TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X · TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X ......
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SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X S. D. Lee IN his Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon,^ N. R. Ker notes for British Library, Cotton MS. Otho B. X^ (his no. 177^) that ff. 52 and 54 can not be identified. Any subsequent work by other scholars involving the use of this manuscript has also failed to identify these two folios and their contents have remained a mystery. That they have presented a problem is perfectly understandable. The manuscript has suffered tbe most unfortunate of histories. It was almost destroyed in the fire of 1731^ subsequently being bound in the wrong order, with some leaves reversed or even upside down and others alien to the manuscript as a whole. In reassembling tbe texts the palaeographer is indebted to the work of Humphrey Wanley and his Catalogus,^ which lists the original contents in their correct order. Cotton Otho, in its present day condition, contains sixty-seven card-bound leaves. Of these ff. 6 and 50 are really one, as areff.34 and 35, bringing the total down to sixty-five. However, f. 67 is in fact two separate leaves wrongly placed together bringing the sum of the leaves back up to sixty-six. Several leaves from outside are alien to the manuscript, namely ff- 29, 30, 51, 55, 58, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66,-^ numbering ten in all. If tbese are removed from Cotton Otho then the resulting sum of extant leaves is fifty-six. Taking the best preserved leaves as a guide, the original size of each page could be estimated as c. 195 x 150 mm., with written space measuring c. 175 x 115 mm. The pages are numbered in lead on the top rigbt of the recto of the card surround. It was foliated presumably at the same time as the modern headings were added. Titles are written in red, and dabbing in the same colour occurs on the first letter of the sentence and most Tironian signs. As with so much of the manuscript as a whole, the two leaves in question are very badly damaged and contain only a fragment of each original folio. However, with successive read- ings under the ultra-violet lamp at the British Library over several weeks, these two frag- ments can now be identified as containing parts of tbe lives of St Sebastian^ St Eufrosma^ and St Eugenia^ from the Lives of Saints^ partly written by ^lfric. At its maximum f. 52 measures c. 60x95 mm., whilst f. 54 reaches c. 55 x n o mm. As with all the leaves of the manuscript they are bound in card surrounds, show bad signs of burn damage, are much shrunken, and have numerous holes and taping all over tbeir surface. However, under the ultra-violet lamp the following letters could be discerned i*' F. fram acwea Heo weard hib .]?aw nysse set byrge licere g beofo .M
Transcript of TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X · TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X ......
SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS
TWO FRAGMENTS FROM COTTON MS. OTHO B. X
S. D. Lee
I N his Catalogue of Manuscripts containingAnglo-Saxon,^ N. R. Ker notes for BritishLibrary, Cotton MS. Otho B. X^ (his no. 177 )that ff. 52 and 54 can not be identified. Anysubsequent work by other scholars involvingthe use of this manuscript has also failed toidentify these two folios and their contentshave remained a mystery.
That they have presented a problem isperfectly understandable. The manuscript hassuffered tbe most unfortunate of histories. Itwas almost destroyed in the fire of 1731^subsequently being bound in the wrong order,with some leaves reversed or even upside downand others alien to the manuscript as a whole.In reassembling tbe texts the palaeographer isindebted to the work of Humphrey Wanley andhis Catalogus,^ which lists the original contentsin their correct order.
Cotton Otho, in its present day condition,contains sixty-seven card-bound leaves. Ofthese ff. 6 and 50 are really one, as are ff. 34and 35, bringing the total down to sixty-five.However, f. 67 is in fact two separate leaveswrongly placed together bringing the sum ofthe leaves back up to sixty-six. Several leavesfrom outside are alien to the manuscript, namelyff- 29, 30, 51, 55, 58, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66,-numbering ten in all. If tbese are removed fromCotton Otho then the resulting sum of extantleaves is fifty-six. Taking the best preservedleaves as a guide, the original size of each pagecould be estimated as c. 195 x 150 mm., withwritten space measuring c. 175 x 115 mm.
The pages are numbered in lead on the toprigbt of the recto of the card surround. It wasfoliated presumably at the same time as themodern headings were added. Titles arewritten in red, and dabbing in the same colouroccurs on the first letter of the sentence andmost Tironian signs.
