Part 24

From internal evidence it would seem that the interpolation first appeared in French. The style is the uniform style of translation, with the same tags—_and ȝee schull vndirstonde_ = _et sachiez_; _ȝif it lyke ȝou_ = _si vous plest_; and the same trick of double rendering, e.g. _of dyuerse secte and of beleeve_; _wyse and discreet_; _the auctour ne the persone_. More decisive is an example of the syntactical compromise explained in the note to l. 329: #be# _the whiche the Mappa Mundi was made_ #after#. With so many French MSS. of Mandeville in use in England, an interpolation in French would have more authority than one that could not be traced beyond English; and it can hardly be an insuperable objection that no such French text exists to-day, since our knowledge of the Cotton and Egerton versions themselves depends in each case on the chance survival of a single MS.

The point has a bearing on the vexed question of the relations of the English texts one to another. For brevity we may denote by D the defective text of the early prints and most MSS., which is specially distinguished by a long gap near the beginning; by C the Cotton text (ed. Halliwell, Pollard, Hamelius); by E the Egerton text (ed. Warner). Nicholson (in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_) and Warner give priority to D, and consider that C and E are independent revisions and expansions of D by writers who had recourse to the French original. Their argument seems to be this: There is precise evidence just before the gap that D derives direct from a mutilated French text (see _Enc. Brit._), and if it be granted that a single translation from the French is the base of C, D, and E, it follows that C and E are based on D.

A fuller study by Vogels (_Handschriftliche Untersuchungen über die Englische Version Mandeville's_, Crefeld 1891) brings to light a new fact: the two Bodleian MSS., E Museo 116 and Rawlinson D 99, contain an English translation (say L) made from a Latin text of the _Travels_. Vogels also shows that E is based on D, because the characteristic lacuna of D is filled in E by a passage which is borrowed from L and is not homogeneous with the rest of E. So far there is no conflict with the view of Nicholson and Warner. But, after adducing evidence in favour of the contention that C, D, and E are at base one translation, Vogels concludes that D derives from C, arguing thus: There is good evidence that C is a direct translation from the French, and if it be granted that a single translation from the French is the base of C and D, it follows that D derives from C.

In short, the one party maintains that C is an expansion of D, the other that D is an abridgement of C; and this flat opposition results from the acceptance of common ground: that C and D represent in the main one translation and not two translations.

To return to our interpolation:

(1) Vogels's first piece of evidence that C, D, and E are at base one translation is the appearance in all of this interpolation, which is absent from the MSS. in French. But a passage so remarkable might spread from one to the other of two independent English texts; or if the interpolation originated in England in a MS. of the French text since lost, it might be twice translated.

(2) Vogels assumes that the interpolation first appeared in type C. But C is the form in which it would be least likely to originate, because here the contradiction of statement is sharpest owing to the rendering at ll. 313-14: _and now I am comen hom_, which is peculiar to C (see the French).

(3) If, in order to eliminate individual peculiarities, we take two MSS. of the D type—say Harley 2386 and Royal 17 C. XXXVIII—we find that their text of the interpolation is identical with that of E. This is consistent with Vogels's finding that the body of E derives from D; and it confirms the evidence of all the defective MSS. that the interpolation in this particular form was an integral part of the D type.

(4) But between the text of the interpolation in D and that in C there are differences in matter, in sentence order, and in phrasing, which, while they do not exclude the possibility of interdependence, do not suggest such a relation. In D the passage is a naked attempt at authentication; in C it is more artfully though more shamelessly introduced by the touch of piety conventional in epilogues. And as the signs of a French original that appear in C are absent from D, it is unlikely that the text of the interpolation in C derives from D.

(5) Again, in D and E the addition follows the matter of ll. 307-20. Unfortunately, though the balance of probability is in favour of the order in C, the order intended by the interpolator is not certain enough to be made the basis of arguments. But such a difference in position is naturally explained from the stage when the interpolation stood in the margin of a MS., or on an inserted slip, so that it might be taken into the consecutive text at different points. And an examination of the possibilities will show that if the interpolation originated in French, the different placing is more simply explained on the assumption that C and D are independent translations than on the assumption that one of them derives from the other.

To sum up: the central problem for the history of the English texts is the relation of C and D. Taken by itself the evidence afforded by the text of the interpolation is against the derivation of C from D; it neither favours nor excludes the derivation of D from C; it rather favours independent translation in C and D.

