Add MS 31042

1. Fragment of the latter part of the " Cursor Mundi," beginning at the 56th line of the " Childhood of Mary " (l. 10,630, ed. R. Morris, Early English Text Society, 1874-1878). f. 3. The text is of a different recension from any of those edited by Dr. Morris; it approaches nearest to the Fairfax MS.

2. Meditation on the life of Christ, beginning: " Iesu was of Mary borne." f. 32. At the end is this note, referrino. to the next article: " Et sic procedendum ad Passionem domini nostri Iesu Christi que incipit in folio proximo sequente secundum fantasiam scriptoris." 3. The Passion of Our Lord, beginning: " Lystenes me I maye low telle Of mekill gude I wille [yogh]ow spelle Of Iesu that va alle wroghte And sythen oure saules dere boghte." f. 33. The original from which this copy was made must have been imperfect, as part of f. 41 and all of 41 b is left blank. At the end is the partly erased and disfigured signature " R. Thornton," and the colophon: " Explicit Passio Domini nostri Iesu Christi." 4. " Hie incepit Distruccio Ierarusalem . . . The Segge of Ierusalem off Tytus and Vaspasyane," divided into " passus." Be,-iris: "In Tyberyus tym that trewe emperoure Sir Cesare hyin seluyn was sessede in Rome." Colophon: " Explicit la sege de Ierusalem. R. Thornton [written over and changed into another surname] dictus, qui scripsit sit benedictus. Amen." f. 50. See another copy in Cotton MS., Calig. A. ii., f. 111.

5. " Here bygynnys the Sege off Melayne," in stanzas of six lines. Imperfect at the end. f. 66 b. The poem is apparently unique, and seems to form an introduction to " Roland and Otuel." (Edited together by S. J. Herrtage, E. E. T. Society, 1880.) 6. A rhymed prayer beginning: " With humble hert I praye iche creature lorde and lady knyghte and othere ferialle To here þe grace þe wiche I thynke depure And prey for grace to me in specyalle." f. 80.

7. " Þe Romance of Duke Rowlande and of sir Ottuell of Spayne. Off Cherlles of Fraunce," beginning: " Lordynges þat bene hende and free Herkyns alle hedirwardes to mee." f. 82. An English version of the French romance of " Otinel " (edited, by Guessard and Michelant in Les anciens Poètes de la France, 1859).

8. " Passionis Cristi Cantus. Hic incipit quedam (sic) tractatus Passionis Domini nostri Iesu Christi in Anglica," beginning: " Man to reforme thyne exile and thi losse Frome paradyce place of moste plesance The to restore I hange uppon the Crosse Coroned with þe thorne woundede with the launce." f. 94. Ascribed to Lydgate in Harley 733.

9. Memorial verses [by John Lydgate] on the kings of England, ending imperfectly with Edward I. f. 96. See another copy in Lansdowne MS. 699, f. 79.

10. A morality beginning: " Be noghte hasty nore sodanly vengeable followed by some saws in Latin doggrel. f. 97.

11. " A gud schorte Songe of this dete This werlde es tournede up sodowiine." Four lines only remaining: To thynke it es a wondir thynge Of this werldis mutabilytee I ame matede in my mosynge Of the variaunce the whilke þat I now see." f. 97 b.

12. An alliterative poem, beginning: " In a mornenyng of Maye when medowes sall spryng Blomes and blossomms of brighte colours." f. 98.

13. A hymn, beginning: " Haile holy spyritt and joy be vnto the." f. 101 b.

14. Paraphrase of the 51st Psalm, in six-line stanzas of alliterative verse, beginning: " God þou haue mercy of me, After thi mercy mekill of mayne." Imperfect. f. 102.

15. Verses on the 43rd Psalm, beginning: "With hole herte and entere Theire conscyence purge fro þe synnes seuen," and ending: " Where as I feyle ye defawte es in lydgate." Followed by a paraphrase of the psalm in eight-line stanzas, beginning: " O þou my lorde moste myghty and eterne." In the margin, at the end of the prefatory verses, is the note, " Hunc librum qui dictauit lydgate Christus nominauit." f. 103.

16. " Moralisacio Sacerdotis tocius apparatus in missa, &c." Begins: " Uppon his hede ane amyte fyrste he laythe." f. 104.

17. Words of a so-called ‘Carolle ffor crystynmesse,’ beg. ‘The Rose es the fayreste flour of alle.’ Imperfect at the end. f. 110 b.

18. Poem on the pilgrimage of the, Three Kings to Bethlehem. lmperfect at beginning, two leaves having been torn out; with colophon Explicit tractus Trium Magum." f. 111.

19. " Hic incipit Cantus Cuiusdam Sapientis. Here Bygynnys a louely Song of Wysdome." Beginning: " Waste makes a kyngdome in nede And nede makes a man to trauayle." f. 120.

20. " A Song how þat Mercy passeth Rightwisnes " (printed in Hymns to the Virgin, etc., p. 95, edited 'by F. J. Furnivall, E. E. T. Society, 1867). f. 122 b.

21. " A songe how Mercy commes bifore þe Iugement " (printed by Furnivall, as above, p. 18). f. 123.

22. A Songe how þat Mercy passeth alle thynge." f. 123 b.

23. " The Romance of Kyng Richerd þe Conqueroure." f. 125. At f. 160 there is a blank of more than a column, omitting lines 6315-6604 (Weber's Metrical Romances, Edinburgh, 1810) vol. ii. pp, 248-258; and ff. 145, 152 are mutilated. The copy prebents a different text and a different rhythm from the only other complete MS., preserved in Caius College, Cambridge, and edited by Weber (cf. G. Ellis, Early English Metrical Romances, ed. 1848, p. 282 ; and the fragment in Harl. MS. 4690, f. 106).

24. " Here Bigynnys the Romance of the childhode of Iesu Criste þat clerkes callys lpokiephum." f. 163b. Begins as Harl. MS. 2399 f. 47 b; but changes at the paragraph in f. 166 b, col. 2. Similarly it deserts the parallel poem in Harl. MS. 3954 from the last line off. 164 b, col. 2.

25. " The parlement of the thre Ages," an alliterative poem, beginning: " In the monethes of Maye when mirthes bene fele." f. 169. Here Begynnes a Tretys and god Schorte refreyte By twixe and Wastoure." f. 176 b.

Paper (except ff. 1, 2, 182, 183). With four fly-leaves from a Breviary of the 15th century. On f. 49, in a hand of the second half of the 16th cent., is written " John Nettletons boke." xvth cent. Quarto.

Robert Thornton: Collection of English poems and romances: 15th cent.

Poetry: Collection of English poems and romances by R. Thornton: 15th cent.