* Furth of his palace royal ishit Phoebus, * Thir galyard gardens and each green herbere The painted pownel4 pacand with plumes gym, So dusty powder upatours in every street, In gersy graves wanderand by spring wells; * For amorous lays does all the rockis ring. JOHN SKELTON. JOHN SKELTON flourished as a poet in the earlier part of the reign of Henry VIII. He was rector of Dysse, in Norfolk, and chiefly wrote satires upon his own order, for which he was at one time compelled to fly from his charge. The pasquils of Skelton are copious and careless effusions of coarse humour, displaying a certain share of imagination, and much rancour; but he could also assume a more amiable and poetical manner, as in the following canzonet :—_ To Mistress Margaret Hussey. Merry Margaret, As midsummer flower, Or hawk of the tower; 7 Storey. 12 Young Meadow. 13 The cock. 10 Cool vapours. 11 Sprouts. 1 Rises in clouds. 14 The peacock. 5 Songs then popular. 2 Walked. 3 Grassy groves. 6 Whisper. 7 Relieve. 4 Lays. 8 Shelter. In everything, Sweet Pomander, Good Cassander; Stedfast of thought, Well made, well wrought Or hawk of the tower. EARL OF SURREY. From Chaucer, or at least from James I., the writers of verse in England had displayed little of the grace and elevation of true poetry. At length a worthy successor of those poets appeared in Thomas Howard, eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk, and usually denominated the EARL OF SURREY. This nobleman was born in 1516. He was educated at Windsor, in company with a natural son of the Howard, Earl of Surrey. king, and in early life became accomplished, not only in the learning of the time, but in all kinds of courtly and chivalrous exercises. Having travelled into Italy, he became a devoted student of the poets of that country-Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Ariosto-and formed his own poetical style upon theirs. His poetry is chiefly amorous, and, notwithstanding his having been married in early life, much of it consists of the praises of a lady whom he names Geraldine, supposed to have been a daughter of the Earl of Kildare. Surrey was a gallant soldier as well as a poet, and conducted an important expedition, in 1542, for the devastation of the Scottish borders. He finally fell under the displeasure of Henry VIII., and was beheaded on Tower Hill in 1547. The poetry of Surrey is remarkable for a flowing melody, correctness of style, and purity of expression; he was the first to introduce the sonnet and blank verse into English poetry. The gentle and melancholy pathos of his style is well exemplified in the verses which he wrote during his captivity in Windsor Castle, when about to yield his life a sacrifice to tyrannical caprice : Prisoner in Windsor, he recounteth his Pleasure there passed. So cruel prison how could betide, alas! As proud Windsor? where I, in lust and joy, With a king's son, my childish years did pass, In greater feast than Priam's son of Troy: Where each sweet place returns a taste full sour! The large green courts where we were wont to hove,l With eyes cast up into the Maiden Tower, And easy sighs such as folk draw in love. The stately seats, the ladies bright of hue; Give me accounts, where is my noble fere ;4 Returns thereto a hollow sound of plaint. 1 Hover; loiter. 2 A lover tied the sleeve of his mistress on the head of his 3 Reins dropped. 4 Companion. horse. 5 Agreeable. Description and Praise of his Love Geraldine. From Tuscan' came my lady's worthy race; Fair Florence was some time their ancient seat; The western isle, whose pleasant shore doth face Wild Camber's cliffs, did give her lively heat: Fostered she was with milk of Irish breast; Her sire, an earl; her dame of princes' blood: From tender years, in Britain she doth rest With king's child, where she tasteth costly food. Hunsdon did first present her to mine een: Bright is her hue, and Geraldine she hight: Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine: And Windsor, alas, doth chase me from her sight. Her beauty of kind, her virtues from above; Happy is he that can obtain her love! How no age is content with his own estate, and how the age of children is the happiest, if they had skill to understand it. Laid in my quiet bed, In study as I were, I saw within my troubled head, A heap of thoughts appear. And every thought did show So lively in mine eyes, That now I sighed, and then I smiled, As cause of thoughts did rise. I saw the little boy, In thought how oft that he Did wish of God, to scape the rod, The young man eke that feels His bones with pains opprest, How he would be a rich old man, To live and lie at rest: The rich old man that sees His end draw on so sore, How he would be a boy again, To live so much the more. Whereat full oft I smiled, To see how all these three, And musing thus, I think, The case is very strange, That man from wealth, to live in woe, Doth ever seek to change. Thus thoughtful as I lay, I saw my withered skin, How it doth show my dented thews, Them hanging on my chin. Of thy young wanton time; Whereat I sighed, and said, And tell them thus from me, Their time most happy is, The Means to attain Happy Life. The happy life, be these, I find, The riches left, not got with pain; The fruitful ground, the quiet mind, The equal friend; no grudge, no strife; No charge of rule, nor governance; Without disease, the healthful life; The household of continuance: The mean diet, no delicate fare; True wisdom joined with simpleness; The night discharged of all care; Where wine the wit may not oppress. The faithful wife, without debate; Such sleeps as may beguile the night; Contented with thine own estate, Ne wish for death, ne fear his might. SIR THOMAS WYATT. He In amorous poetry, which may be said to have taken its rise in this age, Surrey had a fellow-labourer in SIR THOMAS WYATT (1503-1541), another distinguished figure in the court of Henry VIII. Wyatt was a man highly educated for his age, a great traveller, and generally accomplished. died of a fever caught by riding too fast on a hot day from Falmouth, while engaged on a mission to conduct the ambassador of the emperor, Charles V., to court. The songs and sonnets of