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The first part contains: 1) In primis post librum Elucidarij ... ; 2) Sermon of St Anselm: Ad interioris hominis custodiam; 3) Prologus beati Ieronimi presbiteri de nativitate beate Marie virginis et de vita eiusdem virginis; 4) notes on the Assumption, St John, Julian the Apostate, Theophilus, and stories of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Christ; 5) two quatrains: on the beauty of women and on the Fall; 6) brief notes on wine, long measure, a Christian death, and weights, measures and coins; 7) Liber Ricardi de Hampole de aedificatione spirituale (or: De emendatione peccatoris); 8) miscellaneous short tracts and notes, including: on the decalogue and the plagues of Egypt, on sins and confession, on the cross, on Judas, on King Charles of France and St Giles, etc.; 9) Abbathia de spiritu sancto; 10) extracts on diet and medicines; 11) De expositione iiiior partium anni [a forecast of the year depending on which day of the week Christmas day falls upon]; 12) brief notes on Adam, sin and the church, the character of a priest, and Pope John 22nd.

Sermons on the saints, by a Benedictine monk, containing: 1) a prologue, followed by sermons on 2) John the Baptist; 3) SS. Peter and Paul; 4) St Mary Magdalene; 5) St Peter; 6) St Mary; 7) The Cross; 8) In dedicacione; 9) St Victor (with indications that the author is a monk of St Victor at Paris); 10) All SS.; 11) St Martin; 12) St Andrew; 13) St Nicholas; 14) St Mary; 15) In Nat. Domini; 16) O quam pulchra; 17) St Benedict; 18) The armour of God; 19) St Mary; 20) Angels (incipit: circa rerum cardinem versamur); 21) Narrat divina hystoria quod Tobyas ... 22) Samson. There follow briefer notes, then "In pasca" and "Sermo in ieiunio", a sermon on the Assumption of St Mary, and more miscellaneous short sermons. At the end is a quatrain with English glosses.

A legal formulary; M. R. James's no. 18. Spine title: Forma Compositionum Cartarum Obligacionum Acquietanciarum Indenturarum Libellorum et Appellacionum cum aliis pro studio Abbatis. Includes wills dated 1399 and 1403. The first quire is missing. The flyleaves come from one or two unfinished musical service-books (14-15C), one leaf containing antiphons for the feast of the Assumption.

A medical miscellany; M. R. James's no. 43. Contains: 1) notes of apothecaries' weights; 2) a Latin treatise on materia medica, chiefly taken from Isidore and Pliny; 3) Liber de infirmitatis et venenis; 4) accounts of various substances; 5) De passionibus oculum; 6) a treatise De urinis, in English; 7) Secreta mulierum, in English; 8) Materia medica, in English, followed by notes on plants and on "makyng of oyles"; 9) Dicta ypocracii; 10) a series of short passages, mostly in English: De quatuor infirmitatibus corperum, On the nine pulses, To wete & to knowe the veynes of blode letynge, On the pure complexions, De numeris ossium; 11) a treatise by John of Burdews [also de Burgall] "for medysyn ageyn the pestlens evylle" of 1390; 12) a Latin tract on medicines. Recipes appear passim. The flyleaves contain records of legal cases.

Selections from Augustine: M. R. James's no. 49. Contains: 1) Augustinus super Genesim ad literam libri xii (ff. 1-99); 2) Augustinus de gratia novi testamenti (ff. 100-123; at f. 100 an initial has been cut out); 3) Prologus ex libro primo retractatus S. Augustini (f. 124); 4) Liber S. Augustini ad Honoratum de utilitate credendi (ff. 125-140); 5) Sermo S. Augustini de laude karitatis, incipit: Divinarum scripturarum mulitplicem (ff. 141-42); 6) An untitled tract, incipit: (O)mnis diuina scriptura circa triplicem intellectum, ends imperfectly (ff. 143-47).

On the first leaf is an introductory statement describing Lyde's career, his residence in Palestine and death in 1860. The mss. received by bequest were listed by Major Grant Stephen of St Catherine's College. The list that follows (2 pp.) is headed: "List of Oriental books presented to college by Rev S Lyde Oct. 1858."; a note at the end says that it was drawn up by Grant Stephen for G. E. Corrie.

Decretals newly glossed; M. R. James's no. 1. Contains: (1) decretals of Gregory XI in five books, with a prologue; (2) a canon law tract in a different and later hand (from an Italian source, SC), with references to the former and incipit: Legitur in Ezechiele venter tuus comedet et viscera tua implebuntur. The first words of the gloss are missing ("but can be supplied from no. 6 [Q.A.6] - In huius libri principii quinque precipere sunt prenotanda …" SC). At the beginning are two flyleaves from a later ms., containing two extracts from the Ottobian Constitutions and one from the Clementine.

John Chrysostom's Homilies on Matthew; M. R. James's no. 10. There is an interruption to the text at sig. Q5b (Homiliy 55). James terms the writing "ugly and the initials of the plainest". At each end are four 15C leaves of advent music.

Writings of saints Ambrosius and Jerome; M. R. James's no. 27. Probably English work. Contains: (1) Liber ualde utilium preceptorum atque consiliorum de libris officiorum Beatissimi pape [erased] Ambrosii mediolanensis collectus; (2) Liber S. Jeronimi presbyteri contra Iovinianum; (3) Liber beati Ambrosii Mediolanensis episcopi de misteriis sine iniciandis; (4) Sermo primus de sacramentis ambrosii. Includes, at the front, a 15C list of herbs and a recipe in English.

A transcript of an inquiry into the Porteous Riots

Endorsed "thesis by Dr Pearce"

Two chronicles; M. R. James's no. 58. Contains: 1) the Scala chronica of Thomas Gray [d. 1369], down to the death of Henry III (1272), in French prose, imperfect at the beginning; 2) a Latin chronicle starting from 1042 and ending, imperfectly, with the death of Simon de Montfort [1265] - an extract from the Annals of Waverley, a Cistercian house near Farnham, Surrey. The last quire is misbound.

A collection including "De fide et legibus" by William of Paris; M. R. James's no. 59. Contains: 1) In principio librorum biblie et quot capita quibus libris continentur; 2) Meditacio cuiusdam sapientis de custodia interioris hominam; 3) Notule excerptae de diversis Doctoribus [inc. one from Ricardus heremita de Alvernia Episc.]; 4) Willelmus Parisiensis de fide et legibus, in 5 books; 5) Dialogus de deo et anima ex Trismegisto (incipit: Asclepius iste pro solo); 6) extract: anime non ex traduce procreantur; 7) Confessio Joh. Wickliff de sacramento altaris; 8) extract: Omnes debemus laudare dominum; 9) De sacerdotum begligentia in divinis officiis celebrandis; 10) Excerpta e Patribus de oratione; 11) 'Alureudus' (Ailred of Rievaulx), De anima; 12) Tractatus de mundo fugiendo; 13) extracts: de peccato originale. In the binding are two double leaves of a 13C psalter with parts of Psalms 88-142.

Bible; M. R. James's no. 11. Finely written and illuminated. James gives a detailed list of subjects of the historiated initials at the head of the books; his collation lists some mutilations and losses.

William Lambarde's transcription (1565) of books 4-8 of Henry of Huntingdon's "Historia Anglorum"; with a work said to be Gervase of Tilbury's "De necessariis scacarii observatiis", actually the "Dialogue of the Exchequer" by Richard Fitzsimon

Priscian's "De grammatica libri xvi" and "De accentibus" (by Priscianus Caesariensis), the latter ending imperfectly; M. R. James's no. 28. Includes a few later leaves, decorated initials and, at the start, a Greek alphabet matched against numerals. The margins bear many pointing hands and sketches of faces.

Customary of the Carthusian order; M. R. James's no. 12. In three sections. The main text is preceded by a table of and note on reading the statutes and followed by extracts on disputed points (1494-1517).

A medical compendium; M. R. James's no. 60. Contains: 1) an index of diseases; 2) Prognostics of Hippocrates; 3) Recipes - balsamum, aqua aromatica; 4) contents table to 5) a medical compendium, arranged alphabetically; 6) recipes in English and Latin; 7) Practica Mag. Bernardi de villa nova Cathalani; 8) Tractatus brevis et utilis Bernardi de Gordonio; 9) verses on medicine; 10) two indexes; 11) recipes. Some scribbles on the final flyleaf include a little Greek.

Extracts from the constitutions of Clement V', made up of "De summa trinitate et fide catholica R. Clemens vus" and "De rescript. R. - Abbates aut alii religiosi"; M. R. James's no. 29. Colophon: "Nomen scriptoris est thomas plenus amoris/ Iste liber constat Petro de Abyngdon/ Stephano". James notes that Thomas "plenus amoris", probably translatable as "Fullalove", is a name that commonly appears in Oxford mss.

By John Ashton

Sermons on the Virgin and saints; M. R. James's no. 13. Contains: (1) sermons on the Virgin, the second of which contains English verses and a story about an image in Cyclopes, India; (2) sermons on the saints from St Andrew to St Katherine, numbered 62 to 126; (3) "sermones de tempore", numbere from 1 to 53 and followed by a table; (4) a sermon in single lines, in another hand; (5) sermons in double columns of 49 lines, foliated from 1 to 33, incipit: Reuertar in principio cum Tobia; (6) sermons in another hand, 43 lines to a page, foliated 34 to 149; (7) a table to this last set of sermons.

Rule of St Benedict; M. R. James's no. 6. Contains: 1) flyleaves ff. 1-8 made up of parts of 15C Durham account rolls; 2) table to the following; 3) Regula S. Benedicti; 4) appendix in another hand; 5) a table to no 7); 6) Articuli super quibus in visitacione foret inquisicio facenda ("in a later hand"); 7) a tract headed "C.R.D.A.", known as Liber "Abbas vel prior", in 20 chapters with a prologue; 8) another table; 9) a circular letter from a gaggle of abbots to the Benedictines of England; 10) similar from the Abbot of St Albans; 11) Rubrica de modo et forma procedendi in eleccione ... ; 12) an explanation of the system of Arabic numerals; 13) a note: Utrum liceat prelato absque consensu sui conventus observanciarum dispensaciones sive mutaciones facere.

Wycliffite texts, principally Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (imperfect), in English; M. R. James's no. 30. The first volume contains: 1) an unidentified fragment, imperfect at both ends; 2) "xii capituli" [12 chapters], imperfect at the start; 3) Bernardus de dignitate clericorum; 4) De uita b. M. virginis [incipit: "Circa uirginem uero ex qua incarnacio facta fuit"]; 5) "Incipiunt quedam miracula de S. Maria"; 6) Hic incipiunt meditaciones de passione. Both 5) and 6) are in a 15C hand. The second volume contains the Gospels of Saints Matthew, Mark and Luke, in a small hand of early 15C date, ending at the 9th chapter of Luke, verse 24.

Bede on Genesis and "on Exodus"; M. R. James's no. 14. Two separate works, in different hands of similar date. Item (2) is Bede's "De tabernaculo"; it ends abruptly while discussing Exodus 26. James judged the writing "beautiful"; there is a fine decorated initial at f. 1v. Attached to the binding at the beginning and end are partially erased leaves from another copy of Bede on Genesis, of about the same date.

Bede's Martyrology; M. R. James's no. 31. At the front are some 14-15C calendar notes, with one folio missing. The Martyrology is followed by: 1) a form of cursing sacrilegious persons; 2) a statement of what a parish priest ought to know and do; 3) verses on the months; 4) the hymn "Saluatoris mater pia" with music on a four-line stave; 5) De beata Maria - eight sets of three lessons.

A fragment of a Sarum processional; M. R. James's no. 62. The leaves are bound in complete disorder and one is missing. There is no decorative work.

Lists books seen by John Clarke as well as those he owned; the latter were donated to the College by Clarke's mother in 1790.

Moral tracts with letters of Seneca; M. R. James's no. 32. Contains: 1)Quadripartitus apologeticus B. Cyrilli Episc. [wanting book 1]; 2) Libellus de iv virtutibus [incipit: Quatuor virtutum species]; 3) Tract. de doctrina dicendi atque tacendi [incipit: Si fore uis sapiens]; 4) diagram of hands marked with subjects for meditation; 5) Epistolae Senece ad Lucilium numero lxxxv, ending at Ep. lxxxiv with the last words in a 17C hand.

Peter Lombard's Sentences; M. R. James's no. 15. Rated "an unremarkable copy", with marginal notes in various hands. Bound at the front and back several Anglo-Saxon semi-palimpsest leaves originally containing a Durham version of Aelfric's Homilies; ff. 4-9 have been used for a 14-15C tract, "Cum summa teologice discipline diuiditur in duas partes".

Printed work (London, 1657) by Geoffrey Watts, interleaved with ms. notes. [EEBO has a BL second edition with the title: A scribe, pharisee, hypocrite; and his letters answered, separates churched, dippers sprinkled: or, A vindication of the church and universities of England, in many orthodox tenets & righteous practices. Whereunto is added a narration of a publick dipping, June 26. 1656. In a pond of much Leighes parish in Essex, with a censure thereupon. By Jeffry Watts B.D. and Rectour of Much-Leighes. , London : printed for Edward Dod, at the Gun in Ivy Laine, and for Thomas Johnson, at the Golden Key in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1657.]

