[Page 7.] v. 118. vndertoke] i. e. undertook.
v. 119. of Judicum rede the boke] i. e. read the Book of Judges.
“In Iudicum the storye ye may rede.”
Lydgate’s Fall of Prynces, B. i. leaf xiv. ed. Wayland.
v. 122.
O Esebon, Esebon! to thé is cum agayne
Seon, the regent Amorræorum,
And Og, that fat hog of Basan, doth retayne,
The crafty coistronus Cananæorum]
—coistronus is a Latinised form of coistroun, see note on title of poem, p. 92. Though in an earlier part of Speke, Parrot we find “Cryst saue Kyng Henry the viii, our royall kyng,” &c. v. 36, yet it would almost seem that he is alluded to here under the name of Seon. Og must mean Wolsey. This portion of the poem is not found in MS. Harl. (see note on v. 59 ad l.); and there can be no doubt that Speke, Parrot is made up of pieces composed at various times. After Skelton’s anger had been kindled against Wolsey, perhaps the monarch came in for a share of his indignation.