PREFACE.

The very incomplete and inaccurate volume of 1736, and the reprint of it in Chalmers’s English Poets,[1] 1810, have hitherto been the only editions of Skelton accessible to the general reader.

In 1814, the Quarterly Reviewer,—after censuring Chalmers for having merely reprinted the volume of 1736, with all its errors, and without the addition of those other pieces by Skelton which were known to be extant,—observed, that “an editor who should be competent to the task could[vi] not more worthily employ himself than by giving a good and complete edition of his works.”[2] Prompted by this remark, I commenced the present edition,—perhaps with too much self-confidence, and certainly without having duly estimated the difficulties which awaited me. After all the attention which I have given to the writings of Skelton, they still contain corruptions which defy my power of emendation, and passages which I am unable to illustrate; nor is it, therefore, without a feeling of reluctance that I now offer these volumes to the very limited class of readers for whom they are intended. In revising my Notes for press, I struck out a considerable portion of conjectures and explanations which I had originally hazarded, being unwilling to receive from any

one that equivocal commendation which Joseph Scaliger bestowed on a literary labourer of old; “Laudo tamen studium tuum; quia in rebus obscuris ut errare necesse est, ita fortuitum non errare.”[3]

Having heard that Ritson had made some collections[vii] for an edition of our author, I requested the use of those papers from his nephew, the late Joseph Frank, Esq., who most obligingly put them into my hands: they proved, however, to be only a transcript of Vox Populi, vox Dei (from the Harleian MS.), and a few memoranda concerning Skelton from very obvious sources.

The individual to whom I have been the most indebted for assistance and encouragement in this undertaking has not survived to receive my acknowledgments; I mean the late Mr. Heber, who not only lent me his whole collection of Skelton’s works, but also took a pleasure in communicating to me from time to time whatever information he supposed might be serviceable. Indeed, without such liberality on the part of Mr. Heber, a complete edition of the poet’s extant writings could not have been produced; for his incomparable library (now unfortunately dispersed) contained some pieces by Skelton, of which copies were not elsewhere to be found.

To Miss Richardson Currer; the Right Hon. Thomas Grenville; the Hon. and Rev. G. N. Grenville, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge; Sir Harris Nicolas; Sir Francis Palgrave; Rev. Dr. Bandinel; Rev. Dr. Bliss; Rev. John[viii] Mitford; Rev. J. J. Smith of Caius College, Cambridge; Rev. Joseph Hunter; Rev. Joseph Stevenson; W. H. Black, Esq.; Thomas Amyot, Esq.; J. P. Collier, Esq.; Thomas Wright, Esq.; J. O. Halliwell, Esq.; Albert Way, Esq.; and David Laing, Esq.;—I have to return my grateful thanks for the important aid of various kinds which they so readily and courteously afforded me.

ALEXANDER DYCE.

London, Gray’s Inn, Nov. 1st, 1843.

[1] “Mr. A. Chalmers,” says Haslewood, “has since given place [sic] to Skelton’s name among the English poets [vol. ii. p. 227]: and having had an opportunity to compare the original edition [that of Marshe, 1568] with Mr. Chalmers’s volume, I can pronounce the text verbally accurate, although taken from the reprint of 1736.” Brit. Bibliogr. iv. 389. As Haslewood was generally a careful collator, I am greatly surprised at the above assertion: the truth is, that the reprint of 1736 (every word of which I have compared with Marshe’s edition—itself replete with errors) is in not a few places grossly inaccurate.—The said reprint is without the editor’s name; but I have seen a copy of it in which Gifford had written with a pencil, “Edited by J. Bowle, the stupidest of all two-legged animals.”

[2] Q. Rev. xi. 485. The critique in question was written by Mr. Southey,—who, let me add, took a kind interest in the progress of the present edition.

[3] Joanni Isacio Pontano—Epist. p. 490. ed. 1627.

The preceding Preface was already in type, when Mr. W. H. Black discovered, among the Public Records, an undoubted poem by Skelton (hitherto unprinted), which I now subjoin.

[ix]

A LAWDE AND PRAYSE MADE FOR OUR SOUEREIGNE LORD THE KYNG.[4]

Bien men souient.[14]

Per me laurigerum Britonum Skeltonida vatem.

[4] A lawde and prayse made for our souereigne lord the kyng] Such (in a different handwriting from that of the poem) is the endorsement of the MS., which consists of two leaves, bound up in the volume marked B. 2. 8 (pp. 67-69), among the Records of the Treasury of the Receipt of the Exchequer, now at the Rolls House.—Qy. is this poem the piece which, in the catalogue of his own writings, Skelton calls “The Boke of the Rosiar,” Garlande of Laurell, v. 1178, vol. i. 408?

