Egerton MS 3245

From the Catalogue of Additions (1970), pp. 358-60:

PRICK OF CONSCIENCE and other religious pieces, in verse and prose; late 14th cent. English (some of the rubricated passages Latin). The manuscript is discussed and f. 193 reproduced in Brit. Mus. Quart., xiv, 1939-1940, pp. 87-88 and pl. xxx; the incipits of the verses in artt. 1 and 3 below are quoted in Carleton Brown, A Register of Middle English Religious and Didactic Verse, 1916, i, pp. 469, 470. Contents as follows:-

(1) Prick of Conscience; prefixed is a couplet '[Fad]ir of pe holy trinite./ ...uip stimulus consciencie.' and the work begins '[T]he myht of pc ffadir almyhtty.' The present text is listed under no. 2206 in C. Brown, op. cit., ii, p. 329, and is noticed in H. E. Allen, Writings ascribed to Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole, and Materials for his Biography, 1927, pp. 375, 376; it is substantially the same as, though rather shorter than, that printed from Cotton MS. Galba E. ix by R. Morris, The Pricke of Conscience (Stimulus Conscienciae). A Northumbrian Poem by Richard Rolle de Hampole, 1863- The text on ff. 2-2b has been rendered imperfect by the excision of the decorated initial letter. Appended (f. 156) is a rhyming rubricated colophon ascribing the work to Richard Rolle (d. 1349), viz.:-'Here endip as ze may see. / Stimulus consciencie. / Aftir Richard pe holy ermyte. / That soply pus gan pis book endyte. / . Hampool.' (printed Allen, op. cit., p. 375, and Brit. Mus. Quart., xiv, p. 87). Similar ascriptions to Rolle occur in four other manuscripts of the Prick of Conscience known to Miss Allen (op. cit., p. 375), but it is almost certain that Rolle was not the author (see H. E. Allen, 'The Authorship of the Pricke of Conscience', Radcliffe College Monographs, no. 15, 191O, pp. 115-170). ff. 2-156.

(2) Abbey of the Holy Ghost. 'Here beginnip a tretys pat tellip verreyly how pe abbeye of p^e holy gost was fowndid in conscience gostliche.'; beg. 'My dere bryperin & sistrin. I se wel that many men woldin ben in religiun.'; printed from the Thornton MS. (in the library of Lincoln Cathedral), with variant readings from other texts, by C. Horstman, Yorkshire Writers, Richard Rolle of Hampole, An English Father of the Church and his Followers, i, 1895, pp. 321-337. Appended (ff. 166b-183), without a break in the text, is the Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost. Beg. 'Here eendip the tretys pat spekip of a place. p^t is cald p^e abbeye of pe holy gost. pe qwiche shuld be fowndid in clene conscience'; printed from Laud MS. 210 and the Vernon MS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, by Horstman, op. cit., i, pp. 337, 363. For an account of the work see H. E. Allen, Writings ascribed to Richard Rolle..., pp. 335-343. ff. 156b-183.

