Naiades, innumeris tollite præconiis;
Æterno vireat quo vos celebravit honore,
Illius ac astris fama perennis eat:
Nunc maduere satis vestro, nunc prata liquore
Flumina, Pierides, sistite, Phœbus ait.
Sat cecinisse tuum sit, mi Schelton, tibi laudi
Hæc Whitintonum: culte poeta, vale.
Ex capitalibus hexametrorum litteris solerter compositis emergit hoc distichon;
Quæ Whitintonus canit ad laudes tibi, Schelton,
Anglorum vatum gloria, sume libens.”[42]
Another laudatory notice of Skelton by a contemporary writer will not here be out of place;
“To all auncient poetes, litell boke, submytte the,
Whilom flouryng in eloquence facundious,
And to all other whiche present nowe be;
Fyrst to maister Chaucer and Ludgate sentencious,
Also to preignaunt Barkley nowe beying religious,
To inuentiue Skelton and poet laureate;
Praye them all of pardon both erly and late.”[43]
Skelton frequently styles himself “orator regius;”[44] but the nature of the office from which he derived the title is not, I believe, understood. The lines in which, as we have just seen, Whittington so lavishly praises his “rhetoricus sermo,” allude most probably to his performances in the capacity of royal orator.
In 1498 Skelton took holy orders. The days on which, during that year, he was ordained successively subdeacon, deacon, and priest, are ascertained by the following entries:
“[In ecclesia conuentuali domus siue hospitalis sancti Thome martiris de Acon ciuitatis London. per Thomam Rothlucensem episcopum vltimo die mensis Marcii]
M. Johannes Skelton London, dioc. ad titulum Mon. beate Marie de Graciis iuxta Turrim London.”
“[In cathedra sancti Pauli London. apud summum altare eiusdem per Thomam permissione diuina London, episcopum in sabbato sancto viz. xiiii die mensis Aprilis]
Johannes Skelton poete [sic] laureatus Lond. dioc. ad titulum Mon. de Graciis juxta turrim London.”
“[In ecclesia conuentuali hospitalis beate Marie de Elsyng per Thomam Rothlucensem episcopum ix die mensis Iunii]
M. Johannes Skelton poeta lureatus [sic] London. dioc. ad titulum Mon. de Graciis iuxta turrim London.”[45]
When Arthur, the eldest son of Henry the Seventh, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, in 1489,[46] Skelton celebrated the event in a composition (probably poetical) called Prince Arturis Creacyoun,[47] of which the title alone remains; and when Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Eighth, was created Duke of York, in 1494,[48] he was hailed by our author in some Latin verses—Carmen ad principem, quando insignitus erat ducis Ebor. titulo—a copy of which (not to be found at present) was once among the MSS. in the Library of Lincoln Cathedral, having been seen by Tanner, who cites the initial words—“Si quid habes, mea Musa.”[49]
As at the last-mentioned date Prince Henry was a mere infant, there can be no doubt that the care of his education had not yet been entrusted to our poet. It must have been several years after 1494 that Skelton was appointed tutor to that prince—an appointment which affords a striking proof of the high opinion entertained of his talents and learning, as well as of the respectability of his character. He has himself recorded that he held this important situation:
“The honor of Englond I lernyd to spelle,
In dygnyte roialle that doth excelle:
Note and marke wyl[50] thys parcele;
I yaue hym drynke of the sugryd welle
Of Eliconys waters crystallyne,
Aqueintyng hym with the Musys nyne.
Yt commyth thé wele me to remorde,
That creaunser[51] was to thy sofre[yne] lorde:
It plesyth that noble prince roialle
Me as hys master for to calle
In hys lernyng primordialle.”[52]
And in another poem he informs us that he composed a treatise for the edification of his royal pupil:
“The Duke of Yorkis creauncer whan Skelton was,
Now Henry the viii. Kyng of Englonde,
A tratyse he deuysid and browght it to pas,
Callid Speculum Principis, to here in his honde,
Therin to rede, and to vnderstande
All the demenour of princely astate,
To be our Kyng, of God preordinate.”[53]
The Speculum Principis has perished: we are unable to determine whether it was the same work as that entitled Methodos Skeltonidis laureati, sc. Præcepta quædam moralia Henrico principi, postea Henr. viii, missa. Dat. apud Eltham A.D. MDI., which in Tanner’s days[54] was extant (mutilated at the beginning) among the MSS. in the Lincoln-Cathedral Library, but which (like the Latin verses mentioned in a preceding page) has since been allowed to wander away from that ill-guarded collection.
When Prince Henry was a boy of nine years old, Erasmus dedicated to him an ode De Laudibus Britanniæ, Regisque Henrici Septimi ac Regiorum Liberorum. The Dedication contains the following memorable encomium on Skelton; “Et hæc quidem interea tamquam ludicra munuscula tuæ pueritiæ dicavimus, uberiora largituri ubi tua virtus una cum ætate accrescens uberiorem carminum materiam suppeditabit. Ad quod equidem te adhortarer, nisi et ipse jamdudum sponte tua velis remisque (ut aiunt) eo tenderes, et domi haberes Skeltonum, unum Britannicarum literarum lumen ac decus, qui tua studia possit, non solum accendere, sed etiam consummare;” and in the Ode are these lines;
“Jam
