Unrecorded Middle English verse texts in a Canterbury Cathedral Library manuscript.

Boffey, Julia ; Edwards, A.S.G.

Canterbury Cathedral Library, MS Add. 46 is a collection of paper leaves, now Numbered 1-9. Although they have been virtually unstudied, (1) these leaves are of some interest to the student of Middle English since they provide previously unrecorded versions of a number of Middle English verse texts. From the evidence of both their size and hands these leaves appear to have formed parts of two different manuscripts. Four bifolia (leaves 2, 3, 5, 7) and three single leaves (1, 4, 6) are evidently survivals from one manuscript and our initial comments below are confined to these. Two other leaves, probably originally a bifolium (8, 9), are codicologically distinct and will be discussed in section v below.

All the leaves in the Canterbury manuscript are in some degree fragmentary, particularly the bifolia, all of which have lost the greater part of one of their conjugates; all are now separately mounted. The separate leaves of the bifolia are approximately 115 x 130 mm.; no watermarks are visible; the texts are unruled and unbounded. The leaves are copied in probably two different current hands, of the late fifteenth century.

Any attempt at description of the original structure of the manuscript from which these leaves come is complicated by the fact that each leaf, whether singleton or bifolium, has been given a single number. Accordingly we have differentiated the leaves of each bifolium by assigning a folio number to the first leaf, and the same number followed by an asterisk to its conjugate. The order of the leaves can be partly established through the sequence of the longest text, 'Gregory's Trental'. If we assume that its beginning marks the beginning of a quire, then the sequence of the first five leaves and the conjugates of the first four of these can be established as set out below. It seems likely that the conjugate of fol. 1 (fol. [1.sup.*]) has been lost, but this is not certain. It seems likely that fols 6 and 4 are conjugate, but again, this is not certain. Hence the surviving leaves could suggest at least two possibilities in terms of quire structure: (i) an original quire of twelve leaves, of which one conjugate, fol. [1.sup.*], has been lost; (ii) an original quire of ten leaves, together with two singletons, possibly from another quire. Further hypothetical reconstructions are possible, but unrewarding given the paucity of the surviving evidence. Because the content of fols 4 and 6 seems self-contained it is not possible to place them in order in relation to the other leaves. The contents are distributed as follows (commas are used to mark off breaks between recto and verso):

fol. [2.sup.r-v]: 'Gregory's Trental', lines 1-20, 21-38

fol. [5.sup.r-v]: 'Gregory's Trental', lines 39-59, 60-74

fol. [7.sup.r-v]: 'Gregory's Trental', lines 75-97, 98-116

fol. [3.sup.r-v]: 'Gregory's Trental', lines 117-38, 139-62

fol. [1.sup.r]: 'Gregory's Trental', lines 163-74

fol. [1.sup.v]: Middle English prose recipes (only partly legible); Middle English verse (see section III below)

[fol. [1.sup.*r-v]: lost?]

fol. [3.sup.*r-v]: Middle English prayers (see section IV below)

fol. [7.sup.*r-v]: Middle English prose recipes (fragments)

fol. [5.sup.*r]: Middle English prose recipes (only partly legible)

fol. [5.sup.*v]: Notes in English and Latin

fol. [2.sup.*r]: Fragmentary Latin text

fol. [2.sup.*v]: Fragments (unidentified)

fol. [6.sup.r]: Middle English prose recipes (only partly legible)

fol. [6.sup.v]: Latin notes

fol. [4.sup.r-v]: 'Long Charter of Christ'

I

The longest text in the Canterbury manuscript is a version of 'St Gregory's Trental', a popular exemplary narrative which recounts the salvation of Pope Gregory's mother through the saying of a 'trental' of thirty masses over the ten chief religious feasts. This occupies five of the nine leaves, most of the four bifolia and one singleton; in order: 2, 5, 7, 3, 1. The text is copied throughout in single columns, unruled and unbounded. In the following transcription, as throughout, contractions have been silently expanded, with the exception of the ampersand; a single period (*) indicates an indecipherable or unrecoverable letter within a line; a spaced series of such periods within a line indicates a sequence of such letters; a series of such periods at the beginning or end of the line indicates that an undetermined number of letters or words have been lost.

