5 AUGUSTINUS, BARNARDUS, HIERONYMUS. Liber Epistolarum. (S. Augustini Epistolæ aliquot; S. Bernardi et S. Hieronymi Epistolæ nonnullæ; S. Bernardi ad Fratres de Monte Dei de Vita solitaria). 4to. or small folio, MS. ON VELLUM, 68 leaves, with rubricated initials; in its curious original binding (rebacked) of wooden boards covered with red leather which is stamped all over with little squares, roundels, oblongs and triangles, enclosing figures, and the words "Iste liber est Sancte Iustine de Padva "

(Padua) Rolandus Monachus, 1410 40 0 0 A very curious example of Italian stamped binding at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The stamped patterns are multiplied innumerably on both sides; the figures they enclose are an eagle and an Agnus Dei of different sizes, and a great quantity and variety of architectonic ornaments.

There are two inscriptions by the scribe, who was a monk in the Benedictine house of St. Justina at Padua. The fuller one is on leaf 22. His handwriting is of French cursive character through the first half of the MS., but approximates to Italian cursive in the rest of the book.

On the tenth and eleventh leaves is the short treatise De divina Sapientia, beginning "Theodorus Episcopus Toletanus," which gives an account of Origen as a fallen star, and describes one of his heresies as being "Ex nihilo nihil fit vel fieri potest et sic mundus ab eterno fuisse."

A triumph of Hebrew calligraphy by an Italian hand.

A note on the fly-leaf shews that the book belonged, in the early part of the sixteenth century, to Nehemia of Modena.

6 HEBREW BIBLE, with the two Masoras, small 4to. MS. BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN UPON THE MOST DELICATE VELLUM, in double columns, 30 lines to the column, the Masoras written at top and bottom, the Keri and Ketib indications between and outside the columns; in the original stamped red leather Italy, about 1480 36 0 0

The Megilloth are written at the end of the volume; not, as in most cases, immediately after the Pentateuch.

7 APOCALYPSE WITH GLOSSES. Page 1, beginning of text: A POCA | LIPSIS IHU XPI qua | dedit illi ds palam facere | seruis suis. . Beginning of Gloss: In pmis pon qsi prologù ad comdationě opis in q attentu auditorē 7 beniuolu redd

The text occupies the middle of the page, in bold characters in black ink; the Glosses, which are very beautifully written in a minute round Caroline hand, are in a browner ink and occupy the margins on the right and left as well as the spaces between the lines of text. These are sixteen to every page. The last six leaves of the work were deficient in the fifteenth century, and were then supplied in a beautiful Italian hand nearly resembling the original calligraphy. Two final leaves are added by the Italian scribe giving a chronological exposition of the seals in the Apocalypse.

4to. MS. ON VELLUM, in which the first initial A is an elaborate work of white interlacement on a red ground; 48 leaves; in a very early binding of boards covered with a whitish leather About A.D. 1000-1025 32 0 0

There are in various places notes on the text and corrections in a hand of the thirteenth century. One of these on fol. 47 runs thus :-" Abhinc emendatus est liber sn biblioteca de Beuéstan." The last word is evidently Beverstane, but where Beverstane is or was, we do not know, but it may have been a branch house of some great monastic institution. However the annotator intended this inscription to be read in Latin, it is obvious what his meaning was. He wanted to convey that he had compared

7*BIBLE._LIBER EZECHIEL, cum Glossa Origenis, folio, MS. ON VELLUM by an English hand, carefully written and corrected, 129 leaves, usually in treble columns, the text in a fine bold character occupying the middle column, the gloss in smaller letters on each side; in the original boards covered with a whitish skin About A.D. 1190-1200 12 00

the text of this MS. with that of the Beverstane Bible, and marked the variant
readings.

On the first page is the signature of I. Thomkyns who was the owner of the MS.
about 1550. It belonged about 1670 to a certain B. R. who has written five lines of
verse on the bottom margin of the same page.

This is probably the second volume of a magnificent Latin Bible written in Paris or (Rouen) in the time of Richard Coeur-de-Lion. The calligraphy is at once bold and beautiful, and, with the decorative initials, might easily be taken for the work of a Winchester artist.

9 BIBLIA LATINA VULGATA. Small folio, FINE MS. ON VELLUM in minute characters, with large ornamental initials, 274 leaves, written in double columns, 57 lines to the column; bound in old rough calf

8 BIBLE. JOSUE, JUDICES, RUTH, CUM GLOSSIS ADAMANTII. Folio, FINE MS. ON VELLUM, 97 leaves; the text in large letters, with twenty-two lines to the and forming a central column; the gloss in smaller characters in a first and third column, forty-three lines to the column; with three handsome illuminated initials; hf. bd. from the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps About 1190-1200 24 0 0

page,

There are some MS. Notes, one of which shews that Henry Vernon was the owner about the beginning of the sixteenth century.

