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, under the protection of Islip the Abbot, where he died in
the year 1529. It appears by his poem entitled, The Crown of Laurel,
that his performances were numerous, and such as remain are chiefly
these, Philip Sparrow, Speak Parrot, the Death of King Edward IV, a
Treatise of the Scots, Ware the Hawk, the Tunning of Elianer Rumpkin.