AGAINST THE SCOTTES.
The battle of Flodden, one of the most disastrous events in Scottish history, has been rendered so familiar to readers of our own day by the poem of Marmion, that a particular account of it here is unnecessary. It took place on September 9th, 1513. The English army was commanded by the Earl of Surrey [created Duke of Norfolk the February following]; the Scottish by their rash and gallant monarch James the Fourth, who perished in the field amid heaps of his slaughtered nobles and gentlemen.
Page 182. v. 2. tratlynge] i. e. prattling, idle talk.
v. 5. Lo, these fonde sottes, &c.]—fonde, i. e. foolish. This passage resembles a rhyme made in reproach of the Scots in the reign of Edward the First:
“These scaterand Scottes
Holde we for sottes,” &c.
Fabyan’s Chron. vol. ii. fol. 140. ed. 1559.
Page 182. v. 11. Branxton more] i. e. Brankston Moor.
v. 12. stowre] Means generally—hardy, stout; here perhaps it is equivalent to—obstinate: but in Palsgrave we find “Stowre of conversation estourdy.” Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xcvi. (Table of Adiect.).
v. 22. closed in led] The body of James, disfigured with wounds, was found the day after the battle; it was carried to Berwick, and ultimately interred in the priory of Shene: see Weaver’s Anc. Fun. Mon., p. 394. ed. 1631. After the dissolution of that house, according to Stow’s account, the body, enclosed in lead, was thrown into one of the lumber-rooms; and the head, which some workmen hewed off “for their foolish pleasure,” was brought to London and buried in St. Michael’s Church, Wood Street: Survey, B. iii. 81. ed. 1720.
Page 183. v. 26. byllys] i. e. bills,—a sort of beaked pikes,—battle-axes.
v. 30. Folys and sottys] i. e. Fools and sots.
v. 32. crake] i. e. vaunt.
v. 33. To face, to brace] So Borde in his Boke of knowlege introduces a Scotchman saying,
“I wyll boost my selfe, I wyll crake and face.”
Sig. G 2. reprint.
Compare our author’s Magnyfycence;
“Cl. Col. By God, I tell you, I wyll not be out facyd.
By the masse, I warant thé, I wyll not be bracyd.”
v. 2247. vol. i. 299.
and his Garlande of Laurell;
“Some facers, some bracers, some make great crackis.”
v. 189. vol. i. 369.
In Hormanni Vulgaria we find, “He faceth the matter, and maketh great crakes. Tragice loquitur, et ampullosa verba proiicit.” Sig. P iiii. ed. 1530. “He is not aferde to face or brace with any man of worshyp. Nullius viri magnitudinem allatrare dubitat.” Sig. O ii. And in Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530, “I face as one dothe that brauleth or falleth out with a nother to make hym a frayde, Ie contrefays des mines ... I dare nat passe by his dore he faceth and braceth me so: ... il contrefait tellement des mines.” fol. ccxxx. (Table of Verbes). “I Brace or face, Ie braggue. He braced and made a bracyng here afore the dore as thoughe he wolde haue kylled.... Il braggoyt,” &c. fol. clxxi. (Table of Verbes).
Page 183. v. 36. ouerthwart] i. e. cross, perverse, wrangling.
v. 41. quayre] i. e. quire,—pamphlet, book.
v. 51. sumner] i. e. summoner (it generally meant what we now call apparitor).
v. 52. greyth] i. e. agreeth, suiteth.
v. 53. Our kynge of Englande for to syght]—syght, i. e. cite. While Henry viii. was encamped before Terouenne, James iv. sent his chief herald to him, with a letter (which may be found in Hall’s Chron. (Hen. viii.), fol. xxix. ed. 1548), reckoning up the various injuries and insults he had received from Henry, and containing what amounted to a declaration of war, unless the English monarch should desist from hostilities against the French king.
Page 184. v. 57. kynge Koppynge] Compare the Coliphizacio, where Cayphas exclaims—
“Therfor I shalle the name that ever shalle rew the,
Kyng Copyn in oure game,” &c.
