ELYNOUR RUMMYNGE.
On the title-page and also on the last leaf of Rand’s edition of this poem, 1624, 4to, (reprinted, not with perfect accuracy, in the Harleian Miscellany; see vol. i. 415. ed. Park,) is an imaginary portrait, of which the subjoined is a fac-simile:
“When Skelton wore the Laurell Crowne,
My Ale put all the Ale-wiues downe.”
George Steevens having heard that a copy of Rand’s edition was in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, prevailed on the Dean to bring it to London; and having made a drawing of the title-page, gave it to Richardson the printseller, who engraved and published it. Steevens, soon after, contributed to the European Magazine for May, 1794, vol. xxv. 334,—
“Verses meant to have been subjoined (with the following Motto) to a Copy from a scarce Portrait of Elinour Rumming, lately published by Mr. Richardson, of Castle-street, Leicester-square.
Ne sit ancillæ tibi amor pudori
Xanthia Phoceu! prius insolentem
Serva Briseis niveo colore
Movit Achillem.
Movit Ajacem Telamone natum
Forma captivæ dominum Tecmessæ;
Arsit Atrides medio in triumpho
Virgine rapta.
Horace.
“Eleonora Rediviva.
To seek this nymph among the glorious dead,
Tir’d with his search on earth, is Gulston fled:—
Still for these charms enamour’d Musgrave sighs;
To clasp these beauties ardent Bindley dies;—
For these (while yet unstag’d to public view)
Impatient Brand o’er half the kingdom flew;—
These, while their bright ideas round him play,
From classic Weston force the Roman lay:—
Oft too, my Storer! heaven has heard thee swear,
Not Gallia’s murder’d Queen was half so fair:—
‘A new Europa!’ cries the exulting Bull,
‘My Granger now (I thank the gods) is full:’—
Even Cracherode’s self, whom passions rarely move,
At this soft shrine has deign’d to whisper love.—
Haste then, ye swains, who Rumming’s form adore,
Possess your Elinour, and sigh no more.
W. R.”
The Marquis of Bute told Dallaway that he gave twenty guineas for the original engraving of Elinour: see Dallaway’s Letheræum, 1821, p. 6.
Rand’s edition opens with the following lines, which, I need hardly observe, are by some rhymer of the day:
“Skeltons Ghost.
To all tapsters and tiplers,
And all ale house vitlers,
Inne-keepers and cookes,
That for pot-sale lookes,
And will not giue measure,
But at your owne pleasure,
Contrary to law,
Scant measure will draw
In pot and in canne,
To cozen a man
Of his full quart a penny,
Of you there’s to many:
For in King Harry’s time,
When I made this rime
Of Elynor Rumming
With her good ale tunning,
Our pots were full quarted,
We were not thus thwarted
With froth-canne and nick-pot
And such nimble quick shot,
That a dowzen will score
For twelue pints and no more.
Full Winchester gage
We had in that age;
The Dutchmans strong beere
Was not hopt ouer heere,
To vs t’was unknowne:
Bare ale of our owne
In a bowle we might bring
To welcome the king,
And his grace to beseech,
With, Wassall my Leigh.[270]
Nor did that time know
To puffe and to blow
In a peece of white clay,
As you doe at this day,
With fier and coale,
And a leafe in a hole;
As my ghost hath late seene,
As I walked betweene
Westminster Hall
And the church of Saint Paul,
And so thorow the citie,
Where I saw and did pitty
My countrymen’s cases,
With fiery-smoke faces,
Sucking and drinking
A filthie weede stinking,
Was ne’re knowne before
Till the deuill and the More
In th’ Indies did meete,
And each other there greete
With a health they desire
Of stinke, smoake, and fier.
But who e’re doth abhorre it,
The citie smoakes for it;
Now full of fier-shops
And fowle spitting chops,
So neesing and coughing,
That my ghost fell to scoffing,
And to myselfe said,
Here’s fylthie fumes made;
Good physicke of force
To cure a sicke horse.
Nor had we such slops,
And shagge-haire on our tops:
At wearing long haire
King Harry would sweare,
And gaue a command
With speede out of hand
All heads should be powl’d,
As well young as old,
And his owne was first so,
Good ensample to show.
Y’are so out of fashion,
I know not our nation;
Your ruffes and your bands,
And your cuffes at your hands;
Your pipes and your smokes,
And your short curtall clokes;
Scarfes, feathers, and swerds,
And thin bodkin beards;
Your wastes a span long,
Your knees with points hung,
Like morrice-daunce bels;
And many toyes els,
Which much I distaste:
But Skelton’s in haste.
My masters, farewell;
Reade ouer my Nell,
And tell what you thinke
Of her and her drinke:
If shee had brew’d amisse,
I had neuer wrote this.”
[270] Leigh] Meant for “Liege.”
At the end of the poem is, from the same hand,
“Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader.[271]
Thus, countrymen kinde,
I pray let me finde,
For this merry glee,
No hard censure to be.
King Henry the Eight
Had a good conceit
Of my merry vaine,
Though duncicall plaine
It now nothing fits
The time’s nimble wits:
My lawrell and I
Are both wither’d dry,
And you flourish greene
In your workes daily seene,
That come from the presse,
Well writ I confesse;
But time will devouer
Your poets as our,
And make them as dull
As my empty scull.”
[271] Skelton’s Ghost to the Reader, &c.] I give these lines from the Harl. Miscel., the copy of Rand’s ed. which was lent to me by Mr. Heber, wanting the last leaf.
