Add MS 39574

THE WHEATLEY MS. Religious pieces in verse and prose, all of which have been edited by Miss M. Day, The Wheatley MS., Early Engl. Text Soc., 1921. Contents:-

1. Orison of the Passion : 154 lines, in rhymed couplets. Edited from Oxford MSS. by C. D'Evelyn, Meditations on the Life and Passion of Christ, E.E.T.S. 1921, p. 60. For other copies see Day, The Wheatley MS., p. ix ; Carleton Brown, Register of M.E. Religious and Didactic Verse, ii, 1920, p. 164 (no. 1082). Beg. " Ihesu þat haste me dere bought." f. 1.

2. Hymn to the Virgin: 320 lines, in rhymed couplets. No other MS. known (Day, p. x). Beg. " Hayle bote of bale blissed qwene." f. 4 b.

3. Hymn to St. John the Baptist, in alliterative rhymed verse : ten 14-line stanzas, consisting of 8 long lines rhyming abababab, followed by 6 short lines rhyming bbcddc. No other MS. known (Day, p. x,). Beg. " Blissed be thow Baptist borne and forth broght." f. 12 b.

4. The Seven Penitential Psalms : 115 8-line stanzas, rhyming abababab. Stanzas 1, 37, 84, 85 of the complete work (supplied in E.E.T.S. ed. from other MSS.) are omitted. Ascribed in Rawlinson MS. A. 389 to Richard Maidstone, in Digby MS. 18 to " Richard [Rolle of] Hampole heremyte " (but see M. Adler and M. Kaluza in Englische Studien, x, 1887, p. 215). Printed by Adler and Kaluza (as above) from Oxford MSS., and by F. S. Ellis, Psalmi Penitentiales, 1894, from a Gloucester Horae (now Pierpont Morgan MS. 95). For other copies see Day, p. xii. Beg. " Domine ne in furore ... Lord in þi angir vptake me noght." f. 15 b.

5. The nine lessons of the Dirige : the same version as in Add. MS. 27592, f. 29 b, not that printed from other MSS. of the Primer by W. Maskell, Monumenta Ritualia, 2nd ed., iii, p. 132, and H. Littlehales, The Prymer, pt. i (E.E.T.S. 1895), p. 59. Beg. " Parce michi domine. Leccio prima. Spare me lord forsoþe my dayes ben nou(gh)t." f. 45.

6. Do Mercy before thy Judgement: six 12-line stanzas, rhyming ababababbcbc ; written as prose. Printed from other MSS. (for which see Day, p. xix) by F. J. Furnivall, Hymns to the Virgin, etc., E.E.T.S. 1867, p. 18; F. A. Patterson, The M.E. Penitential Lyric, 1911, p. 85; and K. Brunner in Archiv f. d. Studium d. neueren Sprachen u. Literaturen, cxxxii, 1914, p. 321. Beg. " There is no creatour but oon." f. 51.

7. Prayer for Mercy : seven 8-line stanzas, rhyming ababbcbc ; written as prose. Printed in Archiv (as above, art. 6), cxxxi, p. 43, by H. N. MacCracken from Cambridge Univ. MS. Kk. 1. 6. Beg. " Almy(gh)ti God maker of heuene." f. 52 b.

8. God's Complaint : eleven 12-line stanzas, rhyming ababababbcbc. Partly printed by D. Laing, Early Metrical Tales, 1826, p. 299, from an Edinburgh MS. which names the author (or scribe ?) as Glassinberry. Printed from Lambeth MS. 853 by F. J. Furnivall, Political, Religious, and Love Poems, E.E.T.S. 1866 (repr. 1903), p. 191. For other copies see Day, p. xx. Beg. " This is Goddis owne compleynt." f. 54.

9. Three short pieces (not known elsewhere, see Day, p. xx) in 6-line stanzas, rhyming aabccb :-

(a) "To God " : two stanzas, beg. "God þat madist al þing of nou(gh)t." f. 57 b ;-

(b) "To oure lady" one stanza, beg. "Marye Goddis modir dere." f. 57 b ;-

(c) "To Seynt John" : one stanza, beg. "Seynt John for grace þou craue." f. 58.

10. Prayer to the Virgin, in rhymed couplets : 52 lines. Another copy (imperf. at end) is in Royal MS. 17 A. xxvii, f. 82. A slightly different version, which occurs in the Speculum Christiani (Lansdowne MS.

344, f. 38 b, etc.), is printed by J. O. Halliwell in Reliquiæ Antiquæ, ii, 1843, p. 212, from Camb. Univ. MS. Ff. 5. 48 ; by Patterson (as above, art. 6), p. 139, from Harley MS. 2382 ; and (with modernized spelling) by T. E. Bridgett, Our Lady's Dowry (3rd ed., 1890), p. 148. For other MSS. of both versions see Day pp. xx-xxii. Beg. "Marye modir wel þei be." f. 58.

11. " A tretys of Adam and Eue, oure former fadir and modir, how þei weren maad, where and whereof, how þei offendiden God ... and how longe þei lyueden in þis world and of her eende." The Life of Adam and Eve, as appended to the English version of the Legenda Aurea (Harl. 4775, f. 256 b ; Egerton 876, f. 316 ; Add. 35298, f. 162). For other MSS., and for a discussion of the sources, see Day, pp. xxiixxxii. Beg. " Now takiþ hede, þat whanne oure lord God hadde Maad heuene and alle þe ournementis of hem." f. 59 b.

12. " A deuoute preyer and an excellent, that shulde distynctly ben seyd and with greet deuocyoun bitwene þe leuacioun of þe blessid sacrament and the thridde Agnus Dei." Beg. " Heyl Ihesu Crist, word of þe Fadir." f. 88. Vellum ; ff. iv + 88. 6 1/4 in. x 4 1/4 in. Early xv cent., in two hands, the change occurring on f. 33. 19-22 (usually 19) Lines to a page. Gatherings of 8 leaves, with catchwords. Headings in red, initials in red and blue, the larger ones flourished. Marginal scribbles, 16th cent., on f. 2. Purchased with the help of contributions collected by Sir Israel Gollanez in memory of the late Henry Benjamin Wheatley.