Towneley Mysteries, p. 194,—
the Glossary informing us that “A coppin is a certain quantity of worsted yarn wound on a spindle, and the spindle then extracted,”—which may be true, though it does not explain the passage. Some game must be alluded to.
v. 59. Hob Lobbyn of Lowdean] So again our author in Speke, Parrot;
“Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon wald haue e byt of bred.”
v. 74. vol. ii. 5.
Perhaps there is an allusion to some song or ballad: Lowdean is, I apprehend, Lothian.
v. 60. what good ye can] See note, p. 190. v. 23.
v. 61. Locrian] i. e. Loch Ryan—a large bay in Wigtonshire, which by approximating to the bay of Luce, forms the peninsula called the Rinns of Galloway. It is mentioned by Barbour;
“And at Lochriane in Galloway
He schippyt, with all his menye.”
The Bruce, B. xi. v. 36. ed. Jam.
In the poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c. Skelton speaks of the Scots
“Of Locryan,
And the ragged ray
Of Galaway.”
v. 21. vol. ii. 68.
and in his verses against Dundas, he calls him
“Dundas of Galaway.”
v. 29. vol. i. 193.
See too v. 109 of the present poem. Our author uses Scottish names at random.
Page 184. v. 62. sence] i. e. cense.
v. 63. Saint Ionis towne] i. e. Perth. Compare Langtoft’s Chronicle, p. 333. ed. Hearne; Minot’s Poems, p. 6. ed. Ritson; and Barbour’s Bruce, B. ii. v. 53. ed. Jam. It is said that the Picts, after their conversion to Christianity, or the Scots, after their king had succeeded to the Pictish throne, consecrated the church and bridge of Perth to St. John the Baptist; and that hence in process of time many persons gave to the town the name of St. Johnston: see Jamieson’s note on the passage last referred to.
v. 72. tragedy] See note, p. 194. v. 155.
v. 79. enbybe] i. e. wet.
v. 83. Irysh keteringes]—Irysh, i. e. Highlanders and Islesmen:
“Than gert he all the Irschery
That war in till his cumpany,
Off Arghile, and the Ilis alsua,” &c.
Barbour’s Bruce, B. xiii. v. 233. ed. Jam.
—keteringes (see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v. Cateranes), i. e. marauders who carried off cattle, corn, &c.
Page 185. v. 86. armony] i. e. harmony.
v. 89. me adres] i. e. apply myself.
v. 90. proces] i. e. story; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157. p. 211. v. 231.
v. 91. Jocky my jo] Perhaps a fragment of some song or ballad. In Scotch, Jocky is the diminutive of Jock, the abbreviation of John: jo is sweetheart, dear, (joy.)
v. 92. summond] See note on v. 53, preceding page.
v. 97. to] i. e. too.
v. 98. harrold] i. e. herald: see note on v. 53.
v. 100. pye] i. e. magpie.
v. 101. Syr skyrgalyard] So again our author in his Speke, Parrot;
“With, skyregalyard, prowde palyard, vaunteperler, ye prate.”
v. 427. vol. ii. 21.
and in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.;
“Suche a skyrgaliarde.”
v. 168. vol. ii. 73.
“William Johnstone of Wamphray, called the Galliard, was a noted freebooter.... His nom de guerre seems to have been derived from the dance called The Galliard. The word is still used in Scotland to express an active, gay, dissipated character.” Scott’s Minst. of the Scott. Bord. i. 305. ed. 1810. To skir (under which Richardson in his Dict. cites Skelton’s term “a skyrgaliarde”) is to scour, to move rapidly.
Page 185. v. 101. skyt] i. e. hasty, precipitate.
v. 103. layd] “I Laye for me or alledge to make my mater good.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cclxxv. (Table of Verbes).
v. 104. not worth a fly] A common expression in our early poetry;
“The goos saide then al this nys worth a file.”
