A REVIEW OF FOREIGN LETTERS, SCIENCE, AND THE ARTS EDITED BY E. A. CRADDOCK, M.A. PUBLISHED SIX TIMES A YEAR. PRICE 1/6 NET EACH A. & C. BLACK, LTD., 4, 5, 6, SOHO SQ., LONDON, W. 1 NEW SERIES APRIL, 1922 [VOL. VI, No. 25 HISTORY THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Editor: PROF. A. F. POLLARD, M.A., LITT.D., F.B.A. Democracy at San Marino. By WILLIAM MILLER Trade Relations with France under Charles II. By D. G. E. HALL Revision: Christopher Columbus. By Professor A. P. Newton Notes and News-Correspondence-Reviews-List of New Books and New Editions LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY VOLUME XVII JULY, 1922 NUMBER 3 THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PROSE PSALTER OF RICHARD ROLLE OF HAMPOLE. FROM time to time histories of literature or of Biblical translations have appeared containing brief accounts of Rolle's Translation of the Psalter and the Commentary upon it. Not only do these, as might be expected, deal somewhat inadequately with the work, but several of them contain statements which are misleading. According to the Cambridge History of English Literature the Commentary is 'devoid of originality and personal touches,' a mere translation of Peter Lombard's commentary'. This view is repeated by J. E. Wells in the Manual of the Writings in Middle English. The editors of the Wycliffite Bible find that the numerous copies of the work show only a few verbal variations' in the preface, and that none of the versions of the Commentary shows 'any sentiments indicative of the Lollard party's. Two accounts of the work have corrected some of these statements. Miss H. Allen has vindicated Rolle's originality in her monograph The Authorship of the Prick of Conscience, and, in the valuable introduction to the 1902 edition of a Fourteenth Century English Biblical Version, Miss Paues has refuted some of the statements of Forshall and Madden. A detailed examination of the work from all points of view was, however, outside the scope of these accounts, and there are still a number of problems connected with it which are untouched or have been incompletely dealt with. These can be considered under three headingsthe relation of the manuscripts to one another, the sources of Rolle's Translation of the Vulgate, and the purpose and history of the interpolated copies of the work. THE MANUSCRIPTS. Thirty-three manuscripts containing Rolle's English Psalter and Commentary with a Prologue by the author are mentioned by Miss Paues. To this list must be added the copy which has been discovered See Vol. II, pp. 46-47. This statement is based on the conclusions of H. Middendorff, dien über R. Rolle von Hampole, Magdeburg, 1888. 2 See pp. 401-402. 3 See Forshall and Madden, The Wycliffite Versions of the Bible, Introduction, pp. iv-v. A Fourteenth Century English Biblical Version, Introd., pp. xxxiv, xliv (note 2), and (note 4). M. L. R. XVII. 15 in the Vatican Library and is described by Karl Christ in an article entitled 'Zu Richard Rolle von Hampole. Eine vatikanische Handschrift des Psalmenkommentars', and one in Lincoln Cathedral Library (No. 35)2. An examination of most of the MSS. existing in Cambridge, Oxford and in or near London has confirmed Miss Paues' theory that the MSS. fall into two main groups, one in which the Commentary appears in its original form, and one in which it appears with so many additions, alterations and omissions that in some places the work of Rolle has entirely disappeared. It has shown also that several of the MSS. hitherto believed to contain the original Commentary belong to the other group of Psalters and that several subdivisions must be made in this latter group. These facts are demonstrated most clearly by quotations from typical MSS. Eton College 10 has been chosen to represent the original Commentary, because it is a MS. in which the Northern dialect appears unaltered and the vocabulary retains its Northern character. Passages from different parts of the Psalter are quoted from this MS. and are followed by parallel passages from MSS. showing typical variations: ETON COLLEGE 103. Psalm vii. 1, ff. 10b-11. Lorde my god I hoped in pe make me safe of all folowande me and deliuere me1. A rightwisman preyes pat god deliuere hym of pe deuelle and his lymes and says lorde of all thurgh myght . god of all for all thyng has pou made myne with will and lorde I hopede for to safe me fra all gastely wickednes and vices and syns deliuere me. 2. Leswhen he refe als a lyoun my saule to whils nane es pat byes, ne þat makes safe. Dis lyoun es pe deuell pat sekep how he moght wyne man saule. his armes with be whilke he feghtes ogayn us er syns if crist by noght ne make oure saules safe gifande pe lyfe withouten ende þis lyoun refes paim till hell. Psalm xvii. 47, f. 27. [Ps. xviii. 43.] Pou sal out take me fra be gayne sayinges of folkes pou sal set me. in heued of gynge. pat es pou takes me fra pe jewes and settes me kyng of cristen men also when we er lessed fra pe noyes of thoghtes and pe flyttyng of ill conscience pan god makes us mayster of vices. 1 See Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 1917. 2 My attention was drawn to this by Miss H. Allen. There are, in addition to the MSS. mentioned above, two MSS. containing Wycliffe's translation of the Psalms (Later Version) with versions of Rolle's Prologue to the Psalter: Brit. Mus. Addit. 10,046, and Trin. Coll. Dubl. 1. 10. 3 In the margin by the side of the first Psalm remarks have been written which are not part of Rolle's original work. At the end of Ps. i. 1 are written the words the whiche benemip of al travayle' (f. 2); at the end of v. 3 and goode trees shal be planted in be londe of lyf þt neuer shal fayle' (f. 3). These remarks are to be found at the end of vv. 1 and 3, Ps. i in an interpolated Psalter such as Reg. 18. D. 1. 4 The English rendering of the Vulgate is in italics. 5 This appears differently in some MSS. MS. Sid. Suss. 89 (an early MS.) has i hope in be noght in me. for thi saue me fro....' MS. Univ. Coll. 64 is very like this. |