DIMEV 4879
IMEV 3121
NIMEV 3121
Sith all men naturally desire
Thomas Hoccleve, ‘Ars Sciendi Mori’ — 134 stanzas
rhyme royal
Author(s): Thomas Hoccleve
Title(s): ‘Ars Sciendi Mori’
Subjects: death
Versification: —
seven-line —
ababbcc
Bibliographic Ghosts: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 144 [olim Huth 7], f. 55: actually in HM 744.
Manuscript Witnesses:
1.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Selden Supra 53 (SC 3441), ff. 117-133
First Lines:Nowe herkene a doctrine substancial
ffirste howe lerne to die telle
wole I…
Last Lines:…That for to comprehende þat gladnesse
Verrely no wit may
ne tounge expresse
Note: Missing stanzas 1-3.
2.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodley 221 (SC 27627), ff. 30-42
v
First Lines:Sethen all men naturally desireth
To knowe O eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…That for to comprehende þat gladnesse
Verreyly ne wit may
ne tunge expresse
Attributed Title: Here endith þe moralisyng of my tale and begynneth þe moste
profitabill and holsom crafte that is to kun lern to dye (f. 30); Here endith to
lern to dye and begynneth a prolog of þe ix lesson þat is red on all
halow day. At the end: Here endith þe prolog and begynnyth þe lesson
(f. 42v)
3.Source: Oxford, Bodleian Library Laud misc. 735 (SC 1504), ff. 29-41
First Lines:SEthen all men naturely desyre
To kunne O eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…That for to comprehende þat gladnesse
Verrili not wit may
ne tung expresse
Note: Followed by a ‘lesson’ in prose.
Attributed Title: Here endeth þe moralisyng of my tale And begynneth þe moost
profitable and holsomest crafte that is to cvnne Lerne to dye (f. 29), Here
endith to lerne to dye and begynnyth A prologue of þe ix lessoun þat
is red on all halow day (before the last two stanzas)
4.Source: London, British Library Harley 172, ff. 73-88
First Lines:sythen al men naturally desyre
To konne & knowe O eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…Se to thy soule soo or thou hens wende
That hit may haue
þe lyf whiche hathe non ende
Note: Followed on f. 88 by motto, ‘Soli deo honor et
gloria’, written by scribe
Attributed Author: Thomas hoccleve (f. 73, added by a hand of sixteenth century, possibly
John Stow); Thomas hoccleve (f. 88, added by a hand of 16th century, possibly
John Stow)
Attributed Title: Here endythe the moste profytable and holsummyste crafte that ys oonlye
lerne to dye
6.Source: Coventry, Coventry Archives Acc. 325/1, ff. 57
rb-63
va
First Lines:Sethen all men naturalli desiren
To knowe O Eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…See to thi soule or thou hens weende
That it mai haue the life
þat hath none eende
Attributed Title: Here beginnethe a processe to lerne to deie (f. 57rb)
7.Source: Durham, Durham University Library Cosin V.iii.9, ff. 52
v-74
v
First Lines:Syn all men naturelly desyre
To konne o eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…That for to comprehende þat gladnesse
Verraily no wit may
ne tonge expresse
Attributed Title: …incipit ars vtillissima sciendi mori Cum omnes homines
naturaliter scire desiderant (f. 52v); Explicit illa pars
per quam sciendum est mori (f. 74v)
Facsimiles: Burrow, John, and A. I. Doyle, eds.
Thomas Hoccleve: A Facsimile of the Autograph Verse
Manuscripts.
EETS
s.s. 19 (2002).
Editions: Furnivall, Frederick James,
ed.
Hoccleve’s Works: The Minor Poems. vol. 1.
EETS
e.s. 61 (1892); repr. with
Gollancz (1925)
XGollancz, Israel.
Hoccleve’s Works: The Minor Poems. vol. 2. EETS
e.s. 73 (1925); repr. with 61, 1970
73; rev. J.
Mitchell and A. Ian Doyle, 1970: 178-212.
8.Source: San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 744 [olim Ashburnham 133; olim Gollancz], ff. 53-68
v
First Lines:Syn alle men naturelly desyre
To konne o eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…Horrible freendes and innumerable
Awayten on my soule
miserable…
Note: After imperfect ending, catchwords, ‘The blake faced’;
wrongly listed as in San Marino, CA, Henry Huntington Library HM 744 [
olim Ashburnham 133;
olim Gollancz] in
Brown and Robbins (1943)
XCarleton Fairchild Brown, and Rossell Hope Robbins.
The Index of Middle English Verse.
New York: Printed for the Index Society by Columbia University Press,
1943
.
Attributed Title: Hic incipit Ars vtilissima sciendi mori Cum omnes homines et cetera
(f. 53)
Facsimiles: Burrow, John, and A. I. Doyle, eds.
Thomas Hoccleve: A Facsimile of the Autograph Verse
Manuscripts.
EETS
s.s. 19 (2002).
9.Source: New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library 493 [olim Phillipps 8267; Robinson (July 1952); Bodmer], ff. 30-41
First Lines:SEthen all men naturely desyre
To kunne O eterne
sapience…
Last Lines:…Þat for to comprehende þat gladnesse
Verrily no wit
may ne tong expresse
Note: Treatise proper ends f. 41: ‘…Se to þi soule soo or
þow hens wende / That it may have the lyf þat hath non ende’ and
is followed by the ‘prolog of þe ix lesson þat is redd on all
halow day’ (f. 41): ‘Tho othere thre parties which in þe booke
/ Off þe tretice of deth expressid be…’, followed by prose
lesson beginning f. 41v.
Attributed Title: Here…begynneth the most profitable and holsomest crafte that is to
kune lerne to dye (f. 30); Here endith to lerne to dye (f. 41)