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"_Presentem Biblum iusset prescribere Presul.
Wintoniae Dus que fecerat esse Patronum
Magnus AEthelwoldus._"[355]

Godemann, the scribe, entreats the prayers of his readers, and wishes
"all who gaze on this book to ever pray that after the end of the flesh I
may inherit health in heaven: this is the fervent prayer of the scribe,
the humble Godemann." This talented illuminator was chaplain to
Ethelwold, and afterwards abbot of Thorney.[356] The choice Benedictional
in the public library of Rouen is also ascribed to his elegant pen, and
adds additional lustre of his artistic fame.[357]

Most readers have heard of Walter, (who was prior of St. Swithin in
1174,) giving twelve measures of barley and a pall, on which was
embroidered in silver the history of St. Berinus converting a Saxon king,
for a fine copy of Bede's Homilies and St. Austin's Psalter;[358] and of
Henry, a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Hyde, near there, who
transcribed, in the year 1178, Terence, Boethius, Seutonius and Claudian;
and richly illuminated and bound them, which he exchanged with a
neighboring bibliophile for a life of St. Christopher, St. Gregory's
Pastoral Care, and four Missals.[359] Nicholas, Bishop of Winchester,
left one hundred marks and a Bible, with a fine gloss, in two large
volumes, to the convent of St. Swithin. John de Pontissara, who succeeded
that bishop in the year 1282, borrowed this valuable manuscript to
benefit and improve his biblical knowledge by a perusal of its numerous
notes. So great was their regard for this precious gift, that the monks
demanded a bond for its return; a circumstance which has caused some
doubt as to the plenitude of the Holy Scriptures in the English Church
during that period; at least among those who have only casually glanced
at the subject. I may as well notice that the ancient Psalter in the
Cottonian Library[360] was written about the year 1035, by the "most
humble brother and monk AElsinus," of Hyde Abbey. The table prefixed to
the volume records the deaths of other eminent scribes and illuminators,
whose names are mingled with the great men of the day;[361] showing how
esteemed they were, and how honorable was their avocation. Thus under the
15th of May we find "_Obitus AEtherici m