The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)Skelton, John
General
The Poetical Works of John Skelton, Volume 2 (of 2)
Skelton, John
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700
v. 1158. _byse_] Hearne in his Gloss. to _Langtoft’s Chron._ has “_bis_,
grey, black,” with an eye, no doubt, to the line at p. 230,
“In a marble _bis_ of him is mad story.”
and Sir F. Madden explains the word “white or grey” in his Gloss. to _Syr
Gawayne_, &c., referring to the line “Of golde, azure, and _byse_” in
_Syre Gawene and The Carle of Carelyle_, p. 204. But we also find “_Byce_
a colour _azur_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr_., 1530. fol. xx.
(Table of Subst.). “Scryueners wryte with blacke, red, purple, grene,
_blewe or byce_, and suche other.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q i. ed.
1530. “_Bize_ Blew Byze, a delicate Blew.” Holme’s _Acad. of Arm._, 1688.
B. iii. p. 145.
Page 407. v. 1158. _gressoppes_] i. e. grasshoppers: see note, p. 125. v.
137.
Page 408. v. 1159. _fresshe_] i. e. gay, gorgeous: see note on v. 39. p.
302.
v. 1160. _Enflorid_] i. e. Enflowered (embellished, for it applies partly
to the “snaylis”).
v. 1161. _Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly_]—_Enuyuid_, i. e.
envived: _quikly_, livelily, to the life; a somewhat pleonastic line, as
before, see note, p. 261. v. 1569.
v. 1162. _hole ... be ... sekely_] i. e. whole ... been ... sickly.
v. 1163. _garnysshyd_] }
...
v. 1165. _bullyons_] }
“I hadde leuer haue my boke sowed in a forel [_in cuculli involucro_]
than bounde in bourdes, and couered and clasped, and _garnyshed with
bolyons_ [_vmbilicis_].” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q iiii. ed. 1530:
_bullyons_, i. e. bosses, studs.
—— _worth a thousande pounde_] An expression found in other early poets;
“And euery bosse of bridle and paitrell
That they had, was _worth_, as I would wene,
_A thousand pound_.”
Chaucer’s _Floure and Leafe_,—_Workes_, fol. 345. ed. 1602.
v. 1166. _balassis_] Tyrwhitt (Gloss, to _Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_)
explains _Bales_ to be “a sort of bastard Ruby.” Du Cange _(Gloss._) has
“_Balascus_, Carbunculus, cujus rubor et fulgor dilutiores sunt ... a
Balascia Indiæ regione ... dicti ejusmodi lapides pretiosi.” Marco Polo
tells us, “In this country [_Balashan_ or _Badakhshan_] are found the
precious stones called _balass_ rubies, of fine quality and great value.”
_Travels_, p. 129, translated by Marsden, who in his learned note on the
passage (p. 132) observes that in the Latin version it is said expressly
that these stones have their name from the country. See too Sir F.
Madden’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 209.
v. 1167. _aurum musicum_] i. e. _aurum musaicum_ or _musivum_,—mosaic
gold.
v. 1172. _Boke of Honorous Astate_] i. e. Book of Honourable Estate.
Like many other of the pieces which Skelton proceeds to enumerate, it is
not known to exist. When any of his still extant writings are mentioned
in this catalogue, I shall refer to the places where they may be found in
the present volumes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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