Royal MS 18 A XIII

'LIBER BOECII de consolacione philosophie de Latino in Anglicum translatus anno domini millesimo CCCCmo Xo per capellanum Iohannem', i. e. according to the rare printed edition (Tavistock Abbey, 1525, a copy in the Bodleian Library) 'by John Waltionem or Walton, canon of Oseney'. Walton was made papal chaplain 1 Apr. 1399 (Bliss and Twemlow, Cal. of Papal Registers, iv, p. 307, v, p. 213), and his name is also given by an Oxford MS., Balliol Coll. cccxvi A; but in Phillipps MS. 1099 the colophon is said U. H. Todd, Illustr. of Gower and Chaucer, 1810, p. xxxi, note) to end 'per capellanum Iohannem Tebaud alias Watyrbeche'. Warton, Hist. of Engl. Poetry, ed. Hazlitt, iii, pp. 39, 40, adds, without citing his authority, that the translation was made for Elizabeth Berkeley, who might be (as suggested in Dict. Nat. Biogr., s.n. Walton) daughter of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (see 18 A. XII), and wife of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, or perhaps rather another Elizabeth, widow of Sir James Berkeley, Thomas's brother, and mother of James next Lord Berkeley. It is perhaps only a coincidence that one Oxford MS., Trin. Coll. 21, belonged to an Eliz. Bulkeley and her husband, circ. 1536-1555. The translator. who seems to have used Chaucer's prose version and alludes in his preface both to Chaucer and Gower, puts both prosae and metra into verse and adds a preface and prologue at the beginning and another prologue before lib. iv. The first preface and prologue and libb. i-iii are in stanzas of 8 lines (rhymes ababbcbc), libb. iv, v in stanzas of 7 lines (rhyme-royal, ababbcc). Short extracts from the poem are printed by W. W. Skeat, Complete Works of G. Chaucer, 1894, ii, p. xv, and R. P. Wüllcker, Altenglisches Lesebuch, ii, p. 56 (cf. Athenaeum, 1892, ii, p. 562). Other copies are in Harley MSS. 43 (with Latin text in the margin, but wants preface, prologue, and leaves at the end with colophon), 44, Sloane MS. 554 (imperf. at beg.), and at Oxford, Balliol Coll. MS. cccxvi B, New Coll. MS. cccxix, Rawlinson MS. Poet. 151 (14643), and Cambridge, Univ. Library, MS. Gg. iv. 18. Translator's preface begins:-

'Insuffishaunce of cunnyng and of wyt, Defaut of langage and of eloquence.' Prologue begins:-

'The while þat Rome was reignyng in hir floures And of þe world held all þe monarchie.' Text begins:-

'Allas, I wrecche, þat whilon was in welthe And lusty songes vsid for to write.'

Ends:-

'Vnto þec presence of þe iuge on hye, That all thing doth beholde plenerlye.'

On the fly-leaf (f. 114) are scribbled verses:-(a) Distich, 'Disce, puer, dum tempus habes euo iuuenili, Ne doleas cum pauca scias etate cenili' (sic);-(b) Single line, 'Dum cor non horat in vano lingua laborat';-(c) Four lines beg. 'Let no man booste of cunnyng ne vertue'.

Vellum; ff. 114. 93/4 in. x 61/4 in. First half of XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves, lettered, with catchwords. Sec. fol. 'And eke'. Illuminated initials and borders (coarse) at beg. of each book; others flourished in red and blue. Inscription (15th-16th cent.) on f. 1, 'This (?) boke is his I wysse whose name John Appelbe is, and for the knowlege of the same here he doythe wryte his owne name. quod Johannes Appelbe'. On f. 113 b, '1560. Hic liber est meus , testes (sic) est deus. Sy quis queretur (sic) Stephana Brakenbury nominatur', and another inscription in a sort of numerical cipher, reading, 'Be me Henri Langeforde organ maker of London auellinge bi the Minores'. Afterwards belonged to John Theyer (monogram with number 10, f. 2). Theyer sale-cat. no. 132; CMA.6576.