Prologue to the Book of Coat Armour.
“Here in this book following is determined the lineage of Coat Armours: and how gentlemen shall be known from ungentle men, and how bondage began first in angel and after succeeded in man kind, as it is here showed in process, both in the childer of Adam and also of Noe, and how Noe divided the world in three parts to his three sons. Also there be showed the nine colours in Arms figured by the nine orders of Angels, and it is showed by the foresaid colours which be worthy and which be royal; and of regalities which be noble and which be excellent. And there be here the vertues of Chivalry, and many other notable and famous things, to the pleasure of noble persons shall be showed, as the works following witnesses, whosoever liketh to see them and read them, which were too long now to rehearse. And after these notable things aforesaid followeth the Blasing of all manner Arms in Latin, French, and English.”
So wrote the schoolmaster. Let us now see what kind of book this is typographically.
CHAPTER II.
Typography and Bibliography.
Old books must be loved, and their idiosyncrasies carefully studied, before they will yield up all their treasures; that done, the observant lover will obtain possession of both soul and body; he may revel in the intellectual feast provided by the author, or he may study the material and mechanical features of the books as represented by the peculiarities of paper and the habits and customs of the various printers. Then, by grouping these as a botanist does his flowers, according to their organisation into classes, orders, genera, and species, he may extract from his volumes true replies to questions which otherwise would remain hidden for ever. So true is the dictum, “The Mind it is which sees, and not the Eye alone.”
Many bibliophiles, however, of education and taste have been positively blind when outside the circle of their own particular studies. So it was with the Rev. Dr. M‘Neille, a well-known critic and book-collector of sixty years ago. When addressing Dr. Dibdin he wrote thus of “The Book of St. Albans”—“This book is itself useless, and only a bon morceau for the quizzical collector.” With such feelings towards one of the most curious works which this country produced during the infancy of the printing press, it was simply impossible that the interest of its pages should be revealed to him; and however rich in divinity and editiones principes of the classics the library of the worthy doctor may have been, it is evident that our Book of St. Albans could never have been aught but an alien on his book-shelves.
The works printed by William Caxton were almost without exception in the English tongue, while the contemporary presses of Oxford, St. Albans, and Machlinia were nearly all in Latin. Of the eight books at present known to have been printed at St. Albans, the only two in English were the “Fructus Temporum” and the work under review. The “Fructus” or St. Albans’ Chronicle is the same as that printed two years previously by Caxton, with the addition of certain ecclesiastical events and Papal chronology, probably added by the printer himself to please the monks.
The Book of St. Albans’ and the St. Albans’ Chronicle make a class of themselves; but as it is impossible to understand their position without a glance at the other works from the same press, we will give a tabulated description of the whole eight.
| BOOKS PRINTED AT ST. ALBANS IN FIFTEENTH CENTURY. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title of Book. | Language. | Size. | Date of Printing. | No. of Printed Leaves. | Type. | Size of Printed Page. | Signatures. | Printed Initials. | Ink. | Device. | Woodcuts. | Lines in Page. | |
| 1 | Augustini Dacti elegancie | Latin | 4to | n. d. | 18 | 1 | 5¾ × 3½ | none | none | black | none | none | 36 |
| 2 | Laur: de Saona Rhetorica nova | Latin | 4to | 1480 | 81 | 2–1 | 5¾ × 3½ | signed | none | black | none | none | 24 |
| 3 | Alberti quest. de modo Significandi | Latin | 4to | 1480 | 46 | 3–1 | 5¾ × 3½ | signed | none | black | none | none | 32 |
| 4 | Joan: Canonici Quest. sup. Phys. Arist. | Latin | fol. | 1481 | 174 | 3 | 8 × 5 | signed | none | black | none | none | 44 |
| 5 | Exempla sacre scripture | Latin | 4to | 1481 | 83 | 3 | 5¾ × 3½ | signed | none | black | none | none | 32 |
| 6 | Ant. Andreæ super Logica Aristotelis | Latin | 4to | 1482 | 335 | 3 | 5¾ × 3½ | signed | none | black | none | none | 32 |
| 7 | Chronicles of England | Engl. | fol. | 1483? | 295 | 2 | 8 × 5 | every leaf signed | yes | black & red | with | yes | 32 |
| 8 | The Book of St. Albans | Engl. | fol. | 1486 | 88 | 2–4 | 8 × 5 | signed | yes | black & red | with | yes | 32 |
But who was the printer? What was his name? Was he associated with the great Abbey? and is there any internal or external evidence in his works to connect him with any other printer or any other town?
