WARE THE HAUKE.
This poem was evidently called forth by a real event; but the name of the “hawking parson” has not transpired. According to Barclay, skill in hawking sometimes advanced its possessor to a benefice;
“But if I durst truth plainely vtter and expresse,
This is the speciall cause of this inconuenience,
That greatest fooles, and fullest of lewdnes,
Hauing least wit, and simplest science,
Are first promoted, and haue greatest reuerence,
For if one can flatter, and beare a Hauke on his fist,
He shalbe made Parson of Honington or of Clist.”
The Ship of Fooles, fol. 2. ed. 1570.
I may add, that afterwards, in the same work, when treating of indecorous behaviour at church, Barclay observes;
“Into the Church then comes another sotte,
Without deuotion, ietting vp and downe,
Or to be seene, and to showe his garded cote:
Another on his fiste a Sparhauke or Fawcone,” &c.
fol. 85.
Page 155. v. 5. abused] i. e. vitiated, depraved.
“Be all yonge galandes of these abused sorte,
Whiche in yonge age vnto the court resorte?”
Barclay’s Third Egloge, sig. C ii. ed. 1570.
v. 8. daw] i. e. simpleton, fool; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 16. him fro] i. e. from him.
Page 156. v. 22. dysgysed] i. e. guilty of unbecoming conduct: so again in our author’s Colyn Cloute;
“They mought be better aduysed
Then to be so dysgysed.”
v. 581. vol. i. 333.
v. 30. apostrofacion] i. e. apostrophe.
v. 34. wrate] i. e. wrote.
v. 35. lewde] i. e. ignorant, worthless.
v. 42. Dis] Of which Skelton was rector; see Account of his Life and Writings.
v. 43. fonde] i. e. foolish.
—— fauconer] i. e. falconer.
v. 44. pawtenar] “Pautner [Pawtenere, MS. Harl. 221.]. Cassidile.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. “Will. Brito: Cassidile dicitur pera Aucupis in modum reticuli facta, in quo ponit quos in casse, id est, rete, cepit.” Du Cange’s Gloss. in v. “Pera ... anglice a skryppe or a pawtner.” Ortus Vocab. fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.
v. 48. hogeous] i. e. hugeous, huge.
v. 49. auter] i. e. altar.
v. 50. craked] i. e. talked vauntingly.
Page 157. v. 55. yede] i. e. went.
v. 56. pray] i. e. prey.
v. 60. tyrid] A term in falconry: the hawk tired on what was thrown to her, when she pulled at and tore it.
v. 62. mutid] i. e. dunged.
—— a chase] Compare a passage in that curious tract, by Walter Smith, xii Mery Jests of the wyddow Edyth;
“Her potage & eke her ale were well poudred
With an holsome influence that surgeons call
Pouder Sinipari that wil make on cast his gall:”
in consequence of which, she is compelled suddenly to quit the supper-table, and,
“When that she was vp, she got her foorth apace,
And er she had walkt xxx fote, she marked a chase
And eftsones another, thrugh the Hal as she yede,” &c.
Sig. f iii. ed. 1573.
“A chase at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis, it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.” Douce’s Illust. of Shakespeare, i. 485. Compare our author’s Why come ye nat to Courte, v. 880. vol. ii. 53.
Page 157. v. 63. corporas] i. e. communion-cloth, the fine linen cloth used to cover the body, or consecrated elements.
v. 65. gambawdis] i. e. gambols, pranks.
v. 66. wexid] i. e. waxed.
—— gery] “Gerysshe, wylde or lyght heeded farouche.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. lxxxviii. (Table of Adiect.).
“Howe gery fortune furyous and wode.”
Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, B. iii. leaf lxxvii. ed. Wayland.
“And as a swalowe geryshe of her flyghte,
Twene slowe and swifte, now croked nowe vpright.”
Ibid. B. vi. leaf cxxxiiii.
