Domine Ihesu Christe, qui solus es sapientia: tu scis que michi peccatori expediunt: prout tibi placere[2] et sicut in oculis tue maiestatis videtur, de me ita fiat cum misericordia tua. Amen. Pater noster. Aue Maria. Of John Blacman or Blakman, the author of our tract, not a great deal is known. He was admitted Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, in 1436, and of Eton in 1447: he was Cantor of Eton College, and, as we read in the title of his book, a bachelor of Divinity, and later a Carthusian monk. But before he 'entered religion' he held an important post in University circles, for, in 1452, on the death of Nicholas Close, he was appointed by the Provosts of Eton and King's (who at that time owned this piece of patronage) Warden of King's Hall at Cambridge, that royal foundation which was eventually absorbed into Trinity College. As Warden (I quote from Mr W. W. Rouse Ball's privately printed account of King's Hall) he introduced into the College "some scheme of reorganization, which involved a division of the Society into four classes, fellows, scholars, commoners, and servi-commoners.... The scheme, whatever it was, was abandoned on Blacman's resignation" which took effect on 11 July 1457. Blacman then entered the Carthusian house of Witham in Somerset, and subsequently that of London, where he probably died. When, and for how long, he held the post of spiritual director or confessor to Henry VI, I have no evidence to show. Of one thing about him, namely, his literary possessions, we know more. The Bodleian manuscript Laud. Misc. 154 contains two lists, one short, and one long and elaborate, of books given by him to the Witham Charterhouse. Several of these exist in the Bodleian and other libraries, and one, a notable copy of the Polychronicon, which contains the earliest known picture of Windsor Castle (and of Eton), very probably drawn by Blacman himself, has in recent years been acquired by the library of Eton College. The full list of Blacman's books is given in a separate note. In reprinting Hearne's text I have retained his spelling, which does not correspond completely with that of Coplande's print. Hearne gives _ae_ for _e_ throughout, and expands contractions without notice. Had I had access to the original tract before Hearne's text was put into type, I should have retained the medieval spelling; but I did not think it worth while to make the change _apres coup_. The actual words of the text represent Blacman as faithfully as possible; and that is the chief matter.