The only notice we have of the printer is an accidental one by Wynken de Worde, who, in reprinting the St. Albans’ Chronicle, says in the colophon, “Here endith this present Chronicle ... compiled in a book and also enprinted by our sometime Schoolmaster of St. Alban.” He was a schoolmaster, then, and this will account for the nature of his early works, all scholastic and all in Latin. Not till the end of his typographical career did he realise the fact that the printing press, instead of being the hobby of a few learned men, was the educator of the people, the whole nation; and then he gave his countrymen what they wanted—a history of their own country and a book upon the whole (secular) duty of the gentleman, as then understood.
The name of the schoolmaster-printer is quite unknown. No notice of him is found in the records of the Abbey, nor does he appear in any contemporary document. Yet here, as in Mistress Barnes’s case, imagination has come to the rescue and a legendary name has been provided.
Finding that the Prologue to the Book of Hawking began with the words, “Insomuch as gentle men and honest persons have great delight in Hawking;” finding also that the St. Alban’s Chronicle from the same press began thus: “Insomuch as it is necessary;” and bearing in mind that certain old authors had veiled their names in the first words of their works, Dr. Chauncy arrived at the sagacious conclusion that the St. Albans printer wished to veil his name, which really was “Insomuch.” The joke, for it almost seems like one, does not bear even the scrutiny which itself invites, for although the schoolmaster uses the words in two other places, in neither case are they at the beginning of a chapter.[[4]] It should be added that in this the worthy historian of Hertfordshire only followed the lead of both Bale and Pits.
[4]. On sig. a j recto of “Cote Armour” is “Insomuch as all gentleness comes of God;” and upon sig. b iij verso is “Insomuch that in the fifth quadrat,” &c. The use of the word in these cases could have no veiled meaning, and it was probably only a peculiarity of diction which had become a habit with the schoolmaster.
Was he connected with the Abbey? I think not. There is not a word to suggest such a connection, although we may take it for granted that the Abbot and his fraternity could not have frowned upon the printer, or he would never have established himself. His imprints all mention the town of St. Albans, but never the Abbey, and his position was probably similar to that of Caxton, who was simply a tenant of the Abbot of Westminster, but, so far as is known, nothing more.
Was he connected with Caxton and the Westminster press? Without a shadow of doubt I say, No! Mr. E. Scott, of the MS. department in the British Museum, has indeed strung together a number of surmises to show that the Schoolmaster was employed by Caxton, and that all the books without date or place hitherto attributed to Westminster were really printed at St. Albans. But internal evidence is against any such gratuitous assumption. There is nothing in common between the two printers in any of their habits or customs except the possession of Caxton’s No. 3 type. This is the only one of Caxton’s types used outside his own office (for W. de Worde, his successor in house and business, must not be regarded as a separate printer). Caxton employed it from his arrival in England in 1477 till 1484, when it makes its last appearance in the headings of “Æsop,” the “Order of Chivalry,” and “The Golden Legend.” In 1485 Caxton obtained a new fount, similar in shape and character, and from that time the old No. 3 disappears to make way for the new and smaller type No. 5. This being more suited to the taste of the day, we find the larger and worn fount passing over to the country press of St. Albans, where the Schoolmaster first uses it in 1486, being the identical year in which its successor appears in Caxton’s “Royal Book.” We may here observe that after the stoppage of the St. Albans’ Press the same fount finds its way back again and is seen in W. de Worde’s reprint, in 1496–97, of the two English St. Albans books. But the discovery of a copy of Caxton’s Boethius in the old Grammar School at St. Albans, and the numerous fragments of old books extracted from its covers, are quoted as confirming the idea. Yet the book itself and all these fragments were from Westminster, not a single one being from a known St. Albans book, and they included the Caxton “Chronicles,” 1480, the “Dictes,” 1477, and the still earlier “Life of Jason;” so that we had better at once remove the whole Westminster press, dated and undated, to St. Albans, if such an argument is to have any force. These fragments, indeed, can only point to the fact that the copy of Boethius was bound in the printing office, as was commonly the case with the books from Caxton’s press.
