Royal MS 8 F I

THEOLOGICAL WORKS by Ailred of Rievaulx, Richard, Prior of S. Victor (1162-1173 ?), and others, in Latin, viz.:-

1. 'Incipit prologus venerabilis ÆIredi abbatis in librum de spiritali amicitia' : the dialogue De Spirituali Amicitia, in three books, of Æthelred or Ailred, Abbot successively of Revesby (1142 ?-1146) and Rievaulx (1146-1166), cf. 5 B. IX, art. 3. Printed in Migne, Patr. Lat. cxcv. 659. Preface beg. 'Cum adhuc puer essem in scolis'; bk. i, 'Ecce ego et tu, et spero quod tercius'. At the end (f. 16 b) are two couplets of verse, 'Est speculum mentis facies, oculique reuelant / Quales sint intus mens animusque bonis', and 'Clausa perit, diffusa redit, nisi publica fiat. / Labitur et multas uires adquirit eundo'. f. 4.

2. A collection of moral reflections or sententiae from classical Latin authors, together with Isidore and Boethius, chiefly in prose. A few interspersed comments are marked 'Auctor'. Beg. 'Quicquid percipies, esto breuis, ut cito dicta'. f. 17.

3. 'Allegorie mag. Ricardi super vetus et nouum testamentum' (so table of contents-a later hand has substituted 'Hugonis). Hugh is perhaps the more probable author (see 8 A. VIII). Imperfect by loss of six leaves after f. 59. Both prefaces are given, as in Migne's text, the other Royal MSS. having but one. Divided into thirteen books, the Gospel portion being x-xiii. The text in general resembles 8 D. XV and the other MSS., but crucial passages in the Gospels are missing. First preface beg. 'Quicumque sapientie siue scientie studet', followed by a table of capitula, the second preface, 'In precedentibus premissa', and text, 'In principio creauit'. f. 20. Art. 4, like the preceding articles, is in double columns, but in a larger hand.

4. 'Beniamin adolescentulus in mentis excessu': a discourse on that text (Ps. lxvii. 28) by Richard of S. Victor (Migne, cxcvi. i, with title 'Benjamin Minor'). Beg. 'Audiant adolescentuli sermonem de adolescente'. f. 68. Art. 5 is in single columns.

5. 'MeditationesdoraniHugonis prioris Carnisie' (so rubric, but the table of contents reads 'Cartusie'): a work also found in Harley MS. 47, f. 4 b, where it is attributed to S. Bernard. The author meant is perhaps Guigo de Castro, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse (1110- 1137), though the work is not the same as that in Migne, cliii. 601. Beg. 'Bonum mihi, domine, quod humiliasti, &c. [Ps. cxviii. 71]: Bonum est uiro cum portauerit iugum'; ends 'unde traxit ymaginem'. f. 101 b. On the fly-leaves in 13th cent. hands are leonine hexameters, &c., viz.:-(a) 'De Elredo', ten lines about art. 1, beg. 'Quid quantum quare debes his disces (sic) amare'. f.2;-(b) Three fines beg. 'Tres michi meroris cause sunt omnibus horis'. f. 2;-(c)Two lines (cf. 7 D. I, f. 42) beg. 'Vinea culta fuit, cultores premia querunt'. f. 2;-(d) Four lines on monastic life beg. 'Omnibus exuto cum possis viuere tuto'. f. 111;-(e) The first two couplets of the elegiac poem beg. 'Anglia terra ferax, tibi pax diutuma quietam', printed in Beaugendre's edition of Hildebert (Migne, clxxi. 1443). f. 111;-(f) Four hexameters on the Virgin and the other Marys, mutilated at beg. f. 112;-(g) A prose prayer, 'Oratio post Agnus dei dicenda', beg. 'Agimus tibi deo patri gratias pro iam beatificatis'. f. 112;-(h) Two lines 'de virga pastorali', beg. 'Attrahe per primum, medio rege, puni per imum'. f. 112;-(i) An elegiac couplet beg. 'Salue, salus mundi, verbum patris, hostia uera'. f. 112. Vellum; ff. 112. 103/4 in. x 71/2 in. Circ. 1200. Gatherings (beg. f. 4) i-vii⁸, viii¹⁰, ix-xii⁸, xiii⁴; a new numeration begins with artt. 3, 4. Sec. fol. 'fruendum per quem'. Initials in red- and blue in a style some what like 6 C. VIII. See pl. 60 d, e. Belonged to Revesby Abbey, co. Linc. (colonized from Rievaulx): 'Liber sancte Marie de Laurentio', towhich 'De Revesby' is added in a later hand (f. 4). Seen there and acquired for the king by Leland (Roy. App. 69, f. 8b) Old Royal press-mark 'no. 933'; cat. of 1666, f. 3 b. CMA. 8026, 8027.