tion of an edition in 1531o, and seems to have known of none older. I should have suspected 1531 to be a false print for 1533, had not Le Long confirmed it that there is such an edition as 1531, and named the place where it was printed: though I cannot but observe that he makes a folio of it in his first tome", and a quarto in the second; which is to me an argument that he had never seen it, but perhaps took the hint from Usher. But, leaving the printed editions of this Comment of Bruno's, let us next say something of the manuscripts of it, and their differences from the prints, or from each other. There are many manuscript copies, which I shall mention in order.

I. The first and most valuable manuscript is in the Library of Wurtzburgh, as old as the author, left by him as a legacy to that church. The first printed edition (if I mistake not) was taken from that very original manuscripts, which, at the lowest computation, must be 680 years old. The title of the Creed, "Fides Catholica Sancti Athanasii Episcopi."

2. There is a second, which I have seen in Trinity College, in Cambridge, annexed to a Psalter, described at large by the learned Mr. Wanley in his catalogue', and judged by him to have been written

• Psalterii editio vulgata Latina, obelis et asteriscis distincta cum Brunonis Herbipolensis Episcopi Commentariis, Anno 1531, a Johanne Cochlao in lucem est emissa.-Usser, de Editione LXX. Interpr. p. 104.

? Psalterium vetus obelis et asteriscis distinctum, cum Commentariis S. Brunonis, studio Joannis Cochlæi editum, in fol. Herbipoli, 1531; in 4to, Lipsiæ, 1533.—Le Long, tom. i. p. 274.

8 Posteris filiis suis (S. Bruno) memorabilem et sanctum Psalmorum Librum, ex quo ille impressus est, sumptuose scriptum, quasi hæreditatis spiritualis non minimam portionem reliquit.-Prolog. ad editionem anni 1494.

Preciosum istum Thesaurum posteritati post se reliquit, et quidem insigni scriptura sumptuose descriptum extat Donum illud memorabile et conspicuum in locuplete antiquorum Voluminum Bibliotheca Herbipolensis Ecclesiæ: Quod sane religiosa pietate, velut Hæreditas quædam hujus Sancti Patris custoditur.-Joan. Cochl. prolog. ad edit. an. 1533.

9 Wanleii Catalog. MSS. Septentr. p. 168.

about the time of King Stephen. So that this is about a hundred years later than the former, or about 580 years old; no title to the Creed.

3. There is a third, of much the same age with the former, or some years older, in the Bodleian at Oxford, marked Laud. H. 61, the title of the Creed, "Fides Catholica Sancti Athanasii Episcopi."

4. In the Bodleian also is another (Laud. E. 71. Catal. N. 994.), "Athanasii Symbolum cum Glossa." This, as I am certified by a learned gentleman, is Bruno's Comment. The title of the Creed, "Fides Sancti Athanasii Episcopi."

5. In Merton College is another; an ancient copy of Bruno's Comment. Catal. N. 675-208.

6. In St. John Baptist's College, Oxon (Catal. N. 1874. G. 42.), "Commentarius in Symbolum Athanasii." By the beginning and concluding words (a transcript of which has been sent me by a worthy member of that society) I am well assured that it is Bruno's Comment.

7. There is another in Balliol College (Catal. N. 210. marked B. I.), " Athanasii Symbolum cum Commentario."

8. Another I have seen in the Cathedral Library, at York, which may be 500 years old. No title.

9. There is another, in the Library of St. Germain de Prez, about 500 years old. Montfaucon, having met with it, published it' as an "Anecdoton," not knowing that it was Bruno's Comment. It is not, indeed, quite so full, nor any thing near so correct, as the printed copies; but still it is plainly Bruno's Comment. The title, "Tractatus de Fide Catholicâ."

10. There is also in my Lord Oxford's library a modern manuscript of this comment, written at Augsburg, in the year 1547, copied from Bruno's original MS. (by order of Charles Peutenger, son to the famous Conrad), where the title is, "Fides Catholica Sancti Anastasii Episcopi." The mistake

1 Montfaucon, Athanas. Oper. tom. ii. p. 735.

of Anastasii for Athanasii, we find, had crept into the German copies some centuries before: wherefore this is not to be wondered at. All the older copies, as well as the original manuscript, have Athanasii in the title, where there is a title, and Athanasius in the beginning of the comment.

The manuscripts which I have here recited, all but the first, seem now to be of no great use; if it be true, as I suppose, that the first prints were taken from the very original at Wurtzburgh. It is certain that they are very imperfect, and incorrect (I have collated three of them), in comparison of the printed copies : I could not observe above two or three places, and those not very material, where the printed copies seem to have followed a false reading, or may be corrected by those manuscripts. One thing I a little wondered at, that the three manuscripts, of St. Germains, Trinity College, and York, should all leave out some paragraphs, which appear in the printed copies, and the same paragraphs: but I have since found that those very paragraphs were taken out of Fortunatus's Comment, and belong not properly to Bruno's. This, I presume, the first copiers understood, and therefore omitted them. Probably Bruno's own copy might at first want them (though they must have been added soon after); or if Bruno himself inserted them, yet he had left some mark of distinction, which was understood at that time; though not by the editors of this comment so many years after. But to proceed.

