Royal MS 3 B X

1. EDITIO Ceruasii Cicestrensis super Malachiam prophetam de ordinis sacerdotalis instructione'. f. 1. Preceded by (I) 30 rhyming hexameter verses, beg. 'Proxima confectum senio me fata uocabant' (f. 1); (2) a table of capitula (f. 1 b); and (3) a prologue, beg. 'Universis Christi sacerdotibus in Anglorum ecclesia

constitutis ' (f. 2). The treatise is in thirteen books, beg. 'Conditor itaque noster, patres sanctissimi' (f. 2b). Gervase of Chichester, who is described as 'presbyter' in the colophon (f. 112b), was a disciple of Thomas Becket, and the present work, which was written in old age (as the introductory verses state), must have been composed about the end of the 12th century. NO other copy of it is known than this, which must be contemporary with the author.

2. Homilies, by the same Gervase of Chichester. f. 113. In the introductory verses on f. 1 the author states that, after the commentary on Malachi, he proceeds to a eulogy of his master, Thomas Becket, and a description of his martyrdom :-

Ad noua post animo laudum preconia flexo, Pontificis Thome uitam meritumque retexo; Meque coegit amor cui uiuo uiuus adhesi Martiris interitum gladiis describere cesi,' etc. This was evidently contained in the homilies which follow the commentary; for, though twelve leaves have been cut out of the MS. at this point (after f. 112), the first intact leaf (f. 113) contains the end of a homily on S. Thomas, and the remaining margins of the excised leaves contain words suitable to this hypothesis. Only two homilies remain intact; one (f. 113 b, beg. 'Cum ingredientur sacerdotes portas atrii interioris ') on the priesthood, similar to the commentary on Malachi; the other (f. 116b, beg. 'Hodie, dilectissimi, dies illuxit insignis') on the nativity of S. John the Baptist. A large part of the latter occurs in 8 E. xiii, art. 2 (h). At the end of the first homily are 20 hexameter verses, beg. 'Languide, qui morbis anime uexaris acutis' (f. 116). Vellum ; ff. 123. 12 in. x 7.1/2 in. Late XII or early XIII ce Gatherings of 8 leaves, numbered at the end. Double columns. Sec. fol. (text) 'negligentes'. Initials of books coloured. At the of end (f. 123) are the initials E. S. ; on f. i the names of john Stephynson (16th cent.) and John, Lord Lumley (not autogr.). Leland records the existence of a copy of both the commentary on Malachi and the homilies at Gloucester (Commentarii, 1709, p. 216; Collectanea, ed. Hearne, I770, p. 159); and in view of the rarity of the work it is at least possible that this is identical with the present MS. Lumley cat. (Add. MS. 36659), f. 52 ; cat. of 1666, f. 16 CMA. 8181.