Add MS 36704

LIVES of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and St. Gilbert of Sempringham, translated into English by John Capgrave, Austin Canon at Lynn, the chronicler, apparently holograph, viz.

1. Life of St. Augustine, from a Latin life compiled chiefly out of the Confessions, but not, it would seem, that attributed to Ivo of Charters. The translation, the preface states, was done at request of " a noble creature, a gentill woman," who was born on St. Augustine's day. Prologue beg. " A grete reule to all lerned men," and ch. 1, " At oure beginnyng 3e schul undirstand. " Forty-five chapters. The life proper ends, " pe dayes of his lyf ar seuenety and sex," with short epilogue of the translator, " Thus endyth PO lfy ... we schal prey both. amen." f. 5.

2. Life of St. Gilbert, also from a source not exactly identified, though evidently connected with the life dedicated to Archbishop Hubertt (Oxford, Digby MS. 36, Cotton MS. Cleop. B. i., Harl. MS.

468, the last two said to be shorter than the Digby MS.), epitomised in two lives printed in Bolland's Acta Sanctorum, 4 Feb. A much burnt copy is in Cotton MS. Vit. D. xv., and another is mentioned in Harl. MS. 980, f. 120, see below. Prologue beg. " To my wel beloued in oure Lord God maystir of pe ordere of Sempyngham." The master (his name "magister Nicholas Reysby " is added in the margin) had seen art. 1 and wished for the like life of St. Gilbert, which Capgrave undertook to translate " namelych for the solitarye women Of 3oure religioun whech vnneth can vndyrstande Latyn ... rith as I fynde before me, saue sum addicionis wil I put pertoo." Sixty chapters. Ch. i. beg. ',This man was bore in pat ,saine place " ; ch. lx. ends, " from peyne to ioye where be lyuyth and regnyth euyr more. amen." Colophon, " Thus endith pe lif of seint Gilbert translat in to oure moder tonge pe 3ere of pa incarnacioun of oure lord a mccccli." f. 46.

3. ',And here begynnyth a tretis of tho orderes pat be vndyr PO reule of oure fader seynt Augustin, drawe oute of a sermoun seyd be frere Jon Capgraue at Cambridge pe 3ere of oure lord a mccccxxii." The tract makes twelve orders corresponding to the patriarchs. It must have been revised front its original form, since it not only mentions art. 2 but also alludes to the appropriation to Walsingham of Peterston, co. Norf., which took place in 1449. Beg. " We may likne our fader," and ends "not at Pis tyme." f. 116. MSS.-1902. 0

The vellum flyleaves (ff. 1-4, 122, 12,3) are from an early XIV. cent. MS. of the Digest containing part of lib. XLVI. lit. i. Paper; ff. 123. XV. cent. (post 1451). Red initials. The hand, both of text and corrections, agrees with that of the Cambridge MS. (Gg. iv. 12) of Capgrave's chronicle (facsimile in Hingeston's edition, Rolls series), which there seems to be adequate reason for regarding as Capgrave's own. Several other of his works occur ill the same hand (see Dict. Nat. Biog.). On the flyleaf (f. 2) is the cypher " Cpnstbbbt sfmfl sprfl Thpmf," i.e. " Constabat semel Sorel Thome "; on f. 123 an erased inscription " Liber sancte .. . ."; on f. 1 22 b the name R. Barn; and on f. 121 b notes [of prayers to be said ?] at Reydun [Reydon, co. Suff.?] for Job. Kewe and Matildis uxor. Joh. Payn, and at Tunsted [eo. Norf.] " pro anima Alicie Curteys, Willelmus Pays et quibus tenetur (?)." Old wooden boards, covered with vellum, formerly inpressed with a coat.of arms, and leather clasps. Possibly the MS. from which quotations (cf. art. 3) were, taken by Tho. Gibbon in Harl. MS. 980, f. 120, then (XVII. cent.) belonging to Sir Rob. Kemp, Knt., of Gissing, co. Norf., but there is no internal evidence of this. On ff. 4 b, 5 are old press-marks No. 25 and No. 32. Afterwards belonged to " Andrew Fountaine, Sept. 25, 1817 " (f. 120). Fountaine salecatalogue, 1902, lot 167. 8 in. x 5 in.