Add MS 39996

THE AMERICAN TESTIMONIAL MS. Two religious poems, in short couplets. The contents, briefly noted in Prof. Carleton Brown's Register of Middle English Religious Verse, i, p. 487, and ii, pp. 28. 44, etc., are as follows:-

1. Life of Christ, continued after the Resurrection down to the Assumption of the Virgin. In the earlier part the Gospel narratve is freely interspersed with apocryphal legends, as in the Cursor Mundi (ed. R. Morris, E.E.T.S., 1874-93) and similar compositions. The whole poem has considerable resemblance, as regards subjectmatter, to the Temporale of the South-English Legendary in MS. 28 (formerly B. 6) of St. John's College, Cambridge (see C. Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Neue Folge, 1881, pp. li-lvi). Imperfect, wanting five leaves at least (probably) at the beginning and one leaf after f. 10. The several divisions (marked by marginal titles) are as follows :-

(a) Birth, childhood, and ministry of Christ (probably preceded by the story of Joachim and Anna, etc.). The first remaining lines are : " Vppon Þe hilles coppe wakinge/A3eyn þe tyme þe sterre schold springe." f. 1. (b) " Passio Domini." Beg. " Now þe passioun we wole take." f. 23 b. (c) " De resurreccione Domini." Beg. " In þis wise fel þe caas." f. 39 b. (d) " Primum miraculum Magdalene." Beg. " And after þat forsoþe to say." f. 39 b. (e-i) " Prima (-quinta) apparicio Christi discipulis." Beg. " It fel on þe blake Monday." f. 44. (k) " Miraculum de vernaculo." Some unusual features : Christ appears to the woman (not named, nor said to have been miraculously cured) on her way to a portrait-painter (cf. the rhymed Titus and Vespasian, Roxburghe Club, 1905, pp. 91-2), but is not recognized by her. For other versions see op. cit. pp. viii-xviii, and E. von Dobschütz, Christusbilder, 1899, pp. 197-262, etc. Beg. " In Ierusalem a womman was." f. 47 b. (l) " De ascensione Christi." Beg. " It bifel on holy Þorsday." f. 48. (m) " [H]ow þe apostles made þe crede." Beg. "And þen þe apostles togeder went." f. 51 b. (n) " How þe apostles went to preche in diuerse places." Beg. "And after pat wiþ hole hede." f. 52 b. (o) " How God delyuered Ioseph of Aramathie out of prisoun." The narrative (substantially that of Titus and Vespasian, ll. 525-544, 591-681) breaks off at Joseph's second imprisonment, and is resumed at the end of (p). Beg."After þe Friday þat God was dede." 52b. (p) "How þe vernycle was broght to Rome": mission of "Volesianus," Tiberius cured of "meselrye," Pilate's suicide, Vespasian cured of wasps in his nose, destruction of Jerusalem, etc., ending with the release of Joseph of Arimathaea. In general agreement with the version of Legenda Aurea, (ed. Graesse, 1816), capp. 53, 67, pp. 232-234, 299-303; cf. Titus and Vespasian, pp. xix-xxii. Beg. " After þat God suffred passioun." f. 54 b. (q) "De assumpcione beate Marie post mortem ": the Virgin's life after the Resurrection, praying in the Temple and visiting the scenes of Christ's ministry. Beg. " And when Ihesu Crist by his myght." f. 61. (r) " De morte beate Marie virginis": the usual story of the Assumption (the angel names himself Raphael). Beg. " And when sche hade lyued in erþe here." f. 62. Ends: "And on vs alle þat hit so be/Prayeþ alle amen per charite. Qui scripcit carmen sit benedictus Amen." f. 69 b.

2. " Here bigynneþ þe Miracles of oure Lady " : Nineteen Miracles of the Virgin, printed from this (the only known) MS. by Mrs. E. W. Tryon in Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. xxxviii, 1923, p. 340. Imperfect after f. 75 (1 leaf lost) and at the end ; ff. 72, 73 mutilated, so that several lines are wholly or partly wanting in (iv) and (v). As Mrs. Tryon has pointed out (op. cit. p. 340), there is evidently some connexion between this group and the collection in Latin verse by John de Garland (for which see H. L. D. Ward, Cat. of Romances, ii, 1893, pp. 699-707), all except the first tale here being included in that collection. After a six-line introduction, beg. " Who so euer deuocioun has/In oure lady grete grace," the tales are as follows:-

(i) Monk tempted by devil in woman's form. Beg. " A monke þer was in oon abbay." f. 70. (ii) Woman revived for confession (= no. 12 of John de Garland's collection). Beg. " A miracle of a gode wyf." f. 71. (iii) Our Lady and three innocents help to build a chapel (ib. 13). Beg. " Anoþer miracle 3e may here." f. 71 b. (iv) Empress of Rome (ib. 14). Beg. " In Rome anoþer miracle wes." f. 71 b. (v) Prioress delivered (ib. 2). Beg. "A miracle of a prioresse." f. 73. (vi) Cancered tongue healed (ib. 1 ; but no mention is made here of the Virgin's milk). Beg. " Anoþer miracle 3e may here." f. 73 b. (vii) Jew boy thrown into oven (ib. 3). Beg. "A Iewes sone priuely." f. 74. (viii) Son restored to life (ib. 4). Beg. " A miracle of a gode wyf." f. 74 b. (ix) Devil in beast-shapes (ib. 5). Beg. " A monke þer was in an abbaye." f. 75. (x) Barns filled in famine (ib. 6). Imperf. at end. Beg. " A miracle fel in Ierusalem." f. 75 b. (xi) Ring given to Mary-image (ib. 8). Imperf. at beg., first remaining line " He fel þo in a wille." Ends : In Almayn fel þis caas/By oure ladyes grete grace." f. 76. (xii) Broken wine-cask filled (cf. ib. 11.). Beg. " A miracle of a gode wyf." f. 76 b. (xiii) Nativity of the Virgin: angel-music (ib. 15). Beg. " Anoþer miracle graciously." f. 76 b. (xiv) Mary-image in synagogue (ib. 17). Beg. " Anoþer miracle I wole 3ow telle." f. 77 b. (xv) Incest (ib. 20). Be" A miracle of a symple wyf." f. 77 b. (xvi) Mary-image insulted by Jew, " In Spayn in a grete city (ib. 18). Beg. " Anoþer miracle 3e may here." f. 78 b. (xvii) Jew lends to Christian (ib. 19). Beg. " Anoþer miracle fel y wisse." f. 79. (xviii) Clerk [of Chartres] buried in pit; white flower inscribed "Aue Marie " found growing from his mouth (cf. ib. 22). Beg. "Anoþer miracle 3e may here." f. 80. (xix) [Julian the Apostate (ib. 24) ?] First four lines only "Anoþer miracle 3e may here / Of þe myght of oure lady dere / In Rome was an Emperoure / þat was a man of grete valour," with catchwords " Firste he was." f. 80 b. Vellum; ff. iii + 80. 9 1/2 in. x 5 3/4 in. Mid XV cent. 40-42 (usually 40) lines to a page. Gathering of 8 leaves (i wants all but the last three, ii wants last leaf, iii⁷, last wants third leaf), with catchwords. Initials and paragraph-marks in red and blue. The marginal scribblings suggest a Worcestershire origin. Among them are:-

"Thys is Wyllyam Toms hand," f. 43 b; "To my louing frend John Bach of Tanwod Hall " [Tanwood, in Chaddesley Corbett, co. Worc.], f. 74 b ; " John Bache," "Steuene Bache," " Darryty Bache," and " Luke Bache," f. 14 b; " [Ch]ristian Clarke," ib. ; " Humfrey Baker of Stourbridge," f. 79 b (these in 16th-1 7th cent. hands) ; " By me Richard Mallard," f. 47 b ; " Theese are to will and commaunde yow . . . to apeare before me at Chadgesly " [Chaddesley Corbett], f. 30 ; " Bradshawe liueing in Worsester, Forgate street," f. 43 b (these in 17th-18th cent. hands). Thorpe's cat. 1836, suppl. no. 510. Phillipps MS. 9803. Presented (see f. ii) by teachers in American colleges and universities who have studied in the British Museum, cf. Prof. Carleton Brown's letter in The Weekly Review, 13 Oct. 1920, p. 313.