[5] stede] i. e. place.

[6] chare] i. e. chase, drive away (see Prompt. Parv. i. 70. Camden Soc. ed.).

[7] mo] i. e. more.

[8] wrote] i. e. root.

[9] Rosary] i. e. Rose-bush.

[10] face] See Notes, vol. ii. 216.

[11] faine] i. e. glad.

[12] paves] i. e. shield (properly, a large shield covering the body).

[13] sad] i. e. grave—discreet.

[14] Bien men souient] These words are followed in the MS. by a sort of flourished device, which might perhaps be read—“Deo (21ͦ) gratias.”

[i]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

[iv]

CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.

[v]

SOME ACCOUNT OF SKELTON AND HIS WRITINGS.

John Skelton[15] is generally said to have been descended from the Skeltons of Cumberland;[16] but there is some reason to believe that Norfolk was his native county. The time of his birth, which is left to conjecture, cannot well be carried back to an earlier year than 1460.

[vi]

The statement of his biographers, that he was educated at Oxford,[17] I am not prepared to contradict: but if he studied there, it was at least after he had gone through an academical course at the sister university; for he has himself expressly declared,

adding in a marginal note, “Cantabrigia Skeltonidi laureato primam mammam eruditionis pientissime propinavit.”[18] Hence it is probable that the poet was the “one Scheklton,” who, according to Cole, became M.A. at Cambridge in 1484.[19]

Of almost all Skelton’s writings which have descended[vii] to our times, the first editions[20] have perished; and it is impossible to determine either at what period he commenced his career as a poet, or at what dates his various pieces were originally printed. That he was the author of many compositions which are no longer extant, we learn from the pompous enumeration of their titles in the Garlande of Laurell[21]. The lines Of the death of the noble prince,[viii] ynge Edwarde the forth[22], who deceased in 1483, were probably among his earliest attempts in verse.

In 1489 Skelton produced an elegy Vpon the doulourus dethe and muche lamentable chaunce of the most honorable[ix] Erle of Northumberlande,[23] who was slain during a popular insurrection in Yorkshire. His son Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth earl, who is there mentioned as the “yonge lyon, but tender yet of age,”[24] appears to have[x] afterwards extended his patronage to the poet:[25] at a time when persons of the highest rank were in general grossly illiterate, this nobleman was both a lover and a liberal encourager of letters.

[xi]

Skelton had acquired great reputation as a scholar, and had recently been laureated at Oxford,[26] when Caxton, in 1490, published The boke of Eneydos compyled by Vyrgyle,[27] in the Preface to which is the following passage: “But I praye mayster John Skelton, late created poete laureate in the vnyuersite of oxenforde, to ouersee and correcte this sayd booke, And taddresse and expowne where as shalle be founde faulte to theym that shall requyre it. For hym I knowe for suffycyent to expowne and englysshe euery dyffyculte that is therin. For he hath late translated the epystlys of Tulle,[28] and the boke of dyodorus syculus,[29] and[xii] diuerse other werkes oute of latyn in to englysshe, not in rude and olde langage, but in polysshed and ornate termes craftely, as he that hath redde vyrgyle, ouyde, tullye, and all the other noble poetes and oratours, to me vnknowen: And also he hath redde the ix. muses and vnderstande theyr musicalle scyences, and to whom of theym eche scyence is appropred. I suppose he hath dronken of Elycons well. Then I praye hym & suche other to correcte adde

or mynysshe where as he or they shall fynde faulte,”[30] &c. The laureatship in question, however, was not the office of poet laureat according to the modern acceptation of the term: it was a degree in grammar, including rhetoric and versification, taken at the university, on which occasion the graduate was presented with a wreath of laurel.[31] To this academical honour Skelton proudly alludes in his fourth poem Against Garnesche;

Our laureat, a few years after, was admitted ad eundem at Cambridge: “An. Dom. 1493, et Hen. 7 nono. Conceditur Johī Skelton Poete in partibus transmarinis atque Oxon. Laurea ornato, ut apud nos eadem decoraretur;” again, “An. 1504-5, Conceditur Johi Skelton, Poetæ Laureat. quod possit stare eodem gradu hic, quo stetit Oxoniis, et quod possit uti habitu sibi concesso a Principe.” Warton, who cites both these entries,[33] remarks, “the latter clause, I believe, relates to some distinction of habit, perhaps of fur or velvet, granted him by the king.” There can be no doubt that Skelton speaks of this peculiar apparel in the lines just quoted, as also in his third poem Against Garnesche, where he says,

from which we may infer that he wore, as laureat, a dress of white and green, or, perhaps, a white dress with a wreath of laurel. It was most probably on some part of the same habit that the word Calliope was embroidered in letters of silk and gold:

[xiv]

