XXXIII.-Text C; group d. Denoted by M. MS. Cotton, Vespasian B. xvi, in the British Museum. One leaf is missing, which contained C. xix. 245-xx. 30. Some of the subjectmatter has been transposed in Passus xviii. It supplies an important line, completing a sentence, viz. C. xviii. 116. XXXIV.-Text C; group d, influenced by a MS. of group e. Denoted by F. MS. Ff. 5. 35 in the Cambridge University Library. Imperfect; the missing passages are C. viii. 265-x. 181, and C. xiv. 94-xvi. 178. It often resembles the preceding, but has some peculiar and faulty readings. (I have given a transcript of this MS. to the British Museum.) XXXV.-Text C; group e. Denoted by S. MS. no. 293 in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Imperfect; having lost C. ix. 268-xi. 94, C. xvi. 80-156, the whole of Pass. xvii, xviii, xix, xx, and xxi, and xxii. 8-323. Yet the text is MS. D. 4. 1 in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Resembles the text in the preceding. XXXVI.-Text C; group e. Denoted by G. MS. Dd. 3. 13 in the Cambridge University Library. Resembles the text in MS. XXXV (above). Many single lines are omitted, as well as the following passages, viz.; i. 1-153, xiv. 227-xv. 40, xvi. 288-xvii. 41, and xxiii. 40-386. XLII.-Text C; group e. Not collated. MS. Bibl. Reg. 18. B. xvii. in the British Museum. Resembles the above. XLIII. Text C; group f(?). Not collated. MS. Phillipps 9056 (formerly MS. Heber 974). It has lost 42 lines at the end. A good deal spoiled by damp. Of the C-type; but its exact value is doubtful. It was probably never a good copy. $ 18. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINTED EDITIONS (B-TEXT). Of the earliest printed editions by Robert Crowley, there are certainly three different impressions, all printed in one year, viz. in 1550. (a) The first impression has on the title-page-'THE VISION of Pierce Plowman, now fyrste imprynted by Roberte Crowley, dwellyng in Ely rentes in Holburne. Anno Domini. 1505. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.' It contains 117 leaves, not including the title or the leaf on which is the printer's address to the reader, or 119 leaves in all. The signature of Fol. cxvii. is Gg 1. Copies are rather scarce; there are, however, two in the British Museum, of which the one, on paper, was once the property of Thomas Tyrwhitt, and the other, on vellum, is in the Grenville collection. The most interesting part of it is Crowley's address, which is worth reprinting here. It is as follows. 'The Printer to the Reader. BEynge desyerous to knowe the name of the Autoure of this most worthy worke (gentle reader) and the tyme of the writynge of the same I did not onely gather togyther suche aunciente copies as I could come by, but also consult such me as I knew to be more exercised in the studie of antiquities, then I my selfe haue ben. And by some of them I haue learned that the Autour was named Roberte langelande, a Shropshere man borne in Cleybirie, aboute viii. myles from Maluerne hilles.2 For the time when it was written: it chaunced me to se an auncient copye, in the later ende wherof was noted, that the same copye was written in the yere of oure Lorde .M.iiii.C. and nyne,3 which was before thys presente yere, an hundred & xli. yeres. And in the seconde side of the .lxviii. leafe of thys printed copye, I finde metion of a dere yere, that was in the yere of oure Lorde, M.iii. hundred and .L. Iohn Chichester than beynge mayre of London. So that this I may be bold to reporte, that it was fyrste made and wrytten after the yeare of our lord .M.iii.C.L. and before the yere .M,iiiiC, and .ix which meane spase was .lix yeres. may iustly cōiect therfore yt it was firste written about two hundred yeres paste, in the tyme of Kynge Edwarde the thyrde. In whose tyme it pleased God to open the eyes of many to se hys truth, We 1 An evident mistake for 1550. Neither Lowndes nor Hazlitt seem to have observed this singular misprint; but see Ames, Typogr. Antiq. ii. 758. * Without doubt, Crowley's authority was John Bale. I consider the distance from Cleobury Mortimer to the Malvern Hills to be rather a long 'eight miles.' An important statement, and a very probable one. MS. Douce 104 (C-type) is dated in the sixth year of Henry VI, i.e. 1427 or 1428. • Crowley's MS. was wrong, Chichester was mayor in 1370. The right reading in B. xiii. 270 is 'twies thretty and ten'; but Crowley has twenty for thretty (30). geuing them boldenes of herte, to open their mouthes and crye oute agaynste the worckes of darckenes, as did Iohn wicklefe, who also in those dayes translated the holye Bible into the Englishe tonge, and this writer who in reportynge certaine visions and dreames, that he fayned him selfe to haue dreamed: doeth moste christianlye enstruct the weake, and sharply rebuke the obstinate blynde. There is no maner of vice, that reigneth in anye estate of men, whiche this wryter hath not godly, learnedlye, and wittilye, rebuked. He wrote altogyther in miter; but not after ye maner of our rimers that write nowe adayes (for his verses ende not alike) but the nature of hys miter is, to haue thre wordes at the leaste in euery verse whiche beginne with some one letter. As for ensample, the firste two verses of the boke renne vpon .s. as thus. In a somer season whan sette' was the Sunne, I shope me into shrobbes, as I a shepe were. The next runneth vpon .H. as thus. In habite as an Hermite vnholy of werckes. &c. This thinge noted, the miter shal be very pleasaunt to read. The Englishe is according to the time it was written in, and the sence somewhat darcke, but not so harde, but that it may be vnderstande of suche as will not sticke to breake the shell of the nutte for the kernelles sake. As for that is written in the .xxxvi. leafe of thys boke concernynge a dearth the to come: is spoke by the knoweledge of astronomie as may wel be gathered bi that he saith, Saturne sente him to tell And that whiche foloweth and geueth it the face of a prophecye: is lyke to be a thinge added of some other man than the fyrste autour. For diuerse copies haue it diuerslye. For where the copie that I folowe hath thus. And when you se the sunne amisse, & two monkes heades A convincing proof to me that Crowley's MS. had softe, which he misread. The old form of the past participle was set, not sette. 