v. 1433. _Dun is in the myre_] A proverbial expression, which occurs in Chaucer’s _Manciples Prol._ v. 16954. ed. Tyrwhitt (who conjectured that _Dun_ was a nickname given to the ass from his colour), and is common in writers long after the time of Skelton. Gifford was the first to shew that the allusion is to a Christmas gambol, in which _Dun_ (the cart-horse) is supposed to be stuck _in the mire_; see his note on Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 283. v. 1434. _rin_] i. e. run. v. 1435. _spar the stable dur_] i. e. fasten, shut the stable-door; see note, p. 207. v. 91. v. 1437. _sone aspyed_] i. e. soon espied. v. 1438. _wele wotith_] i. e. well knoweth. v. 1439. _lucerne_] i. e. lamp. So in the _Lenvoye_ to Chaucer’s _Cuckow and Nightingale_; “Aurore of gladnesse, and day of lustinesse, _Lucerne_ a night with heauenly influence Illumined.” _Workes_, fol. 318. ed. 1002. v. 1442. _wedder_] i. e. weather. v. 1443. _cokwolde_] i. e. cuckold. v. 1445. _vntwynde_] See note, p. 127. v. 284. v. 1446. _ieloffer_] See note, p. 147. v. 1052. v. 1447. _propre_] i. e. pretty. v. 1450. _all to-fret_] i. e. altogether eaten up, consumed: see note, p. 100. v. 32. Page 419. v. 1451. _But who may haue a more vngracyous lyfe_ _Than a chyldis birds and a knauis wyfe_] This proverbial expression occurs in Lydgate; “Vnto purpos this prouerd is full ryfe Rade and reported by olde remembraunce _A childes birdde and a knavis wyfe_ Haue often sieth gret sorowe and myschaunce.” _The Chorle and the Bird_,—_MS. Harl._ 116. fol. 151. v. 1454. _byll_] i. e. writing. v. 1455. _By Mary Gipcy_] In much later writers we find, as an interjection, _marry gep_, _marry gip_, _marry guep_, _marry gup_. v. 1456. _Quod scripsi, scripsi_] From the Vulgate, _Joan._ xix. 22. Page 419. v. 1460. _Secundum Lucam, &c._] Skelton seems to allude to the Vulgate, _Luc._ i. 13, “_Et uxor tua_ Elizabeth,” &c. v. 1461. _the Bonehoms of Ashrige besyde Barkamstede,_ ... _Where the sank royall is, Crystes blode so rede_] The college of the Bonhommes, completed in 1285, was founded by Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, son and heir of Richard, Earl of Cornwall, who was King of the Romans and brother of Henry the Third, for a rector and twenty brethern or canons, of whom thirteen were to be priests. It was founded expressly in honour of the blood of Jesus, (“_the sank royall_”), which had once formed part of the precious reliques belonging to the German emperors, and which Edmund had brought over from Germany to England. See Todd’s _History of the College of Bonhommes at Ashridge_, 1823. p. 1-3.