The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

1. f.1 This boke is callid Sidrake grounded upon scripture the whiche was translated owte of Frenche in to Englishe compiled and made afore the Incarnacion of oure lorde Jhesu crist declaring sadde and notable wisedomes celestiall Instructiones and questiones for the helthe of mannes soule. With many othur vertuous and holsom thinges here after ensewynge, with a parcell of the seven sciencis
Man may finde in olde bokes
Who so euer ther in lokes.
Partial border of flowers, and initial with figure of a man in blue gown and black cap. Dark red ground, flourished.
Ends f.37b: Ande bringe us in to that blisse
Wherof non ende ys. Amen.
Lenvoy
Pray we now with alle oure myght, etc.
The translator 'Hewe of Campedene' is mentioned.
Ends: ande that it mutte so bee
Seith alle amen for charite. Amen. Expl. Sydrak.
On the Romance of Sydrac and Boctus see Ward Cat. of Romances, I.903. On pp.915-920 are notices of MSS. of this English version. It was printed about 1520 by T. Godfrey 'at the cost and charge of Robert Saltwode a monk of St Augustine's Canterbury.

2. f.38 (Dictes and sayings of Philosophers)
Without heading. A picture of Sedechias in light red gown and black cap, on black ground with gold flourishing. Sedechias was the firste philosopher of the vniuersite of Atthenys in Grece bi whom as it was the will of God lawe civile was founded.
There are similar pictures of
Hermes. Tat. Zalquinus, Oomer, Solon, Sabton, Ypocras, Pitagoras, Dyogenes (standing in cask), Socrates, Platon, Aristotile (holding a bottle), Alexander (with crown and sceptre) and Darius, both repeated several times, Tholomee, Onese, Magdarge, Thesille, Gregory, Galien.
Ends imperfectly with f.64b.

3. Tract of good gouernaunce.
f.68 Begins imperfectly. The first heading is
Hic sequitur quomodo secunda pars omnium reddituum cuilibet Regi s. principi pertinens distribueretur s. disponeretur.
The seconde partie of Rentis, Revenewes, etc.
The last chapter is de officiariis et seruientibus Regis eligendis.
Ending: and also the thirde boke of Gyles in his boke made of the Regiment and gouernaunce of princes and in the bokis of othur diuers clerkis which more largeli spekith of theis matters.
Explicit.

Genet, J.-P., Four English political tracts of the later Middle Ages, Camden 4th Series 18 (London, 1977)

Hobbs, T., 'Prosimetrum in Le livre dit Grace entiere sur le fait du gouvernement d'un prince, the governance of a prince treatise in British Library MS Royal 16 F ii', in Littera et sensus: essays on form and meaning in medieval French literature presented to John Fox (Exeter, 1989)

Mooney, L. R., The Index of Middle English Prose Handlist 11: Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1995), p. 116.

Hobbs, T., Prosimetrum in Le livre Dit Grace Entiere sur le Fait du Gouvernement d'un Prince, the Governance of a Prince Treatise in British Library MS Royal 16 F ii, Littera et sensus : essays on form and meaning in medieval French literature presented to John F (Exeter, 1989) p. 49-62.

Genet, J. P., Four English Political Tracts of the Later Middle Ages, Camden Fourth Series 18 (london, 1977)