The Library Part 3

Vergilius was, no doubt, in this case the scribe. The Latin and the writing are often equally crabbed. In the Bodleian there is a Bible with this colophon -

"Finito libro referemus gratias Christo m.cc.lxv. indict. viij.

Ego Lafracus de Pacis de Cmoa scriptor scripsi."

This was also written in Italy. English colophons are often very quaint--"Qui scripsit hunc librum fiat collocatus in Paradisum," is an example. The following gives us the name of one Master Gerard, who, in the fourteenth century, thus poetically described his owners.h.i.+p:-

"Si Ge ponatur--et rar simul a.s.sociatur - Et dus reddatur--cui pertinet ita vocatur."

In a Bible written in England, in the British Museum, there is a long colophon, in which, after the name of the writer--"hunc librum scripsit Wills de Hales,"--there is a prayer for Ralph of Nebham, who had called Hales to the writing of the book, followed by a date- -"Fes. fuit liber anno M.cc.i. quarto ab incarnatione domini." In this Bible the books of the New Testament were in the following order:- the Evangelists, the Acts, the Epistles of S. Peter, S.

James, and S. John, the Epistles of S. Paul, and the Apocalypse. In a Bible at Brussels I found the colophon after the index:- "Hic expliciunt interpretationes Hebrayorum nominum Do gris qui potens est p. sup. omia." Some of these Bibles are of marvellously small dimensions. The smallest I ever saw was at Ghent, but it was very imperfect. I have one in which there are thirteen lines of writing in an inch of the column. The order of the books of the New Testament in Bibles of the thirteenth century is usually according to one or other of the three following arrangements:-

(1.) The Evangelists, Romans to Hebrews, Acts, Epistles of S.

Peter, S. James, and S. John, Apocalypse.

(2.) The Evangelists, Acts, Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S.

John, Epistles of S. Paul, Apocalypse. This is the most common.

(3.) The Evangelists, Acts, Epistles of S. Peter, S. James, and S.

John, Apocalypse, and Epistles of S. Paul.

On the fly leaves of these old Bibles there are often very curious inscriptions. In one I have this:- "Haec biblia emi Haquinas prior monasterii Hatharbiensis de dono domini regis Norwegie." Who was this King of Norway who, in 1310, gave the Prior of Hatherby money to buy a Bible, which was probably written at Canterbury? And who was Haquinas? His name has a Norwegian sound, and reminds us of St.

Thomas of that surname. In another ma.n.u.script I have seen

"Articula Fidei:- Nascitur, abluitur, pat.i.tur, descendit at ima Surgit et ascendit, veniens discernere cuncta."

In another this:-

"Sacramenta ecclesiae:- Abluo, fumo, cibo, piget, ordinat, uxor et ungit."

I will conclude these notes on MS. Bibles with the following colophon from a copy written in Italy in the fifteenth century:-

"Finito libro vivamus semper in Christo - Si semper in Christo carebimus ultimo leto.

Explicit Deo gratias; Amen. Stepha.n.u.s de Tantaldis scripsit in pergamo."

2. The "Psalter" of the thirteenth century is usually to be considered a forerunner of the "Book of Hours." It always contains, and usually commences with, a Calendar, in which are written against certain days the "obits" of benefactors and others, so that a well- filled Psalter often becomes a historical doc.u.ment of high value and importance. The first page of the psalms is ornamented with a huge B, which often fills the whole page, and contains a representation of David and Goliath ingeniously fitted to the shape of the letter.

At the end are usually to be found the hymns of the Three Children, and others from the Bible together with the Te Deum; and sometimes, in late examples, a litany. In some psalters the calendar is at the end. These Psalters, and the Bibles described above, are very frequently of English work; more frequently, that is, than the books of Hours and Missals. The study of the Scriptures was evidently more popular in England than in the other countries of Europe during the Middle Ages; and the early success of the Reformers here, must in part, no doubt, be attributed to the wide circulation of the Bible even before it had been translated from the Latin. I need hardly, perhaps, observe that even fragments of a Psalter, a Testament, or a Bible in English, are so precious as to be practically invaluable.

3. We are indebted to Sir W. t.i.te for the following collation of a Flemish "Book of Hours":-

1. The Calendar.

2. Gospels of the Nativity and the Resurrection.

3. Preliminary Prayers (inserted occasionally).

4. Horae--(Nocturns and Matins).

5. (Lauds).

6. (Prime).

7. (Tierce).

8. (s.e.xte).

9. (None).

10. (Vespers).

11. (Compline).

12. The seven penitential Psalms

13. The Litany.

14. Hours of the Cross.

15. Hours of the Holy Spirit.

16. Office of the Dead.

17. The Fifteen Joys of B. V. M.

18. The seven requests to our Lord.

19. Prayers and Suffrages to various Saints.

20. Several prayers, pet.i.tions, and devotions.

This is an unusually full example, but the calendar, the hours, the seven psalms, and the litany, are in almost all the MSS. The buyer must look carefully to see that no miniatures have been cut out; but it is only by counting the leaves in their gatherings that he can make sure. This is often impossible without breaking the binding.

The most valuable "Horae" are those written in England. Some are of the English use (Sarum or York, or whatever it may happen to be), but were written abroad, especially in Normandy, for the English market. These are also valuable, even when imperfect. Look for the page before the commencement of the Hours (No. 4 in the list above), and at the end will be found a line in red,--"Incipit Horae secundum usum Sarum," or otherwise, as the case may be.

4. Missals do not often occur, and are not only very valuable but very difficult to collate, unless furnished with catch-words or signatures. But no Missal is complete without the Canon of the Ma.s.s, usually in the middle of the book, and if there are any illuminations throughout the volume, there will be a full page Crucifixion, facing the Canon. Missals of large size and completeness contain--(1) a Calendar; (2) "the proper of the Season;" (3) the ordinary and Canon of the Ma.s.s; (4) the Communal of Saints; (5) the proper of Saints and special occasions; (6) the lessons, epistles, and gospels; with (7) some hymns, "proses," and canticles. This is Sir W. t.i.te's list; but, as he remarks, MS.

Missals seldom contain so much. The collector will look for the Canon, which is invariable.