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II
British Library MS Harley 2382 contains:
- 1. Lydgate's Life of Our Lady (IMEV 2574): fols. 1r-74v
- 2. The Assumption of Our Lady (IMEV 2165:) fols. 75r-86r
- 3. “Oracio ad Sancta Mariam,” extracted from the Speculum Christiani (IMEV 2119; Patterson 1971): fols. 86v-87r
- 4. “The Testament of Dan John Lydgate” (IMEV 2464): fols. 87v-96v; 108r-v; 128v-129v [The text is spread out, exploiting blank leaves left from the original process of copying. References to the discontinuous sections occur on fols. 96v and 108v.]
- 5. Prioress's Tale: fols. 97r-100r
- 6. Second Nun's Tale: fols. 100v-108r
- 7. “Passio Sancti Erasmi” (IMEV 173): fols. 109r-111r
- 8. “The Long Charter of Christ” (B text; IMEV 4154). fols. 111v-118r
- 9. The Child of Bristowe (IMEV 1157): fols. 118v-127r
- 10. Latin quatrain (“O tu puricia...”): fol. 127r
- 11. “Of al þe merueile of merlyn how he makys his mone” (SIMEV 2613.5): fols. 127v-128r
The paper stocks in the MS are all folded 4o, distributed as follows:
- 1. Cart (Char, near Briquet 3547 [1467]): Qq 1-3, 5, part of 6: 52.61, 55-58, 62
- 2. Crown (Couronne, near Briquet 4646 [1473] and 4645 [1459-69]): Qq 4, part of 6: 53.60, 54.59
- 3. Cart (Char, a pair, somewhat like Briquet 3544 [1434-79]; see also the addendum to no. 3544 in Briquet 1968 (The “Jubilee” edition), p. *65: Otranto, 1458) but not the same: Qq, 7, 8, 10, 11
- 4. Bull's head ( Tête de Boeuf, a pair of twins, near Briquet 14970 [1454-61]; cf. Piccard, Ochsenkopf VII.210-222 [1469-75]), with one of the twins having a “droopy” right horn): Qq 9, 12
The quires are structured as follows[12]:
1 12 (-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) 2 12 (-7, 8, 9) 3-5 12 6 12 (-1) 7- 8 12 9 12 (-2, 3) 10-11 12 124 13 6 (-6)
The missing final folio in Q 13 was likely a blank. Q 12 consists of two unmarked folios (121.124) and the upper and lower halves of the second Bull's head (with symmetrical horns) (122.123). Q 13 has two unmarked folios, followed by the upper and lower halves of the first Bull's head (droopy horn), and another unmarked folio:
Q 12 4; 4°:
| 121.124 | CW on verson | |
| WM, upper half: reco=mold side | 122.123 | WM, lower half; verso=mold side |
Q 13 6 (-6); 4°:
| 125.13 6 | OUT | |
| 126.129 | ||
| WM, upper half; verso=mold side | 127.128 | WM, lower half; recto=mold side |
This differs from Manly-Rickert's analysis of these final nine folios (1:246), which they believed were all part of an original gathering of ten (their Q 12). There is a catchword on fol. 124v, which I construe as the final folio of Q 12. Seymour (1995, p. 143), who likewise combines the folios distributed in my Qq 12-13, suggests a final gathering of “1212 (wants 10-12).” The distribution of watermarks militates against this. As Manly-Rickert, Seymour, and Keiser (private communication) all argue, the MS consists of three structural sections, with the scribe subsequently exploiting blank space at the end of them for added material. As the sequence of paper stocks indicates, the scribe combined two stocks to produce fols. 1-62 and used a third supply to finish Life of our Lady (through fol. 74, end of Q 7) and The Assumption of Our Lady (through fol. 86, end of Q 8). He then continued using the same supply of paper to copy Prioress's Tale, Second Nun's Tale, “Passio Sancti Erasmi,” “The Long Charter of Christ,” and the beginning of Child of Bristow (through fol. 120, end of Q 11). A fourth paper stock was required to finish Child of Bristow, the scribe for some reason making Q 12 shorter than necessary and overcompensating in his construction of Q 13. Utilizing the blank space on fol. 86v, the scribe then added a gathering between fols. 86 and 97 (Q 9), copied the “Oracio,” and began the “Testament,” running out of space and spreading the remainder out over other blanks left from original stint of copying. These blanks point to three “booklet” structures, consisting of Qq 1-8 + 9; Q 10; and Qq 11- 13. [13]
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