BOOK be read beneath the painting which forms the frontispiece, has wholly escaped the notice of Dr. Hickes, though it is one of the most curious of the Saxon relics in the Cotton library. A former proprietor (perhaps Sir Robert Cotton) conjectures, from a rule in the Computus for finding the year of the Incarnation, that it was written in the year 703.* With some little reluctance I add two centuries to this date. In the first place, the words of the rule "ut puta in præsenti fiunt DCCIII," on which the opinion is grounded, may prove that the rule itself was written in that year, but do not affect the codex, unless it could be shewn that it was written at the same time. In the next place, the rule is found verbatim, and almost literatim, in the Computus of the MS. Julius, A VI, as may be seen on perusal. "Argumentum ad inveniendum quotus sit annus Incarnationis Domini." (GALBA.) "Si nosse uis quot anni sint ab incarnatione Domini. scito quot fuerunt ordines indictionum. vt pvta. v. anno Tyberii Cæseris. XLVI. hos per. xv. multiplica. fiunt. DCXC. adde semper regulares. xii. quia. IIII. indictionum secundum Dionissum Dominus natus est. indictionem quoque cujus volueris. vt puta in presenti 1. fiunt. DCCIII. isti snnt anno natiuitatis Domini.”— Fo. 16, b. (JULIUS.) "Si nis nosse quot anni sint ab incarnatione Domini. scito quot fuerint ordines indictionum. utpote quinto anno Tiberii principis. XLVI. hos per xv multiplica. fiunt DCXC. adde semper regulares XII quia quarta indictionum secundum Dionisum natus est dominus. et indictionem anni cujusque uolueris utpote in presenti unam. fiunt DCCIII. isti sunt anni incarnationis domini."-Fo. 13. Both are copies of a rule written by Beda, to whose age neither codex belongs. Dr. Hickes notices this date of 703 in Julius, and remarks that there is another table (fo. 8), which seems to give it to the year 969.† Then, with res "Calendarium vetustissimum literis Saxonicis cum ciclis Ecclesiasticis, scriptum fuit An° 703 vt apparet in Codice.-Lib. Psalmorum cum notis obelis et asteriscis. Preces tempore Saxonic. Liber fuit Æthelstani Regis. Fragmentum Litaniæ Græcum."-Fo. ante frontem Codicis. .t Annos enim a nativitate Christi tantum 703 numerat hic tractatus; pect to the kalendars themselves, they are both copies of another, which I have not been able to find, and of which a third copy seems to exist in the Codex Tiberius, B V, with slight variations from the two preceding, which vary between themselves. Even if the rule could be found in Galba only, the kalendar itself would give it a contradiction, for it contains the day of King Alfred, who died in 901 "VII Kal. Octob.] Aelfred rex obiit septenis et quoque amandus." This line appears in Tiberius with only literal differences— “Ælfred rex obiit septenis et quoque Amandus;" but in Julius we read "Maximianus obit septenis et quoque amandus." Wherever Galba and Tiberius have a Saxon saint, a Greek or Roman name appears in Julius, which, though a copy of a kalendar more ancient than the Saxon saints of Galba and Tiberius, must, as a book, yield in antiquity to Galba. As to the age of Tiberius, it contains at fo. 8 a table of dominical years, beginning like the others at 969, and ending at 1006, whence it might be inferred that it was also written 969; but the characters are Normanno-Saxon-and there are other circumstances which refuse the codex an antiquity equal to either of the others. It is a beautiful MS., splendidly ornamented with paintings of no mean design or execution, for its age, which seems to be that of the Norman invasion. Dr. Hickes describes it, but is silent on this subject.* The MS. Galba has suffered by age; several lines which had been written in red ink have faded from the parchment. The black ink in other parts has also vanished, and rendered them sometimes obscure-sometimes illegible. From this BOOK III. cum ex altera tabula hunc tractatum anno 969 scriptum liquet."-Thesaur. tom. II, p. 183. • Ibid. p. 215: BOOK III. cause, the Roman notation of the days of the month, the golden numbers, and two or three alphabets for ecclesiastical computations, cannot be read. The dominical letters, which in the others are those in ordinary use, that is, the seven first letters of the alphabet, are, in this kalendar, taken from the word Angelus. Several verses which have been destroyed by the assaults of time, are supplied by others in Italics, which are copied from Tiberius, there being more points of concordance between Galba and Tiberius, than between Galba and Julius. The numerous offences against orthography, syntax and prosody, which are to be found in the three MSS. are retained; for to correct them, would be to destroy the identity of the copy with the original, and, at the same time, disappoint those who may deem the errors a literary curiosity. The different readings are placed in the margin at the foot of the page, with the initial Tor J, so that on the whole, the body being that of Galba, it may be considered a copy of the three kalendars. As to the golden numbers, and ancient and modern notation of the days, there needs neither explanation nor apology for inserting them. T. J. + Martha Maria simul florescunt lege diurna. A line totally obliterated; but it is probably Nox horarum, XVI. Dies horarum, VIII. |