v. 977.
Theyr chambres thus to dresse
With suche parfetnesse]
—parfetnesse, i. e. perfectness. “We should observe,” says Warton, after citing the passage, “that the satire is here pointed at the subject of these tapestries. The graver ecclesiastics, who did not follow the levities of the world, were contented with religious subjects, or such as were merely historical.” Hist. of E. P., ii. 344. ed. 4to.
Page 349. v. 983. remorde] See note, p. 193. v. 101.
v. 987. mellyng] i. e. meddling.
v. 990. besy] i. e. busy.
v. 991. For one man to rule a kyng] An allusion, I apprehend, to Wolsey’s influence over Henry the Eighth: so again our author speaking of Wolsey, in the Latin lines at the end of Why Come ye nat to Courte, “Qui regnum regemque regit.” Vol. ii. 67. I may observe too in further confirmation of the reading “kyng” instead of “gyng” (see note ad loc.), that we have had in an earlier passage of the present poem,
“To rule bothe kyng and kayser.”
v. 606.