Varied thus:

Among the songs enumerated in The Complaynt of Scotland is “Sal i go vitht zou to rumbelo fayr,” p. 101. ed. Leyden: and in Hycke Scorner mention is made of

Page 40. v. 252. row the bote, Norman, rowe!] A fragment of an old song, the origin of which is thus recorded by Fabyan: “In this. xxxii. yere [of King Henry the Sixth] Jhon Norman foresaid, vpon the morowe of Simon and Judes daie, thaccustomed day when the newe Maior vsed yerely to ride with greate pompe vnto westminster to take his charge, this Maior firste of all Maiors brake that auncient and olde continued custome, and was rowed thither by water, for the whiche yᵉ Watermen made of hym a roundell or song to his greate praise, the whiche began: Rowe the bote Norman, rowe to thy lemman, and so forth with a long processe.” Chron. vol. ii. fol. 457. ed. 1559.

v. 253. Prynces of yougthe can ye synge by rote?] The meaning of this line seems to be—Can you sing by rote the song beginning, Princess of youth? Skelton, in his Garlande of Laurell, calls Lady Anne Dakers

Page 40. v. 254. Or shall I sayle wyth you a felashyp assaye] i. e., I suppose,—Or try, of good fellowship, (or, perhaps, together with me,) the song which commences Shall I sail with you? Compare the quotation from The Complaynt of Scotland in preceding page.

v. 259. bobbe me on the noll] i. e. beat me on the head.

v. 261. connynge] i. e. knowledge.

v. 262. gete] i. e. got.

v. 269. wyste] i. e. knew.

v. 275. vnneth] i. e. scarcely, not without difficulty.

Page 41. v. 276. But I requyre you no worde that I saye] i. e. But I beg you not to mention a word of what I say.

v. 277. ony] i. e. any.

v. 278. agayne you] i. e. against you, to your disadvantage.

—— wetynge] i. e. knowledge, intelligence.

v. 283. wonderly besene] i. e. of strange appearance, or array. “Well bysene: Bien accoustré.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes).

v. 284. hawte] i. e. haughty.

v. 285. scornnys] i. e. scorns.

v. 286. hode] i. e. hood.

v. 287. by Cockes blode] i. e. by God’s blood (Cock a corruption of God). “The Host’s oath in Lydgate,” says Warton, note on Hist. of E. P., ii. 349. ed. 4to. It occurs often in other writers.

v. 288. bote] i. e. bit.

v. 289. His face was belymmed, as byes had him stounge] i. e. His face was disfigured, as if bees had stung him.—In a fragment of Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, MS. Harl. 2251. fol. 97, we find

where Wayland’s ed. (B. ii. leaf li.) has “a Bee.”

v. 290. jape] i. e. jest, joke.

Page 41. v. 294. this comerous crabes hyghte] i. e. (I suppose) this troublesome crab was called.—Warton (Hist. of E. P. ii. 350) cites, without the authority of any ed., “—— crab is hyghte.”

v. 297. quod] i. e. quoth.

v. 298. euyll apayed] i. e. ill satisfied, ill pleased.

v. 301. Dawes] Equivalent to—simpleton; the daw being reckoned a silly bird: so again, in the next line but one, “doctour Dawcocke.”

Page 42. v. 302. in conceyte] i. e. in the good opinion, favour of our Lady Fortune: compare v. 270.

v. 303. hyghte] i. e. is called.

v. 304. sleyte] i. e. sleight, artful contrivance.

v. 311. layne] i. e. conceal.

v. 312. beyte] i. e. bait.

v. 315. And soo outface hym with a carde of ten] “A common phrase,” says Nares, “which we may suppose to have been derived from some game, (possibly primero), wherein the standing boldly upon a ten was often successful. A card of ten meant a tenth card, a ten.... I conceive the force of the phrase to have expressed originally the confidence or impudence of one who with a ten, as at brag, faced, or outfaced one who had really a faced card against him. To face meant, as it still does, to bully, to attack by impudence of face.” Gloss. in v. Face it, &c. “The phrase of a card of ten was possibly derived, by a jocular allusion, from that of a hart of ten, in hunting, which meant a full grown deer, one past six years of age.” Ibid. in v. Card of ten.

v. 316. assawte] i. e. assault.

v. 317. meuyd all in moode] i. e. moved all in anger.

v. 318. fawte] i. e. fault.

v. 320. I wende he had be woode] i. e. I thought he had been mad.

v. 327. hayne] i. e. (perhaps) hind, slave, peasant.

v. 329. suche maysters to playe] i. e. to play such pranks of assumed superiority. Compare v. 341. See Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v. Maistryss.

