No. IV.

ACCOUNT

OF

THE AUCHINLECK MS.

Advocates' Library (W. 4.1.)

AND

A CATALOGUE OF ITS CONTENTS.

THIS valuable record of ancient poetry forms a thick quarto volume, containing 333 leaves, and 42 different pieces of poet ry; some mere fragments, and others, works of great length. The beginning of each poem has originally been adorned with an illumination; for the sake of which, the first leaf has, in many cases, been torn out, and, in others, cut and mutilated. The MS. is written on parchment, in a distinct and beautiful hand, which the most able antiquaries are inclined to refer to the earlier part of the 13th century. The pages are divided into

two columns, unless where the verses, being Alexandrine, oecupy the whole breadth of the quarto. In two or three instances there occurs a variation of the hand-writing; but as the poems regularly follow each other, there is no reason to believe that such alterations indicate an earlier or later date than may be reasonably ascribed to the rest of the work; although the Satire against Simonie, No. 43, seems rather in an older hand than the others, and may be an exception to the general rule.

The MS. was presented to the Faculty of Advocates, in 1744, by Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, a Lord of Session, by the title of Lord Auchinleck, and father to the late James Boswell, Esq. the biographer of Dr Johnson. Of its former history nothing is known.

Many circumstances lead us to conclude, that the MS. has been written in an Anglo-Norman convent.-That it has been compiled in England there can be little doubt. Every poem, which has a particular local reference, concerns South Britain alone. Such are the satirical verses, No. 21 in the following catalogue; the Liber Regum Anglia, No. 40; the Satire against Simonie, No. 43. On the other hand, not a word is to be found in the collection relating particularly to Scottish affairs.

No. 1. The Legend of Pope Gregory.-Six leaves. Imperfect both at beginning and end. This article is on the top of the page marked as No 6; from which we find that five preceding poems have been lost. St Gregory's story is more horrible than that of dipus. He is the offspring of an incestuous connection betwixt a brother and a sister; and is af

terwards unwittingly married to his own mother. The frag

ment begins,

The erl him graunted his will Y wis,
That the knight him had ytold,

The barounis that were of miche priis.
Biforn him theri weren yeald.
All the lond that ever was his,
Biforn hem alle yong and old,
He made his soster chef and priis.
That many seying for him had sold,

No. 2. The King of Tars.-Seven leaves, including two which have been misplaced by the binder, and may be found in the middle of the preceding legend. Imperfect, wanting the end,

Herkeneth to me, both eld and yinge,
For Marie's love, that swete thing,
All how a wer began,
Betwene a trew cristen king,
And an hethen heye lerding,
Of dames the Soudan.

This romance is published by Mr Ritson.

No. 3. The History of Adam and his Descendants-follows the misplaced leaves of the King of Tars, and concludes upon the page where No. 4 begins. The beginning is wanting. It is a work, according to the poet, of high antiquity and authority, being written by Seth.

Tho Soth had written Adame's liif,
And Eve's, that was Adame's wif,

Right in thilke selve stede,

Her Adam was won to bide his bede.

Seth left the MS. in Adam's oratory, where it remained till the time of Solomon, who discovered, but could not decypher it, without supernatural assistance. It ends,

Jesu that was nomen with wrong,
And tholed mani paines strong,
Among the Jewes that were felle,

To bring Adam out of helle;
Gif ous grace for to winne
The joie that Adam now is in.

No. 4. The Legend of Seynt Margrete,-four leaves and a half. Perfect, saving a few lines cut out with the illumination. It is a more modern version of the legend published by Hickes, in the Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium, and begins,

Al that ben in deadly sinne,

And thenke with merci to mete,
Leve in Crist that gave you wit
Your sinnes for to bete,

Listen and ye schul here telle,

With wordes fair and swete,

The vie of on maiden

Men clepeth Seyn Margrete.

No. 5. Legend of Seynt Katerine.-Three and a half leaves; wants the end, and some leaves, where the illumination has been cut out.

He that made heaven and erthe,
And sun and mone for to shine,

Bring ous into his riche,

And scheld ous fram helle pine!
Herken, and Y you wil telle
The liif of an holy virgine,

That truli trewed in Jesu Crist;

Hir name was hoten Katerin.

No. 7. The Legend or Romance of Owain Miles,-occupies seven leaves. The beginning is wanting. It contains the adventures of Sir Owain, a Northumbrian knight, in St Patrick's purgatory in Ireland, where he saw hell, purgatory, and the celestial regions. The last verses are,

No. 8. The Desputisoun betuen the Bodi and the Soule.Three leaves; wants the concluding stanzas. This is a dispute betwixt the body and soul of a dead warrior, who continue to upbraid each other with their sinful life, until they are both carried to the infernal regions:

As Y lay in a winter's night,
In a droupening bifor the day,
Methought I saw a selli sight:
A bodi opon a bere lay.
He had ben a modi knight,
And littel served God to pay;
Forlorn he had his lives light.
The gost moved out, and wald oway.