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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 April 2017
page l note a On the first of three leaves of parchment bound in at the beginning is written, in a hand contemporary with the MS., “Brother Wylliam Barker I pray youe lett thys booke be bounde at the vtmoste by myddyll lent and my brother shalle pay for the byndynge;” on the reverse is rudely sketched with the pen Our Lord rising from the Sepulehre. On the third leaf, v°. are two short Latin poems in hexameters, the first beginning thus: “Siccine tam crebris frustra commentibus anglos;” the second: “Conveniunt gallos crebris eonventibus angli.” At the end: “Thys ..... ys Rychard ys boke.” It may deserve mention that after certain words of ill omen the sign of the cross is found, thus: Diabolus, the deuel. 
Demon, the deuel. Dis, the deuel. Comicius, the fallinge euel. Epilencia, the fallinge euel. Febricito, to haue the feuerus. Genetarius, that vseth hore hous. I have noticed occasionally a similar practice in other MSS. of the period.
page li note a Catal. MSS. Anglie, t. ii. p. 244; no. 7193, 33.
page li note b I found in this volume the names probably of former possessors—“Johne Prussey (or Prussere?)—Thomas Wynston—This is Gilles Winston his boke. –Egideus Wynston honyst man in the paryssh of saynt Dunstone.”
page lii note a On the fly-leaf at the end there is the following verse:—
Anno Milleno quadringentesimo trino
Bellura Salopie fuit in Mag. nocte marie.
The fatal battle of Shrewsbury was fought on July 23, 1403; the festival of St. Mary Magdalene here referred to being July 22.
page lii note b The entry by Mr. Halliwell is as follows: “This MS. was given to me by Mr. W. O. Hunt of Stratford on Avon, April 23 (Shakespeare's birthday) 1862. I accepted it on the condition that I was to be at liberty to sell it, adding the proceeds to the Shakespeare fund.—J. O. H.”
page liii note a See p. xvii. ante.
page liii note b Sir Frederic Madden has pointed out Bishop Tanner's original notes regarding the Lincoln MSS.i as given in his voluminous collections now in the British Museum, and occurring in Add. MS. 6261, ff. 143, 171. As before mentioned, I have little doubt that the slight error in the learned Bishop's account of the MS. above described may have arisen from the title of “Medulla” being occasionally given to the Promptorium in the printed editions.
page liv note a The name of “Sire John Mendames,” parson of “Bromenstrope” (BrunBthorp) occurring in this MS., has been supposed to be that of the writer, but it is more probably the name of a former owner of the book. In the list of incumbents of Brunsthorp John Mendham occurs. He was collated in 1529, and resigned the preferment in 1532. Blomefield's Hist, of Norf. vol. vii. p. 7.
page liv note b There existed formerly a MS. in the Chapter Library at Exeter Cathedral, thus noticed in the brief catalogue given in Catal. MSS. Anglise, torn. ii. p. 55. “2057-3, Dictionarium seu Glossarium Latinum, mutilum.” This MS. which, from information formerly received, I had hoped might prove to be a copy of the Medulla, is not to be found, as I am assured by Mr. Charles Tucker, after careful search in the depositories of the Chapter. It is not mentioned in the short enumeration of MSS. at Exeter in 1752. See Dr. Oliver's Lives of the Bishops of Exeter, App. p. 376.
page lv note a Herbert, Typ. Ant., vol. i. p. 136, Dibdin, vol. ii. p. 88. It is described by the last-named author as in quarto, like the subsequent editions by W. de Worde, instead of folio.
page lvi note a Sic. “Breviloquio” in edit. 1518. “Vocabularius Breviloquus;” Du Cange, Prtef. §41.
page lvi note b There is here no mention of the “Gemma Vocabulorum,” as in the colophon in subsequent editions.
page lvi note c It may be remarked that the woodcut in the rare volume above described has the background, not black as in Dibdin's fac-similes, but speckled with white dots. It measures 1 ⅝ by 1 ¼ inch.
page lvi note d There was an imperfect copy of this edition in Mr. Roger Wilbraham's library; the first and the last leaf, however, being lost. Dibdin, who seems, as previously observed, never to have seen the edition of 1500 (in perfect state), supposed that this book had been printed by W. de Worde about the close of the fifteenth century, and that it might be the editio princeps of the Ortus, ranging with Pynson's folio Promptorium. In its present state this copy consists of 264 leaves, measuring 10 inches by 7¼ inches; it commences with Sign. A. ii.—“A eat nomen prime littere,” and ends, “Zintala,…i. parva musca, culex, f. p.,” on the leaf following Sign. QQ. iiii. Dibdin recognised the type as the earliest used by W. de Worde and discontinued about 1510. This book was presumed to be unique.