As with so much of the manuscript as awhole, the two leaves in question are very badlydamaged and contain only a fragment of eachoriginal folio. However, with successive read-ings under the ultra-violet lamp at the BritishLibrary over several weeks, these two frag-ments can now be identified as containing partsof tbe lives of St Sebastian^ St Eufrosma^ andSt Eugenia^ from the Lives of Saints^ partlywritten by ^lfric.
At its maximum f. 52 measures c. 60x95mm., whilst f. 54 reaches c. 55 x n o mm. Aswith all the leaves of the manuscript they arebound in card surrounds, show bad signs ofburn damage, are much shrunken, and havenumerous holes and taping all over tbeirsurface. However, under the ultra-violet lampthe following letters could be discerned i*'
F.
framacwea Heo weardhib .]?awnysse set byrgelicere gbeofo .M
mehblysse 7m
don
F. 52V
geseabhe s lfa ferde geond maniga e wenungahwilcne godes man findange nnion mibte. j'a x
e | 3ES minstres ae wa;s swij e m^re be7 I'a m )'xr in gesealdeI'eodrae to6am ab ude 7 to ]'am
ter mi j amge
dam
him].>aes
lcnase 06leasgel
bastianus ceas ydclnes swa
te. Manega men adrine. 5eonmisl ti
de comon. Oft on afor wel mscnige de
ngle on £er ed
leoI'on
sum
F. S4V
wurde godes wilgen beg irdon. hi
a hund. micclutna us haefde b his di
Care was taken when examining thesefragments to complete transcription before
checking them against any possible correlatingtext, in case sections from the already editedtext might suggest their own presence on thepage.
The method of identification was straight-forward. It was clear that f. 52V contained themost complete text and was therefore chosen asa starting point. Several words deemed to bethe least used throughout the corpus werenoted and checked against the Toronto Micro-fiche.^ This invaluable tool has the advantageof giving the location of words in context.Consequently, the passage could be identifiedas belonging to the life of St Eufrosina, andcorresponding to 11. 10-19 of Skeat's edition^(II, pp. 334-6). As this was at the beginning ofthe text, it followed that f 52r might containmaterial from the preceding saint's life.Wanley's catalogue revealed this to be StEugenia., and the transcription was found tocorrespond to 11. 413-24 of Skeat's edition (I,pp. 48-50).
Folio 54 proved more troublesome, for theleaf is in a marginally worse condition than f52. However, on the third reading the partialform 'bastianus' was identified on the fourthline of the recto. As the manuscript was knownto have originally had a version of the life of StSebastian it was evident that, at the very least,the recto off 54 contained some material fromthat text. Subsequent research revealed it tocorrespond to 11. 270—8 of Skeat's edition (I, p.134). However, the material found on the versocorresponds to that of Skeat's II. 242-50,showing that the leaf was unfortunately re-versed when bound in card.
Furthermore, Ker notes that ff. 2 and 8 ofCotton Otho also contained some parts of StSebastian, and f 13 could be identified ascontaining the title of St Eufrosina. Exam-ination of f 8 revealed that it contained thebeginning of tbe life 0^ St Agnes and 11. 469-74of St Sebastian, and was not therefore closelyconnected with f 54. However f 2r contains c.11. 280-94 of St Sebastian and f. 2v c. 11.
254-65. This discovery implies two things; formed the lower section of the original leaffirst, that the leaf was mistakenly reversed and f. 13 the upper. Using this new in-when bound, and, second, that f 54 and f 2 formation, the figure fifty-six for the extantwere originally the same leaf" leaves given earHer found in Cotton Otho
Similarly, f. 13 was found to be reversed and should now be modified to fifty-four,also to have been originally part of the same Finally, the following passages give theleaf as f 52. Folio 13V contains 11. 393-412 of relevant passages in Skeat with the lettersSt Eugenia and f. i3r contains 11. 1-9 of St corresponding to those of the two new frag-£«/ro5/M£J, both of which immediately preceded ments underlined. In the footnotes I identifythe text contained on f. 52rv. Thus, f. 52 the new spelling variants.'^
F.
asend fram J am casere.and he fx.t m^den acwealde.Heo weard ] a gemartyrod. and cristene menn hi bebyrgdon.^^Da weop seo modor.mid mycelre sarnysse.^ hyre byrgene.o)^ yxt heo hi geseah.on gastlicre^^ gesihde.mid golde gefreetwodemid dam heofonlicum werode.)>us hi' frefigende.Mm modor claudia.me hgfd gebrohtmin haelend crist to his haigena blysse.7 minne faeder gelogode on J aere heah-fkdera getele.and y>u cymst to lis.nii on sunnan-daeg.Seo modor gewat 6a of worulde to heofonumon'^ dam sunnan-d^Ege. and | a suna hi be-stodon.
