Читать книгу The Poetical Works of John Skelton (Vol. 1&2) - John Skelton - Страница 9
Оглавление[15] Sometimes written Schelton: and Blomefield says, “That his Name was Shelton or Skelton, appears from his Successor’s Institution, viz. ’1529, 17 July, Thomas Clerk, instituted on the Death of John Shelton, last Rector [Lib. Inst. No. 18].’ ” Hist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.
[16] “John Skelton was a younger branch of the Skeltons of Skelton in this County [Cumberland]. I crave leave of the Reader, (hitherto not having full instructions, and) preserving the undoubted Title of this County unto him, to defer his character to Norfolk, where he was Beneficed at Diss therein.” Fuller’s Worthies, p. 221 (Cumberland), ed. 1662. “John Skelton is placed in this County [Norfolk] on a double probability. First, because an ancient family of his name is eminently known long fixed therein. Secondly, because he was beneficed at Dis,” &c. Id. p. 257 (Norfolk).—“John Skelton … was originally, if not nearly, descended from the Skeltons of Cumberland.” Wood’s Ath. Oxon. i. 49. ed. Bliss. See also Tanner’s Biblioth. p. 675. ed. 1748.—“I take it, that Skelton was not only Rector, but a Native of this Place [Diss], being son of William Skelton, and Margaret his Wife, whose Will was proved at Norwich, Nov. 7, 1512 [Regr. Johnson].” Blomefield’s Hist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739. Through the active kindness of Mr. Amyot, I have received a copy of the Will of William Skelton (or Shelton), who, though perhaps a relation, was surely not the father of the poet; for in this full and explicit document the name of John Skelton does not once occur.—From an entry which will be afterwards cited, it would seem that the Christian name of Skelton’s mother was Johanna.—In Skelton’s Latin lines on the city of Norwich (see vol. i. 174) we find,
“Ah decus, ah patriæ specie pulcherrima dudum!
Urbs Norvicensis,” &c.
Does “patriæ” mean his native county?
[17] “Having been educated in this university, as Joh. Baleus attests.” Wood’s Ath. Oxon. i. 50. ed. Bliss. Wood’s reference in the note is “In lib. De Scriptoribus Anglicis, MS. inter cod. MSS. Selden, in bib. Bodl. p. 69 b.” The printed copy of Bale’s work contains no mention of the place of Skelton’s education. Part of Bale’s information concerning Skelton, as appears from the still extant MS. collections for his Script. Illust. Brit., was received “Ex Guilhelmo Horman,” the author of the Vulgaria.—See also Tanner’s Biblioth. p. 675. ed. 1748.—Warton says that Skelton “studied in both our universities.” Hist. of E. P. ii. 336. ed. 4to.
[18] A Replycacion, &c. vol. i. 207.
[19] “Wood reckons him of Ox. on the author. of Bale in a MS. in the Bodleian Libr., but with much better reason he may be called ours; for I find one Scheklton M.A. in the year 1484, at which time allowing him to be 24 years of age, he must be at his death A.D. 1529, 68 or 69 years old, which ’tis probable he might be. v. Bale 653.” Cole’s Collections—Add. MSS. (Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199.
[20] I suspect that, during Skelton’s lifetime, two of his most celebrated pieces, Colyn Cloute (see v. 1239, vol. i. 359), and Why come ye nat to Courte, were not committed to the press, but wandered about in manuscript among hundreds of eager readers. A portion of Speke, Parrot, and the Poems Against Garnesche, are now for the first time printed.
[21] Vol. i. 408 sqq. No poetical antiquary can read the titles of some of the lighter pieces mentioned in that catalogue—such as The Balade of the Mustarde Tarte, The Murnyng of the mapely rote (see Notes, vol. ii. 330), &c.—without regretting their loss. “Many of the songs or popular ballads of this time,” observes Sir John Hawkins, “appear to have been written by Skelton.” Hist. of Music, iii. 39.
I take the present opportunity of giving from a MS. in my possession a much fuller copy than has hitherto appeared of the celebrated song which opens the second act of Gammer Gurtons Nedle, and which Warton calls “the first chanson à boire or drinking-ballad, of any merit, in our language.” Hist. of E. P. iii. 206. ed. 4to. The comedy was first printed in 1575: the manuscript copy of the song, as follows, is certainly of an earlier date:
“backe & syde goo bare goo bare
bothe hande & fote goo colde
but belly god sende the good ale inowghe
whether hyt be newe or olde.
but yf that I
maye have trwly
goode ale my belly full
I shall looke lyke one
by swete sainte Johnn
were shoron agaynste the woole
thowthe I goo bare
take yow no care
I am nothynge colde
I stuffe my skynne
so full within
of joly goode ale & olde.
