POEMS OF JOHN SEGUARD OF NORWICH.
In the Letters on the British Museum, 1767 (referred to Vol. iii., p. 208.), at p. 33. is given a short Latin poem, which the writer states he "found among the manuscripts;" and adds, "It was written by John Seward in the time of Henry V., who conquered Charles VI. of France." The poem is as follows:
"Ite per extremam Tanaim, pigrosque Triones,
Ite per arentem Lybiam, superate calores
Solis, et arcanos Nili deprendite fontes,
Herculeumque sinum, Bacchi transcurrite metas,
Angli juris erit quicquid complectitur orbis.
Anglis rubra dabunt pretiosas æquora conchas,
Indus ebur, ramos Panchaia, vellera Seres,
Dum viget Henricus, dum noster vivit Achilles;
Est etenim laudes longe transgressus avitas."
If these lines are compared with the contemporary Leonine verses in praise of Henry V., preserved in MS. Cott. Cleop. B. i. f. 173. beginning:
"Ad Salvatoris laudes, titulos et honores."
their great superiority, in point of Latinity, will be perceived, and this Query forthwith arises: Who was John Seward?
In reply to this, the following information has been collected. The name of the author was not Seward, but Seguard. He is not mentioned by Leland, but Bale calls him "insignis sui temporis rhetor ac poeta;" and states further, that in the city of Norwich, "non sine magno auditorum fructu, bonas artes ingenue profitebatur." He then gives a list of his writings, among which is a work on Prosody, entitled Metristenchiridion, addressed to Richard Courtney, Bishop of Norwich, who held the see only from Sept. 1413 to Sept. 1415, and therefore composed during that interval. He notices also a tract De miseria hominis, together with Carmina diversi generis and Epistolæ ad diversos; all of which, he says, he himself saw in manuscripts in Merton College, Oxford, and in the Royal Library of Edward VI. Pits, the next authority in point of date, chiefly follows Bale in his account of John Seguard; but adds, "Equestris ordinis in Anglia patre natus," and among his writings inserts one not specified by Bale, De laudibus Regis Henrici Quinti, versu. Tanner copies the first of these statements, yet, singular enough, omits all notice of the poem on Henry V., the very one, apparently, cited in the Letters on the British Museum. But there are further difficulties. It was natural to suppose, that the MS. seen by Bale in the Royal Library would be there still; and Tanner unhesitatingly refers to the volume marked 15 A. xxii. art. 5., as the one which contained the poem De miseria hominis, noted by Bale. On looking, however, at this manuscript, it became apparent that both Bale and Tanner are in error in ascribing this poem to Seguard. The handwriting is of the early part of the thirteenth century, and consequently full a century and a half before the Norwich poet was born! At the conclusion is this note, by the same hand:
"Hos versus, sicut nobis quidam veridicus retulit, Segardus junior de Sancto Audomaro composuit."
The writer here named is not mentioned in Fabricius, nor in the Histoire Littéraire de la France. Besides the MS. in Merton College, Oxford, referred to by Bale, which still exists there under the signature Q. 3. 1., I find another in Bernard's Catt.
MSS. Angliæ, 1697, vol. ii. p. 216., among the manuscripts of Sir Henry Langley of Shropshire, "No. 22. Jo. Segnard [read Seguard] Poemata." I would therefore close these remarks by requesting attention to the following Queries:—
1. As Blomefield is silent on the subject, is anything more known respecting the biography of John Seguard?
2. Can a list be obtained of the contents of the Merton manuscript?
3. What became of the Langley MS., and where is it at present?
4. In what manuscript of the British Museum is the poem on Henry V. contained?
F. Madden.
P.S. Since I wrote the above, I have found in the Sale Catalogue of the Towneley library, 1814, pt. i. lot 396.:
"Seguardi Opuscula. Manuscript on vellum. This volume contains several treatises not mentioned by Bale or Pits."
It was purchased by Mr. Laing for 1l. 1s. May I, therefore, add one more Query?
5. Can the present owner of this MS. (which is probably the same as the Langley copy) furnish a note of its contents?
F. M.