SOURCE: Kennedy, David G. “Works before Entering Thurgarton Priory.” In Incarnational Element in Hilton's Spirituality, pp. 167-98. Salzburg, Austria: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg, 1982.

In the following excerpt, Kennedy surveys Hilton's works through 1384, including some of his lesser known and unpublished writings.

A. Mixed Life, Ca. 1378

This work exists in at least nine MSS and was printed most recently as an edition from most of them in Jones's Minor Works.¹ Mixed Life was not necessarily the very first of Hilton's works, but was probably one of his earliest efforts.² It is in the Vernon MS which may have been produced in 1380. The prayer outlook seems to be that of Hilton's hermit period and some of the ideas are rather confused,³ although there is no question about the wisdom and maturity of the basic advice Mixed Life offers. Hilton's authorship appears to be certain.⁴

In...