Royal MS 17 A XXXII

TRACTS on astrological and medical subjects, in English, viz.:-

1. 'Here begynnyth the Boke of Astronomy and of Philosophie constructe and compilat of the wiseste philosophers and astronomyers that euer were sethe the worlde was bygonne, that is for to sey that in the londe of Grece was an Englyshman full wise and well yvnderstonde of Philosophie and astronomye, the whiche made and compiled this boke out of Grewe [Greek] into Englisshe graciously': the same treatise of which an abridgement is noticed above, 17 A. III, art. 13. Beg. 'And furste this boke tellith how many hevynesse ther ben'; ends 'cleped prime in the chirche'. f. 8.

2. 'Here men may see þe vertus of dyuerse herbes, whiche ben hoot and whiche ben coold, and to how many þinges they arne goode.' Other copies are in Sloane MSS. 393, f. 13, 1592, f. 39 b, 3466, f. 78, Add. MS. 12056, f. 3, Lansdowne MS. 680, f. 2, and 17 B. XLVIII, f. 2, where, however, the arrangement is somewhat different. Beg. 'Quynte foyle, Pat is fyue leef Galyen sei_ it is colde'; ends 'hit schall helpe hym wel'. A later hand has indexed the herbs at ff. 122- 125. f. 21.

3. 'Heere in þis boke ben medecynes for many yuelis þat men han, the whiche good leches han drawen oute of þe bookes of Galyen and Ypocras and Socrates and Ascopus, the whiche weren þe best leches in her tyme þat weren in alle þis worlde, and þerfore who so wole doon all þis boke hym techiþ, hee maye be siker to haue his hele purgh þe my3ht of God. The firste is for þe heed ache' : the same collection as in 17 A. VIII, art. 1, but in a Southern dialect and with many variations in contents and order. A very similar text is in Sloane MS. 393, f. 22 b, and both MSS. interpolate (see f. 112 b) a Latin letter on prophylactics against the plague (cf. an imperf copy, 9 A. XIV, f. 276), beg. 'Dilectissime frater, vt intellexi, multum times '. For a copy of the collection with a verse prologue see Lansdowne MS. 680, f. 22 b, and for abridgements 12 G. IV, art. 14, and Sloane MS. 3466, f. 97. Beg. 'Take verueyne and betayne and wormod and ruwe'; ends 'to þe tyme þat þou be eesed. Explicit. Qui scripsit carmen sit benedictus. amen'. f. 43.

On the fly-leaves (ff. 1-7, 117-132) are, besides schoolboy scribbling of Latin words and sentences with English translations, many recipes, charms, &c., in 15th cent. hands, including:-(a) A laxative 'per mag. Iohannem Malueren'. f. 2;-(b) 'Medicina racta apud Banburi ex libro Iohannis Rede, for the dropsey and for swellyng', in Engl. f. 2 b ;-(c) 'A reule of the [sphere of Pythagoras] which Apollyn drow ', for prognostication from names, &c. (cf. 12 E. XXV, art. 24 a). Beg. 'Yf thou wilt wete of a seke man'. f. 3 (table on f. 6 b);-(d) Notes on the temperaments, with verses (Schol. Salern., Renzi, v, 11. 1696-1697, &c.), and on the ages of man. f. 7;-(e) Recipes 'per mag. Willelmum Sauage', and 'per fratrem Iohannem '. ff. 117 b, 118 ;-(f) Veterinary charms, 'tawhte by Hugh Bromfeld, ferrour'. f. 120;-(g) 'To make Estriche borde' (of oak timber). f. 120 b ;-(h) For treatment of apple-trees and cabbages. f. 120 b;-(i) Scribbled moral and religious verses, beg. 'He that may thriue and will not', and ' In treble and in thraule vnto the Lord I call'. f. 122 ;-(k) Charm 'for the bottez' [worms]. f. 127 b;-(l) 'Medecynes [and charms] for hors'. f. 128;-(m) Other charms, in the name of S. Nicasius, &c. f. 131 b;-(n) Note referring to 'Seynt Enswith the virgine in Fulston' [S. Eanswith, Folkestone, co. Kent]. f. 132;-(o) Verses for meteorological prediction, beg. 'Pallida luna pluit, rubicunda flat, alba serenat'. f. 132.

In a hand of the middle of the 16th cent. is 'A godly exhortacion for a father to his childrene', the first twenty-four (or 48) lines of the poem attributed by Foxe (Acts and Monuments, ed. 1847, vii. 359) to Robert Smith, the martyr (a clerk of Windsor, burnt at Uxbridge 1555); cf. Cotton MS. Vesp. A. XXV, f. 145 b, Sloane MS. 1896, f. 13. Beg. 'Geue yeare, my chyldren, to my wordes, whom god hath derelye bowght'; ends 'when he is dead and gon'. f. 125 b.

Vellum; ff. 132. 7¹/₄ in. x 4³/₄ in. XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves (i⁶, ii⁸, iii¹¹). Sec.fol. (f. 9) 'hym and thise'. Names occur in 15-16th centt. hands of Thomas Wynter, ff. 45 b, 76 b, 116b, &c.; John Hauckes and Jane Hauckes, f. 1; 'This is John Rice is boke, the which cost him xxv d.', f. 2 (cf. f. 76 b). Belonged in 156⁰/₁ (ff. 5, 89, 119) to Henry Dyneley al. Dyngley (possibly sheriff of co. Worcester 1553 and 1568) ; afterwards to John Theyer (monogram, f. 1). Theyer sale-cat. no. 240; CMA. 6396