king; but
the humanists usually leave the whole field of mediaeval romance
severely alone.

[16] Arcturum cum Britannis exspectatis. For another allusion
to Arthur, see Pace, _De Fructu_, p. 83.

One September morning, when the dew was still heavy, Ellenbog went out
with some brethren to gather apples. At the top of the orchard[17] one
of them called out that he had found 'a star'. It was a damp white
deposit on the grass, clammy and quivering, cold to the touch, very
sticky, with long tenacious filaments. Ellenbog had never seen
anything like it, but he found out that the peasants and the shepherds
believed such things to be droppings from shooting stars,[18] if not
actually fallen stars, and that they were thought to be a cure for
cancer. His letter describing it is to ask the opinion of a friend who
was a doctor, that is to say, the scientist of the age.

[17] ortus.
[18] stellae emuncturam et purgamentum.

The affairs of Ellenbog's family often appear. His father had been a
great collector of books, which he had corrected with his own hand,
and which at his death he had wished to be kept together as a common
heirloom for the whole family. A great many of them were medical, and
therefore it had seemed good that the enjoyment of the books should go
to Ulrich, the son who was studying medicine at Siena. On his way
home, after completing his course, Ulrich died; and Nicholas composed
a piteous appeal on behalf of the books, bewailing their fate that
after ten years of confinement their hope of being used had come to
nothing. Onofrius was the only brother from whom might be hoped a
younger generation of Ellenbogs, one of whom might study medicine.
Elizabeth's children were Geslers, and so apparently did not count.

How long the books were kept together is not known. One of them is now
in the University Library at Cambridge, and has been excellently
described in an essay by the late Robert Proctor. It consists of
several volumes bound together: Henry of Rimini on the Cardinal
Virtues, the Journey of a penitent soul through Lent, a treatise _de
diuina predestinacione_, and John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury,
_de oculo morali_--all of a definitely religious or moral character.
They are freely annotated by the father's hand, with marginalia which
throw light on his life and times, his dislike of the Venetians for
their anti-papal policy, his experiences as physician to the Abbey of
St. Ulr