Concerning Elynour Rummyng and the poem by which Skelton has rendered her famous, Dallaway has the following remarks,—his account of the circumstances which introduced Skelton to her acquaintance being a mere hypothesis!! “When the Court of Henry viii was frequently kept at the palace of Nonsuch (about six miles distant), the laureate, with other courtiers, sometimes came to Leatherhead for the amusement of fishing, in the river Mole; and were made welcome at the cabaret of Elinor Rummyng, whom Skelton celebrated in an equivocal encomium, in a short [?—it consists of 623 lines—] poem, remarkable only for a very coarse jest, after a manner peculiar to the author and the times in which he lived, but which has been more frequently reprinted than his other works. The gist or point of this satire had a noble origin, or there must be an extraordinary coincidence of thought in the Beoni, or Topers, a ludicrous effusion of the great Lorenzo de Medici, when a young man.... Her domicile, near the bridge, still exists. The annexed etching was made from a drawing taken previously to late repairs, but it still retains its first distinction as an ale-house.”
“Some of her descendants occur in the parish register in the early part of the last century.” Letheræum, 1821, pp. 4-6.
The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng] Besides “I Tonne ale or wyne I put lycour in to tonnes, Je entöne,” Palsgrave has “I Tonne I masshe ale, Je brasse.... Whan tonne you and god wyll: Quant brasserez vous,” &c. Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccclxxxxi. (Table of Verbes); and here Tunnyng means—Brewing.
P. 95. v. 1.
Tell you I chyll,
If that ye wyll
A whyle be styll]
—I chyll, i. e. Ich wyll, I will. Compare Syr Gawayn and the Grene Knyȝt;
“And ȝe wyl a whyle be stylle,
I schal telle yow how thay wroȝt.”
p. 74. Bann. ed.
and the Prol. to Kyng Alisaunder;
“Yef ye wolen sitte stille,
Ful feole Y wol yow telle.”
Weber’s Met. Rom. i. 5.
Page 95. v. 4. gyll] Equivalent here to girl—a familiar name for a female; as in the proverb, “Every Jack must have his Gill:” supposed by some etymologists to be an abbreviation of Julia, Juliana, or Gillian; by Richardson (Dict. in v.) to be a corruption of giglot.
v. 6. gryll] “Grymm gryl and horryble ... horridus ... horribilis.” Prompt. Parv.,—MS. Harl. 221. (Ed. 1499 of that work omits “gryl..”) The word is of frequent occurrence; but its exact meaning here seems to be doubtful.
v. 12. lere] i. e. complexion, skin.
v. 14. chere] i. e. look, countenance.
v. 17. bowsy] i. e. bloated by drinking.
v. 21. here] i. e. hair.
v. 22. lewde] i. e. vile, nasty.
v. 23. sayne] i. e. say.
v. 25. glayre] i. e. viscous matter.
Page 96. v. 27.
Her nose somdele hoked,
And camously croked]
—somdele hoked, i. e. somewhat hooked. “Camed or short nosed. Simus.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. “A Camoise nose, that is to saie crooked vpward as the Morians [Moors].” Baret’s Alvearie. “Camuse. Flat.” Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales. “Camused. Flat, broad and crooked; as applied to a nose, what we popularly call a snub-nose.” Nares’s Gloss. Todd, quoting this passage of Skelton, explains camously, awry. Johnson’s Dict. in v.
v. 34. gowndy] So Lydgate;
“A goundy eye is deceyued soone,
That any colour cheseth by the moone.”
Warres of Troy, B. ii. sig. H iii. ed. 1555.
“Gownde of the eye. Ridda, Albugo.” Prompt. Parv.,—MS. Harl. 221.
v. 35. vnsowndy] i. e. unsound.
v. 38. jetty] i. e. that part of a building which projects beyond the rest.
Page 96. v. 40.
—— how she is gumbed,
Fyngered and thumbed]
i. e. what gums, fingers, and thumbs she has.
v. 45. huckels] i. e. hips.
v. 49. Foted] i. e. Footed.
v. 51. iet] i. e. strut: see note, p. 94. v. 43.
v. 52. fet] Means, perhaps, feat,—neat, handsome one.
v. 53. flocket] “Is described as a loose garment with large sleeves:” see Strutt’s Dress and Habits, &c. ii. 373.
v. 54. rocket] i. e. a garment, worn often without, and sometimes with sleeves; sometimes it was made to reach the ground, and sometimes much shorter and open at the sides. See Id. ibid.
v. 55. With symper the cocket] So Heywood in his Dialogue;
“Vpright as a candell standth in a socket,
Stoode she that day, so simper decocket.”
Sig. F,—Workes, ed. 1598.
and Jonson in his Masque, The Gipsies Metamorphosed;
“Lay by your wimbles,
Your boring for thimbles,
Or using your nimbles,
In diving the pockets,
And sounding the sockets
Of simper-the-cockets.”
Works (by Gifford), vii. 376.
In a note on the latter passage, Whalley quotes from Cotgrave’s Dict.: “Coquine, a beggar-woman, also a cockney, simper de cockit, nice thing.” Gifford (ibid.) remarks, “Cocket was a fine species of bread, as distinguished from common bread; hence, perhaps, the name was given to an overstrained affectation of delicacy. To simper at, or over, a thing, is to touch it as in scorn.” Nares (Gloss. in v.) doubts (justly, I think) the connexion of simper-the-cocket with cocket bread, and explains it, “quasi simpering coquette,” observing, that “one of Cotgrave’s words in rendering ‘coquette’ is cocket.” I may add, that in Gloss. of Prov. and Loc. Words by Grose and Pegge, ed. 1839, is, “Cocket, brisk, apish, pert,” and “Simper, to mince one’s words.”
Page 97. v. 56.
