The Poetical Works of John Skelton :: :: University of Virginia Library

My name is Parrot, a byrd of paradyse,
By nature deuysed of a wonderous kynde,
Dyentely dyeted with dyuers dylycate spyce,
Tyl Euphrates, that flode, dryueth me into Inde;

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Where men of that countrey by fortune me fynd,
And send me to greate ladyes of estate;
Then Parot must haue an almon or a date:

A cage curyously caruen, with syluer pyn,
Properly paynted, to be my couertowre;
A myrrour of glasse, that I may toote therin;
These maidens ful mekely with many a diuers flowre
Freshly they dresse, and make swete my bowre,
With, Speke, Parrot, I pray you, full curtesly they say;
Parrot is a goodly byrd, a prety popagey:

With my becke bent my lyttyl wanton eye,
My fedders freshe as is the emrawde grene,
About my neck a cyrculet lyke the ryche rubye,
My lyttyll leggys, my feet both fete and clene,
I am a mynyon to wayt vppon a quene;
My proper Parrot, my lyttyl prety foole;
With ladyes I lerne, and go with them to scole.

Hagh, ha, ha, Parrot, ye can laugh pretyly!
Parrot hath not dyned of al this long day:

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Lyke your pus cate, Parrot can mute and cry
In Lattyn, in Ebrew, Araby, and Caldey;
In Greke tong Parrot can bothe speke and say,
As Percyus, that poet, doth reporte of me,
Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaire?

Dowse French of Parryse Parrot can lerne,
Pronounsynge my purpose after my properte,
With, Perliez byen, Parrot, ou perlez rien;
With Douch, with Spanysh, my tong can agre;
In Englysh to God Parrot can supple,
Cryst saue Kyng Henry the viii., our royall kyng,
The red rose in honour to florysh and sprynge!

With Kateryne incomparable, our ryall quene also,
That pereles pomegarnet, Chryst saue her noble grace!
Parrot, saves habler Castiliano,

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With fidasso de cosso in Turkey and in Trace;
Vis consilii expers, as techith me Horace,
Mole ruit sua, whose dictes ar pregnaunte,
Souentez foys, Parrot, en souenaunte.

My lady maystres, dame Philology,
Gaue me a gyfte in my nest whan I laye,
To lerne all language, and it to spake aptely:
Now pandez mory, wax frantycke, some men saye,
Phroneses for Freneses may not holde her way.
An almon now for Parrot, dilycatly drest;
In Salve festa dies, toto theyr doth best.

Moderata juvant, but toto doth excede;
Dyscressyon is moder of noble vertues all;
Myden agan in Greke tonge we rede;
But reason and wyt wantyth theyr prouyncyall
When wylfulnes is vycar generall.
Hæc res acu tangitur, Parrot, par ma foy:
Ticez vous, Parrot, tenez vous coye.

Besy, besy, besy, and besynes agayne!
Que pensez voz, Parrot? what meneth this besynes?

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Vitulus in Oreb troubled Arons brayne,
Melchisedeck mercyfull made Moloc mercyles;
To wyse is no vertue, to medlyng, to restles;
In mesure is tresure, cum sensu maturato;
Ne tropo sanno, ne tropo mato.

Aram was fyred with Caldies fyer called Ur;
Iobab was brought vp in the lande of Hus;
The lynage of Lot toke supporte of Assur;
Iereboseth is Ebrue, who lyst the cause dyscus.
Peace, Parrot, ye prate, as ye were ebrius:
Howst thé, lyuer god van hemrik, ic seg;
In Popering grew peres, whan Parrot was an eg.

What is this to purpose? Ouer in a whynny meg!
Hop Lobyn of Lowdeon wald haue e byt of bred;
The iebet of Baldock was made for Jack Leg;
An arrow vnfethered and without an hed,
A bagpype without blowynge standeth in no sted:
Some run to far before, some run to far behynde,
Some be to churlysshe, and some be to kynde.

Ic dien serueth for the erstrych fether,
Ic dien is the language of the land of Beme;
In Affryc tongue byrsa is a thonge of lether;
In Palestina there is Ierusalem.
Colostrum now for Parot, whyte bred and swete creme!

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Our Thomasen she doth trip, our Ienet she doth shayle:
Parrot hath a blacke beard and a fayre grene tayle.

Moryshe myne owne shelfe, the costermonger sayth;
Fate, fate, fate, ye Irysh water lag;
In flattryng fables men fynde but lyttyl fayth:
But moveatur terra, let the world wag;
Let syr Wrigwrag wrastell with syr Delarag;
Euery man after his maner of wayes,
Pawbe une aruer, so the Welche man sayes.

Suche shredis of sentence, strowed in the shop
Of auncyent Aristippus and such other mo,
I gader togyther and close in my crop,
Of my wanton conseyt, unde depromo
Dilemmata docta in pædagogio
Sacro vatum, whereof to you I breke:
I pray you, let Parot haue lyberte to speke.

But ware the cat, Parot, ware the fals cat!
With, Who is there? a mayd? nay, nay, I trow:
Ware ryat, Parrot, ware ryot, ware that!
Mete, mete for Parrot, mete, I say, how!
Thus dyuers of language by lernyng I grow:
With, Bas me, swete Parrot, bas me, swete swete;
To dwell amonge ladyes Parrot is mete.

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Parrot, Parrot, Parrot, praty popigay!
With my beke I can pyke my lyttel praty too
My delyght is solas, pleasure, dysporte, and pley;
Lyke a wanton, whan I wyll, I rele to and froo:
Parot can say, Cæsar, ave, also;
But Parrot hath no fauour to Esebon:
Aboue all other byrdis, set Parrot alone.

