misplaced, for both the satires on the cardinal are of earlier date.
Skelton also wrote three plays, only one of which survives. Magnificence is one of the best examples of the morality play. It deals with the same topic as his satires, the evils of ambition ; its moral, " how suddenly worldly wealth doth decay," being a favourite one with him. Thomas Warton in his History of English Poetry described another piece Nigramansir, printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1504, and dealing with simony and the love of money in the church; but no copy is known to exist, and some suspicion has been cast on Warton's statement.
Illustration of the hold Skelton had on the public imagination is supplied from the stage. A play (1600) called Scogan and Skelton, by Richard Hathway and William Rankins, is mentioned by Henslowe. In Anthony Munday's Downfall of Robert, earl of Huntingdon, Skelton acts the part of Friar Tuck, and Ben Jonson in his masque, The Fortunate Isles, introduced " Skogan and Skelton in like habits as they lived."
Very few of Skelton's productions are dated, and their titles are here necessarily abbreviated. Wynkyn de Worde printed the Bowge of Court twice. Divers Balettys and dyties solacious devysed by Master Skelton Laureat, and Skelton Laureate agaynste a comely Coystroune . . . have no date or printer's name, but are evidently from the press of Richard Pynson, who also printed Replycacion against certain yong scolers, dedicated to Wolsey. The Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell was printed by Richard Faukes (1523); Magnificence, A goodly interlude, . . . probably by John Rastell about 1533, reprinted (1821) for the Roxburghe Club. Hereafter foloweth the Boke of Phyllyp Sparowe was printed by Richard Kele (1550 ?), Robert Toy, Antony Kitson (1560?), Abraham Veale (1570?), John Walley, John Wyght (1560 ?). Hereafter foloweth certaine bokes compyled by mayster Skelton . . . including “Speke, Parrot,” “Ware the Hawke,” “Elynoure Rummynge” and others, was printed by Richard Lant (1550?), John King and Thomas March (1565 ?), by John Day (1560). Hereafter foloweth a title boke called Colyn Cloule and Hereafter . . . why come ye nat to Courte ? were printed by Richard Kele (1550 ?) and in numerous subsequent editions. Pithy, plesaunt and profitable workes of maister Skelton, Poete Laureate. Nowe collected and newly published was printed in 1568, and reprinted in 1736. A scarce reprint of Elinour Rummin by Samuel Rand appeared in 1624.
See The Poetical Works of John Skelton; with Notes and some account of the author and his writings, by the Rev. Alexander Dyce (2 vols., 1843). A selection of his works was edited by W. H. Williams (London, 1902). See also Zur Charakteristik John Skeltons by Dr Arthur Koelbing (Stuttgart, 1904); F. Brie, “Skelton Studien” in Englische Studien, vol. 38 (Heilbronn, 1877, etc.); A. Rey, Skelton’s Satirical Poems . . , (Berne, 1899); A. Thümmel, Studien über John Skelton (Leipzig- Reudnitz, 1905) ; G. Saintsbury, Hist. of Eng. Prosody (vol. i., 1906) ; and A. Kölbing in the Cambridge History of English Literature (vol. iii., 1909).
SKELTON AND BROTTON, an urban district in the Cleveland parliamentary division of the North Riding of Yorkshire, England, 17 m. E. by S. of Middlesbrough by a branch of the North-Eastern railway, with stations at Brotton and North Skelton. Pop. (1901) 13,240. This is one of the largest townships in the Cleveland ironstone district, and its industrial population is wholly employed in the quarries. The modern Skelton Castle incorporates part of the ancient stronghold of Robert de Brus who held it from William the Conqueror. A modern church replaces the ancient one, of which there are ruins, and a fine Norman font is preserved. The large ironstone quarries have not wholly destroyed the beauty of the district. The Cleveland hills rise sharply southward, to elevations sometimes exceeding 1000 ft., and are scored with deep and picturesque glens. On the coast, which is cliff-bound and fine, is the watering-place of Saltburn by the Sea.