this author, in praise of his mistress, and expressive of the various feelings he experienced while under the influence of the tender passion, though conceited, are not without refinement, and some share of poetical feeling. The lover's lute cannot be blamed, though it sing of his lady's unkindness. Blame not my Lute! for he must sound For lack of wit the Lute is bound To give such tunes as pleaseth me; My Lute, alas! doth not offend, To sing to them that heareth me; My Lute and strings may not deny, But wreak thyself some other way; Spite asketh spite, and changing change, Blame but thyself that hast misdone, Blame not my Lute! Farewell! unknown; for though thou break Strings for to string my Lute again; Blame not my Lute. The re-cured Lover exulteth in his Freedom, and roweth to remain free until Death. I am as I am, and so will I be ; Be it ill, be it well, be I bond, be I free, I lead my life indifferently; And though folks judge full diversely, I do not rejoice, nor yet complain, But since judgers do thus decay, Yet some there be that take delight, Praying you all that this do read, That Pleasure is mixed with every Pain. Vencmous thorns that are so sharp and keen Bear flowers, we see, full fresh and fair of hue, Poison is also put in medicine, And unto man his health doth oft renew. The fire that all things eke consumeth clean, May hurt and heal: then if that this be true, I trust some time my harm may be iny health, Since every woe is joined with some wealth. The Courtier's Life. In court to serve decked with fresh array, Of the Mean and Sure Estate. Stand whoso lists upon the slipper' wheel, Unknown in court that hath the wanton joys. For grips of death do he too hardly pass That known is to all, but to himself, alas! He dieth unknown, dased with dreadful face. THOMAS TUSSER. Amongst the poets dating towards the conclusion of the present period, may be ranked THOMAS TUSSER, author of the first didactic poem in the language. He was born about 1523, of an ancient family had a good education; and commenced life at court, under the patronage of Lord Paget. Afterwards he practised farming successively at Ratwood in Sussex, Ipswich, Fairsted in Essex, Norwich, and other places; but not succeeding in that walk, he betook himself to other occupations, amongst which were those of a chorister, and, it is said, a fiddler. As might be expected of one so inconstant, he did not prosper in the world, but died poor in London, in 1580. Tusser's poem, entitled a Hondreth Good Points of Husbandrie, which was first published in 1557, is a series of practical directions for farming, expressed in simple and inelegant, but not always dull verse. It was afterwards expanded by other writers, and published under the title of Five Hundreth Points of Good Husbandrie: the last of a considerable number of editions appeared in 1710. [Directions for Cultivating a Hop-Garden.] It strengtheneth drink, and it favoureth malt; [Housewifely Physic.] Good huswife provides, ere a sickness do come, the Get water of fumitory, liver to cool, [Moral Reflections on the Wind.] Though winds do rage, as winds were wood,1 SIR DAVID LYNDSAY. While Surrey and Wyatt were imparting fresh beauties to English poetry, Dunbar and his contem poraries were succeeded in Scotland by several poets of considerable talent, whose improvements, however, 1 Mad. fell far short of those effected in the literature of their southern neighbours. The most eminent of these writers was SIR DAVID LYNDSAY, born about 1490, who, after serving King James V., when that monarch was a boy, as sewer, caryer, cup-bearer, purse-master, chief cubicular; in short, everything -bearing him as an infant upon his back, and dancing antics for his amusement as a boy-was appointed to the important office of Lord Lyon King at Arms, and died about the year 1555. He chiefly shone as a satirical and humorous writer, and his great fault is an entire absence of that spirit of refinement which graced the contemporary literature of England. The principal objects of Lyndsay's vituperations were the clergy, whose habits at this period (just before the Reformation) were such as to afford unusually ample scope for the pen of the satirist. Our poet, also, although a state officer, and long a servant to the king, uses little delicacy in exposing the abuses of the court. His chief poems are placed in the following succession by his editor, Mr George Chalmers:-The Dreme, written about 1528; The Complaynt, 1529; The Complaynt of the King's Papingo (Peacock), 1530; The Play (or Satire) of the Three Estates, 1535; Kitteis Confession, 1541; The History of Squire Meldrum, 1550; The Monarchie, 1553. The three first of these poems are moralisings upon the state and government of the kingdom, during two of its dismal minorities. The Play is an extraordinary performance, a satire upon the whole of the three political orders-monarch, barons, and clergy-full of humour and grossness, and curiously illustrative of the taste of the times. Notwithstanding its satiric pungency, and, what is apt to be now more surprising, notwithstanding the introduction of indecencies not fit to be described, the Satire of the Three Estates was acted in presence of the court, both at Cupar and Edinburgh, the stage being in the open air. Kitteis Confession is a satire on one of the practices of Roman Catholics. By his various burlesques of that party, he is said to have largely contributed to the progress of the Reformation in Scotland. The History of Squire Meldrum is perhaps the most pleasing of all this author's works. It is considered the last poem that in any degree partakes of the character of the metrical romance. Of the dexterity with which Lyndsay could point a satirical remark on an error of state policy, we may judge from the following very brief passage of his Complaynt, which relates to the too early committal of the government to James V. It is given in the original spelling. Imprudently, like witles fules, Thay tuke the young prince from the scules, Was learnand vertew and science, And hastilie pat in his hand The governance of all Scotland: Quhilk first devisit that counsell; I pray God lat me never see ring |