One verray god to be, therin to haue no dowte.
The end runs:—
Kynges prynces moste souerayne of renoune
Remembre oure maister that gone is byfore
This worlde is casual, nowe up nowe downe
Wherfore do for your silfe, I can say no more
Honor tibi Deus, gloria et laus
Qd’ Smerte maister de ses ouzeaus.
This poem has been attributed to Skelton, though I do not know for what reason. On the title-page is a special cut, not used elsewhere, of Smarte kneeling, with his hawk on his wrist, and presenting with his other hand a book to a person standing. The Foundation of Our Lady’s Chapel at Walsingham is a small tract relating to the priory of the Augustinian canons of St Mary, once one of the most important places of pilgrimage in England, and which was described by Erasmus. The first leaf, which would have contained the title, is wanting, but the text begins on the second:—
Of this chapell se here the fundacyon