 fol. [2.sup.r]]
 y fynd ywhyten a nobyl story
 [a] pope it wrott seynt gregorie
 ..ys modir & here lyre wyfe
 .at all men helden an holy lyfe
 5 So sad of maners so mylde of mode
 that alle men holden here holy & gode
 deboner & deuout mylde of steuene
 pat alle men seyde she sholde to heuene
 as holy holden as s.... as
10 he bygylyde here to ... trecherie
 and bad hyre ... of lehere[sic]
 that lust with lo ... here begylyd
 so foull that sche was with chyld
 so preuely she yt bare
 that perof was no man ware
 and for with sholde whyte here cas
 anon as the chylde bore was
 by th ... eke pe chylde she weryd
 and anon after she beryed
20 sh. was cobryth in a carfull .ase

 fol. [2.sup.v]]
 and ther of was no3t she don alas
 so she wolld holy holden be
 she tolde no man here prevete
 all folke were glad of here gode fa ... e
25 so holy sho was holden of good na ... re
 and sone here fylle pe same case
 ry3t as beforn betyde here was
 for she was comen of hey3 parage
 of ryche ken & gentell lynage
30 here sone was seynt gregorye pe pope
 men helden here holy in all ... hope
 therfore she kepe here shryfte to shewe
 leste here shryfte here cause sholde be knowe
 shame makyth mon to hede here shryfte
35 and lose the grase of gog aal
 and sethyn to leue full senfuly
 And so.ly deye and sundenly
 these woman mysdedes were no3t

 fol. [5.sup.r]]
 and sodely sone ...
40 Whan she was ...
 When hopede she were ...
 Men holden here holy ...
 pat of here ded they had ...
 but whe ... w..y a row ...
45 riche were ssent to heuen ay
 ther after in a lytell tyme
 sone on a day after the pry..
 hire sone the pope a .aste
 and of hys moder he ...
50 a. sondenly yn myday
 .row3g to warde hym a ...
 that blakyth alle the da ...
 .nd wax as darke as ...
 .nd in that derkenesse
55 .stoned he was ...
 per of full gryssydy he ...
 pat al swonenygge he w ...
 .e syde he lokyd ...
 in myddys of pe derk

 fol. [5.sup.v]]
60 ... fore sprekel
 ... dred & dy33
 ... of hys blode
 ... eyde on the rode
 ... the soth sone
65 ... ys plase to done
 ... how corsyd w..ch
 ... to drecche
 ... drey chere
 ... the bere
 ... is
 ... fre
 ... pe alasse
 ... s a wonder casse
 ... be

 fol. [7.sup.r]]
75 Men wende wytily iwys
 pu were worthy to haue heuen blyss
 and full wel wyth god pu ...
 to pray for vs pat leuen ... e
 Sey me now wyth ... fyne
80 Wy art thow put to swiche peyne
 ... yde my sone sothfastly
 .cha ... he telle pe cas wy
 Sop y was no3t swich as y semyde
 bu. wikked & wers pan me demod
85 I semede wykkydly per in my lyfe
 of the wiche for shame y ... sty me schryue
 sche tolde hem trewly all hyr casse
 fro ende to oper ryth as yt was
 sey me now modyr for marye flour
90 3yf owth may be py socoure
 shedep penaunce or fastynge may the leghe
 bedys or massys py peyne abregge
 wyth craft wyth cosst or other pynge
 to do may helpe of any lessynge
95 my dere blyssyd sone seyde sche
 ... & well holp in my3ty be
 ...

 fol. [7.sup.v]]
 ... to vndyr take a trew trentell
 of ten cheff festes of the yere
100 to synge for me on thys maner
 pre messes of crystes natiuite
 & of epiphanye oper pre
 pre of purificacion
 & pre of pe anunciacion
105 pre of pe resurreccion
 ... e of the assencion
 ... pentecosst pre
 a.... e of pe trynyte
 ... arie is natiuite
110 ... assumpcion oper pre
 ... nesee of pe fessten ten
 pat s ... ourez synfull men
 ... de man syngyzt pesse mess
 ...
115 ... vayle
 ... ow.. of payne

