2»<» S. No 88., Sept. 5. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



183 



SATIRICAL VERSES. 



In a MS. volume oi Law Readings., in the Uni- 

 versity Library at Cambridge, written about the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century, are the follow- 

 ing satirical verses on the times. They perhaps 

 have not been printed, but this is a question 

 •which may be cleared up by your giving them a 

 place in " N. & Q." Though not in Skelton's 

 published works, they so much resemble his style, 



Earticularly in his " Maner of the World now-a- 

 )ayes," that I am inclined to ask, are they Skel- 

 ton's ? 



" Now the lawe is ledde by clere conscience 

 Pull seld. Covetise hath divercion 

 In every place. Right hath residence 

 Neyther in town ne feld. Simulacion 

 Ther is truly in every cas. Consolacion 

 The pore peple no tyme hase, but right 

 Men may fynd day ne night. Adulacion 

 Nowe reigneth treuth in every mannys sight. 



" In women is rest peas and pacience 

 No season, for soth ought of charite 

 Bothe be n3'ght and day, thei have confidence 

 All wey of treeson. Owt of blame thei be 

 Sotyme as men say ; mutabilitie 

 Thei have without nay, but stedfastnes 

 In theym may ye never fynd y gesse. Cruelte 

 Suche condicions they have more and lesse. 



"Now is Englond perished in sight, 

 W moche people and consciens light. 

 Many knyghts and lytyll myght. 

 Many lawys and lytyll right, 

 Lytyll charite and fayn to please, 

 Many galants and peny lese, 

 Great courtears and small wags. 

 Many gentilmen and few pags. 

 Short gownys and slyt slevys, 

 Welbesee and strong thevys. 

 Great boost and gay clothis, 

 Mark them well, thei lak now othes. 

 Many fals slawnders of riches, 

 And yet poverte apperith neverthelesse. 

 Many beads and fewe prayers, 

 Many dettes and fewe good payers. 

 Small festyng and lytyll penance, 

 Thus all is turned in to myschance. 

 Extorcion and mock Symony, 

 Fals covetyse w* perjury e, 

 W lechery and advowetrye, 

 Fayned frenship and ypocresye, 

 Also gyle on every syde, 

 W murdr and muche pride. 

 Great envy and wilfulness. 

 Without mercy or rightwysnes. 

 The cause is for lak of light, 

 That shuld be in the church of right. 

 Who so wille be wise in purchesyng. 

 Consider thes poyntes that ben folowyng : 

 Se that the seller be of age. 

 And that the lond be in no morgage. 

 Se whether the lond be bond or fre, 

 And se the reles of every feoffe. 

 Looke what quyte Rent therof out must goo. 

 And what service longith therto. 

 Looke whethir it moveth of a weddyd woman. 

 And ware well of covert de baron. 

 Loke whether therof a tayl may be found. 

 And whether it stand in statut merchaund bound. 



And if thou be ware and wyse 



Se that the chartre be made w* werentyse. 



And if it be lordship lood or housyng, " 



To these in longith diverse paying. 



And if thow wise purchaser be. 



In X. yere day thou shalt thi mony se." 



E. Ventris. 



MILTON AS A LATIN LEXICOGRAPHER. 



There can be no chance of error in asserting 

 that the labours of Milton as a Latin lexicographer 

 have seldom been fairly appreciated. 



Fenton, whose memoir of Milton has been much 

 read, gives no information on this point, and the 

 same remark applies to Birch, who wrote the me- 

 moirs contained in the Heads of illustrious persons 

 of Great Britain. The later biographers of the 

 poet are not so defective. Johnson treats the 

 subject precisely, yet briefly; Todd, if I may 

 trust to memory, makes no other addition to the 

 statement of Johnson than a suggestion that Phil- 

 lips may have used the collections of Milton for 

 his own lexicographical volume ; and Symmons 

 was too intent on blowing the trumpet of whiggism 

 to spare time for research. He gives only a faint 

 outline from Johnson. 



All the information on the subject which is now 

 attainable seems to be comprised in two short 

 paragraphs, and the juxta-position of those para- 

 graphs is obviously desirable : 



" Being now quiet from state-adversaries and publick 

 contests, he [Milton] had leisure again for his own studies 

 and private designs ; which were his foresaid History of 

 England, and a new Thesaurus Lingua Latinee, according 

 to the manner of Stephanus ; a work he had been long 

 since collecting from his own reading, and still went on. 

 with it at times, even very near to his dying day ; but 

 the papers after his death were so discomposed and de- 

 ficient, that it could not be made fit for the press j how- 

 ever, what there was of it, was made use of for another 

 dictionary." — [Edward Phillips] Life of Milton, prefixed 

 to Letters of State, London, 1694. 12mo. 



" We had by us, and made use of, a manuscript collec- 

 tion in three large folios digested into an alphabetical 

 order, which the learned Mr. John Milton had made, out 

 of Tully, Livy, Ccesar, Sallust, Quintus Curtius, Justin, 

 Plautus, Terence, Lucretius, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Mani- 

 lins, Celsus, Columella, Varro, Cato, Palladitis ; in short 

 out of all the best and purest Roman authors. In using 

 the assistances mentioned [Stephanus, etc.], we did not 

 take every, nay scarce any word, any signification, or 

 construction of a word, upon trust ; but the way we took 

 to make these great mens labours useful to us, was this : 

 they seldom omit naming not onlj' the author, but th3 

 place in him, whence they fetch their authorities. This 

 is known to be Stephens' method, and the same maj' be 

 seen in Mr. Milton's manuscript, by the curious or doubt- 

 ful." — The editors of Lingtue Romance dictionarium lucu- 

 lentuni novum. A new dictionary in five alphabets, etc. 

 Cambridge, 1693. 4to. 



It would be a waste of time to examine all the 

 biographers of Milton with a view to this ques- 