page lviii note a At the top of this page is the autograph “Wm Herbert, 1773.”
page lix note a The rarity of these early books is so great, that a few examples of variations in the text may be acceptable. In edit. 1500 I find—“Abamita est soror aui (angl' my fathers aunte;” in edit. 1509…“an aunte).” Edit. 1500, “Ciniflo, qui flat in cinere, vel qui preparat puluerem muliebrem, (angl. aske fyste, a fyre blawer or a yrne hotter)” edit. 1500; edit. 1509, “askye fyster, a fyre blawer, or a yren heter.” Edit. 1500, “Colonia, a stypell, vel nomen proprium ciuitatis vel regionis;” edit. 1509… id est proprium nomen…colen.” Edit. 1500, “Dinodacio…a lawsynge;” edit. 1509,…“a lousynge.” Edit. 1500, “Fena (sic)…quedam bestia valde timida scilicet cerua, (anglice, a shoo harte)” edit, 1509, “Felena…a she harte,” &c.
page lix note b This reference to additions from the works of the eminent scholar, Ascensius, father-in-law of Robert Stephens, does not occur in the title in either of the previous editions, and it is not found in that of 1518.
page lx note a A missal of Salisbury use is mentioned in Ames' Typ. Ant. by Herbert, printed at Rouen in 1521 by Peter Oliver for Jaques Cousin. I am unable to account for the discrepancy in date which may be noticed in the colophon as compared with the title, unless we may suppose that the printing commenced on June 27, and that nearly four months were required for its completion.
page lxi note a John Gaehel appears to have been established in 1536 at York; he there pursued his calling near the Minster. Herbert possessed a copy of a folio edition of the York Missal with the following title:—“Missale ad usura celeberrime eeclesie Eboracensis, optimis caracteribus recenter Impressum, cura peruigili maximaque lucubratione, mendis quam pluribus emendatum. Sumptibus et expensis Johannis Gachet, mercatoris librarii bene meriti, juxtta prefatam ecclesiam commorantis anno domini decimo sexto supra millesimum et quingentessimum. Die vero quinta Februarii completum atque perfectum.” Ames' Typ. Ant. by Herbert, vol. iii. p. 1437; Maittaire, Ann. Typ., Index, vol. i. p. 74. Herbert notices also (p. 1438) a Breviary of York use, “in preclara Parrhisiensi academia in edibus videlicet ancisci Eegnault impressum, ac expensis honesti viri Joannis Gaseheti, in predicta Eboracensi civitate commorantis,” 1526; and a York Processional printed “Impensis Johannis Gachet, librarii Ebor. 1530.” See Gough's Brit. Top. vol. ii. p. 425.
page lxi note b Within the cover is pasted a book-label—““R. Wmes Vaugban, Hengwrt,”—being that of Sir Robert Williames Taughan, Bart., of Nanney, co. Merioneth, who died in 1859. His valuable collection of MSS. has come into the possession of W. W. E. Wynne, Esq. M.P. of Peniarth.
page lxii note a It was printed at Basle as early as 1480, and at Strasburgh in 1491. Of the Breviloquus, see Fabric. Bibl. Med.et Inf. Lat., t. iii. pp. 119, 120; Du Cange, Gloss., præf. § 51.
page lxii note b Du Cange, ut supra, § 52. The “Cornucopia, sive lingue Latine commentarii,” was frequently printed; the first edition being that given at Venice in 1489.
page lxii note c Du Cange, prsef. § 51, notices the Gemma Vocabulorum published at Deventer in 1502, or, according to Maittaire, Ann. Typ., t. i. p. 728, in 1500. There may, however, have been more than one such work, somewhat similar in title and not readily to be distinguished. Among MSS. bequeathed by Junius to the Bodleian occurs—“Gemma Gemmarum, Dictionarium Latino-Germanicum.” Catal. MSS. Angl., t. i. p. 252. We find the “Vocabularius optimus Gemma Vocabulorum dictus; editio aueta sub titulo Gemma Gemmarum;” Argent. 1505, and also an edition printed at the same place in 1518, “Dictionarium quod Gemma Gemmarum vocant,” &c. but called “Vocabularius Gemma gemmarum” in the colophon. Panzer and Brunet cite several editions also of the “Vocabulorum Gemmula,” the two earliest being those printed at Antwerp in 1472 and 1487.
