[Footnote 2: I must be excused for not having found the poem before, as
it is not in the Index to Mr Coxe's Catalogue. In the body of the work
it is entered as "A father's advice to his son; with instructions for
his behaviour as a king's or nobleman's page. ff. 88, 89, 78. Beg.

"Kepeth clene and leseth not youre gere."]

[Footnote 3: The Treatises in _The Babees Book, &c._, and the Index at
the end, should be consulted for parallel and illustrative passages to
those in Caxton's text.]

On this latter point Mr Skeat writes:

"The Oriel copy is evidently the best. Not only does it give better
readings, but the lines, as a rule, run more smoothly; and it has an
extra stanza. This stanza, which is marked 54, occurs between stanzas 53
and 54 of the other copies, and is of some interest and importance. It
shows that Lidgate's pupil, put in mind of Lidgate's style by the very
mention of his name, introduces a ballad of three stanzas, in which
every stanza has a burden after the Lidgate manner. The recurrence of
this burden no doubt caused copyists to lose their place, and so the
stanza came to be omitted in other copies. Its omission, however, spoils
the ballad. Both it and the curious lines in Piers Ploughmans Crede,

"For aungells and arcangells / all Þei whijt vseÞ
And alle aldermen / Þat ben _ante tronum_,

"i.e. all the elders before the throne, allude to Rev. iv. 10. This Crede
passage has special reference to the _Carmelites_ or _White_ Friars.