Her huke of Lyncole grene,
It had ben hers, I wene,
More then fourty yere]
“Huke surquanie, froc.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xli. (Table of Subst.). “A loose kind of garment, of the cloak or mantle kind.” Strutt’s Dress and Habits, &c. ii. 364. “Lyncolne anciently dyed the best greene of England.” Marg. note in Drayton’s Polyolbion, Song 25. p. 111. ed. 1622.—Compare a celebrated ballad;
“My cloake it was a verry good cloake,
Itt hath been alwayes true to the weare,
But now it is not worth a groat;
I have had it four and forty yeere.”
Take thy old cloak about thee,—Percy’s Rel. of A. E. P. i. 206. ed. 1794.
Page 97. v. 63. woll] i. e. wool.
v. 68. gytes] i. e. clothes. Gite is properly a gown:
“And she came after in a gite of red.”
Chaucer’s Reves Tale, v. 3952. ed. Tyr.
v. 69. pranked with pletes]—pletes, i. e. plaits. “I Pranke ones gowne I set the plyghtes in order.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cccxxi. (Table of Verbes).
v. 70. Her kyrtel Brystow red]—kyrtel; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.
“London hath scarlet, and Bristowe pleasaunt red.”
Barclay’s Fourth Egloge, sig. C iiii. ed. 1570.
“At Brystowe is the best water to dye reed.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. V ii. ed. 1530.
v. 74. gyse] i. e. guise, fashion.
v. 75. whym wham] i. e. something whimsically, fantastically devised. The word is frequently applied to articles of female finery by our early dramatists. In Ane Interlude of the Laying of a Gaist, we are told that the Gaist (ghost)
“stall fra peteouss Abrahame
An quhorle and ane quhum quhame.”
v. 74,—Laing’s An. Pop. Poetry of Scotland.
Whim-wham is used by Gray, Works, iii. 123. ed. Mitford, and by Lamb, Prose Works, ii. 142.
v. 76. trym tram] i. e. some trim, neat ornament, or pretty trifle. In Weaver’s Lusty Juuentus, Hipocrisie, after enumerating a variety of popish trumpery, adds
“And a hundred trim trams mo.”
Sig. B iiii. ed. Copland.
v. 77. brayne pan] i. e. skull, head. See note, p. 100. v. 31.
v. 78. Egyptian] i. e. gipsy.
Page 98. v. 85. gose] i. e. goose.
v. 88. shone] i. e. shoes.
v. 90. baudeth] i. e. fouls. “I Baudy or fyle or soyle with any filthe, Ie souylle.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. clviii. (Table of Verbes). “The auter clothes, and the vestementes shulde be very clene, not baudy, nor torne,” &c. Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. E iiii.
Page 98. v. 94. wonnynge] i. e. dwelling.
v. 96. Sothray] i. e. Surrey.
v. 97. stede] i. e. place.
v. 98. Lederhede] i. e. Leatherhead; see p. 157.
v. 99. tonnysh gyb] The epithet tonnysh is perhaps derived from her occupation of tunning (see note, p. 158), or perhaps it may allude to her shape: gyb is properly a male cat (see note, p. 122. v. 27); but the term, as here, is sometimes applied to a woman;
“And give a thousand by-words to my name,
And call me Beldam, Gib, Witch, Night-mare, Trot.”
Drayton’s Epistle from Elinor Cobham to Duke Humphrey,—Poems, p. 175. ed. 1619. fol.
v. 100. syb] i. e. related, akin.
v. 102. noppy] i. e. nappy.
v. 103. port sale] If the right reading, must be used here for—sale in general. “Port-sale, The Sale of Fish as soon as it is brought into the Harbour; also an Out-cry or Publick Sale of any Commodity.” Kersey’s Dict.
v. 105. To sweters, to swynkers] i. e. to those who sweat and labour hard,—to labourers of various kinds.
“For we can neyther swyncke nor sweate.”
Pierce Plowman, sig. I ii. ed. 1561.
v. 110. Now away the mare] Skelton has the same expression in his Magnyfycence, v. 1342. vol. i. 268. Compare The Frere and the Boye;
“Of no man he had no care,
But sung, hey howe, awaye the mare.”
Ritson’s An. Pop. Poetry, p. 37.
and Jyl of Braintfords Testament, n. d.;
“Ah sira, mary away the mare,
The deuil giue thee sorow and care.”
sig. B ii.
and A new Commodye &c. of the bewte & good propertes of women, &c. n. d.
“Tush syr be mery let pas awey the mare.”
sig. A ii.
The words are doubtless a portion of some song or ballad. In Ravenscroft’s Melismata, Musicall Phansies, &c. 1611, is a song (No. 6) supposed to be sung by “Seruants out of Seruice” who “are going to the Citie to looke for new;”
“Heigh ho, away the Mare,
Let vs set aside all care,
If any man be disposed to trie,
Loe here comes a lustie crew,
That are enforced to crie
A new Master, a new,” &c.
Page 99. v. 111. sley] i. e. slay.
v. 115. Wyth, Fyll the cup, fyll] So in The Hye Way to the Spyttell Hous, by Copland, n. d.;
“With fyll the pot, fyll, and go fyll me the can.”
Utterson’s Early Pop. Poet. ii. 15.
v. 122. Hardely] i. e. Assuredly.
v. 123. heles dagged] In Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. is “Daggyd. Fractillosus,”—a sense in which Skelton certainly has the word elsewhere (Garlande of Laurell, v. 630. vol. i. 386); but here perhaps dagged may mean—be-mired: “I Daggyll or I dagge a thing with myer.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cciii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 124. kyrtelles] See note, p. 149. v. 1194.