Again, Mr. Scott draws attention to the fact that a page of the St. Albans’ Book, 1486, has been copied by a contemporary writer on to the blank leaves of one of Caxton’s earliest books. ’Tis true; but this copying of part of one book into another, printed ten years before, has no typographical bearing whatever. Lastly, the name Causton appears in an old St. Albans’ Register of the early part of the fifteenth century. But this, again, means positively nothing. Caxton’s name was not at all uncommon; there were Caustons or Caxtons in nearly every English county, and I have quite a long list of them.
It is highly probable that Caxton, while at Westminster, in the van of all the literature of his day, would have communications of some sort with the important town of St. Albans; but that the two printers assisted one another in the production of books, is, so far as any evidence goes, a pure fiction.
Let us now glance at the bibliographical aspect of the book.
The work itself has no title. It is difficult in our time, accustomed as we are to “teeming millions” of books, each with its own title-page, to conceive a period when the press sent out works without even the shadow of a title-page. Before the invention of printing, the author simply headed his first page with the name of the work, as “Here begins the Confessio Amantis,” or “Hic incipit Parvus Catho,” and, without preface or more ado, the text commenced. Sometimes even this little notification was omitted, and, as in Caxton’s “Jason,” “The Chess Book,” “Tulle,” and many other fifteenth-century books, the subject of the work had to be learned by reading the text. So it is with the book now under review; it comprises four distinct works, but to one only is there any heading, and that has the bare line “Incipit liber armorum.” The first, “The Book of Hawking,” starts straight off—“This is the manner to keep Hawks,” and occupies three signatures, a, b, and c, of eight leaves each, and sig. d, which has but four leaves, on purpose that this portion might be complete alone, if so desired. The same idea controlled the arrangement of “The Book of Hunting,” which, beginning on sig. e j, ends with Dame Juliana’s “Explicit” on the recto of sig. f iiij. This left the last seven pages of the quaternion to be filled up. Now it was a common practice, both with the scribes and with the early printers, when they got to the end of their text and found that a page or two of blank paper was left, to occupy the blank pages with such common household aphorisms or popular rhymes as came easily to the memory, or were at hand in some other book. So here the schoolmaster-printer fills up his vacant pages with a number of odd sentences and rhymes, most of which occur over and over again in numerous manuscripts of early poetry. Among others we notice the well-known:—
“Arise erly,
serue God deuouteli,
and the world besily.”
&c. &c.
Also the folks proverb:—
“Too wyues in oon hous,
Too cattys and oon mous,
Too dogges and oon boon,
Theis shall neū accorde oon.”
Then the list of proper terms to be used by gentlemen and those curious in their speech is of very common occurrence:—
“An herde of Hertis
An herde of all mañ dere
A pride of Lionys
A sleuth of Beeris.”
&c. &c.
This was evidently copied from some MS., and ends with “¶ Explicit,” and nothing more. On the next page we have the proper terms for carving or dismembering beasts, fowls, and fishes, followed on the last leaf by a list of bishoprics and provinces.
Having thus filled up all his leaves, the printer begins his third subject on a fresh signature, and introduces the “Liber Armorum” with the Preface (already printed). A long work on the “Blasing of Arms” follows, beginning on sig. c j, and ending on sig. f 10.
This is extremely interesting, both in matter and in the very rude woodcut representations of armorial bearings with which the text is profusely illustrated. Except in one or two cases of uncommon tints, these are all colour-printed, as are the initials to paragraphs. In the Grenville copy, the pressman having forgotten to roll the “forme,” the initials all appear in that semi-tinted state which would be the natural result of such an omission. We notice, too, that where the coats of arms require, say, three colours on one page, then the initials are also in three colours; but if only one colour is required for the arms, only one colour, and that the same, is used for the initials. Occasionally, where a peculiar colour was necessary, a brush was used to insert that tint by hand.