In the following passage Barclay perhaps glances at Skelton, with whom (as will afterwards be shewn) he was on unfriendly terms;

Warton has remarked, that some of Skelton’s Latin verses, which are subscribed—“Hæc laureatus Skeltonis, regius orator”—“Per Skeltonida laureatum, oratorem regium,”—seem to have been written in the character of royal laureate;[37] and perhaps the expression “of fame royall” in Skelton’s lines on Calliope already cited, may be[xv] considered as strengthening this supposition. There would, indeed, be no doubt that Skelton was not only a poet laureated at the universities, but also poet laureat or court poet to Henry the Eighth, if the authenticity of the following statement were established; “la patente qui declare Skelton poète laureat d’Henry viii. est datée de la cinquième année de son règne, ce qui tombe en 1512 ou 1513:” so (after giving correctly the second entry concerning Skelton’s laureation at Cambridge) writes the Abbé du Resnel in an essay already mentioned; having received, it would seem, both these statements concerning Skelton from Carte the historian,[38] who, while he communicated

to Du Resnel one real document, was not likely to have forged another for the purpose of misleading the learned Frenchman. On this subject I can only add, that no proof has been discovered of Skelton’s having enjoyed an annual salary from the crown in consequence of such an office.

The reader will have observed that in the first entry given above from the Cambridge Univ. Regist., Skelton is described as having been laureated not only at Oxford but also “transmarinis partibus.” That the foreign seat of learning at which he received this honour was the university of Louvaine,[39] may be inferred from the title of a poem which I subjoin entire, not only because it occurs in a volume of the greatest rarity, but because it evinces the celebrity which Skelton had attained.

[xvi]

“IN CLARISSIMI SCHELTONIS LOUANIENSIS POETÆ LAUDES EPIGRAMMA.

Ex capitalibus hexametrorum litteris solerter compositis emergit hoc distichon;

[xx]

Another laudatory notice of Skelton by a contemporary writer will not here be out of place;

Skelton frequently styles himself “orator regius;”[44] but the nature of the office from which he derived the title is not, I believe, understood. The lines in which, as we have just seen, Whittington so lavishly praises his “rhetoricus sermo,” allude most probably to his performances in the capacity of royal orator.

In 1498 Skelton took holy orders. The days on which, during that year, he was ordained successively subdeacon, deacon, and priest, are ascertained by the following entries:

“[In ecclesia conuentuali domus siue hospitalis sancti Thome martiris de Acon ciuitatis London. per Thomam Rothlucensem episcopum vltimo die mensis Marcii]

M. Johannes Skelton London, dioc. ad titulum Mon. beate Marie de Graciis iuxta Turrim London.”

“[In cathedra sancti Pauli London. apud summum altare eiusdem per Thomam permissione diuina London, episcopum in sabbato sancto viz. xiiii die mensis Aprilis]

[xxi]

Johannes Skelton poete [sic] laureatus Lond. dioc. ad titulum Mon. de Graciis juxta turrim London.”

“[In ecclesia conuentuali hospitalis beate Marie de Elsyng per Thomam Rothlucensem episcopum ix die mensis Iunii]

M. Johannes Skelton poeta lureatus [sic] London. dioc. ad titulum Mon. de Graciis iuxta turrim London.”[45]

When Arthur, the eldest son of Henry the Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, in 1489,[46] Skelton celebrated the event in a composition (probably poetical) called Prince Arturis Creacyoun,[47] of which the title alone remains; and when Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Eighth, was created Duke of York, in 1494,[48] he was hailed by our author in some Latin verses—Carmen ad principem, quando insignitus erat ducis Ebor. titulo,—a copy of which (not to be found at present) was once among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, having been seen by Tanner, who cites the initial words,—“Si quid habes, mea Musa.”[49]

As at the last-mentioned date Prince Henry was a mere infant, there can be no doubt that the care of his education had not yet been entrusted to our poet. It must have been several years after 1494 that Skelton was appointed tutor to that prince,—an appointment which affords a striking proof of the high opinion entertained of his talents and learning, as well as of the respectability of his character. He has himself recorded that he held this important situation:

[xxii]

And in another poem he informs us that he composed a treatise for the edification of his royal pupil:

[xxiii]

The Speculum Principis has perished: we are unable to determine whether it was the same work as that entitled Methodos Skeltonidis laureati, sc. Præcepta quædam moralia Henrico principi, postea Henr. viii, missa. Dat. apud Eltham A.D. MDI., which in Tanner’s days[54] was extant (mutilated at the beginning) among the MSS. in the Lincoln-Cathedral Library, but which (like the Latin verses mentioned in a preceding page) has since been allowed to wander away from that ill-guarded collection.

