Kynges, prynces, moste souerayne of renoune,
Remembre oure maister that gone is byfore:
This worlde is casual, nowe vp, nowe downe;
Wherfore do for yoursilfe; I can say no more.
Amen.
Honor tibi, Deus, gloria, et laus!
Smerte, maister de ses ouzeaus.
[276] The Epitaffe of the moste noble and valyaunt Jaspar late duke of Beddeforde] The old ed. is a quarto, n. d. Above these words, on the title-page, is a woodcut, exhibiting the author (with a falcon on his hand) kneeling and presenting his work to the king. On the reverse of the last leaf is Pynson’s device.
If not really written by Smert (or Smart), the duke’s falconer, (see stanza 3, and the subscription at the conclusion, “Smert, maister de ses ouzeaus”) this curious poem was not, at all events, as the style decidedly proves, the composition of Skelton, to whom it was first attributed by Bishop Tanner.
I now print it from a transcript of the (probably unique) copy in the Pepysian library,—a transcript which appears to have been made with the greatest care and exactness; but I think right to add, that have not had an opportunity of seeing the original myself.