In workmanship the St. Albans printer, especially in the English books, is much inferior to the contemporary issue from the Westminster press. The types are worse, the arrangement worse, the presswork worse, and the ink worse. From this point of view alone, the theory that he would print for Caxton so much better than he did for himself, is not worth serious consideration.
The Book of St. Albans went through many editions, particulars of which are difficult to obtain.
1486. The Boke of St. Albans (Brit. Mus.). 149–. By Wynken de Worde “at the sygne of the Sonne.” 1496. By Wynken de Worde (Brit. Mus.). 15—. By W. Powell. “Imprinted at London in Fletestrete at the sygne of George next to saynt Dunston’s Church by Wyllyam Powell.” 15—. By W. Copland. “Imprinted at London in Flete Street at the sygne of the Rose Garlande by Wylliam Copland for Richard Tottell” (Brit. Mus.). 15—. By W. Copland. “In Lothebury” 4to. 15—. By W. Copland. “In saynt Martyns parish in the Vinetre uppon the three crane wharfe.” 1548? By W. Copland. “Imprynted at London in the Vyentre vppon the thre Craned Wharfe by Wyllyam Copland.” 1550. By W. Powell. “Hawkynge Huntynge and Fishynge.” 8vo. London.
How did the schoolmaster at St. Albans obtain his types? This is a puzzling question in the present state of palæotypography. Mr. Bradshaw of Cambridge has, by unwearied study of early printed books, thrown great light upon the connection and genealogy of numerous founts used by fifteenth-century printers, and systematic attention to the minute peculiarities of each printer is doubtless the only way in which those old books can be forced to yield up their secrets; but the task is immense, and beyond the powers of any one man to complete. Some day, however, when the palæotypography of this country, as well as of the Continental presses, shall have received that full technical and philosophical analysis which time is sure to bring, the more fortunate bibliographer of the future will be able with certainty to track the footsteps and operations of the early typefounders, and will be enabled to state for certain to what extent Caxton and the St. Albans printer were their own typefounders, and to what extent and to whom they looked for outside help. As the case now stands, we can only confess our ignorance of where the St. Albans types came from.
CHAPTER III.
The Subjects Treated.
In the rude civilisation of the fifteenth century, a year’s experience of which would send most of us to our graves, the mental occupation as well as the bodily recreation of our ancestors was almost confined to hunting and hawking. “Fishing with an Angle” came in as a bad third, being too tame a pursuit for men who were no men if not men of war. Mimic war—war on the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air—war which could be pursued in times of peace, and which yet required knowledge, patience, fortitude, and courage—this had great attractions, and we cannot wonder at the general popularity of these pursuits.
The first treatise in the following reprint is upon Hawking, a pastime essentially aristocratic from the great expense it entailed in the purchase, breeding, and maintenance of the birds. This, indeed, coupled with the diminution of game consequent on the progress of civilisation and the increase of the population, led to the gradual decadence of the sport, and nearly to its extinction in the eighteenth century, although, in very rare cases, falconry is even now practised.
As we have seen, one of the most difficult objects in hawking was to obtain an easy command of the proper vocabulary, and so at first start our author instructs us in “The manner to speak of Hawks, from the egg.” We must not say a young hawk is hatched, but ‘disclosed;’ they do not breed but “eyer;” it was a want of culture in any falconer to say that hawks were building their nest, they “timbered” it. When the young could first leave the nest they were “Bowesses,” and when they could fly they were “Branchers,” and then was the time to catch and train them.
When the young were caught, which was with nets, the first thing was to “ensile” them, that is, to “take a needle and thread and sew up the eyelids,” so that they “see never a dele.” After a night and a day the threads were cut softly for fear of breaking the “lyddis of the ighen,” then they were fed with well-washed flesh, but kept awake the next night and day, after which they were supposed to be tame, or “reclaimed.”
The various diseases to which Hawks are liable are then explained, and medicines prescribed for them. Some of these are very absurd and some contradictory. Then comes a variety of terms for every movement and habit, for every limb or part of the body, and for almost every feather in the plumage. In this minute description the author begins at the feet of the bird and so works upwards, as when “Knyghttis been harnesside.”
