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HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

THE

WESTERN MANUSCRIPTS

IN THE LIBRARY OF

TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Zonfcon: C. J. CLAY and SONS,

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,

AVE MARIA LANE,
•lltfffoto: 50, WELLINGTON STREET.

lrip>ig: F. A. BROCK HAUS.

JMs lofk: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Bombifl: E. SEYMOUR HALE.

{All KigAlt rarreaf.)

B3fc7«f.34.5(?)

Krd c6lz

J I) I 2 1901

^/BRABl

fcambttogt :

PRINTED BY J. AND C. P. CLAY,
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

if* ^

bV /

THIS second volume of the catalogue of the Western Manu-
scripts in the Library of Trinity College comprises those
standing in Class R. In subject they are highly miscellaneous,
comprising as they do all the books that could not be classed as
theological in virtue of their principal contents. History, Poetry,
Philosophy, Law, Natural Science, Medicine and Music represent
fairly the main departments ; and the mere enumeration of these
shows how wide a field for errors and omissions is open to the
cataloguer.

In truth, I have been confronted with many puzzles, and
defeated by not a few. If this volume is used by an expert in
alchemy (if such there be) or in medieval medicine, or in later
Italian history, he will most likely be able to criticize me sharply —
not, I hope, for giving him false information, but very probably
for not telling him enough. I have instanced classes of books as
to which I am conscious of ignorance ; but it is equally likely that
J have erred where the path was plainer. I shall be grateful to
those who will set me right. A third volume, be it remembered,
is to come, if I am spared to write it, and I shall not scruple to
confess my mistakes when they are pointed out. 1 gladly borrow
the words of a monk of Dover who wrote a careful catalogue of
the books of his monastery : ” Et ucre non offendet compilantem,
set diliget euidenter quicumque hanc matriculam adhuc multi-
pliciter defectiuam in melius duxerit.”

t. c. n. b

VI PREFACE.

A few words as to the arrangement and provenance of the
books in Class R may be not unwelcome. In the first two shelves
are the accessions of recent date (none earlier than 1800). A very
large proportion of these were the gifts of Mr Samuel Sandars,
a generous benefactor alike to his College and to his University.
The third and following shelves contain books the bulk of which
are to be found in Bernard’s Catalogi of 1697. The principal
donor, so far as numbers are concerned, was Sir Henry Puckering
alias Newton, for particulars of whose life the Dictionary of National
Biography may be consulted. He gave his library to the College
in 1691. Many of the manuscripts were inherited by him from his
father, Sir Adam Newton (d. 1630), who was at various times tutor
to Prince Henry, Dean of Durham, Secretary to the Council, and
Secretary to the Marches of Wales.

Puckering was no collector of antiquities. Hardly any of his
books are earlier than the seventeenth century : but his collection
is made remarkable by the presence in it of the famous Milton
manuscript. The numerous books connected with Prince Henry
have also an interest of their own : and the considerable mass of
Italian documents probably contains a good deal of interesting
matter of which hitherto not much use has been made. The
scribe of many of the Italian treatises was Jacopo di Castelvetro,
who for some time taught Italian at Cambridge. His diary is
among the Harleian Manuscripts (no. 3344).

Other donors who come before us in this Class for the first
time are Thomas Whalley, Vice-Master of the College (1637),
whose tastes appear to have run in the direction of alchemy, and
John Wilson, Fellow (B.A. 17 17), a collector of old medical books.
The gifts of Whitgift and Nevile are less numerous than in
Class B: but Willmer’s assume greater importance, including as
they do four precious volumes of English poetry.

Dame Anne Sadleir merits a special expression of gratitude
for her gift of an Apocalypse, which must be ranked as one of the

PREFACE. Vll

two finest in existence, and is certainly the most beautiful book
in Cambridge.

In my account of the most copiously illustrated manuscript in
this library — the Canterbury Psalter — I have departed from my
usual custom of describing all the pictures I meet with in ancient
books. This omission is, I think, amply justified by the following
facts. The Psalter in question forms one of a group of four books
(perhaps more) which all contain the same cycle of illustrations.
The earliest of these is the famous Utrecht Psalter, the next in
order that in the Harleian collection (no. 603), and the latest, one
at Paris. They have been studied in conjunction by Dr Anton
Springer 1 , and will be fully treated in a work now appearing by
Dr J. J. Tikkanen of Helsingfors {Die Psalterillustration itn
Mittelalter). Under these circumstances, and considering that a
full description of the pictures would have filled a very large
number of pages, I decided to call special attention to such of
them only as showed a marked divergence from their archetype,
namely, the Utrecht Psalter.

Comparatively few of the manuscripts in Class R can be traced
to English monasteries. Very many of the books are quite modern,
and others (especially those which treat of poetry, medicine, or
alchemy) are of the kind which were most likely from the first in
private hands. Still, we have books from Canterbury (including
a Livy once the property of Thomas a Becket), Bury, Dover,
Malmesbury, Winchester, and other smaller houses. I am par-
ticularly pleased at having been able to place the ‘gromatic 1
manuscript (R. 15. 14) at St Augustine’s, Canterbury. It would
have been impossible to do so, had not I been in possession of a
copy of the unpublished catalogue of that Library.

I am afraid that those who have used my first volume may
have found the absence of an Index rather trying. I am con-
vinced, however, that if thfe three volumes were each of them

1 Abh. <L A. Sachsischtn GtstlUchaft, Philos. Histor. A7. vol. VIII.

bV /

In truth, I have been confronted with many puzzles, and
defeated by not a few. If this volume is used by an expert in
alchemy (if such there be) or in medieval medicine, or in later
Italian history, he will most likely be able to criticize me sharply —
not, I hope, for giving him false information, but very probably
for not telling him enough. I have instanced classes of books as
to which I am conscious of ignorance ; but it is equally likely that
J have erred where the path was plainer. I shall be grateful to
those who will set me right. A third volume, be it remembered,
is to come, if I am spared to write it, and I shall not scruple to
confess my mistakes when they are pointed out. 1 gladly borrow
the words of a monk of Dover who wrote a careful catalogue of
the books of his monastery : " Et ucre non offendet compilantem,
set diliget euidenter quicumque hanc matriculam adhuc multi-
pliciter defectiuam in melius duxerit."