Add MS 37768

'The PSALTER and Canticles, in Latin, of St. Jerome's Gallican version, with his preface ("Psalterium Romae duduum positus," f. 7 b). The Canticles include (1) the 151st Psalm ("Pusillus cram"), f. 154 b; (2) the song of Isaiah (Isa. xii.), f. 155; (3) the prayer of Hezekiah (Isa. xxxviii. 10-20), f. 155 b; (4) the song of Hannah (1 Kings ii. 1-10), f. 156 b; (5) the song of Moses (Exod. xv. 1-19), f. 157 b; (6) the prayer of Habakkuk (Hab. iii.), f. 158 b; (7) the song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. 1-43), f. 160 b; (8) the song of the Three Children (Dan. iii. 57-88 in Sept., with doxology and v. 56), f. 164 b; (9) Te Deum, f. 165; (10) Quicunque Vult, f. 166; (11) Nunc Dimittis, f. 168 b; (12) the Lord's Prayer, f. 169; (13) the Apostles' Creed, ib.; and (14) the Magnificat and (15) the Benedictus are added in a slightly later hand, f. 170. Written in gold letters throughout, the titles in rustic capitals, the first words of each psalm in uncials, and the rest of the text in fine Caroline minuscules. Initials of psalms formed of ornamental patterns; that of Ps. i. and of every tenth psalm thereafter is a large ornamental letter, occupying (with the first few words of the psalm) a whole page, and enclosed in a plain gold border. Prefixed to the Psalter, on a separate gathering, are three full-page miniatures (ff. 4, 5, 6), representing the emperor Lothaire, David, and St. Jerome; and on the page facing each miniature are ten hexameter lines relating to it, written in small rustic capitals. The lines on St. Jerome refer to the present volume, "quem fieri regis veneratio magna coegit." The previous leaves contain: (1) A eulogy of the Psalter, beg. "In psalmo confiteris infirmitatem tuam," in a hand of the 9th cent. f.1;- (2) A prayer, apparently during a vacancy in the abbacy of St. Hubert or the diocese of Liége ("da nobis pastorem et rectorem secundum uoluntatem [tuam] ... respice ad merita sancti Huberti et sanctorum quorum reliquie in loco isto sunt"), 10th cent. f. 1 b;-(3) 11 Incipit Oratio pro vivorum qui psalterium in ordine vicis suae cantare debent," beg. "Deus omnium rerum creator." f. 2 b. This prayer, the first eight lines of which, alternately red and black, are written in rustic capitals, and which was apparently (though not written in gold) the original commencement of the MS., is in bad grammar, which obscures the sense. It was composed by a lady, apparently a sister of Lothaire ("miserearis mei postulantis in ordine vicia meae, imprimitus Hlothario, Karolo, atque Hludovico, germanos meos, necnon et germanas meas ill. videlicet Karolo seniore nostrum sive reginas adeo et avunculos meos, pro fratribus nostris sive sorores; in hoc cenubio una in familiaritate degentibus"); she has also been taken to be Lothaire's daughter, but the latter, though she had brothers of the same names, had no sisters, and would presumably have mentioned her father, whose portrait immediately follows;- (4) Note of a donation by "domina Gela, femina nobilis, apud Damsel in comitatu de Salmes," of 30 "denaradae" (sc. deneratae) of wax to the altar of St. Hubert (10th cent.). f.3. The Psalter is followed by: (1) "Orationes pro statu sanctae Dei ecelesiae," beg. "Ego dixi, Domine, miserere mei," in a hand of the late 9th cent. f. 171 b;-(2) "Imprecationes contra persecutores," in the same hand, probably referring to the Norman invasion of 882. f. 172;- (3)Three prayers, in a different hand, on behalf of Stephanus, bishop of Liége 903-920. f. 172b. From the evidence of this additional matter it would appear that the Psalter was written after 840, when Lothaire succeeded to the empire (certainly after. 838, since otherwise the fourth brother, Pippin, who died in that year, would presumably have been mentioned as well as Lothaire, Charles and Louis), and perhaps (though the language is obscure) for a nunnery in which the writer of the "Oratio pro vivorum" was interested but it was certainly in the possession of the abbey of St. Hubert in the Ardennes early in the 10th century, at latest. In the Cantatorium sancti Huberti (ed. Baron de Reiffenberg, Monuments pour servir à l'histoire des provinces de Namur, de Hainaut, et de Luxembourg, tome vii., 1847, p. 237) it is mentioned ("psalterium auro scriptum, per denos psalmos capitalibus litteris distinctum") among the gifts of Louis le Débonnaire on the occasion of the translation of St. Hubert from Liége to Andagina in the Ardennes in 825; but this chronicle is not earlier than the 12th century, and there is no other evidence to connect the MS. with Louis. The same chronicle (ib. p. 260) speaks of the portrait on f. 4 as being that of Louis, which is disproved by the verses relating to it. Vellum; ff. xi. + 172. 9¼in. x 7¼ in. ix. cent. (probably 840-855). Gatherings of 8 leaves (except the first and the last but one, which have 6); 21 lines to the page. Fly-leaves (1) from a 10th cent. MS. of St. Gregory, Moralia, bk. xxviii. cc. 13-16 (f. vi.); (2) from a 13th cent. Antiphonal, containing hymns (with pneums) in honour of St. Lambert, who preceded St. Hubert as bishop of Maestricht (f. vii.). Bound in thick wooden boards (portions of 13th cent. MSS. have been used in re-binding the MS. at some period), covered on the outside with brown leather, and over that with dark red silk. To the upper cover has been attached a large silver-gilt medallion in high relief, showing a bearded and moustached head in profile (similar to those of Louis and Lothaire on their seals, cf. Mabillon, De Re Diplomatica, pll. xxvi.-xxx.), wearing a crown or helmet of primitive pattern, perhaps of the 9th century; this is enclosed in a framework of silver-gilt with a flat conventional leaf-pattern, probably of later date (10th or 11th cent. ?). The lower cover has been slightly hollowed to receive a fine ivory figure (41 in. high) of king David, seated, with a harp (12th cent.). Silver corner-guards and clasps, the latter on red velvet bands. The MS., after being stolen about 1010 and returned (Cantatorium, p. 260), remained at St. Hubert's till the French Revolution, and was seen and described at length by Martène and Durand in 1718 ([Second] Voyage Littéraire, Paris, 1724, pp. 135- 144), with the text of most of the additional matter. At the Revolution it was removed by the abbot and one of the monks, Dom Éttienne (Jacques Bernard Neuimann), and passed from the latter to his nephew, M. Neumann, Procureur du Roi at Luxembourg; while in his possession it was described by Dr. A. Namur in the Bulletin du Bibliophile Belge, Sept. 1860. In 1876 it was in the possession of Messrs. Ellis and White, of London, from whom it was purchased by Thomas Brooke (cr. Bart. 1899), of Armitage Bridge, Huddersfield, whose bookplate of arms is inserted (f. i.). It is included in his Catalogue of Manuscripts and Printed Books (London, 1891 ), vol. ii. p. 530, with a reproduction of the miniature of the emperor Lothaire and a translation of Namur's description. Five pages (ff. 4, 4 b, 5, 42 b, 171 b) are given by the Palaeographical Society, series i., pl. 69, 70, 93, 94.'