Walter Hilton's Latin Writings (review)

Reviews 117 projectedresolutionsfor cunent politicd dilemmas. Even the 1642 closure of the theatres would not have seemed at the time such a find curtdn as it appears to us, since the playhouses were regularly closed in times of plague and public mourning or cdamity. No-one could have foreseen that this time they would stay closed for eighteen years. Betsy Taylor Department of English University of Sydney Clark, J.P.H. and C. Taylor, eds, Walter Hilton's Latin Writings, 2 vols (Analecta Cartusiana, 124) Sdzburg, Institut fiir Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universitat Sdzburg, 1987; pp.479. It is a treat to have an edition of these Latin writings of Wdter Hilton so many years dter his English writings have been available in good editions and even translations. The eight texts, dl previously unpublished, include five Latin letters, one short tract written 'contra hereticos' on the subject of images, as well as an English translation (not by Hilton) of one letter and an anonymous English commentary on a Latin letter, now lost which Hilton wrote to a Gilbertine nun possibly from an East Anglian convent Although most of thetextsare well known to Hilton scholars, particdarly the letter to A d a m Horsley, they add considerably to our view of Hilton as a spiritud adviser, conespondent, fighter agdnst heresy and confidante. On the other hand, it is qdte clear now that the texts are before us, that Hilton reserved his best, most considered work for the vernacular. With the exception of the letter probably meant for the lawyer John Thorpe, most of the advice and jeugements proffered are more conventiond in their piety than we expect from the author of the Scale ofPerfection. Internd evidence indicates that most of Hilton's Latin conespondents were either religious or lay people contemplating the undertaking of a more ascetic and persond pursuit of holiness. The Epistola de Utilitate et Prerogativis Religionis, known earlier as the Epistola Aurea, was written for Adam Horsley at a time when Hilton was himself debating the merits of the solitary as opposed to the c o m m u n d life for a religious. In the Latin letter edited here Hilton undertakes a systematic defence of the commund religious life with the object of confirming Horsley in his intention of becoming a Carthusian. It is crucid for 118 Reviews an understanding of Hilton's own spiritud progress as it is probably Hilton's earliest work and shows his unease with the solitary life he was then living. Most of Hilton's writing was conducted at a time when the fear of the heresy inspired by the teaching of John Wyclif was at its height. O n the evidence of his Latin writings Hilton was clearly engaged in the battle agdnst heresy to write on topics such as the vdidity of images and the sacrament of confession. These Latin letters confirm Hilton's reputation as a sympathetic and responsive spiritud adviser with a willingness to address the problems of a wide range of people, from the worldly bureaucrat, A d a m Horsley (Epistola de utilitate), solitary hermits (De imagine peccati and Epistola de leccione, intencione, etc.) and university educated priests to femde religious. Hilton's major work, the Scale of Perfection, or at least itsfirstpart, was written for an anchoress and it is particularly interesting to have an indication of Hilton's contact with other w o m e n in religious life through the East Anglian commentary on a lost Hilton letter to a Gilbertine sister. There are deficiencies in this editiion. I felt the lack of an attempt to place these interesting texts in the overdl context of Hilton's English writings. It may well be significant that nearly dl the Latin writings seem to have come early in Hilton's career when he was still unsure of his own vocation and tone. Some reference to Hilton's Epistola de vita mixta which was written to an unknown man of worldly estate who aspired to a contemplative life but was obliged to remdn in the world, would seem essentid, but it is not refened to among the extensive notes to the letter to A d a...