Tyrwhitt explains “gery—changeable.” Gloss. to Chaucer’s Cant. Tales. Richardson observes that in the present passage of Skelton “it seems to be giddy (sc.) with turning round.” Dict. in v.
v. 69. the rode loft] A loft (generally placed just over the passage out of the church into the chancel,) where stood the rood,—an image of Christ on the cross, with figures of the Virgin Mary and Saint John on each side of it: compare v. 126 of the present poem;
“His hawke then flew vppon
The rode with Mary and John”.
v. 70. perkyd] i. e. perched.
v. 71. fauconer] i. e. falconer.
—— prest] i. e. ready.
v. 72. dow] i. e. pigeon.
v. 73. And cryed, Stow, stow, stow!] So Fansy, in our author’s Magnyfycence, exclaims to his hawk,
“Stowe, byrde, stowe, stowe!
It is best I fede my hawke now.”
v. 980. vol. i. 257.
Compare Brathwait’s Merlin;
“But stow, bird, stow,
See now the game’s afoote,
And white-mail’d Nisus,
He is flying to’t.”
Odes, p. 250, appended to Natures Embassie, 1621.
“Make them come from it to your fist, eyther much or little, with calling and chirping to them, saying: Towe, Towe, or Stowe, Stowe, as Falconers vse.” Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 182. ed. 1611.
Page 157. v. 76. lure] See note, p. 147. v. 1100.
v. 78. endude] “She [the hawk] Enduyth whan her meete in her bowelles falle to dygestyon.” Book of St. Albans, by Juliana Barnes, sig. C iii.
v. 79. ensaymed] i. e. purged from her grease. “Ensayme of an hawke,” says the lady just quoted, “is the greeys.” Sig. A v. See too “How you shall enseame a Hawke,” &c. in Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 115. ed. 1611.
v. 80. reclaymed] i. e. tamed; see note, p. 148. v. 1125.
v. 81. fawconer] i. e. falconer.
—— vnfayned] Either, unfeignedly (in the next line but six is “not fayne nor forge”) or un-glad, displeased: see note, p. 198. v. 30.
Page 158. v. 83. lyst] i. e. liking, inclination.
v. 85. loked] i. e. looked.
—— the frounce] Is a distemper in which a whitish foam gathers in wrinkles (frounces) about the hawk’s mouth and palate. “The Frounce proceedeth of moist and cold humours, which descend from the hawkes head to their palate and the roote of the tongue. And of that cold is engendred in the tongue the Frownce,” &c. Turbervile’s Booke of Falconrie, &c. p. 303. ed. 1611.
v. 87. the gorge] “Is that part of the Hawk which first receiveth the meat, and is called the Craw or Crop in other fowls.” Latham’s Faulconry, (Explan. of Words of Art), 1658.
v. 89. clap] i. e. stroke.
v. 91. sparred] i. e. fastened, shut (“boltyd and barryd” being in the next line).
v. 93. wyth a prety gyn]—gyn, i. e. contrivance.
“And with a prety gynne
Gyue her husbande an horne.”
The boke of mayd Emlyn, &c. n. d. sig. A ii.
v. 100. On Sainct John decollacion] i. e. On the festival of the beheading of St. John.
Page 158. v. 103. secundum Sarum] So in Sir D. Lyndsay’s Complaynt of the Papingo;
“Suppose the geis and hennis suld cry alarum,
And we sall serve secundum usum Sarum.”
Works, i. 327. ed. Chal.
The proverbial expression, “It is done secundum usum Sarum,” is thus explained by Fuller: “It began on this occasion; Many Offices or forms of service were used in severall Churches in England, as the Office of York, Hereford, Bangor, &c. which caused a deal of Confusion in Gods Worship, untill Osmond Bishop of Sarum, about the year of our Lord 1090, made that Ordinall or Office which was generally received all over England, so that Churches thence forward easily understood one another, all speaking the same words in their Liturgy. It is now applyed to those persons which do, and Actions which are formally and solemnly done, in so Regular a way by Authentick Precedents, and Paterns of unquestionable Authority, that no just exception can be taken thereat.” Worthies (Wilt-Shire), p. 146. ed. 1662.
v. 104. Marche harum] i. e. March hare.
v. 106. let] i. e. leave, desist.
v. 107. fet] i. e. fetch.
v. 110. to halow there the fox]—halow, i. e. halloo. “Men blewe the hornes and cryed and halowed the foxe.” Reynard the Fox, sig. h 5. ed. 1481.
v. 112. Boke] i. e. Book.
