In a Bible written in England, in the British Museum, there is a long colophon, in which, after the name of the writer—“hunc librum scripsit Wills de Hales,”—there is a prayer for Ralph of Nebham, who had called Hales to the writing of the book, followed by a date—“Fes. fuit liber anno M.cc.i. quarto ab incarnatione domini.” In this Bible the books of the New Testament were in the following order:—the Evangelists, the Acts, the Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S. John, the Epistles of S. Paul, and the Apocalypse. In a Bible at Brussels I found the colophon after the index:—“Hic expliciunt interpretationes Hebrayorum nominum Do gris qui potens est p. süp. omia.” Some of these Bibles are of marvellously small dimensions. The smallest I ever saw was at Ghent, but it was very imperfect. I have one in which there are thirteen lines of writing in an inch of the column. The order of the books of the New Testament in Bibles of the thirteenth century is usually according to one or other of the three following arrangements:—
(1.) The Evangelists, Romans to Hebrews, Acts, Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S. John, Apocalypse.
(2.) The Evangelists, Acts, Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S. John, Epistles of S. Paul, Apocalypse. This is the most common.
(3.) The Evangelists, Acts, Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S. John, Apocalypse, and Epistles of S. Paul.
On the fly leaves of these old Bibles there are often very curious inscriptions. In one I have this:—“Hæc biblia emi Haquinas prior monasterii Hatharbiensis de dono domini regis Norwegie.” Who was this King of Norway who, in 1310, gave the Prior of Hatherby money to buy a Bible, which was probably written at Canterbury? And who was Haquinas? His name has a Norwegian sound, and reminds us of St. Thomas of that surname. In another manuscript I have seen:—
“Articula Fidei:—
Nascitur, abluitur, patitur, descendit at ima
Surgit et ascendit, veniens discernere cuncta.”
In another this:—
“Sacramenta ecclesiæ:—
Abluo, fumo, cibo, piget, ordinat, uxor et ungit.”
I will conclude these notes on MS. Bibles with the following colophon from a copy written in Italy in the fifteenth century:—
“Finito libro vivamus semper in Christo—
Si semper in Christo carebimus ultimo leto.
Explicit Deo gratias; Amen. Stephanus de
Tantaldis scripsit in pergamo.”