{Life ofSt Eugenia, 11. 413-24; I> PP-
F. 52V
geseah hire weres sarignysse. and he sylf ^ eac ferde geond manige^'stowa.gif he weninga^^ hwilcne godes man findan mihte )'aet hisgewilnunga gefultumian'^ mihte. L'a aet nyhstan becom he to sumummynstre. yfES mynstres faeder wass swyde maere beforan gode. and
]>z micelne dael feos )nder'' ^ in-gesealde. and miccle ^eodraedene] g ^nam to Vam abbode. ' and to V>am gebrodran. and ] a aefter micelretide cydde he V'am abbode his gewilnunge. se abbod J a him efn-sargode. and bsed god geornlice J aEt he ]>zm ]?egne forgeafe bearneswxstm. ) a gehyrde^^ god heora begra bene.and forgeaf him anedobtor.Mid y-y pafnuntius geseah p^s abbodes mxran drohtnunge.
(Life of St Eufrosina, II. 10-19; H^ PP-
F- 54*-
to gearlicum tidum . and tunglena ymbrynum.Policarpus saede pis we for-seod.
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on ]?am is sodfest-nysse gelicnys . ac hit is leas swa J^eah.Sebastianus cwxp^^ . ]?is is swutol ge-dwyld.and leas ydelnyss^^ . swa swa we ieornodon act criste.Manega menn' " adrincad . on anum dxge togaedere.t>e on mislicum tidum to middan-earde comon.Oft on anum gefeohte feallad for wel
under anum tungle . nxron^^ asr akennede.{Life of St Sebastian^ \\. 270-8; I, p.
F- 54V
t>a l e habbad geleafan . and Ieornodon to campienne.ongean Vone swicolan feond . unforhte ]?urh god.and habbad cristes byrnan . hi magon to-brecan da godas.Chromatius da cwted . to f am cenum godes pegnum.gewurde godes willa and eower eac aet ]?ysum.Hi J>a sona begen be-gyrndon^^ hi" cafiice.and to gode gebaedon . and to-braecon da anlicnyssama l one twa hund . micclum gode f^anciende.Chromatius haefde behydd . on his digolnysse.
{Life of St Sebastian., 11. 242-50; I, p.
1 (Oxford, 1957), pp. 224-9.2 Hereafter 'Cotton Otho'.3 See also nos, 168, 175, 178-81 for other parts of
the manuscript.4 An earlier description of the original contents of
the manuscript can he found in Thomas Smith'sCalalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum BibliothecieCottonice (Oxford, 1696), p. 70. There arediscrepancies between his and Wanley's table ofcontents, but the latter provides a fuller de-scription, giving the beginning and the end fewwords of each section.
5 Ff 29 and 30 contain ^Elfric's homily on theBook of Judith which can be assumed to he aliento the original manuscript as they are the onlytwo folios to have glosses in the 'tremuloushand'. F. 51, part of the West Saxon gospels, isfrom the early to middle part of the eleventhcentury. Its correct placing is as f 8 in BL,Cotton MS. Otho C. I. Ff 55, 58 and 62 are ofthe mid-tenth century and are in fact fromBede's Historia ecclesiasttca gent is anglorum.Cotton MS. Otho B. XI. Ff 61, 63 and 64 arefrom the late tenth to the early eleventh century,containing part of Alfred's Pastoral Care. Theyshould be placed after f 51 of Cotton Otho B. II.
Finally, f 66 is in fact part of the eleventhcentury Life of St Machutus and belongs inCotton Otho A. VIII.
6 Due to the nature of these fragments, there is noattempt to show the numbers of missing orillegible letters in the gaps.
