VII. MS. RAWLINSON, marked C. 86, in the Bodleian Library, and formerly belonging to Knox Ward, Esq., Clarenceux king of Arms. It is a small folio, and consists of two distinct portions.

The first, extending from fol. 1 to fol. 30 inclusive, is written on vellum and paper in a late hand of the fifteenth century. It contains a long English poem on the Passion of Christ. Prefixed is a rude illumination of the crucifixion.

Beg. Off gostly maters I wylle meve.

At the end is: " Explicit Passio Domini nostri Jhesu Christi, composita a quodam sapientissimo in materna lingua, videlicet Anglicorum, hominibus non intelligentibus scripturarum sensus." And below we read: "Iste liber constat (blot)... Wyllm'us Aylysburrey, monachus Sancti Saluatoris de Bermudesay."

...

The second portion consists of 159 leaves, and is written on paper in a negligent hand towards the close of Henry the Seventh's reign. The principal contents are as follows.

1. Unconnected moral sentences. fol. 31.

Beg. Vtter thy langage wythe good avisement.

2. Policronica; a prose geographical tract. fol. 31.

Beg. Josephus of Jewes pt nobyl was the firste auctour of the booke of Policronica.

3. The tale of Jak and his Stepdame. fol. 52.

Beg. God that died for vs alle.

Printed by W. de Worde, and thence reprinted by Ritson in Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, 8vo. 1791. p. 35. Other manuscript copies, all of which differ much from each other, exist in MS. More, Ee. 4. 35. (which was printed by Mr. Wright, in 12mo. Pickering, 1836.) and MS. Porkington, No. 10, f. 139.

4. Four lines of doggerel poetry, in English and Latin. fol. 59.
Beg. Syng I wold, but alas! discedant prospera grata.

5. Fabula; a poem of eight stanzas of eight lines each. fol. 59.
Beg. Whenne men motythe of byrdys of gret gentree.

The burden of each stanza is, "pulle of her bellys and let her flye." It is probably composed by Lydgate, but is not found in Ritson's list of his writings. 6. A poem without title, by Lydgate; No. 61. of Ritson's list. fol. 61.

Beg. For helthe of body couere for colde thyne hede.

7. A poem by Lydgate; No. 214. of Ritson. fol. 62b,

Beg. Beholde, mane, lyfte vp thy eye and se.

8. A Poem consisting of fourteen eight-line stanzas. The subject is an address of Christ to man. fol. 65.

Beg. Late as I wente one myne pleyng.

9. A Poem on the same subject, in eleven stanzas of twelve lines each. fol. 67.

Beg. Thys is Goddis owne compleynte.

Cf. MS. Lambeth. 853. p. 81.

10. A Poem by Lydgate, being a Lamentation of the Virgin on Christ's Passion; No. 201 of Ritson. fol. 69b.

Beg. In a tabernacle of a towre.

11. A Poem in ten eight-line stanzas, the burden of which is "I wite my self myne owne wo." fol. 71.

Beg. In my youthe fulle wylde I was.

Cf. MS. Lamb. 853. p. 226.

12. A Poem containing the Lamentation of our Lady, in twelve eight-line stanzas. fol. 72b.

Beg. In a chirche as I gane knele.

13. A Poem in eleven twelve-line stanzas, of which the burden is, "Filius Regis mortuus est." fol 74.

Beg. As Jhesu rewlithe myne recheles mynde.

Cf. MS. Lamb. 853. p. 74.

14. Fabula; a Poem by Lydgate, on the mutability of human affairs, in twenty-two seven-line stanzas. fol. 77.

Beg. The worlde so wyde, the ayre so remeveabille.

Other copies occur in MSS. Harl. 7333, f. 192, 2251, f. 23o, 2255, f. 14, and Trin. Coll., Cambr., R. 3, 21. On the authority of the first of these, Ritson attributes it to one "squiere Halsam."

15. A Poem by Lydgate, in commendation of virtue; No. 95 of Ritson. fol. 79b.

Beg. As of hony menne gadrene swetnesse.

16. A Poem by Lydgate, against self-love; No. 99 of Ritson. fol. 81.

Beg. Towarde thende of frosty January.

Printed at the end of an edition of Lydgate's "Proverbes ;" by W. de Worde. See Collier's Catalogue of the Library at Bridgewater House, p. 179, 4to. 1837.

17. A Poem by Lydgate against haste; No *41 of Ritson. fol. 84.

Beg. Alle hast is odious, wher as discrecione.

See another copy in MS. Harl. 2251. f. 77.

18. Stans puer ad mensam, made in Engles by the monke of Bery called Lydgate. fol. 86b.

Beg.

My dere chyld, first thy selffe enable.

No. 16 of Ritson. Printed by W. de Worde.

19. A Poem by Lydgate against the forked head-dresses of women. fol. 88.

Beg. Of God and kynde procedethe alle beaute.

Entered by Ritson twice in his list, under Nos. 63 and 157. It is printed by Sir H. Nicolas, at the end of the Chronicle of London, p. 270, 4to. 1827.

20. A Moral Poem, of four seven-line stanzas. fol. 89b.

Beg. Passe forthe, þ" pilgryme, and brydelle wele pi beste.