—— all to-iagged] See note, p. 100. v. 32: “I Cutte or iagge a garment.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cciii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 130. tunnynge] i. e. brewing; see note, p. 158.
v. 131. leneth ... on] i. e. lendeth, furnisheth ... of: compare v. 491.
v. 139. sorte] i. e. set, company.
v. 142. skewed] Does it mean—distorted? or walking obliquely? or squinting? see Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. in v. Skew. A friend suggests that this epithet, as well as that in the preceding line, may be applied to colour,—the words being still used as terms of the stable.
Page 100. v. 143. sho clout] i. e. shoe-cloth.
v. 145. herelace] i. e. hair-band.
v. 147. tresses vntrust] So Lydgate;—“With heyr vntrussed.” Warres of Troy, B. iii. sig. S i. ed. 1555.
v. 148. vnlust] i. e. unpleasantness, unseemliness.
v. 149.
Some loke strawry,
Some cawry mawry]
—loke, i. e. look: strawry I do not remember to have met with elsewhere: cawry mawry (as a substantive) occurs in Pierce Plowman;
“[Envy] was as pale as a pellet, in the palsey he semed
And clothed in Caurymaury,” &c.
sig. F ii. ed. 1561.
Page 100. v. 151. vntydy] i. e. sluttish.
—— tegges] 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].”
MS. Harl. 2255. fol. 156.
v. 153. lewde sorte] i. e. vile set, low rabble.
v. 155. tyde] i. e. time, season.
v. 161. commy] i. e. come.
v. 163. shreud aray]—shreud, i. e. evil, bad. “Araye condicion or case poynt.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xviii. (Table of Subst.); which, however, may not be the sense of aray in the present passage. We find:—“Soo with this rumoure came in syr launcelot and fond them al at a grete araye.” Morte d’Arthur, B. xix. c. vi. vol. ii. 374. ed. Southey; the next chapter beginning “What araye is this sayd sir Launcelot,” &c. “For al this foule araye, for al this great frai.” Mery Tales, Wittie Questions, &c., 1567. p. 18, reprint. See also our author’s sacred poem, Wofully araid, vol. i. 141, and note on it.
v. 171. draffe] i. e. hog-wash—either the coarse liquor, or brewers’ grains, with which swine are fed.
v. 173. swyllynge tubbe] i. e. tub in which swillings (hog-wash) are preserved for swine.
v. 174.
For, be there neuer so much prese,
These swyne go to the hye dese]
—prese, i. e. press, throng: dese, or dais, a word of doubtful etymology, generally means—a table of estate,—the upper table raised on a platform more elevated than the others. See Tyrwhitt’s note on Cant. Tales, v. 372; and Richardson’s Dict. in v. Dais. It sometimes signifies a long bench (see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v. Deis); and such seems to be its meaning here, as in the fourth line after this “the hye benche” is mentioned.—Roy in his satire against Wolsey, Rede me, and be nott wrothe, &c., has imitated the present passage of Skelton;
“For, be there never so grett prease,
They are set up at the hy dease.”
Harl. Miscell. ix. 51. ed. Park.
Page 101. v. 185.
God gyue it yll preuynge,
Clenly as yuell cheuynge]
—preuynge, i. e. proving.
“And prechest on thy benche, with evil prefe:” (i. e. evil may it prove!)
Chaucer’s Wif of Bathes Prol. v. 5829. ed. Tyr.
—yuell cheuynge, i. e. evil ending, bad success.
“God geve it yvell chevynge.”
Roy’s Rede me, &c., Harl. Miscell. ix. 79. ed. Park.
See also Cocke Lorelles bote, sig. B i., Towneley Myst. p. 108, and Chaucer’s Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16693. ed. Tyr.
v. 189. patch] I know not how to explain.
v. 190. ron] i. e. run.
v. 192. ioust] i. e. joist.
v. 196. bolle] i. e. bowl.
v. 198. skommeth] i. e. skimmeth.
v. 199. Whereas] i. e. Where.
v. 201. blennes] i. e. blends.
Page 102. v. 212. And ye may it broke] i. e. If you may brook it.
v. 213. loke] i. e. look.
v. 218. ble] i. e. colour, complexion.
v. 219. Ich am] i. e. I am.
v. 222. In lust and in lykyng] See note, p. 98. v. 23.
v. 223. whytyng] So in our early dramas, whiting-mop (young whiting) is a cant term for a nice young woman, a tender creature: see Puttenham’s Arte of E. P., 1589. p. 184., and note in my ed. of Webster’s Works, in. 37.
v. 224. mullyng] This term of endearment occurs in the Coventry Mysteries, applied by one of the shepherds to the infant Saviour;
“Thow I be the last that take my leve
ȝit fayre mullynge take it nat at no greve.”
MS. Cott. Vesp.. D viii. fol. 91.
Compare also Hormanni Vulgaria: “This is a fayre and swete mullynge. Blandus est puerulus insigni festiuitate.” Sig. dd vii. ed. 1530.
—— mytyng] In the Towneley Mysteries, one of the shepherds says to the infant Saviour,
“Haylle, so as I can, haylle, praty mytyng!”
p. 96.
and Jamieson gives myting as a fondling designation for a child, Et. Dict. of Scot. 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. C 4. ed. 1606.
Page 102. v. 225. His nobbes and his conny] So in a song in The Triall of Treasure, 1567;
“My mouse my nobs and cony swete.”
Sig. E.
conny, i. e. rabbit.
v. 227. Bas] i. e. Kiss.
—— bonny] i. e. precious one (rather than—beautiful one,—for it has the epithet “prety”).
v. 229. This make I my falyre fonny] This, i. e. Thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38: it has been suggested that falyre means fellow; which I doubt: fonny is, I suppose, foolishly amorous; compare—
“As freshly then thou shalt begin to fonne
And dote in loue.”