 fol. [3.sup.r]]
 but let sey pese messes be yowre hesstes
 wyth inne pe utas of pese festes
 and pese messes pat do
120 lat sey pey wyth pe orisonys two
 Trewly withoute wer
 euery day porwowt pe 3ere
 do hyme to say eny day
 or hem pat doth pese messes to say
125 wo so wyle knowe pe orysons clene
 yt ys on englys pus moche to mene
 God oure verry redempcion
 oure soth fasst soule sauacion
 pat cheff all oder lordynges be forne
130 pe lond of behesst in to be born
 & py deth to suffre yn that same
 delyuered pese soule fro gylte & blame
 take it out of pe fendys bonde
 & pe lond fro hepene ho..
135 and pe poll pat leuyt no3t yn pe
 ... ys ve ... e amendyth may be
 .... mersy
 .... sothfasstly

 fol. [3.sup.v]]
 ....
140 ffor I am man most holde perto
 pu were my moder I was py sone
 do synge pe mass y chall nozt shone
 god graunt me moder pey stande pe in stede
 agayne all pe seynys pat euer pow pede
145 I charge the heylyche moder dere
 pys tyme twelmonpe to me a pere
 holy peyne asstede to me pu telle
 how pu faryst of the paynys of hell
 my sone sche seyde y wyll in fay
150 and wyth pat worde sche wente here way
 ... out day pe 3ere gan passe
 .este.. to say hys masse
 ... yd
 to.he ... ys moder payne
155 .. pe oryson all ga ...
 as hys ... hyme to do
 pat tyme ... he stode
 holy yn prayer ... gode
 and that some tyme a ...
160 he saw a swete semly sy3t
 a comely lady so dress ...
 pat all pe worlde of here sh ...

 fol. [1.sup.r]]
 twey angelys led her betwene
 he was so rafychyst of ...
165 all most for ioye he swoyng ...
 he fyll dow be fore he fete
 he gret here wyth mylde steuene
 & say lady quene of heuen
 moder mary of ihesu mylde
170 for my moder mersy I cry
 do away sche seyde y am nozt sche
 that pu wenyst pat y be
 but swych as we pu sest me here
 y am pi modir pat ye se

IMEV differentiates several versions of 'St Gregory's Trental' in a total of ten manuscripts, under numbers 83, 1653, and 3184. (2) The grounds for distinguishing these entries are not clear. All versions are in couplets, but vary in length from 240 to 350 lines. The earliest discussion of this text, by Albert Kaufman, sought to establish two versions (A and B), but the subsequent work of R. K. Root led him to suggest that 'Kaufmann's conclusions must be revised'. He added this caveat:

 but until more MSS. of the Trentalle are available, the revision
 cannot be profitably undertaken. Such a revision might serve to show
 something of the conditions under which semi-popular religious
 pieces of this character circulated. (3)

The evidence of the version in the Canterbury manuscript--although its fragmentary nature makes any generalizations necessarily tentative--tends to confirm such a view of the difficulties of categorization. Its variations do not suggest any clear textual affiliation with those versions that have been published. At some points either lines have been omitted or the rhyme scheme has simply broken down (see lines 9-10, 34-5,60-1). The text seems to belong to a corrupt textual tradition, in which banality of expression and metrical uncertainty are the most distinctive features.

II

Fol. [4.sup.r-v] of the Canterbury manuscript contains a version of the B text of the 'Long Charter of Christ'. The poem begins on what is now the verso:

 fol. [4.sup.v]]
 who wyll euer rede & ...
 .oulke to odyr scole ther ... he wyn
 .oule fro defynde pan for to do as thys bo ...
 f.r w.th for sope yt spellyth where fore y ...
5 yow for charyte 3e pat pys boke wyll rede & ...
 with zoure herte & all yowre mene ...
 worthly that ye here yn fynde shulde j now yn ...
 thys rede for now 3e shulde her our right yow ...
 ssauyor speke to yow as thas wordes of charyte ...
10 ye hath wrouzt pat 3e mow knowe yn ...
 pought & he pys boke can vndyrsstond ...
 yt forth prowth all thys londe on tyl ...
 pat thys boke haue not so euer to sau ...
 soulys ry3th as youre owne for ellys pe ...
15 shuld with owte gret stryfe from thys wor ...
 pass ynto pe lou of lyue amen

