Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Kingis quair

INTRODUCTION.
XXXV11
only add, that the very common practice of reprinting old
printed texts, without consulting the MSS. from which those
texts were printed, is most reprehensible, as it often ensures
the needless perpetuation of the strangest blunders. It is
the more unsafe, because many examples are known in
which editors had no familiarity either with MSS. or with
the grammar of the language which they professed to inter¬
pret ; but the story of their incompetency is a melancholy
one, nor is this the place for discussing it.
§ 22. The unique MS. of the Kingis Quair is in the Bod¬
leian Library at Oxford, where it is marked “ Arch. Selden,
B. 24.” It is a MS. on paper, containing numerous poems
and treatises, and, in particular, some poems by Chaucer.
The Kingis Quair begins on leaf 192, and ends on leaf 211.
It is not all in one handwriting; the hand changes at st.
178, the latter part of the poem being in a somewhat smaller
handwriting. There is also a slight change here in the sys¬
tem of spelling, but it is not sufficient to be worth a detailed
discussion. On leaf 120 of the MS. the date 1472 occurs ;
and the date of the MS. itself is about 1475, or half a cen¬
tury after the date of composition of the poem. I take it
to be a somewhat faulty transcript from a fairly good origi¬
nal. Most of the mistakes arise from the occasional omis¬
sion of words or syllables. In st. 160, 1. 4, the scribe had a
couple of words before him which he could not read ; so he
left them out. In st. 47, he repeats the last word of 1. 4 at the
end of 1. 5. The various footnotes point out most of the
scribe’s errors. It is pleasant to see how some of the old
misconceptions are cleared away. I will cite just one ex¬
ample by way of specimen. In st. 24, 1. 2, we have : “ So
infortunate was vs that fremyt day.” This means, “ That
strange (or adverse) day was so unfortunate for us”; and vs