AGAYNSTE A COMELY COYSTROWNE, THAT CURYOWSLY CHAWNTYD, AND CURRYSHLY COWNTRED, &c.
Page 15. Coystrowne (which Skelton uses again in his poem Howe the douty Duke of Albany, &c., v. 171. vol. ii. 73., and has Latinized in his Speke, Parot, v. 125. vol. ii. 7.) is written by Chaucer quistron;
“This God of Loue of his fashion
Was like no knaue ne quistron,
[Ne resembloit pas un garçon].”
Rom. of the Rose, fol. 113,—Workes, ed. 1602.
Urry renders it—a beggar (Fr. questeur); but Tyrwhitt observes, “I rather believe it signifies a scullion, un garçon de cuisine.” Gloss. to C.T.—Douce says that Tyrwhitt’s explanation is correct, citing the words “un quistron de sa cusyne” from the prose French chronicle of the Brut of England, and Caxton’s version of them, “a knave of his kychen.” See Gloss. to Weber’s Met. Rom.—Roquefort has “Questron: bâtard, enfant d’une prostituée.” Gloss. de la Lang. Rom.—In Scottish poetry custroun occurs several times: see Jamieson’s Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang. and Suppl., where are various conjectures on the derivation and meaning of the word.
In Prompt. Parv. we find “Cowntryn in songe. Occento.” ed. 1499. To counter is properly—to sing an extemporaneous part upon the plain chant. Skelton uses the word in other places, and perhaps not always in its strict sense.
v. 4.
In peuyshnes yet they snapper and fall,