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ii
conara fugill,
PREFACE.
' five paths of judgment,' of which there is (according to
Dr. O'Donovan) a fuller copy in a MS. in the library of Trinity College,
Dublin, marked H. 3. 18—and that the Latin passage at fo. 5$ b. seems
to run thus: Hii omnes sancti (sic) inuoco in auxilium meum per inter-
cessionem sanctse Mariae et sanctarum et (sanctor)um, quarum et
quorum Deus nomina nominauit, et quos praesciuit et praedistinavit
conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui in uitam seternam in Christo Jesu Amen.
The poems now printed begin at fo. 19 a. 1 and end at fo. 40. b. 2.
They are written in double columns, with 50 lines in each.
According to the scribe's note following line 7788 the poems now
printed fall into four divisions, (1) the Psalter, (2) the poem on repentance,
(3) the poem on confession, and (4) the ten poems on the Resurrection.
' That note means : Thus far the body of the Psalter of the Quatrains, to
wit, the thrice fifty poems (duand). Two after, (one) for confession, and
ten to set forth the Resurrection ; so that
(the other) for repentance ; and
there are twelve and thrice fifty poems altogether.' The thrice fifty
' poems— equal in number to the psalms, and hence the Psalter '—deal
for the most part with incidents from the Old Testament. But the first
poem contains a kind of description of the universe; poems XI (on the
penance of Adam and Eve) and XII (on the death of Adam) are founded
on the Vita Adae et Etlae, two texts of which have been published by
W. Meyer (Munchen, 1879) ; and poems XLII-L relate to the life of
Christ. Poem CLI expresses repentance for transgression and prays for
forgiveness. No. CLII is an expression of ignorance of God and his
various works. Nos. CLIII to CLIX describe the events on each day of
the week before the last Judgment. Sense here is so completely sacrificed
to metrical requirements that these seven poems are, to a large extent,
unintelligible to me. CLX deals with the seven resurrections — namely,
(1) that of the apostles, (2) of the prophets, (3) of the confessors, (4) of
the martyrs, (5) of the saints, (6) of the virgins, penitents, and baptized
infants, and (7) of the rest of the human race. Poem CLXI treats of
the coming of the demons out of hell to earth, the fall of the idols, etc.
The last poem, CLXII, describes the triumph of the angels over their
foes, the rewards of the righteous, the punishments of the wicked.
It may be well to give a precis of the three most important of the
poems, namely, I, XI, and XII.