Book V

. 1443-1498); see Appendix to the Report of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, May 24, 1887; pp. 331-5.

The MSS. fall, as far as I can tell, into two main families. The larger family is that which resembles Cl., Cp., and H. Of the smaller, Cm. may be taken as the type. The description of Cm. shews some of the chief variations. Observe that many MSS. omit I. 890-6; in the John's MS., it is inserted in a much later hand. The stanza is obviously genuine.

§ 26. THE EDITIONS. 'Troilus' was first printed by Caxton, about 1484; but without printer's name, place, or date. See the description in Blades' Life of Caxton, p. 297. There is no title-page. Each page contains five stanzas. Two copies are in the British Museum; one at St. John's College, Oxford; and one (till lately) was at Althorp. The second edition is by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1517. The third, by Pynson, in 1526. These three editions present Troilus as a separate work. After this, it was included in Thynne's edition of 1532, and in all the subsequent editions of Chaucer's Works.

Of these, the only editions accessible to me have been Thynne's (1532), of which there is a copy in the Cambridge University Library; also the editions of 1550 (or thereabouts) and 1561, of both of which I possess copies.

Thynne's edition was printed from so good a MS. as to render it an excellent authority. In a few places, I fear he has altered the text for the worse, and his errors have been carefully followed and preserved by succeeding editors. Thus he is responsible for altering _io_ (= _jo_) into _go_, III. 33; for creating the remarkable 'ghost-word' _gofysshe_, III. 584; and a few similar curiosities. But I found it worth while to collate it throughout; and readings from it are marked 'Ed.' The later black-letter copies are mere reproductions of it.

§ 27. THE PRESENT EDITION. The present edition has the great advantage of being founded upon Cl. and Cp., neither of which have been previously made use of, though they are the two best. Bell's text is founded upon the Harleian MSS. numbered 1239, 2280, and 3943, in separate fragments; hence the text is neither uniform nor very good. Morris's text is much better, being founded upon H. (closely related to Cl. and Cp.), with a few corrections from other unnamed sources.

Thanks to the prints provided by the Chaucer Society, I have been able to produce a text which, I trust, leaves but little to be desired. I point out some of the passages which now appear in a correct form for the first time, as may be seen by comparison with the editions by Morris and Bell, which I denote by M. and B.

I. 136; _derre_, dearer; M. B. dere (no rime). 285. _meninge_, i. e. intention; _and so in_ l. 289; M. B. mevynge. 388. M. B. insert a semicolon after _arten_. 465. _fownes_ (see note); M. B. fantasye (line too long). 470 _felle_, fell, pl. adj.; M. B. fille, i. e. fell (verb). 590. _no comfort_; M. comfort; B. eny comfort. 786. _Ticius_ (see note); M. Syciphus; B. Siciphus. 896. _Thee oughte_; M. To oght (no sense); B. The oght (will not scan). 1026. See note; put as a question in M. B.; B. even inserts _not_ before _to done_. 1050. _me asterte_; M. may sterte; B. me stert (better).

II. 41. _seyde_, i. e. if that they seyde; M. B. seyinge (will not scan). 138. _were_ (would there be); M. B. is. 180. _wight_; M. B. knyght (but see l. 177). 808. _looth_; M. B. leve. 834. _Ye_; M. B. The. 1596. _For for_; M. B. For.

III. 17. _Comeveden_ (see note); M. Comeneden; B. Commodious. _him_; M. B. hem. 33. _io_ (= _jo_); M. B. go. 49. M. B. omit _gladnes_. 572. _Yow thurfte_; M. Thow thruste; B. Yow durst. 584. _goosish_; M. goofish; B. gofisshe. 674. M. Thei voide [_present_], dronke [_past_], and traveres drawe [_present_] anon; B. They voyded, and drunk, and travars drew anone. Really, _dronke_ and _drawe_ are both past participles; see note. 725. _Cipris_; M. Cyphes; B. Ciphis. 1231. _Bitrent and wryth_, i. e. winds about and wreathes itself; M. Bytrent and writhe is; B. Bitrent and writhen is. _Wryth_ is short for _writheth_; not a pp. 1453. _bore_, i. e. hole; M. boure; B. bowre. 1764. _to-hepe_, i. e. together; M. B. to kepe.

IV. 538. _kyth_; M. B. right (no sense). 696. _thing is_; M. B. thynges is. 818. _martyre_; M. B. matere (neither sense nor rime).

V. 49. _helpen_; M. B. holpen. 469. _howve_; M. B. howen. 583. _in my_; M. B. omit _my_. 927. _wight_; M. B. with. 1208. _trustinge_; M. B. trusten (against grammar). 1266. _bet_; M. B. beste. 1335, 6. _wyte The teres_, i. e. blame the tears; M. B. wite With teres. 1386. _Commeve_; M. Com in to; B. Can meven. 1467. _She_; M. B. So. 1791. _pace_; M. B. space (see note).

It is curious to find that such remarkable words as _commeveden_, _io_, _voidee_, _goosish_, _to-hepe_, appear in no Chaucerian glossary; they are only found in the MSS., being ignored in the editions.

A large number of lines are now, for the first time, spelt with forms that comply with grammar and enable the lines to be scanned. For example, M. and B. actually give _wente_ and _wonte_ in V. 546, instead of _went_ and _wont_; _knotles_ for _knotteles_ in V. 769, &c.

I have also, for the first time, numbered the lines and stanzas correctly. In M., Books III. and IV. are both misnumbered, causing much trouble in reference. Dr. Furnivall's print of the Campsall MS. omits I. 890-6; and his print of MS. Harl. 3943 counts in the Latin lines here printed at p. 404.

§ 28. It is worth notice that Troilus contains about fifty lines in which the first foot consists of a single syllable. Examples in