Page 43. v. 330. I am of countenaunce] i. e. perhaps, I am a person of credit, good means, consequence (see Gifford’s note on B. Jonson’s Works, ii. 111).

v. 332. dyspleasaunce] i. e. displeasure.

v. 334. no force] i. e. no matter.

v. 336. auenture] i. e. adventure.

v. 337. dreuyll] i. e. drudge, low fellow. “Dryuyll seruaunt.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499; and see also Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. in v. Drivel.

Page 43. v. 338. have deynte] See note on v. 150. p. 108.

v. 340. Well, ones thou shalte be chermed, I wus] i. e. Well, one time or other thou shalt be charmed (quelled, as if by a charm), certainly (I wus—i-wis, adv.).

v. 344. Ryotte] “Is forcibly and humorously pictured.” Warton, Hist. of E. P. ii. 348. ed. 4to.

v. 345. A rusty gallande, to-ragged and to-rente] i. e. A shabby gallant, utterly ragged and tattered: see note on v. 32. p. 100.

v. 346. bones] i. e. dice.

v. 348. by saynte Thomas of Kente] i. e. by saint Thomas a Becket:

The picture of Ryotte in the present passage and in v. 389 sqq. gave birth no doubt to the following lines in a poem called Syrs spare your good;

I quote from Brit. Bibliog. ii. 371, where are extracts from an ed. of the poem printed by Kytson, n. d.: it originally appeared from the press of W. de Worde; see Cens. Liter. i. 55. sec. ed.

v. 349. kyst I wote nere what] i. e. cast I know never (not) what.

v. 350. His here was growen thorowe oute his hat] i. e. His hair, &c. Compare Barclay’s Argument of the first Egloge;

and Heywood’s Dialogue;

Ray gives, “His hair grows through his hood. He is very poor, his hood is full of holes.” Proverbs, p. 57. ed. 1768.

Page 43. v. 351. how he dysgysed was] i. e. what a wretched plight he was in:

v. 352. watchynge ouer nyghte] i. e. over-night’s debauch:

v. 354. ne couer myghte] i. e. might not cover.

v. 355. he wente so all for somer lyghte]—somer, i. e. summer.

Compare;

See too Bale’s Kyng Iohan, p. 34. ed. Camd. Soc.; and our author’s Phyllyp Sparowe, v. 719. vol. i. 73.

v. 356. His hose was garded wyth a lyste of grene] i. e. his breeches were faced, trimmed with, &c. “There was an affectation of smartness in the trimming of his hose.” Warton, note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 348. ed. 4to.

Page 44. v. 359. Of Kyrkeby Kendall was his shorte demye] Kendal, or Kirkby in Kendal, was early famous for the manufacture of cloth of various colours, particularly green. Here the word “Kendall” seems equivalent to—green: so too in Hall’s Chronicle, where we are told that Henry the Eighth, with a party of noblemen, “came sodainly in a mornyng into the Quenes Chambre, all appareled in shorte cotes of Kentishe Kendal ... like outlawes, or Robyn Hodes men.” (Henry viii.) fol. vi. ed. 1548.—demye; i. e., says Warton, note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 348. ed. 4to., “doublet, jacket:” rather, I believe, some sort of close vest,—his “cote” having been mentioned in the preceding line.

v. 360. In fayth, decon thou crewe] The commencement of some song; quoted again by our author in A deuoute trentale for old Iohn Clarke, v. 44. vol. i. 170, and in Why come ye nat to Courte, v. 63. vol. ii. 28.

v. 361. he ware his gere so nye] i. e., I suppose, he wore his clothes so near, so thoroughly. But Warton explains it “his coat-sleeve was so short.” Note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 348. ed. 4to.

v. 363. whynarde] i. e. a sort of hanger, sword.

Page 44. v. 363.

—ony crowche, i. e. any piece of money,—many coins being marked with a cross on one side. “The devil might dance in his purse without meeting with a single sixpence.” Warton, note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 348. ed. 4to. So in Massinger’s Bashful Lover;

v. 365. Counter he coude O lux vpon a potte]—Counter; see note, p. 92:—i. e. he could sing O lux, playing an accompaniment to his voice on a drinking-pot. O lux beata Trinitas was an ancient hymn, “which,” says Hawkins, “seems to have been a very popular melody before the time of King Henry viii.” Hist. of Music, ii. 354. In a comedy by the Duke of Newcastle is a somewhat similar passage: “I danced a Jig, while Tom Brutish whistled and play’d upon the head of a pint pot.” The Humorous Lovers, 1677, act i. sc. 1. p. 5.

v. 366. eestryche fedder] i. e. ostrich-feather.

v. 367. fresshely i. e. smartly.

v. 368. What reuell route] Compare;

—— quod] i. e. quoth.

v. 370. Felyce fetewse]—Felyce, i. e. Phillis: fetewse, i. e. feateous; “Fetyce and prety. Paruiculus. Elegantulus.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499.

v. 371. klycked] i. e. fastened. In Chaucer’s Marchantes Tale, v. 9991. ed. Tyr., “clicket” means a key. Todd (Johnson’s Dict. in v.) cites Cotgrave and Skinner for its having the signification of the ring, knocker, or hammer of a door. Richardson (Dict. in v.) remarks that the word was “applied to any fastening which was accompanied by a clicking, snapping noise.”

v. 372. rebaudrye] i. e. ribaldry.

v. 375. in the deuylles date] An exclamation several times used by Skelton.—In Pierce Plowman, a charter, which is read at the proposed marriage of Mede, is sealed “in the date of the deuil,” sig. C i. ed. 1561.

v. 378. auowe] i. e. vow: see note on v. 199. p. 109.

Page 44. v. 380. done] i. e. do.

v. 382. wake] See note on v. 352. p. 115.

—— none] i. e. noon.

v. 383. mone] i. e. moon.

Page 45. v. 386. Plucke vp thyne herte vpon a mery pyne] “Vpon a mery pynne: De hayt, as Il a le cueur de hayt.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxlvi. (Table of Aduerbes). The expression occurs often in our early poetry; and is found even in one of Wycherley’s comedies.

v. 387. And lete vs laugh a placke or tweyne at nale]—“plucke,” as I have observed ad loc., seems to be the right reading, though the word occurs in the preceding line: compare Thersytes, n. d.

and a song quoted in the note on our author’s Magnyfycence, v. 757;

at nale, (atten ale, at then ale; see Price’s note, Warton’s Hist. of E. P. ii. 501. ed. 1824), i. e. at the ale-house.

v. 389. of dyce a bale] i. e. a pair of dice.

v. 390. A brydelynge caste] An expression which I am unable to explain. It occurs (but applied to drinking) in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Scornful Lady;

—— male] i. e. bag, wallet, pouch.

v. 391. burde] i. e. board.

v. 393. the dosen browne] Is used sometimes to signify thirteen; as in a rare piece entitled A Brown Dozen of Drunkards, &c., 1648. 4to., who are thirteen in number. But in our text “the dosen browne” seems merely to mean the full dozen: so in a tract (Letter from a Spy at Oxford) cited by Grey in his notes on Hudibras, vol. ii. 375; “and this was the twelfth Conquest, which made up the Conqueror’s brown Dozen in Number, compared to the twelve Labours of Hercules.”

v. 394. pas] Seems here to be equivalent to—stake; but I have not found pass used with that meaning in any works on gaming. See The Compleat Gamester, p. 119. ed. 1680.

v. 397. in my pouche a buckell I haue founde] So in our author’s Magnyfycence, after Foly and Fansy have exchanged purses, the latter says

Page 45. v. 398. The armes of Calyce] In our author’s Magnyfycence is the same exclamation;

Whether Calais in France, or Cales (Cadiz) be alluded to, I know not.

—— crosse] See note on v. 363. p. 116.

v. 399. renne] i. e. run.

v. 401. To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte] i. e. To know if Malkin, my mistress, has got aught:—whether Malkin is the diminutive of Mal (Mary) has been disputed.

v. 406. Bordews] i. e. Bordeaux.

v. 408. auenture] i. e. adventure.

v. 411. curtel] i. e. curtal.

v. 412. lege] i. e. allege.

v. 413. haue here is myne hat to plege] Marshe’s ed., as I have noticed ad loc., omits “is:” but compare our author’s Elynour Rummyng;

“Haue. i. take the this torne or thredebare garment.” Palsgrave’s Acolastus, 1540. sig. U ii.

Page 46. v. 414. rybaude] i. e. ribald.

v. 418. kyste] i. e. cast.

v. 420. sadde] i. e. serious, earnest.

v. 423. stede] i. e. place.

v. 425. Me passynge sore myne herte than gan agryse] For the reading of all the eds. “aryse,” I have ventured to substitute “agryse,” i. e. cause to shudder. Compare;

v. 426. I dempte and drede] i. e. I deemed and dreaded.

v. 428. Than in his hode, &c.]—hode, i. e. hood.—This passage is quoted by Warton, who observes, “There is also merit in the delineation of Dissimulation ... and it is not unlike Ariosto’s manner in imagining these allegorical personages.” Hist. of E. P. ii. 349. ed. 4to.

Page 46. v. 431. coost] i. e. coast, approach.

v. 433. I sawe a knyfe hyd in his one sleue]—sleue, i. e. sleeve.—This picture somewhat resembles that of False Semblant;

v. 434. Myscheue] i. e. Mischief.

v. 436. spone] i. e. spoon.

v. 437. to preue a dawe] i. e. to prove, try a simpleton: see note on v. 301. p. 113.—Warton, who gives the other reading, “to preye a dawe,” explains it—to catch a silly bird. Note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 349. ed. 4to.

v. 438. wrete] i. e. writ.

Page 47. v. 440. His hode was syde, his cope was roset graye] i. e. His hood was long (or full), his cope was russet grey.

v. 445. a connynge man ne dwelle maye] i. e. a wise, a learned man may not dwell.

v. 448. that nought can] i. e. that knows nothing.

v. 454. clerke] i. e. scholar.

v. 455. in the deuylles date] See note on v. 375. p. 116.

v. 456. longe] i. e. belong.

v. 457. lewde] i. e. wicked.

v. 460. herte brennynge] i. e. heart-burning.

v. 464. It is a worlde] Equivalent to—It is a matter of wonder.

Page 48. v. 466. A man can not wote where to be come] i. e. A man cannot know whither to go: compare v. 228.

v. 467. I wys] i. e. truly, certainly (i-wis, adv.).

—— home] i. e. hum.

v. 470. frere] i. e. friar.

v. 471. agayne] i. e. against.

v. 476. shall wene be hanged by the throte] i. e. (I suppose) shall think themselves hanged, &c.

v. 477. a stoppynge oyster] Compare Heywood;

v. 477. poke] i. e. pouch.

v. 484. teder] i. e. toder, t’other.

v. 486. dreuyll] See note on v. 337, p. 113.

Page 48. v. 488. on flote] i. e. flowing, full.

v. 490. hode] i. e. hood.

v. 491. but what this is ynowe] i. e. but that this is enough.

Page 49. v. 502. Sterte] i. e. Started.

v. 504. nobles] i. e. the gold coins so called.

v. 508. His hode all pounsed and garded]—hode, i. e. hood: pounsed, i. e. perforated, having small holes stamped or worked in it, by way of ornament—garded, i. e. adorned with gards, facings.

v. 510. quod] i. e. quoth.

v. 513. rounde] i. e. whisper,—or, rather, mutter, for Skelton (Garlande of Laurell, v. 250. vol. i. 372) and other poets make a distinction between whisper and round:

v. 521. hafte] See note on v. 138. p. 108.

v. 522. payne] i. e. difficulty.

Page 50. v. 525. shrewes] i. e. wicked, worthless fellows.

v. 527. confetryd] i. e. confederated.

v. 528. lewde] i. e. vile, rascally.

v. 529. slee] i. e. slay.

v. 530. hente] i. e. seized.

v. 536. Syth] i. e. Since.

PHYLLYP SPAROWE

Must have been written before the end of 1508; for it is mentioned with contempt in the concluding lines of Barclay’s Ship of Fooles, which was finished in that year: see Account of Skelton and his Writings.

The Luctus in morte Passeris of Catullus no doubt suggested the present production to Skelton, who, when he calls on “all maner of byrdes” (v. 387) to join in lamenting Philip Sparow, seems also to have had an eye to Ovid’s elegy In mortem Psittaci, Amor. ii. 6. Another piece of the kind is extant among the compositions of antiquity,—the Psittacus Atedii Melioris of Statius, Silv. ii. 4. In the Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Socraticæ Joco-seriæ, &c., of Dornavius, i. 460 sqq. may be found various Latin poems on the deaths, &c. of sparrows by writers posterior to the time of Skelton. See too Herrick’s lines Upon the death of his Sparrow, an Elegie, Hesperides, 1648. p. 117; and the verses entitled Phyllis on the death of her Sparrow, attributed to Drummond, Works, 1711. p. 50.

“Old Skelton’s ‘Philip Sparrow,’ an exquisite and original poem.” Coleridge’s Remains, ii. 163.

Page 51. v. 1. Pla ce bo, &c.] Skelton is not the only writer that has taken liberties with the Romish service-book. In Chaucer’s Court of Loue, parts of it are sung by various birds; Domine, labia by the nightingale, Venite by the eagle, &c., Workes, fol. 333. ed. 1602: in a short poem by Lydgate “dyuerse foules” are introduced singing different hymns. MS. Harl. 2251. fol. 37: and see too a poem (attributed, without any authority, to Skelton) called Armony of Byrdes, n. d., reprinted (inaccurately) in Typog. Antiq. iv. 380. ed. Dibdin; and Sir D. Lyndsay’s Complaynt of the Papingo, Works, i. 325. ed. Chalmers. In Reynard the Fox we are told that at the burial of “coppe, chanteklers doughter,”—“Tho begonne they placebo domino, with the verses that to longen,” &c. Sig. a 8. ed. 1481. Compare also the mock Requiem printed (somewhat incorrectly) from MS. Cott. Vesp. B. 16. in Ritson’s Antient Songs, i. 118. ed. 1829; Dunbar’s Dirige to the King at Stirling, Poems, i. 86. ed. Laing; and the following lines of a rare tract entitled A Commemoration or Dirige of Boner, &c., by Lemeke Auale, 1569,—

Other pieces of the kind might be pointed out.

v. 6. Wherfore and why, why?] So in the Enterlude of Kyng Daryus, 1565;

v. 7. Philip Sparowe] Philip, or Phip, was a familiar name given to a sparrow from its note being supposed to resemble that sound.

v. 8. Carowe] Was a nunnery in the suburbs of Norwich. “Here [at Norwich],” says Tanner, “was an ancient hospital or nunnery dedicated to St. Mary and St. John; to which K. Stephen having given lands and meadows without the south gate, Seyna and Leftelina two of the sisters, A.D. 1146, began the foundation of a new monastery called Kairo, Carow, or Carhou, which was dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary, and consisted of a prioress and nine Benedictine nuns.” Not. Mon. p. 347. ed. 1744. In 1273, Pope Gregory the Tenth inhibited the Prioress and convent from receiving more nuns than their income would maintain, upon their representation that the English nobility, whom they could not resist, had obliged them to take in so many sisters that they were unable to support them. At the Dissolution the number of nuns was twelve. The site of the nunnery, within the walls, contained about ten acres. It was granted, with its chief revenues, in the 30th Henry viii. to Sir John Shelton, knight, who fitted up the parlour and hall, which were noble rooms, when he came to reside there, not long after the Dissolution. It continued in the Shelton family for several generations.

This nunnery was during many ages a place of education for the young ladies of the chief families in the diocese of Norwich, who boarded with and were taught by the nuns. The fair Jane or Johanna Scroupe of the present poem was, perhaps, a boarder at Carow.

See more concerning Carow in Dugdale’s Monast. (new ed.) iv. 68 sqq., and Blomefield’s Hist. of Norfolk, ii. 862 sqq. ed. fol.

Page 51. v. 9. Nones Blake] i. e. Black Nuns,—Benedictines.

v. 12. bederolles] i. e. lists of those to be prayed for.

Page 52. v. 24. The tearys downe hayled] So Hawes;

v. 27. Gyb our cat] Gib, a contraction of Gilbert, was a name formerly given to a male cat:

In Gammer Gurtons Nedle, 1575, “Gib our cat” is a person of consequence. Shakespeare (Henry iv. Part First, act i. sc. 2.) has the expression “gib cat;” and how his commentators have written “about it and about it” most readers are probably aware.

v. 29. Worrowyd her on that] So Dunbar;

v. 34. stounde] i. e. moment, time.

v. 35. sounde] i. e. swoon.

v. 37. Vnneth I kest myne eyes] i. e. Scarcely, not without difficulty, I cast, &c.

v. 42. Haue rewed] i. e. Have had compassion.

Page 52. v. 46. senaws] i. e. sinews.

Page 53. v. 58. frete] i. e. eat, gnaw.

v. 69. marees] i. e. waters.

v. 70. Acherontes well] i. e. Acheron’s well. So,—after the fashion of our early poets,—Skelton writes Zenophontes for Xenophon, Eneidos for Eneis, Achilliedos for Achilleis, &c.

v. 75. blo] i. e. livid: see note, p. 103. v. 3.

v. 76. mare] i. e. hag.—“Mare or witche.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499.

v. 77. fende] i. e. fiend.

v. 78. edders] i. e. adders.

v. 82. sowre] In Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530, is “Sower of smellyng,” fol. xcvi. (Table of Adiect.),—a sense of the word which Skelton has elsewhere (third poem Against Garnesche, v. 146. vol. i. 124), and which therefore probably applies to the present passage. But qy. does “sowre” signify here—foul? “Sowre filthe. Fimus. Cenum. Lutum.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. “Sowry or defiled in soure or filth,” &c. Id.

v. 87. outraye] “I Outray a persone (Lydgate) I do some outrage or extreme hurt to hym. Ie oultrage.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cccxi. (Table of Verbes).