 fol. [4.sup.r]]
 ... e to rede per on hys pees he
 ... ener chon j Ihesu lorde of heuen & ... lle
 man & woman I wolle yow tell
20 loke what loue I do to the
 & kel loke what loue pu hest do to me
 for paradyse pu were on spylt
 with care & sorow thow were on spylt
 fforth pu were drawe ...
25 .s a best pat g.tys straye
 for my ry3th y cam a down
 to seke fro towne to towne
 to helpe the yn py myscheue
 pi worth soule pu art my loue
30 my herytage that ys so fre
 yn thy myscheue to yeue yt de
 & ... han thys sesyng y yere schold y dede as the
 ... wys wyll tyll a mayde betoke me
 whan pat ... conceuyed shuld be well per worthely sche
35 kept me tyll the tyme fulfellyth schulde be
 the mayde was trew mylde & fre
 che me resseyuyd for loue of the
 nyne montes with he y was to take
 mendys for thy trespas or y yn to thys ... wordel was borne Amen

Much the same comments as were made about the text of 'St Gregory's Trental' apply to this version of the 'Long Charter of Christ'. It is copied as prose, with no indication that the copyist perceived it to be verse. Although numerous manuscripts of the different versions of the 'Charter' survive, (4) it is clear that the affiliations of most are largely unrecoverable because of the complexity of the text's processes of transmission in both oral and written forms. (5) It is curious that on both recto and verso the text ends with 'Amen'. If this signifies a form of closure then it would suggest that this is an oddly segmented version, possibly both prosaicized and fragmented into separate prayers or meditations. If so, it is a further testimony to the ubiquity and adaptability of the various works grouped under this title.

III

On fol. [1.sup.v] appear (after some fragmentary Middle English prose recipes), twelve lines of verse set out as below:

 ... dere heft and haue gode day
 ... that hathe myn hart yn cuyre
 ... as fresshe as Rose yn May
 ... the comlysst creatuyre
 5 ... all myn hart and be yn pese
 ... g that I loue yow souernly
 ... n gode fayth yt ys no let
 wold ye wold as wel as y
 ... sone my selfe to loue
10 ... che grace that god wold se ...
 ...yng may not co ... e a ...
 ... to god...

These lines pose problems of some textual complexity. Lines 5-8 appear elsewhere as the opening lines of a courtly love lyric (IMEV 1120), in National Library of Wales, MS Porkington 10, fol. [154.sup.v]:

 Have all my hert and be in peys
 And pink I lowfe yow ferwently
 For in good fayth, hit is no lese,
 I wold 3e wyst as well as I (6)

They appear again as part of another love poem in Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson C.813, fols [57.sup.v]-58:

 Haue here my harte & be yn pease,
 & thynke that I loue yow verelye,
 for in good fethe ytt ys noo leesse;
 Cryst leve ye knew as well as I (lines 9-12) (7)

These lines also occur elsewhere as part of a religious lyric (IMEV 3805), in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS B.11.24 (263), fols [31.sup.v]-32:

 Therfor, haue alle myne herte & beon yn pees,
 & pynke I loue you soueranly--
 ffor pat I say hit is no lese--
 Wolde god ye wyste as wele as I (lines 9-12) (8)

Clearly they were a 'floating' passage, quite possibly transmitted memorially and adaptable to a variety of contexts, both secular and sacred. Their appearance in the Canterbury manuscript provides further testimony to the accumulation there of such erratically transmitted versions.

IV

The texts on fol. [3.sup.*r-v] are particularly difficult to assess because of their fragmentary nature. It is not certain whether they are verse or prose or whether they constitute part, or the whole, of a single work or parts of more than one work. The lines are copied continuously without formal division into verse; our transcription reflects the lineation of the manuscript:

 fol. [3.sup.*r]]
 ... sette the fader the sone & the ...
 .thenis for lette tyll i byde hem ...
 3yf here eny thenis com my god y ...
 for to sette the holy gost hem before
 5 to lette today wiUe I goo my way t.
 what be tide and 3yf here on t ...
 come here they shall & hyde
 thurgh the vertu of marke luke ...
 Iohn the ...
10 thenys the ..
 Trynyte ...
 An ...
 ...

 fol. [3.sup.*v]]
 .s .Christ & ys postelys xii
15 ... hem to stonde styli.... y byde hem goo
 ... a chylde was borne
 ... bedlem that mayd water in to wyn
 ... e pe feste of archedeclyn and baptyst
 ... flom iurdan the water was woode
20 ... e chylde was meke and stode ye
 ... wate with stode also stonde ye
 ... nys and en.. yes wykkyd my body
 ... rgh vertu.
 ... nt Iohannem
25 ... w + Gabryell
 ... do bell

It may be that these are two separate works, neither of which is certainly verse. That on the recto seems to be some sort of prayer. Some possible rhymes are suggested in lines 4 and 5 ('sette ... lette') and lines 6 and 7 ('tide ... byde'), but the text is too fragmentary to press this argument further.

