Anglia quo fulget, quo gaudent presule claro Firme justicie misteria suscipe sacre, Cuncte studio distincta metroque Johannis. In the margin is written: "Domino F. episcopo London. Magister J. de Karlandia (sic) seipsum et opus suum de misteriis ecclesie." There are interlinear glosses as well as marginal comments by a later hand; over basis aurea in the third line is to be read "alludit nomini suo," namely Basset. This work is a mystical explanation in hexameter verse of rites of the church, vestments and appliances of sacred use, &c. The difference of opinion among writers on mediæval literature, as regards the time when John de Garlandia lived and the country of which he was a native, has been already noticed. The assertion of Pits, that he was born in England, has been followed by Fabricius, Mereri, and Du Cange; and, although the dedication of the poem which I have here noticed is doubtless insufficient evidence to prove that the friend of a bishop of London was himself an Englishman, yet it may suffice to show that the author was contemporary with a distinguished prelate of that see named Fulke, and none so named is found earlier than Fulke Basset, who was elected in 1241, and died in 1259. It would thus appear that John de Garlandia lived in the thirteenth century, which the evidence previously noticed tends also to prove, and not in the early part of the eleventh century, as stated by the Benedictines in the Histoire Littéraire de la France. 8. Merarius. In a volume of grammatical tracts mostly attributed to Johannes de Garlandia, preserved in the Library at Caius College, Cambridge, as already noticed, I find appended to the "Diccionarius noticed. Catalogue of MSS. in Caius College Library, by the Rev. J. J. Smith, p. 179. A copy among Archbishop Parker's MSS. C.C.C. Cant. is described by Nasmyth, "Carmen ad Fulconem Episcopum Londoniensem de Ritibus Ecclesiasticis."-MS. CL. No. 4. ■ M. Géraud, Paris sous Philippe le Bel, Append. p. 583, adverts to this poem by John de Garlandia, but he observes that it is not known who the bishop in question was, his name being indicated only by the initial F. He is, however, identified by the gloss in the MS. above described. The argument that the author was born in France, because the name de Garlandia, possibly from a place so called in Brie, is French rather than English, does not prove that he was not a native of this country, or of a family established in England. b cum comento" by that author, a short tract with an elaborate gloss." A second copy is also found in the same library, following the tract entitled Distigius or Distigium, attributed to the same writer, as hereafter noticed. That little relic of barbarous Latinity, which seems suited rather to darken knowledge than to initiate the unlearned, may probably have been composed by John de Garlandia, although his name does not appear, and I have not succeeded in discovering the tract in question in any catalogue of his productions. It commences thus,-" Merarii nuper cintillanti jubare pannidensi rejecta diployde macellam ex bisso subuculam cum recino duntaxat influo oloserico." The gloss or commentary gives the following explanation of the title of the work. "Merarii, etc. Hec meraria et hec merenda est comestio qui manducatur in meridie," &c. On comparing some of the Latin words that occur in the Promptorium with a reference to Merarius or to the Glossa Merarii, as the authority, I find them all in this treatise, which therefore is doubtless that thus cited. It should seem that Merarius signifies the noon-tide time of the day, when it was usual to partake of a “nunchion" or noon-meal. (See Nunmete, infra, p. 360.) Whether the title of the treatise, however, was intended to refer in any manner either to the light of mid-day, or to the timely nourishment then dispensed, I cannot venture to affirm. As a specimen of its almost enigmatical contents, the following paragraph may be cited:" Arpaco hinc repente mihi pseudofania phalam effetavit in campitro machinatam, in projecto monobatem, in yperliminario diapennem." 