A DEUOUTE TRENTALE FOR OLD JOHN CLARKE, SOMETYME THE HOLY PATRIARKE OF DIS.
Sequitur trigintale
Tale quale rationale,
Licet parum curiale,
Tamen satis est formale,
Joannis Clerc, hominis
Cujusdam multinominis,[648]
Joannes Jayberd qui vocatur,
Clerc cleribus nuncupatur.
Obiit sanctus iste pater
Anno Domini MD. sexto. 10
In parochia de Dis
Non erat sibi similis;
In malitia vir insignis,
Duplex corde et bilinguis;
Senio confectus,
Omnibus suspectus,
Nemini dilectus,
Sepultus est amonge the wedes:
God forgeue hym his mysdedes!
Dulce melos
Penetrans cœlos.
Carmina cum cannis
cantemus festa Joannis:
Clerk obiit vere,
Jayberd nomenque dedere;
Dis populo[649] natus,
Clerk cleribus estque vocatus.
Hic vir Chaldæus,
nequam vir, ceu Jebusæus,
In Christum Domini
fremuit de more cameli, 10
Rectori proprio
tam verba retorta loquendo
Unde resultando—
que Acheronta[650] boando tonaret.
Nunquam sincere
solitus sua crimina flere;
Cui male lingua loquax—
que dicax mendaxque, fuere
Et mores tales
resident in nemine quales; 20
Carpens vitales
auras, turbare sodales
Et cines socios,[651]
asinus, mulus velut, et bos.
Omne suum studium
rubeum pictum per amictum
Discolor; et victum
faciens semper maledictum
Ex intestinis ovium—
que boumque caprorum; 30
Tendens adque forum,
fragmentum colligit horum,
Dentibus exemptis
mastigat cumque polentis
Lanigerum caput aut ovis[652]
aut vaccæ mugientis.
Quid petis, hic sit quis?
John Jayberd, incola[653] de Dis;
Cui, dum vixerat is,
sociantur jurgia, vis, lis. 40
Jam jacet hic starke deed,
Neuer a toth in his heed.
Adieu, Jayberd, adue,
I faith, dikkon thou crue!
Fratres, orate
For this knauate,
By the holy rode,
Dyd neuer man good:
I pray you all,
And pray shall, 50
At this trentall
On knees to fall
To the fote ball;
With, fill the blak bowle
For Jayberdes sowle.
Bibite multum:
Ecce sepultum
Sub pede stultum,
Asinum, et mulum!
The deuill kis his culum! 60
Wit[h], hey, howe, rumbelowe,
Rumpopulorum,
Per omnia secula seculorum! Amen.
Requiem, &c.
Per Fredericum Hely,
Fratrem de Monte Carmeli,
Qui condunt sine sale
Hoc devotum trigintale.
Vale Jayberd, valde male!
Adam Vddersall,[654]
Alias dictus Adam all
a knaue, his
Epitaph foloweth deuoutly;
He was somtime the holy
Baillyue of Dis.
Of Dis
Adam degebat:
dum vixit, falsa gerebat,
Namque extorquebat
quicquid nativus habebat,
Aut liber natus; rapidus[655]
lupus inde vocatus:
Ecclesiamque satus
de Belial iste Pilatus
Sub pede calcatus
violavit, nunc violatus: 10
Perfidus, iratus,
numquam fuit ille beatus:
Uddersall stratus
benedictis[656] est spoliatus,
Improbus, inflatus,
maledictis jam laceratus:
Dis,[657] tibi bacchatus
ballivus prædominatus:
Hic fuit ingratus,
porcus velut insatiatus, 20
Pinguis, crassatus;
velut Agag sit[658] reprobatus!
Crudelisque Cacus
barathro, peto, sit tumulatus!
Belsabub his soule saue,
Qui jacet hic, like a knaue!
Jam scio mortuus est,
Et jacet hic, like a best.
Anima ejus
De malo in pejus.[659] Amen. 30
De Dis hæc semper erit camena,
Adam Uddersall sit anathema!
Auctore Skelton, rectore de Dis.
Finis, &c. Apud Trumpinton scriptum[660] per Curatum ejusdem, quinto die Januarii Anno Domini, secundum computat. Angliæ, MDVII.
Adam, Adam, ubi es? Genesis. Re. Ubi nulla requies, ubi nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat. Job.
[639] decollate] Eds. “decolare.”
[640] haud] Eds. “hod.”
[641] quondam] Marshe’s ed. “quandam.”
[642] intra] Eds. “infra.”
[643] tua] Eds. “sua.”
[644] Idem, &c.] These lines follow Ware the Hawk in all the eds.
[645] valent] Eds. “volent.”
[646] Epithaphe, &c.] From Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568.
[647] all] Ed. “ali.:” but compare p. 171.
[648] multinominis] Ed. “maltimoniis.”
[649] populo] The correction of the Rev. J. Mitford. Ed. “populus.”
[650] que Acheronta, &c. ... que dicax, &c.] Perhaps these passages ought to be arranged thus for the sake of the rhyme;
“que Acheronta boando
tonaret. Nunquam sincere,” &c.
...
“que dicax mendax—
que, fuere Et mores tales,” &c.
But from the rest of the poem it seems that Skelton intended each hexameter to be cut only into two parts.
[651] socios] Ed. “socias.”
[652] caput aut ovis] Ed. “caput caput.” I give the conjectural reading of the Rev. J. Mitford. The rhyme suggests (but the metre will not allow) “bidentis.”
[653] incola] Ed. “Nicolas.”
[654] Vddersall, &c.] Ed. “Vddersale:” but compare vv. 13, 32. In this passage I have adopted the arrangement proposed by the Rev. J. Mitford.—Ed. thus;
“Adam Vddersale. alias dictus
Adam all. a knaue his Epitaph.
Foloweth deuoutly,
He was somtime the holy
baillyue of dis.”
[655] rapidus] The Rev. J. Mitford conjectures, “rabidus;” but rapidus is frequently used in the same sense.
[656] benedictis] Ed. “Benedictus;” and in the next line but one, “Maledictus.”
[657] Dis, tibi, &c.] The emendation of the Rev. J. Mitford: compare above, “Baillyue of Dis.”—Ed.
“Sis tibi baccatus
Balians prædominatus.”
[658] sit] Ed. “fit.”
[659] pejus] Ed. “peuis.”
[660] scriptum] Ed. “scripter.”
Diligo rustincum[661] cum portant bis duo quointum,
Et cantant delos est mihi dulce melos.
1. Canticum dolorosum.
[661] Diligo rustincum, &c.] This and the following piece are from Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568. In that collection the present couplet is twice printed: “rustincum” is the reading of the first copy, “rusticum” (which the metre will not admit) of the second: the first copy has “quonintum,” the second “quointum;” the Editor of 1736 gave “quantum.” See notes for the conjectures of the Rev. J. Mitford on this enigma. “Canticum dolorosum” is probably part of the title of the next piece.