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
After f. 83 follows a quire of six with 5 v^o blank (after end of Lib.
iv.) and 6 lost: then a quire of eight with 5 and 6 (also part of 4)
blank, and 7, 8 lost: then, f. 94, ‘Incipit liber Sextus.’ So that
of Lib. v. we have only about four leaves (v. 1444-2149). The leaves
numbered 16, 17, 15 should stand last (in that order), and the text
ends (on f. 15) with vii. 3683, the line unfinished and the rest of the
page blank.
Successive owners in sixteenth cent., Magister Asshe, Thom. Carson (or
Cursson), Ambr. Belson, J. Barton. It was one of Bishop Moore’s books
(No. 467), and came to the University in 1715.
The text shows no leaning, so far as I know, to the revised
group. Perhaps somewhat akin to the MSS. which precede and
follow: see Prol. 331 _marg._, i. 110, 370.
Ar. ARUNDEL 45, College of Arms (Bern. Cat. ii. 5547). _Confessio
Amantis_ (imperfect). Paper, 168 leaves (numbered 167, but one dropped
in numbering after f. 42) + two parchment blank at beginning, 11½
× 8¼ in. Quires of 8 (usually), with catchwords, double column of
46-51 lines, small neat writing, middle fifteenth cent. Latin in text
(red): no illumination, but spaces left for initials.
One leaf lost after f. 7 (i. 63-216), two after f. 116 (v. 5229-5594),
and all after viii. 1102 (about twelve leaves gone at the end).
Former possessors, ‘Thomas Goodenston, Gerdeler of London,’ and (before
him probably) ‘Jhon Barthylmewe, Gerdyllarr and Marchant.’
Hd. At CASTLE HOWARD, the property of the Earl of Carlisle, who most
kindly sent it for my use. _Confessio Amantis_ with ‘Explicit’ (four
lines), ‘Quam cinxere’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque.’ Parchment, ff. 111
(numbered as 110) 14 × 11 in., in quires of 8 (usually), marked iiii,
v, vi, &c. In double column of 60-74 lines, rather irregularly written
in a small, fairly clear hand, later fifteenth cent. Latin in text.
Some red and blue initials; no other decoration.
Seventeen leaves lost at the beginning, f. 1 begins at i. 3305, and
f. 8 is the first leaf of quire iiii: after f. 73 four leaves lost,
containing vi. 264-1306, and in the last quire one, containing viii.
2566-2833. The leaves in the latter half of the book, from f. 66, have
been much disarranged in the binding.
The name ‘Tho. Martin’ is written at the beginning, in the handwriting
of the well-known Thomas Martin of Palgrave. This of course is not the
book mentioned in Bern. Cat. ii. 611 as among the books collected by
Lord William Howard at Naworth Castle. There seems to be at present no
Gower MS. at Naworth.
Some readings seem to show a connexion of Hd with L, as iii.
1885, 2763, ‘Now herkne and I þe þo,’ iv. 1341, 3086, 3449,
3535, but it is not derived from it. Note also the readings
of ii. 1577 ‘Ne,’ 2825 ‘by,’ iii. 1173 ‘Iupartie,’ v. 3306
‘Oute.’ There are many corruptions in the text as well as some
deliberate alterations, as ‘cleped’ regularly to ‘called,’ and
words are often dropped or inserted to the injury of the metre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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