APPENDIX II. List of Editions, &c. lxxxix
APPENDIX III. Extracts from pieces which are written in, or which contain examples of, the metre called Skeltonical cv
Of the death of the noble prince, Kynge Edwarde the Forth 1
Poeta Skelton laureatus libellum suum metrice alloquitur 6
Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of the most honorable Erle of Northumberlande 6
Tetrastichon ad Magistrum Rukshaw 14
Agaynste a comely coystrowne, that curyowsly chawntyd, and curryshly cowntred, &c. 15
Contra alium cantitantem et organisantem asinum, &c. 17
Vppon a deedmans hed, that was sent to hym from an honorable jentyllwoman for a token, &c. 18
“Womanhod, wanton, ye want,” &c. 20
Dyuers Balettys and Dyties solacyous:—
“My darlyng dere, my daysy floure,” &c. 22
“The auncient acquaintance, madam, betwen vs twayn,” &c. 23
“Knolege, aquayntance, resort, fauour with grace,” &c. 25
“Cuncta licet cecidisse putas discrimina rerum,” &c. 26
“Though ye suppose all jeperdys ar paste,” &c. 26
“Go, pytyous hart, rasyd with dedly wo,” &c. 27
Manerly Margery Mylk and Ale 28
The Bowge of Courte 30
Phyllyp Sparowe 51
The tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng 95
Poems against Garnesche 116
Against venemous tongues, &c. 132
How euery thing must haue a tyme 137
Prayer to the Father of Heauen 139
To the Seconde Parson 139
To the Holy Gooste 140
“Woffully araid,” &c. 141
“Now synge we, as we were wont,” &c. 144
“I, liber, et propera, regem tu pronus adora,” &c. 147
The maner of the world now a dayes 148
Ware the Hauke 155
Epithaphe. A Deuoute Trentale for old John Clarke, &c. 168
“Diligo rustincum cum portant,” &c. 174
Lamentatio urbis Norvicen 174
In Bedel, &c. 175
“Hanc volo transcribas,” &c. 175
“Igitur quia sunt qui mala cuncta fremunt,” &c. 176
“Salve plus decies quam sunt momenta dierum,” &c. 177
Henrici Septimi Epitaphium 178
Eulogium pro suorum temporum conditione, tantis principibus non indignum 179
Tetrastichon veritatis 181
Against the Scottes 182
Vnto diuers people that remord this rymynge, &c. 188
Chorus de Dis contra Scottos, &c. 190
Chorus de Dis, &c. super triumphali victoria contra Gallos, &c. 191
Vilitissimus Scotus Dundas allegat caudas contra Angligenas 192
Elegia in Margaretæ nuper comitissæ de Derby funebre ministerium 195
Why were ye Calliope embrawdred with letters of golde? 197
Cur tibi contexta est aurea Calliope? 198
The Boke of Three Fooles 199
A replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late, &c. 206
Magnyfycence, a goodly interlude and a mery 225
Colyn Cloute 311
A ryght delectable tratyse vpon a goodly Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell, &c. 361
Admonet Skeltonis omnes arbores dare locum viridi lauro juxta genus suum 425
En Parlament a Paris 426
Out of Frenshe into Latyn 426
Owt of Latyne into Englysshe 426
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
PAGE
Speke, Parrot 1
Why come ye nat to Courte 26
Howe the douty Duke of Albany, lyke a cowarde knyght, ran awaye shamfully, &c. 68
NOTES TO VOLUME I. 85
NOTES TO VOLUME II. 338
POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO SKELTON.
Verses presented to King Henry the Seventh at the feast of St. George, &c. 387
The Epitaffe of the moste noble and valyaunt Jaspar late Duke of Beddeforde 388
Elegy on King Henry the Seventh 399
Vox populi, vox Dei 400
The Image of Ipocrysy 413
CORRIGENDA AND ADDENDA 449
INDEX TO THE NOTES 457
SOME ACCOUNT OF SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS.
John Skelton[15] is generally said to have been descended from the Skeltons of Cumberland;[16] but there is some reason to believe that Norfolk was his native county. The time of his birth, which is left to conjecture, cannot well be carried back to an earlier year than 1460.
The statement of his biographers, that he was educated at Oxford,[17] I am not prepared to contradict: but if he studied there, it was at least after he had gone through an academical course at the sister university; for he has himself expressly declared,
“Alma parens O Cantabrigensis, ... ...tibi quondam carus alumnus eram;”
adding in a marginal note, “Cantabrigia Skeltonidi laureato primam mammam eruditionis pientissime propinavit.”[18] Hence it is probable that the poet was the “one Scheklton,” who, according to Cole, became M.A. at Cambridge in 1484.[19]
Of almost all Skelton’s writings which have descended to our times, the first editions[20] have perished; and it is impossible to determine either at what period he commenced his career as a poet, or at what dates his various pieces were originally printed. That he was the author of many compositions which are no longer extant, we learn from the pompous enumeration of their titles in the _Garlande of Laurell_[21]. The lines _Of the death of the noble prince, ynge Edwarde the forth_[22], who deceased in 1483, were probably among his earliest attempts in verse.
In 1489 Skelton produced an elegy Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of the most honorable Erle of Northumberlande,[23] who was slain during a popular insurrection in Yorkshire. His son Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth earl, who is there mentioned as the “yonge lyon, but tender yet of age,”[24] appears to have afterwards extended his patronage to the poet:[25] at a time when persons of the highest rank were in general grossly illiterate, this nobleman was both a lover and a liberal encourager of letters.
Skelton had acquired great reputation as a scholar, and had recently been laureated at Oxford,[26] when Caxton, in 1490, published The boke of Eneydos compyled by Vyrgyle,[27] in the Preface to which is the following passage: “But I praye mayster John Skelton, late created poete laureate in the vnyuersite of oxenforde, to ouersee and correcte this sayd booke, And taddresse and expowne where as shalle be founde faulte to theym that shall requyre it. For hym I knowe for suffycyent to expowne and englysshe euery dyffyculte that is therin. For he hath late translated the epystlys of Tulle,[28] and the boke of dyodorus syculus,[29] and diuerse other werkes oute of latyn in to englysshe, not in rude and olde langage, but in polysshed and ornate termes craftely, as he that hath redde vyrgyle, ouyde, tullye, and all the other noble poetes and oratours, to me vnknowen: And also he hath redde the ix. muses and vnderstande theyr musicalle scyences, and to whom of theym eche scyence is appropred. I suppose he hath dronken of Elycons well. Then I praye hym & suche other to correcte adde or mynysshe where as he or they shall fynde faulte,”[30] &c. The laureatship in question, however, was not the office of poet laureat according to the modern acceptation of the term: it was a degree in grammar, including rhetoric and versification, taken at the university, on which occasion the graduate was presented with a wreath of laurel.[31] To this academical honour Skelton proudly alludes in his fourth poem Against Garnesche;