§ 5 The Arrangement of the Edition.
As to the only MS. in which this romance has come down to us, I have mentioned before that it is exceedingly corrupt; many conjectures, more or less sure, were necessary in order to restore metre, rhyme, and meaning; the greater part of them seemed worthy to be entered in the text, the rest being offered in the notes. No attempt has been made to introduce a uniform character of dialect, considering the quite unsettled state of orthography in early times. The only exceptions are where the sounds are fully determined by the rhyme. In general the orthography of the MS. has been reproduced as accurately as possible. The contractions used by the scribe are expanded and printed in italics. At the beginning of a new period, or a proper name within the line, capitals have been introduced. From l. 1200, where the numeration of my text no longer coincides with that of Halliwell’s edition, the line-numbers of the latter are added in brackets.
The fragments which I have added as an appendix to the text have been consulted in all cases of difficulty, and proved of no little service in correcting the blunders of the manuscript; they contain indeed a somewhat better text than the MS., though they are by no means free from clerical errors. A detailed comparison gives the following result:
In fifty-one lines the text of the fragments is evidently correcter than the MS.:
| Fragments. | Manuscript. |
|---|---|
| The kyng of Nazareth sent hym me, Torent, I wot-saue hym on the. 466 | The kyng of Portynggall̴ seyd, ‘So mot I the! Torrent, I wet-saffe of the. |
| The kyng wolde fayne that he ded were, And he wyst nat on what manere. 472 | The kyng wolde fayne that he wer ded, And hym wyst in what maner. |
| To Torent that was true as stele, 477 | To Torrent trew ase styll̴, |
| In what londe that they brede. 487 | In what lond they ne bred. |
| He bestrode a noble stede. 502 | Tho he bestrod another stede. |
Cf. 489, 498, 507-10, 512-15, 822, 825, 831, 833, 834, 837, 845, 848, 851, 929, 932, 933, 935, 947, 948, 951, 952, 958, 965, 968-70, 1807, 1808, 1810, 1827, 1828, 1831, 1834-36, 1844, 1854, 1866.
Forty-eight lines are coincident: 468, 470, 474, 479, 480, 486, 487, 495, 499, 501, 504, 505, 520, 823, 832, 842, 844, 846, 917, 918, 921, 922, 927, 928, 936, 938, 953, 957, 962, 1809, 1813-17, 1819-21, 1823, 1830, 1832, 1838, 1847, 1850, 1851-52, 1863, 1865.
In ninety-one lines it is doubtful which reading is to be considered as the original one:
| Fragments. | Manuscript. |
|---|---|
| As they walkyd by the ryvers syde. 469 | Ase the went be the watyres syd. |
| Howe he myght hym shent. 473 | How he schuld be schent. |
| The kyng sayde ‘what may this be? Lorde, it is sent to me For a faucon shene. 483-85 | Syr, he seyd, what may thys be? Loo, lord, come ner and see Abowght a facon schene. |
| Than sayde the kyng vntrue, ‘And ye fynde hawes of great value, Brynge me one with the! 492-94 | And than seyd the kyng ontrew, ‘Yf thow get hawkys of great valew, Bryng on of them to me! |
| Of thy dowghter hende. 836 | Of yowr dowghttyr hend. |
Cf. 467, 475, 476, 478, 481, 482, 488, 496, 497, 500, 506, 511, 516-20, 821, 824, 826, 827, 829, 830, 835, 838-41, 843, 847, 850, 919, 920, 923, 925-26, 930-31, 934, 937, 939, 940-43, 945, 946, 949, 950, 954, 955, 959, 960-61, 963, 964, 966, 967, 1811, 1812, 1818, 1822, 1825, 1826, 1829, 1837, 1840, 1842, 1843, 1845-46, 1848-49, 1853, 1855-62, 1864.
In eleven lines the text of the MS. is superior to that of the fragment:
| Fragments. | Manuscript. |
|---|---|
| ‘Ye, by my trouthe!’ sayd Torente. 828 | ‘Ye, be trouthe!’ seyd Torrent than. |
| Delycyous notes on hyghe. 944 | Delycyous nottis on hyght. |
| Frowarde the se. 956 | Froward the sytte. |
Cf. 488, 503, 820, 849, 924, 1824, 1833, 1839.
As to the sixth fragment, 1014-36, and the beginning of the first (in Halliwell’s edition the third), 462-64, in which, as above mentioned, not much more than the rhyming words are preserved, they have nearly the same relation to the MS. as the other ones.
In the following passages they correct the rhymes of the MS.: 1017, 1018, 1028, 1033. Coincident rhymes: 1014, 1015, 1019, 1026, 1027, 1032, 1034-36. Undecided: 1020, 1021, 1023-24, 1029-30, 462-64. The rhymes of the MS. are preferable in ll. 1016, 1022, 1025, 1031.
I need only add, that all the discrepancies between the MS. and the fragments, however numerous they may be, concern, for the most part, things of little importance; they are caused especially by the frequent change of synonymous terms, by the difference of expletive words and phrases, the transposition of words, the change of tenses, and so on. But as there is nowhere any essential difference to be traced, we may conjecture with great probability that the early printed edition of the romance was taken from a manuscript which was pretty nearly related to the Manchester MS., though somewhat more correctly written.
I gladly take the present opportunity of acknowledging my very great obligation to Prof. Koelbing, from whom I have received ample assistance throughout the whole of this work. It would be absolutely impossible to me entirely to discriminate his part from mine. He carefully revised the introduction, notes, and the glossary, before they went to press, and after they came from it, and he looked several times through the proofs of the text. Nor am I less indebted to Mr. Joseph Hall at Manchester, who not only kindly read the proofs of the text with the MS. in the Chetham Library, but also contributed some valuable notes, which are marked by his name. The Director has added the head-lines and side-notes.