Mirry Margaret As midsomer flowre, Gentyll as faucon Or hauke of the towre, With solace and gladnes Moch mirth, and no madnes, All good and no badnes, So joyously So maydenly So womanly Her demeynynge In every thynge Far, far passynge That I can endite Or suffice to write Of mirry Margaret As mydsomer flowre Gentill as faucon Or hawke of the towre. As pacient and as styll And as ful of good wil As faire Isiphyll Coliander Sweete pomaunder Good Cassander; Stedfast of thought Wel made, wel wroght, Far may be sought Erst that ye can fynde So curteise so kynde As mirry Margaret This midsomer flowre, Gentyll as faucon Or hauke of the towre. The Troubadours and Minstrels were followed by a type of entertainer known as the Fool or the Court Fool, who took the place of the satirist in the great households. Soon various jests were collected, and attributed to these domestic fools, whose garb began to take the form of the cap and bells, accompanied by the jester’s bauble. As printing became more widespread, the jestbooks multiplied, and many collections were published in England. Skelton seems to have been quite as much Court Jester as Poet Laureate under Henry VII and Henry VIII, and a volume of _Merie Tayles of Skelton_ is one of the earliest of the Jest Books. Yet, since this was published some forty years after Skelton’s death it is assumed that but few of the tales are really of the poet’s origination. Likewise, Scogin’s Jests and the stories attributed to Tarlton and Peele are considered unauthentic as to authorship and merely the work of the hack writers of the period. These Jestbooks as well as the _C. Mery Talys_, or _Hundred Merry Tales_, which, with its companion volume, _Mery Tales and Quicke Answeres_, was, we are told, used by Shakespeare, are now found in many reprints, and only a few bits of their witty or humorous lore may be given here. As an example of the sharp satire of Skelton, the following shows how he regarded the prevalent practice of obtaining letters patent of monopoly from the crown, and also is a hit at the fondness for drinking among the Welsh. _HOW THE WELSHMAN DYD DESYRE SKELTON TO AYDE HIM IN HYS SUTE TO THE KYNGE FOR A PATENT TO SELL DRYNKE_