:

Written probably in England about A.D. 1250 52 10 0 A triumph of minute calligraphy. The contents are as follows:Foll. 1-8 contain the list of chapters from which lessons were chosen for liturgical purposes, with catchwords, in triple columns. Foll. 9-52 the Pentateuch; 53-63 Joshua, Judges, Ruth; 64-101 four books of Kings, and two of Chronicles; 102-112, the book of Ezra-Nehemia, and Hester, Tobias, and Judith; 113-123a, Maccabees; 123b-145 Isaiah and Jeremiah; 146-174a Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habbacuc, Zephania, Aggai, Zacharia, Malachi, and Job; 1746-186 Psalms; 187-204 Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Cantica, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus. Foll. 205-226 the Gospels; 227-236 Acts and Canonical Epistles; 237-249a Paul's Epistles; 2496-259, the Apocalypse. Foll. 260, 261 contain some acephalous annotations on the Apocalypse; 262-268 Jeronymi Epistola de omnibus divinis historie libris; 269-275 the Interpretations of Hebrew names, in quadruple columns, incomplete at end."

d.

10 BIBLIA LATINA VULGATA. 12mo. PRETTY MS. ON VELLUM in minute characters by an English hand, 611 leaves, double columns, 40 and 41 lines to the column; with numerous small illuminated initials enclosing tiny and delicate Miniatures; in a purple velvet binding About 1260 40 0 0 A description is inserted, in the handwriting of the late Professor J. H. Middleton who owned the little volume, and who has noted the deficiency of six leaves. He says, "The writing and the miniatures are of exceptional delicacy and beauty."

in double columns, with 51, 52, or 53 lines to each
ornamental capitals and running titles in blue and red;

11 BIBLIA LATINA. Old Testament from Proverbs to Malachi (which is followed by Tobias), and the New Testament entire (except the last leaf of the Apolcalypse). Small 4to. MS. ON VELLUM in a handwriting of remarkable beauty, the New Testament in a smaller hand than the rest, 60 and 64 lines to the column; russia binding, from the Ashburnham library About 1260-65 12 0 0

A pretty example of minute calligraphy. A leaf or two of the prologue before
Genesis is cut away.

12 BIBLIA LATINA. Small 8vo. (12mo.) MS. ON UTERINE VELLUM, written

column, painted
gilt binding

About A.D. 1280 15 15 0

13 BIBLIA LATINA VULGATA, cum interpretationibus nominum Hebraicorum. Small 8vo. BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN MS. ON THE FINEST AND MOST DELICATE VELLUM, WITH ABOUT 70 TINY MINIATURES enclosed within the first initials of the Biblical books, and about as many decorative letters for the initials of the Jeremian prologues; AN EXQUISITE BOOK in an old French blue morocco binding (Duseuil)

This is apparently French, not English, work, although it might with some show of correctness be attributed to an English artist. The minute illustrative designs are very effective and elaborate within their narrow frames, and the whole book is in such a condition that few examples of its kind can be placed in rivalry with it. The margins of the vellum are large and reduced but little from their original amplitude.

The writing is in double columns, 46 lines to the column. Besides the book-initials, there are frequently incipient borders forming architectural patterns, and containing niches in which the figures of the illustrations are painted.

14 BOETHIUS. JOHN WALTON'S TRANSLATION, IN ENGLISH VERSE, OF THE CONSOLATIO. Page 4, line 1: Unsufficiaunce of conning and of wyt | Defaute of langage and of Eloquence This werke fro me shuld haue withholden zit But that youre heeste hath done me violence |... This dedication to Lady Elizabeth Berkeley ends on pa. 2 with the words In wille to do your seruice and pleasaunce. | Explicit prefacio Translatoris | Incipit prologus eiusdem sup librii Boicij. Page 3: The while yt Rome was regninge in his floures Pa. 7: . . Incipit liber...... | Allas I wretche that whilome was in welthe | And lustie songes vsid for to write |.. Page 178, last two lines: And so it byndeth hym to a litill stounde | To haue a man' pdurablenesse.

·

About 1280-90 100 0 0

John Walton, Canon of Oseney, was the best versifier of his time.
He wrote the work in 1410 at the request of Lady Elizabeth Berkeley.
In the dedication he alludes "To Chaucere that was ffloure of
Rethorik," and to "Gowere that so craftilie doth trete." There are
very few MSS. of the poem to be found outside of public libraries.

The text was printed at the monastic press of Tavistock in 1525,
but that volume is one of the rarest of books of which even the
British Museum has no copy.

From some scribbled notes, we learn that this MS. belonged to the
Chapman family in London, in the fifteen sixties.

£ s.