page lxiii note a An account of the literary labors of Ascensius is given by Maittaire, Vit. Stephanorum, pp. 17, 109. His treatises “De Epistolis” and “De Orthographia Latinorum dictinnum” were included in a collection published in 1501, to which he prefixed a preface “ex officina nostra litteraria in Parrhis. Lutetia.” Another of his works, the “Vocabulorum Interpretation” may be found in the Opus Grammaticum of Sulpitius Verulanus, printed by Pynson, 1505, and stated to be “cum textu Ascensiano recognito et aucto.” Dibdin, Typ. Ant. vol. i. p. 403.
page lxiv note a See Advertisement, p. x. I recall with pleasure that my attention was directed to this remarkable MS. by a valued friend at Lincoln, the late Mr. E. J. Willson, by whom it had been cited as explanatory of a few architectural terms.
page lxv note a I do not find the sub-chanter Thomas Flower in the Fasti of Lincoln. John Flower occurs amongst the prebendaries of that church in 1571. The owner of the MS. above described may have been of Lincoln College, Oxford; Thomas Flower was one of the proctors of the university in 1519. Le Neve, edit. Hardy, vol. iii. p. 486.
page lxv note b Some curious indications occur of popular notions, -which may give a clue to the country where the author lived. We find the belief in the Ignis fatuus, which is still rife in some fenny districts, here shewn by the word “Hobb Trusse, hic prepes, hic negoeius.” In some parts of England the Will o' the wisp is known as “Hob and his Lantern,” or “Hob-thrush;” Ang. Sax. thyrs. Brockett gives “Hob thrust,” North country dialect. Again, we find “Sterne slyme, assub,” the jelly (tremella) projected according to popular belief from the stars, as noticed hereafter, p. 474. Reference to the noisy flights of wild fowl frequent in Lincolnshire or Holderness is probably found in “Gabriell rache, hic carnation:” Ratche signifies a hound; see p. 422, infra. Bishop Kennett states in his Glossarial Collections, Lansd. MS. 1033, that “in Staffordshire the coaliers going to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a pack of hounds in the air, to which they give the name of Gabriel's Hounds, tho' the more sober and judicious take them duly to be wild geese making this noise in their flight.” Holloway gives, in his Provincial Dictionary, “Gabble ratchets, birds which make a great noise in the air in the spring evenings (North).”
page lxvii note a Of the popular treatise attributed to Æmilius Macer, a translation was made, according to Bishop Tanner and Warton, by John Lelamar or Lelarmoure, master of Hereford School, about 1373; Sloane MS. 5. A version printed by Robert Wyer, without date, describes this Herbal as “practys'd by Doctor Lynacre.” See Ames's Typ. Ant. p. 158.
page lxviii note a It may deserve notice that the “Poetria nova,” ascribed by Pits to Galfridus Grammaticus, as stated p. xviii. supra, but probably written by Galfridus Vinesauf, as Bishop Tanner observes, seems to have been regarded at this time as a production of the former. Under the word “sanguis” is the explanation—“est idem quod progenies. Unde Galfridus in Poetria, autor istius libri,—Egregius sanguis te confert Bartholomei.” If this passage, however, may be taken as referring to the Friar of Lynn, it is obvious that we must ascribe it to some later commentator, by whom additions were made to his expositio.
page lxix note a Athenaæ Oxon.; Tanner, BibL Brit. Hib., p. 412; Fuller's Worthies, &c. According to Bale and Pits, Horman was not of Oxford, but of King's College, Cambridge. See Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. vol. p. 51.
page lxix note b Described fully by Herbert, Typ. Ant. vol. i. p. 265; Dibdin, vol. ii. p. 480.
page lxix note c Dibdin, Typ. Ant. vol. ii. p. 286, from a copy in Mr. Johnes' library; there is a copy of this edition in the British Museum and another at Althorp.
page lxxi note a See also Sloane MS. 513, f. 139; Harl. MSS. 490, 740; a fragment in Cott. MS. Vesp. A. vi. f. 60; a MS. at All Souls' Coll. Oxford, No. 1429; Catal. MSS. Anglise; and a copy in the Public Library at Cambridge, No. 1396, but attributed to “mun seignur Gauter de Bitheswey.” Catal. of MSS. Libr. Univ. Camb. vol. iii. p. 3. Mr. T. Wright has printed numerous English glosses from this MS. in Reliquiae Ant. vol. ii. p. 78. A valuable copy formerly in the Heber Library is now in possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. Notices of the treatise by Bibelesworth may be found in M. Génin's Preface to the edition of Palsgrave's Esclarcissement de la langue Françise, Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France, &c. Paris, 1852, p. 27.
