[66] “He ... was Rector and lived here [at Diss] in 1504 and in 1511, as I find by his being Witness to several Wills in this year. (Note) 1504, The Will of Mary Cowper of Disse, ‘Witnesses Master John Skelton, Laureat, Parson of Disse, &c.’ And among the Evidences of Mr. Thomas Coggeshall, I find the House in the Tenure of Master Skelton, Laureat ... Mr. Le-Neve says, that his [Skelton’s] Institution does not appear in the Books, which is true, for often those that were collated by the Pope, had no Institution from the Bishop, many Instances of which in those Books occur; but it is certain from abundance of Records and Evidences that I have seen, that he was Rector several years.” Blomefield’s _Hist. of Norfolk_, i. 20. ed. 1739.—The parish-register of Diss affords no information concerning Skelton; for the earliest date which it contains is long posterior to his death. [67] See _A deuoute trentale for old John Clarke_, who died in 1506, vol. i. 168; _Lamentatio urbis Norvicen._, written in 1507, p. 174; and _Chorus de Dis_, &c. in 1513, p. 190. [68] I may notice here, that in an Assessment for a Subsidy, temp. Henry viii., we find, under “Sancte Helenes Parishe within Bisshoppisgate,”— “_Mr Skelton_ in goodes xl. _li._” _Books of the Treasury of the Exchequer, B._ 4. 15, fol. 7,—Public Record Office. Qy. was this our author? [69] “Cum quibusdam blateronibus fraterculis, præcipue Dominicanis, bellum gerebat continuum. Sub pseudopontifice Nordouicensi Ricardo Nixo, mulierem illam, quam sibi secreto ob Antichristi metum desponsauerat, sub concubinæ titulo custodiebat. In ultimo tamen uitæ articulo super ea re interrogatus, respondit, se nusquam illam in conscientia coram Deo nisi pro uxore legitima tenuisse ... animam egit ... relictis liberis.” Bale, _Script. Illust. Brit._ pp. 651, 2. ed. 1559.—“In Monachos præsertim Prædicatores S. Dominici sæpe stylum acuit, & terminos prætergressus modestiæ, contra eos scommatibus acerbius egit. Quo facto suum exasperauit Episcopum Richardum Nixum, qui habito de vita & moribus eius examine, deprehendit hominem votam Deo castitatem violasse, imo concubinam domi suæ diu tenuisse.” Pits, _De Illust. Angl. Script._ p. 701. ed. 1619.—“The Dominican Friars were the next he contested with, whose vitiousness lay pat enough for his hand; but such foul Lubbers fell heavy on all which found fault with them. These instigated Nix, Bishop of Norwich, to call him to account for keeping a Concubine, which cost him (as it seems) a suspension from his benefice.... We must not forget, how being charged by some on his death-bed for begetting many children on the aforesaid Concubine, he protested, that in his Conscience he kept her in the notion of a wife, though such his cowardliness that he would rather confess adultery (then accounted but a venial) than own marriage esteemed a capital crime in that age.” Fuller’s _Worthies_, p. 257 (Norfolk), ed.