The text on the verso is more intriguing. It seems to be connected with the Nativity and, while there are few clear indications of rhyme in what survives, apart from lines 17-18 ('wyn ... archedeclyn'), it may be divided into quatrains since line 20, '... e chylde was meke and stode yn' hints at some kind of parallelism with line 16, '... a chylde was borne'.

There are also some parallels of phrasing that suggest this might be a fragmentary text of a carol. One could perhaps compare the following lines from an Epiphany carol:

 On Twelfthe Daye by grace dyvyne
 Atte the lest of architryclyn
 Crist turned water into wyne,
 The Sonne of God and King of Blis. (9)

with

 ... a chylde was borne
 ... bedlem that mayd water in to wyn
 ... e [p.sup.e] feste of archedeclyn and baptyst
 ... flom iurdan the water was woode (lines 16-19)

Possibly lines 14-15 are a burden and the final lines (25-6) remnants of a further stanza.

Alternatively this passage could be a charm. The reference to 'flom iurdan' (line 19) suggests this since such a charm 'appears again and again in various forms in Middle English manuscripts'; (10) but the phrase does also appear in some Epiphany carols, including the one quoted above. (11) It seems, on balance, most likely that lines 14-26 are a fragmentary carol text, probably an Epiphany carol.

V

Fols [8.sup.r-v], [9.sup.r] are in a different hand and on a different size of page (265-70 x 170-80 mm.) from the other leaves in the Canterbury manuscript. One leaf, fol. 9, contains a watermark, main + fleuron. The condition of the leaves suggests that they have been used as pastedowns or wrappers.

The sole content of this section of the manuscript is a copy of IMEV 2523, a poem on the Seven Deadly Sins.

 fol. 8]
 O mortall man..syd with po ...
 Of veyne glory makyng .hynne edylies
 haue in thy mynde and sett yt a syde
 ..we lucyfer was an aungell of pryde
 5 And f.... nne fell owte a parady..
 down in to hell begyng ther in hete
 remembre man thou..t b..wormys mete
 O mortall man fretyng ... wroth and yre
 Attend a wey from iusty.e and resone
10 lyke a tyrant settyng thyne heet afyre
 sekyng the way of thy confusyon
 medys muste thow haue shamefull..clusyon
 And afterward infnyte paynes grete
 remembre mane thow art but wo ... mete
15 O mortall mane enflamyd with envy
 Lyke a sarpent in cayme es resemblanse
 Whit a waylyng yt to yow suche foly
 ... by thys thow tast moiste penance
 to gos yt ys grete dysplesans
 ...
 ...

 fol. [8.sup.v]]
 ... ahusyd
 ... ng aft.... ys wordly prosperyte
 ... how... thy lyfe thow hast perusyd
25 .. tty for to ... haue dygnyte
 .ryng..t god that ys infely..te
 .y ... fiche yet more good woldys y gett
 .re mn thow art b.... ere
 ... tall man slogarde & full of ... he
30 ... then a nasse vertu exersysse.
 ... thy sole nor consyderest .othyng
 frome godod de..s wyles..t lyuyng
 ... dethe wyll not with ye trete
 ... man thow art but wormys mete
35 ...
 ... ll man mo.din
 ... ete excesse opressyng thy nature
 ... prvdens voyde of dyscrecyon
 ... aly dethr thow dost procure
40 ... d deed be longyng to thy .re
 A parde by syche bestly dyett

 fol. [9.sup.r]]
 O mortall man fowled with leche..
 Cetes hathe foul ... cys by
45 body and sowle hathe loste for th ...
 wyche ys to the wprse then a.. es ...
 And grace ys exylid be exp ... yens trewthe
 to theme that the wyll note sounter ple.e
 ... bre man thow art but weemys mete

