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XV. 



:\rAxrscEiPTS of the "iiODrs texexdi paelia:\iextoi " 



IX THE LIBEARY OF TEIXITY COLLEGE, DUBLIX. 

 By olive AEMSTEOXG. 



[Read Jcse 11. Published Jcly 31, 19-23.] 



There are in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, four manuscripts of the 

 •' Modus teuendi Par li amen turn." Two of them, E. 4. 5 and E. 3. 18. f. 4, are 

 the '■■ Modus " for England, and two, E. 3. 18, f. 1 and f. 10, that for Ireland. 



Of the former, E. 4. 5 is a transcript of the English " Modus " written on 

 parchment at the end of the volume, which consists chiefly of fwmvAae 

 hrcvium, many of which belong to the reign of Edward III. The quaternions 

 are in some places incomplete, but for the last seventy-two pages the work 

 runs consecutively, and is possibly written by one hand. Miscellaneous 

 material immediately preceding the " Modus " is dated 1343, but the character 

 of the writing is probably that of the fifteenth century.' The " Modus" has the 

 marks,- noted by Duffus Hardy as belonging to the earliest known docu- 

 ments. From errors and omissions in the te.xt' it is evident that it is a tran- 

 script, and from the text itself it would appear that the exemplar from which 

 it was made was written between 1294 and 1327.' 



It consists of twenty sections, without the customary headings. Eor the 

 first thirteen of these it follows the arrangement of the MS. in the BibHotheque 

 Nationale, from which Hardy published his edition. Then follow the 

 sections Dc modo, Be inchontiane, De praedicationc, Be pro7iv.ntiatione. Be loquela, 

 and Be absentia Eegls. It breaks off in this last section at the words 



' This is the opinion of the Librarian, Dr. Smyly. 



- MS. T.C.D., E. 4. 5, p. 463, " electi " instead of the "clerici" of later mss.; p. 464, 

 "pro expensi;s duoriim milituid . . . unam marcajn per diem"; later 5iss. add "now four 

 shUliugs"; p. 467, '•parliamenti debent teneri in occulto loco." Inlateriiss. the evident 

 error in '• occulto " is corrected by the insertion of the missing words. (The correct phrase 

 is found in one early Ms — see " Eng. Hist. Rev.," vol. xxxiv, p. 209, et seg.); p. 468, the 

 amerciament of a baron is omitted, etc. See Hardy, " Modus tenendi Parliamentum." 

 Lond., 1&46. 



^ E. 4. 5, p. 463, in the preamble " successorum " is omitted. In the summons and in 

 the section concerning the clergy the bishops are left out. In that for the laity a whole 

 line is left out, spoiling the sense. The section De Casibus is incomplete, breaking oflF 

 in the middle of a sentence. There are many other inaccuracies in transcript. 



* See Hardy, pp. viii and svi. 