Ulula, Esebon, for Ieromy doth wepe!
Sion is in sadnes, Rachell ruly doth loke;
Madionita Ietro, our Moyses kepyth his shepe;
Gedeon is gon, that Zalmane vndertoke,
Oreb et Zeb, of Judicum rede the boke;
Now Geball, Amon, and Amaloch,—harke, harke!
Parrot pretendith to be a bybyll clarke.

O Esebon, Esebon! to thè is cum agayne
Seon, the regent Amorræorum,
And Og, that fat hog of Basan, doth retayne,
The crafty coistronus Cananæorum;
And asylum, whilom refugium miserorum,
Non fanum, sed profanum, standyth in lyttyll sted:
Ulula, Esebon, for Iepte is starke ded!

Esebon, Marybon, Wheston next Barnet;
A trym tram for an horse myll it were a nyse thyng;

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Deyntes for dammoysels, chaffer far fet:
Bo ho doth bark wel, but Hough ho he rulyth the ring;
From Scarpary to Tartary renoun therin doth spryng,
With, He sayd, and we said, ich wot now what ich wot,
Quod magnus est dominus Judas Scarioth.

Tholomye and Haly were cunnyng and wyse
In the volvell, in the quadrant, and in the astroloby,
To pronostycate truly the chaunce of fortunys dyse;
Som trete of theyr tirykis, som of astrology,
Som pseudo-propheta with chiromancy:
Yf fortune be frendly, and grace be the guyde,
Honowre with renowne wyll ren on that syde.

Monon calon agaton,
Qoud Parato
In Græco.

Let Parrot, I pray you, haue lyberte to prate,
For aurea lingua Græca ought to be magnyfyed,
Yf it were cond perfytely, and after the rate,
As lingua Latina, in scole matter occupyed;
But our Grekis theyr Greke so well haue applyed,

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That they cannot say in Greke, rydynge by the way,
How, hosteler, fetche my hors a botell of hay!

Neyther frame a silogisme in phrisesomorum,
Formaliter et Græce, cum medio termino:
Our Grekys ye walow in the washbol Argolicorum;
For though ye can tell in Greke what is phormio,
Yet ye seke out your Greke in Capricornio;
For they scrape out good scrypture, and set in a gall,
Ye go about to amende, and ye mare all.

Some argue secundum quid ad simpliciter,
And yet he wolde be rekenyd pro Areopagita;
And some make distinctions multipliciter,
Whether ita were before non, or non before ita,
Nether wise nor wel lernid, but like hermaphrodita:
Set sophia asyde, for euery Jack Raker
And euery mad medler must now be a maker.

In Academia Parrot dare no probleme kepe;
For Græce fari so occupyeth the chayre,
That Latinum fari may fall to rest and slepe,

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And syllogisari was drowned at Sturbrydge fayre;
Tryuyals and quatryuyals so sore now they appayre,
That Parrot the popagay hath pytye to beholde
How the rest of good lernyng is roufled vp and trold.

Albertus de modo significandi,
And Donatus be dryuen out of scole;
Prisians hed broken now handy dandy,
And Inter didascolos is rekened for a fole;
Alexander, a gander of Menanders pole,
With Da Cansales, is cast out of the gate,
And Da Racionales dare not shew his pate.

Plauti in his comedies a chyld shall now reherse,
And medyll with Quintylyan in his Declamacyons,
That Pety Caton can scantly construe a verse,
With Aveto in Græco, and such solempne salutacyons,
Can skantly the tensis of his coniugacyons;
Settynge theyr myndys so moche of eloquens,
That of theyr scole maters lost is the hole sentens.

Now a nutmeg, a nutmeg, cum gariopholo,
For Parrot to pyke vpon, his brayne for to stable,

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Swete synamum styckis and pleris cum musco!
In Paradyce, that place of pleasure perdurable,
The progeny of Parrottis were fayre and fauorable;
Nowe in valle Ebron Parrot is fayne to fede:
Cristecrosse and saynt Nycholas, Parrot, be your good spede!

The myrrour that I tote in, quasi diaphanum,
Vel quasi speculum, in ænigmate,
Elencticum, or ells enthymematicum,
For logicions to loke on, somwhat sophistice:
Retoricyons and oratours in freshe humanyte,
Support Parrot, I pray you, with your suffrage ornate,
Of confuse tantum auoydynge the chekmate.

But of that supposicyon that callyd is arte
Confuse distributive, as Parrot hath deuysed,
Let euery man after his merit take his parte,
For in this processe Parrot nothing hath surmysed,
No matter pretendyd, nor nothyng enterprysed,
But that metaphora, allegoria with all,
Shall be his protectyon, his pauys, and his wall.

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For Parot is no churlish chowgh, nor no flekyd pye,
Parrot is no pendugum, that men call a carlyng,
Parrot is no woodecocke, nor no butterfly,
Parrot is no stameryng stare, that men call a starlyng;
But Parot is my owne dere harte and my dere derling;
Melpomene, that fayre mayde, she burneshed his beke:
I pray you, let Parrot haue lyberte to speke.

Parrot is a fayre byrd for a lady;
God of his goodnes him framed and wrought;
When Parrot is ded, she dothe not putrefy:
Ye, all thyng mortall shall torne vnto nought,
Except mannes soule, that Chryst so dere bought;
That neuer may dye, nor neuer dye shall:
Make moche of Parrot, the popegay ryall.

For that pereles prynce that Parrot dyd create,
He made you of nothynge by his magistye:
Poynt well this probleme that Parrot doth prate,
And remembre amonge how Parrot and ye
Shall lepe from this lyfe, as mery as we be;
Pompe, pryde, honour, ryches, and worldly lust,
Parrot sayth playnly, shall tourne all to dust.