Royal MS 17 D XVIII

THOMAS HOCCLEVE, The Regement of Princes (cf. 17 C. XIV, 17 D. VI, art. 1). Without title or portraits. Side-notes in Latin as usual. The treatise proper is divided by headings (De iusticia, De pietate, &c.), which do not appear in 17 D. VI and not always in Harley MS. 4866. There are also some differences of reading, e.g. l. 2460 of Fumivall's ed. (f. 45 b) precedes ll. 2458-9, and ll. 2463-4 are:-

'Bannysshid is, retourne whan she may, And Wrong hir force puttith in assay.'

After the envoy (ll. 5440-5463, three eight-line stanzas, headed here 'Verba compilatoris ad librum', f. 99 b) and colophon 'Finis', follow (f. 100) the three nine-line stanzas addressed to Prince John (afterwards Duke of Bedford and Regent of France) which Furnivall printed from a Phillipps MS. in Hoccleve's Minor Poems, E. E. Text Soc., 1892, i, p. 56. Colophon, 'Cest tout'. Beg.:-

'Musynge vp on the restelees bysynesse Which that this troubly world hath ay in hande.' The verses to Prince John beg.:-

'Vn to the rial egles excellence I, humble clerk, with hertes lowlynesse.'

On the fly-leaf (f. 1 b) are written in a hand of the middle of the 15th cent. two seven-line stanzas beg. 'Mastres, your maners are hard to know', each stanza ending with the proverb 'Slyppur is to grype on whome is no holde'. On f. 99 b the couplet 'He that in yought to no vertewe himselfe applieth In age to amende him badd costome deniethe'.

Vellum; ff. 101. 11 in. x 7 in. Middle of XV cent. Gatherings (beg. f. 2) of 8 leaves (last ⁴), with catchwords. Sec. fol. 'Alias thoght'. Initials flourished in red and blue. On f. 1 b are names (15th cent.) of Nicholas Wikes, John, William, Edward, Thomas, Francis, and Morice Wikes, Izabell Powyns and Marget, Katheryn, Izabell, Mary, Jane, and An Powyns; and on f. 3 dates of birth of Wyllyam, Alys, and Elyzabethe Unwyn, 1548-1551. Not in the old catalogues.