4. Excerpt from "Colin Clout," by John Skelton (1545)

[This portion from "Colin Clout" represents an attack on the corrupt clergymen who would purportedly focus on the worldly comforts detailed here, demonstrating their failure to resist the temptations of power and wealth, or "worldly wantonness." However, in his depiction of richly-appointed chambers, Skelton also captures the state of luxurious interior furnishings that still existed at the time Shakespeare wrote Cymbeline, and the parallels between the classically-inspired scenes of seduction on the walls in "Colin Clout" and those in Cymbeline suggest a potential critique of Imogen's taste in decorating as unchaste, or at least suggestive.]

Building royally
Their mansions curiously{elaborately}
With turrets and with towers,
With halls and with bowers,
Stretching to the stars
With glass windows and bars;
Hanging about the walls,
Cloths of gold and palls{rich, decorative hanging cloths},
Arras{tapestry} of rich array
Fresh as flowers in May
With dame Diana naked,
How lusty Venus quaked,
And how Cupid shaked
His dart and bent his bow
For to shoot a crow
At her tirly tirlow{singing},
And how Paris of Troy
Danced a lege de moy{the name of a dance},
Made lusty sport and joy
With dame Helen the queen,
With such stories bedene{together};
Their chambers well be seen{furnished}
With triumphs of Caesar
And of his Pompeius' war,
Of renown and of fame
By them to get a name.