The Ars moriendi (editio princeps, circa 1450) : a reproduction of the copy in the British Museum / edited by W.H. Rylands ; with an introduction by George Bullen.

Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Ars moriendi (editio princeps, circa 1450) : a reproduction of the copy in the British Museum / edited by W.H. Rylands ; with an introduction by George Bullen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    chiefly to any among them whom he had formerly held in par- ticular veneration. Particular prayers and sentences are then mentioned which the dying man is exhorted to repeat. If he cannot do this himself, then the bystanders are exhorted to do it for him. And here a recommendation is given that every- one, when expecting the approach of death, should secure the presence of some faithful friend to assist him in his last hours by his prayers and exhortations. But, alas! says the writer, how few are there, who, in the hour of death, faithfully assist their neighbours with interrogations, admonitions, and prayers! Hence, it happens that as the dying persons themselves do not (in general) wish to die quite yet, their salvation is often miserably imperilled. The original Latin is as follows :— Sed heu, pauci sunt qui in morte proximis suis fideliter assistunt, interrogando, monendo, et pro ipsis orando: prsesertim cum ipsi morientes nondum mori velin, et animae morientum ssepe miser- abiliter periclitantur. With these words the Ars Moriendi concludes. Similar advice is given as to the presence of a faithful friend, and the same complaint is made, slightly amplified, in the Speculum Artis bene Moriendi; not at the end, however, but about the middle of the work. The same is the case in a work published by our own Caxton, in 1490, with the title, Here begynneth a lytill treatise shorte and abredged spekynge of the arte and craft to know well to dye. The five temptations are here briefly enumerated, and the advice given occurs on the last leaf, in the words :— To this myght