Chaucer’s Court of Loue,—Workes, fol. 329. ed. 1602.
“With kissing, and with clapping, I gert the carill fon.”
Dunbar’s Tua Maryit Wemen and The Wedo, Poems, i. 71. ed. Laing.
v. 230. dronny] i. e. drone.
v. 232. rout] i. e. snore.
Page 103. v. 245. conny] i. e. rabbit.
v. 247. a salt] i. e. a salt-cellar.
—— spone] i. e. spoon.
v. 248. shone] i. e. shoon, shoes.
v. 250. a skellet] i. e. a skillet, a small kettle: in Suffolk it means a brass perforated implement for skimming the cream off milk; see Moor’s Suff. Words.
v. 251.
Some fyll theyr pot full
Of good Lemster woll]
The meaning is—in the pot which was to hold the ale they brought wool “instede of monny” (v. 244).
Page 103. v. 254. athrust] i. e. a-thirst.
v. 258. slaty or slyder] i. e. miry or slippery.
Page 104. v. 266. renne] i. e. run.
v. 269. byrle] The word birl—to pour out, furnish for, or part drink among guests—(see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. in v., and Leyden’s Gloss. to The Comp. of Scotland in v. Beir)—is not very common in English literature: “the olde God of wyne called Baccus birlyng the wyne.” Hall’s Chronicle, (Hen. viii.) fol. lxxiii. ed. 1548.
v. 270. gest] i. e. guest.
v. 271. She swered by the rode of rest]—rode, i. e. rood,—cross: see note on Ware the Hauke, v. 69.
“That is hardly saide, man, by the roode of rest.”
Barclay’s First Egloge, sig. A iii. ed. 1570.
v. 280. haruest gyrdle] i. e. perhaps, a girdle worn at the feast after the gathering in of the corn.
v. 286. To offer to the ale tap] So in Jak Hare, a poem attributed to Lydgate;
“And with his wynnynges he makith his offrynge
At the ale stakis.”
MS. Harl. 2251. fol. 14.
v. 288. sowre dowe]—dowe, i. e. dough. “Sower dough leuayn.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxv. (Table of Subst.).
v. 289. howe] i. e. ho.
v. 292. And pype tyrly tyrlowe] Compare a Song belonging to the Tailors’ and Shearmen’s Pageant;
“Thé sange terly terlow.”
Sharp’s Diss. on Coventry Pag. and Myst., p. 114.
v. 295. hekell] i. e. comb for dressing flax.
v. 296. rocke] i. e. distaff.—In a poem entitled Cryste Crosse me Spede. A. B. C. Imprynted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of the Sonne, by me Wynkyn de Worde, 4to. (which I know only from the account of it in Typog. Antiq. ii. 367. ed. Dibdin) are the following lines;
“A grete company of gossyps gadred on a route
Went to besyege an ale hous rounde aboute
Some brought a distaffe & some a rele
Some brought a shouell & some a pele
Some brought drynke & some a tankarde
And a galon potte faste they drewe thederward,” &c.
Though no edition of Elynour Rummyng has come down to us printed anterior to Cryste Crosse me Spede, the evident imitation of the former in the passage just quoted, shews that it must have existed.
Page 104. v. 298. wharrowe] i. e. whirl, or wharve, for a spindle. “A spyndell with a wharowe—fusus cum spondulo, siue verticillo siue harpage.” Hormanni Vulg. sig. t i. ed. 1530.
v. 299. rybskyn] In Prompt. Parv., ed. 1499, “Rybskyn” stands without a Latin term; but in the copy of that work, MS. Harl. 221, is “Rybbe skynn. Melotula.” In a MS. Catholicon in Lingua materna, dated 1483, I find “Rybbynge skyn. nebrida. pellicudia.” I may add that in Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530, “Rybbe skynne” occurs without the corresponding French, fol. lix. (Table of Subst.).—Does it mean (as Albert Way, Esq. has obligingly suggested to me) a leather apron, used during the operation of flax-dressing?
Page 105. v. 303. thrust] i. e. thirst.
v. 305.
But drynke, styll drynke,
And let the cat wynke]
So in The Worlde and the Chylde, 1522;
“Manhode. Now let vs drynke at this comnaunt
For that is curtesy.
Folye. Mary mayster ye shall haue in hast
A ha syrs let the catte wyncke,” &c.
Sig. C ii.
See also three epigrams by Heywood Of the winking Cat,—Workes, sig. P 4. ed. 1598.
v. 307. gommes] i. e. gums.
v. 308. crommes] i. e. crums.
v. 314. chaffer] i. e. merchandise.
v. 319. in all the hast] Compare: “Bulwarkes were made in all the haste.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. z iii. ed. 1530.
“the ryght way
To London they tooke in all the haste.”
Smith’s xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth, ed. 1573. sig. H iiii.
v. 320. vnlast] i. e. unlaced.
v. 323. all hallow] i. e. all saints,—perhaps, All-saints’ day.
v. 324.
It was a stale to take
The deuyll in a brake]
For “stare,” which is the reading of all the eds., I have substituted “stale”—i. e. lure, decoy. “Stale of fowlys takinge.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. So in Marmyon’s Hollands Leaguer, 1632;
“And if my skill not failes me, her I’ll make
A Stale, to take this Courtier in a brake.”
Act ii. sc. 1. sig. D 3.
Compare too an epigram by Heywood;
“Take time when time commeth: are we set time to take?
Beware time, in meane time, take not vs in brake.”
