(To this letter no address is preserved.)
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
Page [liv]. De Regimine Principum.—Sir John Paston (temp. Edw. IV.) had a copy of this work, which formed part of a volume which he thus described in the catalogue of his library:—
"Md. my Boke of Knyghthode and the maner off makyng off knyghts, off justs, off tornaments, ffyghtyng in lystys, paces holden by soldiers and chalenges, statutes off weere, and de Regimine Principum." (Paston Letters, vol. iii p. 302.)
It is more fully described by William Ebesham, the scribe who had written the book, in his bill of accompt, which is also preserved in the same volume, p. 14:—
| "Item as to the Grete Booke. | |
| "First for wrytyng of the Coronacion and other tretys of Knyghthode in that quaire,which conteyneth a xiij. levis and more, ijd. a lefe | ijs. ijd. |
| "Item for the Tretys of Werre in iiij. books, which conteyneth lx. levis, after ijd. aleaff | xs. |
| "Item for Othea pistill, which conteyneth xliij. levis | vijs. ijd. |
| "Item for the Chalenges and the Acts of Armes, which is xxviijti. lefs | iiijs. viijd. |
| "Item for de Regimine Principum, which conteyneth xlvti. leves, after a peny a leef,which is right wele worth | iijs. ixd. |
| "Item for rubriesheyng of all the booke | iijs. iiijd. |
The "Treatise of Knighthood" here mentioned, may probably have resembled The Booke of the Ordre of Chyvalrye or Knyghthode printed by Caxton (see p. liv.); and the "Treatise of War" may have been a version of The Boke of Fayttes of Armes and of Chyvallrye, which Caxton also published from the Arbre de Batailes, &c. as before noticed in p. vi.
The "Othea pistill" was certainly the same book which passes under the name of Christine de Pisan, and which was printed at Paris by Philippe Pigouchet, in 4to, under the title of "Les cent Histoires de troye. Lepistre de Othea deesse de prudence enuoyee a lesperit cheualereux Hector de troye, auec cent hystoires." In every page of this book there is a Texte in French verse, and a Glose in prose, which agrees exactly with sir John Paston's description in his catalogue (where it appears as distinct from Ebesham's "Great Book,") in this entry,—"Item, a Book de Othea, text and glose, in quayers."