The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2)Skelton, John
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The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 1 (of 2)
Skelton, John
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
Men haue you in suspicion
Howe ye haue small contrycion
Of that ye haue myswrought:
For, if it were well sought,
One of you there was
That laughed whan he dyd pas
With his fagot in processyon;
He counted it for no correction,
But with scornefull affection 190
Toke it for a sporte,
His heresy to supporte;
Whereat a thousande gased,
As people halfe amased,
And thought in hym smale grace
His foly so to face.
Some iuged in this case
Your penaunce toke no place,
Your penaunce was to lyght;
[Sidenote: Convenio vos, O díabolici dogmatistæ, &c.]
And thought, if ye had right, 200
Ye shulde take further payne
To resorte agayne
To places where ye haue preched,
And your lollardy lernyng teched,
And there to make relacion
In open predycacion,
And knowlege your offence
Before open audyence,
Howe falsely ye had surmysed,
And deuyllysshely deuysed 210
The[773] people to seduce,
And chase them thorowe the muse
Of your noughty counsell,
To hunt them into hell,
With blowyng out your hornes,
Full of mockysshe scornes,
With chatyng and rechatyng,
And your busy pratyng:
Of the gospell and the pystels
[Sidenote: Sunt plerique alii, sed non alieni, qui tantundem pæne
enuntiant, &c.]
Ye pyke out many thystels, 220
And bremely with your bristels
Ye cobble and ye clout
Holy Scripture so about,
That people are in great dout
And feare leest they be out
Of all good Christen order.
Thus all thyng ye disorder
Thorowe out euery bord[e]r.
[Sidenote: Convenio vos, male docti legistæ, &c.]
It had ben moche better
Ye had neuer lerned letter, 230
For your ignorance is gretter,
I make you fast and sure,
Than all your lytterature.
Ye are but lydder _logici_,
But moche worse _isagogici_,
For ye haue enduced a secte
With heresy all infecte;
Wherfore ye are well checte,
And by holy churche correcte,
And in maner as abiecte, 240
For euermore suspecte,
And banysshed in effect
From all honest company,
Bycause ye haue eaten a flye,
To your great vyllony,
That neuer more may dye.
[Sidenote: Convenio vos, O hypocritæ, &c.]
Come forthe, ye popeholy,
Full of melancoly;
Your madde ipocrisy,
And your idiosy, 250
And your vayne glorie,
Haue made you eate the flye,
Pufte full of heresy,
To preche it idolatry,
Who so dothe magnifye
[Sidenote: Maledictio Mariana descendat super capita vestra, O hæretici,
cretici, phrenetici, &c.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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