Workes, sig. Q 3. ed. 1598.
and Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey; “At last, as ye have heard here before, how divers of the great estates and lords of the council lay in a-wait with my Lady Anne Boleyn, to espy a convenient time and occasion to take the cardinal in a brake.” p. 147. ed. 1827.—In our text, and in the passages just quoted, brake seems to be used for trap: among its various significations, it means a strong wooden frame for confining the feet of horses, preparatory to their being shod; see Gifford’s note on Jonson’s Works, iii. 463.
Page 105. v. 327. gambone] i. e. gammon.
v. 328. resty] i. e. reasty, rancid.
v. 330. Angry as a waspy]—waspy, i. e. wasp. So Heywood;
“Now mery as a cricket, and by and by,
Angry as a waspe.”
Dialogue, sig. C 4,—Workes, ed. 1598.
v. 331. yane] “I yane I gaspe or gape.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxi. (Table of Verbes).
—— gaspy] i. e. gasp.
Page 106. v. 332. go bet] Compare;
“Arondel, queth Beues tho,
For me loue go bet, go.”
Sir Beues of Hamtoun, p. 129. Maitl. ed.
“Go bet, quod he, and axe redily,
What corps is this,” &c.
Chaucer’s Pardoneres Tale, v. 12601. ed. Tyrwhitt,—
who observes that in the following lines of Chaucer’s Legend of Dido (288), go bet seems to be a term of the chase;
“The herd of hartes founden is anon,
With hey, go bet, pricke thou, let gon, let gon.”
“He hath made me daunce, maugre my hede,
Amonge the thornes, hey go bette.”
The Frere and the Boye,—An. Pop. Poetry, p. 46. ed. Ritson,—
who supposes the words to be the name of some old dance.
Page 106. v. 333. met] i. e. measure.
v. 334. fet] i. e. fetched.
v. 335. spycke] “Spyk of flesshe. Popa.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. The copy of that work, MS. Harl. 221, has “Spyk or fet flesche,” &c.
v. 336. flycke] i. e. flitch.
v. 339. stut] i. e. stutter.
v. 343. sayne] i. e. says.
—— a fyest] So Hawes;
“She let no ferte nor yet fyste truelye.”
The Pastime of pleasure, sig. Q viii. ed. 1555.
“A fiest, Tacitus flatus.” Withals’s Dict. p. 343. ed. 1634.
v. 346. wyth shamfull deth] Equivalent to—may you die with a shameful death! see Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales, in v. With.
v. 347. callettes] i. e. trulls, drabs, jades.
v. 348. I shall breake your palettes]—palettes, i. e. crowns, pates. So in a poem by Sir R. Maitland;
“For your rewarde now I sall brek your pallat.”
Anc. Scot. Poems from. Maitl. MSS., ii. 317. ed. Pinkerton,—
who, in the Gloss., wrongly explains it “cut your throat.”
v. 350. And so was made the peace] In confirmation of the reading which I have given, compare Reynard the Fox; “Thus was the pees made by fyrapel the lupaerd frendly and wel.” Sig. e 5. ed. 1481; and see note on v. 319. p. 168.
v. 354. sainct James in Gales] The body of Saint James the Great having, according to the legend, been buried at Compostella in Galicia (Gales), a church was built over it. Pilgrims flocked to the spot; several popes having granted the same indulgences to those who repaired to Compostella, as to those who visited Jerusalem. In The foure P. P. by Heywood, the Palmer informs us that he has been
“At saynt Cornelys at saynt James in Gales
And at saynt Wynefrydes well in Walles,” &c.
Sig. A ii. ed. n. d.
v. 355. Portyngales] i. e. Portuguese.
v. 356. I wys] i. e. truly, certainly (i-wis, adv.).
v. 360. the Crosse in Chepe] Was originally erected in 1290 by Edward I. at one of the resting places of the body of his beloved Eleanor, in its progress from Herdeby, where she died, to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried; and was adorned with her image and arms. Of its being afterwards rebuilt,—of the conduits that were added to it, &c. &c. an account will be found in Stow’s Survey, B. iii. 35. ed. 1720, and Sup. to Gent. Mag. for 1764, vol. 34. 607. This structure was barbarously demolished in 1643, as a monument of Popish superstition.
Page 106. v. 362. route] i. e. disorderly crowd.
Page 107. v. 364.
Sneuelyng in her nose,
As thoughe she had the pose]
—pose, i. e. a rheum in the head. So Chaucer;
“he speketh in his nose,
And sneseth fast, and eke he hath the pose.”
The Manciples Prol. v. 17010. ed. Tyr.
See also Reves Tale, v. 4149.
v. 371. fyll] i. e. fell.
v. 372. barlyhood] Or barlikhood, is said to mean a fit of obstinacy or violent ill-humour produced by drunkenness: see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. and Supp. in v.; also Stevenson’s addition to Boucher’s Gloss. in v. Barlic.
v. 378. newe ale in cornes] So in Thersytes, n. d.;
“I will make the drincke worse than good ale in the cornes.”
p. 56. Rox. ed.
“New ale in cornes. Ceruisia cum recrementis.” Baret’s Alvearie, in v. Ale.
v. 386. fabell] i. e. talking.
v. 387. babell] i. e. babbling.
v. 388.
—— folys fylly
That had a fole wyth wylly]
Whether folys fylly means a foolish young jade (a filly,—compare what follows), or foolish Philly (Phillis,—compare our author’s Bowge of Court, v. 370. vol. i. 44); and whether or not wylly is meant for a proper name (as it is given in the comparatively recent ed. of Rand), let the reader judge.
v. 390. Iast you, and, gup, gylly] See note, p. 99. v. 17. “What gyppe gyll with a galde backe, begynne you to kycke nowe: Hey de par le diable gilotte,” &c. Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. cclxxii. (Table of Verbes). So Dunbar uses gillot for a young mare; see his Poems, i. 65, ii. 459 (note), ed. Laing.
v. 394. sennet] i. e. sennight, week.
