Note 661 — SKELTONIS APOSTROPHAT AD DIVUM JOHANNEM DECOLLATUM, IN CUJUS PROFESTO FIEBAT HOC AUCUPIUM.
Reading edition
Diligo rustincum, &c.] This and the following piece are from Marshe’s ed. of Skelton’s Workes, 1568. In that collection the present couplet is twice printed: “rustincum” is the reading of the first copy, “rusticum” (which the metre will not admit) of the second: the first copy has “quonintum,” the second “quointum;” the Editor of 1736 gave “quantum.” See notes for the conjectures of the Rev. J. Mitford on this enigma. “Canticum dolorosum” is probably part of the title of the next piece.