(1120.) In the next age the famous Peter Abelard wrote comments upon this Creed; which are printed amongst his other works. The title in the prints, is, "Petri Abaëlardi Expositio Fidei, in Symbolum Athanasii." I suspect that the editor has added the latter part, "in Symbolum Athanasii," as a hint to the reader. The comment is a very short one, scarce three pages in 4to, and, for the age it was wrote in, a pretty good one; though, as I conceive from some flaws in it, printed from a copy not very correct.

(1170.) Of the same century is Hildegarde, the celebrated abbess of St. Rupert's Mount, near Binghen on the Rhine. She wrote explications of St. Benedict's Rule, and of the Athanasian Creed; which may be seen, Bibl. PP. tom. xxiii. p. 596. (1210.) Simon Tornacensis, priest of Tournay, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, taught divinity at Paris, with great reputation. His manuscript works are in many libraries; and among his other writings there is "An Exposition of the Athanasian Creed" Oudin reckons up four manuscript copies of it, in as many distinct libraries, and acquaints us where they are to be found, and of what age they probably are.

(1215.) Contemporary with the former is Alexander Neckham, an Englishman, abbot of Cirencester, or Circeter, in Gloucestershire. He wrote a comment on the Athanasian Creed, which is extant in manuscript, in the Bodleian, at Oxford (marked E. 7, 8. Catal. N. 2339.), coeval probably with the author.

There is another copy of the same comment, in the Bodleian also. E. 6. 11. n. 2330. The title, "Expositio Fidei Catholicæ a Magistro Alexandro edicta." This copy is about fifty years later than the former. It may be of use to note down the first words of the comment. It is drawn up in the scholastic way, and is pretty large, making ten folio leaves with double columns, in E. 7, 8, and four folio leaves, with three columns, and a very small hand, in E. 6. 11.

(1230.) Not long after, Alexander Hales, before mentioned, wrote comments upon the same Creed, which are published in his "Summa," Part the Third, under Quæst. 69. His method of commenting is, to raise doubts and scruples all the way he goes, and to answer them in the scholastic form; referring some

2 Expositio Symboli, per Simonem Tornacensis Ecclesiæ Canonicum, et Parisiensem Doctorem, quæ sic incipit; Apud Aristotelem argumentum est Ratio faciens Fidem, sed apud Christum argumentum est Fides faciens Rationem.-Oudin. tom. iii. p. 30.

3 Hæc est enim victoria quæ vincit mundum, Fides nostra. Signanter dicit "vult," et non dicit, "Quicunque salvus erit."

times to the Fathers of the Church, and particularly to St. Austin: to whom he ascribes Gennadius's treatise "De Ecclesiasticis Dogmatibus," according to the common error of that time. But I proceed.

(1340.) There is another commentary upon this Creed, written, as is said, by Richardus Hampolus, Richard Rolle of Hampole, a native of Yorkshire, and a monk of the order of St. Austin. It contains, in a manner, Bruno's Comment entire, with several additions, and insertions either of the author's own, or such as he had borrowed elsewhere. It has been twice printed, first at Cologne, in the year 1536, and afterwards in the "Bibliotheca Patrum," Lugdun, tom. xxvi. p. 624.

I am in doubt concerning the author of that comment, having reason to believe that the three copies mentioned by Tentzelius, preserved in the Gotha, Basil, and Leipsic Libraries, are so many copies of this very comment which passes under the name of Hampole: and yet one of them is judged to be above 500 years older than 1686, which is 150 years before Hampole's days. It is possible that Joachim Fellerus, the compiler of the catalogue of the Leipsic Library, might mistake in judging of the age of the manuscript: but it appears much more probable that the editors of that comment were mistaken in ascribing it to Hampole. However that be, I would here observe, that there is in Magdalen College, in Oxford, a comment

4 Tentzel. Jud. Eruditor. Prefat. et p. 224.

5 Tentzelius writes thus:-" Opportune ad manus meas pervenit Responsio Ampl. Felleri. qua rationem Codicis Latini Lipsiensis in Præfatione a me citati prolixius exposuit. Ait enim, membranaceum istum Codicem ante ccccc annos et ultra, eleganter scriptum videri; additas etiam esse non interlineares tantum notas, sed et marginales utrinque; in dextro videlicet et sinistro paginarum latere: Rubricam autem Symboli nostri ita se habere; Fides Anastasii Papæ, In dextro primæ paginæ hæc legi verba: Hæc ratio Fidei Catholicæ traditur in veteribus Codicibus, et reliqua, quæ antea ex MS. Bibliothecæ Ducalis attuli. Unde patet, easdem plane glossas in utroque Codice reperiri; præsertim quum in sinistro alterius margine, hæc etiam verba legi referat Fellerus: Hic beatus Anastasius liberum arbitrium posuit," &c.-Tentzel. p. 225.