For the relations of the rest of the text these deductions afford no more than a clue. Against independent translation of C and D stands the evidence adduced by Vogels for basic unity. Much of this could be accounted for by the coincidences that are inevitable in literal prose translations from a language so near to English in vocabulary and word order; and a few striking agreements might be due to the use of French MSS. having abnormal variants in common, or even to reference by a second translator to the first. The remainder must be weighed against a considerable body of evidence in the contrary sense, e.g. several places where the manuscripts of the French text have divergent readings, of which C translates one, and D another.

It is unlikely that any simple formula will be found to cover the whole web of relationships: but any way of reconciling the conclusions of the authorities should be explored; and the first step is an impartial sifting of all the evidence, with the object of discovering to what extent C and D are interdependent, and to what extent independent translations. The chief obstacle is the difficulty of bringing the necessary texts together; for an investigator who wished to clear the ground would have to face the labour of preparing a six-text _Mandeville_, in the order, French, C, D, E, L, Latin.

301. _Mappa Mundi_: OFr. and ME. _Mappemounde_, was the generic name for a chart of the world, and, by extension, for a descriptive geography of the world. It is not clear what particular _Mappa Mundi_ is referred to here, or whether such a map was attached to the manuscript copy of the _Travels_ in which this interpolation first appeared.

329. _fro whom all godenesse and grace cometh fro_: cp. 24-5 _the lond of the whiche on of the þre Kynges... was kyng offe_; 76-8 _þei... of whom all science... cometh from_; and 301-2 _be the whiche the_ Mappa Mundi _was made after_. The pleonasm is explained by the divergence of French and ME. word order. In French, as in modern literary English, the preposition is placed at the beginning of the clause, before the relative (_de qui_, _dont_, &c.). ME. writers naturally use the relative _that_, and postpone the preposition to the end of the clause: e.g. _þat all godenesse cometh fro_. The translator compromises between his French original and his native habit by placing the preposition both at the beginning and at the end.

X

#Dialect#: Northern (Scots): the MS. copy was made in 1487 more than a century after the poem was composed.

#Vocabulary#: Note _till_ 'to' 4, 77 (in rime); _syne_ 'afterwards' 35, 112; the forms _sic_ 'such' 135, _begouth_ 94, and the short verbal forms _ma_ (in rime) 'make' 14, _tane_ (in rime) 'taken' 19.

#Inflexions#:

VERB: pres. ind. 3 sg. _has_ 76. 3 pl. _has_ 52, _mais_ 72; but _thai haf_ 16. pres. p. _rynand_ 17, _vyndland_ 129 (in rime). strong pp. _gane_ 84, _drawyn_ 124. PRONOUN 3 PERS.: sg. fem. nom. _scho_ (in rime) 80; pl. _thai_ 1: _thair_ 28; _thame_ 3.

#Sounds#: OE. _ā_ remains: _brynstane_ (in rime) 20, _sare_ 51.

OE. _ō_ (close _ọ̄_) appears as _u_ (_ǖ_?): _gude_ 36, _fut_ 57, _tume_ 143.

Unaccented _-(e)d_ of weak pa. t. and pp. becomes _-(i)t_: _passit_ 2, &c.

#Spelling#: _i_ (_y_) following a vowel indicates length: _weill_ 10, _noyne_ 'noon' 67.

OE. _hw-_ appears as _quh-_ (indicating strong aspiration): _quhelis_ 'wheels' 17, _quhar_ 18.

_v_ and _w_ are interchanged: _vithall_ 9, _behevin_ 163, _in swndir_ 106.

* * * * *

Book XVII of _The Bruce_ begins with the capture of Berwick by the Scots in March 1318. Walter Stewart undertakes to hold the city, and is aided in preparing defences by a Flemish engineer, John Crab. Next year King Edward II determines to recapture the stronghold by an attack from both land and sea. He entrenches his forces and makes the first assault unsuccessfully early in September 1319. In this battle the Scotch garrison capture a clever engineer (see note to l. 71 below). King Robert Bruce meanwhile orders a raid into England as a diversion, and on 20 September 1319, an English army, led by the Archbishop of York, is disastrously defeated by the invaders at Mitton. Our extract gives the story of the second assault on Berwick, which was also fruitless. The fortress fell into English hands again as a result of the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333: see XIV _a_ 35-6.