Next we are instructed how important it is to be careful of the manner of guiding the Hawk the first time it is ready to “nomme a partridge;” how to reward her by giving her the head and neck, after which on no account is she to fly again till she has “rejoiced,” i.e., sharpened her beak and shaken her feathers. More medicines follow, among which is how to get rid of “lies” (lice). “Take a piece of rough blanket and hold it to the fire till it is quite hot; wrap the hawk therein, and without hurting hold her ‘softely and stylly’ in your hands, and all the vermin will creep into the cloth.” A happy thought this!
The “Gesse,” or strip of leather by which the Hawk is held when carrying her on the hand, is next described, together with the creance or long line. More medicines still, and then how to treat Hawks when “in mew,” or moulting, a matter of great importance. To promote “mewing” give the flesh of a kid, a young swan, and especially rats flesh; stewed adders are also strongly recommended, or chickens which have been fed upon wheat soaked in broth of vipers.
Gout seems a common disease in various parts of the Hawk’s body, which may be known by swelling and “ungladness;” also rheum and fever and blains and agrum, which last is cured by a red-hot silver needle thrust into the nostrils. Botches in the jaw should be “kutte with a knyfe.” More terms follow for various habits and actions, the last paragraph being upon the variety of Bells used for Hawks. There should be two, one a “semytoyn” (semitone) below the other. “The Bells of Melen (Milan?) were the best, but,” says the author, “there be now used Dutchland bells, of a town called durdright (Dordrecht), and they be passing good, sonowre (sonorous) of ringing in shrillness, and well lasting.”
The whole ends with a list of various species of Hawks and their appropriateness to the various stations of life, among which are—
An Eagle for an Emperor.
A Gerfalcon for a King.
A Peregrine for an Earl.
A Merlyon for a Lady.
A Goshawk for a Yeoman.
A Sparehawk for a Priest.
A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
The second treatise is upon Hunting, and has a short preface, which probably came, like the first, from the pen of the Schoolmaster.
The work is all in metre, and evidently intended for boys to learn by heart. It begins by telling “my dere chylde” the various kinds of beast to be hunted; the changes of name they take as they grow older; the variety of horns; how to skin and dismember; the various cries and noises to be used; the seasons of hunting various beasts.
Then follow instructions how to hunt the Hare, and what to say to the hounds, who must always be addressed in French, as “arere!” when he enters the kennel-door; “this is the first word, my son, of venery.” “Sa sa cy auaunt,” “Sweff mon amy sweff,” and other similar cries are noted down, some to be shouted twice only and some thrice, the chief cry being “So how.” The knowledge of when and how often these cries should be used was most important, as their proper use would bring “worship among all men.” Here, apparently, in the midst of one essay, another is interpolated, and we are treated to a portion of some old dialogue like “The Master of the Hunt,” in which the “Man” asks all sorts of questions and the “Master” replies. It might indeed be dubbed “The Hunter’s Catechism.” This occupies eight pages, and then we fall back upon the original rhyme again and the instructions of the Dame to “my childe,” ending with the “Explicit” of Dam Julyans Barnes. Some leaves remaining to be filled up, the moral and other sentences, as already described at page 21, were added.
Perhaps the third treatise upon Coat Armour and the Blason of Arms is the most interesting portion of the book. The quaintness of some of the explanations is very amusing, and many people will find more points of sympathy, both historical and technical, with this than with the others.
The headline, “Incipit Liber Armorum,” gives us at once the title of the manuscript from which the text was compiled. “Heraldry Run Mad” might indeed have been an appropriate title for this, as well as all similar tractates; for the author, in his anxiety to honour the science, does not scruple to take the reader back historically not to Noah only, but to Adam, whose spade, he tells us, was the first shield in Heraldry, and who was the first to bear Coat Armour. The argument, if it may so be called, is:—All “gentilnes” comes from God; there were originally in heaven ten Orders of Angels bearing Coat Armour, but now only nine, Lucifer with “mylionys of aungelis” having fallen out of heaven into hell and other places. As a bondman might say that all men come from Adam, so might Lucifer say he and his angels came from heaven.
