f. 74 (in the same quire). Inc. Porro sobrios viros/iuniores fratres / principes cocorum consequenter intitulas. Des. non attendant (f. 74 v.). Followed immediately, in a different hand, by Quis meo capiti dabit effundere? Des. f. 75 v. (after two pages filled with other matter) ut spretis infimis letemur superis reatus dona veniam. Explicit processus martiris Ricardi scroup Eboracensis archiepiscopi [= Wright, Political Poems, 2. 114-118]. Ff. 75 v., 76 contain Examinacio sacerdotum propter concubinas. Inc. Olentes presbiteros omnes excitantes, with a line above Nouus rumor Anglie deleted. [Cf. Wright, Poems of Mapes, p. 180.] f. 77 blank (some scribbling). f. 78. Inc. Venus vrit lubrica. Ave pulcra pelle pulpa. Dapibus ambrosiis. f. 80 v. Inc. Sit deo gloria laus benedictio. Des. f. 80 Des. f. 81 v. Nec dolor coniugis habet remedium. (Wright, Poems of Mapes, pp. 77 ff. There are many variants. Lines 77-112 are placed after line 164. Then after a different stanza follow lines 121-140, 145-152. Then a new stanza, followed by lines 165-172, 177-180, 173-176, 181-200. Lines 201-212 are absent.) f. 81 v. Inc. Si quis cordis et oculi. Des. occasionem oculo. (Wright, Poems of Mapes, 93-95.) Col. 2 is headed: Versus Magistri Michaelis Cornubiensis contra Magistrum Henricum Abrincensem coram domino Hugone abbate Westmonasterii et aliis. Inc. Archipoeta vide quod non sit cura tibi de. Des. Vt ratis in cautem minus in me scribe tu autem [sic] [f. 83 v. col. 1]. f. 83 v, col. 1. Coram Magistro H. de mortuo mari officiali cantuariensis archiepiscopi. Inc. Quid me sollicitas quia sollicitudine citas. Des. Arcas certamen tamen hoc deus ampliet aurem [f. 85, col. 1]. f. 85, col. 2. Coram domino electo Wintoniensi et episcopo rofensi. Inc. Pendo poeta prius te diximus archipoetam. Des. Vi sis conductus ductus fur ad fora lucro [f. 89, col. 1]. f. 89, col. 1. Inc. Pergama flere nolo fato donais [sic] data solo.1 1 Cf. Ward's Catal. of Romances, i. 27 ff. b 1354 Des. Vltro pugnatur fit machina troia crematur. Explicit excidium Troie [f. 90, col. 2]. f. 90, col. 2. Prophecia cuiusdam de Domino Edwardo rege Anglie tercio post conquestum. [Above the line, in a modern hand, Scilicet Jo. de Bridlington.] Inc. Febribus infectus [as in Wright's Political Poems, i. 128, omitting the Expositio]. Des. carmina pendo [f. 94 v.= p. 211]. f. 94 v., col. 1. Inc. Gamlen carnaruan anglis natum dabit agnum Qui dum senuerit tunc leopardus erit. [Eighteen lines, ending] Hinc terrena spuens sanctus super ethera scandit. f. 94 v., col. 2. De babione et croceo domino babionis1... Inc. Incipit prefacio in libro babionis. Me dolor infestat foris intus iugiter omnis. Des. Sunt incredibilis uxor alumpna cliens [f. 97 v., col. 1]. (Wright, Early Mysteries.) f. 97 v., col. 2. Speculum Burnelli merito liber iste vocatur Quomodo sub specie stultorum vita notatur. Inc. Suscipe pauca as in Wright, Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, i. 11, but omitting lines Fluctuat in dubiis, p. 97, to magnificare solent, p. 125. P. 129 is followed by p. 124 Hinc est quod to magn. solent, p. 125. Then follows (f. 114, col. 2) Obfuit augmentum, p. 126, to deficiuntque cito, six lines on. After this Then Burnelli dicta multo modamine ficta Spernere qui querit semper asellus erit (f. 114, col. 2). Then Moralitas speculi Burnelli. Dilecto in xpo [the Prologue, as on pp. 3-10]. Des. cauteriam admittunt. Explicit AmeN (f. 115 v., col. 2). f. 166. Inc. Corda superborum Scotorum destrue xpe [as in Wright's Political Poems, i. 42]. Des. Spes tua conamen victoria lux releuamen [f. 116 v., col. 2: collated by Wright]. 