Two other copies of this poem are recorded in IMEV: British Library, MS Add. 29729, fols [7.sup.r]-[8.sup.r], copied by John Stow in 1558, comprising eight rhyme-royal stanzas, and British Library, MS Add. 21410 (a single stanza). (12) A further copy was subsequently identified in the Norwich Archdeaconry Visitation Book, 1533-51 (Norfolk Record Office, Norwich, MS ANW 1/1). (13)

In comparison with the version in British Library, MS Add. 29729 the version in C omits the final stanza and reverses the order of stanzas 5 and 6; the order of lines is thus 1-28, 36-42, 29-35,43-9. There are numerous other variants, but, as with other texts in this manuscript, there would be little value in recording them, since the construction of a critical text seems difficult, if not impossible. All the surviving copies date from the sixteenth century and seem to attest to a complex process of transmission, possibly in part oral. The Canterbury copy does provide further evidence of the popularity of this poem.

VI

A few generalizations seem possible about the texts in the Canterbury manuscript. Throughout, there are indications of processes of transmission, most likely oral, that make it difficult and probably pointless to attempt to place them in any textual relationship to other surviving versions of the same texts. Furthermore, there do not seem to be any significant affiliations in terms of content. Versions of 'Gregory's Trental' and the 'Charter of Christ' appear in both British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A.ii and the Vernon manuscript (Bodleian Library, MS Eng. poet. A.1); the 'Trental' and a version of IMEV 1120 ('Have all my hert and he in peys') both occur in National Library of Wales, MS Porkington 10. But these are not significant collocations in such substantial compilations. Most of the manuscript preserved in the Canterbury leaves seems to reflect a low-grade compilation of texts primarily of interest because of their content rather than their form (the lack of clear distinction between verse and prose in some parts testifies to this). It is, then, evidence of a modest kind of literate vernacular piety.

The origins of the manuscript, or at least the major portions of it, remain obscure. It is too late for dialectal analysis, which would, in any case, not provide a secure means of localizing the manuscript's site of production. But there are a few hints that point towards a Kent origin. A text called 'Carta Dei', a shortened version of the 'Charter of Christ' like that in the Canterbury manuscript, is from Kent. (14) And the carol which seems to have some parallels with the (possible) one in the Canterbury manuscript is by James Ryman, whose writings seem to have been known in Kent in the early sixteenth century; there is a reference to him in a lyric in a Kent manuscript of that date. (15) Perhaps these fragments are from a manuscript that did not move very far to reach its present location.

NOTES

This paper has grown out of research undertaken for a new Index of Middle English Verse; we gratefully acknowledge the support of the British Academy (Dr Boffey) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Professor Edwards). For comments on an earlier draft of this paper we are indebted to Professors Ralph Hanna and Nigel Palmer. We are much indebted to Miss Cressida Annesley, Senior Research Archivist, Canterbury Cathedral Archives, for assistance in the course of preparing this article.

(1) The only previous notice of which we are aware occurs in John Frankis, 'Some late Middle English lyrics in the Bodleian Library', Anglia, 79 (1956), 299-304. He draws attention to an unrecorded copy of 1MEV 1120 'in some recently discovered manuscript fragments (probably fragments of a commonplace-book) in the Chapter Library of Canterbury Cathedral' (p. 303). This reference was incorporated into R. H. Robbins and J. L. Cutler, Supplement to the Index of Middle English Verse (Lexington, Ky, 1965), p. 126, without a shelfmark or any more details. Throughout IMEV refers to Carleton Brown and R. H. Robbins, The Index of Middle English Verse (New York, 1943) and to the Supplement noted above.

