Comparison Of Mss.

dred lines' length , consisting of advice for behaviour in church , and at other times . The passage begins Avith citing the example of . the " Quatuor coronati , " or Four Crowned Martyrs , AVIIO appear to have been Masons , ancl are commemorated in the

calendar on the octave of All Saints ( Nov . 8 ) , or , as the poem gives it : — " Whoso AVOI of here l yf yet mor kuowe , By the bok he may hyt schoAve , In the legent of Scanctorum , * The names of quatuor coronatorum ,

After Alio Halo wen the eyght day . " The directions for church time , which are very simple , and of no A'ery unusual stamp , referring chiefly to the celebration of mass , and the directions for behaviour at table , etc ., will be treated of under the

MS . of the poem " Urbanitatis . " The importance of these to the subject , however , is very considerable , for they form the connecting link between the three poems , since the one set , that is to say , the rules for church time occur almost word for Avord in the " Instructions for Parish Priests , " and tbe other similarly in the poem "Urbanitatis . "

II . " Urbanitatis . " [ Cotton MS . Caligula A . IL ] This poem occupies but a small part of a large collection of earl y English poems

on various subjects , knoAvn in the Museum catalogue by the enigmatical name of Caligula A . II . Perhaps it may be as Avell to explain here the origin of the name , though it has not the slightest connection with the contents of the volume .

The MS . forms part of the collection made by Sir Robert Cotton , in whose library each press or book-case Avas surmounted by a bust of one of the Roman Emperors . Each shelf Avas lettered , ancl each book upon it numbered , ancl thus the M S . under

consideration was the second book on the A ( or top ) shelf of the press dedicated to Caligula . The volume is Avritten on paper in double columns , in a clear and upri ght hand of the 15 th century , and contains

some tAVO hundred leaves . The contents » e for the most part earl y narrativepoems , Avith one or two didactic pieces . It

begins Avith a curious alliterative poem , entitled "Sussan , " which is a metrical version of the History of Susanna . This is folio ived by some Romances , in rhyming verse , such as the story of " E glamour of Artois , " and the Arthurian poem of

" Launfall Miles " ( the latter being simply the history of Sir Launcelot of the Lake ) , ancl the quasi-historical account of " Octaviau Imperator . " Besides these there is the curious and Avell-known poem of " Tundale , " ancl two metrical lives of saints ,

namely , those of Jerome and Eustace . Bound up with these at the end of the volume are the decrees of general Chapters of the Carthusian Order , together with its Constitutions , on a leaf of which part of the book is inscribed the name of " Thomas Cooke cle Mylton , " probably its former

owner . The poem " Urbanitatis " itself' is very short , ancl occupies not more than three columns . It consists of minute directions for behaAdour—( 1 ) in the presence of a lord ; ( 2 ) at table ; ( 3 ) among ladies . Some of these directions are curiousbut

, some also there are Avhich may not Avell be written doAvn here , ancl strange indeed it is to think that it should have been , found necessary to give them at all , for they . shoAv a state of manners more notable perhaps than praiseAvorthy .

Perhapshow-, ever , the intention of the author is to leave no point unjjrovided for . In the "Liber Niger , " a book of exchequer accounts and household ordinances ( temp . Hen . II . ) , mention is made of what is there called the "Booke of Urbanitie "

ancl , doubtless , it is the same as the one now treated of . It is there recommended to the notice of the henxmen ( henchmen ) or pages of the king , Avho Avere to be instructed out of it in all good behaviour . The last hundred lines of the " Masonic

Poem" are almost Avord for Avord the same as the whole of this poem , ancl vary only in spelling , ancl in a few slight differences of reading . To shoAv this similarity I will now give the first few lines of " Urbanitatis , " followed b y the parallel

passage in the " Masonic Poem . " " Whso Avylle of nurtur lere , Herken to me & ye shalle here , When thou comeste be fore a lord , In halle yn boAvre or at the borde , Hoode or kappe thou of tho , Ere thou come hym all on to , K 2