Additionals 12524: Contains the Legend of Good Women; see Skeat III: xlix. Printed Ch. Soc. First Series No. LIX, SPT pp. 59 ff. Additionals 16165: Described and contents listed Mod. Lang. Notes 19:35-38. In the hand of John Shirley. The Chaucerian entries are Boece, Anelida; also a balade headed by Shirley as Chaucer's, which is printed Mod. Lang. Notes as above, with refs. to earlier prints. A page is reprod. Ch. Soc. Autotypes; there dated ca. 1450. On Shirley see Section VII B below, and Anglia 30: 320-348. Additionals 22139: A copy of Gower's Confessio Amantis, well written on vellum in double columns in two early XV century hands, with rubrics and colored caps., but much mutilated. Of 138 leaves about 14 by 104 inches. The poem ends on fol. 137b with the usual Latin colophon; on 138a the same scribe has copied Purse, Gentilesse, Stedfastnesse, and Truth, without any note. The date 1432 appears on fol. 1. Observe the grouping of these poems in this MS, Cotton Cleop. D vii, and Harley 7578. See Macaulay, Works of John Gower, II: cxlvi; Meyer, John Gower's Beziehungen, pp. 50-51; Skeat I:57. Additionals 28617: A fragment of the Legend of Good Women, printed Ch. Soc. SPT pp. 59 ff. Note in Skeat III: 1. Additionals 34360: Described and contents listed Anglia 28 :1 ff. Its Chaucerian entries are Purse and Pity; it has also the Ballad of Pity, and Womanly Noblesse, see Section V here. Cotton Cleopatra D vii: On vellum, of 192 leaves about 934 by 61⁄2 inches, irregularly cut. In several hands of the XV century, square and archaic. The last scribe took up the work on fol. 140a, in the middle of a French prose chronicle which ends abruptly fol. 182b, at anno 6 of Edward III. From 183a to 187b the same writer copies a prose Life of Our Lady, then a brief prose bit on tribulation, then, on foll. 188b and 1892, Chaucer's Gentilesse, printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 427; Chaucer's Stedfastnesse, printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 433; Chaucer's Truth, printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 407; Newfanglenesse, see Section V below. On fol. 190 continues a Latin coronation order which was art. I of the volume, and had been broken off at foot of 5a. Note on the volume in Skeat I: 57. Cotton Otho A xviii: See Flügel in Anglia 22: 512-514 for full account of this non-existent MS and of the erroneous statements made concerning it. Harley 78: An entirely miscellaneous codex, its contents thrown arbitrarily together by the binder, and of various sizes, dates and tenor. Skeat I: 58 speaks carelessly of it as "one of Shirley's MSS." Four leaves only, now numbered 80-83, are in the hand of Shirley, and contain the bits printed in the supplem. volume of the Ballad Society, p. 39, by Furnivall; Chaucer's Pity; and, with no complete break, the poem printed Ch. Soc. OT pp. ii-v as the Ballad of Pity, also printed by Skeat I: 360 and Minor Poems as Chaucer's. Nothing else in the volume concerns Chaucer students; much of the contents is of the XVI century. Gaertner, in his diss. on John Shirley, p. 18, enumerates its articles, but fails to perceive its composite character. Dated by the Ch. Soc. 1460-70. Note in Skeat I : 58. Harley 372: On paper, of 114 leaves 11% by 8% inches. Written in a clean, clear hand, by one scribe up to fol. 71, after which the verse is by Hoccleve; anterior to that point by Lydgate and Chaucer, viz.: (1) foll. 1a-25a. Lydgate's St. Edmund. (2) foll. 25a-43b. His St. Fremund. (3) foll. 43b-44b. The prologue to St. Edmund, nine stanzas of eight lines. These poems are printed from Harley 2278 by Horstmann, Altengl. Legenden, pp. 376 ff., with variants from Ashmole 46. (4) foll. 45a-51a. Poem on marriage, printed from this MS by Halliwell, Minor Poems of Lydgate, p. 27. (5) foll. 51a-53b. Lydgate's Verses on English Kings, Henry VI last. See note in Anglia 28: 6-7. The date 1422 is twice written. (6) foll. 54b-55a. "An exhortation of the crucifix." Fifteen stanzas of eight lines, beginning "Man to refourme thyn exil & thi los." Copies also in Harley 7333, Laud 683, R 3, 21, Kk i, 6. [The Complaint of Christ.] (7) foll. 55a-55b. A