2 See B. Pass. vi. 327-329; p. 222. 3 Of course his MS. had ye in the nominative; accordingly, in the text itself, he printed ye. * The second impression reads thre here, but both impressions read two in the passage as it stands in his text. In the text itself, the first impression has eight, but later impressions have hight. Some other haue Three shyppes and a shefe, wyth an eight folowynge Shall brynge bale and battell, on both halfe the mone.1 Nowe for that whiche is written in the .1, leafe, cōcerning the suppression of Abbaies: the scripture there alledged, declareth it to be gathered of the iuste iudgment of god, whoe wyll not suffer abomination to raigne vnpunished.2 Loke not vpon this boke therfore, to talke of wonders paste or to come, but to amende thyne owne misse, which thou shalt fynd here moste charitably rebuked. The spirite of god gyue the grace to walke in the waye of truthe, to Gods glory, & thyne owne soules healthe. So be it.' The first impression has a few marginal notes, but these are far less numerous than in the later impressions. (b) The second and third impressions are both said to be 'nowe the seconde time imprinted,' so that it is not easy to say which was printed first, nor can we be quite sure that the copies are always bound up rightly. Indeed, it is clear that quires of one impression are sometimes supplemented by quires from the other. But it is certain that the true second impression is that which resembles the first most nearly, and the right title-page runs as follows:-'The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted by Roberte Crowley dwellynge in Elye rentes in Holburne. Whereunto are added certayne notes and cotations in the mergyne, geuynge light to the Reader, &c. .... Imprinted at London by Roberte Crowley, dwellyng in Elye rentes in Holburne. The yere of our Lord .M.D.L. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.' And on the last page, we find in the third line (Pass. xx. 381) the words Fryers and finding, as in the first impression, and the colophon begins with 'Imprinted.' There is a copy of this description in the British Museum, marked 1077 g 2, and another is in Heber's Catalogue; Part IX. no. 1717. (c) In that which is really a third impression, the title-page is almost exactly the same, but the name of the printer is spelt 'Crowlye' where it first occurs. On the last page, we find Friers A clear proof that Crowley also had access to a MS. of the C-type: see C ix. 351; p. 225. It is odd that he noticed only this one variation. B. Pass. x. 317-327. and findinge instead of Fryers and finding, and the colophon begins with Imprynted,' spelt with y. There is a copy of this description in the British Museum, marked 11623 c, and another in the library of King's College, Cambridge; see also Heber's Catalogue; Part IX. no. 1716. But all three impressions are much alike. The chief differences are, that the two later impressions have many more marginal notes, a few additional lines,2 and also 6 extra leaves between the printer's preface and the poem itself, containing a brief argument or abstract of the prologue and of each of the Passus. The first impression is the most correct; also the third impression is much less correct than the second, and considerably inferior to it. (d) The next edition was by Owen Rogers, in 1561. The title is-'The Vision of Pierce Plowman, newlye imprynted after the authours olde copy, with a brefe summary of the principall matters set before euery part called Passus. Wherevnto is also annexed the Crede of Pierce Plowman, neuer imprinted with the booke before." Imprynted at London, by Owen Rogers, dwellyng neare vnto great Saint Bartelmewes Gate, at the sygne of the spred Egle. ¶ The yere of our Lorde God, a thousand, fyue hundred, thre score and one. The .xxi. daye of the Moneth of Februarye. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.' This is a careless reprint of Crowley's third issue, and is almost worthless. It omits some lines, as e.g. Pass. i. 39, which Crowley retains. The 'Crede,' though mentioned in the title-page, is not always found in the volume. (e) The vision and the creed of Piers Ploughman; newly imprinted.' Edited by Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A., &c. In two volumes. London: William Pickering. 12mo; 1842. (f) The same; second and revised edition. London J. R. Smith. 12mo; 1856.5 1 I had a copy of my own (now given to the Cambridge University Library`, which differs from the Museum copy in the title-page, and throughout quire D. This copy has a wrong title-page, but in quire D it is the B. M. copy that is at fault. 2 Some (after B. prol. 215) are from an A-text, and some from a B-text not of group a. By observing these, and note I on the last page, we see that Crowley had access to four MSS. at least. 3 The only thing that calls for remark here is that Crowley, in making an abstract of Pass. viii., identifies 'Pierce' with the dreamer, a blunder which has lasted ever since, and may last a long while yet. It had been imprinted by Wolfe in 1553, but not with the booke.' It may seem superfluous to say anything here concerning Mr. Wright's well |