I cannot eate
but lytyll meate
my stomacke ys not goode
but sure I thyncke
that I cowde dryncke
with hym that werythe an hoode
dryncke ys my lyfe
althowgthe my wyfe
some tyme do chyde & scolde
yete spare I not
to plye the potte
of joly goode ale & olde.
backe & syde, &c.
I love noo roste
but a browne toste
or a crabbe in the fyer
a lytyll breade
shall do me steade
mooche breade I neuer desyer
Nor froste nor snowe
Nor wynde I trow
Canne hurte me yf hyt wolde
I am so wrapped
within & lapped
with joly goode ale & olde.
backe & syde, &c.
I care ryte nowghte
I take no thowte
for clothes to kepe me warme
have I goode dryncke
I surely thyncke
nothynge canne do me harme
for trwly than
I feare noman
be he neuer so bolde
when I am armed
& throwly warmed
with joly good ale & olde.
backe & syde, &c.
but nowe & than
I curse & banne
they make ther ale so small
god geve them care
& evill to faare
they strye the malte & all
sooche pevisshe pewe
I tell yowe trwe
not for a c[r]ovne of golde
ther commethe one syppe
within my lyppe
whether hyt be newe or olde.
backe & syde, &c.
good ale & stronge
makethe me amonge
full joconde & full lyte
that ofte I slepe
& take no kepe
frome mornynge vntyll nyte
then starte I vppe
& fle to the cuppe
the ryte waye on I holde
my thurste to staunche
I fyll my paynche
with joly goode ale & olde.
backe & syde, &c.
and kytte my wyfe
that as her lyfe
lovethe well good ale to seke
full ofte drynkythe she
that ye maye se
the tears ronne downe her cheke
then dothe she troule
to me the bolle
as a goode malte worme sholde
& saye swete harte
I have take my parte
of joly goode ale & olde.
backe & syde, &c.
They that do dryncke
tyll they nodde & wyncke
even as good fellowes shulde do
they shall notte mysse
to have the blysse
that good ale hathe browghte them to
& all poore soules
that skowre blacke bolles
& them hathe lustely trowlde
god save the lyves
Of them & ther wyves
wether they be yonge or olde.
backe & syde,” &c.
[22] Vol. i. 1.
[23] Vol. i. 6: see Notes, vol. ii. 89.
[24] He was only eleven years old at his father’s death. See more concerning the fifth earl in Percy’s Preface to The Northumberland Household Book, 1770, in Warton’s Hist. of E. P. ii. 338. ed. 4to, and in Collins’s Peerage, ii. 304. ed. Brydges.—Warton says that the Earl “encouraged Skelton to write this Elegy,” an assertion grounded, I suppose, on the Latin lines prefixed to it.
[25] A splendid MS. volume, consisting of poems (chiefly by Lydgate), finely written on vellum, and richly illuminated, which formerly belonged to the fifth earl, is still preserved in the British Museum, MS. Reg. 18. D ii.: at fol. 165 is Skelton’s Elegy on the earl’s father.
[26] For a notice of Skelton’s laureation at Oxford, the Rev. Dr. Bliss obligingly searched the archives of that university, but without success: “no records,” he informs me, “remain between 1463 and 1498 that will give a correct list of degrees.”
[27] This work (a thin folio), translated by Caxton from the French, is a prose romance founded on the Æneid. It consists of 65 chapters, the first entitled “How the ryght puyssant kynge pryamus edyfyed the grete Cyte of Troye,” the last, “How Ascanyus helde the royalme of Ytalye after the dethe of Eneas hys fader.” Gawin Douglas, in the Preface to his translation of Virgil’s poem, makes a long and elaborate attack on Caxton’s performance;
“Wylliame Caxtoun had no compatioun
Of Virgill in that buk he preȳt in prois,
Clepand it Virgill in Eneados,
Quhilk that he sayis of Frensche he did translate;
It has na thing ado therwith, God wate,
Nor na mare like than the Deuil and sanct Austin,” &c.
Sig. B iii. ed. 1553.
[28] A work probably never printed, and now lost: it is mentioned by Skelton in the Garlande of Laurell;
“Of Tullis Familiars the translacyoun.”
vol. i. 409.
[29] A work mentioned in the same poem;
“Diodorus Siculus of my translacyon
Out of fresshe Latine into owre Englysshe playne,
Recountyng commoditis of many a straunge nacyon;
Who redyth it ones wolde rede it agayne;
Sex volumis engrosid together it doth containe.”
vol. i. 420.
It is preserved in MS. at Cambridge: see Appendix II. to this Memoir.
[30] Sig. A ii.