page lxxi note b I may here refer to an elementary treatise which I have not had the opportunity of examining, preserved at Magdalen College, Oxford, No. 188, thus described by Mr. Coxe: “Institutionea linguae Gallicanse cum onomastico exemplisque Latina lingua Anglicanaquo editis. Incipit—Diccio gallica,” &c. Catal. MSS. Bibl. S. M. Magd. p. 86. It is noticed at some length by Génin, M., Introd. to Palsgrave's “Esclarcissement de la langue Francoyse,” reprinted in Coll. de Doc. Inéd. Paris, 1852, p. 29Google Scholar. A similar work, supposed by the Abbe de la Rue to have been written temp. Edw. I., may be seen in Harl, MS. 4971.
page lxxii note a This interesting fragment, date about 1300, preserved in Fairfax MS. No. 24, has been printed by Sir P. Madden; Reliquiæ Ant. vol. i. p. 134.
page lxxiii note a The volume was thus entered in the catalogue,—“B. 14, 39; Liber de Ordine Creaturarum; B. 14, 40; the Life of St. Margaret in very old English verse; Liber rhetoricus dictus Femina, et Miscell. alia.” Its value was well known through notices and fac-similes given by Hickes, Ling. Septentr. Thes. vol. i. pp. 144, 154. The Life of St. Margaret is there printed entire, pp. 224, 231, and described as “Dialecti Normanno-Saxonicæ omnium longe nobilissimum specimen;” thirteen distiches are also given from “Femina.” Some notice of the MS. is given by Sir Henry Ellis, Orig. Letters, third series, vol. ii. p. 209.
page lxxiii note b At the close of the “Femina” is a treatise of the same kind but of later date, giving phrases, idioms, and dialogues suited for the requirements of a traveller; one of these is between a person fresh from the wars of Henry V, and another who asks the news; the traveller relates the siege of Harfleur, the memorable battle of Agincourt, the deaths of the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk. The King, he says, is on his way home, the prisoners had reached Dover, the Londoners had gone forth to Blackheath well armed that these foreigners might see what stout men the King had left at home for the safeguard of the realm. Doubtless the arrival of Katherine of France made the study of French fashionable; the name of William Kyngesmylle, an Oxford pedagogue who kept an “ostelle” in that University, is mentioned; he may have been the author of this portion of the MS.
page lxxiv note a Bale, p. 723, gives amongst his numerous writings one entitled “De pronupciatione Gallica,” beginning—“Multi ac varii homines literati;” this is repeated by Pits, p. 745. For further notices of Barclay see Wood's Athense; Warton's Eng. Poet. sect, xxix.; Ritson's Bibliogr. Poet. p. 46.
page lxxv note a See the account of Dewes in the Introduction by M. Genin, p. 14. Weever has preserved his epitaph formerly in St. Olave's Church. See also Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. ii. sect, xxxv., where it is stated that he died in 1535. Stowe states that he was preceptor, not only to the personages of the English court above mentioned, but also to the King of France, the King of Scots, and the Marquis of Exeter. Hist. London, p. 230.
page lxxvi note a Typ. Ant. vol. iii. p. 365.
page lxxvi note b Deuxième Série, Histoire des Lettres et des Sciences, Paris, 1852, 4to. A single copy of the work was found in France in the Bibliotheque Mazarine. A reprint of the rare grammar by Giles Dewes before described is given in the same volume, and an ample Index to Palsgrave's work is a most valuable accessory to this reprint.
page lxxvi note c In a letter to Cromwell from Stephen Vaughan, who was very desirous to obtain a copy of the work, it is said that Palsgrave had instructed Pynson to sell it only to such persons as he might direct, “lest his proffit by teching the Frenche tonge myght be mynuhed by the sale of the same.” Sir H. Ellis, Orig. Letters, third series, vol. ii. p. 214.
page lxxvii note a For more full particulars regarding this remarkable scholar see Athenæ Oxon. by Bliss, vol. i. p. 122; Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. vi. p. 344; Baker's Biogr. Dramat.; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. vol. i. p. 119; Ellis's Orig. Letters, third series, vol. ii. p. 211.
page lxxvii note b I may here notice the “Petit Vocabulaire Latin-Francais du xiiie sieele,” recently published by Chassant from a MS. at Evreux, and formerly in the library of the abbey of Lyra. It is accompanied by a short Nominale arranged by subjects. Paris, 1857, 12mo.
page lxxviii note a This may have been the work which occurs in the Inventory of the books of Mary Queen of Scots in Edinburgh Castle, 1578. “Dictionar in Frenche and Latine. Ane vther Dictionar in Frenche and Latine.” Inventaires de la royne Descosse, edited for the Bannatyne Club by Mr. Joseph Robertson, Pref. p. cxlv. contributed to the Club by the late Marquis of Dalhousie, 1863.
