The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 : $b The English worksGower, John
General
The complete works of John Gower, volume 2 : $b The English works
Gower, John
Poetry
This MS. gives a text which is nearer to the type of F than
that of any other first recension copy. In the later books
especially it seems often to stand alone of its class in
agreement with F, as v. 649, 1112, 1339, 1578, 3340, 4351,
4643, 5242, 6059, 6461, 6771, vi. 162, 442, 784, 973, 2089,
vii. 445, 1027, 1666, 2424, 3235, 4336, 5348, viii. 13, 239,
747, 845, 1076, 1415, 1456 ff., 2195, 2220, 2228, 2442,
2670 ff., and it is noteworthy that this is the only first
recension copy which supplies the accidental omission of ‘eorum
disciplina--materia’ in the author’s Latin account of the
_Conf. Amantis_ at the end. As regards individual correctness
it is rather unequal. In some places it has many mistakes, as
vi. 1509 ff., while in others it is very correct. The spelling
is in most points like that of F, and it is usually good as
regards terminations; but the scribe has some peculiarities of
his own, which he introduces more or less freely, as ‘ho’ for
‘who,’ ‘heo’ for ‘sche’ (pretty regularly), ‘heor’ for ‘her,’
‘whech’ for ‘which.’ It must also be an individual fancy which
leads him regularly to substitute ‘som tyme’ for ‘whilom’
wherever it occurs. Punctuation usually agrees with that of F.
M. CAMB. UNIV. Mm. 2.21 (Bern. Cat. ii. 9648). Contains _Conf. Amantis_
only, without ‘Explicit,’ &c. (the last leaf being lost). Parchment,
ff. 183, 14 × 9½ in. Quires of eight with catchwords and signatures:
double columns of 46 lines: Latin summaries usually in margin, but
occasionally in the text, as in A. Several hands, as follows, (1) ff.
1-32, 41-64, 73-88, 97-136, 145-152, 161-176; (2) ff. 33-40, 89-96,
137-144; (3) ff. 65-72; (4) ff. 153-160; (5) ff. 177-183. Finally
another, different from all the above, adds sometimes a marginal note
which has been dropped, as on ff. 4, 32 v^o, 65, 72 v^o. The first
hand, in which more than two-thirds of the book is written, is fairly
neat: the third much rougher than the rest, and also more inaccurate.
Floreated half border in fairly good style at the beginning of each
book, except the third, fifth, and seventh, and two rather rudely
painted miniatures, viz. f. 4 v^o, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (the king in
bed, crowned), and f. 8, the Confession, a curious little picture in
the margin. The priest is laying his stole on the head of the penitent,
whose features are evidently meant for a portrait. It is quite
different however from that which we have in A. Below this picture we
find the note, ‘Hic fiat Garn_imentum_.’
The last leaf is lost, containing no doubt the ‘Explicit,’ ‘Quam
cinxere,’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque,’ as in A.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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