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
A good MS., with form of text in v, vi, vii, like that of AdB,
and obviously having a special connexion in its readings with
B. T, however, is of a more fully corrected type than B, and
it must remain doubtful whether the preface of the poem in T
was of the earlier or the later form. In any case the original
of the two, if (as it seems) they had a common original, was
not made up earlier than 1397, for the resemblance of the
manuscripts extends to the French and Latin poems which follow
the _Conf. Amantis_, and the last of these is dated the 20th
year of king Richard.
The third and fourth hands are neater and better than the
other two. The first is rather less correct and less good in
spelling than the others, and also it omits the Latin marginal
notes. The parts written in this hand are ii. 2687-iii. 608, v.
1415-2874, 5805-7082, v. 7545-vi. 1040, vi. 2201-vii. 2532.
With regard to the connexions within the group AdBTΛ, attention
may be drawn especially to v. 659, where Ad has the usual
reading, T omits the line, leaving a blank, while B and Λ have
bad lines made up for the occasion, to v. 4020, where Ad again
has the usual text, TΛ omit, and B has a made-up line, and to
v. 7303, where AdBT omit two lines necessary to the sense which
Λ inserts. We may note the alteration by erasure in T of v.
5936, apparently from the reading of the unrevised text.
B. BODLEY 294, Bodleian Library (Bern. Cat. 2449). Contents, as in T,
ff. 1-197 _Conf. Amantis_, &c., ff. 197-199 v^o _Traitié_, f. 199 v^o
‘Quia vnusquisque,’ ff. 199 v^o-201 _Carmen super multiplici_, &c.,
ending with the lines ‘Hoc ego bis deno.’ Parchment, ff. 201, 15½ ×
10¾ in., quires of 8 with catchwords. Well written in double column
of 42-47 lines, first quarter of fifteenth cent. Latin summaries in
text (red): ‘Confessor,’ ‘Amans,’ usually omitted. Complete border of
first page and at the beginning of each book except i and ii, painted
in good style. Two miniatures, f. 4 v^o Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (the
king in bed crowned), f. 9 the Confession, nearly as in E. No leaves
lost.
The name ‘Edwarde Fletewoode’ appears on f. 1, and the book was
probably given by him to the University in 1601.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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