St John's College S.36 (James 426)
'Castrum Animae'. Latin, c. 1600
'Castrum Animae', or 'Castellum Conscientiae', dedicated 'ad illustrissimum atque doctissimum Edouardum Rutlandie Comite [Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland, 1549-87] Anno Domini 1586'. 'Exterius perlege interius remniscere. Hoc fac et vives.' A colophon: 'Ex bibliotheca ?nostra Sive bibliis et ?perangustis cubiculo Nottinghamne per A. Atkinsonn'.
St John's College S.34 (James 425)
Alexander Bolde, Commonplace. English and Latin, c. 1620 and after.
Alexander Bolde, Fellow of Pembroke College from 1610 (d. 1625): a collection of themes, Latin and English verses, Latin letters, speeches, medicinal recipes, epigrams and anecdotes on religious themes (the latter in a less careful hand). From end of vol., in another hand, 'notes out of [Richard] Vines his funerall serm[on] for [Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of] Ess[e]x'. Essex died in 1646. The donor, Thomas Baker, identifies Bolde at fo. 14r. See K. M.
St John's College S.33 (James 424)
Catalogue of Scriptural expositions. Latin, 1624
'Catalogus expositorum Sacrae Scriptura qui vel in omnes vel in aliquot vel in singulos Bibliorum libros scripserunt, eorum praecipuè quorum scripta iam extant in communum bibliotheca Coll D. johannis Apud Cantabrigiam'. The arrangement is by book, including the Apocrypha. Beginning from the other end: 'Notatio locorum comunium: et authoru ea optime explicantium et obiter et de industria', 1624.
St John's College S.32 (James 423)
Collection of poetry. English, c. 1630.
Poems by various authors, some unidentified, possibly compiled in the 1630s. Several poems by William Strode, including 'On the death of the duke of Buckingham' at fo. 1 (the Strode readings are very close to those in BL, Sloane MSS 1792, 1446 and Add. MS 30982). Unique early variants of Milton's Hobson poems are at fos 18v-19r (see John T. Shawcross, 'A note on Milton's Hobson poems', Review of English Studies NS 18 (1967), 433-7, who suggests a date of transcription between 1632 and 1640).
St John's College S.31 (James 422)
Verses and letters on University matters. Latin, c. 1625
Unidentified member of Christ Church, Oxford: commonplace or note-book, before 1625. Includes: 'Epistola ad Decanum (fos 3r, 10v, 16r, 18r, 27v, 35v, 38r, 63v, 67v, 79r, 81r); 'Epistola: ad Fratrem' (fos 8r, 55v, 76v); 'Epistol: ad Censorem' (fos 19r, 24v, 53r, 57v); 'Epist: ad Tut:' (fo. 20r); 'Scribendo disces scribere' (fo. 21r); 'Epist: ad Subde:' (fo. 51r); 'Ad Dr Peirce' [William Peirs, or Pearce, d. 1670], perhaps congratulating him on his election as Vice-Chancellor, 1621 (fo. 52r); 'Epist: ad Amicu:' (fo.
St John's College S.29 (James 421)
Artificial collection. English, French and Latin, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
An artificial collection, principally consisting of legal or law-related MSS, formerly bound with four items now in K.35 as a single vol., but rebound as three vols in the later nineteenth century to separate the folio items from the quarto. The contents are:
St John's College S.28 (James 420)
'J. A.' or William Birde(?), 'Readings of Gilbert, Spilman, Bromeley and other learned lawyers'. French, 1584
'Readings of [Ambrose] Gilbert, Spilman, [George] Bromeley, and / other learned lawyers / Observacons sur Littleton, by Wm Fletewode [the latter line written twice]', in the hand of Thomas Baker. On the last folio, almost certainly in the same hand, is the inscription 'William Birde Gent / Anno Domini 1584'. The word 'Gent' has been erased. Perhaps this is the William Bird who was adm. at Gray's Inn, 1571, an Ancient 1589-90. The initials J. A.
St John's College S.27 (James 419)
Michael Dalton, Legal compendium, and other works. Latin, French and English, 1629-51
Michael Dalton (1564 - c. 1651) of Trinity College, Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn: Legal and theological works. The principal contents are:
St John's College S.26 (James 418)
Artificial collection of separate tracts, proclamations and pamphlets. Latin and English, various dates
S.26 was originally an artificial collection of miscellaneous political and religious tracts and other papers, bound together either by the donor, or shortly after donation. This volume was broken up in the mid nineteenth century (after Cowie's catalogue was compiled). Several items were then transferred to SJC, MS K.35. The remaining items were bound in three vols as follows:
St John's College S.24 (James 417)
Commentary on the Physica of Aristotle. Latin, seventeenth century
A commentary on the Physica of Aristotle. The volume appears to lack title page and a conclusion. No date, but perhaps early seventeenth century. Cowie notes a similarity in hand and binding to MS I.37, which he described as 'the common-place book of a student at Rome, at the beginning of the seventeenth century'. However, the similarities are not perhaps sufficiently marked.