Page 122. v. 75. _wary_] Is frequently found in the sense of curse,—
but here, I apprehend, it means—war, contend.
v. 87. _sowtters_] i. e. shoemakers, cobblers.
v. 88. _seche a nody polle_] i. e. such a silly head, ninny.
v. 90. _your scrybys nolle_] i. e. your scribe’s head,—Godfrey’s; see note on title of the preceding poem, p. 180.
v. 94. _dawpate_] i. e. simple pate, simpleton; see note, p. 113. v. 301.
Page 123. v. 101. _Bolde bayarde_] The proverbial expression, “as bold as blind bayard,”—(_bayard_, properly a bay horse, but used for a horse in general),—is very ancient, and of very frequent occurrence in our early literature; its origin is not known:
“For _blynde bayarde_ caste peryll of nothynge, Tyll that he stumblyng fall amydde the lake.”
Lydgate’s _Warres of Troy_, B. v. sig. E e ii. ed. 1555.
_Ye wolde be callyd a maker,_ _And make moche lyke Jake Raker_]
i. e. You would be called a composer of verses, or poet, and you compose much in the style of Jack Raker. So again our author;
“Set _sophia_ asyde, for euery _Jack Raker_ And euery mad medler must now be a maker.”
“He maketh vs _Jacke Rakers_; He sayes we ar but crakers,” &c.
_Why come ye nat to Courte_, v. 270. vol. ii. 35.
So too in the comedy by Nicholas Udall, entitled _Ralph Royster Doyster_;
“Of Songs and Balades also he is a maker, And that can he as finely doe as _Jacke Raker_.”
Mr. Collier (_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ ii. 448) speaks of Jack Raker as if he really had existed: I rather think that he was an imaginary person, whose name had become proverbial.
v. 110. _crakar_] i. e. vaunter, big talker.
Page 123. v. 114. _despyghtyng_] “I _Dispyte_ I grutche or reprime agaynst a thing.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. ccxiiii. (Table of Verbes).
v. 115. _nat worthe a myteyng_]—_myteyng_ (which occurs in our author’s _Elynour Rummyng_ as a term of endearment, v. 224. vol. i. 102) is here perhaps equivalent to “_Myte_ the leest coyne that is _pite_.” Palsgrave’s _Lesclar. de la Lang. Fr._, 1530. fol. xlviii. (Table of Subst.).
v. 118. _occupyed no better your tole_] i. e. used no better your tool, pen: see note, p. 86. v. 52.
v. 119. _Ye xulde haue kowththyd me a fole_] i. e. You should have made me known for, shewn me to be, a fool.