Page 108. v. 395. pay] i. e. satisfaction, content.
v. 397. Of thyne ale let vs assay]—assay, i. e. try, taste. So in Pierce Plowman;
“I haue good ale goship said he, gloton wold thou assai.”
Sig. G ii. ed. 1561.
Page 108. v. 398. pylche] i. e. cloak of skins.
v. 399. conny] i. e. rabbit.
v. 490. loke] i. e. look.
—— donny] Richardson, Dict. in vv. Dun, Dunny, cites this line as containing an example of the latter word,—rightly, perhaps, for donne (dun) occurs in Skelton’s Magnyfycence, v. 1102. vol. i. 257.—The common people of Ireland employ donny in the sense of—poor, mean-looking, as “a donny creature;” also in the sense of—poorly, as “How are you to-day?”—“Och! but donny, very donny.” For this information I am indebted to the kindness of Miss Edgeworth, who has used the word in one of her excellent tales.
v. 407. blommer] i. e., perhaps, noise, uproar.
v. 408. a skommer] i. e. a skimmer.
v. 409. a slyce] “Sclyce to tourne meate tournoire.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 412. sterte] i. e. started, rushed.
v. 414. somdele seke] i. e. somewhat sick.
v. 415. a peny cheke] Does it mean—a puny chick?
v. 418. Margery Mylkeducke] So again in our author’s Magnyfycence;
“What, Margery Mylke Ducke, mermoset!”
v. 462. vol. i. 240.
Compare one of the Coventry Mysteries;
“Malkyn Mylkedoke and fayr Mabyle.”
MS. Cott. Vesp. D viii. fol. 74.
v. 419.
Her kyrtell she did vptucke
An ynche aboue her kne]
—kyrtell; see note, p. 149. v. 1194.—So in our old ballad poetry;
“Then you must cut your gowne of greene,
An inch above your knee.”
Child Waters,—Percy’s Rel. of A. E. P. iii. 56. ed. 1794.
v. 422. stubbed] i. e. short and thick.
v. 423. pestels] i. e. legs,—so called, perhaps, because the leg-bone resembles a pestle used in a mortar. The expression “pestle of pork” frequently occurs in our early writers; as in the following passage concerning the tremendous appetite of Charlemagne; “Whan he took hys repaast he was contente wyth lytel brede, but as touchyng the pytaunce, he ete at his repaast a quarter of moton, or ii hennes, or a grete ghoos, or a grete pestel of porke, or a pecok, or a crane, or an hare all hool.” Caxton’s Lyf of Charles the Grete, &c., 1485. sig. b iii.
Page 108. v. 423. clubbed] i. e. like clubs.
v. 425. fote] i. e. foot.
v. 426. foule] i. e. ugly: see note, p. 130. v. 442.
Page 109. v. 429. cantell] i. e. corner, piece, fragment.
v. 431. quycke] i. e. live.
v. 435. punyete] i. e. pungent.
v. 436. sorte] i. e. set, company.
v. 441. I wote nere] i. e. I know never, not.
v. 443. podynges and lynkes] “Links, a kind of Pudding, the skin being filled with Pork Flesh, and seasoned with diverse Spices, minced, and tied up at distances.” R. Holme’s Ac. of Armory, 1688. B. iii. p. 83. In Scotland the terms puddings and links are applied to various intestines of animals.
v. 447. leche] i. e. physician, doctor.—Dunbar makes a distinction, which I do not understand;
“In Medicyne the most Practicianis,
Leichis, Surrigianis, and Phisicianis.”
Poems, i. 213. ed. Laing.
v. 450. keke] i. e. kick.
v. 451. the vertue of an vnset leke] “Vnsette lekes be of more vertue than they that be sette ... præstant in medicina.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. f ii. ed. 1530.
v. 452. breke] i. e. breeches.
v. 453. feders] i. e. feathers.
v. 460. noughty froslynges] i. e. worthless things, stunted by frost. In Suffolk, froslin is applied to any thing—a lamb, a goslin, a chicken, an apple, &c., nipped, or pinched, or injured by frost: see Moor’s Suffolk Words, Appendix.
Page 110. v. 462. callet] i. e. trull, drab, jade.
v. 465. wretchockes] “The famous imp yet grew a wretchock; and though for seven years together he was carefully carried at his mother’s back, rocked in a cradle of Welsh cheese, like a maggot, and there fed with broken beer, and blown wine of the best daily, yet looks as if he never saw his quinquennium.” 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 is all the mystery. Was Whalley ignorant that what we now term chick, was once chocke and chooke?” The fol. ed. of the Masque of Gipsies has “wretch-cock,” which Nares, who does not know what to make of the word, observes “would admit of an easy derivation from wretch and cock, meaning a poor wretched fowl.” Gloss. in v.
Page 110. v. 466. shyre shakyng nought] i. e. sheer worthless. So again our author in his Magnyfycence;
“From qui fuit aliquid to shyre shakynge nought.”
v. 1319. vol. i. 267.
v. 475. fall] i. e. fallen.
v. 483. foggy] “Foggy, to full of waste flesshe.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).
v. 489. craw] i. e. crop, stomach.
v. 491. on] i. e. of: compare v. 131.
Page 111. v. 492. an old rybibe] 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.
v. 493. She halted of a kybe] i. e. She limped from a chap in the heel. The following remedy is seriously proposed in The Countrie Farme, and was no doubt applied by our ancestors: “For kibes on the heeles, make powder of old shooe soles burned, and of them with oile of roses annoint the kibes; or else lay vnto the kibes the rinde of a pomegranat boiled in wine.” p. 83. ed. 1600.
v. 496.
