Add MS 74237 MM

MM. 'The Grove of Virgins', formerly entitled 'The lyves of certein virgins translated out of Laten into Englishe meter'; circa late 16th cent. Imperfect. The present unwatermarked leaf comprises the first fifty-six anonymous lines, or fourteen stanzas of English ballad metre, of the first poem in a putative series, entitled 'Pethomena, a virgin borne at Alexandria: 1:' This relates to her attempted seduction by her master, a citizen of Rome, and begins 'In Alexandria borne she was', ending abruptly 'of all his cancred mynde'. 'The Grove of Virgins' is inserted in a darker ink after the original longer title, while the first verse, etc., is re-copied in the right-hand margin in a reddish ink but still contemporary hand. Probably deriving from a mixed lot in the stock of Frank Marcham (d.1944) sold at Bloomsbury Book Auctions, April 1997. Purchased from J. L. M. Gulley, 23 Sept. 1999.

Paper; ff. 118-118v. 286 x 193mm. Later folded across the middle, and bearing marks of sewing (?) at the fold. Contemporary foliation '1' in the top right-hand corner of the recto.

Poetry ENGLISH: Pethomena, virgin: `Pethomena', first poem in a sequence entitled `The Grove of Virgins': circa late 16th-early 17th centt.: Imperfect.