[31] For more about poet laureat, both in the ancient and modern acceptation, see Selden’s Titles of Honor, p. 405. ed. 1631; the Abbé du Resnel’s Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 507; Warton’s Hist. of E. P. ii. 129. ed. 4to; Malone’s Life of Dryden (Prose Works), p. 78; Devon’s Introd. to Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, p. xxix., and his Introd. to Issues of the Exchequer, &c., p. xiii.—Churchyard in his verses prefixed to Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568, says,
“Nay, Skelton wore the lawrell wreath,
And past in schoels, ye knoe.”
see Appendix I. to this Memoir.
[32] Vol. i. 128.
[33] Hist. of E. P. ii. 130 (note), ed. 4to.—The second entry was printed in 1736 by the Abbé du Resnel (who received it from Carte the historian) in Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522. Both entries were given in 1767 by Farmer in the second edition of his Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, p. 50.—The Rev. Joseph Romilly, registrar of the University of Cambridge, has obligingly ascertained for me their correctness.
[34] Vol. i. 124.
[35] Vol. i. 197.
[36] Prologe to Egloges, sig. A 1. ed. 1570.
[37] Hist. of E. P. ii. 132 (note), ed. 4to, where Warton gives the subscription of the former as the title of the latter poem: his mistake was occasioned by the reprint of Skelton’s Works, 1736. See the present edition, vol. i. 190, 191.
[38] Du Resnel expressly says that he was made acquainted with the Cambridge entry by “M. Carte, autrement M. Phillips.” Recherches sur les Poètes Couronnez—Hist. de l’Acad. des Inscript. (Mém. de Littérature), x. 522.—Carte assumed the name of Phillips when he took refuge in France.
[39] A gentleman resident at Louvaine obligingly examined for me the registers of that university, but could find in them no mention of Skelton.
[40] The original has “Cum:” but the initial letters of the lines were intended to form a distich; see the conclusion of the poem.
[41] Here again the original has “Cum.”
[42] From the 4to volume entitled Opusculum Roberti Whittintoni in florentissima Oxoniensi achademia Laureati. At the end, Expliciūt Roberti Whitintoni Oxonie Protouatis Epygrammata: una cū quibusdā Panegyricis. Impressa Lōdini per me wynandū de worde. Anno post virgineū partū. M. ccccc xix. decimo vero kalēdas Maii.
[43] Henry Bradshaw’s Lyfe of Saynt Werburghe, l. ii. c. 24. printed by Pynson 1521, 4to.
[44] See the two subscriptions already cited, p. xiv.; and vol. i. 132, 206, vol. ii. 25.—“Clarus & facundus in utroque scribendi genere, prosa atque metro, habebatur.” Bale, Script. Illust. Brit. &c. p. 651. ed. 1559. “Inter Rhetores regius orator factus.” Pits, De Illust. Angl. Script. p. 701. ed. 1619. “With regard to the Orator Regius,” says Warton, “I find one John Mallard in that office to Henry the eighth, and his epistolary secretary,” &c. Hist. of E. P. ii. 132 (note), ed. 4to.
[45] Register Hill 1489–1505, belonging to the Diocese of London.
[46] 1st Octr.: see Sandford’s Geneal. Hist. p. 475. ed. 1707.
[47] See the Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.
[48] Henry was created Duke of York 31st Octr. an. 10. Hen. vii. [1494]; see Sandford’s Geneal. Hist. p. 480. ed. 1707. See also The Creation of Henry Duke of Yorke, &c. (from a Cottonian MS.) in Lord Somers’s Tracts, i. 24. ed. Scott.
[49] Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748.
[50] i.e. well.
[51] i.e. tutor: see Notes, vol. ii. 193.—When ladies attempt to write history, they sometimes say odd things: e.g. “It is affirmed that Skelton had been tutor to Henry [viii.] in some department of his education. How probable it is that the corruption imparted by this ribald and ill-living wretch laid the foundation for his royal pupil’s grossest crimes!” Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland, vol. iv. 104.
[52] Fourth Poem Against Garnesche, vol. i. 129.
[53] Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 410.—After noticing that while Arthur was yet alive, Henry was destined by his father to be archbishop of Canterbury, “it has been remarked,” says Mrs. Thomson, “that the instructions bestowed upon Prince Henry by his preceptor, Skelton, were calculated to render him a scholar and a churchman, rather than an enlightened legislator.” Mem. of the Court of Henry the Eighth, i. 2. But the description of the Speculum Principis, quoted above, is somewhat at variance with such a conclusion. The same lady observes in another part of her work, “To Skelton, who in conjunction with Giles Dewes, clerk of the library to Henry the Seventh, had the honour of being tutor to Henry the Eighth, this king evinced his approbation,” ii. 590, and cites in a note the Epistle to Henry the Eighth prefixed to Palsgrave’s Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse, 1530, where mention is made of “the synguler clerke maister Gyles Dewes somtyme instructour to your noble grace in this selfe tong.” Though Dewes taught French to Henry, surely it by no means follows that he was “his tutor in conjunction with Skelton:” a teacher of French and a tutor are very different.