9. Distigius. In one of the volumes in the Library of Caius College, Cambridge, entrusted to me as before mentioned by the Master and Fellows to aid my researches, I find, among grammatical writings by John de Garlandia and other writers, a treatise consisting of 42 hexameter lines thus entitled, "Opus istud dicitur Distigium, a dia, duo, et stigos, versus, quia in duobus versibus comprehendet autor totam sentenciam proverbialem." There are a voluminous gloss in Latin and a few interlinear explanations. It commences thus, " Cespitat (anglice, stumlyt) in phaleris ippus ⚫ Catal. of MSS. at Caius Coll. Camb. by the Rev. J. J. Smith, No. 385, fol. 61. The tract above noticed is not mentioned, however, in the description of this curious volume. Ibid. No. 136, fo. 51 verso. So also in the Ortus Vocabulorum I find these words: "Merarius, i, meridianus. -Merarius, est quidem liber." (i. equus) blattaque (i. purpura) supinus (i. superbus).a" This MS. is probably of the close of the thirteenth century. There exist other MSS. of this tract, which has been attributed to John de Garlandia; it has been printed by Mr. Wright in the collection of vocabularies published by Mr. Mayer.b The text there given, accompanied by numerous English glosses, is taken from Harl. MS. 1002, fol. 113, sac. xv., but the text is probably of earlier date. At the end is written, "explicit liber equus caballus;" and hence it may be conjectured that Distigius is the same treatise as that cited in the Promptorium as "liber equi." See p. xxxv. infra. This curious vocabulary contains a considerable proportion of words adopted from the Greek, and in one of the MSS. I find the following observation, "Intencio est quedam vocabula ex Grecis extorta provectis proferre, et etiam fatuis et stolidis qui volunt esse magistri antequam sciant." 10. Robertus Kylwarbi.-Of this voluminous writer, described by Bale as "garrulus sophista," ample notices have been given by writers who have treated of the eminent men and the literature of the thirteenth century. He was a native of England, educated at Paris and Oxford; a Catal. of MSS. Caius Coll. Camb. by the Rev. J. J. Smith, No. 136, fo. 45. It occurs in this volume immediately after the Diccionarius of John de Garlandia, and is followed by the treatise entitled Merarius described above. b Library of National Antiquities, &c., published at the expense of Mr. Joseph Mayer, F.S.A. vol. i. p. 174. Among Sir Thomas Bodley's MSS. there is a copy entitled "Liber Ditigii (sic), hoc est disticha 21, in quibus ex destinato plures voces e Greco fonte derivatæ occurrunt, sed addita in margine expositione Anglica." See the Catal. MSS. Angliæ, t. i. p. 135, No. 2562, 67. Among the MSS. in the Conventual Library at Peterborough there was "Liber Distigii Glosatus." Gunton's Peterb. p. 205. This metrical treatise may have been sometimes designated by another title, and be identical with that ascribed to John de Garlandia by Bale, Pits, and other writers, namely "Cornutum sive disticha." Haenel, Catal. MSS., p. 531, mentions a MS. at Basle entitled "Cornutus antiquus et novus;" also "Distichium sive cornutus." A copy is in the British Museum, Arund. MS. 243, f. 343, "Cornutus, sive disticha hexametra moralia cum interpretatione Germanica et commentario Latino." The "Expositio disticii seu Cornuthi," by Mag. Jo. de Garlandria (sic) was printed at Hagenau in 1489. Hain, Repert. Bibl., vol. ii. p. 436. It should be noticed that Johannes Destigius, an author of English origin, is mentioned by Pits, p. 873, who wrote a work "Super Vocabulis Sacrorum Bibliorum;" following the writings of Neccham and Brito. Leland, t. ii. p. 286; Bale, p. 334; Pits, p. 357; Cave, p. 735; Godwin de Præs. p. 136; Ant. Wood; Tanner, p. 455. His name is written "Chiluuardebius" by Leland. he became Provincial of the Dominican Order in England; was nominated Archbishop of Canterbury by Gregory X. in 1272; resigned the see on being made a cardinal by Nicholas III. in 1278; and died shortly after at Viterbo, as it was alleged, by poison. Among his numerous works enumerated by Pits and Tanner there are several grammatical and other treatises which may have supplied materials to the compiler of the Promptorium, such as the "Tractatus de ortu scientiarum," of which copies exist in Cott. MS. Vitell. A. 1., f. 173; in the Bodleian library among the Digby MSS.; in the college libraries of Merton and Balliol, and elsewhere. He wrote commentaries on Priscian's treatise De Constructione, on Donatus, and on various works of Aristotle. 11. Alexander Neccham.