Table of Contents

Introduction; Note on the Text; Chapter 1 1. WILLIAM CAXTON ON SKELTON; Chapter 2 ERASMUS ON SKELTON, ‘THAT INCOMPARABLE LIGHT AND ORNAMENT OF BRITISH LETTERS’; Chapter 3 ALEXANDER BARCLAY ON ‘PHILIP SPARROW’; Chapter 4 ‘THE GREAT CHRONICLE’ ON SKELTON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES; Chapter 5 HENRY BRADSHAW ON SKELTON AND OTHER SUPERIOR POETS; Chapter 6 WILLIAM LILY ON SKELTON: ‘NEITHER LEARNED, NOR A POET’; Chapter 7 ROBERT WHITTINTON IN PRAISE OF SKELTON, THE ‘LEARNED POET’; Chapter 8 JOHN BALE ON THE LIFE OF SKELTON; Chapter 9 WILLIAM BULLEIN ON SKELTON'S SATIRES ON WOLSEY; Chapter 10 THOMAS CHURCHYARD IN PRAISE OF SKELTON; Chapter 11 JOHN GRANGE ON SKELTON'S ‘RAGGED RYME’; Chapter 12 WILLIAME WEBBE ON SKELTON: ‘A PLEASANT CONCEYTED FELLOWE’; Chapter 13 GEORGE PUTTENHAM ON SKELTON'S METRE 1589; Chapter 14 GABRIEL HARVEY ON SKELTON, THE ‘MADBRAYNED KNAVE’; Chapter 15 ARTHUR DENT ON SKELTON'S IMMORAL WORKS; Chapter 16 MICHAEL DRAYTON IN PRAISE OF SKELTON; Chapter 17 PIMLYCO, OR RUNNE RED-CAP' IN PRAISE OF ‘ELYNOR RUMMING’; Chapter 18 NICHOLAS BRETON ON SKELTON'S ‘RUFFLING RIMES’; Chapter 19 HUMPHREY KING ON SKELTON AND OTHER ‘MERRY MEN’; Chapter 20 WILLIAM BROWNE ON SKELTON; Chapter 21 HENRY PEACHAM ON SKELTON'S UNMERITED REPUTATION; Chapter 22 ‘A BANQUET OF JESTS’ ON THE NEGLECT OF SKELTON; Chapter 23 JAMES HOWELL ON THE NEGLECT OF SKELTON; Chapter 24 THOMAS FULLER'S BIOGRAPHY ON SKELTON; Chapter 25 EDWARD PHILLIPS ON SKELTON'S CURRENT OBSCURITY; Chapter 26 AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CRITIC IN PRAISE OF ‘ELYNOR RUMMYNG’; Chapter 27 ALEXANDER POPE ON ‘BEASTLY SKELTON’; Chapter 28 ELIZABETH COOPER IN PRAISE OF SKELTON; Chapter 29 SAMUEL JOHNSON ON SKELTON; Chapter 30 THOMAS WARTON ON SKELTON; Chapter 31 PHILIP NEVE ON SKELTON: ‘A RUDE AND SCURRILOUS RHYMER’; Chapter 32 ROBERT SOUTHEY ON SKELTON'S GENIUS; Chapter 33 WILLIAM GIFFORD IN PRAISE OF SKELTON; Chapter 34 THOMAS CAMPBELL ON SKELTON'S BUFFOONERY; Chapter 35 EZEKIEL SANFORD ON SKELTON'S LIFE AND WORKS; Chapter 36 THE ‘RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW’ IN PRAISE OF SKELTON; Chapter 37 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ON SKELTON: ‘A DEMON IN POINT OF GENIUS’; Chapter 38 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE ON ‘PHILIP SPARROW’; Chapter 39 HENRY HALLAM ON SKELTON: ‘CERTAINLY NOT A POET’; Chapter 40 ISAAC D'ISRAELI ON SKELTON'S GENIUS; Chapter 41 ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING IN PRAISE OF SKELTON 1842; Chapter 42 AGNES STRICKLAND ON SKELTON: ‘THIS RIBALD AND ILL-LIVING WRETCH’; Chapter 43 THE ‘QUARTERLY REVIEW’ on DYCE'S EDITION OF SKELTON; Chapter 44 HIPPOLYTE TAINE ON SKELTON THE ‘CLOWN’; Chapter 45 ‘DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE’ ON SKELTON; Chapter 46 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL ON SKELTON AND ‘PHILIP SPARROW’; Chapter 47 JOHN CHURTON COLLINS ON SKELTON; Chapter 48 RICHARD HUGHES ON SKELTON; Chapter 49 EDMUND BLUNDEN ON SKELTON'S 400th ANNIVERSARY; Chapter 50 HUMBERT WOLFE ON SKELTON'S INNOVATION; Chapter 51 ROBERT GRAVES ON HENDERSON'S EDITION OF SKELTON; Chapter 52 W.H. AUDEN ON SKELTON ‘THE ENTERTAINER’; Chapter 53 G. S. FRASER ON SKELTON; Chapter 54 E. M. FORSTER ON SKELTON; Chapter 55 C. S. LEWIS ON SKELTON, ‘THE REALLY GIFTED AMATEUR’; Bibliography; Index;

About the Author

ANTHONY S. G. EDWARDS