Thus for to were,”[35] &c.
In the following passage Barclay perhaps glances at Skelton, with whom (as will afterwards be shewn) he was on unfriendly terms;
“But of their writing though I ensue the rate,
No name I chalenge of Poete laureate:
That name vnto them is mete and doth agree
Which writeth matters with curiositee.
Mine habite blacke accordeth not with grene,
Blacke betokeneth death as it is dayly sene;
The grene is pleasour, freshe lust and iolite;
These two in nature hath great diuersitie.
Then who would ascribe, except he were a foole,
The pleasaunt laurer vnto the mourning cowle?”[36]
Warton has remarked, that some of Skelton’s Latin verses, which are subscribed—“Hæc laureatus Skeltonis, regius orator”—“Per Skeltonida laureatum, oratorem regium,”—seem to have been written in the character of royal laureate;[37] and perhaps the expression “of fame royall” in Skelton’s lines on Calliope already cited, may be considered as strengthening this supposition. There would, indeed, be no doubt that Skelton was not only a poet laureated at the universities, but also poet laureat or court poet to Henry the Eighth, if the authenticity of the following statement were established; “la patente qui declare Skelton poète laureat d’Henry viii. est datée de la cinquième année de son règne, ce qui tombe en 1512 ou 1513:” so (after giving correctly the second entry concerning Skelton’s laureation at Cambridge) writes the Abbé du Resnel in an essay already mentioned; having received, it would seem, both these statements concerning Skelton from Carte the historian,[38] who, while he communicated to Du Resnel one real document, was not likely to have forged another for the purpose of misleading the learned Frenchman. On this subject I can only add, that no proof has been discovered of Skelton’s having enjoyed an annual salary from the crown in consequence of such an office.
The reader will have observed that in the first entry given above from the Cambridge Univ. Regist., Skelton is described as having been laureated not only at Oxford but also “transmarinis partibus.” That the foreign seat of learning at which he received this honour was the university of Louvaine,[39] may be inferred from the title of a poem which I subjoin entire, not only because it occurs in a volume of the greatest rarity, but because it evinces the celebrity which Skelton had attained.
“IN CLARISSIMI SCHELTONIS LOUANIENSIS POETÆ LAUDES EPIGRAMMA.
Quum terra omnifero lætissima risit amictu,
Plena novo fœtu quælibet arbor erat;
Vertice purpurei vultus incepit honores
Extensis valvis pandere pulchra rosa;
Et segetum tenero sub cortice grana tumescunt,
Flavescens curvat pendula spica caput.
Vix Cancri tropicos æstus lustravit anhelans
Pythius, et Nemeæ vertit ad ora feræ,
Vesper solis equos oriens dum clausit Olympo,
Agmina stellarum surgere cuncta jubet:
Hic primo aspiceres ut Cynthia vecta sereno
Extulerat surgens cornua clara polo;
Inde Hydram cernas, stravit quam clava trinodis
Alcidæ, nitidis emicuisse comis;
Tum[40] Procyon subiit, præpes Lepus, hinc Jovis ales,
Arctos, et Engonasus, sidus et Eridani;
Ignivomis retinet radiis quæ stellifer orbis
(Quid multis remorer?) sidera cuncta micant.
Nutat Atlanteum convexum pondus, ocellis
Dum lustro hæc ægris, vergit et oceano.
Tum furtim alma quies repens mihi membra soporat,
Curaque Lethæo flumine mersa jacet:
O mihi quam placidis Icelos tulit aurea somnis
Somnia, musiphilis non caritura fide!
Nuncia percelebris Polyhymnia blanda salutans
Me Clarii ut visam numina sacra citat.
Ut sequar hanc lætus, mihi visus amœna vireta
Et nemorum umbrosos præteriisse sinus:
Scilicet hæc montes monstraverat inter eundum
Et fontes Musæ quos coluere sacros;
Castalios latices, Aganippidos atque Medusei
Vidimus alipedis flumina rupta pede;
Antra hinc Libethri monstrat Pimpleidos undas,
Post vada Cephisi, Phocidos atque lacus;
Nubifer assurgit mons Pierus atque Cithæron,
Gryneumque nemus dehinc Heliconque sacer;
Inde et Parnasi bifidi secreta subimus,
Tota ubi Mnemosynes sancta propago manet.
Turba pudica novem dulce hic cecinere sororum;
Delius in medio plectra chelynque sonat:
Aurifluis laudat modulis monumenta suorum
Vatum, quos dignos censet honore poli:
De quo certarunt Salamin, Cumæ, vel Athenæ,
Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, primus Homerus erat;
Laudat et Orpheum, domuit qui voce leones,
Eurydicen Stygiis qui rapuitque rogis;
Antiquum meminit Musæum Eumolpide natum,
Te nec Aristophanes Euripidesque tacet;
Vel canit illustrem genuit quem Teia tellus,
Quemque fovit dulci Coa camena sinu;
Deinde cothurnatum celebrem dat laude Sophoclem,
Et
