Harley MS 2389

A Commonplace Book including Medical, Culinary, Arboricultural and Fishing Recipes, Charms and Instructions; 16th cent. Middle English. Imperfect. A commonplace or household book, containing circa six-hundred medical recipes and charms, including culinary and fishing (ff. 73-73v) recipes and arboriculture instructions (ff. 64-65). Rubric (f. 1) 'Ffor the splene', inc. 'Take the inner rynd of the ashe tree star[..] (?) / yt downward stampe yt'. Listed in L. E. Voigts and P. D. Kurtz, Scientific and Medical Writings in Old and Middle English: An Electronic Reference, CD-ROM, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2006 = eVK2), no. 6131.00. The collection includes: - a) a text on weights and measures used by physicians (ff. 11-11v), rubric 'Ffigures', inc. '{gr} a grayne {scruple} a scruple {scruple semi} halfe a scruple / {dram} a dramme', expl. 'A quarter of a pounde this {qrt} or this / {q^r)'; - b) a charm against epilepsy (f. 42), rubric 'For the fallynge evill', inc. 'Take the blode of his litle fynger and wryte these ij / verses', published in C. F. Bühler, 'Three Middle English Prose Charms from MS. Harley 2389', Notes and Queries, 207 (1962), p. 48; - c) a recipe against the stone (ff. 57-57v), rubric 'A pryncipall water wich must be made / in mayye', inc. 'Take philipandula rosemarye saxfrage yvyv þt grow/eth on a gravelye walle', with a note towards the end stating 'This medecine Mistress Elsabeth horne þt was magister / Edmunde hornes mother', listed in eVK2, no. 5341.00 (genital and urinary disorders); - d) a moral counsel in 13 couplets (f. 57v), inc. 'What so euer thou hearest be it good or badde / Do not hastely beleve', listed in J. Boffey and A. S. G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse (London, 2005), no. 4126.5; - e) a treatise on fishing (ff. 73-73v) (imperfect), rubric 'To catche a pike at all tymes', inc. 'Take a longe lyne', published in W. L. Braekman, The Treatise on Angling in The Boke of St. Albans (1496)… (Brussels, 1980; Scripta, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1), pp. 39-42. Owned by members of the Suffield family of Hanley Castle, co. Worc., in the early 17th cent., with notes by 'William Siffold' (ff. 1* and 78v) and 'Thomas Suffield' (f. 78v, dated 1629). Acquired with other MSS. by Edward Harley (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, from the bookseller Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681-circa 1753), it entered the Harleian collection in 1722, as noted by Harley's librarian, Humfrey Wanley (1672-1726), on f. 1. For the provenance see C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), i, p. 181 n. 17, and C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972), pp. 254, 321-322, 408. Bequeathed with the Harleian library to Edward's widow, 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 '100.C.19 / 2389' in dark brown inks and 'I/III D' in pencil on f. i. The MS. is described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (London, 1808-1812), ii, p. 679-680. Mentioned in R. H. Robbins, 'Medical Manuscripts in Middle English', Speculum, 45, no. 3 (1970), p. 405 n. 34. The cataloguing of this manuscript was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Paper; ff. ii+78+i. Modern foliation in pencil '1-78' (followed here). circa 212 x 152mm. Quires and single leaves individually mounted on guards; the present gathering is as follows: i³, ii⁴, iii⁶, one leaf (f. 13), iv-xvi⁴, xvii⁶, xviii^6-2 (missing the central bifolium), -xix⁴. Unruled. Single columns of circa 18-26 lines. Written in cursive English secretary script (littera cursiva currens) by different hands. British Library binding with Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.

Sports and Pastimes: Agriculture: Commonplace Books: Magic: Medicine and Surgery: Cookery: Charms: Commonplace Book including medical and culinary recipes and charms, arboriculture and fishing instructions: 16th cent.: Enm.