Charles Bansley
Encyclopedia
Charles Bansley was an English poet.
Bansley clearly wrote in the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI
, but the dates of his birth and death are unknown. He is remarkable for a rhyming satire on the love of dress in women, which concludes with a benediction on the latter monarch, and commences with the line
Bo pepe what have I spyed!
There can be no doubt of Bansley's religious opinions. Speaking in his poem of the feminine love for light raiment, he says—
From Rome, from Rome, thys carkered pryde,
From Rome it came doubtles:
Away for shame wyth soch filthy baggage,
As smels of papery and develyshnes!
He also complains very seriously that foolish mothers made ‘Roman monsters’ of their children. Perhaps, it has been said, he was an unworthy and therefore justly rejected suitor, and revenged himself by this wholesale attack on the sex. But the attack is not wholesale, as he expressly excepts right worthy, sad, and plain women who walk in godly wise. Indeed the whole satire is mainly directed against extravagant attire. Ritson says it was printed about 1540, but he erred by at least ten years. The title of his work, as it appears in a reprint from a unique copy in the British Museum
, edited by J. P. Collier in the year 1841, is as follows: ‘A Treatyse shewing and declaring the pryde and abuse of women now a dayes:’ black letter, London (without date), probably about 1540, 4to.
Bansley clearly wrote in the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, but the dates of his birth and death are unknown. He is remarkable for a rhyming satire on the love of dress in women, which concludes with a benediction on the latter monarch, and commences with the line
Bo pepe what have I spyed!
There can be no doubt of Bansley's religious opinions. Speaking in his poem of the feminine love for light raiment, he says—
From Rome, from Rome, thys carkered pryde,
From Rome it came doubtles:
Away for shame wyth soch filthy baggage,
As smels of papery and develyshnes!
He also complains very seriously that foolish mothers made ‘Roman monsters’ of their children. Perhaps, it has been said, he was an unworthy and therefore justly rejected suitor, and revenged himself by this wholesale attack on the sex. But the attack is not wholesale, as he expressly excepts right worthy, sad, and plain women who walk in godly wise. Indeed the whole satire is mainly directed against extravagant attire. Ritson says it was printed about 1540, but he erred by at least ten years. The title of his work, as it appears in a reprint from a unique copy in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, edited by J. P. Collier in the year 1841, is as follows: ‘A Treatyse shewing and declaring the pryde and abuse of women now a dayes:’ black letter, London (without date), probably about 1540, 4to.