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
R. REG. 18. C. xxii, Brit. Museum. _Confessio Amantis_ with ‘Explicit’
(six lines), ‘Quam cinxere’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque.’ Parchment, ff.
206, 14¼ × 3¾ in., in eights with catchwords: double column of
44 lines, well written, first quarter fifteenth cent. Latin in text
(red). Floreated border of first page with miniature of the Confession
in the initial O; also a miniature on f. 4 v^o of the Image of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (hill with stone to left of picture), and half
borders at beginning of books, except Lib. i.
Two blanks cut away at the end, from one of which is set off ‘This
boke appertayneth vnto the Right Honorable the Ladie Margaret Strange’
(presumably the same whose name appears in M). The binding has ‘Lady
Mary Strainge.’
A very fair MS. of its class and almost absolutely typical, but
gives distinctively revised readings in a few passages, as ii.
925, iv. 1342, v. 3145, viii. 1621. Omits vii. 2889-2916 and
some of the Latin summaries. The words ‘pope’ and ‘papacie’
are regularly erased, see especially f. 47. Spelling and metre
fairly good: no punctuation.
L. LAUD 609, Bodleian Library (Bern. Cat. 754). _Confessio Amantis_
with ‘Explicit’ (four lines), ‘Quam cinxere’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque.’
Parchment, ff. 170, 16 × 10¾ in., in quires of 8 with catchwords:
double column, first of 40 lines, then about 44, and after f. 16 of 51:
well written, first quarter fifteenth cent. Latin in the text (red).
Floreated border of first page and half borders at the beginning of
books, well executed. Two miniatures, on f. 5 v^o the Image of the
dream, and on f. 10 the Confession, both much like those in C and B₂,
but damaged.
After f. 109 one leaf is lost (v. 5550-5739), one after f. 111 (v.
6140-6325), and eight (quire 16) after f. 118 (v. 7676-vi. 1373).
The names Symon and Thomas Elrington (sixteenth cent.) occur in the
book, ff. 89, 170, and ‘Liber Guilielmi Laud Archiepiscopi Cantuar. et
Cancellarii Vniuersitatis Oxon. 1633’ on f. 1.
In correctness of text and spelling the text is decidedly
inferior to the foregoing MSS. We may note apparently good
readings in the following passages, Prol. 159, i. 3023, v.
1072, vii. 374, 3040, 3639, viii. 358, 483.
B₂. BODLEY 693, Bodleian Library (Bern. Cat. 2875). _Confessio Amantis_
with ‘Explicit’ (six lines), ‘Quam cinxere’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque.’
Parchment (gilt edged), ff. 196, 15 × 10 in., in eights with
catchwords. Well written, first quarter fifteenth cent., in double
column of 46 lines. Latin in text (red). Floreated border of first
page and half borders at beginning of books (also on f. 8 v^o), well
executed: two small miniatures, f. 4 v^o the Image of the dream, f. 8
v^o (within an initial T) the Confession, like those in C and L, but
smaller.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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