Page 392. v. 758. hole reame] i. e. whole realm.
v. 762. smerke] i. e. smirk.
v. 763. leue warke whylis it is wele] i. e. leave work while it is well.
v. 764. towchis] i. e. touches, qualities.
—— to] i. e. too.
v. 768. astate] i. e. estate, state.
v. 769. Cowntes of Surrey] Was Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter of Edward Duke of Buckingham, and second wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who afterwards (on the death of his father in 1524) became the third Duke of Norfolk. She had previously been attached and engaged to the Earl of Westmoreland with the consent of both families; but her father, having broken off the intended match, compelled her to accept the hand of lord Thomas Howard in 1513. She was twenty years younger than her husband. After many domestic quarrels, they separated about 1533. Of their five children, one was Henry Howard, the illustrious poet. She died in 1558. See Memorials of the Howard Family, &c. by H. Howard, 1834, folio.
The Countess of Surrey appears to have been fond of literature; and, as she calls Skelton her “clerk,” we may suppose that she particularly patronised him. The probability is, that the present poem was really composed at Sheriff-Hutton Castle, which (as already noticed, p. 300) had been granted by the king to the Duke of Norfolk for life, and that the Countess was residing there on a visit to her father-in-law.
The Garlande of Laurell was written, I apprehend, about 1520, or perhaps a little later: in v. 1192 Skelton mentions his Magnyfycence, which was certainly produced after 1515,—see note on title of that piece, p. 236.
Page 392. v. 771. beue] i. e. bevy.