Gaude. Eight stanzas of seven lines. Not the same as that in Lambeth 306, printed Pol. Rel. and Love Poems, p. 145. (8) fol. 56a. A prayer to St. Sebastian, Latin and English, in parallel cols., both texts crossed out. Fol. 56b is blank except that a later hand has noted the preceding contents. (9) foll. 57a-6ob. Anelida and Arcite. Printed Ch. Soc. PT pp. 145 ff. (10) foll. 61a-69b. La Belle Dame sans Mercy. See Section V here. This text is printed Pol. Rel. and Love Poems pp. 52 ff. At the end of the poem, foot of fol. 69b, the scribe has written, Qui legit emendat scriptorem non reprehendat. (11) fol. 70a-b. In another hand, seven seven-line stanzas beginning O sterr of Jacob glorye of Israell. Also in Laud 683. On fol. 71a begins, imperfect, Hoccleve's De Regimine Principum, in the hand of another scribe, and with a much later heading. At the end of the volume are, in later and very small hands, six quatrains against dress, accompanied by the Latin; also the Ballad of Little John Nobody. نه A close investigation will perhaps bring out relations between this MS and Harley 7333 on the one hand, Fairfax 16 on the other. Note the agreements in contents with the Harley 7333 codex, and the presence in the Fairfax of La Belle Dame (not in its sister Bodley 638) and of a copy of the Anelida which shares with this MS certain textual peculiarities not seen in other MSS. Harley 1239: See ante under MSS of the Canterbury Tales, Section III B (1). Harley 2251: On paper, 293 leaves 115% by 84 inches. The Harleian Catalogue ascribes the codex to Shirley, an error which is repeated by Skeat I: 57 and by the Dict. Nat. Biog. s. v. Shirley. Foerster, Archiv 103: 149-151 (1899), pointed out the impossibility. List of contents in the Harleian Catalogue; note by Flügel in Anglia 22:511; full description of this volume and its partial sister Adds. 34360 in Anglia 28 : 1 ff. The Chaucerian entries are Purse, Fortune, Gentilesse, the ABC, and the Prioress' Tale. Harley 2280: Described in the Harleian Catalogue as "A parchment Book reduced by the plough of a knavish Binder from a folio to a 4to, containing Geffrey Chaucers Poem of 'Troilus & Criseida' in five books." Printed in full Ch. Soc. First Series Nos. LXIII, LXIV. Note by Skeat II: lxix. Harley 2392: Described in the Harleian Cat. as “A Book in 4to, written partly upon Parchement, but mostly upon Paper; wherein is contained Geffrey Chaucers Poem of Troilus & Cresseida." Note by Skeat II : 1xxii. Harley 3943: Described in the Harleian Cat. as "Chaucer's Loves of Troilus & Cresseide, in five books. An old Copy, on vellum. Bought at Mr. Rawlinson's Sale of MSS, 1734. "This has been collated by Wm. Thomas, Esq.'" Printed in full by the Ch. Soc., First Series Nos. XLIV, LXV, with Rossetti's collation of the Italian, literally translated. Note by Skeat II : 1xxi. Harley 4912: Described in the Harleian Cat. as "A vellum MS marked on the first leaf 'Petri Le Neve Norroy, pr. 1 lb. or sh. oo d.' The writing throughout distinct, but not elegant. It contains the chief part of Chaucer's Troilus & Cresseyde, from the beginning to the end of the 98th stanza of Book IV. The second book begins at fol. 15, the third at fol. 40, the fourth at fol. 66. The whole number of leaves at present is 75." Note by Skeat II: lxxiv. Harley 7333: See ante under MSS of the Canterbury Tales, Section III B (1). Harley 7578: Like Harley 78, a miscellaneous volume, papers of different sizes, dates, and nature, bound together subsequently. Leaves 2 to 20 are vellum, rubbed in places, written over in a small, cramped late XV century (or later) hand, and about 114 by 7% inches in size. Contents: (1) Lydgate's Summum Sapientiae, marked "Liber Proverbiorum." Other texts in Harley 2251, Ashmole 59. See Foerster in Archiv 104: 304-309; also Anglia 28:22. (2) Four stanzas of eight lines, beginning "Al holly youres withouten others parte." Printed by Skeat, Athen. 1894 II :98 as Chaucer's. Also in his revised ed. of Minor Poems p. 468, Oxford Chaucer IV : xxvii. Entitled by him "Complaint to my Mortal Foe"; see Section V here. (3) Three stanzas of seven lines, beginning "It is no right alle other lustes to lese." Printed in part by Furnivall, Athen. 