Lancelot of the Laik: A Scottish Metrical Romance (About 1490-1500 A. D.)

Lancelot of the Laik: A Scottish Metrical Romance (About 1490-1500 A. D.)

A former edition of the present poem was printed for the Maitland Club, in 1839, and edited by Joseph Stevenson, Esq. It has saved me all trouble of transcription, but by no means, Iam sorry to say, that of correction. Those who possess the older edition will readily perceive that it differs from the present one very frequently indeed, and that the variations are often such as considerably to affect the sense. Many of the errors in it (such as casualtyee for casualytee, grone, for gone, reprent for repent) are clearly typographical, but there are others which would incline me to believe that the transcription was too hastily executed; several passages being quite meaningless. Near the conclusion of Mr Stevensons preface we read: The pieces which have been selected for the present volume1 are printed with such errors of transcription as have crept into them by the carelessness of the scribe; astatement which certainly implies that there was no intention on his part of departing from the original. Yet that he sometimes unconsciously did so to such an extent as considerably to alter (or destroy) the sense, the reader may readily judge from a few examples: Several omissions also occur, as, e.g., of the word off in l.7, of the word tressore in l.1715, and of four whole lines at a time in two instances; viz., lines 1191-4, and 2877-80. It will be found, in fact, that the former text can seldom be safely quoted for the purposes of philology; and I cannot but think Mr Stevensons claim of being accurate to be especially unfortunate; and the more so, because the genuine text is much simpler and more intelligible than the one which he has given. The original MS. is to be found in the Cambridge University Library, marked Kk. 1.5. It formerly formed part of a thick volume, labelled Tracts; but these are now being separated, for greater convenience, into several volumes. The MS. of Lancelot has little to do with any of the rest as regards its subject, but several other pieces are in the same hand-writing; and, at the end of one of them, an vii abstract of Solomons proverbs, occur the words, Expliciunt Dicta Salamonis, per manum V. deF.2 This hand-writing, though close, is very regular, and my own impression certainly is that the scribe has almost always succeeded in preserving the sense of the poem, though there is much confusion in the dialectal forms, as will be shewn presently. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 36848
Author: Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
Release Date: Jul 25, 2011
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William), 1835-1912