* * * * *

5-6. 'They made a sow of great joists, which had a stout covering over it.' The _sow_ was essentially a roof on wheels. The occupants, under shelter of the roof, pushed up to the walls of the besieged place and tried to undermine them. For an illustration see Cutts, _Scenes and Characters of the Middle Ages_, Pt. VI, chap. vi, where other military engines of the time are described.

15. _Crabbis consale_: John Crab was the engineer of the garrison. He is no doubt the same as the John Crab who in 1332 brought Flemish ships round from Berwick to attack the English vessels at Dundee. There was an important Flemish colony at Berwick from early times.

36. _Schir Valter, the gude Steward_: Walter Steward, whose surname denotes his office as Steward of Scotland, was the father of Robert II, the first king of the Stuart line.

42. _Rude-evyn_: September 13, the eve of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.

49. _thame... of the toune_, 'the defenders of the town'.

51. _or than_, 'or else'.

71 ff. _The engynour_: an English engineer captured by the garrison in the previous assault and forced into their service.

80. _scho_, 'she', some engine of war not previously referred to: apparently a mechanical sling.

123 ff. The boats were filled with men and hoisted up the masts, so as to overtop the walls and allow the besiegers to shoot at the garrison from above. The same engine that proved fatal to the sow was used to break up the boats.

146. _thar wardane with him had_, 'their warden had with him'; cp. note to XIII _a_ 36.

158-61. A confused construction. The writer has in mind: (1) 'Of all the men he had there remained with him only one whom he had not left to relieve', &c.; and (2) 'There were no members of his company (except one) whom he had not left', &c.

XI

#Dialect#: South Midland.

#Inflexions#: _u_ for inflexional _e_, as in _knowun_ _a_ 2, _seun_ _a_ 51, _aȝenus_ _a_ 29, _mannus_ _b_ 114 is found chiefly in West Midland.

VERB: pres. ind. 2 sg. _madist_ _b_ 214. 3 sg. _groundiþ_ _a_ 4. 3 pl. _seyn_ _a_ 1, _techen_ _b_ 5. pres. p. _brennynge_ _b_ 67. strong pp. _knowun_ _a_ 2, _ȝouen_ _b_ 264, _take_ _b_ 271. PRONOUN 3 PERS.: pl. _þey_, _þei_, _a_ 3, _b_ 9; possessive usually _þer_ in _a_ 1, 23, &c.; but _her_ _a_ 52, and regularly _here_ in _b_ 25, 36, &c.; objective _hem_ _a_ 4, _b_ 3.

#Sounds#: OE. _ā_ appears regularly as _o_, _oo_: _more_ _a_ 7, _Hooly_ _a_ 10, _toolde_ _a_ 65.

OE. _y_ appears as _y_, _i_: _synne_ _a_ 61, _stiren_ _b_ 93.

The form _þouþ_ (= _þouȝ_) _b_ 190 probably indicates sound-substitution; and in _ynowþȝ_ (= _ynouȝ_) _b_ 149 there is wavering between the two forms.

* * * * *

_a_ 12. _Wit Sunday_: the first element is OE. _hwīt_ 'white', not 'wit'.

_a_ 25 ff. Translations of the Bible were common in France at this time. No less than six fine copies survive from the library of John, Duke of Berry (d. 1416). About the middle of the fourteenth century King John of France ordered a new translation and commentary to be made at the expense of the Jews, but it was never finished, although several scholars were still engaged on it at the end of the century. The early French verse renderings, which incorporate a good deal of mediaeval legend, are described by J. Bonnard, _Les Traductions de la Bible en Vers Français au Moyen Âge_ (Paris 1884); the prose by S. Berger, _La Bible Française au Moyen Âge_ (Paris 1884). Of the surviving manuscripts mentioned in these excellent monographs several were written in England.

_a_ 28 ff. In earlier times, when most of those who could read at all were schooled in Latin, the need for English translations of the Scriptures was not so pressing, and the partial translations that were made were intended rather for the use of the clergy and their noble patrons than for the people. Bede (d. 735) completed a rendering of St. John's Gospel on his death-bed. Old English versions of the Gospels and the Psalms still survive. Abbot Aelfric (about A.D. 1000) translated the first five books of the Old Testament; and more than one Middle English version of the Psalms is known. Wiclif was perhaps unaware of the Old English precedents because French renderings became fashionable in England from the twelfth century onwards, and he would probably think of the Psalter more as a separate service book than as an integral part of the Bible. But the prologue to the Wiclifite version attributed to John Purvey quotes the example of Bede and King Alfred; and the Dialogue on Translation which, in Caxton's print, serves as preface to Trevisa's translation of Higden, emphasizes the Old English precedents. Both may be read in _Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse_, ed. A. W. Pollard, London 1903, pp. 193 ff. The attitude of the mediaeval Church towards vernacular translations of the Bible has been studied very fully by Miss M. Deanesly, _The Lollard Bible and other Medieval Biblical Versions_, Cambridge 1920.

