Hoccleve, Thomas, 1370?-1450? Mirror of the periods of man's life Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872, former owner Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscript. HM 135
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ff. 1-82v. [Thomas Hoccleve]. Regiment of Princes. Incipit: Musyng vpon the restelesse besynesse/ Wyche that this troubly worlde hath ay on honde. . .[f. 32:] Hic incipit prologus de principum regimine, Hy noble and myȝty prince excellent/ my lord the prince o my lorde gracious. Explicit: Hic trattat de principum regimine incipiendo de fide servanda, Now gracious prince agayn that the corone/ honour thou schal with ryal dignite. . .In swyche a cas ys wysdam to schaunge/ good ys your counsell be to your foos straunge//. Latin. IMEV 2229. F. J. Furnivall, ed., Hoccleve's Works. EETS es 72 (London 1897); 1 leaf missing after f. 29 with loss of stanzas 233-240; 4 leaves missing after f. 30 with loss of stanzas 249-280; 1 leaf missing after f. 67 with loss of stanzas 577-584; text ends defectively at the end of stanza 704 with loss of the final 76 stanzas, presumably 9 to 10 folios. Disorder in the text with respect to the printed edition: on f. 39v, in stanza 352, line 2460 precedes line 2458; on f. 76v, stanza 659 is copied between stanzas 654 and 655. That the scribe was copying from his exemplar page by page is shown by the disorder on f. 51: stanzas 421 and 422 were copied in their correct order at the top of f. 48v; they were then repeated after stanza 440 at the top of f. 51 (conjunct to f. 48, in positions 5 and 8 of quire 5); the scribe evidently became aware of his error at the end of stanza 422, because its last line was not copied; the scribe then placed the required stanza 441 in the outer margin, copied stanzas 442 and 443 in the normal text space, but was forced to place stanza 444 in the outer margin to recoup space and catch up with his exemplar for the beginning of f. 51v. For a list of 43 manuscripts, including HM 135, see M. C. Seymour,"The Manuscripts of Hoccleve's Regiment of Princes," Edinburgh Bibliographical Society Transactions 4 pt. 7 (1974) 253-97. ff. 83-86v. [Mirror of the Periods of Man's Life]. Incipit: //Go from me & make the a frere/ Myn age ys now in xl ȝere. Explicit: Wyth outen synne thedyr to wende/ Wyth loue to sen that fayre face. Amen. [space] Here ys wryten how mankynde dothe wende/ Wanne the lyf ys browȝt to the ende. Explicit totum. Latin. IMEV 1259. F. J. Furnivall, ed.,"Mirror of the Periods of Man's Life," Hymns to the Virgin and Christ. EETS os 24 (London 1867) 58-78; with respect to the printed edition, the stanzas in HM 135 are: 39, 41-43, 46-47, 44-45, 35, 54, 52-53, 49, 63, 59, 55-58, 48, 50, 61-62, with a leaf missing after f. 85, 74 (last 2 lines only), 77-81. Title from printed catalog. Support: Paper. Script: Secretary. Layout: 1-2¹² 3¹²(-6 after f. 29; -8 through 11 after f. 30) 4-6¹² 7¹²(-1 after f. 67) 8 (ff. 79-82, all singletons, with loss of the following 9 to 10 leaves?) 9 (ff. 83-86, all singletons, with loss of text before f. 83-5 folios?, and some loss after f. 85-1 folio?). Quire and leaf signatures in letters and roman numerals placed on horizontal bounding line directly across from the last line of text. 28 lines of verse in 4 spaced stanzas of 7 lines each in the first text; in the second, 29-32 unspaced lines of verse. Frame ruled in dry point. Watermark(s): Ciseaux similar to Briquet 3754, Palermo 1456; Tête de boeuf similar to Briquet 15089, Soleure 1488 and Briquet 15105, Fribourg 1449; no watermark on ff. 83-86. Span folios: ff. 1-86v. Other Decoration: Although the leaf which would have contained the Chaucer portrait (with stanzas 712-716) is missing, the manuscript does not appear luxurious enough to have had one. Opening initial, f. 1, 4-line in red with blue-green flourishing; 3- and 2-line initials in the same style, e.g. ff. 32, 40, 49v. Later pen trials include on f. 28v, an alphabet; on f. 32, s. XVII, 4 lines of verse with reference to Thomas Coryate, "Whatt matters for the place I first came from. . ." and on f. 47, 2 lines, "Whan that I was __cropped___/ and young, and fa__cropped___" (Leicester Bradner, ed., The Poems of Queen Elizabeth I, Providence R.I. 1964, p. 7). Assigned Date: s. XV3/4. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 7/15/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound, s. XIX, in English brown calf, blind tooled; marbled endpapers; by same binder as for HM 139 (cf. tool on turn-ins). HM 135. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Obvious wear and soil on ff. 1 and 82v suggest that the first text was once a separate volume. Pen trials throughout the volume include these names: s. XVI, f. 12,"Thomas Parrsie gent."; f. 25,"Noverint universi per presentes nos Thomam Catffieldes"; s. XVII, f. 1,"Henricus Smitheus" (rubbed); f. 6,"To the Right honourable the Ea[rl] of Essex at Chartley __cropped___"; f. 17,"William Wacker of Ifield in the"; f. 31,"Thomas Mid" and in the same hand, f. 32,"Johannes"; f. 36,"Noverint universi per present[es] Henricus Colse de Michem __cropped___ Commitat. Surrey gent. et __cropped___ Hother of Horsham in the __cropped___ Sussex." Seymour has suggested that this manuscript may be identified with one owned by Richard Heber, his sale, Evans, 10 February 1836, lot 1163 which"wants beginning and end and has been cruelly mutilated in the middle for the sake of the illumination"; however, there is no reason to suppose that HM 135 is mutilated at the beginning. Thorpe cat. (1836) lot 610 to Sir Thomas Phillipps; Phillipps n. 8980; his shelfmark in blue crayon on f. i verso,"B. 33.459." Acquired privately by Henry E. Huntington through A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1923.
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