7 For this, and indeed all the transcriptions, thespacing as printed in this article should not beviewed as being to scale.
8 A. Dipaolo Healey and R. L. Venezky (eds.), AMicrofiche Concordance to Old English (Uni-versity of Toronto), for which the letters C and Dhave now been edited.
9 W. W. Skeat (ed.), Mfnc's Lives of Saints,E.E.T.S. (London, 1881, 1900), 2 vols.
10 I.e., 11. 270-8 found on f. 54r lie between thosefound on both sides off 2. The text should thusread f 54V, f 2v, f 54r, and f. 2r. F. 54 originallyformed the upper half of f 2.
11 I have used Skeat's manuscript sigla throughoutthe following passages. The notation is asfollows: J = BL, Cotton MS. Julius E. VII, O- Cotton MS. Otho B. X, and V = Cotton MS.Vitellius D. XVII. For all four excerpts, Skeatwas obviously not aware of the contents of thetwo relevant leaves in O, and the footnotes I give
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are thus meant to supplement his own. It shouldbe noted that variations between ']?' and ' 6 ' ,and *y' and ' i ' have not been noted.
12 O does not appear to have enough space to fit inthe whole of * hehyrgdon' unless abbreviationswere used.
13 Skeat has 'gastlicre'; O has 'licere*.14 It is possible that the visible letters 'on' in O
may, in fact, be from 'heofonum'.15 The section in Skeat is based solely on the
readings from J.16 O has the ending 'lfa' which one assumes was
originally 'sylfa'.17 O has 'maniga'.18 O has 'wenunga'.19 O has 'nnion'. In the gap between the 'ge' and
the ending 'nnion' the ascender of the T isclearly visible.
20 O has a Tironian sign before '|^a'.21 O omits 'has l*aer' instead of'>'ider'.22 O has the ending 'ude'.
23 At some point here (the exact place is impossibleto gauge) O has an additional '6am'. As it isclearly on a separate line to the visible 'ge', itspossible correspondence with 'he dam J^egne'has been discounted as it appears too soon in thespacing of the text.
24 The relevant section in Skeat is based entirely onreadings from J.
25 Possible abbreviation above ' c ' indicating'cwaej^' in O.
26 O has 'ydelnes'.27 O has 'men'.28 O has 'msenige'.29 O has 'on[]^r'.30 The relevant section in Skeat uses readings from
both J and V.31 O has 'beg irdon' with a possible abbreviation,
but more above the ' r ' than centred over the ' i ' ,indicating the insertion of an 'n ' .
32 The relevant section in Skeat is based onreadings from both J and V.
^IMPORTUNATE CRIES OF MISERY': THE CORRESPONDENCEOF LUCIUS HENRY HIBBINS AND THE DUKE OF
NEWCASTLE, 1741-58
William T. Gibson
DEEP in the papers of the Duke of Newcastle,the Whig 'ecclesiastical minister', lie the thirtyor so letters written by tbe Rev. Dr LuciusHenry Hibbins^ to the Duke from 1741onwards. It is a remarkable collection, spanningeighteen years, and one overlooked by his-torians who have considered Newcastle's ex-ercise of Churcb patronage. Mary Batesonignores the correspondence, even though heraim was to exemplify the Duke of Newcastle'sdealing with place-seeking clergy. More curi-ously Norman Sykes also ignores the collectionand Daniel Hirschberg dismisses it in passing."The omission is significant since, among otherthings, the correspondence indicates that thecensorious attitude of historians to place-seeking and self-reeommendation for prefer-ment should be reconsidered. Hibbins's
appeals for a place represent the claims of aclergyman who had worked for the Churchthrough a political 'interest', which he felt hadthen deserted him.
The first surviving letter from Lucius HenryHibbins to the Duke of Newcastle is dated 9January 1741, though it is clearly not their firstcommunication. The letter, written fromNorton near Chichester, one of the Duke'sSussex boroughs, indicates tbat Hibbins badalready petitioned the Duke for a living but hadbeen disappointed. Hibbins had organized andpresented a petition from some residents ofChichester promising to vote for the Duke'scandidates in the coming elections. Hibbinsalso indicated to Newcastle that the Dukes ofAneaster and Richmond were well-disposedtowards him; this was a customary way of