[54] Biblioth. p. 676. ed. 1748.
[55] Erasmi Opera, i. 1214, 1216, ed. 1703.—The Ode is appended to Erasmus’s Latin version of the Hecuba and Iphigenia in Aulide of Euripides, printed by Aldus in 1507; and in that edition the second line which I have quoted is found with the following variation,
“Monstrante fonteis vate Laurigero sacros.”
“It is probable,” says Granger, “that if that great and good man [Erasmus] had read and perfectly understood his [Skelton’s] ‘pithy, pleasaunt, and profitable works,’ as they were lately reprinted, he would have spoken of him in less honourable terms.” Biog. Hist. of Engl. i. 102. ed. 1775. The remark is sufficiently foolish: in Skelton’s works there are not a few passages which Erasmus, himself a writer of admirable wit, must have relished and admired; and it was not without reason that he and our poet have been classed together as satirists, in the following passage; “By what meanes could Skelton that laureat poet, or Erasmus that great and learned clarke, have vttered their mindes so well at large, as thorowe their clokes of mery conceytes in wryting of toyes and foolish theames: as Skelton did by Speake parrot, Ware the hauke, the Tunning of Elynour Rumming, Why come ye not to the Courte? Philip Sparrowe, and such like: yet what greater sense or better matter can be, than is in this ragged ryme contayned? Or who would haue hearde his fault so playnely tolde him, if not in such gibyng sorte? Also Erasmus, vnder his prayse of Folly, what matters hath he touched therein?” &c. The Golden Aphroditis, &c. by John Grange, 1577 (I quote from Censura Liter. vol. i. 382. ed. 1815).
[56] Then a student of Lincoln’s Inn.
[57] The country-seat of Lord Mountjoy.
[58] Probably Eltham.
[59] Catal. (Primus) Lucubrationum, p. 2. prefixed to the above-cited vol. of Erasmi Opera.—In Turner’s Hist. of the Reign of Henry the Eighth, it is erroneously stated that Erasmus “had the interview which he thus describes, at the residence of Lord Mounjoy,” i. 11. ed. 8vo.
[60] Vol. i. 410.
[61] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.
[62] p. 30—1592, 4to.
[63] According to the xivᵗʰ of the Merie Tales of Skelton (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir), he was “long confined in prison at Westminster by the command of the cardinal:” but the tract is of such a nature that we must hesitate about believing a single statement which it contains. Even supposing that at some period or other Skelton was really imprisoned by Wolsey, that imprisonment could hardly have taken place so early as 1502. As far as I can gather from his writings, Skelton first offended Wolsey by glancing at him in certain passages of Colyn Cloute, and in those passages the cardinal is alluded to as being in the fulness of pomp and power.
[64] By Writ of Privy Seal—Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 101 (b.), in the Public Record Office.
[65] Ritson (Bibliog. Poet. p. 102) says that Skelton was “chaplain to king Henry the eighth:” qy. on what authority?
[66] “He … was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511, as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note) 1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton, Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat … Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’s Hist. of Norfolk, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains is long posterior to his death.
[67] See A deuoute trentale for old John Clarke, who died in 1506, vol. i. 168; Lamentatio urbis Norvicen., written in 1507, p. 174; and Chorus de Dis, &c. in 1513, p. 190.
[68] I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”—
| “Mr. Skelton in goodes | xl. li.” |
Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B. 4. 15, fol. 7—Public Record Office. Qy. was this our author?
[69] “Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat, sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse … animam egit … relictis liberis.” Bale, Script. Illust. Brit. pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits, De Illust. Angl. Script. p. 701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him (as it seems) a suspension from his benefice. … We must not forget, how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’s Worthies, p. 257 (Norfolk), ed. 1662.—Anthony Wood, with his usual want of charity towards the sons of genius, says that Skelton “having been guilty of certain crimes, (as most poets are,) at least not agreeable to his coat, fell under the heavy censure of Rich. Nykke bishop of Norwich his diocesan; especially for his scoffs and ill language against the monks and dominicans in his writings.” Ath. Oxon. i. 50. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note, “Mr. Thomas Delafield in his MS. Collection of Poets Laureate, &c. among Gough’s MSS. in the Bodleian, says it was in return for his being married, an equal crime in the ecclesiastics of those days, bishop Nykke suspended him from his church.”—Tanner gives as one of the reasons for Skelton’s taking sanctuary at Westminster towards the close of his life, “propter quod uxorem habuit.” Biblioth. p. 675. ed. 1748.—In the xiiiᵗʰ of the Merie Tales (see Appendix I. to the present Memoir) Skelton’s wife is mentioned.
