John Skelton

“ Chaucer, in The Freres Tale, says,
“This Sompnour, waiting ever on his pray,
Rode forth to sompne a widewe, an olde ribibe.”
v. 6958. ed. Tyrwhitt,— who says he cannot guess how this musical instrument came to be put for an old woman, “unless perhaps from its shrillness.” The word so applied occurs also in Jonson’s Devil is an Ass, act i. sc. 1, where Gifford observes, “Ribibe, together with its synonym rebeck, is merely a cant expression for an old woman. A ribibe, the reader knows, is a rude kind of fiddle, and the allusion is probably to the inharmonious nature of its sounds.” Works, v. 8. ”

“ The old ed. is a quarto, n. d. Above these words, on the title-page, is a woodcut, exhibiting the author (with a falcon on his hand) kneeling and presenting his work to the king. On the reverse of the last leaf is Pynson’s device.
If not really written by Smert (or Smart) , the duke’s falconer, (see stanza 3, and the subscription at the conclusion, “Smert, maister de ses ouzeaus”) this curious poem was not, at all events, as the style decidedly proves, the composition of Skelton, to whom it was first attributed by Bishop Tanner. ”

“ The collection of deeds in which the Scottish nobility and gentry were compelled to subscribe allegiance to Edward I. of England in 1296, and which were more particularly recorded in four large rolls of parchment, &c., was known by the name of Ragman’s Roll: but what has been written on the origin of this expression appears to be so unsatisfactory that I shall merely refer the reader to Cowel’s Law Dictionary, &c., ed. 1727, in v., Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v., Nares’s Gloss. in v., Gloss. to The Towneley Myst. in v., and Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. in v. Rigmarole. ”

“ In some copies of Chaucer’s Troilus and Creseide, B. iii. 350, is “reheting;” of which, says Tyrwhitt (Gloss. to Cant. Tales) , “I can make no sense.” In G. Douglas’s Virgil’s Æneidos, B. xiii. p. 467. l. 53. ed. Rudd., and in the Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy, Dunbar’s Poems, ii. 74, 80. ed. Laing, is “rehatoure,” which has been referred to the French rehair: and perhaps rehayted in our text is—re-hated (Skelton afterwards in this piece, v. 2458, has the uncommon word inhateth) . ”

“ At long tennis, it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.’ Douce’s Illust. of Shakespeare, i. 485.”
In “Additional Notes and Corrections” to his ed. of Shakespeare (vol. i. cclxxxvii.) Mr. Collier observes: “Douce in his ‘Illustrations,’ from not understanding the game of tennis, is mistaken in his definition of a ‘chase:’ a ‘chase’ is not ‘the spot where a ball falls,’ but the duration of a contest in which the players hunt or ‘chase’ the ball, bandying it from one to the other. For the same reason, probably, the Rev. A. Dyce in his Skelton’s Works, vol. ii. p. ”

“ 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—
“In came another dant,
Wyth a gose and a gant.”
v. 515. vol. i. 111; where gant is plainly used for gander. In the present passage, however, gaunte must have a different signification (“The gose and [131] 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. ”

“ This somewhat pleonastic expression (used again more than once by Skelton) is not uncommon in our old writers: “Allas my swete sones thenne she sayd, for your sakes I shalle lese my lykynge and lust.” Morte d’Arthur, B. xi. c. x. vol. ii. 174. ed. Southey. Nay, in the interlude of The Worlde and the Chylde, 1522, one of the characters bears the name of Lust and Lykynge. ”

“ Rom.—In Scottish poetry custroun occurs several times: see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. and Suppl., where are various conjectures on the derivation and meaning of the word.
In Prompt. Parv. we find “Cowntryn in songe. Occento.” ed. 1499. To counter is properly—to sing an extemporaneous part upon the plain chant. Skelton uses the word in other places, and perhaps not always in its strict sense. ”

“ The usual explanations of paltock (“Paltok. Baltheus,” Prompt. Parv.; “a short garment of the doublet kind,” Strutt’s Dress and Habits, &c. ii. 352) do not seem to suit the present passage. In Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lii. (Table of Subst.) we find “Paltocke a patche palleteau;” and see what immediately follows in this poem: Thow, i. e. Though: chek mate; see note, p. 96. v. 29.
Compare The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy (see note, p. 177. v. 4) ”

