NOTES UPON ANCIENT LIBRARIES.
A knowledge of the intellectual acquirements of the middle ages must be mainly formed upon a consideration of the writings which directed them, or emanated from them. Unfortunately such materials are very imperfect, our knowledge of the existence of works often resting only upon their place in some loosely-entered catalogue—and of the catalogues themselves, the proportion still remaining must be small indeed. Under these circumstances the following documents, which are now for the first time printed, or even noticed, will be found to be of considerable interest. The first is, in modern language, a Power of Attorney, executed by the Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury, appointing two of the monks of his church to be his procurators for the purpose of receiving from the convent of Anglesey, in Cambridgeshire[1], a book which had been lent to the late Rector of Terrington. Its precise date is uncertain, but it must be of about the middle of the thirteenth century (1244-1254), as Nicholas Sandwich, the Prior of Christ Church, was the second of four priors who presided between the years 1234 and 1274.
"N. Prior Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis discretis viris et religiosis Domino Priori de Anglesheya et ejusdem loci sacro conventui salutem in Domino. Cum sincera semper caritate noverit faternitas vestra nos constiuisse fratres Gauterum de Hatdfeld et Nicolaum de Grantebrigiense Ecclesiæ nostræ monachos latores precencium procuratores nostros ad exigendum et recipiendum librum qui intitulatur. Johannes Crisestomus de laude Apostoli. In quo etiam volumine continentur Hystoria vetus Britonum quæ Brutus appellatur et tractatus Roberti Episcopi Herfordiæ de compoto. Quæ quondam accommodavimus Magistro Laurentio de Sancto Nicholao tunc Rectori ecclesiæ de Tyrenton. Qui post decessum præfati Magistri L. penes vos morabatur et actenus moratur. In cujus rei testimonium has litteras patentes nostro sigillo signatas vobis transmittimus."
The contents of the book which is the subject of this special embassy are of the character usually found to have formed the staple of monastic libraries, though the particular treatises included in it are not common.
In the Reverend Joseph Hunter's valuable treatise upon English Monastic Libraries[2] occurs a notice of an indenture executed in A.D. 1343, whereby the priory of Henton lent no less than twenty books to another monastic establishment. The deed is described, but not printed. It will be seen that the instrument we have given above is nearly a century earlier; and the minute description of the book given in this document supplies some very curious facts illustrative of the mode of putting together ancient books, which have not hitherto been remarked, for the simple reasons that no opportunity for comparison like that presented by the present case has yet been noticed. Among the Cottonian MSS. (Galba E. iv.) is a perfect specimen of an ancient Library Catalogue, which, although not altogether unnoticed, deserves a more careful examination than it has yet received. It relates to the magnificent monastic foundation from which emanated the deed we have printed above, and is headed "Tituli librorum de libraria Ecclesiæ Christi Cantuariensis et contenta in eisdem libris tempore H. Prioris." It is written in that bold hand which prevails so extensively in ecclesiastical MSS., with but little variation, from the middle of the fourteenth century, to the end of the fifteenth,—a hand which is not always clearly written, and which therefore, in itself, does not materially assist in the distinction of a date. Now having first assigned the credit of this noble Catalogue—in which are entered about 600 volumes, in nearly every one of which, besides the substantive (or initial?) work, are particularised numerous detached writings, varying from two or three to five-and-forty distinct "tracts"—to Prior Henry Chichely (1413—1443), the founder of All Souls' and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, and who, "built the library of the church, and furnished it with books," we will see whether the book "qui intitulatur Johannes Crisestomus," &c. was returned to Canterbury, and had a place in the list;—and this, we think, is satisfactorily shown by the following entry:—
"Johannes Crisostomus de laude Apostoli.
In hoc volumine continentur
Idem de laude Redemptoris.
Brutus latine.
Nomina Regum Britanniæ sicut in ordine successerunt.
Nomina Archiepiscoporum Cantuariensis sicut in ordine successerunt.
Tabula et questiones Bede de ratione temporum.
Tabula ejusdem et expositio super tabulam de lunationibus.
Descriptio Britanniæ Insulæ.
Expositio super Merlinum, imperfecta."
It may perhaps be supposed that this proves too much, as, besides the direct title of the volume, eight "tracts" are here entered, while in the Power of Attorney only two are noticed. But we would maintain, nevertheless, that it is the identical book, and explain this variation in the description by the circumstance that the library having, in the space of nearly two centuries, been materially enriched, numerous works, consisting in many cases only of a single "quaternion," were inserted in the volumes already existing. An examination of the structure of books of this period would confirm this view, and show that their apparent clumsiness is to be explained by the facility it was then the custom to afford for the interpolation or extraction of "sheets," by a contrivance somewhat resembling that of the present day for temporarily fixing loose papers in a cover, and known as the "patent leaf-holder."
