Geoffrey Chaucer

“ In using these terms, 'earliest,' &c., I do not refer to the age of the MSS., but to the type of text which they exhibit.
In the list of MSS. given above, Hl. is no. 1; E., Hn., Cm., are nos. 40, 41, and 28; and Cp., Pt., Ln., are nos. 24, 42, and 10 respectively.
Of all the MSS., E. is the best in nearly every respect. It not only gives good lines and good sense, but is also (usually) grammatically accurate and thoroughly well spelt. The publication of it has been a very great boon to all Chaucer students, for which Dr. Furnivall will be ever gratefully remembered. ”

“ Furnivall for the Chaucer Society, but for which no satisfactory results could have been obtained, except at the cost of more time and toil than I could well devote to the subject. In other words, my work is entirely founded upon the splendid 'Six-text' Edition published by that Society, supplemented by the very valuable reprint of the celebrated 'Harleian' manuscript in the same series. These Seven Texts are all exact reproductions of seven important MSS., and are, in two respects, more important to the student than the MSS. themselves ”

“ On the other hand, E. preserves lines rarely found elsewhere. Such are A 3155-6, 3721-2, F 1455-6, 1493-9; twelve genuine lines, none of which are in Tyrwhitt, and only the first two are in Wright. Observe also the stanza in the footnote to p. 424; with which compare B 3083, on p. 241.
The text of the Ellesmere MS. has only been corrected in cases where careful collation suggests a desirable improvement. Every instance of this character is invariably recorded in the footnotes. Thus, in A 8, the grammar and scansion require half-e, not half ”

“ I take them to be of two kinds: (i) readings which are better than those of the Six-text, and should certainly be preferred, such as halfe in A 8, cloysterlees in A 179, a (not a ful) in A 196, and the like; and (2) readings due to a terrible blundering on the part of the scribe, such as fleyng for flikeringe in A 1962, greene for kene in A 1966, and the like. It is, in fact, a most dangerous MS. to trust to, unless constantly corrected by others, and is not at all fitted to be taken as the basis of a text. For further remarks, see the description of Wright's printed edition at p. ”

“ This is usual in all editions. But I could not bring myself to use j for i consonant; the anachronism is too great. Never for neuer is common in the fifteenth century, but j does not occur even in the first folio of Shakespeare. ”

“ The Longleat MS. no. 25, belonging to the Marquis of Bath, contains both the Knight's Tale and the Clerk's Tale.↑ i.e. the gen. case of physice; 'Magister Artium et Physices' occurs in Longfellow's Golden Legend, § vi.↑ Tyrwhitt counts 252b and 252c as 253 and 254; but omits 3155, 3156; hence, in 3157-3720, the numbering is alike in the Six-text and T. He then omits 3721, 3722, making a difference of two lines. Wright follows Tyrwhitt's numbering in Group A, and in B 1-1162.↑ T. counts B 1982, 1983 as one line ”