Illius ac astris fama perennis eat: Nunc maduere satis vestro, nunc prata liquore Flumina, Pierides, sistite, Phœbus ait. Sat cecinisse tuum sit, mi Schelton, tibi laudi Hæc Whitintonum: culte poeta, vale. Ex capitalibus hexametrorum litteris solerter compositis emergit hoc distichon; Quæ Whitintonus canit ad laudes tibi, Schelton, Anglorum vatum gloria, sume libens.”[42] Another laudatory notice of Skelton by a contemporary writer will not here be out of place; “To all auncient poetes, litell boke, submytte the, Whilom flouryng in eloquence facundious, And to all other whiche present nowe be; Fyrst to maister Chaucer and Ludgate sentencious, Also to preignaunt Barkley nowe beying religious, To _inuentiue Skelton and poet laureate_; Praye them all of pardon both erly and late.”[43] 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] 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]