Volume 2 — SKELTON LAVREATE, ORATORIS REGIS TERTIUS,[571] AGAINST VENEMOUS TONGUES[572] ENPOYSONED WITH SCLAUNDER AND FALSE DETRACTIONS, &c.

Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponatur tibi ad linguam dolosam? Psalm. c. xlij. Deus destruet te in finem; evellet te, et emigrabit te de tabernaculo tuo, et radicem tuam de terra viventium. Psal. lxvii. Al maters wel pondred and wel to be regarded, How shuld a fals lying tung then be rewarded? Such tunges shuld be torne out by the harde rootes, Hoyning like hogges that groynis and wrotes. Dilexisti omnia verba præcipitationis, lingua dolosa. Ubi s. &c. For, as I haue rede in volumes olde, A fals lying tunge is harde to withholde; A sclaunderous tunge, a tunge of a skolde, Worketh more mischiefe than can be tolde; That, if I wist not to be controlde, Yet somwhat to say I dare well be bolde, How some delite for to lye thycke and threfolde. Ad sannam hominem redigit comice[573] et graphice. For ye said, that he said, that I said, wote ye what? I made, he said, a windmil of an olde mat: If there be none other mater but that, Than ye may commaunde me to gentil Cok wat. Hic notat purpuraria arte intextas literas Romanas in amictibus post ambulonum[574] ante et retro. For before on your brest, and behind on your back, In Romaine letters I neuer founde lack: In your crosse rowe nor Christ crosse you spede, Your Pater noster, your Aue, nor your Crede. Who soeuer that tale vnto you tolde, He saith vntruly, to say that I would Controlle the cognisaunce of noble men Either by language or with my pen. Pædagogium meum de sublimiori Minerva constat esse: ergo, &c. My scole is more solem and somwhat more haute Than to be founde in any such faute. Pædagogium meum male sanos maledicos sibilis complosisque manibus[575] explodit, &c. My scoles are not for vnthriftes vntaught, For frantick faitours half mad and half straught; But my learning is of an other degree To taunt theim like liddrous, lewde as thei bee. Laxent ergo antennam elationis suæ inflatam vento vanitatis. li. ille, &c. For though some be lidder, and list for to rayle, Yet to lie vpon me they can not preuayle: Then let them vale a bonet of their proud sayle, And of their taunting toies rest with il hayle. Nobilitati ignobilis cedat vilitas, &c. There is no noble man wil iudge in me Any such foly to rest or to be: I care muche the lesse what euer they say, For tunges vntayde be renning astray; But yet I may say safely, so many wel lettred Embraudred, enlasid together, and fettred, And so little learning, so lewdly alowed, What fault find ye herein but may be auowed? But ye are so full of vertibilite, And of frenetyke folabilite, 10 And of melancoly mutabilite, That ye would coarte and enforce me Nothing to write, but hay the gy of thre, And I to suffre you lewdly to ly Of me with your language full of vilany! Sicut novacula[576] acuta fecisti dolum. Ubi s. Malicious tunges, though they haue no bones, Are sharper then swordes, sturdier then stones. Lege Philostratum de vita Tyanæi Apollonii. Sharper then raysors that shaue and cut throtes, More stinging then scorpions that stang Pharaotis. Venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum. Ps. More venemous and much more virulent Then any poysoned tode or any serpent. Quid peregrinis egemus exemplis? ad domestica recurramus, &c. li. ille. Such tunges vnhappy hath made great diuision In realmes, in cities, by suche fals abusion; Of fals fickil tunges suche cloked collusion Hath brought nobil princes to extreme confusion. Quicquid loquantur, ut effœminantur, ita effantur, &c. Somtime women were put in great blame, Men said they could not their tunges atame; But men take vpon theim nowe all the shame, With skolding and sklaundering make their tungs lame. Novarum rerum cupidissimi, captatores, delatores, adulatores, invigilatores, deliratores, &c. id genus. li. ille. For men be now tratlers and tellers of tales; What tidings at Totnam,[577] what newis in Wales, What shippis are sailing to Scalis Mails? And all is not worth a couple of nut shalis: But lering and lurking here and there like spies; The deuil tere their tunges and pike out their ies! Then ren they with lesinges and blow them about, With, He wrate suche a bil withouten dout; With, I can tel you what such a man said; And you knew all, ye would be ill apayd. 10 De more vulpino, gannientes ad aurem, fictas fabellas fabricant. li. ille. Inauspicatum, male ominatum, infortunatum se fateatur habuisse horoscopum, quicunque maledixerit vati Pierio, S[keltonidi] L[aureato], &c. But if that I knewe what his name hight, For clatering of me I would him sone quight; For his false lying, of that I spake neuer, I could make him shortly repent him for euer: Although he made it neuer so tough, He might be sure to haue shame ynough. Cerberus horrendo barathri latrando sub antro Te rodatque voret, lingua dolosa, precor. A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of hel; Wherof hereafter I thinke for to write, Of fals double tunges in the dispite. Recipit se scripturum opus sanctum,[578] laudabile, acceptabile, memorabileque, et nimis honorificandum. Disperdat Dominus universa labia dolosa et linguam magniloquam!

Ye may here now,[579] in this ryme, How euery thing must haue a tyme. Tyme is a thing that no man may resyst; Tyme is trancytory and irreuocable;[580] Who sayeth the contrary, tyme passeth as hym lyst; Tyme must be taken in season couenable; Take tyme when tyme is, for tyme is ay mutable; All thynge hath tyme, who can for it prouyde; Byde for tyme who wyll, for tyme wyll no man byde.[581] Tyme to be sad, and tyme to play and sporte; 10 Tyme to take rest by way of recreacion;[582] Tyme to study, and tyme to use comfort; Tyme of pleasure, and tyme of consolation: Thus tyme hath his tyme of diuers maner facion: Tyme for to eate and drynke for thy repast; Tyme to be lyberall, and tyme to make no wast; Tyme to trauell, and tyme for to rest; Tyme for to speake, and tyme to[583] holde thy pease; Tyme would be vsed when tyme is best; Tyme to begyn, and tyme for to cease; 20 And when tyme is, [to] put thyselfe in prease, And when tyme is, to holde thyselfe abacke; For tyme well spent can neuer haue lacke. The rotys take theyr sap in tyme of vere; In tyme of somer flowres fresh and grene; In tyme of haruest men their corne shere; In tyme of wynter the north wynde waxeth kene, So bytterly bytynge the flowres be not sene; The kalendis of Janus, with his frostes hore, That tyme is when people must lyue vpon the store. 30 Quod Skelton, Laureat.