Chaucer’s Ass. of Foules,—Workes, fol. 235. ed. 1602.
v. 106. brother] James married Margaret sister of Henry the Eighth.
v. 109. Gup] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
—— Syr Scot of Galawey] See note on v. 61. p. 217.
v. 110. fall] i. e. fallen.
v. 111. Male vryd] i. e. ill-fortuned (Fr. malheur).
Page 186. v. 117. Scipione] i. e. Scipio.
v. 119. Thoughe ye vntruly your father haue slayne] James iii. was slain by a ruffian whose name is not certainly known, under circumstances of great atrocity, in 1488, in a miller’s cottage, immediately after his flight from the battle of Sauchie-burn, where his son (then in his 17th year) had appeared in arms against him. The mind of James iv. was haunted by remorse for his father’s death; and he wore in penance an iron girdle, the weight of which he every year increased.
v. 121. Dunde, Dunbar] Scottish names used at random: so again in our author’s verses against Dundas, “Dunde, Dunbar,” v. 60. vol. i. 194; and in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c. “Dunbar, Dunde,” v. 24. vol. ii. 68.
v. 122. Pardy] i. e. par dieu, verily.
v. 124. shent] i. e. destroyed, brought to disgrace or punishment.
v. 128. checkmate] See note, p. 96. v. 29.
v. 129. the castell of Norram] In taking the Castle of Norham, James wasted some days, previous to the battle of Flodden, while he ought to have employed his forces in more important enterprises.
v. 130. to sone] i. e. too soon.
v. 132. bylles] See note on v. 26. p. 216.
v. 133. Agaynst you gaue so sharpe a shower] Shower is often applied by our old writers to the storm, assault, encounter of battle:
“The sharpe shoures and the cruel rage
Abyde fully of this mortall werre.”
Lydgate’s Warres of Troy, B. iv. sig. Y iiii. ed. 1555.
“He was slawe yn sharpe showre.”
Kyng Roberd of Cysylle,—MS. Harl. 1701. fol. 94.
and see our author’s poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c. v. 240. vol. ii. 75.
Page 186. v. 135.
The Whyte Lyon, there rampaunt of moode,
He ragyd and rent out your hart bloode;
He the Whyte, and ye the Red]
The White Lion was the badge of the Earl of Surrey, derived from his ancestors the Mowbrays. His arms were Gules, on a bend between six cross croslets, fitchy, argent: after the battle of Flodden, the king granted to him “an honourable augmentation of his arms, to bear on the bend thereof: in an escutcheon Or, a demi Lion rampant, pierced through the mouth with an arrow, within a double tressure flory and counterflory Gules; which tressure is the same as surrounds the royal arms of Scotland.” Collins’s Peerage, i. 77. ed. Brydges.
“If Scotlands Coat no marke of Fame can lend,
That Lyon plac’d in our bright siluer-bend,
Which as a Trophy beautifies our shield,
Since Scottish bloud discoloured Floden-Field;
When the proud Cheuiot our braue Ensigne bare,
As a rich Jewell in a Ladies haire,
And did faire Bramstons neighbouring vallies choke
With clouds of Canons fire-disgorged smoke.”
Epistle from H. Howard Earle of Surrey to Geraldine,—Drayton’s Poems, p. 86 [88], ed. 8vo. n. d.
“George Buchanan reporteth that the Earle of Surrey gaue for his badge a Siluer Lion, which from Antiquitie belonged to that name, tearing in pieces a Lion prostrate Gules; and withall, that this which hee termes insolence, was punished in Him and his Posteritie,” &c. Drayton’s note on the preceding passage.
—— the Red] The royal arms of Scotland.
v. 139. quyt] i. e. requited.
v. 141. swete Sainct George, our ladies knyght] “Our Lady’s knight” is the common designation of St. George: so in a song written about the same time as the present poem, Cott. MS. Domit. A. xviii. fol. 248; in Sir Beues of Hamtoun, p. 102. Maitl. ed. &c. &c.
Page 186. v. 144. His grace beyng out of the way] i. e. Henry the Eighth being in France: see note on v. 53. p. 217.
v. 148. ye lost your sworde] The sword and dagger, worn by James at the battle of Flodden, are preserved in the college of Heralds. An engraving of them is prefixed to Weber’s ed. of the poem, Flodden Field.
Page 187. v. 149. buskyd] i. e. hied.
—— Huntley bankys] So again in our author’s verses against Dundas;
“That prates and prankes
On Huntley bankes.”
v. 57. vol. i. 194.
and in his Why come ye not to Courte;
“They [the Scottes] play their olde pranckes
After Huntley bankes.”
v. 263. vol. ii. 35.
and in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.;
“Of the Scottes ranke
Of Huntley banke.”
v. 18. vol. ii. 68.
Here again Skelton uses a Scottish name at random. The Huntly-bank, where, according to the charming old poem, Thomas the Rhymer met the Queen of Faery, is situated on one of the Eldoun hills.
v. 153.
Of the kyng of Nauerne ye might take heed,
Vngraciously how he doth speed:
In double delynge so he did dreme,
That he is kynge without a reme;
And, for example ye would none take, &c.]
—reme, i. e. realm. In a letter despatched from the camp before Terouenne, in answer to the epistle of the Scottish king (see note on v. 53. p. 217), Henry says; “And yf the example of the kyng of Nauarre beynge excluded from his royalme for assistence gyuen to the Frenche kyng cannot restrayne you from this vnnaturall dealynge, we suppose ye shall haue lyke assistence of the sayde Frenche kynge as the kyng of Nauarre hath nowe: Who is a kynge withoute a realme, &c.” Hall’s Chron. (Henry viii.) fol. xxxi. ed. 1548. James, however, never received this letter: he was slain before the herald who bore it could procure a passage from Flanders.
v. 158. brake] See note, p. 168. v. 324.
v. 161. Your beard so brym as bore at bay]—brym, i. e. fierce,—rugged, bristly. James wore “his Beerde somethynge longe.” Lelandi Collect. iv. 285. ed. 1770.
v. 162. Your Seuen Systers, that gun so gay] Lindsay of Pitscottie informs us that when James was making preparations for his fatal expedition against England “he had sewin great cannones out of the castle of Edinburgh, quhilkis was called the Sewin Sisteris, castin be Robert Borthik; and thrie maister gunneris, furnisched with pouder and leid to thame at thair pleasure.” Cron. of Scotl. i. 266. ed. 1814. These canons were named Sisters because they were all of the same great size and fine fabric. Concerning Borthwick, master of the artillery to James, the following mention is made by Lesley: “Rex amplo stipendio Robertum Borthuik, insignem tormenti fabricandi artificem donauit, vt tormenta bellica maiora in arce Edinburgensi aliquamdiu conflaret: quorum permulta hodie in Scotia reperiuntur, hoc versu incisa:
“Machina sum Scoto Borthuik fabricata Roberto.”
De or. mor. et reb. gest. Scot. p. 353. ed. 1578.
Page 187. v. 169. The Popes curse gaue you that clap]—clap, i. e. stroke. James died under a recent sentence of excommunication for infringing the pacification with England.
v. 170. Of the out yles the roughe foted Scottes] i. e. the rough-footed Scots of the Hebrides: the epithet rough-footed was given to them, because they wore, during the frost, a rude sort of shoe, made of undressed deer-skin, with the hairy side outwards; see MS. quoted in Pinkerton’s Hist. of Scotland, ii. 397.
v. 171. the bottes] i. e. the worms.
v. 172. dronken dranes]—dranes, i. e. drones. The Editor of Skelton’s Workes, 1736, printed “dronken Danes;” and Weber (Flodden Field, p. 276) proposes the same alteration; but though the Danes (as the readers of our early dramatists know) were notorious for deep potations, the text is right. Our author has again, in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c.;
“We set nat a prane
By suche a dronken drane.”
v. 163. vol. ii. 72.
“Drane. Fucus.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. And compare Pierce Plowman’s Crede;
“And right as dranes doth nought but drinketh vp the huny.”