When Prince Henry was a boy of nine years old, Erasmus dedicated to him an ode De Laudibus Britanniæ, Regisque Henrici Septimi ac Regiorum Liberorum. The Dedication contains the following memorable encomium on Skelton; “Et hæc quidem interea tamquam ludicra munuscula tuæ pueritiæ dicavimus, uberiora largituri ubi tua virtus una cum ætate accrescens uberiorem carminum materiam suppeditabit. Ad quod equidem te adhortarer, nisi et ipse jamdudum sponte tua velis remisque (ut aiunt) eo tenderes, et domi haberes Skeltonum, unum Britannicarum literarum lumen ac decus, qui tua studia possit, non solum accendere, sed etiam consummare;” and in the Ode are these lines;

[xxiv]

The circumstances which led to the production of this Ode are related by Erasmus in the following curious passage: “Is erat labor tridui, et tamen labor, quod jam annos aliquot nec legeram nec scripseram ullum carmen. Id partim pudor a nobis extorsit, partim dolor. Pertraxerat me Thomas Morus,[56] qui tum me in prædio Montjoii[57] agentem inviserat, ut animi causa in proximum vicum[58] expatiaremur. Nam illic educabantur omnes liberi regii, uno Arcturo excepto, qui tum erat natu maximus. Ubi ventum est in aulam, convenit tota pompa, non solum domus illius, verum etiam Montjoiicæ. Stabat in medio Henricus annos natus novem, jam tum indolem quandam[xxv] regiam præ se ferens, h. e. animi celsitudinem cum singulari quadam humanitate conjunctam. A dextris erat Margareta, undecim ferme annos nata, quæ post nupsit Jacobo Scotorum Regi. A sinistris, Maria lusitans, annos nata quatuor. Nam Edmondus adhuc infans, in ulnis gestabatur. Morus cum Arnoldo sodali salutato puero Henrico, quo rege nunc floret Britannia, nescio quid scriptorum

obtulit. Ego, quoniam hujusmodi nihil expectabam, nihil habens quod exhiberem, pollicitus sum aliquo pacto meum erga ipsum studium aliquando declaraturum. Interim subirascebar Moro, quod non præmonuisset; et eo magis, quod puer Epistolio inter prandendum ad me misso, meum calamum provocaret. Abii domum, ac vel invitis Musis, cum quibus jam longum fuerat divortium, Carmen intra triduum absolvi. Sic et ultus sum dolorem meum, et pudorem sarsi.”[59]

The mother of Henry the Seventh, the Countess of Richmond and Derby, is well known to have used her utmost exertions for the advancement of literature: she herself translated some pieces from the French; and, under her patronage, several works (chiefly works of piety) were rendered into English by the most competent scholars of the time. It is to her, I apprehend, that Skelton alludes in the following passage of the Garlande of Laurell, where he mentions one of his lost performances;

[xxvi]

According to Churchyard, Skelton was “seldom out of princis grace:”[61] yet among the Actes, Orders, and Decrees made by the King and his Counsell, remaining amongst the Records of the Court, now commonly called the Court of Requests, we find, under anno 17. Henry vii.; “10 Junii apud Westminster Jo. Skelton commissus carceribus Janitoris Domini Regis.”[62] What could have occasioned this restraint, I cannot even conjecture: but in those days of extra-judicial imprisonments he might have been incarcerated for a very slight offence. It is, however, by no means certain that the “Jo. Skelton” of the above entry was the individual who forms the subject of the present essay;[63] and it is equally doubtful whether or not the following entry, dated the same year, relates to the mother of the poet;

It has been already shewn that Skelton took holy orders in 1498.[65] How soon after that period he became rector of[xxvii] Diss in Norfolk, or what portion of his life was spent there in the exercise of his duties, cannot be ascertained. He certainly resided there in 1504 and 1511,[66] and, as it would seem from some of his compositions,[67] in 1506, 1507, and 1513; in the year of his decease he was, at least nominally, the rector of Diss.[68]

We are told[69] that for keeping, under the title of a concubine,[xxviii] a woman whom he had secretly married, Skelton was called to account, and suspended from his ministerial functions by his diocesan, the bloody-minded and impure Richard Nykke (or Nix),[70] at the instigation of the friars, chiefly the Dominicans, whom the poet had severely handled[xxix] in his writings. It is said, too, that by this woman he had several children, and that on his death-bed he declared that he conscientiously regarded her as his wife, but that such had been his cowardliness, that he chose rather to confess adultery (concubinage) than what was then reckoned more criminal in an ecclesiastic,—marriage.

It has been supposed that Skelton was curate of Trumpington near Cambridge[71] (celebrated as the scene of Chaucer’s Milleres Tale), because at the end of one of his smaller poems are the following words:

“Auctore Skelton, rectore de Dis.