Page:Notes and Queries - Series 1 - Volume 1.djvu/29

Nov. 10. 1849.]

The whole production consists only of ten leaves, 4to, and the Latin portion, which has the subsequent separate title-page, occupies four of them:—

I shall not here introduce any part of the English version, because one or two long quotations will be found in the introductory portion of the Rev. A. Dyce's excellent edition of Skelton's Works (2 vols. 8vo. 1843). Respecting the Latin portion I have been more particular, because the learned editor was not aware that the production had come from the press of Barnes of Oxford, nor that a Latin version was appended to it.

I may take the liberty of adding here a mention of Skelton which escaped notice, and which is from one of the tracts against Thomas Nash, produced by Gabriel Harvey, the friend of Spenser. He couples Skelton and Scoggin together, in no very respectful manner, and completes the triumvirate by Nash, whom he here calls Signor Capriccio:—"And what riott so pestiferous as that which in sugred baites presenteth most poisonous hookes? Sir Skelton and Master Scoggin were but innocents to Signior Capricio."

This quotation is the more noticeable, because it recognises the sacred character of Skelton (however unworthy of the gown) in the prefix "Sir," which, as most people are aware, was then generally given to clergy-men: Scoggin, on the other hand, is only styled "Master Scoggin."

It is not without some slight reluctance that I notice anonymous communications, but shall endeavour to repress such feelings with regard to the modest students who may choose to announce their desiderata through the convenient channel of the "." A hearty well-wisher to so commendable an enterprise, shall have my first responsive scrap.

The inquiry affords no scope for ingenuity of conjecture! The foolish rime to which bishop Aylmer refers, is undoubtedly the pamphlet thus entitled:—

The Oxford edition is recorded by Ames, and there is a copy of the London edition in the British Museum. Strype, in his account of bishop Aylmer, gives the substance of the letter as his own narrative, almost verbatim—but fails to identify the pamphlet in question. Park briefly describes it in Censura Literaria 1815. ii. 18.; and there is a specimen of it in The poetical works of John Skelton, as edited by the reverend Alexander Dyce, 1843.

While queries evince a sharp mental appetite, answers help to satisfy it; and so, by their united influence, a brisk circulation of ideas may be produced—which, as master Burton assures us, wards off melancholy.

Sir,—I take the liberty to send you one or two Notes on your first Number, just as they occur to me in looking it over. I will not trespass on you by preface or apology.

The "bibliographic project" I shall rejoice