Small folio, ENGLISH MS. ON VELLUM, with illuminated initials at the beginnings of the sections, and a painted border on the first page; russia binding, from Sir Thomas Phillipps' About 1460 40 0 0

collection

In this MS. the secondary form of the letter r which usually resembles 2 is always so written as to appear more like a 3 than a 2.

d.

14* CATHERINA DA SIENA. Incipit prologus in legendam pro predicatoribus singulariter abreviatam beate Katherine de Senis sororis ordinis de prima Sancti Dominici ordinis Predicatorum. . . Ego frater Thomas de Senis.. Small folio, MS. ON VELLUM by an Italian hand, written

in double columns, 94 pp. the first 80 in Gothic letter, the other 14 in small
semi-Roman; with two historiated initials giving portraits of the Saint;
in the original binding of boards, covered with reddish leather

Tuscany, about 1435

This MS. is of the author's own time; might even be in his handwriting. He composed the work about 1420-30, professing only to abridge and modernise the older life by Raymund of Capua; but he is cited as one of the authorities on the subject. 15 CICERO.. Tulius de Oratore; idem de optimo genere Dicendi, sm. folio,

MS. on paper, 110 leaves, 39 lines to the page; bds. Italy, about 1460 15*[CRANE (Ralph)] Certaine Carolls or Diuine Hymnes for Christmas Day. Together with diverse Devout Meditations Vpon our Saviors Passion and Resurrection (all in English verse with five pages of noted MUSIC). Small 8vo. MS. 56 pp. in a fine Italic hand; in the original limp vellum wrapper, gilt, and having the figure of an eagle stamped on the

sides

This curious MS. contains some excellent poetry, and is dedicated by T. S. to Susanna, Judith, and Hester Beckwith. The letters IHS surmount every page and lead to the inference that T. S. was a Catholic. He says, in his dedication, concerning the poems" which (not foolishly. . to appropriate to myselfe that which is not my owne) I have onely transcribed from a better Pen." As there is said to exist another MS. of the same contents, dedicated to Lord Baltimore, and entirely in the handwriting of Ralph Crane, the latter may be considered the author. The music, however, appears only in this T. S. manuscript. A stanza from the piece upon Easter :

I got me flowers to strew thy way

I got me boughs of many a tree,
But thou wast up by breake of Day

And broughtst thy sweets along with thee.

£ 8. d.

16 DRAWINGS OF MILITARY ENGINES and various useful Inventions,
with explanatory text opposite each figure, by an English adventurer
of Queen Elizabeth's time, oblong small 8vo. English MS. in a hand-
some Italic hand, with 70 coloured careful designs of the various Engines
and Implements (including some PRINTING-PRESSES), followed by 23
diagrams of Fortifications; in the original binding of light brown calf
covered with gold tooling in the Lyonnese style, the chief ornamentation
being a semis of eaglets
About 1580-90

From allusions which occur in the text, the designer and writer of this book
appears to have been an English military adventurer who had passed most of his life
abroad in the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy, probably in the Spanish or Imperial
service. He mentions twice or thrice his conversations with Hans Gering, an officer of
the Duke of Parma, on the subject of military engines. In reference to his design of
an engine for sea-fighting, he says that "The like is described in the Military-moderne,
which is translated into English by Luker, in his Appendix, but for certain defects
I founde in the same, I have altered it." With regard to an instrument for mounting
or dismounting ordnance, he says that he saw it "by chance in the possession of one
William Fletcher, as then Gonners mate of the Green Dragon, but, as he con fessed, he
never knew th'use nor the autor. . . I made it generall by adding the two sights and
making the base moueable."-On the leaf numbered 69 there is a Printing-press which
the author says he designed, primarily in consequence of the extortionate charges of
the professional typographers. No. 70 is another printing-press of greater size and
power. No. 71 is a press for the printing of engraved plates.

The text is addressed to "Your Honour" frequently, but the first leaf, which
probably contained a dedication with the names, is lost.

17 ELY MONASTERY. Ten leaves from a Psalterium et Preces, 8vo. MS. ON
VELLUM, in a fine bold Gothic hand; bound within the inlaid covers of an
early stamped binding
Ely, about 1370

This may be an only surviving fragment, or it may possibly be portion of some
treasured MS. at Ely or Cambridge.-The first five leaves contain an interesting
calendar (January-October) written in red, blue, and black, which includes among its
entries the following names: Jan. 9 Adrian, Feb. 1 Hermenilda, Feb. 23 Milburga,
April 11 Guthlac, April 29 Translation of Ermenilda, June 8 Archbishop William,
June 15 Edburga, July 6 Sexburga, July 7 Hedda, July 13th Mildreth, July 20th
Walmar and Hugh, Aug. 2 Ethelwold, Aug. 20 Philibert, Aug. 31 Aidan, Sept. 10
Transl. of Ethelwold, Oct. 11 Ethelburga, 12 Wilfrid, 17 Etheldreda, Oct. 19
Frideswida, 24 Feast of Relics. Additional entries made in the fourteenth and fifteenth
century are obits of Thomas of Ocham, Sabina of Welle, Walter the Prior, Martin the
Abbot, Richard of Enetone, Adam Abbat, Richard of Reynes, Alan Abbat, Barthol.
Abbat, Peter of Winton, Bartram Abbat, John Abbat, Philip Godchep, Walter of
Chabh and Sibilla his wife.-The five leaves of text (which are in double columns,
36 lines to the column) include the Symbolum, the Litany, the Office of St. Ermenilda,