Cain, for his wickedness, was the first churl, and all his offspring were churls also by the curse of God. Seth, on the other hand, was a gentleman by his father’s blessing; Noah, too, was a gentleman by nature, but of his three sons, “Sem, Cham, and Jafeth,” Cham, for his unfilial conduct, was made “ungentle.” The address of Noah to his three sons is curious, and is thus supplemented:—
“Of the offspring of the gentleman Japhet came Abraham, Moses Aaron, and the prophets, and also the King of the right line of Mary, of whom that gentleman Jesus was born, very God and man, after his manhood King of the land of Judah and of Jews, a gentleman by his mother Mary, and Prince of Coat Armour.”
Some say that Coat Armour began at the siege of Troy, but it was of far greater antiquity than that, and was founded upon the nine Orders of Angels, who were crowned each with a diadem of precious stones—the Topaz (truth), Smaragdus (hardihood), Amethyst (chivalry), Loys (powerful), Ruby (courageous), Sapphire (wisdom), Diamond, a black stone (durable), Carbuncle (doughty and glorious). These represent Gentleman, Squire, Knight, Baron, Lord, Earl, Marquis, Duke, and Prince. Here we probably have the origin of the shape of various crowns and coronets. Everything is treated in nines, and the nine virtues and nine vices of gentleness follow, with nine rejoicings, nine articles that every knight should keep, and nine manner of gentlemen, in which we learn that the Evangelists and Apostles were all gentlemen of the right line of that worthy conqueror, Judas Machabeus, who in course of time had fallen to labour, and so were not called gentlemen. The four doctors of the Church—St. Jerome Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory—were also gentlemen of blood and of Coat Armour. There are nine differences of Coat Armour and nine quadrats, all of which are explained. The “Blasyng of Arms” comes next, the preface to which is by the author, and not by the printer. It begins with the varieties of the Cross as borne in arms, each being illustrated by a rude woodcut printed in its proper colours, and the blason, or technical description of each is given in Latin, French, and English. All varieties of arms follow, with the mysteries of bends, engrail, borders, chequers, balls, cakes, rings, &c., offering but little which can be quoted, but forming an interesting and useful book of reference.
CHAPTER IV.
Philology.
There is a strongly marked individuality in the spelling throughout all the treatises in this work. If the Hunting rhymes belong to Dam Julyans, their orthography, like the prose portions, is that of the Schoolmaster, who appears to have been a North-countryman, many words leading to that conclusion. The formation of the plural by adding the letters “is” or “ys” strikes the attention at once. Thus the plural of bells is bellis; egg, eggis; vetch, fetchis; fulmert, fulmertis; hawk, hawkys; herd, herdys; person, personys, and so on. The change of a y at the end of a word to an i is common, as onli, softeli, unthrefti; and for if; algate; awth for all the; bowke; chylder; clepit; clees; knaw; ken; yowre; and many others are Northern. As might be expected, many Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman words now obsolete are found, such as benymme, blynne, byzete, canell, clepit, colver, dagon, gobbit, kawe, kydde, liggen, merde, nasethrils, nym,[[5]] raton, and many others.
[5]. In the slang of thieves to steal is to nim at this day.
The following vocabulary will show the chief words in which peculiarity of spelling or dialect are noticeable:—
alfe, half
algate, always
and, used for “if”
appillis, apples
arn, are
assone, as soon
awntelere, antler
awth, aught
awth, all the
barris, bars
beestys, beasts
beke, beak
bellis, bells
bene, be
benymme, take away
blynne, to cease
boon, bone
bodi, body
bowellis, bowels
bott, but
bottre, butter
bowke, crooked
bridde, bird
broght, brought
bysprenged, sprinkled
byzete, gain
calt, called
calde, called
cattis flesh, cat’s flesh
canell, cinnamon
callish, call (imper.)
