Source.—Paston Letters, vol. iii., No. 869.

[Note.—The original manuscript is much decayed, and the portions between brackets represent attempted reconstructions of the text.]

The inventory of the English books of John [Paston] made the fifth day of November, anno regni regis E. iiij....

1. A book had of mine hostess at the George ... of The Death of Arthur beginning at Cassab[elaun, Guy Earl of] Warwick; King Richard Coeur de Lion;[33] A chronicle ... to Edward III.

   [33] A romance of the fourteenth century, first printed by Wynkyn de Worde (1509-1528).

2. Item, a book of Troilus[34] which William Bra ... hath had near ten years, and lent it to Dame ... Wyngfeld, and ibi ego vidi.

   [34] Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida.

3. Item, a black book with the legend of Lad[ies,[35] la Belle Dame] saunce Mercye; the Parliament of Bird[s;[36] the Temple of] Glass;[37] Palatyse and Scitacus; the Me[ditations]; the Green Knight.[38]

   [35] Possibly Chaucer's Legend of Good Ladies.

   [36] Possibly Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls.

   [37] A poem by Lydgate (circa 1370-1451). For a text of this poem see Early English Text Society, Extra Series, lx. (1891).

   [38] An anonymous ballad of the fourteenth century.

4. Item, a Book in print of the Play of the [Chess].
5. Item, a book lent Midelton, and therein is Belle Da[me sans] Mercy; the Parliament of Birds; Ballad ... of Guy and Colbronde; of the Goose ... the Disputation between Hope and Despair; ... Mare haunts; the Life of Saint Cry[stofer].
6. A red book that Percival Robsart gave me ... of the Meeds of the Mass; the Lamentation of Childe Ypotis;[39] a prayer to the Vernicle;[40] [a book] called the Abbey of the Holy Ghost.

   [39] In this ballad Ypotis = Epictetus (see Horstmann's Altenglische Legenden (1881)).

   [40] The "Vernicle," or "Veronica Kerchief" was one of the most popular legends of the Middle Ages. Veronica, a lady of Jerusalem (afterwards identified with the woman that had an issue of blood), seeing Christ sinking beneath the burden of the Cross, wiped His face with a veil. After this work of mercy the face of Christ was found imprinted on the veil.

7. Item, in quires:—Tully de Senectute[41] in divers [places] whereof there is no more clear written.

   [41] Cicero's De Senectute.

8. Item, in quires:—Tully or Cypio[42] de Ami[citia] left with William Worcester.

   [42] Scipio. In Cicero's dialogue, De Amicitia, the friendship of the chief speaker, Gaius LÆlius, with the younger Scipio, is taken as the model of the theme. "Equidem ex omnibus rebus, quas mihi aut fortuna aut natura tribuit, nihil habeo quod cum amicitia Scipionis possim compare."

9. Item, in quires, a book of the Policy of In[gelond].
10. Item, in quires, a book de Sapientia[43] ... wherein the second person is likened to Sapi[ence].

    [43] Lydgate's Werke of Sapience.

11. Item, a Book de Othea,[44] text and gloss ... in quires. Memorandum, mine old Book of Blazonings of Arms.
    Item, the new Book portrayed and blazoned.
    Item, a copy of Blazonings of Arms and the names to
    be found by letter.
    Item, a book with arms portrayed in paper....
    

    Memorandum, my Book of Knighthood and the man[ner] of making of Knights, of Jousts, of Tour[nements], fighting in lists, paces holden by so[ldiers] ... and challenges, statutes of war, and De Regim[ine Principum].[45]

    Item, a new Book of new Statutes from Edward IV.

    [44] A treatise on Wisdom. Dr. Gairdiner notes that the name is derived from the Greek ? ?e? but was used in the Middle Ages as the name for the Goddess of Wisdom (Paston Letters, vol. ii., p. 335, n. 1).

    [45] Thomas Hoccleve (1370?-1449) wrote the Regement of Princes, based on the De Regimine Principum of Ægidius Colonna (see Early English Text Society, Extra Series, lxxii., 1897).