Royal MS 12 B XVII

TREATISES on Rhetoric, Grammar, and Dictamen, in Latin, viz.:

1. 'De coloribus verborum et sententiarum': tract in three sections, De modo prolongandi, De materia breuiacionis, De ornatu verborum. Quotations are given from Geoffrey de Vinsauf, Everard de Béthune, Alan of Lille, and Matthaeus 'Windoseruensis' [Vindocinensis]. A few examples (e.g. f. 15 b) are given in English. The opening words are torn away, 'D. . . .......... exigat aut dilatandi'. Ends, apparently incomplete, 'Isti colori correspondent sex scemata'. Two colophons (ff. 36 b, 43), 'Explicit ornatus verborum. Quod Iohannes Miller', and 'Deo gracias quod I. Miller', the former being evidently misplaced. f. 1.

2. Part of the poem called Novella Poetria of Geoffrey de Vinsauf (cf. 12 E. XI, art. 1). The beginning and end are not given, and a large passage is transposed in order. Beg. 'Si niti grauitate velis, hiis vtere velelis (sic, velis)'; breaks off 'Sentis quid primo visu specularis et in quo'. f. 43 b.

3. 'Tractatus de modo inueniendi ornata verba, com. pilatus per Iohannem priorem quintum de Ingham [co. Norf.] pro nouellis rudibus celeriter instruendis' (so colophon): a tract beg. 'Ars inueniendi ornata verba potissime penes permutacionem attenditur'. The author does not seem otherwise known. John de Blakency, elected 1439, or John de Norwich, elected 1447 (Victoria County History, ii, p. 412), may possibly be the prior in question. f. 53 b.

4. 'Iam de cadenciis': a tract on prose rhythm. Beg. 'Agricolarum quis volens de seminibus'. f. 57 b.

5. Tract on Latin genders, with mnemonic verses. Beg. 'Omnia nomina terminancia in a in nominatiuo'. f. 61.

6. Notes on Latin derivative suffixes. Beg. 'Nota quod vndecim sunt forme diminutiuorum'. f. 66.

7. Mnemonic verses (about 256 lines) on Latin prosody. Probably the same as those in Digby MS.

100 (f. 25) at the Bodleian Library. Beg. 'Que producuntur hic partes inueniuntur, que non ponuntur hic omnes corripiuntur'. Many English glosses interlined. f. 66b.

8. Treatise on dictamen, a shorter version of the anonymous treatise in Cotton MS. Cleop. B. vi (f. 33) and elsewhere. It is sometimes called (e.g. in a MS. at Oxford, Ball. Coll. cclxiii), from its first words, 'Tria sunt'. Beg. 'Tria sunt circa que cuiuslibet operis uersatur artificium'. f. 73.

9. Another treatise on the same subject, with 62 model letters. Treatise beg. 'De dictamine intendentes et operam tradentes primo videamus'; first letter (f. 88 b), 'Duo erant clerici qui sub habitu clericali'. f. 87.

10. Key, mainly in English, to the Latin verses (attributed to John de Garlande or more probably to Matthieu de Vendôme or Geoffroi de Vinsauf) on equivocal words beg. 'Augustus,-ti,-to Caesar uel mensis habeto' (see Arundel MS. 52, f. 68 b, Add. MS. 37075, f. 188). Beg. 'Augustus,-ti,-to mensis autumnalis'. Incomplete, breaking off under. C. f. 107.

11. Index to three books on dictamen. Beg. 'Principium naturale, the f[irst] B[ook] I'. f. 108b.

The vellum fly-leaves contain fragments of (a) Feoffment by Richard Toungate, of Cromer, of lands in Northrepps [co. Norf.], 3 [7 ?] Hem. VI [1459 ?]. f. 111;-(b) Affidavit (?) or complaint in English by John Reed, of Cromer, n.d [circ. 1501]. f. 112.

Paper (except ff. 111, 112); ff. 112. 8¹/₂ in. x 5³/₄ in. XV cent. Gatherings (incl. blank leaves, unnumbered), i-iii¹⁶, iv^l2, v, vi¹⁶, vii, viii¹², ix⁷ Sec. fol. 'Sed variet'. Cat of 1661 (Roy. App. 86), f. 28 b; not in cat. of 1666 or CMA.