In addition there are some marginal notes which are not quite contemporary, as those on ff. 51 vo, 52, 76 vo, 77 (‘Contra rectores Oxon.’ &c., ‘Nota de muliere bona’ &c.), and the heading of the last piece on f. 137 seems to have been rewritten over a hand different from any of the above, of which some words remain. A few corrections are in doubtful hands, as vi. 1208.
Of the above hands the first, very regularly written in a fourteenth century character, in brown ink, probably the same as that of the Vox Clamantis in G, and the same scribe apparently wrote the lines which are supplied sometimes in the margin of H, having been dropped out of the text by the first copyist. The second (2) is also a very neat and regular hand, but of a somewhat later type. It appears in the French and Latin poems of MS. Fairfax 3, as well as in the substituted leaf at the beginning of the Confessio Amantis in that manuscript. It is also used for the Cronica Tripertita, Traitié and other pieces in the Glasgow MS. (G), for the Cron. Tripertita and other Latin pieces in H, and for some of the rewritten passages of the Vox Clamantis in G, H, and C. The third (3) is a rather rough hand, found also occasionally in corrections of G and H. The fourth (4) is that in which the same marginal note is written also in C, H and G.
G. Glasgow Hunterian Museum T. 2, 17. Contains, ff. 1-108, Vox Clamantis preceded by the Table of Chapters, ff. 109-119, Cronica Tripertita, ff. 119, 120, ‘H. aquile pullus,’ ‘O recolende,’ ‘Quia vnusquisque,’ ‘Eneidos Bucolis,’ ff. 120 vo-122, Carmen super multiplici Viciorum Pestilencia, ff. 123, 124, Tractatus de Lucis Scrutinio, f. 124 vo, Traitié pour ensampler les Amantz marietz followed by Carmen de variis in amore passionibus, f. 129, ‘Orantibus pro anima,’ with shield of arms and the lines ‘Armigeri scutum,’ and below this a bier with candle at head and foot, f. 129 vo, ‘Epistola quam Iohannes Gower in laudem ... Henrici quarti statim post coronacionem ... deuote composuit,’ f. 130 vo, ‘O deus immense,’ f. 131 vo, ‘Henrici regis,’ ‘Vnanimes esse,’ f. 132, ‘Presul, ouile regis,’ ‘Cultor in ecclesia,’ ‘Dicunt scripture,’ f. 132 vo blank.
Parchment, ff. 132 in quires of eight leaves (except the first, which has six) with catchwords, measuring 11¾ x 7¾ in., 53 lines to the page in the Vox Clamantis, then 52 or 51, regularly and well written with passages erased and rewritten as in CH. On f. 6 vo is a painting like that in the Cotton MS. of a man in a brown hat, a blue coat with brown lining, and with three arrows in his belt, shooting an arrow at the globe (which has a threefold division corresponding to the three elements of air, earth, and water), with the lines ‘Ad mundum mitto mea iacula’ &c. There is a floreated page at the beginning of Lib. i. (after the Prologue) and illuminated initials with decoration at the beginning of the other books; large and small coloured capitals for chapters and paragraphs.
I have to thank Dr. Young the Librarian of the Hunterian Museum, for facilities given to me in using this MS. and for his kind help in collating and describing it.
The text of G has, as might be expected, a close affinity with that of S, but the peculiarities of S as regards revision in certain passages, e.g. iii. 1 ff., iv. 1197 ff., are not shared by this MS., which goes here with the other revised copies, C and H. In one place at least G has a further touch of revision, viz. in the heading of vi. cap. vii., where its reading is shared by D. In a good many instances, however, G stands with S (sometimes in company with D or L) in support of a probably true reading which is not given by other MSS., as i. 465, 468, 979, 1454, iv. 72, v. 789, vii. 684, 1342, or of an error, as i. 1525, 1870, iii. 1863, iv. 799. It may be noted that sometimes in G an erasure has been made without the correction being supplied.
The following are some of the hands that may be distinguished in this manuscript:
(1) Text of the Vox Clamantis. This seems to be the same as S (1), H (2).
(2) Text of the Cronica Tripertita and succeeding pieces to f. 131 ro., passages rewritten over erasure in vi. 545 ff., 1159 ff. and in the conclusion of the Vox Clamantis. This is the same as S (2), C (3), H (3).
(3) Corrections in vi. cap. xix., vii. cap. iii. and xxiv, rewritten lines at the beginning and near the end of the Cronica Tripertita, text of the poem ‘Henrici Regis’ with its heading, f. 131. Perhaps the same as S (3).