The complete works of John Gower, volume 4 : $b The Latin worksGower, John
General
The complete works of John Gower, volume 4 : $b The Latin works
Gower, John
Poetry
Of the four manuscripts of the _Vox Clamantis_ with other Latin poems,
which have been referred to as contemporary with the author, one is
at Oxford, in the library of All Souls College, one at Glasgow in the
Hunterian Museum, and two in London. They are proved to be original
copies, not only by the handwriting of the text, which in each case is
distinctly of the fourteenth century, but also by the fact that they
all have author’s corrections written over erasure, and in several
cases the same hand is recognizable throughout. The original text of
the _Vox Clamantis_ seems to be written in one and the same hand in
the All Souls and Glasgow MSS. and this hand is also that of the lines
supplied occasionally in the margin of the Harleian: the hand in which
the text of the _Cronica Tripertita_ is written in the All Souls MS.
appears also in all the other three, and the same is the case with some
of the correctors’ hands, as will be seen in the detailed accounts
which follow. Of the other manuscripts of the _Vox Clamantis_ two,
which are not themselves original copies, give the text in its first
(unrevised) form, the rest are more or less in agreement with the
revised text, but give it at second or third hand, with no alterations
made over erasure.
S. ALL SOULS COLLEGE, OXF. 98. Contains, f. 1 v^o, Epistle to
Archbishop Arundel, ff. 2-116, _Vox Clamantis_, ff. 116-126 v^o,
_Cronica Tripertita_, ff. 126 v^o-127 v^o, ‘Rex celi deus,’ ‘H.
aquile pullus,’ ‘O recolende bone,’ ff. 127 v^o-131, _Carmen super
multiplici Viciorum Pestilencia_, f. 131, _Tractatus de Lucis
Scrutinio_ (imperfect at the end owing to the loss of a leaf), ff.
132-135, _Traitié pour ensampler les Amantz marietz_, (imperfect at
the beginning), f. 135 v^o, ‘Quia vnusquisque,’ ff. 136, 137, ‘Eneidos
Bucolis,’ ‘O deus immense,’ ‘Quicquid homo scribat’ (f. 137 v^o blank).
Parchment, ff. 137 as numbered (and in addition several blank at the
beginning and end) measuring 12½ x 8¼ in. Well and regularly written
in single column, the _Vox Clamantis_ 48 lines on a page and the
succeeding poems 52. The original first quire begins with f. 2, but
before this a quire of four leaves (probably) was inserted, of which
the first two are blank, the third is cut away, and the fourth has on
its verso the Epistle to the Archbishop. The quire which ends with f.
116 has seven leaves only, and that ending with f. 137 six. After this
several leaves have been inserted, which remain blank. The book has on
f. 1 an ornamental initial S containing a miniature of Abp. Arundel in
his robes and mitre, and there are large coloured and gilt capitals
at the beginning of each book of the _Vox Clamantis_, and coloured
initials of various sizes for chapters and paragraphs. Original oak
binding.
Five leaves are lost (apart from blanks at the beginning and end), as
follows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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