1871 I: 210, from Adds. 16165, where Shirley marks the page as by Chaucer. Printed complete, with another poem from the same MS, by Furnivall in the supplem. vol. of the Ballad Society, pp. 34-36; again printed Mod. Lang. Notes 19:35-38, q. v. (4), (5) The next 16 stanzas are apparently two poems. The word "Balade" is written in the margin beside the first, and also beside the 10th stanza; the first nine stanzas are of seven lines, the remaining seven of eight lines. Skeat has printed the first seven stanzas as "Complaint to my Lodesterre”, Athen. 1894 II: 162, Oxford Chaucer IV : xxix, Minor Poems p. 470. The poem written in strophes of eight lines begins: "Burgeys thou haste so blowen atte the Cole"; it is exceedingly coarse in character. (6) Chaucer's Gentilesse, without any break, not even a capital letter. Printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 427. (7) Chaucer's Stedfastnesse; "Balade" written in the margin, but no capital letter. Printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 433. (8) Newfanglenesse, see Section V here. Three stanzas of seven lines. (9) Lydgate's Doublenesse, 13 stanzas of eight lines. See Sec tion V here. (10) At the foot of fol. 18b is a stanza of the Latin headings belonging to the next poem, which begins, on 19a, “Most This (11) One stanza of seven lines, beginning, "Desceit descayuable"; also in Fairfax 16, Hatton 73, Trin. Coll. Cambr. R 3, 20. See Anglia 28:9. (12) One stanza of seven lines, beginning "Worship women wyne vnweldy age"; for note on which see Anglia 28 : 21. (13) "Prouerbe of Chaucers" written in four long lines; printed Ch. Soc. PT p. 431. (14) Followed without space by the two stanzas beginning respectively "The more I go" and "The world so wide." See Anglia 28 : 4. (15) Chaucer's ABC, without heading, six stanzas only. Printed Ch. Soc. SPT p. 27. Note that the Pepys 2006 fragment is of the same length. A brief note on this MS is in Mod. Lang. Notes 19:38; comment in Skeat, I:58. Dated PT p. 432 as about 1450. The agreements between this MS and Fairfax 16 in the texts and grouping of a number of these poems are too close to be fortuitous. Lansdowne 699: Part vellum, part paper, of 176 leaves 73% by 5% inches; imperfect at beginning and end; written in one small current hand of the latter XV century. The poems usually begin on a recto, with titles entered at foot of the preceding verso; the stanzas are spaced, and small, roughly colored caps. are frequent. The codex once belonged to William Browne, who has twice written his name; other MSS formerly his are listed Anglia 30:321. Margins much scribbled by later owners; contents mainly by Lydgate. The codex Leyden Vossius 9, which is a close duplicate of this, is described by Robinson, Harvard Studies V: 186 ff. Brief note on this MS in Skeat I:59. Contents: (1) foll. 1a-2b. Lydgate's St. Giles, defective at beginning. A copy in Harley 2255 is printed by Horstmann, Altengl. Legenden, p. 371. (2) foll. 3a-18a. Lydgate's Fabula Duorum Mercatorum. Ed. by Zupitza-Schleich, Strassburg 1897, from six MSS. (3) foll. 18b-27b. Lydgate's Guy of Warwick. The text in Laud 683 was ed. by Zupitza, Vienna 1873; list of variants in Lansdowne was pubd. Germania 25:365. Other MSS are Harley 7333, R 3, 21, and the Leyden and Harvard University codices described by Robinson as above. (4) foll. 27b-34b. Lydgate's Churl and Bird. Other MSS are the Leyden, Harley 116, R 3, 19, Hh iv, 12 and Kk i, 6, Cotton Caligula A ii, Longleat 258 (imperfect). The Harley copy was printed Halliwell, Minor Poems of Lydgate, p. 179. The poem was twice printed by Caxton, see Blades pp. 201, 210; by Pynson about 1490; by de Worde; by John Mychell about 1540; by W. Copland about 1550; by Elias Ashmole in his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, 1652; and by Sykes for the Roxburghe Club 1818, from Caxton's second ed. Ashmole entitles the poem Hermes Bird, and says that "the whole Work is Parabolicall and allusive, yet truly Philosophical, and the Bird the Mercury of the Philosophers." A fragment of six stanzas is printed in Corser's Collectanea, VIII: 381. |