On the magnificent houshold of King Richard ii,
Truly I herd Robert Irelese say,
Clark of the Green Cloth, and that to
the houshold,
Came every day, forth most part alway,
Ten thousand folk by his messes told;
That followed the house, aye as they wold,
And in the kitchen, three hundred scruitours,
And in eche office many occupiours,
And ladies faire, with their gentlewomen
Chamberers also, and launderers,
Three hundred of them were occupied then;
There was great pride among the officers,
And of all men far passing their compeers,
Of rich arraye, and much more costous,
Then was before, or sith, and more precious.
* * * * *
JOHN SKELTON
Was born of an ancient family in Cumberland, he received his education at Oxford, and entering into holy orders was made rector of Dysso in Norfolk in the reign of Henry VIII. tho’ more probably he appeared first in that of Henry vii. and may be said to be the growth of that time. That he was a learned man Erasmus has confirmed, who in his letter to King Henry VIII. stileth him, Britanicarum Literarum Lumen & Decus: Tho’ his stile is rambling and loose, yet he was not without invention, and his satire is strongly pointed. He lived near fourscore years after Chaucer, but seems to have made but little improvement in versification. He wrote some bitter satires against the clergy, and particularly, his keen reflections on Cardinal Wolsey drew on him such severe prosecutions, that he was obliged to fly for sanctuary to Westminster,