_a_ 34. _þe pley of Ȝork._ The York Paternoster Play has not survived, but there are records from 1389 of a Guild of the Lord's Prayer at York, whose main object was the production of the play. It seems to have been an early example of the moral play, holding up 'the vices to scorn and the virtues to praise', and it probably consisted of several scenes, each exhibiting one of the Seven Deadly Sins. The last recorded representation was in 1572. See Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_, vol. ii, p. 154. The association of the friars with the production of religious plays is confirmed by other writings of the time. They were quick to realize the value of dramatic representation as a means of gaining favour with the people, and their encouragement must be reckoned an important factor in the development of the Miracle Play.

_a_ 51. _wher_, 'whether'; cp. _b_ 207. In ll. 197, 266, 274, it introduces a direct question; see note to V 118.

_b_ 20. _Gregory_, Gregory the Great. See his work _In Primum Regum Expositiones_, Bk. iii, c. 28: _praedicatores autem Sanctae Ecclesiae... prophetae ministerio utuntur_ (Migne, _Patrologia_, vol. lxxix, col. 158).

_b_ 44. <_God_>. Such omissions from the Corpus MS. are supplied throughout from the copy in Trinity College, Dublin, MS. C. III. 12.

_b_ 79-80. Cp. Luke xxi. 36 and 1 Thessalonians v. 17.

_b_ 89-91. Proverbs xxviii. 9.

_b_ 126. _as Ambrose_: In 386 St. Ambrose, besieged in the Portian Church at Milan by Arian sectaries, kept his followers occupied and in good heart by introducing the Eastern practice of singing hymns and antiphons. See St. Augustine's _Confessions_ Bk. ix, c. 7.

_b_ 131-2. _placebo._ Vespers of the Dead, named from the first word of the antiphon, _Placebo Domino in regione vivorum_ (Psalm cxiv. 9).

_dirige._ Matins of the Dead, named from the first word of the antiphon, _Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam_ (Psalm v. 9). Hence our word _dirge_.

_comendacion_: an office in which the souls of the dead are commended to God.

_matynes of Oure Lady_: one of the services in honour of the Virgin introduced in the Middle Ages.

The whole question of these accretions to the Church services is dealt with by our English master in liturgical study, the late Mr. Edmund Bishop, in his essay introductory to the Early English Text Society's edition of the _Prymer_, since reprinted with additional notes in his _Liturgica Historica_ (Oxford 1918), pp. 211 ff.

_b_ 137 f. _deschaunt, countre note, and orgon, and smale brekynge._ The elaboration of the Church services in mediaeval times was accompanied by a corresponding enrichment of the music. To the plain chant additional parts were joined, sung in harmony either above or below the plain chant. _Descant_ usually means the addition of a part above, _organ_ and _countre-note_ (= counterpoint) the addition of parts either above or below. All these could be composed note for note with the plain chant. But _smale brekyng_ represents a further complication, whereby the single note in the plain chant was represented by two or more notes in the accompanying parts.

_b_ 140 f. The abuse is referred to in _Piers Plowman_:

_Persones and parsheprests pleynede to the bisshop That hure parshens ben poore sitthe the pestelence tyme, To haue licence and leue in Londone to dwelle, And synge ther for symonye, for seluer ys swete._

_Prologue_ ll. 81-4.

and by Chaucer in his description of the Parson:

_He sette nat his benefice to hyre, And leet his sheepe encombred in the myre, And ran to Londoun, unto Seint Poules, To seken hym a chaunterie for soules._

_Prologue_ ll. 507-10.

_b_ 183. _Ordynalle of Salisbury._ An 'ordinal' is a book showing the order of church services and ceremonies. In mediaeval times there was considerable divergence in the usage of different churches. But after the Conquest, and more especially in the thirteenth century, there was developed at Salisbury Cathedral an elaborate order and form of service which spread to most of the English churches of any pretensions. This was called 'Sarum' or 'Salisbury' use.

