—— _twybyll_] “_Twybyll_ writis instrument. Bisacuta. Biceps.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. “Twybill or mactok. Marra. Ligo.” _Ibid._ “Bipennis ... a _twyble_ or axe, a twall.” _Ortus Vocab._ ed. 1514. (in the earlier ed. fol. n. d. W. de Worde, the English explanation is less full). “_Twyble_ an instrument for carpentars _bernago_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. lxxi. (Table of Subst.). Page 122. v. 75. _wary_] Is frequently found in the sense of curse,— (“Who so the _waris wared_ be he.” _Isaac_,—_Towneley Mysteries_, p. 43)— but here, I apprehend, it means—war, contend. v. 79. _eldyr steke_] i. e. elder-stick. v. 87. _sowtters_] i. e. shoemakers, cobblers. v. 88. _seche a nody polle_] i. e. such a silly head, ninny. v. 89. _pryste_] i. e. priest. v. 90. _your scrybys nolle_] i. e. your scribe’s head,—Godfrey’s; see note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180. v. 91. _fonde_] i. e. foolish. v. 93. _make_] i. e. compose verses. v. 94. _dawpate_] i. e. simple pate, simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301. Page 123. v. 101. _Bolde bayarde_] The proverbial expression, “as bold as blind bayard,”—(_bayard_, properly a bay horse, but used for a horse in general),—is very ancient, and of very frequent occurrence in our early literature; its origin is not known: “For _blynde bayarde_ caste peryll of nothynge, Tyll that he stumblyng fall amydde the lake.” Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. v. sig. E e ii. ed. 1555. v. 102. _kynde_] i. e. nature. v. 108. _Ye wolde be callyd a maker,_ _And make moche lyke Jake Raker_] i. e. You would be called a composer of verses, or poet, and you compose much in the style of Jack Raker. So again our author; “Set _sophia_ asyde, for euery _Jack Raker_ And euery mad medler must now be a maker.” _Speke, Parrot_, v. 165. vol. ii. 8. “He maketh vs _Jacke Rakers_; He sayes we ar but crakers,” &c. _Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 270. vol. ii. 35. So too in the comedy by Nicholas Udall, entitled _Ralph Royster Doyster_; “Of Songs and Balades also he is a maker, And that can he as finely doe as _Jacke Raker_.” Act ii. sc. 1. p. 27. (reprint.) Mr. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 448) speaks of Jack Raker as if he really had existed: I rather think that he was an imaginary person, whose name had become proverbial. v. 110. _crakar_] i. e. vaunter, big talker. Page 123. v. 114. _despyghtyng_] “I _Dispyte_ I grutche or reprime agaynst a thing.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxiiii. (Table of Verbes). v. 115. _nat worthe a myteyng_]—_myteyng_ (which occurs in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_ as a term of endearment, v. 224. vol. i. 102) is here perhaps equivalent to “_Myte_ the leest coyne that is _pite_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlviii. (Table of Subst.). v. 117. _scole_] i. e. school. v. 118. _occupyed no better your tole_] i. e. used no better your tool, pen: see note, p. 86. v. 52.