, on the site of which Pembroke College was erected.

v. 801. Daupatus] i. e. Simple-pate: see note, p. 113. v. 301.

v. 803. Dronhen as a mouse] So Chaucer;