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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
The present paper offers the text of a hitherto unknown manuscript version of the ballad, “King John and the Abbot of Canterbury,” which was discovered a number of years ago by Professor Carleton Brown in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. MS. 255, in which the ballad is preserved, forms the second of the four volumes of Collectanea gathered by Brian Twyne, fellow of Corpus Christi College, who died in 1644. In the printed Catalogue of Manuscripts MS. 255 is described as “sæc. xvi exeuntis et xvii.” The date could hardly be given in more definite terms since the compiler has bound up in this volume separate articles and even single leaves from many MSS.
1 In Child's English and Scottish Pop. Ballads, No. 45, “King John and the Bishop.”
2 Catalogus Codicum MSS. qui in collegiis aulisque Oxoniensibus hodie adservantur. Confecit Henricus O. Coxe ... Oxonii. E Typographeo Academico, 1852, ii, 105 and 107.
3 Bishop Percy's Folio MS., ed. Hales and Furnivall, i, 508 ff.
18. sumthing] This appears to be the reading, although a dot clearly stands above the second letter.
22. The line as first written read: but I trust his grace his grace. This was corrected by drawing lines through the second his grace and writing just below, wyll do me no deare.
36. were] MS. wre.
37. MS. defective at edge.
41, 42. Between these lines a horizontal line has been drawn, and at the end is a conspicuous + to mark the place where the six omitted lines belong.
45. Following this line the scribe first wrote: that shall I doe withoute offence (cf. v. 114). Then discovering his mistake he erased the line.
50. stinck] so here clearly (and confirmed by the rime). But at v. 130 it is just as clearly stint. In the latter case, however, we are dealing with the second scribe.
57. had] interlined above; the scribe first wrote mayd.
76. quod] MS. q′.
80. The byship] Interlined above an erasure.
85. tho] the last letter (which is not certain) is the work of a corrector.
97. drewe] MS. drwe.
100. Following this line the scribe first wrote. The King sayd byshope welcom to me (cf. v. 33). This line has been cancelled.
106. were] MS. we
107. owne] the w interlined above to replace two letters not wholly clear.
109. what youre] interlined above; scribe first wrote werefore. question] MS. quetion.
118. is] interlined above question erased.
126. After preue the words for most certayne have been cancelled.
130. The] altered from Thre.
131. Thou written over some other word.
142. K] MS. b.
4 Printed London 1607: reprinted by the Percy Society. For the references to Bale and to Deloney I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Carleton Brown.