(2) IMEV 83 is recorded in two manuscripts: (1) British Library, MS Cotton Caligula A.ii, fols [86.sup.v]-88; (2) National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 394, pp. 33-9. (1) has been published in The Minor Poems of the Vernon MS., ed. C. Horstmann, EETS 98 (London, 1892), pp. 260-8; it comprises 240 lines. IMEIV 1653 is recorded in four manuscripts: (1) Bodleian Library, MS Eng. poet. A.1 (SC 3938), fols [231.sup.r-v] and [303.sup.v]-304; (2) Oxford, Balliol College, MS 354, fols 139-[140.sup.v]; (3) Lambeth, MS 306, fols 110-[113.sup.v]; (4) Princeton University Library, MS Garrett 143, fols [38.sup.v]-[44.sup.v]. (1) has been edited by Horstmann, Minor Poems, pp. 275-7; (3) by A. Kaufmann, Trentalle Sancti Gregorii, eine mittelenglische Legenden in zwei Texten, Erlanger Beitrage 3 (Erlangen, 1889), and (4) by R. K. Root, 'Poems from the Garrett MS', Englische Studien, 41 (1910), 360-77 (pp. 365-71). IMEV 3184 appears in four manuscripts: (1) Cambridge University Library, MS Kk.1.6, fols [242.sup.v]-[245.sup.v]; (2) British Library, MS Harley 3810, fols [76.sup.v]-[84.sup.v]; (3) National Library of Wales, MS Porkington 20, fols [94.sup.v]-[106.sup.v]; (4) National Library of Scotland, MS Adv. 19.3.1, fols 213-16. (2) has been edited by R. Jordan, 'Das Trentalle Gregorii in der Handschrift, Harley 3810', Englische Studien, 40 (1909), 354-64, and (4) by K. D. Bulbring, 'Das Trentane Sancti Gregorii', Anglia, 13 (1891), 303-8. (2) comprises 350 lines; (4) comprises 188 lines. There are also some later printed versions recorded under IMEV 3183.5.

(3) Root, 'Poems from the Garrett MS.', p. 363.

(4) There are eight manuscripts each of the A (234 lines in couplets), and B versions (414 lines in couplets) (IMEV 1718, 4154 respectively) and one of the C version (IMEV 1174; 618 lines in couplets); in addition, another version, of 42 lines, appears as IMEV 1828; most of these texts have been edited in M. C. Spalding, The Middle English Charters of Christ, Bryn Mawr College Monographs, Monograph Series XV (Philadelphia, Pa, 1914). No. 7 under IMEV 4154 (olim Phillipps 8820) is now Tokyo, MS Takamiya 4, fols [88.sup.v]-[92.sup.v].

(5) Very approximately; the verso corresponds to pp. 47-8 of the versions in Spalding and the recto to pp. 48-50.

(6) A. Kurvinen, 'MS Porkington 10: description with extracts', Neupbilologische Mitteilungen, 54 (1953), 33-67 (p. 57).

(7) F. M. Padelford, 'Liedersammlungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts, besonders aus der Zeit Heinrichs VIII', Anglia, 31 (1908), 309-97 (p. 376).

(8) Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century, ed. Carleton Brown (Oxford, 1939), pp. 175f.

(9) The Early English Carols, ed. R. L. Greene, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1977), no. 130, stanza [3].

(10) Douglas Gray, 'Notes on some Middle English charms', in Chaucer and Middle English Studies in Honour of Rossell Hope Robbins, ed. Beryl Rowland (London, 1974), p. 62. A verse 'flum Jordan' charm is at IMEV 624, in a number of witnesses and irregularly rhymed. For further discussion see T. M. Smallwood, '"God was born in Bethlehem": the tradition of a Middle English charm', MAE, 38 (1989), 206-23.

(11) See The Early English Carols, no. 130, stanza [4]: 'On Twelfthe Daye in Jordan floode /... Crist was baptized that Lorde so goode'; no. 131, stanza [4]: 'Now, Jhesu, as thou art bothe Gode and man, / And were baptized in flora Jordayn'.

(12) Both transcribed by A. S. G. Edwards, 'A fifteenth-century didactic poem in B.M. Add. 29729', Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 70 (1969), 702-6.

(13) Transcribed by David Galloway, '"The Seven Deadly Sins": some verses from an archdeacon's Visitation Book (1533-51)', REED Newsletter (1979:1, 9-13. It is recorded in W. Ringler, Bibliography and Index of English Verse in Manuscript, 1501-1558 (London, 1992), no. TM 1208; the copy in British Library, MS Add. 29729 is given a separate number (TM 1212); the copy in British Library, MS Add. 21410 is not noted there. Clearly the two Ringlet entries should be conflated.

(14) Inc. 'knowyn alle men that are & shulh ben' in Bodleian Library, MS Kent Charter 233; see Spalding, Middle English Charters of Christ, pp. xiv, 97-8.

(15) See John Scattergood, 'Two unrecorded poems from Trinity College, Dublin MS 49', Review of English Studies, NS 38 (1987), 46-9,

JULIA BOFFEY

A.S.G. EDWARDS

Queen Mary, University of London

University of Victoria, British Columbia