where Sir F. Madden explains it “injure, destroy.”—In our text, “outraye” is equivalent to—vanquish, overcome; and so in the following passages;

(Richardson, in his valuable Dictionary, v. Out-rage, &c., says that, in the stanza just cited, outray “is evidently—to exceed, to excel;” but the last line of the stanza, together with the present passage of Phyllyp Sparowe, and the annexed quotations from Lydgate, shew that he is mistaken.)

Page 54. v. 98. Zenophontes] i. e. Xenophon: see note on v. 70, preceding page.

v. 107. thought] See notes, p. 101. v. 10. p. 104. last line.

v. 114. go] i. e. gone.

v. 115. fole] i. e. fool.

v. 116. stole] i. e. stool.

v. 117. scole] i. e. school, instruction.

v. 118.

Compare Gascoigne in a little poem entitled The praise of Philip Sparrow;

Sir Philip Sidney in a sonnet;

Brome in The Northern Lasse, 1632;

and in The New Academy; “But look how she turnes and keeps cut like my Sparrow. She will be my back Sweet-heart still I see, and love me behind.” Act iv. sc. 1. p. 72. (Five New Playes, 1659).

Page 55. v. 125.

So Catullus, in the beginning of his verses Ad Passerem Lesbiæ, (a distinct poem from that mentioned at p. 120);

v. 127. It was propre and prest] Compare v. 264, “As prety and as prest,” where “prety” answers to “propre” in the present line. “Proper or feate. coint, godin, gentil, mignot.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr. 1530. fol. xciii. (Table of Adiect.):—prest, which generally means—ready, seems here to be nearly synonymous with propre; and so in a passage of Tusser,—“more handsome, and prest,”—cited by Todd (Johnson’s Dict. in v.), who explains it “neat, tight.”

v. 137. gressop] i. e. grasshopper.—“Cicada ... anglice a gresse hoppe.” Ortus Vocab., fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.

v. 138. Phyp, Phyp] See note on v. 7. p. 121.

v. 141. slo] i. e. slay.

v. 147. dome] i. e. judgment, thinking.

v. 148. Sulpicia] Lived in the age of Domitian. Her satire De corrupto statu reipub. temporibus Domitiani, præsertim cum edicto Philosophos urbe exegisset, may be found in Wernsdorf’s ed. of Poetæ Latini Minores, iii. 83.

v. 151. pas] i. e. pass, excel.

v. 154. pretende] i. e. attempt.

Page 56. v. 171. perde] i. e. par dieu, verily.

v. 173. nyse] i. e. foolish, inclined to folly, to toyish tricks: compare our author’s Manerly Margery, &c., v. 2. vol. i. 28.

v. 176. To pyke my lytell too]—too, i. e. toe.—In a comedy (already mentioned, p. 93. v. 15), The longer thou liuest, the more foole thou art, &c., n. d., by W. Wager, Moros sings

v. 186. ryde and go] A sort of pleonastic expression which repeatedly occurs in our early writers.

Page 57. v. 192. Pargame] i. e. Pergamus.

v. 198. wete] i. e. know.

v. 205. be quycke] i. e. be made alive.

Page 57. v. 211. the nones] i. e. the occasion.

v. 213. My sparow whyte as mylke] Compare Sir P. Sidney;

and Drayton;

v. 216. importe] i. e. impart.

v. 218. solas] i. e. amusement.

Page 58. v. 227. hear] i. e. hair.

v. 230. kest] i. e. cast.

v. 242. bederoule] See note on v. 12. p. 122.

v. 244. Cam, and Sem] i. e. Ham, and Shem.

v. 247. the hylles of Armony]—Armony, i. e. Armenia.—So in Processus Noe;

See also Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, B. i. leaf iiii. ed. Wayland, and Heywood’s Foure P. P., sig. A i. ed. n. d.

v. 248.

The reading of Kele’s ed., “bordes,” (as I have already observed ad loc.) is perhaps the true one;—(compare Pierce Plowman;

and qy. did Skelton write,—

v. 253. it hyght] i. e. it is called.