chycon, chick
chykynnes, chickens
chooce, choice
chylder, children
clepit, called
cloos, close
communeli, commonly
commythe, cometh
cowntenansis, countenances
coluer, a dove
colode, cold
cogh, cough
contenyt, contained
cowples, couples
croampe, cramp
currage, courage
cum, cumme, come
dais, days
dagon, a piece
dayses, daisies
deeil, a portion
defawte, default
diueris, divers
dookes, ducks
doon, do
doys, does
echeon, each one
ech, each
eeg, egg
eegis, eggs
ellis, else
elis, eels
errabull, arable
eseli, easily
eueri, every
euerose, rosewater
euyn, eeuen, even
eyre, air
eygh, eyghen, eye, eyes
febulness, feebleness
fechens, stoats
faukeneris, falconers
feederis, federes, feathers
fetchis, vetches
feldis, fields
fosterys, foresters
folowys, follows
flee, flay
forder, further
forrgeet, forget
fostewt, fost
fowrith, fourth
fulmertis, polecats
gedder, gather
glayre, white of an egg
gobbit, piece
gres, grease
groyn, grown
gyde, guide
habull, able
hawkys, hawks
hawtyn, proud
hakke, hack
haare, hare
heepis, heeps
hedgis, hedges
herdys, herds
howndys, hounds
hoole, whole
hoold, holde, old
hoom, home
hudge, small
huntid, hunted
hunterys, hunters
hennys, hens
huicles oppon hir houghis
hanylon, wiles of a fox
igh, ighe, iyen, eye, eyes
ingraylyt, engrailled
inowgh, enough
ilich, alike
iren, iron
ilke, each
juse, juice
kawe, call
ken, know
knaw, knawe, know
knottis, knots
kneys, knees
kow, cow
knyue, knife
kydde, known
kyndeli, natural
kut, cut
layserly, leisurely
lew warme
leppys, leaps
leif, dear
leuer, liver
lies, lice
linne, lynne, linen
littyl, little
liggyn, lie
luke water
lyddis of the ighen, eyelids
lymayall, iron filings
looff, loaf
maake, make
mary, marrow
markeris, markers
merde, dung
medecyne, medesyn,
medlide, mingled
meele, melis, meal, meals
medill, mingle
moch, much
mony, many
mowothe, mouth
moystour, moisture
myddes, midst
mynne, mine
nasethrillis, nostrils
nares, nostrils
naamys, names
natheless, nevertheless
neppe, catmint
nettis, nets
notabull, notable
no moo, no more
nombur, number
not, a nut
nyghtis, nights
nym, nomme, take, taken
okys, oaks
onli, only
ony, honey
ones, onys, once
oouen, oven
oon, one
oppyn, open
ordenatili
owte, out
parlous, perlous, perilous
pennyd, feathered
personys, persons
pellittis, pellets
pike, pick
proceis, process
puttith, putteth
praty, pretty
properteis, properties
quarterit, quartered
rad, ? afraid
raton, a rat
restith, resteth
rede, ready
rebuket, rebuked
roys, roes
roungeth
rowse, rouse
saauue, save
serven, sew
semytoyn, semitone
se, see
shewys, shows
slau, slow
snakys, snakes
softeli, softly
somwatt, somewhat
soore, sore
sowre, soar
soper, supper
sowkyng, sucking
sonnys, sons
spanyellis, spaniels
snakys, snakes
taake, take
takys, takes
tempur, temper
termys, termis, terms
tho, thei, they
thridde, third
theyem, them
threis, thrice
theys, thighs
togeyder, together
toon, two
tweys, twice
tymeli, timely
thredis, threads
varri rede, very red
veri, very
vnthrefti, unthrifty
vreyne, urine
warbellith, warbelleth
watt, what
weere, where
weere, weary
ware, were
wengys, wings
whaan, when
whote nat, wot not
wroght, wrought
wode, wold, would
wight, swift
woddys, woods
wylis, while
yche, each
yghes, eyes
yolow, yellow
yowre, your
yowris, yours
We have now traced the various aspects in which this curious work may be viewed. There is not one of them that would not repay much deeper study, and the reader will, doubtless, sympathise with the writer in the wish that more could be discovered concerning the schoolmaster-printer. That his pioneer attempts to establish a printing press met with many discouragements was a matter of course; and, doubtless, he had many technical, business, and even social difficulties to overcome; for a reading public had to be created and patronage was scantily afforded. Nevertheless he struggled on for at least seven years, as we learn from the dates on his books, and whatever may have been his shortcomings, either as author or as printer, the fact of his having been one of the earliest promoters in this country of the grandest discovery which the mind of man has yet made, will unite all of us in honouring the memory and respecting the name, shadowy though it be, of the “Scole mayster of St. Albon.”
William Blades.