[70] “Cui [Nixo] utcunque a nive nomen videatur inditum, adeo nihil erat nivei in pectore, luxuriosis cogitationibus plurimum æstuante, ut atro carbone libidines ejus notandæ videantur, si vera sunt quæ de illo a Nevillo perhibentur.” Godwin De Præsul. Angl. p. 440. ed. 1743.
[71] “In the Edition of his Workes in 8vo. Lond. 1736, which I have, at p. 272 he mentions Trumpinton, and seems to have been Curate there, 5. Jan. 1507. At p. 54 he also mentions Swafham and Soham, 2 Towns in Cambridgeshire, in The Crowne of Lawrell.” Cole’s Collections—Add. MSS. (Brit. Mus.) 5880, p. 199. To conclude from the mention of these towns that Skelton resided in Cambridgeshire is the height of absurdity, as the reader will immediately perceive on turning to the passage in question, Garlande of Laurell, v. 1416, vol. i. 417.—Chalmers, on the authority of a MS. note by Kennet, a transcript of which had been sent to him, states that “in 1512, Skelton was presented by Richard, abbot of Glastonbury, to the vicarage of Daltyng.” Biog. Dict. xxviii. 45: if Chalmers had consulted Wood’s account of the poet, he might have learned that the rector of Diss and the vicar of Dultyng were different persons.
[72] The old ed. has “scripter.”
[73] vol. i. 173.
[74] vol. i. 175.
[75] Ath. Oxon. i. 50. ed. Bliss.
[76] Reprinted in Appendix I. to this Memoir; where see also the extracts from A C mery Talys, &c.—The biographer of Skelton, in Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’s Cyclop.), asserts that “he composed his Merie Tales for the king and nobles”!!! i. 279.
[77] Lines prefixed to Marsh’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568: see Appendix I. to this Memoir.
[78] “Sithe ye haue me chalyngyd, M[aster] Garnesche,” &c.; see vol. i. 116.
[79] In the Notes on the poems Against Garnesche I have cited several parallel expressions from The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. That curious production may be found in the valuable edition of Dunbar’s Poems (ii. 65) by Mr. D. Laing, who supposes it to have been written between 1492 and 1497 (ii. 420). It therefore preceded the “flyting” of Skelton and Garnesche. I may add, that the last portion of our author’s Speke, Parrot bears a considerable resemblance to a copy of verses attributed to Dunbar, and entitled A General Satyre (Poems, ii. 24); and that as the great Scottish poet visited England more than once, it is probable that he and Skelton were personally acquainted.
[80] At a later period there was a poetical “flyting” between Churchyard and a person named Camel, who had attacked a publication of the former called Davie Dicars Dreame; and some other writers took a part in the controversy: these rare pieces (known only by their titles to Ritson, Bibliog. Poet. p. 151, and to Chalmers, Life of Churchyard, p. 53) are very dull and pointless, but were evidently put forth in earnest.
[81] In the first poem Against Garnesche he is called “Master:” but see Notes, vol. ii. 177.
[82] Hall’s Chron. (vi. yere Hen. viii.), fol. xlviii. ed. 1548.
[83] MS. Cott. Calig. B. vi. fol. 112.
[84] Auditor’s Calendar of Files from 1485 to 1522, fol. 108 (b).
[85] Privy Purse Accounts, A. 5. 16. p. 21.
[86] Auditor’s Calendar, &c. fol. 162 (b).
[87] Auditor’s Patent Book, No. 1. fol. 6 (b).
[88] In an account of the visit of the Emperor Charles the Fifth to England in June 1522, among the lodgings which were occupied on that occasion at Greenwich we find mention of “Master Garnyshe house.” See Rutland Papers, p. 82 (printed for the Camden Society). That a knight was frequently called “Master,” I have shewn in Notes, vol. ii. 178.
[89] Privy Purse Accounts, A. 5. 17. p. 175.
[90] Teller’s Book, A. 3. 24. p. 293.
