Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the ...

XIV. (a) JOHN SKELTON. 419property ;but, as Mr. Sharon Turner observes, that Wolsey was the sonof a butcher, " was reportecVand believed while he lived."— Hist, of Reignof Hen. the Eighth, i.167, ed. 8vo.'—D.312, Dawes, jackdaws. The daw was reckoned as a silly bird, and adaw meant a simpleton. So in Shakespeare—' Then thou dvvellest withdaws too.' Coriolanus, iv. 5. 48.313. Of the coyfe. See note to Piers the Plowman, Prol. 1. 210; ed.Skeat (Clar. Press Series).316. 'Commune Place, i.e. Common Pleas.'—D. See note to Piersthe Plowman, Prol. 1. 92 ; and cf note to st. 4 of Lydgate's LondonLyckpeny, p. 373 above.326. Huddypelie. Skelton has hoddypehe in the phrase ' can he playwell at the hoddypeke,' Poem on Magnificence, 1. 1 1 76. It clearly heremeans a simpleton. It does not seem to have been exactly explained.Nares supposes it to be the same as hodi7ia?idod, a snail, of which thereis no proof Mr. Wedgwood takes it to be the Dutch word hoddebek, astammerer, where hodden means to jolt or jog, and beh is a beak or mouth.327. To lewde, too full of ignorance. Lerned and leivde meant originallylearned and igtiorant.'So in our author's " Speke, Parrot," we find" lewdlye ar they letlyrd" 1. 296.'—D.3 2 8. ' Well thewde, i. e. well mannered.'—D.335. Checker, the Court of Exchequer ; see note on p. 372.'338. Rowte, snore, make a snoring noise, snort. I may just obsei"vethat Palsgrave not only gives rowte in that sense, but also ' / rowte, . .Je roucte.'—D.343. Scottysh hynge, James the Fifth, born 1512; began to reign,1513; died, 1542, aged only thirty.347. ' Whipling, perhaps the same as pippling, i. e. piping— " the blastof the moche vayne glorious pipplyng wynde ;" vol. i. p. 207.'—D.354. This passage ' relates to the various rumours which were afloat1522, during the regency of John, Dukeconcerning the Scottish affairs inof Albany. The last and disastrous expedition of Albany againstEngland in 1523 had not yet taken place; its failure called forth fromSkelton a long and furious invective against the Duke. In 1522, whenAlbany, with an army 80,000 strong had advanced to Carlisle, LordDacre, by a course of able negotiations, prevailed on him to accept atruce for a month and to disband his forces ; see Hist, of Scotl. v. 156sqq. by Tytler,—who ' defends the conduct of Albany on this occasionfrom the charge of cowardice and weakness.'—D.357. Owers; shall be ojtrs for the space of two hours. Cf. the phrase,the mountenance of an hoi/re, in Chaucer, Troil. and Cres. b. ii. 1. 1707.367. Burgonyons, Burgundians.£62