1 Meddles.

For with us he so mells1
That within England dwells,

I would he were somewhere else;
For else, by and bye,

He will drink us so dry,

And suck us so nigh,
That men shall scantly
Have penny or halfpenny.
God save his noble grace,
And grant him a place
Endless to dwell

With the Devil of Hell i
For, and he were there
We need never fear

Of the fiendès black;

For I undertake

He would so brag and crake2

That he would then make
The devils to quake,

To shudder and to shake,
Like a fire-drake ;3
And with a coal-rake
Bruise them on a break,1

And bind them to a stake,
And set Hell on fire
At his own desire.

He is such a grim sire,

And such a potestolate,

And such a potestate,

That he would break the brains

Of Lucifer in his chains,

And rule them each one

In Lucifer's throne :-
I would he were gone!

4 An instrument of torture.

FROM THE GARLAND OF LAUREL.1

TO ISABELL.

My maiden Isabell,
Reflaring2 rosabell,3
The fragrant camomell,
The ruddy rosary,*

The sovereign rosemary,
The pretty strawberry,
The columbine, the nept,5
The gillyflower well set,
The proper' violet :
Ennewèd your colour

Is, like the daisy-flower,
After the April shower!
Star of the morrow grey,

The blossom on the spray,
The freshest flower of May!
Maidenly, demure,

Of womanhood the lure!
Wherefore, I you assure,
It were an heavenly health,
It were an endless wealth,
A life for God himself,
To hear this nightingale
Among the birdès small
Warbling in the vale!
Dug, dug!

Jug, jug!

Good year! and good luck!

With chuck, chuck!
Chuck, chuck!

1 This poem was written about 1520, at Sheriff-Hutton Castle in Yorkshire, the residence of the Duke of Norfolk. The son of this duke, Lord Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, afterwards third Duke of Norfolk, married, in 1513, Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, and of the five children born of this marriage one was Henry Howard the poet. It was in the early childhood of this poet-son, therefore, and probably when on a visit to her father-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, that the Countess of Surrey entertained the aged Skelton as her guest, or took him with her in her suite. The Countess was a patron of literature and of Skelton, and the poem called The Garland of Laurel, consisting of a long series of seven-lined stanzas, with brief interspersed lyrics, is an account of how she and her ladies wove for him, in many-coloured needle-work, a chaplet or garland of honour, while he in his turn occupied himself in composing songs in their praise. The present piece is one of the lyrics. 2 Odorous. 3 Fair rose. 4 Rose-bush. 5 Cats-mint or nept, a sweet herb. 6 Formerly the name for the whole class of carnations, pinks, etc.

GAVIN DOUGLAS.

(1475-1522.)

CONTEMPORARY with Dunbar in the Court of James IV. of Scotland, but about fifteen years younger, was the poet Douglas, third son of the famous Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus. He was educated at St. Andrews for the church, and was made by James IV., in 1501, Provost or Dean of the Collegiate Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh, at that time the chief post of ecclesiastical dignity in the city. In the same year he wrote and dedicated to James IV. The Palace of Honour, a long allegorical poem in nine-lined stanzas. During the period of his Provostship he also wrote King Hart, another allegory, and a fragment called Conscience. His most important and latest work was the translation into Scottish verse of Virgil's Æneid. This large undertaking was begun in Edinburgh early in 1512, and finished there on July 22d, 1513. His entire literary life dates, therefore, before the battle of Flodden, which took place on September 9th of that year. It was not until 1516 that he was made Bishop of Dunkeld, by which title he is usually known. In the meantime, only a few months after the King's death at Flodden, the young widowed Queen, sister of Henry VIII., had become the wife of the Earl of Angus, nephew of the poet. Henceforward, in virtue of his close relationship by marriage to the Queen and the infant King, Douglas was constantly and intimately concerned with affairs of state. During the troubled period of the King's minority, he devoted himself wholly to the business of politics, exerting his influence from first to last in the interest of "the English Party," as it may be called, whose aim was to promote a friendly alliance between England and Scotland. Opposed to this party was "the Party of the French alliance;" and, this party having come into the ascendency, the close of Douglas's life was spent in exile at the English Court of Henry VIII. Some of his private letters upon state matters, written during the period of his political activity, are still extant, and are remark

1 This poem was written about 1520, at Sheriff-Hutton Castle in Yorkshire, the residence of the Duke of Norfolk. The son of this duke, Lord Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, afterwards third Duke of Norfolk, married, in 1513, Elizabeth Stafford, eldest daughter of the Duke of Buckingham, and of the five children born of this marriage one was Henry Howard the poet. It was in the early childhood of this poet-son, therefore, and probably when on a visit to her father-in-law, the Duke of Norfolk, that the Countess of Surrey entertained the aged Skelton as her guest, or took him with her in her suite. The Countess was a patron of literature and of Skelton, and the poem called The Garland of Laurel, consisting of a long series of seven-lined stanzas, with brief interspersed lyrics, is an account of how she and her ladies wove for him, in many-coloured needle-work, a chaplet or garland of honour, while he in his turn occupied himself in composing songs in their praise. The present piece is one of the lyrics. 2 Odorous. 3 Fair rose. 4 Rose-bush. 5 Cats-mint or nept, a sweet herb. 6 Formerly the name for the whole class of carnations, pinks, etc.

GAVIN DOUGLAS.

(1475-1522.)

CONTEMPORARY with Dunbar in the Court of James IV. of Scotland, but about fifteen years younger, was the poet Douglas, third son of the famous Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus. He was educated at St. Andrews for the church, and was made by James IV., in 1501, Provost or Dean of the Collegiate Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh, at that time the chief post of ecclesiastical dignity in the city. In the same year he wrote and dedicated to James IV. The Palace of Honour, a long allegorical poem in nine-lined stanzas. During the period of his Provostship he also wrote King Hart, another allegory, and a fragment called Conscience. His most important and latest work was the translation into Scottish verse of Virgil's Æneid. This large undertaking was begun in Edinburgh early in 1512, and finished there on July 22d, 1513. His entire literary life dates, therefore, before the battle of Flodden, which took place on September 9th of that year. It was not until 1516 that he was made Bishop of Dunkeld, by which title he is usually known. In the meantime, only a few months after the King's death at Flodden, the young widowed Queen, sister of Henry VIII., had become the wife of the Earl of Angus, nephew of the poet. Henceforward, in virtue of his close relationship by marriage to the Queen and the infant King, Douglas was constantly and intimately concerned with affairs of state. During the troubled period of the King's minority, he devoted himself wholly to the business of politics, exerting his influence from first to last in the interest of "the English Party," as it may be called, whose aim was to promote a friendly alliance between England and Scotland. Opposed to this party was "the Party of the French alliance;" and, this party having come into the ascendency, the close of Douglas's life was spent in exile at the English Court of Henry VIII. Some of his private letters upon state matters, written during the period of his political activity, are still extant, and are remark