And fell so wyde open
That one myght se her token]
Compare The foure P. P. by Heywood;
“So was thys castell layd wyde open
That euery man myght se the token.”
Sig. D i. ed. n. d.
v. 498. wroken] i. e. wreaked.
v. 501. on Gods halfe] i. e. “on God’s part, with God’s favour.” Tyrwhitt’s Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales. “A goddes halfe: De par dieu.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. ccccxxxvi. (Table of Aduerbes).
Page 111. v. 503. beshrew] i. e. curse.
v. 506. lampatrams] A word which I am unable to explain.
v. 507. shap] i. e. pudendum: see Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xxvi. (Table of Subst.). So in a description of purgatory-punishments in the metrical legend of Owayne Myles;
“And some were yn to shappus
And some were vp to the pappus.”
MS. Cott. Calig. A ii. fol. 91.
v. 512. stert] i. e. started.
v. 515. dant] In Kilian’s Dict. is “Dante. Ambubaia, mulier ignaua.” ed. 1605; and in Gloss. to West. and Cumb. Dialect, “Dannet, a ... woman of disreputable character:” but, for aught I know, the word in the text may have some very different signification.
v. 516. a gose and a gant] Must mean here,—a goose and a gander: yet Skelton in Phyllyp Sparowe mentions first “the gose and the gander,” and afterwards “the gaglynge gaunte:” see note, p. 130. v. 447.
v. 517. wesant] i. e. weasand.
v. 519. olyfant] i. e. elephant.
v. 520. bullyfant] Another word which I do not understand.
v. 522. hedes] i. e. heads.
Page 112. v. 525. ale pole] i. e. pole, or stake, set up before an ale-house by way of sign.
v. 535. A strawe, sayde Bele, stande vtter]—stande vtter, i. e. stand more out, back.
“Straw, quod the thridde, ye ben lewed and nice.”
Chaucer’s Chanones Yemannes Tale, v. 16393. ed. Tyr.
“Stonde vtter felowe where doest thou thy curtesy preue?”
The Worlde and the Chylde, 1522. sig. B iv.
v. 538. sterte] i. e. started.
—— fysgygge] “Trotiere: A raumpe, fisgig, fisking huswife, raunging damsell, gadding or wandring flirt.” Cotgrave’s Dict. “Fiz-gig, a wild flirting wench.” Dialect of Craven, &c.
v. 543. gat] i. e. got.
v. 549. quod] i. e. quoth.
—— hyght] i. e. called.
v. 550. bybyll] i. e. drink, tipple.
v. 553. Wheywormed] i. e. covered with whey-worms,—pimples from which a whey-like moisture exudes.
Page 113. v. 555. puscull] i. e. pustule.
v. 556. muscull] i. e. muscle,—the shell of which is frequently “scabbyd.”
Page 113. v. 557. noppy] i. e. nappy.
v. 558. soppy] i. e. sop.
v. 560. mote I hoppy] i. e. may I have good hap.
v. 561. coleth] i. e. cooleth.
—— croppy] i. e. crop, stomach.
v. 563. Haue here is for me] See note, p. 118. v. 413.
v. 573. defoyled] i. e. defiled.
v. 575. sorte] i. e. set, company.
v. 582. a pryckemedenty] i. e. one affectedly nice, finical.
v. 583.
Sat lyke a seynty,
And began to paynty
As thoughe she would faynty]
—seynty, i. e. saint: paynty, i. e. paint,—feign: faynty, i. e. faint. Compare our author’s Colyn Cloute;
“That counterfaytes and payntes
As they were very sayntes.”
v. 922. vol. i. 347.
v. 587. a lege de moy] So again in our author’s Colyn Cloute;
“And howe Parys of Troy
Daunced a lege de moy,
Made lusty sporte and ioy
With dame Helyn the quene.”
v. 952. vol. i. 348.
I have not found elsewhere the term lege de moy. Mace, in his Musick’s Monument, 1676, mentions a Tattle de Moy,—“a New Fashion’d Thing, much like a Seraband; only It has more of Conceit in It, as (in a manner) speaking the word (Tattle de Moy),” &c. p. 129.
Page 114. v. 594. I wys] i. e. truly, certainly (i-wis, adv.).
v. 598. spence] i. e. store-room, for drink, or victuals: “Spens a buttrye despencier.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxvi. (Table of Subst.).
v. 609. awne] i. e. own.
v. 610. Neyther gelt nor pawne] i. e. Neither money nor pledge.
v. 615. balke] i. e. beam, post: “Balke of an house pouste.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xix. (Table of Subst.).
v. 616. tayle] i. e. tally. “A payre of taylles, suche as folke vse to score vpon for rekennyng.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xiii. (Thirde Boke).
v. 617. yll hayle] i. e. ill health,—ill luck,—a common imprecation in our old poetry;
“Ill haile, Alein, by God thou is a fonne.”
Chaucer’s Reves Tale, v. 4087. ed. Tyr.
See too Chester Mysteries (De Del. Noe), p. 27. Roxb. ed.
Page 114. v. 619. to mytche] i. e. too much.
v. 620. mummynge] i. e. frolicking, merriment.
Page 115. v. 622. gest] i. e. story. “Gest or romauns.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499.
v. 623. this worthy fest] So in the Coventry Mysteries;
“At wurthy festys riche men woll bene.”
MS. Cott. Vesp. D viii. fol. 32.
and in Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey, “It is not to be doubted but that the king was privy of all this worthy feast.” p. 199. ed. 1827.
Quod] i. e. Quoth.