5 15 0

Aboat 1600 600

300

6 16 6

880

etc. Among the names of Virgins in the Litany, the first four after the old names
(ending with Juliana) are Etheldritha, Ethelburga, Edburga, and Sexburga. Among
the confessors are some unfamiliar names, such as Beccan, Edor, Judocus, Aichadrus,
besides Athelwold, Aidan, Adrian, and several better-known English saints.

The stamped designs on the binding are highly artistic. The main figures represent
on one side Venus and Cupid, on the other Christ's descent into Hell; above them are
masks of Fools' heads and in the border a number of smaller figures.

18 ENGLISH POETRY of devout and philosophical character (like Crashaw's), small 4to. AUTOGRAPH MS. 325 pp., in old calf, from Sir Thomas Phillipps' collection 1643-52

This is the work of a man who was no poetaster. From internal evidence, he was born in 1615, placed in a University in 1630, married to a lady named Eliza 1649 or 1650, had a daughter Eliza who died in 1651. His religion smacks of Catholicity, but he was a Church of England man, and ordained in 1647. He visited his parents on 17 May 1652, but his poetry comes to a sudden end in June 1652. Much of it was written for music, and some pieces were set for voices and violin and published in his own time, by R. C., T. T., and R. M., but the greater part is unpublished.

19 THE FRENCH IN SCOTLAND. CHARLES IX'S TREASURY-ACCOUNT of ·

the sums to be expended for the despatch of his agent to Scotland,
with his SIGNED ORDER for the supply of the funds, 2 folio leaves; and
the Agent's SIGNED statement of the outlay, on 4 folio leaves ;-2 parts
bound together, folio, hf. morocco

66

Page 1: Estat de la Despence que le Roy veult et entend estre faite. Par Me. Adrian Petremol son conseiller et Tresorier de 1 exre. de ses guerres Pour le Voiage que sa Maiesté a commandé fere au Sieur de Berac son vallet de chambre ordinaire allant resider son agent au Royaume dEscosse, Tant en lachapt d'un navire nommé Le Levrier, munitions de guerre que sadicte Maiesté veult estre envoiez audict royaume. Que pour lequippaige dun autre navire nomme Lirondelle. The details follow and the sum is made up on page 4 as 10,000 livres; beneath which is an order on the Treasurer, signed by the King Charles" and countersigned by a minister. This is dated June 30, 1570.-The second account begins on page 5 with the heading: Estat de la Despense faicte par Me. Adrian Petremol. en vertu des ordonnances de Jehan Nemond Sieur de Berac.. The detail follows and the summing up at 10,000 livres is found on page 10. Beneath it, and on page 11, there are two statements signed by Nesmond; in the second of which he certifies that the last item of expenditure was a sum of 1965 livres paid for the reparation of Dumbarton Castle to the Sieur de Flamin commanding there in the service of the Queen of Scotland.-On the reverse of the eighth leaf the document is endorsed with its description and the date 25 July 1570.

A curious and interesting piece which must have been pillaged from the archives at the time of the French Revolution.

...

20 GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. Page 1: Hic incipit prolo-
gus Galfridi Arturi Monemutensis de gestis regum Brit-
annie insule. Cum mecum multa et de multis sepius
animo reuoluens in historiam regum Britannie.. Line 29:
Britannia insularum optima in occidentali oceano
Pa. 180: . Explicit liber de historiis regum Brit-
tannie insule. | Hic incipiunt vaticinia Merlini Gall.. | En
lestorie de bretaigne maior Dunt li | breton primes furent
seignor Trouu escrit | quil la perdirent E par famine si la
guerpi❘ rent. Reis kadwaladres et tot li meillor Alerent

en bretaigne menor . . Pa. 197.. Deu mette | Helys
a bone fin Ki en romanz translata le Merlin | Explicit liber
de vaticiniis merlini. Pp. 198, 199 contain a page in Latin
beginning: Non me permittas Domine famulum tuum a te
separari. Pa. 200 contains 33 lines of the prose romance
of Tristan in French: Quant tristran vint dewaunt li rei
kar ma ditis hou ē Branken . . de le ber ke ele duna

£

a tristran dunt prins fusret si grand adham..

Small 4to. MS. ON VELLUM, written in a beautiful

8.

1570 14 0 0

d.

3 10 0