Page 159. v. 114. lectryne] “Lecterne to syng at.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xliiii. (Table of Subst.).
“Sum syng at the lectorne with long eares lyke an asse.”
Bale’s Kynge Johan, p. 27. Camd. ed.
Or simply, a reading-desk: see note on v. 120.
v. 116. With, troll, cytrace, and trouy] So in Apius and Virginia, by R. B., 1575;
“With hey tricke, how trowle, trey trip, and trey trace.”
Sig. B.
v. 117. hankin bouy] Compare Thersytes, n. d.;
“And we wyll haue minstrelsy
that shall pype hankyn boby.”
p. 62. Roxb. ed.
and Nash’s Haue with you to Saffron-walden, 1596; “No vulgar respects haue I, what Hoppenny Hoe and his fellow Hankin Booby thinke of mee.” Sig. K 2: and Brome’s Joviall Crew, 1652; “he makes us even sick of his sadness, that were wont to see my Ghossips cock to day, mould Cocklebread, daunce clutterdepouch and Hannykin booby, binde barrels, or do any thing before him, and he would laugh at us.” Act ii. sc. i. sig. D 2.
Page 159. v. 119. fawconer] i. e. falconer.
vv. 120, 121. gospellers ... pystillers] “Gospellar that syngeth the gospell.” “Pysteller [Epistler] that syngeth the masse.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fols. xxxvii., liiii. (Table of Subst.). But in our author’s Phyllyp Sparowe we find,
“Shal rede the Gospell at masse
...
Shal rede there the pystell.”
vv. 423, 5. vol. i. 64.
and see Todd’s Johnson’s Dict. in vv. Gospeller, Epistler.
v. 125. gydynge] “He controlled my lyuynge and gydynge.... mores.” Hormanni Vulgaria, sig. N vi. ed. 1530.
“Wise women has wayis, and wonderfull gydingis.”
Dunbar’s tale of The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo,—Poems, i. 77. ed. Laing.
v. 127. The rode with Mary and John] See note on v. 69. p. 206.
v. 128. fon] i. e. fool.
v. 129. daw] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
v. 137. hawkis bels] i. e. the bells attached to the feet of the hawk.
v. 138. losels] i. e. good-for-nothing fellows,—the same as lorels, which has several times occurred before (see note, p. 132. v. 488, &c.): “Lorell or losell or lurdeyn.” Prompt. Parv. ed. 1499. “Lorrell or losell.” Palsgrave’s Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr., 1530. fol. xlv. (Table of Subst.).
v. 142. snappar] i. e. stumble; but see note, p. 92. v. 4.
v. 144. loke] i. e. look.
Page 160. v. 146. bokis] i. e. books.
v. 149. mayden Meed] See the allegorical account of Meed in Pierce Plowman; where we find,
“That is mede the maid, quod she, hath noyed me full oft.”
Sig. B iv. ed. 1561.
and again, “Saue mede the mayde,” &c. sig. C iii. “Now is mede the mayde,” &c. ibid.
v. 158. toke] i. e. took.
v. 159. this] Perhaps for thus: compare v. 181.
v. 164. Exodi] i. e. the book of Exodus.
“In Exodi ben these mencions.”
Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, B. i. leaf vii. ed. Wayland.
Page 160. v. 166. Regum] i. e. The Third, now called The First, Book of Kings.
Page 161. v. 178. the rode] See note on v. 69. p. 206.
v. 181. this] i. e. thus; see note, p. 86. v. 38.
v. 183. dowues donge] i. e. pigeon’s dung.
v. 194. croked] i. e. crooked.
—— Cacus] See extract from The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy, in note, p. 213. v. 23.
v. 196. Nother] i. e. Neither.
—— Olibrius] Was “the provost” by whose order Saint Margaret, after being put to sundry tortures, was beheaded at Antioch. Golden Legende, fol. ccxiiii. sqq. ed. 1483. See also The Legend of Seynt Mergrete, printed from the Auchinleck MS., in Turnbull’s Legendæ Catholicæ. Most readers will recollect Mr. Milman’s dramatic poem, The Martyr of Antioch.
v. 198.