“ The duke married Katherine, daughter of Richard Wydevile Earl Rivers, and widow of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham. He died 21st Dec. 1495, and, according to his own desire, expressed in his will, was buried in the abbey of Keynsham, where he founded a chantry for four priests to sing mass for the souls of his father, his mother, and his elder brother Edmond Earl of Richmond. He left no children except a natural daughter. See Sandford’s Geneal. Hist. p. 292. ed. 1707.
[399]
ELEGY ON KING HENRY THE SEVENTH. [277]
... ”

“ Charlemagne, we are told, made peace with Reynawde on condition that he should go as a pilgrim, poorly clothed and begging his bread, to the holy land, and that he should deliver up Bayard to him. When Charlemagne had got possession of the horse,—“Ha Bayarde, bayarde,” said he, “thou hast often angred me, but I am come to the poynt, god gramercy, for to auenge me;” and accordingly [140] he caused Bayarde to be thrown from a bridge into the river Meuse, with a great millstone fastened to his neck. ”

“ My proper Parrot, my lyttyl prety foole;
With ladyes I lerne, and go with them to scole.
Psittacus a vobis aliorum nomina disco: Hoc per me didici dicere, [11] Cæsar, ave.
Hagh, ha, ha, Parrot, ye can laugh pretyly!
Parrot hath not dyned of al this [12] long day:
Lyke your [13] pus cate, Parrot can mute and cry
In Lattyn, in Ebrew, Araby, and Caldey; [14]
In Greke tong Parrot can bothe speke and say,
As Percyus, that poet, doth reporte of me,
Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaire? 30 [3]
Docibilem se pandit in omni idiomate. ”

“ Gifford observes that “literally, to hatch is to inlay [originally, I believe, to cut, engrave, mark with lines] ; metaphorically, it is to adorn, to beautify, with silver, gold, &c.” Note on Shirley’s Works, ii. 301. “The ladies apparell was after the fashion of Inde, with kerchifes of pleasance, hatched with fine gold.” Holinshed’s Chron. (Hen. viii.) vol. iii. 849. ed. 1587. “Hatching, is to Silver or gild the Hilt and Pomell of a Sword or Hanger.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Warton appears to limit the signification of this word in old poetry to “an herbary for furnishing domestic medicines,” which, says he, “always made a part of our ancient gardens;” note on Hist. of E. P. ii. 231. ed. 4to. But Jamieson observes, that it would seem to be used for arbour by James I., Kings Quair, ii. 12, 13., and in the romance of Sir Egeir, v. 356. Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. (in v. Herbere) . See also The Flower and the Leaf, and The Complaint of the Black Knight, by Chaucer. ”

“ Jonson’s Masque, The Gipsies Metamorphosed,—Workes, vii. 371. ed. Gifford, who thus comments on the passage in his authoritative style: “i. e. pined away, instead of thriving. Whalley appears to have puzzled himself sorely in this page, about a matter of very little difficulty. In every large breed of domestic fowls, there is usually a miserable little stunted creature, that forms a perfect contrast to the growth and vivacity of the rest. This unfortunate abortive, the goodwives, with whom it is an object of tenderness, call a wrethcock; and this [174] is all the mystery. ”

“ Whatever Skelton may have meant by “chatyng,”— (perhaps he uses it for chatting,—in the next line we have “pratyng”) ,—rechatyng is properly a hunting-term, and signifies sounding the rechate or recheat (Fr.) , a certain set of notes blown with the horn to recal the dogs. ”

“ The wife of Thomas Lord Dacre, was daughter of Sir Humphrey Bourchier, son of John Lord Berners and of Elizabeth Tylney, who (see note on v. 399) afterwards became the first wife of the second Duke of Norfolk. ”

“ The probability is, that the present poem was really composed at Sheriff-Hutton Castle, which (as already noticed, p. 300) had been granted by the king to the Duke of Norfolk for life, and that the Countess was residing there on a visit to her father-in-law.
The Garlande of Laurell was written, I apprehend, about 1520, or perhaps a little later: in v. 1192 Skelton mentions his Magnyfycence, which was certainly produced after 1515,—see note on title of that piece, p. 236. ”

“ For Parot is no churlish chowgh, nor no flekyd pye,
Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng, 210
Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly,
Parrot is no stameryng stare, that men call a starlyng ”

“ Skelton borrowed this line from Lydgate, whose Lyf of our Lady begins
“O thoughtful herte plungyd in distresse.” In the Bibl. Poet. p. 82, Ritson gives these words as the commencement of a poem by Lydgate, Cott. Ap. viii., not knowing that this reference is to a MS. of the Lyf of our Lady.—Thoughtfull is anxious, heavy, sad.
“For thought and woe pyteously wepynge.”
Lydgate’s Warres of Troy, B. iv. sig. T v. ed. 1555. ”

“ A proverbial expression, which occurs in Chaucer’s Manciples Prol. v. 16954. ed. Tyrwhitt (who conjectured that Dun was a nickname given to the ass from his colour) , and is common in writers long after the time of Skelton. Gifford was the first to shew that the allusion is to a Christmas gambol, in which Dun (the cart-horse) is supposed to be stuck in the mire; see his note on Jonson’s Works, vii. ”

“ Is a distemper in which a whitish foam gathers in wrinkles (frounces) about the hawk’s mouth and palate. “The Frounce proceedeth of moist and cold humours, which descend from the hawkes head to their palate and the roote of the tongue. And of that cold is engendred in the tongue the Frownce,” &c. Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 303. ed. ”

“ VILITISSIMUS SCOTUS DUNDAS, &c.
“Georgius Dundas, Græce Latineque doctissimus habitus, Equitum Hierosolymitanorum intra Regnum Scotiæ præfectus, sed prius Aberdoniæ Professor. Scripsit diligenter, et laboriose. Historiam Equitum Hierosolymitanorum, lib. ii. Claruit anno MDXX.” Dempsteri Hist. Eccles. Gentis Scotorum, &c. 1627, p. 234. This George Dundas was, I apprehend, the person who excited the wrath of Skelton. ”

“ Upon Mondaye last as he walked in the parke at Hampton Court, I besought his Grace I might knowe if he wolde command me anye servyce. He was not content with me that I spoke to hym. So that who shall be a Suitour to him may have no other busynesse but give attendance upon his plesure. He that shall so doe, it is needfull shuld be a wyser man then I am. I sawe no remedy, but came without Answere, except I wolde have done as my Lord Dacre’s Servaunt doth, who came with Letters for the Kynges servyce five moneths since and yet hath no Answere. ”

“ The original meaning of the word is altogether uncertain. Steevens (note on Gammer Gurtons Nedle) explains it—hodmandod (shell-snail) ; and Nares (Gloss. in v.) is inclined to agree with him. In a passage of Dunbar’s Dance of the Sevin Deidly Synnis (Poems, i. 51. ed. Laing) , “hud-pykis” has been explained (on account of the context) —misers. In Cotgrave’s Dict. is “Noddy peke.” ”

“ Brydges. That he found himself obliged to pay great deference to the Cardinal, is evident from Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey, where (pp. 120-128. ed. 1827) see the account of his being summoned from the north, &c. when his son Lord Percy, (who was then, according to the custom of the age, a “servitor” in Wolsey’s house) had become enamoured of Anne Boleyn. This nobleman, who encouraged literature, and appears to have patronised our poet (see Account of Skelton, &c.) ”

“ 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;
“Of suche Pater-noster pekes
All the worlde spekes.”
v. 264. vol. i. 321. 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. ”

“ The son of my father shall presse thither to day, whither you shall not dare to approach his horse taile. Some will have the English so called from wearing a pouch or poake, (a bag to carry their baggage in) behind their backs, whilest probably the proud Monsieurs had their Lacquies for that purpose. ”

“ A term found again in our author’s first poem Against Garnesche;
“Your wynde schakyn shankkes, your longe lothy legges
...
Bryngges yow out of fauyr with alle femall teggys.”
v. 29. vol. i. 117. In what sense Skelton uses tegge, I cannot pretend to determine. In Warwickshire and Leicestershire, a teg means a sheep of a year old; and Ray gives, “A Tagge, a Sheep of the first Year, Suss.” Coll. of Words, &c., p. 88, appended to Proverbs, ed. 1768.
v. 152. Lyke rotten egges] Lydgate in a satirical description of a lady has—
“Colowryd lyche a rotyn eey [i. e. egg] .” ”

“ 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. ”

“ Lang.—In our author’s third poem Against Garnesche, v. 115. vol. i. 123, “myteyng”— (but used as a term of contempt) —is, as here, the rhyme to “wyteyng.”
Since writing the above note, I have met with a passage in the comedy called Wily Beguilde, which might be adduced in support of the reading, “nytyng;” but I still think that “mytyng” is the true one: the dramatist evidently recollected Skelton’s poem, in the ed. of which he had found “nytyng,” “nittinge,” or “nittine:”—“Comely Pegge, my nutting, my sweeting, my Loue, my doue, my honnie, my bonnie, my ducke, my deare and my deareling.” Sig. ”