In Shirley's MS. in the Ashmole Library, No. 59, f. 18, is another copy, intitled "Balade moral of gode counsel, made by Gower."

21. A moralle tale of the horse, the goose and the shepe, written by Jhon Lidgate. fol. 91.

Beg. Contrauersies, plees and alle discorde. Printed by Caxton, and also by W. de Worde.

tion for the Roxburghe Club, in 1822.

22. Piers of Fullame. fol. 100.

Reprinted from the former edi

Beg. A mane that louethe fisshyng and foulyng bothe.

Printed in Hartshorne's Ancient Metrical Tales, pp. 117-133, 8vo. 1829, from a MS. in Trinity College, Cambridge. A third copy is in the Public Library, Cambridge, Ll. 4, 14, and a fourth among James's MSS. in the Bodleian Library. It is entered among Lydgate's poems in Ritson's list, No. 48.

23. Here folowethe Colyne Blowbols Testament. fol. 106.

Beg. Whanne that Bachus, the myghti lorde.

A ludicrous poem, written in a broad style of humour. I do not know of any other copy.

24. The Complant of Dido. fol. 113.

Beg. Glorie and honowre Virgille Mantuane.

It is falsely ascribed to Lydgate in the MS., and is, in reality, a portion of Chaucer's Legende of Good Women; f. cci.", edit. fol. 1561.

This is the Romance of Launfal, but varies very considerably from the copy in MS. Cott. Calig. A. II., printed by Ritson, Metr. Rom., vol. ii. p. 170; and in Way's Fabliaux, vol. iii. p. 233, 8vo. 1815. Another copy is in the Lambeth MS. 305. f. 73; and a modernised text is preserved in the Percy MS.

26. The Weddynge of St Gawene and Dame Ragnelle. fol. 128.

Printed in the present volume, Appendix, No. VIII. This is the identical poem referred to erroneously by Warton as existing in one of the Tanner MSS. (See Notes, p. 358.) For its discovery, (after the greater part of the sheets of this work was printed off,) I am indebted to the Rev. Henry O. Coxe, Assistant Librarian of the Bodleian Library, who most kindly and promptly undertook a transcript, which was subsequently compared by myself with the Manuscript. It is, unquestionably, the original of the mutilated poem in the Percy folio, and is sufficiently curious to render its insertion in the Appendix an object of interest, although, had I been earlier aware of its existence, some change would probably have been made in the arrangement. The title in the MS. is added by a later hand, and the poem itself is very carelessly written, so that several lines appear occasionally omitted. An entire page, containing lines, is, unfortunately, wanting.

27. Tabula; a Poem by Lydgate; No. 120, of Ritson. fol. 141.

Beg. Ther is fulle lytel sicurnesse,

The burden of this poem, which consists of nine eight-line stanzas, is, “That now is hay summe tyme was grasse." Ritson inserts it in his list, No. 120, on Speght's authority, but gives no reference to any MS.

28. Gwyscard and Segismonde. fol. 142b.

Beg. Prol. O wofulle worlde, deceyver of mankynde.

Work. Whylome was ther an hyghe and myghty prynce.

It differs from the version of this story by Walter, of which a MS. copy exists in Trin. Coll. Cambr. R. 3.20, and which was printed by W. de Worde. See Ritson's Bibl. Poet. p. 108.

29. Poem, consisting of six stanzas of seven lines each. fol. 155.

Beg. Myne hert is set vppone a lusty pynne.

At the end is, " Finis, quod Quene Elyzabeth;" by whom must be meant the queen of Henry the Seventh; but she is not mentioned as an authoress by Walpole. 30. Grysille. fol. 156.

Beg. Ther is ryghte atte west syde of Italie,

This is the Clerke of Oxenforde's Tale, in Chaucer, f. xlib, edit. Speght, 1602. 31. Latin verses. fol. 174.

Beg. Carmina qui letus cecini, cano tristia mestus.

32. Poem in seven-line stanzas, on the murder of a child by the Jews. fol. 174b.

Beg. O goode Lorde, thyne name how mervelous.

This is the Prioresses Tale, in Chaucer, f. lxv. edit. 1602. It is, however, included among Lydgate's writings in MSS. Harl. 2251, f. 69, and 2382, f. 97; whence Ritson has carelessly inserted it in his list, No. 239.

33. Poem on the Expedition of Henry the Fifth into France. fol. 178.

Beg. God that alle this world gane make.

Attributed to Lydgate in MS. Harl. 565, f. 502; and thence printed by Sir H. Nicolas, in the Chronicle of London, p. 216. A large portion was previously printed by Hearne, at the end of Tho. de Elmham, p. 359, from MS. Cott. Vitell. D. XII. At the end of the present copy is written, “ Explicit per Johannem Reve Free," who may be the transcriber.

34. Poem on the reigns of the English kings, from William I. to Henry VI. fol. 187.

Beg. This myghti William, duke of Normandy.

Attributed to Lydgate in many MSS., and printed by W. de Worde, 4to. 1530; as also by Hearne, in Append. to Robert of Gloucester, vol. ii. p. 585. A copy in MS. Harl. 2251, f. 2b, has an additional stanza on the reign of Edward the Fourth.