Add MS 37785

WORKS by SS. Isidore and Alcuin, with a fragment in an Irish hand, viz.:-

1. "Liber beati Isidori Hispalensis episcopi ad Florentinam de summo bono": the Sententiae of S. Isidore, Bishop of Seville (Migne, Patr. Lat. lxxxiii. col. 537). In three books. A table of capitula precedes each book. Beg. "Summum bonum deus est." f. 1.

2. "Liber sancti Alquini diaconi de sapientia": the Liber de Virtutibus ad Widonem comitem (Migne, ci. col. 614). Both the prefatory letter and peroration are absent. Beg. "Primo oimnium querenda" and ends "dignus efficietur." f. 71.

3. Verses (a) on the Eucharist, 24 leonine hexameters, beg. "In Christi mensa caro que fuit in cruce tensa";- (b) on the Fall and Redemption, six leonine elegiac couplets, beg. "Peccat homo primus, fit quod fuerat caro limus";- (c) on a rule of life, six elegiac couplets, beg. "Respice to, rationem consule, quicquid agendum";- (d) on Faith, six hexameters, beg. "Credere cunctorum fons est et origo bonorum";- (e) nine maxims, each in an elegiac couplet. Beg. "Rerum quam pulcher usus tam turpis abusus." f. 83b. Four leaves (ff. ii.-v., 7½ in. x 5½ in.), formerly part of the binding, in an Irish hand of about the 12th cent., contain fragments (ff. ii., iii. are continuous, the other two disconnected) of biblical questions and answers. The first complete question, beg. "Quot sunt pondera hominis? Sunt octo de quibus factus est Adam," agrees nearly with a paragraph in the Durham Ritual (9th cent.) printed by Stevenson (Surtees Soc. 1840, p. 192), cf. also Kemble, Dialogue of Solomon and Saturn (Aelfric Soc. 1845), p. 181, Ipotys, in Horstman's Altenglische Legenden (Heilbrunn), Neue Folge ii. p. 343, and Latin paragraphs in Harl. MSS. 956, f. 102b, 1747, f. 49 b, 2390, f. 100. An Irish form, from Add. MS. 4783, f. 7, is printed by Whitley Stokes, Three Irish Vocabularies (1862), p. 7, and for a Frisian parallel see Thomas Wright's notes to Piers Ploughman, p. 536. The second question "Quot sunt cispes de quibus factus est Adam" has a reference to "Hir" [Hieronymus?], but has not been traced. The others are chiefly distinctiones of an ordinary mediaeval type. In the upper margins of six of the pages are single lines from Virgil (Georgics iii. 115, ii. 534, 535, Ecl. iv.

58, Georg. iii. 166, 22), with a few glosses. The other two pages have theological notes in the same place. Vellum; ff. v. + 84. 11 in. x 7½ in. xii. cent. In an English hand. Sec. fol. "id ergo quod." Initials in red, or green and red. Belonged to Haughmond Abbey, co. Salop, "Liber iste est ecclesie sancti Johannis apostoli et ewangeliste de Hagemon." Old binding of oak boards covered with white leather. A 16th cent. owner's name, Thomas Scott, is on f. 84; cf. f. 84b, where is also a later owner's erased note, "ex dono Eduardi Mileham patris amantissimi, Nouemb. 24, 1655." Afterwards belonged to Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury 1694-1715, who left it to his library of St. Martin's, Westminster (see catalogue in Add. MS. 11257, f. 44), where it bore the number 49 altered to 29; sale-cat. 1861, lot 48. Bookplate of arms of Lord Amherst. Amherst Bale, 1909, lot 486.

Bindings ENGLISH: Oak boards covered with white leather.: 12th cent.

includes:

• f. ii Adam: Quaestiones on the creation of: 12th cent.: Lat.
• ff. ii-v Theology: Distinctiones or questions: 12th cent.
• ff. ii-v b Virgil: Six lines from the Georgics and Eclogues: 12th cent.
• f. 1 Saint Isidore,; Bishop of Seville: Sententine: 12th cent.
• f. 71 Wido, Comes: S. Isidore, De Virtutibus, dedicated to: 12th cent.
• f. 71 Alcuin: De virtutibus ad Widonem: 12th cent.
• f. 83 b Poetry: Verses on Faith: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Adam: Verses on the fall of: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Poetry: Nine maxims: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Poetry: Verses on the Eucharist: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Proverbs: Nine maxims in elegiac couplets: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Sacraments: Verses on the Eucharist: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83 b Poetry: Verses on a rule of life: 12th cent.: Lat.
• f. 83b Poetry: Verses on the Fall and Redemption: 12th cent.: Lat.