Stowe MS 985

"COLLECTANEA quædam Anglo-Saxonica e codicibus manuscriptis hinc inde congesta," by William Elstob, M.A. (ob. 1715), and Elizabeth Elstob, his sister. The extracts are mostly taken from manuscripts formerly belonging to Francis Junius, and by him bequeathed to the Bodleian Library. They were probably prepared by the Elstobs in furtherance of their scheme for publishing a complete Saxon Homiliarium, which resulted only in the printing [?1715] of a fragment of 36 leaves, apparently without title-page, but which, according to Nicholls, Literary Anecdoles, vol. iv. p. 132, and to a printed prospectus of the projected work in Lansdowne MS. 373, f. 88, was to have borne the title "The English Saxon Homilies of Ælfric, Arch-Bishop of Canterbury . . . . now first Printed, and Translated into the Language of the Present Times by Elizabeth Elstob." The prospectus was issued from Oxford in 1715. The five volumes of transcripts made specially for this work are now in the British Museum, Lansdowne MSS. 370-374; and there is in the Museum a copy of the printed fragment, presented by Sir Henry Ellis. The present MS. came into the possession of Thomas Astle, who prefixed to it (f. 3) a letter from William Elstob to Lord Chief Justice Thomas Parker [1st Earl of Macclesfield, 1721], asking for his interest for the appointment to the Preachership of Lincoln's Inn, vacant by the elevation of Dr. Francis Gastrell to the see of Chester [Feb. 1713-14]. The contents of the volume are:-

1. "De Initio Creature," or "Bedam Frum Sceafte," transcribed "ex prima parte Homiliarum Hattonianarum Junii apogr. inter codices Junii no. 41." See the Catal. of Junius MSS. in Catalogi Manuscriptorum Angliæ, 1697, p. 251, and Wanley's "Catalogus Librorum Septentrionalium," pp. 26, 87, 137, etc., in Hickes' Thesaurus, 1703, vol. ii. The transcript has been collated with a similar MS. in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. f. 5.

2. "De Anticristo Tractatulus, Latine et Anglo-Saxonice," the Latin version only. See Wanley's Catalogue, p. 27. f. 20.

3. "De se[c]unda epistola quando dividitur crisma," in Anglo-Saxon. See Wanley, p. 23. f. 24.

4. The Anglo-Saxon version of Art. 2. See Wanley, pp. 27, 58, 139. f. 3 1.

5. "De septiformi spiritu": the Anglo-Saxon version, followed by the same in modern English. Extracted from Junius MS. 48 (Bodl. Libr.), itself a copy from the Anglo-Saxon Homilies presented in 1675 to the Bodleian by Christopher Hatton, lst Viscount Hatton. See also Wanley, p. 23. f. 37.

6. "De Perseverantia " [et de Eucharistia], in Anglo-Saxon. From Junius MS. 48, which, according to the Catalogi Manuscr. Angliæ, p. 252, was transcribed by Junius from Cotton MS. Tib. A. iii. [f. 105 b, etc.]. ff. 41, 43.

7. "De Vita S. Swithuni Homilia," in Anglo-Saxon. Transcribed by E. Elstob from Cotton MS. Jul. E. iv. f. 94 b. See Wanley, pp. 188, 192. f. 45.

8. "Cronici Saxonici fragmentum": a transcript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 1043-1079, from a MS. in the Cathedral Library, Canterbury, itself a copy by William Lambarde from Cotton MS. Tib. B. iv. See The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Rolls Series, vol. i. p. xviii., and Wanley, p. 271. f. 57.

9. "Numerus Hydarum Angliæ," in Anglo-Saxon. From the same MS. at Canterbury. f. 80.

10. [De arca Noe], in Anglo-Saxon. From the same MS. f. 81.

11. Extracts in Anglo-Saxon from "Mr. [William] Lambarde's Transcript," at Canterbury, of "Hemingi liber de terris et redditibus Ecclesie Wigorniensis," made probably from Cotton MS. Tib. A. xiii., ff. 156, et seqq. Marginal references are given to T. Hearne's Hemingi Chartularium Ecclesiæ Wigorniensis, Oxford, 1724. Collated and examined by W. and E. Elstob, 21 June, 1712. f. 82. Paper; ff. 94. A.D. 1712. With the signature of Tho. Astle on f. 1. Small Quarto.

University of Oxford: Copies from Anglo-Saxon MSS. in the Bodleian Library: 1712.

Manuscripts: Copies of Anglo-Saxon MSS. in the Brit. Museum, Bodleian Library, etc., by W. and E. Elstob: 1712.

William Elstob, MA: Copies of Anglo-Saxon MSS. collected by: 1712.

Elizabeth Elstob: Copies of Anglo-Saxon MSS. collected by: 1712.

includes:

• f. 3 Thomas Parker, 1st Baron Parker; 1st Earl of Macclesfield: Letter to, from W. Elstob: 1714.
• f. 3 William Elstob, MA: Letter to Lord Ch. Justice Parker: 1714.
• f. 57 England General Chronicles and History: Saxon Chronicle; copied from a MS. at Canterbury: 1712.: Fragm.