Calliope, As ye may se, Regent is she Of poetes al, Whiche gaue to me The high degre Laureat to be Of fame royall; Whose name enrolde With silke and golde 10 I dare be bolde Thus for to were. Of her I holde And her housholde; Though I waxe olde And somdele sere, Yet is she fayne, Voyde of disdayn, Me to retayne Her seruiture: 20 With her certayne I wyll remayne, As my souerayne Moost of pleasure, _Maulgre touz malheureux_. [757] _Why were ye, &c._] These pieces on Calliope from Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s _Workes_, 1568. LATINUM CARMEN SEQUITUR. _Cur tibi contexta est aurea_ Calliope? RESPONSIO EJUSDEM VATIS. _Candida Calliope, vatum regina, coronans_ _Pierios lauro, radiante intexta sub auro!_ _Hanc ego Pierius tanto dignabor honore,_ _Dum mihi vita manet, dum spiritus hos regit artus:_ _Quamquam conficior senio marcescoque sensim,_ _Ipse tamen gestare sua hæc pia pignora certo,_ _Assensuque suo placidis parebo camenis._ _Inclyta Calliope, et semper mea maxima cura est._ _Hæc Pierius omni Spartano[758] liberior._ CALLIOPE, _Musarum excellentissima, speciosissima, formosissima, heroicis præest versibus._ [758] _Spartano_] Ed. “Spartane.” THE BOKE OF THREE FOOLES,[759] M. SKELTON, POETE LAUREATE, GAUE TO MY LORD CARDYNALL. THE FYRST FOOLE. The man that doth wed a wyfe For her goodes and her rychesse, And not for lygnage femynatyfe, Procureth doloure and dystresse, With infynyte payne and heuynesse; For she wyll do hym moche sorowe, Bothe at euyn and at morowe. THE SECONDE FOOLE. The dartes ryght cursed of Enuye Hath rayned sythe the worlde began, Whiche bryngeth man euydently Into the bondes of Sathan; Wherfore he is a dyscrete man That can eschewe that euyll synne Where body and soule is lost in. THE THYRD FOOLE. Dyuers by voluptuousnes Of women, the which be present, Be brought into full great dystres, Forgettyng vertues excellent Of God, the whych is permanent, And suffreth themselfe to be bounde In cordes, as it were a hounde.