Letters of Poggio [Bracciolini] and others; M. R. James's no. 63. James lists the individual writers or recipients (most but not all are by Poggio). David Rundle (see publication note) says this volume "includes a series of Poggio letters not otherwise known to have had an English circulation" and "was clearly made for private use by someone whose name is Thomas Armin (reading the code at fol.27v)", of whom nothing further is known. The work is followed by a tract: Dilucidarium lemonocensis [= John Lemovicensis] de sompno pharaonis, consisting of 20 letters supposed to be written by actors in or observers of the story of Joseph and Pharaoh; it is dedicated to Theobald, King of Navarre. At the end of the volume are some domestic accounts, mentioning William Fairwether and servant Thomas Marcer, and the copy of a letter to Francis Tyrwhitt about a lawsuit involving "my brother Thomas Fairwether".

Notes on "Proverbs", "Ars Artium", "Scaliger's Apothegms", "Declamations", etc., with dates of birth and death of the compiler's family.

Works of Augustine; M. R. James's no. 16. Contains: (1) Augustinus in libro ii Retractionum, Contra donatistas auctoritate beatissimi episcopi et martyris cipriani; (2) Aurelii Augusti ypponensis episcopi contra Donatistas de Baptismo libri septem; (3) Augustinus in libro ii Retractionum, Uenit etiam tunc; (4) Aur. Augustini Doctoris ypponensis Ep. Liber de Natura et Gratia; (5) Epistola Prosperi ad B. Augustinum Ep. ; (6) Epistola S. Hylarii Arelatensis Ep. Ad S. Augustinum ypponensem Ep. ; (7) Aur. Augustini Doctoris ypponensis Ep. Libri duo de predestinatione Sanctorum et de Bono perseuerantie ad Prosperum et Hylarium. The text is well written, with coloured initials. Bound in two consecutive sheets of a psalter containing parts of psalms 34-38 and 43-49. A piece of a 15C table appears in the binding. The flyleaf has a 12C table of contents and a 15C pressmark: "Augustinus de baptismo et de natura et gracia et alia litera. B".

Virgil's Aeneid; M. R. James's no. 33. James suggests the text was copied from an imperfect archetype. He identifies two hands in the text and at least four more in the marginal and interlinear glosses.

Boethius' treatises and other tracts; M. R. James's no. 64. Ocontains: 1) Boetii liber de trinitate, preceded by a table of contents and extracts about Boethius; the next four by the same: 2) Epistola ad S. Joannem Diaconum eccl. Rom. an tres pesonae de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur; 3) Epistola ad eundem quomodo substantie in eo quod sint ... ; 4) Confessio fidei christiani; 5) De Persona et Natura; the rest by Anselm: 6) Monologion; 7) Proslogion; 8) De incarnatione verbi; 9) Prefacio in subditos tractatus; 10) Tractatus de veritate; 11) Le libertate arbitrii; 12) De casu diaboli; 13) Libri ii contra gentiles, cur deus homo; 14) De conceptu virginali et originali peccato. Between 12) and 13) are 2 pp. of pencil notes (14-15C).

A collection of sermons and extracts; M. R. James's no. 65. Contains: 1) Expositio missae. In virtute sancte crucis; 2) extracts on leprosy and on the Holy Ghost; 3) Sermo Gibuini de filio prodigo and three other sermons; 4) extracts; 5) - 13) sermons for particular days in the church calendar; 14) extracts; sermons: 15) Omnis caro corruperat; 16) Vie syon lugent; 17) In hunc modum loquitur patres; 18) De institutione misse et de intellectu eorum 19) Ut intinguatur pes tuus; 20) Oritur sol et occidit; 21) sermo in dedicatione ecclesia; 22) Intravit ihesus in quoddam castellum; sermons: 23) on the parable of the vineyard; 24) Ite baptizate; 25) Cum invitatus fueris ad nuptias; 26) for the first Sunday after Pentecost (Temptatus est ihesus); 27) for the third Sunday after Pentecost (Que mulier habens dragmas); 28) extracts; 29) sermo in Quadragesima; 30) for the 13th Sunday (Et approprians samaritanus); 31) Quid sit fides; 32) Exposition of some Levitical ceremonies; sermons: 33) for Palm Sunday; 34) magistri Petri in ... (Surge aquilo); 35) extracts; 36) sermon on the blood of the Lamb; 37) extracts; 38) Incipit de xij apostolis ubi nati fuerint ... ; 39)Questiones de diversitate in officiis ecclesiasticis. Ends imperfectly. The binding has a leaf of a 13C folio psalter in double columns, the same as in Q.B.3. and Q.B.8, with flyleaves from the smaller psalter used to bind Q.G.4 and 5. The latter include parts of psalms 42-45 and 23 and 26.

