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From the Prefatory Note. ....The text of the poem has been carefully arranged from six manuscripts on basis of the Auchinleck MS. and was printed in May 1896, an edition having been already completed in German and in English. In harmony with the suggestion of Dr. Furnivall, the work does not present a distinctively critical text, but it aims to mark fidelity to its original, and to avoid arbitrary changes by which a picturesque meaning would be lost or an interesting philological form obscured. Full material for such a text, subject to the judgment of the individual student, is offered in the decisive readings of the various manuscripts of the Speculum and in its critical notes. The arrangement of the Introduction needs no explanation. It will be seen that Part I contains a description of the manuscripts of the poem and a critical investigation of its texts. Part II is limited to the examination of its sources and its genesis with reference to history and literature, and particularly to the Guy of Warwick romances. Part III treats of the language, and the metrical and inflectional forms used by the poet, his dialect, and the chronology and authorship of the poem. It is recognized, that in some decisions there is ground for other opinions than those adopted in these pages. I am aware that there are three readings of no great importance, that might contradict the pedigree of the manuscripts as it stands at present. The question is open to the friendly opinion of the public. The peculiarly individual development of each of the texts has rendered the arrangement of the genealogical tables one of marked delicacy. Some points could have been discussed more briefly than I have judged1 advisable. Others could have been treated with greater fulness. The enumeration of the Biblical sources of the various passages is not complete, but has received additional references in the explanatory notes. The chapter on inflection could have been enriched by other appropriate illustrations, the phonology with more complete comparison with other M.E. texts, and the analysis of the relationship of the various Guy of Warwick manuscripts could have been more exhaustive, but additional expansion was believed to be beyond the scope of the volume. The present edition seems to set forth the main peculiarities of the poem....

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