Copland's edition omits faste, and it is not met with in Percy. In another place a rhyme is lost by an awkward transposition, "he saide" for sayd he; and farther on, in Copland's text, we have mention of
"The justice with a quest of squyers."
instead of "a quest of swerers," meaning of course the jury who had condemned Cloudesly "there hanged to be." Another blunder committed by Copland is the omission of a word, so that a line is left without its corresponding rhyme:
"Then Clowdysle cast hys eyen aside,
And sawe his two bretheren stande
At the corner of the market-place,
With theyr good bowes bent in theyr hand."
The word I print in Italics is entirely wanting in Copland. It is curious to see how Percy (Reliques, i. 157., ed. 1775) gets over the difficulty by following no known copy of the original:
"Then Cloudesle cast his eyen asyde,
And saw hys brethren twaine