-A full account of the voluminous writings of Neckam or Neccham, one of the most erudite scholars of his time, is given by Leland, Pits, Tanner, and other writers on the literary history of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. He was a native of Hertfordshire, born at or near St. Alban's about A.D. 1157, and pursued his studies in the schools of France and Italy, where his learning was held in high estimation. In 1215 he became Abbot of Cirencester; he died at Worcester in 1217. His principal works were theological. He compiled also a treatise " De rerum naturis," a "Repertorium Vocabulorum," an "Elucidarium Bibliothecæ," explanatory of difficult words in the Scriptures; also a treatise entitled "Isagoge ad Artes." The first of these, namely "De naturis rerum libri duo priores," has recently been edited by Mr. Wright for the series of Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. It was, however, as I believe, from the treatise "De nominibus Utensilium" of Alexander Neccham that the compiler of the Promptorium derived a large number of Latin words. That curious little work has been given by Mr. Wright, in the collection of Vocabularies to which I have already made frequent reference, from Cotton. MS. Titus D. xx., a copy written about the close of the thirteenth century, and accompanied by interlinear English glosses. The text has been collated with two other MSS. in the Imperial Library at Paris. There was a copy in the cathedral a Volume of Vocabularies from the tenth to the fifteenth century, &c. published at the expense of Mr. Joseph Mayer, F.S.A. Among numerous words occurring in the Promptorium with references to Neccham, and likewise found in the treatise "De Utensilibus " given by Mr. Wright, may be cited, library at Worcester, where the author, who is said to have been an intimate friend of Sylvester de Evesham, bishop of that see, and to have died at the episcopal palace at Kemsey, was buried in the cloisters. His mutilated effigy is still pointed out. This manuscript is now unfortunately not to be found: there is a copy in the library at Caius College. Cambridge, another at St. Peter's College in the same University; and at Oxford a valuable copy with a French gloss exists at St. John's College, MS. No. clxxviii. 23. The works enumerated in the foregoing list, as the principal authorities consulted by the compiler of the Promptorium, were not, however, the only sources from which the materials of his dictionary were derived. It may be of some interest to collect the scattered notices that occur under various words, since they indicate not only the grammatical or other treatises with which the recluse friar of Lynn was conversant, but they may also serve to shew the resources of conventual libraries in the fifteenth century. Mr. Hingeston has pointed out, from the number of rare and valuable works referred to in Capgrave's Chronicle, how extensive a store of learning must have been treasured up in the library of the Austin Friars at Lynn, and it is probable that the library of the neighbouring convent of the Dominicans was not less copiously provided. The works of Aristotle are repeatedly cited; thus under the word " Dysowre," p. 122, is found "Bomolochus,© Aristoteles in Ethicis;" the same treatise is cited under "Dullarde," p. 135, and, under "Deffe or dulle," p. 116, reference occurs to Aristotle "in politicis." Under "Telte," p. 488, is found a reference to " Egidius super rhetoricam Aristotelis." The "Historia Scholastica," doubtless the popular work of Peter Comestor, a celebrated theological writer of Troyes in the twelfth century, is cited under "Fyyr forke," p. 161, and "Prynce "Garbage of fowlys; entera, vel exta," p. 186 (compare Mr. Wright's edition, p. 97); Jowpe, garment; jupa,” p. 275 (Wright, p. 98); Latche or snekke; pessula,” p. 283 (compare Wright, p. 110); "Perre, drynke; piretum," p. 394 (compare Wright, p. 98). ⚫ Catal. MSS. Angliæ, pp. 119, 148; compare Catal, of MSS. at Gonville and Caius College by the Rev. J. J. Smith, No. 136. Chronicle of England, by John Capgrave, edited for the Series of Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain by the Rev. F. C. Hingeston; App. to Introd. p. 370. The word in Harl. MS. 221 is written Homolochus. Bapódoxos, a low jester, is a word used by Aristotle, Ethics, N. 4, 8, 3, and also by Aristophanes. Compare Ortus Vocabulorum:-"Bomolochus, i. scurra (a brawler) :-Bomolochia, i. scurrilitas." |