Royal MS 18 D I

TRANSLATION of, and commentary on, Ps. i-lxxix- (lxxx). 13, with prologue entitled 'Here bigynneþ þe prologe vppon þe sauter. þat Richard heremyte of Hampole translatid in to Englyshe. aftir þe sentence of doctours and resun'. For the question of the authorship of the commentary see the preceding MS., which is probably another part of the same compilation. Another (late) copy of the first few Psalms is in 18 B. XXI (see above). In a Southern dialect. To judge from a single specimen printed by Bramley, op. cit. p. xviii, the readings resemble those of another incomplete MS. at Oxford, Tanner 16. Prologue beg, '[G]reet habundaunce of goostly comfoort and ioye in god comyþ'; text, 'Beatus vir . . . In þis psalme he spekiþ of Crist and his foleweris . . . . . and seiþ Blessid is þat man þe whiche zede not in þe counsel of wikkede ... He is blisful to whom alle þyngis comeþ þat he coueitiþ'. Breaks off 'his vyne[]erd, þat is his puple, and [he fulfild]'.

In f. 1 is a note by [J]ohn R[ussell] as in 18 C. XXVI, in which he numbers this MS. E. 1512, and says that the prologue and comment 'agree exactly' with a Bodleian MS. then numbered B. 96.

Vellum (exc. f. 1); ff. 137. 16 in. x 11 in. First half of XV cent. Gatherings of 8 leaves, numbered, with catchwords. Written in three hands, changes at ff. 76 b, 86. Double columns of 52, lines. Sec. fol. '-tiþ to hym deþ'. Space left for illuminated initials to prologue and Ps. i, xxvi, li, lii, lxviii; others flourished in red and blue. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 1285'; not in cat. of 1666 or CMA.