discoveries, and enabled me, at a later time, to describe many more than those there noticed, and at the same time to do so more fully. Owing to the finding of new MSS., the 'roman' numerals assigned by me to the MSS. do not strictly express the correct order, when we come to compare the MSS. in the exactest manner possible. I arrange them below in such a way as to shew which MSS. are most closely related to each other, but retain, for convenience, the 'roman' numerals which I at first assigned to them. Many of the MSS. are also indicated, in the footnotes, by capital letters; and I now give tables, shewing which MSS. the 'roman' numerals and the capital letters represent. Roughly speaking, nos. I-XII and nos. XLIV, XLV belong to the A-text. Nos. XIII-XXVIII belong to the B-text. But this is only a first approximation to the real values of the MSS., and is only assumed for convenience. As a fact, some MSS. are of a mixed character. There is a set in which the former part belongs to the A-text, and the latter to the C-text; and another set in which the former part belongs to the C-text, and the latter part to the B-text. We thus get a more exact classification, as follows: A-text. Nos. I. II. IV. VI. VII. VIII. IX. XI. XII. XLV. (Ten.) B-text. Nos. XIII. XIV. XV. XV* (i. e. the lost MS. printed by Crowley). XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. (Fourteen.) C-text. Nos. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. XL. XLI. XLII. XLIII. (Fifteen.) Mixed text; A and C. Mixed text; C and B. Nos. III. V. X. XLIV. (Four.) Nos. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. (Three.) NAMES OF THE MSS., AS NUMBERED. I. Vernon MS., Bodleian Library. (A-text.) II. Harleian MS., no. 875; British Museum. (A-text.) V. Harleian MS., no. 6041; B. M. (Mixed; A and C.) IX. Harleian MS., no. 3954; B. M. (A-text.) X. MS. Digby 145, Bodl. Library. (Mixed; A and C.) XV. MS. Trin. Coll. Cam. B. 15. 17. (B-text; printed XV*. MS. printed by Crowley. (Lost.) XVI. Mr. Yates Thompson's MS. (B-text.) XIX. MS. Camb. Univ. Library, Ll. 4. 14. (B-text.) XXI. MS. Camb. Univ. Library, Gg. 4. 31. (B-text.) (Mixed; C and B.) (B-text.) XXVIII. MS. Phillipps 8252; at Cheltenham. (B-text.) XXIX. MS. Phillipps 8231. (C-text.) XXX. MS. Laud 656; Bodl. Library. (C-text.) XXXI. MS. Bodley 851. (C-text.) XXXII. The Earl of Ilchester's MS. (C-text.) XXXIII. MS. Cotton, Vesp. B. xvi; B. M. (C-text.) XXXIV. MS. Camb. Univ. Library, Ff. 5. 35. (C-text.) XXXV. MS. Corpus Christi Coll. Cambridge, no. 293. (C-text.) XXXVI. MS. Camb. Univ. Library, Dd. 3. 13. (C-text.) XXXVII. MS. Digby 171, Bodl. Library. (C-text.) (C-text.) XL. Harleian MS., no. 2376; B. M. (C-text.) (C-text.) (C-text.) XLIII. MS. Phillipps 9056. (C-text.) XLIV. The Duke of Westminster's MS. (Mixed; A and C.) LETTERS DENOTING VARIOUS MSS. Some of the above MSS. are denoted in the footnotes and elsewhere by letters. In the A-text, the letters employed are V, H, T, U, H2, and D. They denote the first six MSS. (I to VI) in the above list, and are chosen as representing the words Vernon, Harley, Trinity, University, Harley, and Douce. In the B-text, the letters employed are L, R, W, Y, O, C2, C, and B. They denote MSS. XIII-XVI, XVIII, XIX, XXII, and XXIII in the above list, and are chosen as representing the words Laud, Rawlinson, Wright ', Yates-Thompson, Oriel, Cambridge (no. 2), Cambridge, and Bodley. In the C-text, the letters employed are P, E, I, M, F, S, G, and K. (Also B and T, which, as being mixed texts, have been already mentioned.) These letters denote MSS. XXIX, XXX, and XXXII-XXXVII in the above list. Most of them can be remembered by connecting them with the word they are meant to symbolise; but a few are arbitrarily chosen. Thus P, I, M, K represent, respectively, Phillipps, Ilchester, Museum 2, KenelmDigby. F represents MS. Ff. 5. 35 (Camb. Univ. Library). S is the last letter of Corpus. Only E (=Laud 656), and G (=Camb. Univ. Dd. 3. 13) have no symbolic meaning. I have also, in my larger edition, used A to denote MS. Ashmole, and Z to denote MS. Bodley 851. I had intended to use N to denote MS. Harl. 2376, but it was not worth collating. The above letters, when arranged in alphabetical order, are as follows. A. MS. Ashmole; no. VII. (A-text.) B. Bodley 814; no. XXIII. (Mixed; C and B.) C. Cambridge; no. XXII. (B-text.) C2. Cambridge (later MS.); no. XIX. (B-text.) D. Douce 323; no. VI. (A-text.) E. Laud 656; no. XXX. (C-text.) F. Ff. 5. 