GG. (Gg. 4. 27) is the MS. which contains so excellent a copy of the Canterbury Tales, printed as the 'Cambridge MS.' in the Chaucer Society's publications. Four leaves are lost at the beginning. On leaf 5 is Chaucer's _A. B. C._; on leaf 7, back, the _Envoy to Scogan_; and on leaf 8, back, Chaucer's _Truth_, entitled _Balade de bone conseyl_. This is followed by a rather pretty poem, in 15 8-line stanzas, which is interesting as quoting from Chaucer's _Parliament of Foules_. Examples are: '_Qui bien ayme tard oublye_' (l. 32; cf. P. F. 679): 'The fesaunt, scornere of the cok Be nihter-tyme in frostis colde' (ll. 49, 50; cf. P. F. 357); 'Than spak the frosty feldefare' (l. 89; cf. P. F. 364). Line 41 runs--'Robert redbrest and the wrenne'; which throws some light on the etymology of _robin_. This valuable MS. also contains _Troilus_ and the _Legend of Good Women_, with the unique earlier form of the Prologue; _The Parlement of Foules_; and Lydgate's _Temple of Glas_. At fol. 467 is a _Supplicacio amantis_, a long piece of no great value, but the first four lines give pretty clear evidence that the author was well acquainted with Chaucer's Anelida, and aspired to imitate it.
'Redresse of sorweful, O Cytherea, That w_i_t_h_ the stremys of thy plesau_n_t hete Gladist the cuntreis of al Cirrea, Wher thou hast chosyn thy paleys and thy sete.'
It seems to be a continuation of the _Temple of Glas_, and is probably Lydgate's own.
HH. (Camb. Univ. Lib. Hh. 4. 12) contains much of Lydgate, and is fully described in the Catalogue.
P. (Pepys 2006) consists of 391 pages, and contains Lydgate's _Complaint of the Black Knight_, and _Temple of Glass_, part of the _Legend of Good Women_, the _A. B. C._, _House of Fame_, _Mars and Venus_ (two copies), _Fortune_, _Parlement of Foules_, _The Legend of the Three Kings of Cologne_, _The War between Caesar and Pompey_, _a Translation of parts of Cato_, _the Tale of Melibeus_ and _Parson's Tale_, _Anelida_, _Envoy to Scogan_, _A. B. C._ (again), _Purse_, _Truth_, and _Merciless Beauty_.
TRIN. (Trin. Coll. Camb. R. 3. 19) not only contains two of the Minor Poems, but a large number of other pieces, including the _Legend of Good Women_ and many of Lydgate's Poems. In particular, it is the source of most of Stowe's additions to Chaucer: I may mention _The Craft of Lovers_, dated 1448 in the MS. (fol. 156), but 1348 in Stowe; the _Ten Commandments of Love_, _Nine Ladies worthy_, _Virelai_ (fol. 160), _Balade_ beginning _In the seson of Feuerer_ (fol. 160), _Goddesses and Paris_ (fol. 161, back), _A balade plesaunte_ (fol. 205), _O Mossie Quince_ (fol. 205), _Balade_ beginning _Loke well aboute_ (fol. 207); and _The Court of Love_; see the pieces numbered 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, (p. 33). The piece numbered 41 also occurs here, at the end of the _Parliament of Foules_, and is headed 'Verba translatoris.' One poem, by G. Ashby, is dated 1463, and I suppose most of the pieces are in a handwriting of a later date, not far from 1500. It is clear that Stowe had no better reason for inserting pieces in his edition of Chaucer than their occurrence in this MS. to which he had access. If he had had access to any other MS. of the same character, the additions in his book would have been different, and _The Court of Love_ would never have been 'Chaucer's.' Yet this is the sort of evidence which some accept as being quite sufficient to prove that Chaucer learnt the language of a century after his own date, in order to qualify himself for writing that poem.