The second document is a list of certain books, belonging to the monastery of Anglesey, early in the fourteenth century, allotted out to the canons of the house for the purpose of custody, or, perhaps, of study or devotion.
"Isti libri liberati sunt canonicis die ... anno regni Regis Edwardi septimo"[3] (7 Edw. II. A.D. 1314.)
Penes Dominum Priorem; Parabelæ Salomonis; Psalterium cum ...
Penes Dominum J. de Bodek.; Epistolæ Pauli...; Quædam notulæ super psalter et liber miraculorum ... Mariæ cum miraculis sanctorum.
Penes Sub-priorem; Liber vitæ Sancti Thomæ Martiris.
Penes E. de Ely; Quartus liber sententiarum cum sermo...; Liber Reymundi; Liber de vitiis et virtutibus et pastorale.
Penes R. Pichard; Liber Alquini; Liber Johannis de Tyrington cum Catone et aliis.
Penes Henrici Muchet; Liber de vita Sanctæ Mariæ Magdalenæ et remediarum (?)
Penes Walteri de Yilwilden; Liber S ... ligatus in panno ymnaro glosatus cum constitutionibus; Belet ligatus et vita sanctorum.
Penes Ricardi de Queye; Omeliæ Gregorii (?) super Evangelistos ligatæ in nigro corio.
In commune biblia; Decreta; Decretales; Prima pars moralium Job; Liber de abusionibus.
Liber justitiæ; penes Magistrum Adam de Wilburham.
Penes Walteri de Wyth; Liber Innocentii super sacramenta cum Belet et introductione in uno volumine.
Item penes Sup-priorem; Psalterium glosatum duod fuit in custodia Magistri Henrice de Melreth.
Item aliud psalterium glosatum inpignoratum penes Isabellam Siccadona.
Several of these descriptions are highly curious; particularly the last item, which describes one of the "glossed" psalters as being "in pawn," a fact which, in itself, tells a history of the then condition of the house.
The first document, taken in connection with that referred to by Mr. Hunter would seem to establish the existence of a system of interchanging the literary wealth of monastic establishments, and thereby greatly extending the advantages of their otherwise scanty stores. Both are executed with all the legal forms used in the most important transactions, which would support the opinion of their not being special instances: but they are, in either case, curious and satisfactory evidence of the care and caution exercised by the monks in cases where their books were concerned; and one cannot but regret that when the time came that the monasterias were destined to be dissolved, and their books torn and scattered to the winds, no attention was paid to Bale's advice for the formation of "one solemne library in every shire of England."
JOSEPH BURTT
Footnote 1: [(return)]
The information given of this house by Dugdale is very scanty. It could surely be added to considerably.
Footnote 2: [(return)]
London, 1831. quarto. See also a Paper by Mr. Halliwell in>the Archæologia, xxvii. p. 455., and Sir Francis Palgrave's Introduction to Documents and Records illustrating the History of Scotland, pp. xcvi.—cxvi., for extracts from the historical chronicles preserved in the monasteries, &c.
Footnote 3: [(return)]
The formula of this date, "anno R.R.E. septimo," would at first sight be considered to refer to the preceding reign; but the list is merely a memorandum on the dorse of a completely executed instrument dated A.D. 1300, which it is highly improbable that it preceded. The style of Edward II. is often found as above, though not usually so.
PEDLAR'S SONG ATTRIBUTED TO SHAKSPERE, AND TRADITION CONNECTED WITH SHAKSPERE'S "HAMLET."
The following verses, which would form a very appropriate song for Autolycus, were arranged as a glee for three voices by Dr. Wilson about the year 1667. They are published in Playford's Musical Companion in 1673; in Warren's Collection of Glees and Catches; and in S. Webbe's Conveto Harmonico. The words were, I believe, first ascribed to Shakspere by Clark, in 1824, in his Words of Glees, Madrigals, &c.; but he has not given his authority for so doing. It has been stated that they have since been discovered in a common-place book written about Shakspere's time, with his name attached to them, and with this indirect evidence in favour of their being written by him, that the other pieces in the collection are attributed to their proper writers. The late Mr. Douce, who was inclined to believe the song to have been written by Shakspere, once saw a copy of it with a fourth verse which was shown to him by the then organist of Chichester. The poem is not included in Mr. Collier's edition of Shakspere, nor in the Aldine edition of Shakspere's Poems, edited by the Rev. A. Dyce. Perhaps if you will be good enough to insert the song and the present communication in the "NOTES AND QUERIES," some of your readers may be enabled to fix the authorship and to furnish the additional stanza to which I have referred.