v. 166. _Agayn_] i. e. Against. v. 172. _faytors_] “i. e. deceivers, dissemblers.” PERCY.—“_Faytoure_, Fictor, Simulator.” _Prompt. Parv._ ed. 1499. Page 12. v. 176. _chere_] i. e. countenance, or (as it may mean here) spirit. Page 13. v. 179. _Algife_] i. e. Although. —— _thorow saught_] i. e. sought through. v. 181. _complayne_] i. e. lament for. v. 186. _worshyply_] i. e. honourably. v. 195. _finaunce_] i. e. fine, forfeiture. v. 196. _from the fendys pray_] “i. e. from being the prey of the fiends.” PERCY. v. 199. _eterminable_] i. e. interminable. Page 14. v. 212. _hole sorte_] i. e. whole company. v. 213. _mot_] i. e. may. —— _ad magistrum Rukshaw_] The person here addressed was perhaps “William Rowkshaw, priest,” by whom a letter, dated from the Gilbertine priory of Watton in the east riding of Yorkshire, is printed among the _Plumpton Correspondence_, p. 82. Camd. Soc. ed. AGAYNSTE A COMELY COYSTROWNE, THAT CURYOWSLY CHAWNTYD, AND CURRYSHLY COWNTRED, &c. Page 15. _Coystrowne_ (which Skelton uses again in his poem _Howe the douty Duke of Albany_, &c., v. 171. vol. ii. 73., and has Latinized in his _Speke, Parot_, v. 125. vol. ii. 7.) is written by Chaucer _quistron_; “This God of Loue of his fashion Was like no knaue ne _quistron_, [_Ne resembloit pas un garçon_].” _Rom. of the Rose_, fol. 113,—_Workes_, ed. 1602. Urry renders it—a beggar (Fr. _questeur_); but Tyrwhitt observes, “I rather believe it signifies a scullion, _un garçon de cuisine_.” _Gloss. to C.T._—Douce says that Tyrwhitt’s explanation is correct, citing the words “_un quistron de sa cusyne_” from the prose French chronicle of the Brut of England, and Caxton’s version of them, “a knave of his kychen.” See _Gloss._ to Weber’s _Met. Rom._—Roquefort has “_Questron_: bâtard, enfant d’une prostituée.” _Gloss. de la Lang. Rom._—In Scottish poetry _custroun_ occurs several times: see Jamieson’s _Et. Dict. of Scot. Lang._ and _Suppl._, where are various conjectures on the derivation and meaning of the word. In _Prompt. Parv._ we find “_Cowntryn_ in songe. Occento.” ed. 1499. To _counter_ is properly—to sing an extemporaneous part upon the plain chant. Skelton uses the word in other places, and perhaps not always in its strict sense. v. 4. _In peuyshnes yet they snapper and fall,_ _Which men the viii dedly syn call_] _Snapper_ is commonly explained—stumble; but Palsgrave makes a distinction between the words: “I _Snapper_ as a horse dothe that tryppeth, _Ie trippette_. My horse dyd nat _stumble_ he dyd but _snapper_ a lytell, _Mon cheual ne choppyt poynt il ne fit que tripetter vng petit._” _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccclxv. (Table of Verbes.)—Compare the following lines; “Not say y this but wel parcas that y In _pevisshe synne_ myght happe me ī aseven _Which is the viii synne_ to synnes vii.” _Poems_ by C. Duke of Orleans,—_MS. Harl._ 682. fol. 145.