Sig. D i. ed. 1561.
v. 175. sumner] See note on v. 51. p. 217.
Page 188. v. 177. to] i. e. too.
Quod] i. e. Quoth.
per desertum Sin] “Profectique sunt de Elim, et venit omnis multitudo filiorum Israel in desertum Sin, quod est inter Elim et Sinai,” &c. Exod. xvi. l. (Vulgate).
VNTO DIUERS PEOPLE THAT REMORD THIS RYMYNGE, &c.
Page 188. remord] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 7. makynge] i. e. composing, composition.
v. 8. Their males therat shakynge]—males, i. e. bags, wallets: compare our author’s Colyn Cloute;
“I purpose to shake oute
All my connyng bagge.”
v. 50. vol. i. 313.
v. 14. brother] See note, p. 219. v. 106.
Page 189. v. 21. pyketh mood] i. e. grows angry, picks a quarrel.
v. 26. recrayed] i. e. recreant, false (the idea of cowardice is certainly not implied here).
v. 30. died excomunycate] See note, p. 222. v. 169.
v. 37. ouerthwartes] i. e. cross, perverse objections, cavils.
CHORUS DE DIS, &c.
Dis] Of which Skelton was rector; see Account of his Life and Writings.
Page 190. vv. 17, 18. Leo Candidus ... Leo tu Rubeus] See note, p. 220. v. 135.
CHORUS DE DIS, &c. SUPER TRIUMPHALI VICTORIA CONTRA GALLOS, &c.
These verses (placed immediately after the poems on the Battle of Flodden, in the eds.) relate to an event which happened about the same period. Henry viii. having in person invaded France, in conjunction with the Emperor Maximilian, they proceeded to the siege of Terouenne. An attempt on the part of Louis to relieve the town occasioned the Battle of the Spurs, August 16, 1513, in which the Duke of Longueville, Clermont, &c. were made prisoners. Terouenne surrendered to Henry on the 22d of that month, and its defences were razed to the ground on the 27th. In these dates I follow Lingard.
Page 191. v. 13. Gloria Cappadocis, divæ milesque Mariæ] i. e. St. George, whom our author has before termed “our Ladies knyght,” see note, p. 220. v. 141. During this war, the Emperor, to flatter Henry’s vanity, wore his badge of the red rose, assumed the cross of St. George, and accepted a hundred crowns daily as the soldier of the English king.
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.
Page 192. v. 1.
Anglicus a tergo
caudam gerit, &c.]
These three hexameters are, it would seem, the composition of Dundas.
“After this saynt austyn entryd in to dorsetshyre, and came in to a towne where as were wycked peple & refused his doctryne and prechyng vtterly & droof hym out of the towne castyng on hym the tayles of thornback or like fisshes, wherfore he besought almyghty god to shewe his jugement on them, and god sente to them a shameful token, for the chyldren that were borne after in that place had tayles as it is sayd, tyl they had repented them. It is sayd comynly that thys fyl at strode in kente, but blessyd be god at this day is no suche deformyte.” The lyf of saynt Austyn,—Golden Legende, fol. clxxiiii. ed. 1483. See too Nova Legenda Anglie (by Capgrave), 1516. fol. xxx.
“Anglos quosdam caudatos esse.
Svspicabar quod de Anglorum caudis traditur, nugatorium esse, nec hoc meminissem loco, nisi ipsi Anglicarum rerum conditores id serio traderent: nasci videlicet homines, instar brutorum animalium caudatos apud Strodum Angliæ vicum, ad ripam fluuii Meduciæ, qui Roffensem, siue Rocestrensem agrum alluit. Narrantque eius vici incolas, iumento quod D. Thomas Canthuariensis episcopus insideret, per ludibrium caudam amputasse, ob idque diuina vltione adnatas incolis eius loci caudas: vt in hos fatidici regis carmen torqueri possit: Percussit eos (inquit) in posteriora eorum, opprobrium sempiternum dedit illis. De huiusmodi caudis quidam in hunc modum lusit:
Fertur equo Thomæ caudam obtruncasse Britannos,
Hinc Anglos caudas constat hubere breueis.”
