Page 407. v. 1158. _gressoppes_] i. e. grasshoppers: see note, p. 125. v. 137.
Page 408. v. 1159. _fresshe_] i. e. gay, gorgeous: see note on v. 39. p. 302.
v. 1160. _Enflorid_] i. e. Enflowered (embellished, for it applies partly to the “snaylis”).
v. 1161. _Enuyuid picturis well towchid and quikly_]—_Enuyuid_, i. e. envived: _quikly_, livelily, to the life; a somewhat pleonastic line, as before, see note, p. 261. v. 1569.
v. 1162. _hole ... be ... sekely_] i. e. whole ... been ... sickly.
“I hadde leuer haue my boke sowed in a forel [_in cuculli involucro_] than bounde in bourdes, and couered and clasped, and _garnyshed with bolyons_ [_vmbilicis_].” Hormanni _Vulgaria_, sig. Q iiii. ed. 1530: _bullyons_, i. e. bosses, studs.
—— _worth a thousande pounde_] An expression found in other early poets;
“And euery bosse of bridle and paitrell That they had, was _worth_, as I would wene, _A thousand pound_.”
Chaucer’s _Floure and Leafe_,—_Workes_, fol. 345. ed. 1602.
v. 1166. _balassis_] Tyrwhitt (Gloss, to _Chaucer’s Cant. Tales_) explains _Bales_ to be “a sort of bastard Ruby.” Du Cange _(Gloss._) has “_Balascus_, Carbunculus, cujus rubor et fulgor dilutiores sunt ... a Balascia Indiæ regione ... dicti ejusmodi lapides pretiosi.” Marco Polo tells us, “In this country [_Balashan_ or _Badakhshan_] are found the precious stones called _balass_ rubies, of fine quality and great value.” _Travels_, p. 129, translated by Marsden, who in his learned note on the passage (p. 132) observes that in the Latin version it is said expressly that these stones have their name from the country. See too Sir F. Madden’s note on _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_, p. 209.
v. 1167. _aurum musicum_] i. e. _aurum musaicum_ or _musivum_,—mosaic gold.
v. 1172. _Boke of Honorous Astate_] i. e. Book of Honourable Estate. Like many other of the pieces which Skelton proceeds to enumerate, it is not known to exist. When any of his still extant writings are mentioned in this catalogue, I shall refer to the places where they may be found in the present volumes.
Page 408. v. 1176. _to lerne you to dye when ye wyll_] A version probably of the same piece which was translated and published by Caxton under the title of _A lityll treatise shorte and abredged spekynge of the arte and crafte to knowe well to dye_, 1490, folio. Caxton translated it from the French: the original Latin was a work of great celebrity.