1 See Hist. Litt. Fr. xxii. 48. f. 116 v., col. 2. Inc. Francia feminea pharisea vigoris ydea [as in Wright's Political Poems, i. 26–40]. Des. Gloria solamen sit x° in omnibus amen. Explicit. Three lines beginning O iuger [?] intrusor et sancte sedis abusor [end of f. 118, col. 2]. f. 118 v. Apocalipsis Magistri Galteri Mahap super vita et moribus personarum ecclesiasticarum. Inc. A tauro torrida. Des. fecisset lubrica [f. 120, col. 2, as in Wright, Mapes' Poems, 1–20]. f. 120 v., col. 2. Inc. Que noua prava nimis peiora nouissima primis (four lines). Inc. Incipit comedia de geta. Prologus. [C]armina composuit voluitque placere poeta. (Vitalis of Blois, Wright, Early Mysteries, 79: Hist. Litt. xxii. 41.) Des. Birria gota (Geta) hominem se fore queque (cuncta) placent [f. 123, col. 2]. f. 123 v. blank. f. 124. Inc. In a somer sesoun wen softe was the sonne. [The handwriting changes on f. 139.] Des. To vs and alle cristin god leue it so be falle amen. Explicit vita et visio Petri Plowman [f. 140 v.]. [See Skeat's Introd., p. lxxi.] f. 141. Inc. Thus y robed in rufset [Piers Plowman, pass. xi. of the C. text]. Des. tyl y gan a wake. Explicit passus secundus de Dobest [f. 208]. f. 208 v. [Three lines scribbled, deleted partially.] Celerarius vj s & viij d. Prior sancti Yuonis iij s. & viij d. [with other entries]. At the foot is written Non est in mudo. [End of volume.] In the front board is a portion of an account relating to Ramsey. At the end are two leaves besides that glued to the board; they seem to contain parts of a legal treatise. I see no reason to doubt that the John Welles who owned our manuscript was the rather famous John Wells, monk of Ramsey Abbey, and opponent of Wycliffe, who for thirteen years b 2 was prior studentium' at Gloucester Hall, the Benedictine Tunc primus determinans est Johannes Wellis With an O and an I, in scholis non prodest Hic promisit in scholis quod vellet probare With an O and an I, Wellis replicabat; Sed postquam Nichol solverat, tunc Johannes stabat. Wycliffe is quoted (in Fasciculi Zizaniorum, p. 239) as styling him a certain black dog of the order of St. Benedict'. On p. 117 of the same volume he is found subscribing the sentence of William Berton, Chancellor of Oxford, condemning the Wycliffite doctrine of the Eucharist. In July, 1387, he was sent as procurator by the presidents of the English Benedictines to Urban VI to plead for the release of the learned Norwich monk, Cardinal Adam Easton. His commission is printed in Raine's Letters from Northern Registers (p. 423, Rolls Series). He was unsuccessful in his mission and died, as has been said, at Perugia in 1388. He was buried in the church of St. Sabina there, according to a note printed by Tanner from the Cotton MS. Otho. D. VIII. The portion of the manuscript in which this note occurs contains a chronicle of Ramsey Abbey. Works are attributed to him by Bale. In the Index (p. 263) we have: De socii ingratitudine lib. i. Inc. Salutem quam meretur aut mereri poterit? qui grato ingratus diligentem non di(ligit); and Epistolas quoque scripsit, ea etate eloquentes, 1368. The source is given as Ex epistolis quorundam monachorum (by which is meant a collection of letters of monks of St. Alban's). In the Scriptores (vi. 82) Bale adds to the above the following: Pro religione privata lib. 1. and Super cleri praerogativa lib. I. Contra Nicolaum Herfordium lib. 1. Contra Wicliff. de religione perfectorum. The reference in Wood's Hist. et Ant. Oxon. i. 189 adds nothing save the opening words of the tract against Wycliffe. Traces of acquaintance with the de Nugis Curialium in contemporary or later mediaeval writers are exceedingly scanty. Giraldus Cambrensis tells several of the same anecdotes as Map, but his language shows no sign of being borrowed. Peter of Blois treats some of the same themes. In Ep. 14 he dwells on the miseries of the courtiers who accompanied Henry II on his progresses. He calls them milites Herlewini, a striking coincidence with Map (pp. 13, 186), but not necessarily more than a coincidence. In Ep. 95 he speaks, as Map does (p. 6), of the excesses of the Iusticiarii errantes vel itinerantes, the forestarii and vicecomites: again a topic quite likely to occur to two authors independently of each other. In Ep. 79, it is true, he borrows copiously from the Dissuasio Valerii ad Ruffinum (taking from it |