35, in Camb. Univ. Library; no. XXXIV. (C-text.) G. Dd. 3. 13, in the same; no. XXXVI. (C-text.) H. Harl. 875; no. II. H2. Harl. 6041; no. V. (A-text.) (Mixed; A and C.) I. Ilchester; no. XXXII. 1 Because Mr. Thomas Wright printed this Trinity MS. in extenso. * The only good example of the C-text in the (British) Museum. K. Kenelm-Digby 171; no. XXXVII. (C-text.) L. Laud Misc. 581; no. XIII. (B-text.) Adopted as the text. M. Museum MS.; Cott. Vesp. B. xvi; no. XXXIII. (C-text.) N. HarleiaN MS. 2376; no. XL. (C-text.) O. Oriel MS.; no XVIII. (B-text.) P. Phillipps MS. 8231; no. XXIX. (C-text). Adopted as the text. Rawlinson MS. Poet. 38. R. Lansdowne 398. no. XIV. (B-text.) S. Corpus MS., Camb.; no. XXXV. (C-text.) T. Trinity MS. R. 3. 14; no. III. (Mixed; A and C.) U. University Coll., Oxford; no. IV. (A-text.) V. Vernon MS., Oxford; no. I. (A-text.) Adopted as the text. W. MS. printed by Wright; no. XV. (B-text.) Y. Mr. Yates Thompson's MS.; no. XVI. (B-text.) Z. MS. Bodley 851; no. XXXI. (C-text.) I may add that Whitaker printed his edition from MS. P. § 17. CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE MSS. A classification of the MSS. has lately been made by Dr. Richard Kron, with the title 'William Langley's Buch von Peter dem Pflüger.' His results agree, in the main, with my own, but he has examined the less important MSS. with greater care than I gave to them, as my object was only to discover the value of such as were most worth collating. I therefore follow his classification as regards the groups of MSS. of a similar type. Text A; group a: I. II. c: III. V. XLIV. VIII. X. Group b: XI. IV. XLV. XII. Group Text B; group a : XIII. XVII. XIV. Group 6: XV. (and XV*), XXVII. XX. Group : XVIII. XIX. XXI. XVI. Group d: XXVI. XXVIII. Group e: XXII. Group f: XXIII. XXIV. XXV. Text C; group a: XXIX. XXX. XL. Group : XXXII. XXXVIII. XXXIX. (partly III. V. XLIV. X ; also XXIII. XXIV. XXV.) Group c: XXXI. Group d: XXXVII. XXXIII. XXXIV. Group e: XXXV. XLI. XXXVI. XLII. Group ƒ(?): XLIII. I now give very brief descriptions of the MSS., in the order indicated in the above groups. I.-Text A; group a. Denoted by V. VOL. II. Printed as the Text, as far as A. xi. 180. MS. Vernon, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The best text, but imperfect at the end. It occasionally omits necessary lines. The dialect in which the poem was first written has been modified by a Southern scribe; whence the numerous Southern forms. After A. xi. 180, a leaf has been cut out of the MS., so that all that follows is lost. The leaves are large, and the writing is in double columns, so that each leaf contains about 320 lines. II. Text A; group a. Denoted in the footnotes by H. MS. Harley 875; in the British Museum. Imperfect, having lost vi. 52-vii. 2, and all after viii. 144. It contains some lines not found in other copies; and agrees more closely than any other copy with MS. I. above. XI.-Text A; group b. The only copy which contains the whole of Passus xii., and from which the text of that Passus is (mainly) printed. MS. Rawlinson, Poet. 137; in the Bodleian Library. Many of its readings resemble those of MS. IV.; and it retains the passage x. 205-xi. 47, which is wanting in that MS. IV. Text A; group b. Denoted in the footnotes by U. MS. no. 45 in the library of University College, Oxford. Some of the text is transposed, just as in MS. XI. (above). It is also remarkable as containing the first 19 lines of Passus xii. Oddly enough, the same MS. also contains a fragment of a different A-text (Pass. ii. 1-23). XLV. Text A; group b. MS. in the possession of Sir Henry Ingilby, of Ripley Castle, Yorkshire. Remarkable as containing a large portion (1-88) of Passus xii. Five of the lines in this portion occur in no other copy; these are lines 65, 74-76, and 78. XII.-Text A; group b. Not collated. MS. Dublin D. 4. 12. Imperfect; ending at A. vii. 45. Some of the text is transposed, nearly as in MSS. XI. and IV. It closely resembles these MSS.; but is much corrupted here and there, whilst the dialect has been turned into Northumbrian. Contains III.-Mixed text; partly Text A; group c. Used to form the Text in A. xi. 181-303. Denoted in the footnotes by T. also a portion of the C-text, viz. C. xii. 297 to the end. MS. R. 3. 14 in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Apparently the oldest MS. of this (the largest) group. This MS. contains the drawing which is given as a frontispiece to Mr. T. Wright's |