Book V

.; and thus occupies a large portion of the MS. Moreover, two leaves are lost after leaf 59, comprising III. 1289-1428; these are supplied in Dr. Furnivall's edition from Harl. 1239, which accounts for the extraordinary disorder in which these stanzas are arranged. The MS. also omits III. 1744-1771, and some other stanzas occasionally.

This is one of those curious MSS. which, although presenting innumerable corrupt readings (the worst being _Commodious_ for _Commeveden_ in III. 17), nevertheless have some points of contact with an excellent source. All editors must have observed a few such cases. Thus, in II. 615, it happily restores the right reading _latis_, where the ordinary reading _gates_ is ludicrously wrong. In III. 49, it supplies the missing word _gladnes_. In V. 8, it has 'The Auricomus tressed Phebus hie on lofte,' instead of 'The golden tressed'; and this reading, though false, lets us into the secret of the origin of this epithet, viz. that it translates the Latin _auricomus_; see note to the line. In the very next line, V. 9, it preserves the correct reading _bemes shene_[66], riming with _grene_, _quene_, where other MSS. have _bemes clere_, a reminiscence of the opening line of