And if it please you to hear of my welfare, I am not in good heele1 of body nor of heart, nor shall be till I hear from you; "For there wottys 2 no creature what pain that I endure, And for to be dead, I dare it not dyscur'."3 And my lady my mother hath laboured the matter to my father full diligently, but she can no more get than ye know of, for the which God knoweth I am full sorry. But if that ye love me, as I trust verily that ye do, ye will not leave me therefore; for if that ye had not half the livelihood that ye have, for to do the greatest labour that any woman alive might, I would not forsake you. No more to you at this time, but the Holy Trinity have you in keeping; and I beseech you that this bill be not seen of none earthly creature save only yourself, &c. And this letter was indited at Topcroft, with full heavy heart, &c. CHAPTER II. MODERN ENGLISH. 1500. PROSE AND NON-DRAMATIC POETRY OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 18. John Skelton, d. 1529. (History, p. 46.) ATTACK UPON WOLSEY. 1 But this mad Amalek Like to a Mamelek, 15 And his greasy genealogy, 2. Mamelek, Mamaluke. 8. Sovereign; an imaginary connection with reign has given a wrong spelling to this word. It comes from Lat. supremus, through Fr. souverain. Milton invariably uses sovran (It. sovrano). 9. God to record. God being my witness. This was a common use of to. In Chaucer "Saint John to borwe," means "Saint John being my pledge or security." 11. Reason or skill. These two words mean much the same thing. The first, however, is of Romance (raison, Lat. ratio), the second of Teutonic origin (Icelandic skil). Skil is often used in Piers Ploughman for device, argument. 14. Progeny seems here to mean birth. He came of the sank royal That was cast out of a butcher's stall. He would dry up the streams Of nine king's reams, 20 All rivers and wells, All water that swells; For with us he so mells I wold he were somewhere else; 25 For else by and by He will drink us so dry, Have penny or halfpenny. With the devil of hell! For, an he were there, He wold so brag and crake, 40 The devils to quake, To shudder and to shake, Like a fire-drake, And with a coal rake Bruise them on a brake, 45 And bind them to a stake, And set hell on fire 50 And such a potestate, That he wold brake the brains Of Lucifer in his chains, And rule them each one In Lucifer's trone. 49. Potestolate: "Equivalent, I suppose, to legate" (Dyce). 19. Sir Thomas Wyatt. 1503-1542. (History, p. 48.) TO HIS BELOVED. Forget not yet the tried intent Of such a truth as I have meant ; 5 Forget not yet when first began Forget not yet the great assays, Forget not!-Oh! forget not this, 15 The mind that never went amiss, 3. Travail, though really the same word as travel, is always used in the derivative sense of work, labour, It. travaglio. Diez takes it from Rom. travar, to hinder (trabs). 6. Whan, when. So than, though now limited to a particular use, is the SPECS. ENG. LIT. same word as then : "Full little thought they than, (Milton, Ode to the Nativity). 9. Assays, trials; literally tests, fr. Fr. essayer, L. L. exagium, the tongue of a balance. D Forget not then thine own approv'd, 20. Earl of Surrey. 1517-1547. (History p. 47.) DESCRIPTION OF SPRING. The soote season, that bud and bloom forth brings, 1, 2. Soote, sweet. Eke, also. 4. Make, mate; which latter is, however, an entirely different word. The former is O. E. maca, a partner, and still exists in match. 8. Fleet, float, swim. 9. Adder, properly nadder, O. E. nadre, has like apron (napron, fr. root nap, a cloth, as in napkin), surrendered the initial n to the definite article, usually precedent. By the inverse process eut has become newt. 11. Mings, mixes, fr. O. E. mengan (uíyvvu), of which mingle is the diminutive. 12. Bale, O. E. bealu, affliction, destruction. 21. Lord Berners's Froissart. (History, p. 49.) Anon after the dethe of the pope Gregory, the cardynalles 2 drew them into the conclaue, in the palays of saynt Peter. Anone after, 1. Anon, on an, in a moment, at once. 2. Cardynalles:-cardinal comes from cardo, because the affairs of the Church hinge or hang on them principally. |