(3) Religious lyrics, viz.:-(a) Eight line stanza, beg. 'ffadir sone and holy gost.' f. 1b;-(b) 'Here beginnip a general confessiun. Maad to Ihü' cryst of gret deuociun.' Beg. 'Alweldand god of myhttis most.' ff. 183b- 185; (c) 'Here beginnip an orysun of deuuout entent to be seyed in pe seyng of pe sacrament.' Beg. 'Welcome lord in forme of bred.' f. 185;-(d) 'Here folwip also a deuociun. to be seyd in tyme of pe leuacaiun.' Beg. 'I pank p^e lhu' of al py goodnesse.' f. 185;-(e)'Eft anopir deuociun.' Beg.'Lord god as p^u art al good.' ff. 185, 185b;-(f) 'Here beginnip an holy meditaciun behofliche to be pouht or seyd w^t deuociun.' Beg. 'Ihu pat hast me dere abouht.' ff. 185-188b;-(g) 'Here beginnip anopir meditaciun. p^t tretip how mannis entenciun. schuld be to loue god & serue wip deuociun.' Beg. 'Ihu' p^e swetnesse of py loue fre.' ff. 188b-191;-(h) 'Here beginnip a souereyn orysoun. to seye to p^e holy trinite wip deuociun.' Beg. 'Al myhtti god in trinite.' ff. 191, 191b;-(i) 'Here beginnip p^e Interpretaciun of p^e hey name of ihc and p^e declaraciun.' Beg. 'These lettris pre wip p^e titil.' ff.191b-192b; (j) 'Here beginnip a deuout preyer. vnto p^e holy sacrament of pe auteer.' Beg. 'Ihu' Lord welcom pow be.' f. 192b;-(k) 'Here beginnip an holy meditaciun. & The sauteer of crystis passiun.' Beg. 'Ihu' cryst ryhtful, Iustyse.' The text is imperfect owing to the loss of a leaf after f. 197 and to the fragmentary condition Of ff. 199, 200. ff. 193-201;-(l) Three lines of verse, beg. 'Marye blisful mayde & modi[r]. f. 201 b. The lyrics are noticed and those in artt. a-e, h-k printed from this MS. in R. H. Robbins, "The Gurney Series of Religious Lyrics", Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, liv, 1939, pp. 369-390. The lyrics in artt. f, g are printed in C. Brown, Religious Lyrics of the XIVth Century, 1924, pp. 114-119, 61 (see also pp. 262, 274) from Longleat MS. 29 and Bodley MS. Rawl. poet. 175 (S.C. 14667) respectively; collated readings from the present manuscript are printed by Robbins, op. cit., pp. 374, 375. The references to the manuscript in the works of C. Brown, H. E. Allen and R. H. Robbins, cited above, are to the old foliation which after f. 39 does not correspond with the modern foliation. Vellum; ff. v + 201. 215 mm. x 145 mm. Late XIV cent. Gatherings, with catchwords, mainly of 10 leaves i¹² [12 cancelled], iii¹⁰ [7, 8 cancelled and two leaves inserted between 6, 7], xx⁶ [6 wanting], last⁴ [2, 3 fragmentary]). Written in normal vernacular hand of the period; some passages rubricated. Flourished initials, coloured in red and blue. On f. ib is a pen-and-ink drawing of a canopied niche (some tinting), in the centre of which was once a representation of the Trinity (see rubricated inscription below), now obliterated (and perhaps once covered by paper also). Signed binding of brown morocco, blind-tooled, by Zaehnsdorf. A brief table of contents, 18th cent., is on f. ii. Notes relating to the manuscript by Allen are on f. iii, iv, and by Carleton Brown on f. v. Written in a 16th-cent. hand are 'jho John Darryell oethe this boke' (f. 26) and 'Roberte Houlgate' (f. 93), 'Roberte Holgate' (ff. 109b, 110), 'Robert Holgate' (f. 110). Belonged to Cox Macro (b. 1683, d. 1767) (no. 18 in 1766 cat. of Macro MSS. in Additional MS. 25473, f. 5) and was item 100 in the sale-cat. of his library, Feb. 1820 (Mr Christie of Pall Mall, by private contract), when it was bought by Hudson Gurney (d. 1864) of Keswick Hall, co. Norf., (f. i; cf. Hist. MSS. Comm., 12th Report, App. ix, 1891 (MSS. of John Henry Gurney), p. 164).'

Bindings ENGLISH: Brown blind-tooled morocco, by Zaehnsdorf Ltd: 19th cent.

Joseph Zaehnsdorf, bookbinder: Bound: 19th cent.

includes:

• f. v Carleton Fairchild Brown, American scholar: Notes by: n.d.
• ff. iii, iv Hope Emily Allen: Notes by: bef. 1927.
• ff. 2-15 b Poetry ENGLISH: 'Prick of Conscience': late 14th cent.
• ff. 2-15b Richard Rolle, of Hampole, hermit and author: The Prick of Conscience attrib. to: late 14th cent.
• ff. 156b-183 Richard Rolle, of Hampole, hermit and author: The Abbey of the Holy Ghost attrib. to: late 14th cent.
• ff. 183b-201b Poetry ENGLISH: Religious lyrics: late 14th cent.