Harley MS 665

Miscellany including Texts relating to Rhetorics, Grammar, Theology and Medicine, and other Prose and Verse; 15th cent. Latin and Middle English. Imperfect. A composite miscellany of rhetorical, grammatical and theological texts in Latin and occasional prose and verse in Middle English. The cataloguing of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust. Texts relating to medicine are itemised in the description, but the non-medical texts are mentioned only summarily. Medical texts include: - A) text on leprosy (ff. 4v-5; item 1); - B) recipe (f. 289; item 2); - C) charm (f. 302; item 3). The volume also includes: - a) recipe for glue, Middle English (f. 1v); - b) Notes on rhetorical parts of speech, Latin (ff. 8-21v); - c) grammatical text relating to the quantity of syllables, Latin (ff. 22-38); - d) Johannes Waldeby, De decem mandatis, Latin (ff. 50-80v), for which see Incipits of Latin Works on the Virtues and Vices 1100-1500, ed. M. W. Bloomfield et al. (Cambridge MA, 1979; The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 88), no. 5618; - e) Robertus Grosseteste, De VII mortalibus peccatis, Latin (ff. 81-90), for which see Incipits of Latin Works on the Virtues…, cit. above, no. 6307; - f) Speculum laicorum, abridged version, Latin (ff. 91-170v, 212-221; imperfect), for which see J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department on Manuscripts in the British Museum, iii (London, 1910), pp. 413-414; - g) Arnould de Liège, Alphabetum narrationum, abridged, Latin (ff. 171-211v; imperfect), for which see J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances…, cit. above, p. 439, and P. Glorieux, La Faculté des arts et ses maitres au XIII^esiècle (Paris, 1971; Etudes de philosophie médiévale, lix), p. 97, no. 38; - h) Lignorum nomina de quibus fit crux Christi, Latin (ff. 283-283v); - g) epitaph on 'Riche Alane þe ballid man', Middle English and Latin (f. 295); - h) text attributed to Jan van Ruusbroec, beginning 'Here ys the sacrament of the auter', Middle English (ff. 297v-298), for which see A. I. Doyle, 'A text attributed to Ruusbroec circulating in England', in Dr. L. Reypens-Album, ed. A. Ampe (Antwerp, 1964), pp. 168-69; - i) verse in monorhymic quatrain, 'Criste qui lux es et dies', Latin and Middle English translation (ff. 299v-300), for which see J. Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London, 2005), no. 616. Possibly owned by John Dee (1527-1608), mathematician, astrologer and antiquary as the mark '#' on f. 301v may be identifiable as his; the MS. is not mentioned in John Dee's Library Catalogue, ed. R. J. Roberts and A. G. Watson (London, 1983). Owned in the late 16th-early 17th cent. by Thomas Jordin or al. Jorden, an inscription relating to him 'For / Thomas Jorden' on f. 109v, and later by Thomas Peinton al. Pennington, his name on f. 301v. For Peinton, see H. O. Coxe and R. W. Hunt, Laudian Manuscripts (Oxford, 1973; Bodleian Library, Quarto Catalogues, II, repr. from the 1858-1885 ed.), p. xxviii. Owned by Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699), bishop of Worcester and theologian: possibly identifiable in his MS. 241, 'Grammatica vetus latina. MS. in charta', in the catalogue of his MSS. drawn in 1685, now Harley 7644. Bought with other MSS. from the Stillingfleet library in 1707 from his son, Edward Stillingfleet (d. 1708), physician and Church of England clergyman, by Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician. Possibly valued '0.5.0.' by Harley's librarian Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726), Old English scholar, in Harley 7055, f. 78, no. 241. Described by Wanley in 1710-11 in the third volume of his 'Catalogus Brevior', i.e. Add. 45703, f. 2. For the provenance, see also C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, pp. xix, xxviii; C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 126-127, 207, 273, 316, 385. Passed on to Robert Harley's son, Edward (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts. Bequeathed with Edward's library to his widow, countess Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), duchess of Portland. Sold with the other Harley manuscripts by the countess and the duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum. The Harleian manuscripts became part of the collections of the British Library on its establishment in 1973. Harley shelfmarks (f. 1) '59.A.1 / 665' in black ink and '22/I A' in pencil. The MS. is described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), i, pp. 400-401; J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the Department on Manuscripts in the British Museum, iii (London, 1910), pp. 413-414. For grammatical texts, see G. L. Bursill-Hall, A Census of Medieval Latin Grammatical Manuscripts (Stuttgart, 1981; Grammatica speculativa, 4), p. 115, no. 149.110; for verse in Middle English, see Boffey and Edwards, A New Index…, cit. above, nos. 475/8, 513, 744, 1207, 2789, 3079/8, 3753.

Paper; ff. 303+i, plus one blank after f. 277, five after f. 280, seven after f. 281 and two after f. 287; f. 302 original parchment flyleaf; ff. 171-211 inserted from another MS. Old foliation in ink '277-283, 283-290, 291-302, 1-20, 22-123, 153-222, 235-251, 253-262, 264-275' (corresponding to ff. 1-8, 14-22, 36-49, 50-170, 212-301 including blanks; inconsistent up to f. 35; omitting no. 21) indicating that ff. 1-49 were originally at the end of the volume, and signalling the fall of twenty-nine leaves after f. 170, thirteen after f. 280, one before f. 282 and one after f. 289. Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-302' (followed here, repeating no. 79; ff. 110, 278, 280v, 281v, 287v, 288, 302v blank; ff. 109v, 302 originally blank). circa 198 x 132mm. Gatherings: i⁷ (composition not detectable), ii-vi¹⁴, vii^14-1 (missing fourteenth), viii^14-1 (missing eighth?), ix-xii¹⁴, xiii^14-2 (missing twelfth and thirteenth), xiv-xv¹⁶, xvi^10-1 (missing tenth), xvii-xxi¹⁴, xxii¹⁰, xxiii^14-1 (missing fourth), xxiv^14-2 (missing first and tenth), with horizontal catchwords. Ruled in ink (only for single bounding lines) for columns of 25-35 lines. Text below top line. Written in cursive English hands (cursiva libraria - Anglicana with secretary features). Inserted leaves (ff. 171-211) with major initials (1-2 lines) in red and minor initials touched in red. British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.

Contents relating to medicine as follows:

1. ff. 4v-5. De quodam Leproso; 15th cent. Latin. Copy. Inc. 'Moralum lepra est in carne'. Keywords: leprosy.

2. f. 289. Recipe; 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Inc. 'A good sawce to make a man to haue apetite / to mete'. Keywords: recipes, medical.

3. f. 302. Charm for staunching blood, verse; late 15th cent. Middle English. Copy. Inc. 'Stanche blood stanche blood / So dyd Nooes flood / When our lord over hit w[o]d'. Listed in Boffey and Edwards, A New Index..., cit. above, no. 3209/5. Possibly derived from the Flum Jordan motif: see T. M. Smallwood, 'The Transmission of Charms in English, Medieval and Modern', in Charms and Charming in Europe, ed. J. Roper, part 1 (London, 2004), p. 30 n. 38. Keywords: charms, bloodletting.

Theology LATIN: Poetry MIDDLE ENGLISH: Grammar: Miscellany including Rethorical, Grammatical and Theological Treatises, and other prose and verse: 15th cent.: Lat.and enm: Copies.

includes:

• f. 302 Medicine and Surgery: Charms: Charm for staunching blood: late 15th cent.: Enm: Copy.