[91] To these notices of Garnesche I may add the following letter, the original of which is in the possession of Mr. J. P. Collier:
“Pleas it your grace, We haue Receyued the Kyngs most graciouse letres dated at his manour of grenwich the xᵗʰ day of Aprill, Wherby we perceyue his high pleasour is that we shulde take some substanciall direccion for the preparacion and furnyshing of all maner of vitailles aswell for man as for horse, to bee had in Redynesse against the commyng of his grace, his nobles with ther trayn; Like it your grace, so it is We haue not been in tymes past so greatly and sore destitute this many yeres past of all maner of vitailles both for man and beist as we be now, not oonly by reason of a gret murryn of catall which hath ben in thies partes, but also for that the Kings takers, lieng about the borders of the see coste next adionyng vnto vs, haue takyn and made provision therof contrarie to the olde ordnannce, so that we be vtterly destitute by reason of the same, and can in no wise make any substanciall provision for his highnes nor his trayn in thies partes, for all the bochers in this toun haue not substaunce of beoffs and motones to serue vs, as we be accompanyed at this day, for the space of iii wekes att the most. And also as now ther is not within this toun of Calais fewell sufficient to serue vs oon hole weke, the which is the great daunger and vnsuretie of this the Kings toun. Wherfore we most humbly besuch your grace, the premisses considered, that we by your gracious and fauorable helpe may haue not oonly Remedy for our beiffs and motones with other vitailles, but also that all maner of vitaillers of this toun may repair and resorte with ther shippes from tyme to tyme to make ther purueyance of all maner of fewell from hensfurth for this toun oonly, without any let or Interrupcionn of the kings officers or takers, any commandment hertofore giffen to the contrarie not withstanding, for without that both the Kings Highnes, your grace, and all this toun shalbe vtterly disappoynted and disceyved both of vitailles and fewell, which god defend. At Calais, the xviiiᵗʰ day of Aprill,
By your seruants,
John Peache,
Wyllm Sandys,
Robert Wotton,
Edward Guldeferd,
Crystoffyr Garneys.
To my Lorde cardynalls grace,
Legate a Latere and chanceler
of England.”
In Proceed. and Ordin. of the Privy Council (vol. vii. 183, 196), 1541, mention is made of a Lady Garnishe (probably the widow of Sir Christopher) having had a house at Calais; and in Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary (p. 120) we find under June 1543,
| “Item my lady garnyshe seruaunt for bringing cherys | xii d.” |
[92] “Contra Skeltonum, Lib. i.” Script. Illust. Brit. p. 723. ed. 1559.
[93] fol. 259. ed. 1570.
[94] vol. i. 411.
[95] i.e. snipe.
[96] See Notes, vol. ii. 159. If this line alludes to Skelton, it preserves a trait of his personal appearance.
[97] i.e. deprived, devoid.
[98] sig. c. v. ed. 1570.
[99] Vol. i. 376.
[100] Vol. i. 409.
[101] In a volume of various pieces by Gaguin, dated 1498, is a treatise on metre, which shews no mean acquaintance with the subject.
[102] “Inuectiuam In Guil. Lilium, Lib. i.” Script. Illust. Brit., &c. p. 652. ed. 1559. The reader must not suppose from the description, “Lib. i.,” that the invective in question extended to a volume: it was, I presume, no more than a copy of verses. Wood mentions that this piece was “written in verse and very carping.” Ath. Ox. i. 52. ed. Bliss: but most probably he was acquainted with it only through Bale. He also informs us (i. 34) that Lily wrote a tract entitled
| “Apologia ad | { Joh. Skeltonum. |
| { Rob. Whittington.” |
for a copy of which I have sought in vain.
[103] See Weever’s Fun. Monum. p. 498. ed. 1631; Stowe’s Collections, MS. Harl. 540. fol. 57; and Fuller’s Worthies (Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662. “And this,” says Fuller, “I will do for W. Lilly, (though often beaten for his sake,) endeavour to translate his answer:
“With face so bold, and teeth so sharp,
Of viper’s venome, why dost carp?
Why are my verses by thee weigh’d
In a false scale? may truth be said?
Whilst thou to get the more esteem
A learned Poet fain wouldst seem,
Skelton, thou art, let all men know it,
Neither learned, nor a Poet.”
[104] Vol. i. 419.
[105] See vol. i. 361.
[106] See Notes, vol. ii. 318.
[107] It was granted to him by the king for life.
[108] Vol. i. 419. Concerning this college, see Notes, vol. ii. 334.
[109] A Replycacion agaynst certayne yong scolers abiured of late, &c. vol. i. 206. In Typograph. Antiq. ii. 539. ed. Dibdin, where the Replycacion is described and quoted from Heber’s copy, we are told that it has “a Latin address to Thomas—— who [sic] he [Skelton] calls an excellent patron,” &c. That the editor should have read the address without discovering that the said Thomas was Cardinal Wolsey, is truly marvellous.
[110] Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 424.
[111] See vol. ii. 83, where this Lenuoy (which will be more particularly noticed presently) is appended to the poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.
[112] Vol. i. 199.
[113] Animadversions vppon the annotacions and correctōns of some imperfectōns of impressōnes of Chaucers Workes, &c. p. 13—in Todd’s Illust. of Gower and Chaucer.