_b_ 209. _þei demen it dedly synne a prest to fulfille_, &c. For this construction, cp. Chaucer, _Prologue_ 502 _No wonder is a lewed man to ruste_; Shakespeare, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, V. iv. 108 f. _It is the lesser blot... Women to change their shapes_, &c. The same construction, where we now insert _for_, is seen in _Gawayne_ (v. 352-3) _hit were a wynne huge... a leude, þat couþe, to luf hom wel_, &c.

_b_ 221-3. 'They say that a priest may be excused from saying mass, to be the substance of which God gave Himself, provided that he hears one.'

_b_ 228 f. _newe costy portos, antifeners, graielis, and alle oþere bokis._ _Portos_, French _porte hors_, represents Latin _portiforium_, a breviary convenient for 'carrying out of doors'. The _antifener_ contained the antiphons, responses, &c., necessary for the musical service of the canonical hours. The _graiel_, or _gradual_, was so called from the gradual responses, sung at the steps of the altar, or while the deacon ascended the steps of the pulpit: but the book actually contained all the choral service of the Mass.

_b_ 230. _makynge of biblis._ Wiclif in his _Office of Curates_ (ed. Matthew, p. 145) complains of the scarcity of bibles. _But fewe curatis han þe Bible and exposiciouns of þe Gospelis, and litel studien on hem, and lesse donne after hem. But wolde God þat euery parische chirche in þis lond hadde a good Bible!_ &c.

_b_ 234. At this time books, especially illuminated books, were very dear. The Missal of Westminster Abbey, which is now shown in the Chapter-house, was written in 1382-4 at a cost of £34 14_s._ 7_d._—a great sum in those days, for the scribe, Thomas Preston, who took two years to write it, received only £4 for his labour, 20_s._ for his livery, and board at the rate of 21_s._ 8_d._ the half year. The inscription in British Museum MS. Royal 19 D. II, a magnificently illustrated Bible with commentary, shows that it was captured at Poitiers with King John of France, and bought by the Earl of Salisbury for 100 marks (about £66). Edward III gave the same sum to a nun of Amesbury for a rich book of romance. In France John, Duke of Berry, paid as much as £200 for a breviary, and the appraisement of his library in 1416 shows a surprisingly high level of values (L. Delisle, _Le Cabinet des Manuscrits_, vol. iii, pp. 171 ff.). These were luxurious books. The books from the chapel of Archbishop Bowet of York (d. 1423) sold more reasonably: £8 for a great antiphonar and £6 13_s._ 4_d._ _pro uno libro vocato 'Bibill'_, were the highest prices paid; and from his library there were some fascinating bargains: 4_s._ for a small copy of Gregory's _Cura Pastoralis_; 5_s._ _pro uno libro vocato 'Johannes Andrewe', vetere et debili_, which would probably turn out to be a dry work on the Decretals; and 3_s._ 4_d._ for a nameless codex, _vetere et caduco_, 'old and falling to pieces'. (_Historians of the Church of York_, ed. J. Raine, vol. iii, pp. 311, 315.)

But the failing activity of the monastic scriptoria, and the formation of libraries by the friars and by rich private collectors, made study difficult for students at the universities, where at this time a shilling per week—a third of the price of Bowet's most dilapidated volume—was reckoned enough to cover the expenses of a scholar living plainly. The college libraries were scantily supplied: books were lent only in exchange for a valuable pledge; or even pawned, in hard times, by the colleges themselves.

These conditions were not greatly improved until printing gave an easy means of duplication, and for a time caused the humble manuscripts in which most of the mediaeval vernacular literature was preserved to be treated as waste paper. As late as the eighteenth century Martène found the superb illuminated manuscripts left by John, Duke of Berry, to the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges serving as roosting places to their keeper's hens (_Voyage Littéraire_, Paris 1717, pt. i, p. 29).

_b_ 261-3. The reference is to Acts vi. 2, 'It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.'

_b_ 266. _wisere þan._ After these words the Corpus MS. (p. 170, col. i, l. 34 mid.), without any warning, goes on to the closing passage of an entirely unrelated 'Petition to the King and Parliament'. By way of compensation, the end of our sermon appears at the close of the Petition. Clearly the scribe (or some one of his predecessors) copied without any regard for the sense from a MS. of which the leaves had become disarranged.

_b_ 285. Cp. Acts iii. 6.

XII

#Dialect#: London (SE. Midland) with Kentish features.

#Inflexions#: