Add MS 41666

'MUM AND THE SOTHSEGGER': an anonymous English poem in unrhymed alliterative verse, 1751 lines, probably a continuation of the poem (entitled by W. W. Skeat 'Richard the Redeles') preserved in the Cambridge Univ. Lib. MS. Ll. iv. 14. Imperf. at beginning and end. Beg. 'Hovgh pe coroune moste be kepte fro couetous peuple'; ends '...eyer ne povndes but porough proufe of payre workes'. In addition to the loss of leaves at the beginning and end, two conjoint leaves, containing 184 lines, are wanting between ff. 15 and 16. Corrections throughout in the original and later hands. Printed from this, the unique MS., with introduction, by M. Day and R. Steele, Mum and the Sothsegger (Early English Text Soc., Original Series, no. 199, 1936, pp.27-78). See also Brit. Mus. Quart.,iii, 1928-1929, pp. 100-102 and plate liii. Vellum; ff.ii + 19. 10.5/8 in. x 7.3/8 in. Early xv cent.Gatherings apparently of eight leaves with catchwords (i wanting, ii wants 1-4, iii^8, iv wants 4, 5, v wants 2-8, stub of latter now between ff. 12 and 13). Gatherings iii and iv are lettered (c and d) in the bottom right-hand corner and (with some exceptions) numbered. The original limp vellum cover (ff. i, ii) is now preserved separately. On f. ii b is a 15th cent. inscription, 'The lyff of kyng / Rychard the ij', and on f. i, in a modern hand, is the number '8'. Hodgson's sale-cat., 13, 14 Dec. 1928, lot 385 (f. 11 reproduced). Purchased with the aid of a grant from the Early English Text Society.