To all those gentlemen who have helped me in the explanations of words, &c.,--Mr Gillett, Dr Günther, Mr Atkinson, Mr Skeat, Mr Cockayne, Mr Gibbs, Mr Way, the Hon. G. P. Marsh--and to Mr E. Brock, the most careful copier of the MS., my best thanks are due, and are hereby tendered. Would that thanks of any of us now profiting by their labours could reach the ears of that prince of Dictionary-makers, Cotgrave, of Frater Galfridus, Palsgrave, Hexham, Philipps, and the rest of the lexicographers who enable us to understand the records of the past! Would too that an adequate expression of gratitude could reach the ears of the lost Nicolas, and of Sir Frederic Madden, for their carefully indexed Household Books,--to be contrasted with the unwieldy mass and clueless mazes of the Antiquaries’ _Household Ordinances_, the two volumes of the Roxburghe _Howard Household Books_, and Percy’s _Northumberland Household Book[21]!_--They will be spared the pains of the special place of torment reserved for editors who turn out their books without glossary or index. May that be their sufficient reward! 3, _St George’s Square_, N.W. 16 _Dec._, 1866. HUMPHREY, DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. Mr C. H. Pearson has referred me to a most curious treatise on the state of Duke Humphrey’s body and health in 1404 (that is, 1424, says Hearne), by Dr Gilbert Kymer, his physician, part of which (chapters 3 and 19, with other pieces) was printed by Hearne in the appendix to his _Liber Niger_, v. ii. p. 550 (_ed. alt._), from a MS. then in Sir Hans Sloane’s Collection, and now _Sloane_ 4 in the British Museum. It begins at p. 127 or folio 63, and by way of giving the reader a notion of its contents, I add here a copy of the first page of the MS. Incipit dietariu{m} de sanitatis custodia p{re}inclitissi{m}o p{r}incipi ac metuendissimo d{omi}no, d{omi}no humfrido, duci Gloucestrie, Alijsq{ue} p{re}claris titulis insignito, Sc{r}iptu{m} & co{m}pilatu{m}, p{er} ven{er}abile{m} doctore{m}, Magistru{m} Gilbertum Kymer, Medicinar{um} p{ro}fessorem, arciu{m} ac ph{ilosoph}ie Mag{ist}r{u}m & in legib{us} bacallariu{m} p{re}libati p{r}incipis phisicu{m}, Cui{us} dietarij[A] c{ol}l{e}cc{i}o{n}em (?) dilucidancia & effectu{m} viginti sex existu{n}t capit{u}la, q{u}or{um} {con}seque{n}t{er} hic ordo ponit{ur} Rubricar{um}[B]. [Textnotes: A: The letters are to me more like cł, or c{ol}l than anything else, but I am not sure what they are. B: The MS. runs on without breaks. [Transcriber’s Note: Marker [A] is printed at the end of “dietarij”, but must be intended for the following word.]]