MS 268

Summary

Described Thomas James 158, Stanley R. 5; Nasmith 268; James, Corpus 268; Doyle diss., vol. 2, pp. 123–124; David N. Bell, What Nuns Read: Books and Libraries in Medieval English Nunneries, Cistercian Studies Series 158 (Kalamazoo, Mich., 1995), p. 123; Index of Images 78.

[A 56]

[1]

f. 1

Withoutyn feyth it is impossible to plesyn god withoutyn the plesauns of god no creature shal possessyn eternal blysse wherfore if you wilt ben savyd edifie thynself stabily in ye ground of the feyth …

f. 9^v

… euery man be he nevir so synful if he parfitly beleve and beyng in wil to forsakyn hys synne and mekely aske mercy they alle shuln mown seyn in the glorious presens of that heygh lord.

‘Sine fide impossibile est placere deo’ (Heb. 11.6). Latin explicit: ‘In nomine ihesu omne genu fectatur [sic] celestium terrestrium & infernorum & omnis lingua confiteatur quia dominus noster ihesus christus in gloria est dei patris amen’ (i.e. Phil. 2.10–11). English explicit: ‘Here endith a confortable tretyes to strengthyn and confortyn craturys in the feyth specialy hem that \arn/ symple and disposyd to fallyn in desperacyon.’ A treatise in English against despair. Jolliffe K.13. At head of f. 1: ‘Liber contemplationum Walteri Hilton’ in a s. xvi hand. The first book of Walter Hilton's Scale of Perfection begins on f. 10 (item [2] below).

An apparently unique treatise on despair.

[2]

f. 10

Gostly systir in ihesu cryst i prey the that in callyng that owre lord hath callyd the to his seruice you hold the payed and stonde stetefastly therinne travelyng besily with alle the mythys of thyn soule …

f. 52^v

… but to ye or to anothyr whych hath state of lyf contemplatif the grace of oure lord ihesu cryst be with the now and evir amen.

‘That ye inder [sic] beyng of a man shuld be lyke to vutward apperaunce’. Ends: ‘Here endith the fryst book of maister walter hyltoun’. Latin explicit: ‘Sit nomen domini benedictum in secula seculorum. Amen. I. S.’ Book I of Walter Hilton's Scale of Perfection. The text is followed on ff. 52^v–54 by its table of contents (‘Here begynnyth the table of chapetris of the fyrst book of mayster watyr hylton yat his wrytyn here byforn … Here endith ye table of ye book before’). See [4] below for edition and other bibliographical references.