¹ John Allen Giles, ed. Petri Blesensis Opera Omnia (London, 1847), iii, 307 ff. Also printed in Migne, Pat. Lat., ccvii, 990 ff.—The ascripton to Peter of Blois is doubtful. See Notices et Extraits, iv, 125 ff.—Of further interest is the appearance, at a much later date, of the figure of Tribulation as a goldsmith in the Pèlerinage de la Vie Humaine by Guillaume de Deguileville (Englisht by John Lydgate, E.E.T.S., Extra Series, no. 83; 1901, pp. 426 ff.). Her commission is directed against prosperity to test man's patience. This is substantially an allegorization of Peter's concept of trihulatio.

² C. Horstmann. Yorkshire Writers, Richard Rolle of Hampole (Macmillan: N. Y. 1896), ii, 45 ff.

³ Hope Emily Allen, Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle of Hampole (Modern Language Association: New York, 1927), pp. 355–356.

⁴ Op. cit., pp. 391 ff.

⁵ MSS. Laud 210 (Eng.) MS. Corpus Christi College, Oxford 220 (Eng.)

MS. Royal 17 C xviii (Eng.) MS. British Museum Add. 28549 (Fr.)

MS. Arundel 286 (Eng.) MS. British Museum Add. 39843 (Fr.)

MS. Harley 1706 (Eng.) MS. Royal 16 E xii (Fr.)

This number of manuscripts is evidence for the general popularity of the tract.

⁶ c.1250—Genesis and Exodus 972

c.1325—Cursor Mundi 26012

1340—Pricke of Conscience 698, 1169, 1269, 1318, 3517

1375—Barbour, Bruce i, 235; ii, 519; iii, 321; iii, 517

1393—Langland, Piers Plowman C, xxii, 291

c.1440—Gesta Romanorum 243

1475—Caxton, Jason 766

⁷ A Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge. Edited for the Syndics of the University Press (1857), Vol. ii.

⁸ M. R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Library of Samuel Pepys. Part iii (Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd.: London, 1923).—Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. H. L. Pink and the Cambridge University Library for supplying the author with photostats of Pepys MS. 1584.

⁹ The Cambridge University Catalogue is inaccurate in its listing of the pieces in MS. Ff. 2.38. Carleton Brown's Register of Middle English Religious Verse, Vol. i, is more recent and more accurate:

Pepys MS Title Cambridge MS

1 Compleynt of God 1

2 Mirrour of Mankynde (Vices and Virtues) 6

3 Seale of Mercy (VII Psalms) 7

4 Pety Job 2

5 Proverbs of Solomon 3

6 Markis of Meditacion 4

7 The xii Profytes of Sufferyng Bodely Anger 5

8 Salutacion of Our Lady 8

9 The X Commandments 9

10 The VII Werkis of Merci 10

11 The VII Werkis of Merci Gostli 11

12 The V Wittes Bodili 12

13 The V Wittes Goostli 13

14 The VII Dedly Sinnes 14

15 The VII Vertues against the VII Dedly Sinnes 15

¹⁰ The Cambridge text was transcribed by Professor Carleton Brown, to whom the author is deeply indebted for invaluable suggestions during the preparation of this paper.

¹ giltis

² so euer

³ þeme

⁴ sufferid

⁵ availith

^* The meaning of this seemingly obscure line is clearly brought out in Psalms 90: 15 referred to by the poet in the second line preceding: “Cum ipso sum in tribulatione: eripiam eum, et glorificabo eum.”

⁶ nowhere

⁷ such

⁸ Joab

⁹ such

¹⁰ ouer þpe writ

¹¹ The v^th propirte of angir is to tell and se

¹² Pepys 1584 reads: w^t dyntis sere. As written the word looks more like “lere.”

¹³ makis

¹⁴ Pepys 1584 reads anger and 3yt