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
Presented to the College by Marchadin Hunnis in 1620. A note by the
present Librarian states that he was elected a demy of the College in
1606, appointed second master of the College Grammar School in 1610,
and dismissed from that office as ‘insufficiens’ in Dec. 1611. The book
is reported missing in Coxe’s catalogue.
This MS. is in many points like H₃ in its text, and must
certainly have the same origin, both being perhaps derived from
a MS. dependent on K. It reproduces most of the corruptions
which we find in H₃, adding many others of its own, and it has
the same readings in the third book which we have already noted
in H₃.
A point of interest about this MS. is its apparent connexion
with Caxton’s edition. It seems evident that among the MSS.
from which Caxton worked (and he had three at least) was
either this very copy or one so like it as to be practically
undistinguishable. Of this we shall say more when we speak of
Caxton’s edition.
W. WADHAM COLL., OXF. 13. _Confessio Amantis_ with ‘Explicit’ (six
lines) and ‘Quam cinxere,’ then the _Traitié_, slightly imperfect at
the end, ending ‘un amie soulain,’ xvii. 9. Paper, ff. 450, including
two original blanks at the beginning, 11½ × 8¼ in., in quires of
8 with catchwords: written in column of 30-48 lines (without ruling) in
two hands, of which the first wrote up to iv. 2132, and the other from
thence to the end. Latin summaries in margin, but sometimes omitted or
cut short. Some decoration of the first page of the text in black and
red; capitals, titles, &c. in red.
Three leaves are lost in the _Conf. Amantis_, containing Prol. 728-794,
iv. 2386-2473, and v. 1-78, and several also at the end of the volume.
There is great confusion in the text of the Prologue, which goes as
follows: 1-92, 499-860 (with loss as above), 93-144, 861-1044, 145-498,
and then 1045 ff. This is not produced by any disarrangement of leaves
in the present MS., but a considerable dislocation of quires has taken
place in a later part of the volume, seven quires of the fourth and
fifth books having been taken out of their proper place and bound up
between vi. 2132 and 2133.
This book was evidently written for one John Dedwood, since his name
and device, a piece of the trunk of a dead tree, occur as part of
the decorations of the first page. The two blanks at the beginning
are written over with a list of Mayors and Sheriffs for a series of
years, and these prove to be those of the city of Chester from the year
1469-1499 (see Ormerod’s _Hist. of Cheshire_, i. 211 f.). The name of
John Dedwood occurs among these as Sheriff in the year 1481 and as
Mayor in 1483 (but the record in the MS. is here damaged). He had also
been Mayor in 1468. We may therefore suppose that the MS. dates from
about 1470. The name Troutbecke occurs several times (with other names)
in the book, and later (1765) it belonged to Rich. Warner of Woodford
Row, Essex.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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