ii PREFACE. 



conara ftigill, ' five paths of judgment,' of which there is (according to 

 Dr. 0'Donovan) a fuller copy in a MS. in the Hbrary of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, marked H. 3. 18 and that the Latin passage at fo. ^'i^ b. seems 

 to run thus : Hii omnes sancti {sic) inuoco in auxilium meum per inter- 

 cessionem sanctae Mariae et sanctarum et (sanctor)um, quarum et 

 quorum Deus nomina nominauit, et quos praesciuit et praedistinavit 

 conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui in uitam aeternam in Christo Jesu Amen. 

 The poems now printed begin at fo. 19 a. 1 and end at fo. 40. b. 2. 

 They are written in double columns, with 50 hnes in each. 



According to the scribe's note following line 7788 the poems now 

 printed fall into four divisions, (1) the Psalter, (2) the poem on repentance, 

 (3) the poem on confession, and (4) the ten poems on the Resurrection. 

 That note means : ' Thus far the body of the Psalter of the Quatrains, to 

 wit, the thrice fifty poems {duana). Two after, (one) for confession, and 

 (the other) for repentance ; and ten to set forth the Resurrection ; so that 

 there are twelve and thrice fifty poems altogether.' The thrice fifty 

 poems equal in number to the psalms, and hence ' the Psalter ' deal 

 for the most part with incidents from the Old Testament. But the first 

 poem contains a kind of description of the universe ; poems XI (on the 

 penance of Adam and Eve) and XH (on the death of Adam) are founded 

 on the Vita Adae et Eiiae, two texts of which have been published by 

 W. Meyer (Miinchen, 1879) ; and poemsCXLH-L relate to the Hfe of 

 Christ. Poem CLI expresses repentance for transgression and prays for 

 forgiveness. No. CLII is an expression of ignorance of God and his 

 various works. Nos. CLIII to CLIX describe the events on each day of 

 the week before the last Judgment. Sense here is so completely sacrificed 

 to metrical requirements that these seven poems are, to a large extent, 

 unintelligible to me. CLX deals with the seven resurrections namely, 

 (i) that of the apostles, (2) of the prophets, (3) of the confessors, (4) of 

 the martyrs, (5) of the saints, (6) of the virgins, penitents, and baptized 

 infants, and (7) of the rest of the human race. Poem CLXI treats of 

 the coming of the demons out of hell to earth, the fall of the idols, etc. 

 The last poem, CLXII, describes the triumph of the angels over their 

 foes, the rewards of the righteous, the punishments of the wicked. 



It may be well to give a prkis of the three most important of the 

 poems, namely, I, XI, and XII. 



