Page 6. v. 91. _Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with syr Delarag_] See note, p. 189. v. 186. p. 194. v. 149.
v. 93. _Pawbe une aruer_] Either _Paub un arver_, Every one his manner, or _Paub yn ei arver_, Every one in his manner.
v. 108. _praty popigay_] i. e. pretty parrot.
v. 109. _pyke ... too_] i. e. pick ... toe.
v. 110. _solas, pleasure, dysporte, and pley_] One of Skelton’s pleonasms.
v. 112. _Parot can say, Cæsar, ave, also_] “Ut plurimum docebantur hæ aves salutationis verba ... interdum etiam plurium vocum versus aut sententias docebantur: ut illi corvi, qui admirationi fuerunt Augusto ex Actiaca victoria revertenti, quorum alter institutus fuerat dicere, _Ave, Cæsar_,” &c. Casaubonus _ad Persii Prol._ v. 8.
v. 116. _ruly doth loke_] i. e. ruefully doth look.
Page 7. v. 118. _vndertoke_] i. e. undertook.
v. 119. _of Judicum rede the boke_] i. e. read the Book of Judges.
Lydgate’s _Fall of Prynces_, B. i. leaf xiv. ed. Wayland.
_O Esebon, Esebon! to thé is cum agayne_ _Seon, the regent Amorræorum,_ _And Og, that fat hog of Basan, doth retayne,_ _The crafty coistronus Cananæorum_]
—_coistronus_ is a Latinised form of _coistroun_, see note on title of poem, p. 92. Though in an earlier part of _Speke, Parrot_ we find “Cryst saue Kyng Henry the viii, our royall kyng,” &c. v. 36, yet it would almost seem that he is alluded to here under the name of Seon. Og must mean Wolsey. This portion of the poem is not found in _MS. Harl._ (see note on v. 59 _ad l._); and there can be no doubt that _Speke, Parrot_ is made up of pieces composed at various times. After Skelton’s anger had been kindled against Wolsey, perhaps the monarch came in for a share of his indignation.
Page 7. v. 126. _asylum, whilom refugium miserorum, &c._]—_whilom_, i. e. once, formerly. So afterwards in this piece, v. 496, among the evils which Skelton attributes to Wolsey, mention is made of “myche sayntuary brekyng,” i. e. much sanctuary-breaking; and in _Why come ye nat to Courte_ he says of the Cardinal that
“all priuileged places He brekes and defaces,” &c.
v. 130. _trym tram_] See note, p. 161. v. 76.
v. 131. _chaffer far fet_] i. e. merchandise far fetched.
v. 133. _Scarpary_] In Tuscany. So afterwards, “Over Scarpary,” v. 408; and in _The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy_, “Mont Scarpry.” Dunbar’s _Poems_, ii. 82. ed. Laing.