p. 509, [note on 2606], for on the ferst, read on the ferste,

AN ADDITIONAL MS. OF THE ‘CONFESSIO AMANTIS’

On June 12, 1902, a very valuable manuscript of the Confessio Amantis, which had not hitherto been described, was offered for sale by Messrs. Sotheby. By the kind assistance of Dr. Furnivall, who was allowed by the auctioneers to examine the book before the sale, I am able to give the following description of it.

Fountaine MS. Contains Confessio Amantis with ‘Explicit’ (six lines), ‘Quam cinxere,’ and ‘Quia vnusquisque,’ after which ‘Deo gracias.’ Then at the end an alphabetical index to the contents of the poem. Parchment, ff. 213 (originally), 17½ × 12¼ in., neatly written in double column of 46 lines to the column, Latin summaries in the text, red: middle of the fifteenth century. Illustrated throughout with well-painted miniatures, of which there were originally 108, including pictures of the signs of the Zodiac and of the positions of the principal stars. Of these miniatures nine are missing from the book, but these have now been identified with the series of nine miniatures in the possession of Mr. A. H. Frere, which are described on p. clxvi of my Introduction. At the end of the text (f. 203) is written ‘Andw. Fountaine, 1791. Æ. 20.’

This is a very large folio, giving a fair text of the first recension. The interest of it depends upon the miniatures. In describing the illustrated New College MS. 266 I remarked that other similar copies must once have existed. In saying this I was referring to the Frere miniatures, and it is a matter of some interest to me to have been able to identify these with the nine which are missing from the Fountaine MS. The subjects of the Frere miniatures correspond duly with the places from which pictures have been cut out, and the words which in some cases have been cut away with the pictures fit in with those that remain in the MS. For example, on f. 26 a miniature has been cut out before i. 3067 (the tale of the Three Questions), the text of the Latin summary above the missing picture being cut off after the words ‘tocius perdicionis.’ The Frere miniature which relates to this tale continues the sentence, supplying the words ‘causam sua culpa ministrat’; and so also with some of the others. In some respects we can now correct our account of the Frere miniatures. The subjects of seven are correctly given in the description, but the last two represent, as we can now see, (8) Alexander and the Pirate, iii. 2363 ff., (9) Lycurgus departing with his goods from Athens, vii. 2917 ff. The book was bought by Mr. Quaritch for £1550, certainly the highest price ever paid for a Gower manuscript.

G. C. M.

CONFESSIO AMANTIS[24a]

P. i. 1

i. Torpor, ebes sensus, scola parua labor minimusque

Causant quo minimus ipse minora canam: