Thus dothe wrytte, and thus doth saye,
With this psalme, Miserere mei;
O most noble kyng,
Consyder well this thynge!
ffinis quothe Mr. Skelton, Poete Lawriate.[467]
[278] Vox Populi, Vox Dei] From MS. 2567 in the Cambridge Public Library, collated with MS. Harl. 367. fol. 130. The latter, though it contains a very considerable number of lines which are not found in the former, and which I have placed between brackets, is on the whole the inferior MS., its text being greatly disfigured by provincialisms.
This poem, which is assigned to Skelton only in the Cambridge MS., was evidently composed by some very clumsy imitator of his style. The subject, however, renders it far from uninteresting.
[279] Mr. Skeltone, poete] Not in MS. Harl.
[280] To the Kinges moste Exellent Maiestie] So MS. Harl. Not in MS. C.
[281] and] MS. Harl. “and to.”