Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/329

 ii s. iv. OCT. 2i, mi.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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skinner's son, is impossible, although, of course, another Henry Parker, unknown to fame, may have claims in the matter ; but upon the identity of the author I have no views. The allusions, however, to Kent (Second Commandment, chap, xv.), Col- chester (Fourth Commandment, chap, iv.) and Oxford (Fifth Commandment, chap. xi. ) may point to residence in the Southern counties : there do not appear to be any allusions to other parts of England.

One other matter in the 'D.N.B.' needs correction, and that is the statement that the editions of Pynson and Wynkyn de Worde are identical except in orthography. This statement would be approximately true if made of Wynkyn de Worde and Berthelet, but Pynson' s text differs con- siderably from the later Editions. In his edition " precepts " are found where the others have " commandments " ; words omitted by him are supplied by the others, and vice versa ; he uses " men " for " them," " wreche " for " wretchedness " (First Commandment, chap. lx.), and so, in like manner, in many places ; and he will on occasion vary a whole phrase : e.g., where Berthelet and, with slight differ- ences in spelling, Wynkyn de Worde have " And moreouer they haue ordeined a comon lawe, that what man speketh with the treuth ayeinst theyr falshode he shal be hanged, drawen and beheded," Pynson begins, " And more so welaway they haue. . " (First Commandment, chap. xxix.). I may add that the British Museum manuscripts all differ considerably from the printed editions ; the two Royal MSS. give approxi- mately the same text, but apparently not that used by any of the printers.

Harley 149 appears to be very corrupt. The following renderings of a brief passage in chap, xviii. on the Second Commandment, (1) as in that MS. and (2) as in Berthelet the other printers closely approximate illustrate in some measure the divergences between the texts :

(1) "And now alas in owre dayes we fallen into periurie in the heyest degre, nout won but mye all. And qwhat blod hathe ben sched sythyn be cause of periurie no tonge can well telle."

(2) "And nowe alas newely in our dayes we be fallen in periury in the hyghest degre, not one but nygh all. And what bloudde hathe be shedde sythen bycause of our periurie, no tongue can telle."

With the details of Henry Parker's life as given by the ' D.N.B.' this note is not concerned, except in so far as his supposed authorship of ' Dives and Pauper ' is in- consistent with the date of composition suggested above ; but I am constrained to

remark upon the statement that he " was brought up at the Carmelite House at Doncaster, whence Jie proceeded to Cam- bridge." As I have found no authority for this assertion among all the cloud of wit- nesses cited by the ' Dictionary ' beyond a passage in Hunter's ' South Yorkshire ' (i. 18), I conclude that that book is the source of information. Hunter drew partly upon Pits and partly, apparently, upon his own imagination ; hence he affirmed that Parker " was bred from infancy in this house " (of Carmelites at Doncaster), an unlikely enough circumstance in the career of a^ London skinner's son, despite contemporary allegations against the friars. But of Par- ker's London "origin neither Hunter nor the 'D.N.B.' makes mention.

One point of interest in ' Dives and! Pauper ' is an allusion to Robin Hood con- tained in chap. li. on the First Command- ment. This allusion appears hitherto to have escaped the notice of those who have written of that hero : in any case, it is an early mention of him ; but if the book was written during the period I have suggested,, the allusion would seem to be the second known in English, coming before that to be found in Andrew of Wyntoun's Chronicle.

One reference in * Dives and Pauper ' raises a question to which I have found no answer. Chap. xlii. on the First Command- ment is stated in the index to be " Of Our Lady's fast new founden, and of the chang- ing of the day yearly." The practice referred to newly introduced, apparently^ at the date of composition was to fast every Monday in the year when Lady Day fell on a Monday, every Tuesday when it fell on a Tuesday, and so on. The question is, When was "this practice introduced ? If in 1410 or before the suggestions set forth above are further confirmed ; if after that date, they may be shaken. I am open to conviction, and should be glad to receive instruction in the matter.

H. G. RICHARDSON.

KING'S 'CLASSICAL AND FOREIGN QUOTATIONS.'

(See 10 S. ii. 231, 351 ; in. 447 ; vii. 24 ; ix. 107, 284, 333 ; x. 126, 507 ; xi. 247, xii. 127; 11 S. i. 463; ii. 123, 402.) No. 1059, " Inde datae leges ne fortior*

omnia posset." King gives no reference for

this line, describing it simply as a law maxim.

It is from Ovid, ' Fasti,' iii. 279.


 * The better reading is " firmior."