DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61385#0038
xxxii Chapter III.—Description of the MSS. MS. A2.
words beginning the second line of the second folio of the volume.
The record for the third book is as follows : Tercij libri 2° iolio,
11 And Also hov merciful.” Turning to the second folio of Harleian
MS. 1731, the second line stands : “ And al so how mercyful god ys
at al assay,” confirming the characterization of If as the third of the
three books delivered to the Commissary-General of the Diocese of
Winchester. Richard Ryder was suspected of Lollardism; cf. Cata-
logue of MSS. in the Harleian Collection.
Arundel 140.
4. A2. MS. Arundel 14.0, Library of the British Museum. On
paper, folio; c. 1420—1430. The handwriting is small and is
throughout profusely enriched with flourishes. In general cha-
racteristics it suggests a text written soon after the middle of the
fourteenth century, but water-marks of the paper determine other-
wise and on the authority of careful palaeographers place its tran-
script in the fifteenth1 century. The Speculum, written in double
columns, extends from fol. 147a to fol. 151(7. The MS. does not
record title and concludes abruptly 1. 892, fol. 151c?, probably oil
account of a missing leaf that contained the end of the poem.
Capitals occur without conformity to rule. A2 begins with a large
red letter, and Latin texts are in red.
In addition to the missing conclusion, 11. 893—1034, lines as
follows are omitted: 55, 56, 140, 181, 182, 261, 262, 648—653,
678, 679, 840—845. LI. 141 and 142 are interpolated between 11. 82
and 83, but appear again in normal sequence preceded a second
time by 1. 82, in place of the omitted line 140 (vide supra). Lines
465, 466 omitted after 464 are interpolated between lines- 470 and
471. Lines 75 and 76 are transposed. Lines 251 and 834 introduce
new readings.
Although MS. A2 does not record title, the poem2 is described as
Gy Earl of Warwyke and Dekne Alquyne in Index to Arundel and
Burney MSS. and Catalogue of the Arundel MSS. in the British
Museum, vol. i., 1834. It is preceded by The Pricke of Conscience.
A2 is much worn. The leaves are ragged and uneven. The ink is
often faded. In some instances individual words are almost illegible.
Sometimes a correction in very black ink distinguishes letter or mono-
1 Difference of opinion exists regarding the period of A2. Some authorities
place the text 1450—1480.
2 A2 is further classified as “a religious tale in verse.”
words beginning the second line of the second folio of the volume.
The record for the third book is as follows : Tercij libri 2° iolio,
11 And Also hov merciful.” Turning to the second folio of Harleian
MS. 1731, the second line stands : “ And al so how mercyful god ys
at al assay,” confirming the characterization of If as the third of the
three books delivered to the Commissary-General of the Diocese of
Winchester. Richard Ryder was suspected of Lollardism; cf. Cata-
logue of MSS. in the Harleian Collection.
Arundel 140.
4. A2. MS. Arundel 14.0, Library of the British Museum. On
paper, folio; c. 1420—1430. The handwriting is small and is
throughout profusely enriched with flourishes. In general cha-
racteristics it suggests a text written soon after the middle of the
fourteenth century, but water-marks of the paper determine other-
wise and on the authority of careful palaeographers place its tran-
script in the fifteenth1 century. The Speculum, written in double
columns, extends from fol. 147a to fol. 151(7. The MS. does not
record title and concludes abruptly 1. 892, fol. 151c?, probably oil
account of a missing leaf that contained the end of the poem.
Capitals occur without conformity to rule. A2 begins with a large
red letter, and Latin texts are in red.
In addition to the missing conclusion, 11. 893—1034, lines as
follows are omitted: 55, 56, 140, 181, 182, 261, 262, 648—653,
678, 679, 840—845. LI. 141 and 142 are interpolated between 11. 82
and 83, but appear again in normal sequence preceded a second
time by 1. 82, in place of the omitted line 140 (vide supra). Lines
465, 466 omitted after 464 are interpolated between lines- 470 and
471. Lines 75 and 76 are transposed. Lines 251 and 834 introduce
new readings.
Although MS. A2 does not record title, the poem2 is described as
Gy Earl of Warwyke and Dekne Alquyne in Index to Arundel and
Burney MSS. and Catalogue of the Arundel MSS. in the British
Museum, vol. i., 1834. It is preceded by The Pricke of Conscience.
A2 is much worn. The leaves are ragged and uneven. The ink is
often faded. In some instances individual words are almost illegible.
Sometimes a correction in very black ink distinguishes letter or mono-
1 Difference of opinion exists regarding the period of A2. Some authorities
place the text 1450—1480.
2 A2 is further classified as “a religious tale in verse.”