—— Phalary,
Rehersed in Valery]
i. e. Phalaris, recorded in Valerius Maximus, lib. iii. cap. iii. (where it is related that the Agrigentines, at the instigation of Zeno Eleates, stoned the tyrant Phalaris to death. “’Tis plain,” says Bentley, “he mistakes Phalaris for Nearchus.” Diss. upon the Ep. of Phalaris,—Works, i. 241. ed. Dyce), and lib. ix. cap. ii.
v. 200. Sardanapall] So our early writers often spell his name;
“Last of all was Sardanapall.”
Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, Boke ii. leaf L. ed. Wayland.
Page 162. v. 204. Egeas] Is mentioned with various other evil personages in The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy,
“Herod thy uthir eme, and grit Egeass.”
Dunbar’s Poems, ii. 86. ed. Laing.
and in the Second Part of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine;
“The headstrong jades of Thrace Alcides tamed,
That King Egeus fed with humane flesh.”
Last sc. of act iv. sig. G 3. ed. 1606.
v. 205. Syr Pherumbras] See note, p. 178. v. 15.
v. 211. poll by poll] i. e. head by head,—one by one.
“And ye shall here the names poll by poll.”
Cocke Lorelles bote, sig. B ii.
v. 212. Arystobell] i. e. (I suppose) Aristobulus,—who, having succeeded his father Hyrcanus as high-priest and governor of Judea, assumed the title of king,—cast his mother into prison, and starved her to death,—caused his brother Antigonus to be assassinated,—and died after reigning a year. See Prideaux’s Connect. Part ii. B. vi.
Page 162. v. 214. miscreantys] i. e. infidels. “These thre kynges were the fyrst of myscreauntes that byleued on cryst.” The three kynges of Coleyne, sig. C ii. ed. 1526.
v. 216. Sowden] i. e. Soldan, Sultan.
v. 225. pekysh] See note, p. 129. v. 409.
v. 228. crokid] i. e. crooked.
v. 230. this] i. e. thus; as before, see v. 181.
—— ouerthwarted] i. e. cavilled, wrangled. “To hafte or ouerthwarte in a matter, to wrangle.” Baret’s Alvearie in v.
v. 231. proces] i. e. subject-matter; see notes, p. 143. v. 735. p. 146. v. 969. p. 194. v. 157.
Page 163. v. 233. loke] i. e. look.
v. 234. boke] i. e. book.
v. 239. rehers] i. e. tell, declare.
v. 240. sentence] i. e. meaning.
v. 241. scholys] i. e. schools.
v. 242. folys] i. e. fools.
v. 244. Dawcocke] See note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 164. v. 249. fista] i. e. fist.
v. 250. you lista] i. e. you please.
v. 260. Dialetica] i. e. Dialectica.
v. 264. forica] Is Latin for a public jakes; and compare vv. 62, 183: but I cannot determine the meaning of it here.
v. 270. Jacke Harys] Must not be mistaken for the name of the person who called forth this piece; we have been already told that he “shall be nameless,” v. 38. So in our author’s Magnyfycence, Courtly Abusyon terms Cloked Colusyon “cankard Jacke Hare.” v. 768. vol. i. 250. There is a poem by Lydgate (at least attributed to him) concerning a personage called Jak Hare, of which the first stanza is as follows:
“A froward knave plainly to discryve
And a sluggard plainly to declare
A precious knave that cast hym never to thryve
His mowth wele wet his slevis right thredebare
A tourne broche a boy for wat of ware
With louryng face noddyng and slombryng
Of newe cristened called Jak Hare
Whiche of a bolle can pluk out the lyneng.”
MS. Harl. 2251. fol. 14.
Since the above note was written, the ballad on Jack Hare has been edited from MS. Lansd. 699. fol. 88. by Mr. Halliwell, among Lydgate’s Minor Poems, p. 52 (printed for the Percy Society). “The original of this,” says Mr. H. (p. 267), “is an Anglo-Norman poem of the 13th century, in MS. Digb. Oxon. 86. fol. 94, entitled ‘De Maimound mal esquier.’”
Page 164. v. 274. federis] i. e. feathers.
