Is not my reason good*
Good e'en, good Robinhood?
Some say yes, and some
Sit styll as they were dom;
Thus thwartynge over thom,
He ruleth all the roste,

With braggynge and with boste,
Borne up on every side

With pomp and bitter pryde,
With trompe-up alleluya;
For Dame Philargerya

Hathe so his herte in holde
He loveth nothynge but golde,
And Asmodeus of hell
Maketh his members swell
With Dalydat to mell,

That wanton damosell.
Adew philosophia,
Adew theologia!

Welcome, Dame Simonia,
With Dame Castlimergia,
To drink and for to eate
Swete ypocras and swete meate !
To keep his fleshe chast,

In Lent for a repast

He eateth capons stewed,

Feasaunt and pautriche mewed,

Hens, chickens, and pigges."

The manner in which even nobles were browbeaten by Wolsey is thus described :

* This was, as Ritson observes, a proverbial expression. The allusion is to civility extorted by fear.

ti.e. Dalilah. "Unto his leman, Dalidah, he told that in his heres all his strength lay."-Chaucer's " Monke's Tale."

He sayth they have no brayne,
Theyr astayte to mayntayne,

And maketh them to bow theyr knee
Before his maieste.

Juges of the kynge's lawes,
He countys them foles and dawes;
Sergyantes of the coyfe eke
He sayth they are to seke.
In pletynge of theyr case,
At the Commune Place,
Or at the Kynge's Benche,

He wryngeth them such a wrenche,
That all our lerned men

Dare nat to set theyr penne

To plete a trew tryall

Within Westminster Hall.

In the Chauncery where he syttes,
But such as he admyttes,
None so hardy to speke;
He sayth, Thou huddyepeke,*
Thy lerning is to rewde,
Thy tonge is nat well thewde
To seke before our grace;
And openly in that place
He

rages, and he raves,

And calls them cankerd knaves.

Thus royally he dothe deall,

Vnder the kynge's brode seall,

And in the Checker he them cheks,

In the Star Chamber he noddis and beks,

And bereth him there so stowte,

That no man dare rowte;

Duke, erle, baron, nor lord,

But to his sentence must accorde ;
Whether he be knight or squyre,

All men must folow his desyre."

Many were the complaints made of Wolsey's inaccessibility by suitors of high and low degree. Skelton does not forget this: he says

"No man dare come to the speche

Of this gentele Jacke Breeche,
Of what estate he be-

Of spirituall dygnitie,

* In plain English-fool.

Our remaining extract will at least be conclusive as to the bitter hatred Skelton bore the cardinal.

"He (Wolsey) wolde dry up the stremys

Of ix kinge's reamys;

All ryvers and wellys,

All waters that swellys;

For with us he so mellys,

That within Englande dwellys,

I wolde he were somewhere ellys.

For els, by and by,

He wyll drinke us so drye,

And sucke us so nye,
That men shall scantly
Have penny or halfpenny.
God save his noble grace,
And graunt him a place,
Endlesse to dwelle
With the devyll of helle!
For and he were there,
We need never feere
Of the fendy blake;

For I undertake

He wolde so brag and crake,

That he wolde than make

March, 1849.-VOL. LV.-NO. ccxv.

FF

The devyles to quake,

To shudder and to shake,
Lyke a fyer drake,

And wyth a cole rake,
Rose them on a brake,

And bynde them to a stake,
And set hell on fyer
At his own desyer.

He is such a grym syer,

And such a potentate,

And such a potestireate,

That he wolde breke the braynes

Of Lucyfer in hys chaynes,
And rule them eclime

In Lucyfer's time."

But we stop. Enough has been given to show the peculiar qualities of Skelton's verse. Rough and inharmonious, yet he was one of the early labourers whose efforts tended to give strength and copiousness to

"The tongue that Shakspere spake."

Honour be given Skelton for this. Honour be given him, that he was one of the first who, at their own peril, dared to proclaim to men in power unpalatable truths. Honour be given him, inasmuch as he was one of the first who sought to point the righteous indignation of the sovereign people, against whose wrath nothing can avail, at all political and ecclesiastical abuse.

J. E. R.

THERE IS GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

BY MRS. ABDY.

There is gold in California! oh! wond'rous, wond'rous land, Where earth pours forth her precious gifts to greet the eager

hand;

The wild Arabian fictions, that entranced our early youth,
Possess no spell of magic, like this sober tale of truth.

The tempting heaps appear to rise before the dazzled throng,-
Artists depict the glittering scene, bards weave it in their song;
Adventurous spirits sally forth, the good ships skim the sea,
Fair land of wealth, a few short months may bring us safe to
thee.

There is gold in California! why should we tamely stay,
Earning a poor and narrow dole from weary day to day?
Why in the tedious drudgery of sordid cares engage,
Wasting our youth in hoarding up a pittance for our age?
Away with toil, away with thrift, attend to fortune's call,
We do not covet garnered stones-earth yields her gifts to all;
And though we leave our native land, to seek a brighter track,
Laden with wealth, we soon shall shape our joyous progress
back!

THE REPLY.

There is gold in California! but reason fain would ask,
Have ye who seek it, fairly weighed the perils of your task?
Your country, if ye suffer wrong, now advocates your cause:
Ye are guarded by her soldiery, protected by her laws.
But there, 'mid lawless numbers, ye may crave redress in vain,
And find the gold so lightly won, less easy to retain;

Ye may pine in want and hunger, or may fall in deadly strife,
While strangers grasp the treasure that ye purchased by your

life!