On the turning over the pages of an old printed copy of Durand's _Rationale
Divinorum Officiorus_, edited by Bonetus de locatellis bergomensis, and
printed at Lyons in 1506, by Natalis Brabam, for Jaques Huguetan, I found
the following copy of verses written on the fly-leaf. They are written in a
hand which I am inclined to assign to a date {569} not much later than that
of the book. There is no clue to the author. If they are thought worthy of
insertion in "N. & Q.," I beg to inquire, through the medium of your
columns, whether they are to be found in any collection of early English
poems? and whether the author is known?
The ungallant sentiment of the first three stanzas is obvious. The fourth
is not so plain; nor is its connexion with the others evident, though it is
written without anything to mark separation; and the word "finis" is placed
below it, as if to apply to the whole. I should be obliged if some one of
your readers would give some explanation of it.