v. 15. _I wiss_] i. e. truly, certainly (_i-wis_, adv.).
v. 17. _piggesnye_] See note, p. 97. v. 20.
v. 20. _japed bodely_] See Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. cclxv. (Table of Verbes); Puttenham’s _Arte of English Poesie_, B. iii. c. xxii. p. 212. ed. 1589; and the Prologue to the anonymous old play, _Grim the Collier of Croydon_.
Page 29. v. 27. _thought_] i. e. sadness, grief: see note, p. 101. v. 10.
“It is a _bouge of courte_. _Ceremonia aulica_ est.” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. s iii. ed. 1530. “_Bouche à Court._ _Budge-a-Court_, diet allowed at Court.” Cotgrave’s _Dict._ “The Kings Archers ... had _Bouch of Court_ (to wit, Meat and Drink) and great Wages of six Pence by the Day.” Stow’s _Survey_, B. vi. 49. ed. 1720.
“The poem called the BOUGE OF COURT, or the _Rewards of a Court_, is in the manner of a pageaunt, consisting of seven personifications. Here our author, in adopting the more grave and stately movement of the seven lined stanza, has shewn himself not always incapable of exhibiting allegorical imagery with spirit and dignity. But his comic vein predominates.” Warton’s _Hist. of E. P._, ii. 347. ed. 4to.
“_Bouge of court_, a corruption of _bouche_, Fr. An allowance of meat and drink for the tables of the inferior officers, and others who were occasionally called to serve and entertain the court. Skelton has a kind of little drama called _Bouge of Court_, from the name of the _ship_ in which the dialogue takes place. It is a very severe satire, full of strong painting, and excellent poetry. The courtiers of Harry must have winced at it.” Gifford, note on Ben Jonson’s _Works_, vii. 428.
Page 30. v. 7. _to werre hym dyde dres_] i. e. did address, apply himself to war.
v. 20. _illumyne_] i. e. embellish a subject.
v. 31. _sore enwered_]—_enwered_ means simply—wearied. Richardson (_Dict._ in v. _En_) observes that “Skelton appears to have wantoned in such compounds.”
v. 33. _I me dreste_] i. e. I addressed, applied myself.
_Methoughte I sawe a shyppe, goodly of sayle,_ _Come saylynge forth into that hauen brood,_ _Her takelynge ryche and of hye apparayle_]
Of this passage Mr. Wordsworth has a recollection in one of his noble Sonnets;
“_A goodly Vessel_ did I then espy Come like a giant from a _haven broad_; And lustily along the bay she strode, _Her tackling rich, and of apparel high_.”