The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises
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The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #25856.
About this book
The volume gathers four of Richard Rolle’s prose treatises, the most prominent being The Form of Perfect Living, a rule of life composed for the nun Margaret Kirkby, alongside a companion work on daily conduct for those “in the world.” The editor’s introductory note makes clear that the text is not aimed at specialists in Anglo‑Saxon or Middle English, but at readers who wish to encounter the devotional thought of early English mystics. It explains that wherever the original language can be understood, the old wording is retained; otherwise the translator supplies the closest modern equivalent, preserving the occasional archaic syntax that the medieval author used. The opening therefore sets a practical agenda: to render Rolle’s spiritual counsel intelligible while keeping as much of the original flavor as possible.
Rolle writes in a plain, earnest voice that blends contemplative mysticism with concrete moral instruction. His language reflects the early‑fourteenth‑century English of a hermit‑scholar, marked by occasional singular‑plural shifts, rhythmic phrasing, and a devotion‑driven vocabulary that resists the later scholastic abstractions of his successors. Readers who enjoy meditative Christian literature, historical theology, or the raw spirituality of early mystics will find his direct appeals to love, self‑lessness, and disciplined daily work compelling. Those interested in the roots of English religious thought, or in a sincere, if demanding, guide to a life of inner devotion, will appreciate the blend of medieval earnestness and the editor’s careful modern rendering.
Who appears in The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises
- Margaret Kirkby14th‑century English nun, modest brown habit with white veil, gentle face, simple hair
- Richard RolleEarly‑1300s hermit‑scholar, long beard, simple woolen robe, humble posture, contemplative eyes
The opening · free to read
Richard Rolle
(The Form of Perfect Living, ch. x.).
Preface.
This book is not intended for those who are acquainted with Anglo-Saxon and Middle English; but for those who care for the thought, specially the religious and devotional thought, of our forefathers. My one aim has been to make a portion of that thought accurately intelligible to modern readers, with the greatest possible saving of trouble to them. When I could use the old word or phrase, with certainty of its being understood, I have done so. When I could not, I have replaced it with the best modern equivalent I could find or invent. In extenuation of the occasional use of Rolle's expression, "by their lone," I may urge its expressiveness, the absence of an equivalent, and the fact that it may still be heard in remote places. Where possible, I have retained the archaic order of the original Text. Such irregular constructions, as e.g., the use of a singular pronoun in the first half of a sentence, and of a plural in the second half, I have left unaltered; for the meaning was perfectly clear. In short, I have endeavoured to make Richard Rolle as he was as significant as possible to English men and women of to-day as they are, when they are not professed students of English language. In such an undertaking, it is obvious that I must have presented endless vulnerable places to the learned. I can only repeat that the book was never meant for them, but for those who will perhaps forgive me if I describe them as specialists in religious thought rather than in English Language.
The rendering is made from the texts printed by Professor Horstman in his Library of Early English Writers: Richard Rolle of Hampole an English Father of the Church.
GERALDINE E. HODGSON.
The University, Bristol, S. Mary Magdalene, 1910.
Contents.
PAGE.
Preface vii.
Introduction xi.
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