The Poetical Works of John Skelton (Vol. 1&2). John Skelton
The ianglynge iay to rayle,
The fleckyd pye to chatter
Of this dolorous mater;
And robyn redbrest,
He shall be the preest 400
The requiem masse to synge,
Softly[364] warbelynge,
With helpe of the red sparow,
And the chattrynge swallow,
This herse for to halow;
The larke with his longe to;
The spynke, and the martynet also;
The shouelar with his brode bek;
The doterell, that folyshe pek,
And also the mad coote, 410
With a balde face to toote;
The feldefare, and the snyte;
The crowe, and the kyte;
The rauyn, called Rolfe,
His playne songe to solfe;
The partryche, the quayle;
The plouer with vs to wayle;
The woodhacke, that syngeth chur
Horsly, as he had the mur;
The lusty chauntyng nyghtyngale; 420
The popyngay to tell her tale,
That toteth oft in a glasse,
Shal rede the Gospell at masse;
The mauys with her whystell
Shal rede there the pystell.
But with a large and a longe
To kepe iust playne songe,
Our chaunters shalbe the cuckoue,
The culuer, the stockedowue,
With puwyt the lapwyng, 430
The versycles shall syng.
The bitter[365] with his bumpe,
The crane with his trumpe,
The swan of Menander,[366]
The gose and the gander,
The ducke and the[367] drake,
Shall watche at this wake;
The pecocke so prowde,
Bycause his voyce is lowde,
And hath a glorious tayle, 440
He shall syng the grayle;
The owle, that is[368] so foule,
Must helpe vs to houle;
The heron so gaunce,[369]
And the cormoraunce,[370]
With the fesaunte,
And the gaglynge gaunte,
And the churlysshe chowgh;
The route and the kowgh;[371]
The barnacle, the bussarde, 450
With the wilde[372] mallarde;
The dyuendop to slepe;
The water hen[373] to wepe;
The puffin[374] and the tele
Money they shall dele
To poore folke at large,
That shall be theyr charge;
The semewe and the tytmose;
The wodcocke with the longe nose;
The threstyl with her warblyng; 460
The starlyng with her brablyng;
The roke, with the ospraye
That putteth fysshes to a fraye;
And the denty curlewe,
With the turtyll most trew.
At this Placebo
We may not well forgo
The countrynge of the coe:
The storke also,
That maketh his nest 470
In chymneyes to rest;
Within those walles
No[375] broken galles
May there abyde
Of cokoldry syde,
Or els phylosophy
Maketh a great lye.
The estryge, that wyll eate
An horshowe so great,
In the stede of meate, 480
Such feruent heat
His stomake doth freat;[376]
He can not well fly,
Nor synge tunably,
Yet at a brayde
He hath well assayde
To solfe aboue ela,
Ga,[377] lorell, fa, fa;
Ne quando
Male cantando, 490
The best that we can,
To make hym our belman,
And let hym ryng the bellys;
He can do nothyng ellys.
Chaunteclere, our coke,
Must tell what is of the clocke
By the astrology
That he hath naturally
Conceyued and cought,[378]
And was neuer tought[379] 500
By Albumazer
The astronomer,
Nor by Ptholomy
Prince of astronomy,
Nor yet by Haly;
And yet he croweth dayly
And nightly[380] the tydes
That no man abydes,
With