Stowe MS 39

From Catalogue of the Stowe Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols (London: British Museum, 1895-1896), I, no. 39:

'1. THE ABBEY of the Holy Ghost; an allegorical treatise, generally ascribed (e.g. by Bale, Pits, and the biographical dictionaries) to John Alcock, Bishop successively of Rochester, Worcester, and Ely, and founder of Jesus College, Cambridge (ob. 1500). This is certainly wrong, as the treatise occurs in a MS. of the XIVth cent. [Add. MS. 22, 283, f. 165], as well as in the present one, which belongs to the first half of the xvth cent. Begins, "My dere syster, I se þat many wuld be in religyon, bot þai may noght"; ends "God graunt it so to be. Amen, Amen, pro charite." In the printed edition of Wynkyn de Worde this beginning is found at the foot of p. 3, and from there to p. 12 the narratives are the same. In other MSS. [Harl. 1704 and 2406, Add. 22,283] the portion contained in this MS. forms a separate part by itself, the rest of the contents of the printed edition (both that which precedes and that which follows the portion above defined) forming a second part with a distinct introduction. The two pages following the end of the story (ff. 8b, 9) contain rude coloured drawings of the foundation of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost, the persons mentioned in the allegory, etc.

2: The Desert of Religion; a series of drawings of trees representing the various virtues and vices, explained by short descriptions in English verse, together with portraits of various saints, also described in verse. On the first page is a picture of the Virgin and Child. The poem is headed "Elongavi fugiens et mansi in solitudine," and begins: — "David þat prophet was ay. In þe sauter boke þus here we say. Fleand I fled fro more to les. And duelled in herd wyldernes." There are 22 full-page drawings and the same number of smaller ones; and the poem ends: — "Vnto þe whilke ioye he us bryng. Þat for oure sake on rode Þore duell w^t holy men. W^t outen ende. Amen. Amen." On the last leaf is a representation of Death, armed with a spear, confronting a knight, a king, and an archbishop, with verses appropriate to each; those belonging to Death run thus: — "Be [y]e wele now warre w^t me My name þon is ded May ye none fro me fle Þat any lyfe gun led Kynge kaser þen no knyght Ne clerks þat can on boke rede Beest ne foghel ne oþer wyght Bot I sal make þam dedde." Another drawing of similar character occupies the reverse of the leaf. The letter þ is throughout written as a dotted y. A second copy of this poem exists in Cotton MS. Faustina B. vi., part 2; and the authorship of it is ascribed in the table of contents prefixed to that MS. to Hilton the anchorite, i.e. presumably Walter Hilton, a Carthusian monk who flourished about 1440 and was the author of the "Scala Perfectionis" and other moral works. If this ascription is correct, both this and the Cotton MS. are contemporary with the author; but Sir F. Madden in a note at the beginning of the work in the latter MS. expresses his belief that it is without authority, and due to a confusion with Hilton's prose treatise on the Contemplative Life (sc. the Scala Perfectionis). Vellum; ff. 34. First half of xvth cent. With illuminated initials.

Belonged successively to the Rev. — Gastrell, Richard Greene, apothecary, of Lichfleld (1756), whose book-plate it bears, and Tho. Astle (1767). On a loose sheet at the end is a glossary of words, and at the beginning, in Astle's hand, a biography of Bishop Alcock, the supposed author of the contents of the volume.'