Page 165. v. 284. fisty] i. e. fist.
v. 290. Apostata] This form, as an English word, continued in use long after the time of Skelton.
v. 291. Nestorianus] “Nestoriani quidam heretici qui beatam mariam non dei, sed hominis dicunt genitricem.” Ortus Vocab. fol. ed. W. de Worde, n. d.: but here Nestorianus seems to be put for Nestorius, the founder of the sect.
v. 300. This] i. e. Thus; as before, see v. 181.
v. 301. Dys church ye thus deprauyd] To deprave generally means—to vilify in words (as in our author’s Colyn Cloute, “The Churche to depraue,” v. 515. vol. i. 330); but (and see the poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c. v. 191. vol. ii. 73) here deprauyd must be equivalent to—defiled.
v. 305. Concha] “Concha recensetur vulgo inter vasa ac ministeria sacra, cujus varii fuere usus.” Du Cange’s Gloss.
v. 306. sonalia] i. e. the bells attached to the hawk’s feet.
Page 166. v. 313.
Et relis et ralis,
Et reliqualis]
Occurs again in our author’s Garlande of Laurell, v. 1216. vol. i. 410.
v. 315. Galis] i. e. Galicia.
v. 320. chalys] i. e. chalice.
v. 324. Masyd] i. e. Bewildered, confounded.
v. 325. styth] i. e. anvil.
v. 327. daw] i. e. simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 167. Quod] i. e. Quoth.
EPITAPHE, &c.
v. 3. this] i. e. these.
v. 4. queed] i. e. evil. The word is common in our earliest poetry:
“That euer schuld haue don him qued.”
Arthour and Merlin, p. 51. ed. Abbotsf.
A DEUOUTE TRENTALE, &c.
trentale] i. e. properly, a service of thirty masses for the dead, usually celebrated on as many different days.
Page 170. v. 44. I faith, dikkon thou crue] See note, p. 115. v. 360.
v. 46. knauate] i. e. knave.
v. 47. rode] i. e. rood, cross; see note, p. 206. v. 69.
v. 53. fote ball] i. e. foot-ball.
Page 171. v. 61. Wit[h], hey, howe, rumbelowe] See note, p. 110. v. 252.
Page 172. v. 23.
Crudelisque Cacus
barathro, peto, sit tumulatus]
To readers of Skelton’s days Cacus was known not so much from the 8th book of Virgil’s Æneid, as from The Recuyel of the Historyes of Troy, (a translation by Caxton from the French of Raoul le Fevre), where his story is related at considerable length, and with great variation from the classical fable: “In the cyte of Cartagene, a kynge and geant regned. named Cacus whiche was passyng euyll and full of tyrannye, and had slayn by his cursidnes the kynges of Aragon and of Nauerre. their wyues and their children And possessid her seignouryes and also helde in subieccion alle the contrey into ytaly,” &c. Book ii. ed. 1471—about the middle of the volume, which is printed without paging or signatures. His death is afterwards thus described: “But hercules ranne after and retayned hym And enbraced hym in his armes so harde that he myght not meue And brought hym agayn And bare hym vnto a depe pytte that was in the caue where he had caste in all ordures and filthe, hercules cam vnto this fowle pytte that the grekes had founden And planted cacus there Inne. his heed dounward from on hye vnto the ordure benethe, Than the ytaliens cam aboute the pitte and caste so many stones vpon hym that he deyde there myserably. Suche was the ende of the poure kynge Cacus. he deyde in an hooll full of ordure and of styngkynge filthe.”
v. 28. best] i. e. beast.
Page 173. Apud Trumpinton scriptum per Curatum ejusdem, &c.] A passage wrongly understood by Skelton’s biographers: see Account of his Life and Writings.
Page 174.
Diligo rustincum cum portant bis duo quointum,
Et cantant delos est mihi dulce melos]
The Rev. J. Mitford proposes to read—
Diligo rusticulum cum portat Dis duo quintum,
Et cantat Delos, est mihi dulce melos:
understanding duo quintum to mean decimum, a tenth or tithe, and explaining the whole, I like the peasant when he brings his tithe to Dis, and sings “Delos,”—pays it from motives of devotion.