Scottish Text Society publications > Third series > Actis and Deidis of Schir William Wallace, 1570

THE FRAGMENTS OF THE EARLY EDITION
Of the twenty leaves mentioned by Laing two have since
disappeared, one of these being that from which he printed
the second page of his specimen. Of the surviving eighteen
the Mitchell Library at Glasgow now possesses thirteen, and
five (Nos. 8,10, n, 12, and 16) are in the University Library
at Cambridge. They include portions of Books vi, vm,
X (xi), and xi (xn), and originally contained nearly
sixteen hundred lines. Of one leaf, however (No. 5), only
seven lines of each page is preserved, another (No. 12) has
lost nine and ten lines respectively at the top of the page,
No. 13 is five lines short at the bottom, and many of the
others are defective to the extent of two, three, or four lines.
Only on a few pages is the text of the surviving lines complete,
as many letters or words are frequently missing through
the defective state of the leaves. In this reprint these gaps
have been filled from the edition of 1570, as that in most
instances may be taken as representing the missing text.
To facilitate collation, the folios of that edition have been given
in the headings and on the margin of each fragment, as well
as the book and line of the manuscript.
The text of the fragments, while agreeing in all essentials
with the edition of 1570, is inferior to it in many minor points,
especially in presenting unmetrical lines through the omission
of words, usually of one syllable. At times, however, it has
more correct readings, agreeing with those of the manuscript.
The transcript for this reprint was made by Miss Isabella
B. Hutchen from photographs in the National Library of
Scotland, with the exception of the six pages included in
Nos. 8, 11, and 16. These had already been copied and put
in type by Mr William Beattie of the National Library, to
whom I am greatly indebted for the use of them, as well as for
much valuable assistance on other points connected with this
work. I also gratefully acknowledge the permission to print
the fragments, so readily given by the Libraries in which they
are now preserved.
W. A. C.