Page 59. v. 264. prest] See note on v. 127, preceding page.

v. 272. hardely] i. e. assuredly.

v. 273. vengeaunce I aske and crye] Compare Magnus Herodes;

v. 281. Carowe] See note on v. 8. p. 121.

v. 282. carlyshe kynde] i. e. churlish nature.

v. 283. fynde] i. e. fiend.

Page 59. v. 284. vntwynde] i. e. tore to pieces, destroyed: so again in our author’s Garlande of Laurell;

Page 60. v. 290. Lybany] i. e. Libya.

v. 294. mantycors] “Another maner of bestes ther is in ynde that ben callyd manticora, and hath visage of a man, and thre huge grete teeth in his throte, he hath eyen lyke a ghoot and body of a lyon, tayll of a Scorpyon and voys of a serpente in suche wyse that by his swete songe he draweth to hym the peple and deuoureth them And is more delyuerer to goo than is a fowle to flee.” Caxton’s Mirrour of the world, 1480. sig. e vii. See also R. Holme’s Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. ii. p. 212.—This fabulous account is derived from Pliny.

v. 296. Melanchates, that hounde, &c.] See the story of Actæon in Ovid’s Metam.;

v. 305.

—bote, i. e. bit.—So in Syr Tryamoure;

v. 307. grypes] i. e. griffins.

v. 311. The wylde wolfe Lycaon] See Ovid’s Metam. i. 163 sqq. for an account of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, being transformed into a wolf. I ought to add, that he figures in a work well known to the readers of Skelton’s time—The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy.

v. 313. brennynge] i. e. burning.

Page 61. v. 325. gentle of corage]—corage, i. e. heart, mind, disposition. So in our author’s Magnyfycence; “Be gentyll then of corage.” v. 2511. vol. i. 308.

v. 329. departed] i. e. parted. So in our old marriage-service; “till death us depart.”

v. 336. rew] i. e. have compassion.

v. 345.

“Cluniculum, an hole or a spayre of a womans smoke.” Ortus Vocab. fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. (In ed. 1514 of that work—“spayre of a womans kyrtell”). “Sparre of a gowne fente de la robe.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxvi. (Table of Subst.). “That parte of weemens claiths, sik as of their gowne or petticot, quhilk vnder the belt and before is open, commonly is called the spare.” Skene, quoted by Jamieson, Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v. Spare.——“Lacinia ... anglice a heme of clothe or a gore.” Ortus. Vocab. fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d. (ed. 1514 of that work adds “or a trayne”). “Goore of a smocke poynte de chemise.” Palsgrave, ubi supra, fol. xxxvii. (Table of Subst.). Jamieson (ubi supra), in v. Gair, says it was “a stripe or triangular piece of cloth, inserted at the bottom, on each side of a shift or of a robe,”—a description which agrees with that of R. Holme, Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. iii. p. 95.

Page 61. v. 351. myne hert it sleth]—sleth, i. e. slayeth.—So Chaucer;

Page 62. v. 360. Phyppes] See note on v. 7. p. 121.

v. 361. kusse] i. e. kiss.

v. 362. musse] i. e. muzzle,—mouth.

v. 366. this] i. e. thus: see note, p. 86. v. 38.

v. 375. Gyb] See note on v. 27. p. 122.

v. 383. bederolle] See note on v. 12. p. 122.

Page 63. v. 387.

—loke, i. e. look. Compare Ovid (see note on title of this poem, p. 120);

v. 396. ianglynge] i. e. babbling, chattering—an epithet generally applied to the jay by our old poets.

v. 397. fleckyd] i. e. spotted, variegated.

v. 403. the red sparow] i. e. the reed-sparrow.

“The Red Sparrow, or Reed Sparrow.” R. Holme’s Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. ii. p. 246.