page lxxviii note b Dibdin, Typ. Ant. vol. iv. p. 18. Lowndes notices only a Dictionary in Latin and English by John Veron, newly corrected and enlarged by R. W. (Rodolph Waddington), Lond. 1575 and 1584. See also the notice by Watt. The author's name is sometimes given as Vernon; in one of his theological works he styles himself “Senonoys,” and he was probably a native of Sens.
page lxxix note a The elementary works by this teacher of languages were in much esteem. Lowndes does not mention the rare “Campo di Fior, or else the Flourie Field of foure languages, of M. Claudius Desainliens, alias Holiband;” Lond. Thos. Vautrouillier, 1583, 12mo. It contains dialogues in Italian, Latin, French, and English. In regard to early aids to the study of Italian I may cite the Italian-English Dictionary by William Thomas, 1548, as containing obsolete English words.
page lxxix note b Sir William was grandson of the Lord High Treasurer, created Baron Burghley by Elizabeth in 1571. He appears by the preface to have been well skilled in French, and may have received instruction from the author.
page lxxix note c I may here mention the useful “Alvearie, or Triple Dictionarie in Englishe, Latin, and French,” by John Baret, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Cooper's Athense Cantabr. vol. i. p. 421. It was printed by Denham in 1573, and again in 1580, with the addition of Greek to the three languages before mentioned. Several early and rare polyglot vocabularies might be enumerated as containing archaisms not undeserving of the attention of the student of our language in the Tudor age. I recall a curious “Nomenclator” in six tongues, including Latin, French, Italian, and English, Nuremberg, 1548; Joh. Daubmann; of which a copy was shewn to me by Mr. David Laing in the Signet Library at Edinburgh; the Italian is designated as “Welsch.”
page lxxx note a The Bishop died in 1728; these collections were probably compiled towards the close of the previous century, and not long after the earliest printed notice of local words, namely that published by Kay as early as 1674, but brief and meagre as compared with the MS. Glossary above cited.
page lxxxii note a Rural Economy of Norfolk, vol. ii. p. 376, published in 1787.
page lxxxii note b A short list of Norfolk provincialisms is given by Sir Thomas Browne in his “Certain Miscellany Tracts,” Lond. 1684, p. 146. Mr. Halliwell points out a Vocabulary of the xvth century written in Norfolk; Add. MS. 12,195. In Cullum's Hist, of Hawsted, 1784, a list of Suffolk words may be found. I have frequently cited the “Points of good Husbandry” by Tusser, whose quaint verses, first published in 1557, are full of illustrations of East Anglian dialect and of words occurring in the Promptorium. I cannot omit to mention a recent Version of the Song of Solomon in Norfolk dialect, by the Rev. Edward Gillett, Vicar of Runham, a diligent collector of relics of the ancient vernacular of his county.
page lxxxiii note a “Latin-English and English-Latin Lexicography,” by the Rev. J. E. B. Mayor (Librarian of the Public Library of the University of Cambridge), Journal of Ancient and Sacred Philology, vol. iv. 1857.
page lxxxiii note b I may refer to the Bibliographical List of works illustrative of the Provincial Dialects of England, by John Russell Smith, Lond. 1839, in which various volumes occasionally cited in the notes and not enumerated above will be found. The numerous additions to this class of philological literature render an enlarged edition of Mr. Russell Smith's useful Hand-list very desirable.
page lxxxiii note c Probably for Walleis or Waleys, as he is sometimes called. Leland cites several of his treatises on the authority of Leander Albertus, de Viris Illustr., lib. iv. It may be well to notice that there was a writer of an earlier period, Johanna Guallensis, a Franciscan of Worcester, about 1260, of whose voluminous works see Bale, p. 817, Pits, p. 342; some confusion seems to have arisen in regard to his writings and those of Thomas Guallensis. There was moreover another Thomas, professor of theology at Oxford, in the time of Henry III., elected Bishop of St. David's in 1247.
page lxxxiv note a Bale, Script. Bryt. p. 406; Pitseus, de Illustr. Ang. Script, p. 429.
page lxxxv note a Pits, p. 749, writes in commendation of the erudition of Brigham, of his repute as a lawyer, historian, poet, and antiquary. In 1555 Brigham caused the remains of Chaucer to he removed to the chapel of St. Blaise in Westminster Abbey, and deposited in the marble tomb which bears a Latin verse composed by him. See Wood's Athenæ.