The Index of Middle English Prose. Handlist III: A Handlist of Manuscripts Containing Middle English Prose in the Digby Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford by Patrick J. Horner (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER and enthusiasm produce a persuasive explanation of how theology and poetics control late-medieval pilgrimage writing. CHRISTIAN K. ZACHER The OhioState University PATRICK J. HORNER. The Index ofMiddle English Prose. Handlzst 111: A Handlist of Manuscripts Containing Middle English Prose in the Digby Collection, Bodleian Library, Oxford. Cambridge and Wolfe­ boro, N.H.: D.S. Brewer, 1986. Pp. xxiii, 86. £19.50, $32.50. Although Sir Kenelm Digby has given his name to this collection, it testifies to the bibliomania of two men: Digby was the legatee of Thomas Allen, from whom he received more than two hundred manuscripts. The books powerfully evoke these men's world of courtly savants and Oxford antiquarians who snapped up treasures from the wreck of the local religious houses, men nostalgic for the old order (one was a recusant, and the other suspected of being such). Digby's appetite for amateur science and quack­ ery, moreover, does not facilitate the task of the cataloguer-however much a polymath-confronted with the queer jumble of arcana to be found in his books. Yet these miscellanies give fascinating insights into popular religion as well as the preoccupations of their fifteenth-century collectors. Manuscript Digby 88, for example (which looks as if it might have been a parish priest's anthology), displays an enthusiasm for palmistry, for herb lore, for calculation of unlucky days (with prophylactic charms to mitigate theireffects), andfor medical recipes (including one to test a virgin), as well as for theology. Since a catalogue such as this is by definition a detailed inventory, perhaps a reviewer may be forgiven for concentrating on details. I exam­ ined a sample of twelve manuscripts containing substantial amounts of English. Hornerhas done an admirable job in identifying the texts and has contended valiantly with intransigent handwriting. However, it must be admitted that transcription is a weakness. Minor errors are frequent, as in the following examples: Digby 18 (2], Digby 29 [5], 238 fol. 93v: pe] pee MS. fol. 46v: lay it] lay MS, good] gode MS. REVIEWS [6], (8], Digby 75 (5], [6], Digby 88 [4], (5], (8), (9), (21], (25], (26), Digby 95 (4), (5], (7), Digby 185 (1), (2), [4], fol.58r: croised]croise id est MS. fol 59r: spargo]sparge MS. betoyne (2))beytoyne MS. fol.72r: gler]gleyr MS. fol 108v: vrynys (l)]vrynis MS. fol.12lr: centory] century MS. fol.23v: worke)werke MS. fol.24v: idem (1passim)] item MS. fol.27v: owgth]owyth MS, daw6e]dawe MS. fol.28v: pe cyteyes)pe v.cyteys MS. fol.77r: maliue]malice MS. fol.80r: lanuarijs]lanuarij MS. fol.80r: and pat]and po pat MS. pat fynger]py f.MS. fol.93r: schalt]schall MS. fol.94r: of pe rote and of pe clotys]of )Je r.and pe rote of clotys MS. fol.103v: per pride)per pe pride MS. fol.lr: noothyn]noothyng MS. fol.156r: crist]criste MS., charge]pe c.MS. of principally]of eras MS. fol.203r: must]must nedes MS. Macaronic Index A: Digby 29 [A4], fol.74v: cognoscendum]ad c.MS. [A5], fol.75v: bonum digestionem]bonam d.MS. [A7], fol.206r: Artemisia...Artemis)Artemesia... Arthemesis MS.(Mugwort add. in marg. ). gr::ecus...gr::ece qua::)grecus...grece que MS. eius]esse MS. [A9), fol. 302r: bursam pastorum)b.pastoris MS. Digby 95 [A13],fol.96r: que (2)]quod MS. Mistakesofthissort do not greatlyobstructtheuser,although the corrected readings often make better sense of details. More substantial errors, how­ ever, do hinder recognition and comprehension. In Digby 29 [2], folio 30v, one is asked to "stil" ("distill"), not "stir," the ingredients. The mysterious "pryngorum" are "yryngorum," that is, "eryngoes" (sea holly, thestimulant made famous by Falstaff). In entry 4, folio 36v, "camoke" (restharrow) is 239 STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER indeed identified as such; "id est resta bouis." The "stone canwase" of entry 9, folio 113v, is a "store canwase," that is, one coarse in texture. Entry 15, folio297r,reads "Recipe rutys ofrededockys." The elusive plant in entry 16, folio 297r, is "Herb Christopher" ("herbe cristoferi"). Similarly, the exotic­ sounding "chorte lefe" called for in entry 25, folio 30lr, is the...