Page 63. v. 406. to] i. e. toe.

v. 407. The spynke] i. e. The chaffinch. In the Countrie Farme, the “spinke” is frequently mentioned (see pp. 886, 890, 891, 898, 900. ed. 1600); and in the French work by Estienne and Liebault, from which it is translated, the corresponding word is “pinçon:” in Cotgrave’s Dict. is “Pinson. A Spink, Chaffinch, or Sheldaple;” and in Moor’s Suffolk Words, “Spinx. The chaffinch.” R. Niccolls, in a poem which contains several pretty passages, has

v. 409. The doterell, that folyshe pek] The dotterel is said to allow itself to be caught, while it imitates the gestures of the fowler: pek, or peke, seems here to be used by Skelton in the sense of—contemptible fellow; so in his Collyn Cloute;

In Hormanni Vulgaria we find: “He is shamefast but not pekysshe. Verecundus est sine ignauia.” sig. N i. ed. 1530.—And see Todd’s Johnson’s Dict., and Richardson’s Dict. in v. Peak.

v. 411. toote] i. e. pry, peep, search.

v. 412. the snyte] i. e. the snipe.

v. 415. His playne songe to solfe] See note, p. 95, v. 48: solfe, i. e. solfa.

v. 418.

—woodhacke, i. e. woodpecker. “Wodehac or nothac byrde. Picus.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499: mur, i. e. a severe cold with hoarseness. Compare Lydgate;

v. 420. lusty] i. e. pleasant.

v. 421. The popyngay] i. e. The parrot.

Page 64. v. 422. toteth] Or tooteth; see note on v. 411.

v. 424. The mauys] Is properly the song-thrush, as distinguished from the missel-thrush: see note on v. 460, p. 131.

v. 425. the pystell] i. e. the Epistle.

v. 426. a large and a longe] See note, p. 95. v. 49.

Page 64. v. 427.

See note, p. 95. v. 48. So Shakespeare mentions “the plain-song cuckoo gray.” Mids. Night’s Dream, act iii. sc. 1.

v. 430. puwyt the lapwyng] In some parts of England, the lapwing is called pewit from its peculiar cry.

v. 432. The bitter with his bumpe] “The Bitter, or Bitterne, Bumpeth, when he puts his Bill in the reeds.” R. Holme’s Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. ii. p. 310.

v. 434. Menander] Means here Mæander: but I have not altered the text; because our early poets took great liberties with classical names; because all the eds. of Skelton’s Speke, Parrot, have

and because the following passage occurs in a poem by some imitator of Skelton, which is appended to the present edition;

v. 437. wake] i. e. watching of the dead body during the night.

v. 441. He shall syng the grayle]—grayle, says Warton (correcting an explanation he had formerly given), signifies here “Graduale, or the Responsorium, or Antiphonarium, in the Romish service.... He shall sing that part of the service which is called the Grayle, or graduale.” Obs. on the F. Queen, ii. 244. ed. 1762. See too Du Cange in v. Gradale, and Roquefort in v. Gréel.

v. 442. The owle, that is so foule]—foule, i. e. ugly. The Houlate, (in the poem so called, by Holland), says,

v. 444. gaunce] i. e. gaunt.

v. 445. the cormoraunce] i. e. the cormorant.

v. 447. the gaglynge gaunte] In Prompt. Parv. is “Gant birde. Bistarda.” ed. 1499. Palsgrave gives “Gant byrde,” without a corresponding French term. Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xxxv. (Table of Subst.). Our author in his Elynour Rummyng has—

where gant is plainly used for gander. In the present passage, however, gaunte must have a different signification (“The gose and the gander” being mentioned v. 435), and means, I apprehend,—wild-goose: Du Cange has “Gantæ, Anseres silvestres,” &c.; and see Roquefort in v. Gans. But Nares, MS. note on Skelton, explains gaunte—gannet.

Page 64. v. 449. The route and the kowgh] The Rev. J. Mitford suggests that the right reading is “The knout and the rowgh,”—i. e. the knot and the ruff.

v. 450. The barnacle] i. e. The goose-barnacle,—concerning the production of which the most absurd fables were told and credited: some asserted that it was originally the shell-fish called barnacle, others that it grew on trees, &c.

v. 451. the wilde mallarde] i. e. the wild-drake.

Page 65. v. 452. The dyuendop] i. e. The dabchick or didapper.

v. 454. The puffin] A water-fowl with a singular bill.

v. 455. Money they shall dele, &c.] According to the ancient custom at funerals.

v. 458. the tytmose] i. e. the titmouse.

v. 460. The threstyl] Or throstle, is properly the missel-thrush: see note on v. 424. p. 129.

v. 461. brablyng] i. e. clamour, noise—properly, quarrel, squabble.

v. 462. The roke] i. e. The rook.

—fraye, i. e. fright. It was said that when the osprey, which feeds on fish, hovered over the water, they became fascinated and turned up their bellies.

v. 464. denty] i. e. dainty.

v. 468. The countrynge of the coe]—countrynge; see note, p. 92: coe, i. e. jack-daw; “Coo birde. Monedula. Nodula.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499.

v. 469.

The stork breeds in chimney-tops, and was fabled to forsake the place, if the man or wife of the house committed adultery. The following lines of Lydgate will illustrate the rest of the passage:

Page 65. v. 478.

—estryge, i. e. ostrich: horshowe, i. e. horse-shoe.—In Struthiocamelus, a portion of that strange book Philomythie, &c., by Tho. Scot., 1616, a merchant seeing an ostrich, in the desert, eating iron, asks—

v. 482. freat] i. e. gnaw, devour.

Page 66. v. 485. at a brayde] Has occurred before in our author’s Bowge of Courte; see note, p. 109. v. 181; but here it seems to have a somewhat different meaning, and to signify—at an effort, at a push. “At a brayde, Faysant mon effort, ton effort, son effort, &c.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxxxviii. (Table of Aduerbes). “I Abrayde, I inforce me to do a thynge.” ... “I Breyde I make a brayde to do a thing sodaynly.” Id. fols. cxxxvi. clxxii. (Table of Verbes).

v. 487. To solfe aboue ela]—solfe, i. e. solfa: ela, i. e. the highest note in the scale of music.

v. 488. lorell] i. e. good-for-nothing fellow (see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales): used here as a sportive term of reproach.

v. 491.

“Sit campanista, qui non vult esse sophista, Let him bee a bellringer, that will bee no good Singer.” Withals’s Dict. p. 178. ed. 1634.

Page 66. v. 495.

So Chaucer;

See also Lydgate’s Warres of Troy, B. i. sig. D v. ed. 1555; and his copy of verses (entitled in the Catalogue Advices for people to keep a guard over their tongues), MS. Harl. 2255. fol. 132.

v. 499. cought] i. e. caught: compare the first of our author’s Balettys, v. 19. vol. i. 22.

v. 500. tought] i. e. taught. “Musyke hath me tought.” Hawes’s Pastime of pleasure, sig. G iiii. ed. 1555.

v. 501. Albumazer] A famous Arabian, of the ninth century.

v. 503.

The celebrated Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian: “Il fleurit vers l’an 125 et jusqu’à l’an 139 de l’ère vulgaire.” Biog. Univ.—In The Shepherds Kalendar (a work popular in the days of Skelton) a chapter is entitled “To know the fortunes and destinies of man born under the xii signs, after Ptolomie, prince of astronomy [i. e. astrology].” “Astronomy, and Astronomer, is the Art of, and the foreteller of things done and past, and what shall happen to any person, &c.” R. Holme’s Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. ii. p. 438.

v. 505. Haly] Another famous Arabian: “claruit circa A. C. 1100.” Fabr. Bibl. Gr. xiii. 17.

v. 507. tydes] i. e. times, seasons.

v. 509. Partlot his hen] So in Chaucer’s Nonnes Preestes Tale; Lydgate’s copy of verses (entitled in the Catalogue Advices for people to keep a guard over their tongues), MS. Harl. 2255. fol. 132; and G. Douglas’s Prol. to the xii Booke of his Eneados, p. 401. l. 54. ed. Ruddiman, who conjectures that the name was applied to a hen in reference to the ruff (the partlet), or ring of feathers about her neck.

Page 67. v. 522. thurifycation] i. e. burning incense.

Page 67. v. 524. reflary] As I have already noticed, should probably be “reflayre,”—i. e. odour. See Roquefort’s Gloss. de la Lang. Rom. in v. Flareur, and Suppl. in v. Fleror; and Cotgrave’s Dict. in v. Reflairer. In The Garlande of Laurell our author calls a lady “reflaring rosabell.” v. 977. vol. i. 401.

v. 525. eyre] i. e. air, scent.

See too The Pistill of Susan, st. viii.—Laing’s Early Pop. Poetry of Scot.

v. 534. bemole] i. e. in B molle, soft or flat. So in the last stanza of a poem by W. Cornishe, printed in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568;

v. 536.

See Historia Naturalis, lib. x. sect. 2.

v. 540. incyneracyon] i. e. burning to ashes.

v. 545. corage] i. e. heart,—feelings.

Page 68. v. 552. the sedeane] Does it mean subdean, or subdeacon?

v. 553. The quere to demeane] i. e. to conduct, direct the choir.

v. 555. ordynall] i. e. ritual.

v. 556. the noble fawcon] “There are seuen kinds of Falcons, and among them all for her noblenesse and hardy courage, and withal the francknes of her mettell, I may, and doe meane to place the Falcon gentle in chiefe,” Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 25. ed. 1611.

v. 557. the gerfawcon] “Is a gallant Hawke to behold, more huge then any other kinde of Falcon, &c.” Id. p. 42.

v. 558. The tarsell gentyll] Is properly the male of the gosshawk; but Skelton probably did not use the term in its exact meaning, for in the fifth line after this he mentions “the goshauke.” It is commonly said (see Steevens’s note on Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 2.) to be called tiercel because it is a tierce or third less than the female. But, according to Turbervile, “he is termed a Tyercelet, for that there are most commonly disclosed three birds in one selfe eyree, two Hawkes and one Tiercell.” Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 59. ed. 1611.

v. 560. amysse] i. e. amice—properly the first of the six vestments common to the bishop and presbyters. “Fyrst do on the amys, than the albe, than the gyrdell, than the manyple, than the stoole, than the chesyble.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. E iiii. ed. 1530.

Page 68. v. 561. The sacre] A hawk “much like the Falcon Gentle for largenesse, and the Haggart for hardines.” Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 45. ed. 1611.

v. 563. role] i. e. roll.

v. 565. The lanners] “They are more blancke Hawkes then any other, they haue lesse beakes then the rest, and are lesse armed and pounced then other Falcons be.” Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 47. ed. 1611.

—— the marlyons] Or merlins,—the smallest of the hawks used by falconers.

v. 566. morning gounes] i. e. mourning-gowns.

v. 567. The hobby] “Of all birdes of prey that belong to the Falconers vse, I know none lesse then the Hobby, unles it be the Merlyn.” Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 53. ed. 1611.

—— the muskette] i. e. the male sparrow-hawk. “You must note, that all these kind of hawkes haue their male birdes and cockes of euerie sort and gender, as the Eagle his Earne ... and the Sparrow-hawke his Musket.” Id. p. 3. “The male sparrow hawke is called a musket.” The Countrie Farme, p. 877. ed. 1600.

v. 568. sensers] i. e. censers.

—— fet] i. e. fetch.

v. 569. The kestrell] A sort of base-bred hawk.

—— warke] i. e. work, business.

v. 570. holy water clarke] See note, p. 94. v. 21.

Page 69. v. 590. And wrapt in a maidenes smocke] Spenser seems to have recollected this passage: he says, that when Cupid was stung by a bee, Venus

See a little poem in his Works, viii. 185. ed. Todd.

v. 595. Lenger] i. e. Longer.

v. 600.

So in a poem (attributed, on no authority, to Skelton) entitled Armony of Byrdes, n. d., and reprinted entire in Typogr. Antiq. iv. 380. ed. Dibdin;

Wilbraham, in his Cheshire Gloss., p. 105, gives the following metrical adage as common in that county;

In the Ballad of Kynd Kittok, attributed to Dunbar, we are told that after death she “wes our Ledyis henwyfe,” Poems, ii. 36. ed. Laing.—An Elysium, very different from that described in the somewhat profane passage of our text, is assigned by the delicate fancy of Ovid to the parrot of his mistress, in the poem to which (as I have before observed, p. 120,) Skelton seems to have had an eye;

Page 69. v. 609. asayde] i. e. tried—tasted: compare our author’s Elynour Rummyng, v. 397. vol. i. 108.

v. 610. Elyconys] i. e. Helicon’s.

Page 70. v. 616.