Alexander Barclay

Woodcut frontispiece from Alexander Barclay's Lyfe of Seynt George (Westminster, 1515)

Alexander Barclay (c. 1476 – 10 June 1552) was a poet and clergyman of the Church of England, probably born in Scotland.

Quotes

Eclogues (1570)

Text from The Eclogues of Alexander Barclay, ed. Beatrice White (1928)

• Thy meate in the court is neyther swanne nor heron,
  Curlewe nor crane, but course beefe and mutton,
  Fat porke or vele, and namely such as is bought
  For Easter price when they be leane and nought.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 733
  • After the Latin of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini

• Make hunger thy sause be thou never so nice,
  For there shalt thou finde none other kinde of spice.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 743

• Seldome at chese hast thou a little licke,
  And if thou ought haue within it shall be quicke,
  All full of magots and like to the raynebowe,
  Of divers colours as red, grene and yelowe,
  On eache side gnawen with mise or with rattes,
  Or with vile wormes, with dogges or with cattes,
  Uncleane and scorvy, and harde as the stone,
  It looketh so well thou wouldest it were gone.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 751

• If the daye be solemne perchaunce thou mayst fele
  The taste and the sapour of tenche or ele,
  Their muddy sapour shall make thy stomake ake,
  And as for the ele, is cosin to a snake.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 777

• For this unto courtiers moste commonly doth hap,
  That while they have broune bread and chese in their lap,
  On it faste gnawing as houndës ravenous,
  Anone by them passeth of meate delicious,
  And costly dishes a score may they tell,
  Their greedy gorges are rapt with the smell,
  The deynteous dishes which passe through the hall.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l.

• That thou would have first and lovest principal
  Is brought to the borde oft times last of all.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 959

• If the dishe be pleasaunt, eyther fleshe or fishe,
  Ten handes at once swarme in the dishe....
  To put there thy handes is perill without fayle,
  Without a gauntlet or els a glove of mayle.
  • The Miseries of Courtiers, Cornix, l. 973

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Alexander Barclay on Wikipedia