I may notice here, that among the Harleian MSS. (2252, fols. 156, 158) are two poems on the Cardinal, which in the Catalogue of that collection Wanley has described as “Skelton’s libels;” but they are evidently not by him.
[114] Wolsey had previously been named a Cardinal in 1515.—Fiddes (Life of Wolsey, p. 99. ed. 1726) says that he became Legate a latere in 1516: but see State Papers (1830), i. 9 (note). Lingard’s Hist. of Engl. vi. 57. ed. 8vo, &c.—Hoping to ascertain the exact date of the Replycacion, &c. (which contains the first of the passages now under consideration), I have consulted various books for some mention of the “young hereticks” against whom that piece was written; but without success.
[115] We cannot settle this point by a comparison of old editions, the poem against Albany and the two L’Envoys which follow it being extant only in the ed. of Marshe.—It may be doubted, too, if the L’Envoy which I have cited at p. xli, “Perge, liber,” &c. belongs to the Garlande of Laurell, to which it is affixed in Marshe’s edition as a second L’Envoy: in Faukes’s edition of that poem, which I conceive to be the first that was printed, it is not found: the Cott. MS. of the Garlande is unfortunately imperfect at the end.
[116] i.e. sword.
[117] Chron. (Hen. viii.) fol. cx. ed. 1548.
[118] “Ob literas quasdam in Cardinalem Vuolsium inuectiuas, ad Vuestmonasteriense tandem asylum confugere, pro uita seruanda, coactus fuit: ubi nihilominus sub abbate Islepo fauorem inuenit.” Bale, Script. Illust. Brit. p. 651. ed. 1559.—“Vbi licet Abbatis Islepi fauore protegeretur, tamen vitam ibi, quantumuis antea iucunde actam, tristi exitu conclusit.” Pits, De Illust. Angl. Script. p. 701. ed. 1619.—“But Cardinal Wolsey (impar congressus, betwixt a poor Poet and so potent a Prelate) being inveighed against by his pen, and charged with too much truth, so persecuted him, that he was forced to take Sanctuary at Westminster, where Abbot Islip used him with much respect,” &c. Fuller’s Worthies (Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662.—“He [Skelton] was so closely pursued by his [Wolsey’s] officers, that he was forced to take sanctuary at Westminster, where he was kindly entertained by John Islipp the abbat, and continued there to the time of his death.” Wood’s Ath. Oxon. i. 51. ed. Bliss, who adds in a note; “The original MS. register of this sanctuary, which must have been a great curiosity, was in Sir Henry Spelman’s library, and was purchased at the sale of that collection by Wanley for Lord Weymouth. MS. note in Wanley’s copy of Nicholson’s Historical Library in the Bodleian.”
[119] John Islip was elected abbot in 1500, and died in 1532: see Widmore’s Hist. of West. Abbey, 119, 123. “John Skelton … is said by the late learned Bishop of Derry, Nicholson (Hist. Lib. chap. 2.) to have first collected the Epitaphs of our Kings, Princes, and Nobles, that lie buried at the Abbey Church of Westminster: but I apprehend this to be no otherwise true, than that, when he, to avoid the anger of Cardinal Wolsey, had taken sanctuary at Westminster, to recommend himself to Islip, the Abbot at that time, he made some copies of verses to the memories of King Henry the Seventh and his Queen, and his mother the Countess of Richmond, and perhaps some other persons buried in this church.” Account of Writers, &c., p. 5, appended to Widmore’s Enquiry into the time of the found. of West. Abbey.—Widmore is mistaken: neither in Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568, nor in the Reges, Reginæ, Nobiles, &c., 1603, is there any copy of verses by our author on the Queen of Henry the Seventh: see in vol. i. 178, 179, 195, the three pieces which I have given from those sources: two of them at least were composed before the poet had sought refuge at Westminster, for one (written at Islip’s request) is dated 1512, and another, 1516; the third has no date.
[120] See p. xxix.
[121] “De morte Cardinalis uaticinium edidit: & eius ueritatem euentus declarauit.” Bale, Script. Illust. Brit. p. 652. ed. 1559.—“The word Vates being Poet or Prophet, minds me of this dying Skeltons prediction, foretelling the ruine of Cardinal Wolsey. Surely, one unskilled in prophecies, if well versed in Solomons Proverbs, might have prognosticated as much, that Pride goeth before a fall.” Fuller’s Worthies (Norfolk), p. 257. ed. 1662.—Did not this anecdote originate in certain verses of Cotyn Cloute? See the fragment from Lansdown MSS., vol. i. 329, note.