Anglicæ Descriptionis compendium, Per Gulielmum Paradinum Cuyselliensem, 1545. p. 69.
On the proverbial expression Kentish Long-Tailes, Fuller has the following remarks. “Let me premise, that those are much mistaken who first found this Proverb on a Miracle of Austin the Monk.... I say they are much mistaken, for the Scæne of this Lying Wonder was not laied in any Part of Kent, but pretended many miles off, nigh Cerne in Dorsetshire. To come closer to the sence of this Proverb, I conceive it first of outlandish extraction, and cast by forraigners as a note of disgrace on all the English, though it chanceth to stick only on the Kentish at this Day. For when there happened in Palestine a difference betwixt Robert brother of Saint Lewis King of France and our William Longspee Earle of Salisbury, heare how the French-man insulted over our nation:
Matthew Paris. Anno Dom. 1250. pag. 790.
O timidorum caudatorum formidolositas! quam beatus, quam mundus præsens foret exercitus, si a caudis purgaretur et caudatis.
O the cowardliness of these fearful Long-tails! How happie, how cleane would this our armie be, were it but purged from tails and Long-tailes.
That the English were nicked by this speech appears by the reply of the Earle of Salisbury following still the metaphor; 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. In proof whereof they produce ancient pictures of the English Drapery and Armory, wherein such conveyances doe appear. If so, it was neither sin nor shame for the common sort of people to carry their own necessaries, and it matters not much whether the pocket be made on either side, or wholly behinde. If any demand how this nick-name (cut off from the rest of England) continues still entaild on Kent? The best conjecture is, because that county lieth nearest to France, and the French are beheld as the first founders of this aspersion. But if any will have the Kentish so called from drawing and dragging boughs of trees behind them, which afterwards they advanced above their heads and so partly cozened partly threatned King William the Conqueror to continue their ancient customes, I say, if any will impute it to this original, I will not oppose.” Worthies (Kent, p. 63), ed. 1662. The preceding passage of Fuller, somewhat abridged, is copied by Ray into his Proverbs, p. 245. ed. 1768. For fanciful stories concerning the origin of Kentish long-tails, see also Cornv-copiæ, Pasquils Night-cap, 1612, (attributed to S. Rowlands), p. 42. sqq.; and the commencement of Robin Good-fellow, His mad Prankes and Merry Jests, 1628, (a tract which originally appeared at an earlier date).
Page 193. v. 1. Gup] See note, p. 99. v. 17.
v. 23. Agayn] i. e. Against.
v. 26. dur] i. e. door.
v. 28. Go shake thy dog, hey] In our author’s Magnyfycence, v. 306. vol. i. 235, is,—
“Go, shake the dogge, hay, syth ye wyll nedys.”
and had the expression occurred only in these two passages of Skelton, I should have felt confident that in the present one “thy” was a misprint for “the,” and that both were to be explained—“Go shake thee, dog,” &c.; but again, in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c. v. 159. vol. ii. 72, we find,
“Twyt, Scot, shake thy dogge, hay!”
Page 194. v. 34. hose] i. e. breeches.
v. 37. A spectacle case, &c.] See note, p. 193. v. 133.
v. 40. A tolman to blot] A friend queries “tal man?” but tolman is, I believe, pen-man: compare our author’s third poem Against Garnesche;
“Had ye gonne with me to scole,
And occupyed no better your tole [i. e. pen],” &c.
v. 117. vol. i. 123.
also the commencement of the present piece,—
“Gup, Scot,
Ye blot.”
v. 41. rough foted] See note, p. 222. v. 170.
v. 43. depraue] i. e. vilify, defame.
v. 44. reame] i. e. realm.
v. 56. rankis] i. e., perhaps, wrangles.
v. 58. Huntley bankes] See note, p. 221. v. 149.
v. 60. Dunde, Dunbar] See note, p. 219. v. 121.
v. 63. to far] i. e. too far.