SKENE, WILLIAM FORBES (1809–1892), Scottish historian
and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend,
James Skene (1775–1864), of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen, and was
born on the 7th of June 1809. He was educated at Edinburgh
High School, in Germany and at the university of St Andrews,
taking an especial interest in the study of Celtic philology and
literature. In 1832 he became a writer to the signet, and shortly
afterwards obtained an official appointment in the bill department
of the Court of Session, which he held until 1865. His early
interest in the history and antiquities of the Scottish Highlands
bore its first fruit in 1837, when he published The Highlanders of
Scotland, their Origin, History and Antiquities. His chief work,
however, is his Celtic Scotland, a History of Ancient Alban (3 vols.,
Edinburgh, 1876–1880), perhaps the most important contribution
to Scottish history written during the 19th century. In
1879 he was made a D.C.L. of Oxford, and in 1881 historiographer
royal for Scotland. He died in Edinburgh on the 29th of August
1892.
The most important of Skene’s other works are: editions of John of Fordun’s Chronica gentis Scotorum (Edinburgh, 1871–1872); of the Four Ancient Books of Wales (Edinburgh, 1868) ; of the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots (Edinburgh, 1867) ; and of Adamuan’s Vita S. Columbae (Edinburgh, 1874); an Essay on the Coronation Stone of Scone (Edinburgh, 1869); and Memorials of the Family of Skene of Skene (Aberdeen, 1887).
SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something
hastily made, Gr. σχέδιος, sudden, off-hand, σχεδόν, near by;
Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source), a rough or
hasty preliminary outline or draft serving as a note or material
for a finished work. Though used of literary composition, as for
a short slightly constructed play, or of a rapid delineation in
words of an event or character, the term is chiefly used of the
putting on paper or other material of the immediate impression
of an object, figure, landscape, &c., by an artist, or of an artist’s
first idea or conception of a work whether in painting or sculpture.
SKI (pronounced “skee,” Icel. scidh, snow-shoe, properly
“piece of wood”), the wooden snow-shoe on which the inhabit-
ants of Scandinavia and neighbouring countries travel over the
snow. Implements for this purpose were used by many nations
of antiquity. Xenophon (Anab. iv. 5) describes the shoes or
pattens of skins with which the horses of the Armenians were shod,
to prevent them from sinking into the snow, and Procopius made
mention of the ancient Lapps, known in Scandinavia as “Skrid-Finnen,”
or sliders. Snow-shoes have always been used by the
Mongols of north-western Asia. From the evidence of the old
Norse sagas they must have been general in Scandinavia long
before the Christian era. Uller, the god of winter, is always
spoken of as walking upon skis, the curved toes of which gave
rise to the legend that they were really ships upon which the god
was wafted over hill and dale. Skis have been used time out of
mind by Lapps, Finns and Scandinavians for hunting and
journeying across the frozen country. The first skis of which
there is any record were elongated, curved frames covered with
leather. Those of the Skrid-Finnen of the 16th century were
leather shoes, pointed at the toe, about 3 ft. long, into which,
a few inches from the rear end, the feet were thrust up to the
ankles. The form of the shoe varied in different districts.
Modern skis are not, like the North American snow-shoe, made
of broad frames covered with a thong web, but long, narrow,
nearly flat pieces of ash, oak or spruce, pointed and turned up
for about a foot at the toe. Their length is usually the distance
their wearer can reach upwards with his hand, that for the
average man being about 7 ft. 6 in., although some advocate less
length.
Their width at the broadest part is about 5 in., and their greatest thickness (just under the foot) about 114 in., tapering towards both ends. The under surface is usually perfectly smooth, although some skis are provided with narrow strips running lengthwise on the under surface, to prevent side-slipping. The feet, encased in stout deer-hide shoes, heelless or nearly so, are fastened to the middle of the skis by an arrangement of straps, called the binding. A staff from 4 to 5 ft. long completes the touring outfit. On level ground the skis are allowed to glide over the snow without being lifted from it, the heels being raised while the toes remain fast to the skis. At this gait very long steps can be taken. Climbing hills one must walk zigzag, or even directly sideways step by step. Gentle slopes can be ascended straight ahead by planting the skis obliquely. Downhill the skis become a sledge upon which great velocity is attained. The staff is used as a brake in coasting and is provided with a small disc a few inches from the lower end, to prevent it sinking into the snow.
Skiing as a sport began about 1860 in the Norwegian district of Telemark and rapidly spread over all the Scandinavian
