11 May

Thursday 11th. Chapel & Lectures as usual. at Bodln. liby the

rest of the day, & finished the transcript of Havelock. I called with

D.^r Bliss on the President of Magdalen Coll. in the morn^~g, but the

librarian has not returned yet, & consequently the key of the MSS.

is not to be had. I began today to copy the ###########^{article referred to}

in Mr Petrie‘s letter ^(MS.###### James 2.) intitled “Lucianus

de Laude Cestriæ”. After writ’g about half of what James has

transcribed, it occurred to me, that since he had given no

reference to his orig^l. it was most probably in the Bodlⁿ. collections

and on reference to the printed catalogue I found his original

to be No. 672. Bodl. (olim 3005), & on sendg for it, I found

it to be a ###^small .4to. on vell. of considerable thickness, and

which would, if transcribed, occupy at least 250 pp. ###^{It is,}

of the beginn^~g of 13 Centy. i.e. circ. 1200. as proved by the

character & more precisely by a Calendar prefixed to the

MS. It begins: “Tempus et locus et rerum lapsus, sensato

cuique tribuunt suadibilem, etiam sine literis lectionem”.

It ends imperfectly with the words: “et non celebratur nomen

ejus in plateis expellent eum de… . .”

James has only extracted a few notes or passages from

it, the first of which is taken from fol. 15. of the MS. The

treatise itself relates very little to Chester, &, sibi Whitaker’s

Histy of Manch#^ester, is so written, as to embrace subjects

wholly incompatible with the title. It is indeed almost

a mere theological & mystical work, mingled occasionally

with passages which throw light on the ancient condition

of the town of Chester. Among other things, the writer takes

notice of bull & bear baiting at a public entertainment

without the walls, which took place probably in Hen 2ds

time; at which his son was present. I took notes also

of the MS. Jones. 4. supposed by Mr Petrie to contain a copy

of the “Liber de Hida” copied by Stowe, which is among the

Lansdowne MSS. It is, however, a very ####^different thing, & is

intitled “Chronicon Cenobii S. Swithuni ### Winton”, & is

brought down so^as low as 1429. It was^is a late transcript

on paper of the 16.th Centy, &, as appears from a notice

prefixed, was copied from a MS. in Coll. Gonv. & Caii Cambridge,

given them by Tho. Hare, Esq. in 1568. ###_^^{The Poem} begins: “Bri=

tannia semper in Fide Christi remansit”. After which

is the follow^g title: “Liber Historialis et Antiquitatu’ domus

Sancti Swithuni Wintoni#^o, Johannis Exceter ejiusdem loci

Commonachi, propriis manibus descriptus, anno dominice

Incarnationis 1531″. The Chronicle itself commences: “Tempore

quo humane salutis.” Of course until I see Mr Petrie

again, I shall not proceed to transcribe either of the

above MSS.

Began in the Ev’g to make an Index to the Theologi###^cal _^^Division of the

Holkham Cat. by which means I shall be enabled to see what

duplicates there are of particular Sermons, Legends, &c. and

likewise to ascertain the number of authors I have to illustrate.