[122] “Vuestmonasterii tandem, captiuitatis suæ tempore, mortuus est: & in D. Margaritæ sacello sepultus, cum hac inscriptione alabastrica: Johannes Skeltonus, uates Pierius, hic situs est. Animam egit 21 die Junii, anno Dn̄i 1529, relictis liberis.” Bale, Script. Illust. Brit., p. 652. ed. 1559. See also Pits (De Illust. Angl. Script., p. 703. ed. 1619) and Fuller (Worthies, Norfolk, p. 257. ed. 1662), who give Joannes Sceltonus vates Pierius hic situs est as the whole of Skelton’s epitaph. Weever, however (Fun. Momum., p. 497. ed. 1631), makes “animam egit, 21 Junii 1529” a portion of it, and in a marginal note substitutes “ejicit” for “egit,” as if correcting the Latinity!! So too Wood (Ath. Oxon. i. 52. ed. Bliss.), who places “ejicit” between brackets after “egit,” and states (what the other writers do not mention) that the inscription was put on the tomb “soon after” Skelton’s death.
In the Church-Wardens Accompts of St. Margaret’s, Westminster (Nichols’s Illust. of Manners and Expences, &c. 4to. p. 9), we find this entry;
| £. | s. | d. | |
| “1529. Item, of Mr. Skelton for viii tapers | 0 | 2 | 8” |
The institution of the person who succeeded Skelton as rector of Diss is dated 17th July: see first note on the present Memoir.
[123] See note, p. xxxvi.
[124] e.g. the portrait on the title-page of Dyuers Balettys and Dyties solacyous (evidently from the press of Pynson; see Appendix II. to this Memoir) is given as a portrait of “Doctor Boorde” in the Boke of Knowledge (see reprint, sig. I); and (as Mr. F. R. Atkinson of Manchester obligingly informed me by letter some years ago) the strange fantastic figure on the reverse of the title-page of Faukes’s ed. of the Garlande of Laurell, 1523 (poorly imitated in The Brit. Bibliogr. iv. 389) is a copy of an early French print.
[125] “Warton has undervalued him [Skelton]; which is the more remarkable, because Warton was a generous as well as a competent critic. He seems to have been disgusted with buffooneries, which, like those of Rabelais, were thrown out as a tub for the whale; for unless Skelton had written thus for the coarsest palates, he could not have poured forth his bitter and undaunted satire in such perilous times.” Southey—Select Works of Brit. Poets (1831), p. 61.
[126] Amen. of Lit. ii. 69.
[127] Vol. i. 313.
“Satire should, like a polish’d razor, keen,
Wound with a touch that’s scarcely felt or seen:
Thine is an oyster-knife that hacks and hews,” &c.
Verses addressed to the imitator of the First Satire of the Second Book of Horace (the joint-composition of Lord Hervey and Lady M. W. Montagu).
[129] Remains, ii. 163.
“Of Vertu also the souerayne enterlude.”
Garlande of Laurell, vol. i. 408.
“His commedy, Achademios callyd by name.”
Id. p. 409.
[132] See Appendix II. to this Memoir.—Mr. Collier is mistaken in supposing Skelton’s “paiauntis that were played in Ioyows Garde” to have been dramatic compositions: see Notes, vol. ii. 330.
[133] A writer, of whose stupendous ignorance a specimen has been already cited (p. xxx, note 3), informs us that Magnyfycence “is one of the dullest plays in our language.” Eminent Lit. and Scient. Men of Great Britain, &c. (Lardner’s Cyclop.), i. 281.
[134] See Appendix III. to this Memoir, and Poems attributed to Skelton, vol. ii. 385.
[135] Amen. of Lit. ii. 69.
[136] Hist. of E. P. ii. 356.
“In hevyn blyse ye xalle wyn to be
Amonge the blyssyd company omnium supernorum
Ther as is alle merth joye and glee
Inter agmina angelorum
In blyse to abyde.”
Coventry Mysteries—MS. Cott. Vesp. D. viii. fol. 112.
A reprint of Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes having appeared in 1736, Pope took occasion, during the next year, to mention them in the following terms—casting a blight on our poet’s reputation, from which it has hardly yet recovered;
“Chaucer’s worst ribaldry is learn’d by rote,
And beastly Skelton Heads of Houses quote”—
Note—“Skelton, Poet Laureat to Hen. 8. a Volume of whose Verses has been lately reprinted, consisting almost wholly of Ribaldry, Obscenity, and Billingsgate Language.” The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace imitated, 1737. But Pope was unjust to Skelton; for, though expressions of decided grossness occur in his writings, they are comparatively few; and during his own time, so far were such expressions from being regarded as offensive to decency, that in all probability his royal pupil would not have scrupled to employ them in the presence of Anne Bulleyn and her maids of honour.
Since the Memoir of Skelton was sent to press, Mr. W. H. Black (with his usual kindness) has pointed out to me the following entry;