Metaphysical questions; M. R. James's no. 17. "Questions" on books i-x and xii of Metaphysics, with a table of those on books i-vii and a short prologue addressed to a Pope as dedicatee (incipit: Cum cetere sciencie ad cognicionem summi boni conferant, sanctissime pater). The unnnamed author speaks of himself as a Dominican. The volume is imperfect: ending in book 12. The final quire is in a different hand from the rest.

Miscellaneous tracts; M. R. James's no. 34. Contains: 1) a catalogue of Rievaulx library, in two lists the second being approximately a shorter replica of the first [James transcribes both]; 2) Introductiones in Theologiam; 3) Fallacie [incipit: Fallacia apud logicos dicitur]; 4) Loci [incipit: Locus argumenti est sedes argumenti]; 5) Summa de diuersa uocabulorum significacione edita a mag. Will. De monte (called at the end Tropi theologici); 6) notes on vices; 7) Excerpta moralia [incipit: Ad edificacionem animarum et morum informacionem]; 8) Sermons without heading (incipits: Hora est iam uos de sompno surgere; Excitare volens apostolus; Deus manifeste veniet deus noster non silebit]; 9) Aelredi Abbatis Rievallensis oracio pastoralis, with an extract from a letter by Aelred and his dying words; 10) Consuetudines Cisterciensium, ending with the Privilege of pope Innocent in a different hand; 11) Letter by "Stephanus cisterciensis ecclesie servus" [Stephen Harding] to T. abbot of Sherborne; 12) Bernardi Antiphonarium sive liber de musica, and Tonale, ending with verses on the numbers of chapters in each book of the Bible; 13) Bernardi silvestris liber de creatione rerum, interspersed with verses after the manner of Boethius and Martianus Capella; 14) Lines on prosody with interlinear notes [incipit: Regula splendescit quia sillaba longa patescit].

By John Dod, vicar of Fawsley.

John Mandeville's Itinerary (in Latin) and a copy of Gesta Romanorum; M. R. James's no. 35. With Latin and English notes on the power of God (ff. ii -iv). The Gesta contains 58 stories (with some resemblance to Harleian ms. 2270); James lists the subjects treated.

A collection of tracts: M. R. James's no. 66. Contains: 1) Tropi magistri petri cantoris parisius; 2) Subtilis exposicio simboli traditi a beato anastio [=Athanasio]; 3) Exposicio parvi simboli s. laicorum, with Representacio temporum que finierunt ab inicio mundi usque ad finem [on two leaves which are missing]; 4) Sentencia dominice orationis exposita breviter nec non utiliter, ubi tanguntur .vii. peticiones prout comparantur .vii. donis spiritu sancti; 5) Sententia beati Roberti lincolniensis episcopi de fide et articulis fidei incipit; 6) Sententia sancti Roberti lincolniensis episcopi de confessione; 7) a tract with incipit: Debentes de vobis racionem bonam reddere; 8) Tractatus de penitentia brevis et utilis; 9) Tractatus de quatuor virtutibus cardinalibus; 10) Tractatus de sompno brevis; 11) Augustinus de assumptione B.M. V., ending imperfectly. There are five flyleaves from a ms. of similar form and date, the first four being the two middle sheets of a quire from a treatise on preaching.

A collection, "summa Wanlensis et summa de oculo morali cum tabula"; M. R. James's no. 67. Contains: 1) Summa collectionum (explicit: tractatus qui dicitur commune loquium compositus a fratreJoh. Walensi de ordr. fratr. minorum ...) [that is, by John of Wales; 2) extracts: Repletus spiritus sancti gratia, and Hugo de claustro anime; 3) Oculus moralis per Lincoln.; 4) a table in two columns. There are flyleaves from a 14C mss and the binding is two sheets of a 13C psalter containing parts of four psalms.

Robert of Lincoln's Summa Justicia, in ten parts; M. R. James's no. 36. [Presumably this is a work by or atributed to Robert Grosseteste.]

Lawyer's formulary; M. R. James's no. 19. James supplies a detailed list of the contents.

The cover title concludes with the comment that this was "The first opening after the great repairs and restorations". A variant title on the first page includes the comment that Thomas Attwood Walmisley was B.A. of Jesus College, 1838, and that the singers in 1849 were Frederick Leete, William Neale, Jesse Frisby and Edmund Bilton. The music includes a solo, two, three and four parts, all with organ, and sets Psalm 5 verses 1, 2, 3, 7, 12 and 13. The text begins "Ponder my words, O Lord".