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his Animadversions on Gower and Chaucer, p. 125, enumerates only four MSS., which are plainly A., P., F., and G. The rest seem to have escaped attention.

In addition to the MS. authorities, we have one more source of text, viz. the Editio Princeps, which may be thus described.

Th. The edition of Chaucer's Works by Wm. Thynne, printed at London by Thomas Godfray in 1532. This is the first edition in which the Treatise on the Astrolabe appeared; it begins at fol. ccxcviii, back. The Conclusions in Part ii. are in the order following, viz. 1-12, 19-21, 13-18, 22-40; after which come 41-43, and 41a-426. This order does not agree precisely with that in any MS. now extant, with the exception of I., which imitates it. It has some corrupt additions and exhibits many grave errors. All later editions, down to Urry's in 1721, contribute no new information. The few slight alterations which appear in them are such as could have been made without reference to MSS. at all.

§ 19. REMARKS ON THE CLASSES OF THE MSS. On comparing the MSS., it at once appears that they do not agree as to the order of the Conclusions in Part ii. The MSS. A., B., C. (which are unquestionably the oldest), as well as E., F., G., and P., adopt the order which appears in this edition, but which has never appeared in any previous edition. In all other editions we find the three sections 19-21 made to precede sections 13-18. Now we might here appeal to authority only, and say that the order in the oldest MSS. ought to be preferred. But it so happens that we can appeal to internal evidence as well, and there are two considerations which shew that the oldest MSS. are certainly correct. These are as follows. In the first place, sect. 18 amounts to finding the degree of the zodiac which souths with any star, and begins with the words 'Set the centre of the sterre upon the lyne meridional'; whilst sect. 19 amounts to finding the degree of the zodiac that rises with any star, and begins with the words 'Set the sentre of the sterre upon the est orisonte.' Clearly, these Conclusions are closely linked together, and one ought to follow the other. But, in all the editions, this continuity is broken. In the second place, the rubric of sect. 21 is—'To knowe for what latitude in any regioun,' &c.; whilst that of sect. 22 is 'To knowe in special the latitude of oure countray,' &c. Clearly, these Conclusions are closely linked, and in their right order. But, in all the editions, this continuity is again broken; and we have

this absurd result, viz. that a proposition headed-'To knowe the degrees of the longitudes of fixe sterres' is followed by one headed 'To knowe in special the latitude of oure countray.' Hence we are enabled to draw a line, and to divide the MSS. into two classes; those in which the order of sections is correct, and those in which it has suffered misplacement, the number in each class being much the same. This gives us the following result. First Class. A., B., C., (probably D.,) E., F., G., P.

Second Class. H., I., K., L., M., N., O., R.; to which add Th. But this division immediately leads to another very curious result, and that is, a certain lack of authority for sections after the fortieth, which ends on p. 223.

A. ends with an incomplete sentence, in sect. 40, with the words 'howre after howre.' B., C. end exactly at the same place.

E. ends sect. 40 with the same words; and, after this, has only one additional section (46), which is, in my opinion, spurious; especially as it does not appear in Messahala, of which more anon. D., F., and G. all fail at an earlier point.

In none of the first-class MSS. (excepting P., which terminates with section 43) is there a word about umbra recta or umbra versa.

Even in the second class of MSS., we find H. breaking off at sect. 36, and K. at sect. 35; so that the sections on the umbrae rest only on MSS. I. (obviously an edition, not a transcript), L., M., N., O., P., and R. Putting aside the first of these, as being 'edited,' we have but six left; and in the first four and the last of these we find that the additional Conclusions appear in a certain order, viz. they insert 44 and 45 (on the 'mene mote') between three sections 41-43 on the 'umbrae' and five other sections 41a-426 on the same.

§ 20. THE LAST FIVE SECTIONS SPURIOUS. This at once suggests two results. The first is, that, as this gives two sets of sections on the 'umbrae,' we can hardly expect both to be genuine; and accordingly, we at once find that the last five of these are mere clumsy repetitions of the first three; for which reason, I unhesitatingly reject the said last five as spurious. This view is strikingly confirmed by MS. P.; for this, the only first-class MS. that is carried on beyond section 40, contains the first three sections on the 'umbrae' only. The second result is, that if the first three sections on the 'umbrae' are to be received, there is

good reason why we should consider the possible genuineness of sections 44 and 45 on the 'mene mote,' which rest very nearly on the same authority.

Now the sections on the 'mene mote' have in their favour one strong piece of internal evidence; for the date 1397 is mentioned in them more than once as being the 'root' or epoch from which to reckon. In most cases, the mention of a date 1397 would lead us to attribute the writing in which it occurs to that year or to a later year, but a date fixed on for a 'root' may very well be a prospective one, so that these sections may have been written before 1397; an idea which is supported by the line 'behold whether thy date be more or lasse than the yere 1397'; sect. 44, 1. 5. But I suspect the date to be an error for 1387, since that [see Somer in Tyrwhitt's Glossary] was really the 'rote' used by Nicholas Lenne. In either case, I think we may connect these sections with the previous sections written in 13911. Besides which, Chaucer so expressly intimates his acquaintance with the subjects of these sections in the Canterbury Tales', that we may the more readily admit them to be really his. There is still less difficulty about admitting the first three sections (41-43) on the 'umbrae,' because we find similar matter in the treatise of Messahala, from which, as will appear, he derived so much. And hence we may readily conclude that, in the second part, the first forty sections, found in the oldest MSS., are certainly genuine, whilst sections 41-43, as well as 44 and 45, have every claim to be considered genuine also. This need not, however, force us to accept the remaining sections, since they may easily have been added by another hand; a circumstance which is rendered the

1 See Part ii. sect. I, 1. 4; sect. 3, 1. 11. 'Obviously, nobody putting a hypothetical case in that way to a child would go out of his way to name with a past verb [see the second case] a date still in the future.'-Morley's Eng. Writers, v. 270. Similarly, the expression 'I wolde knowe,' in the former case, precludes a date in the past; and hence we are driven to conclude that the date refers to time present. Curiously enough, there is an exactly parallel case. Blundevill's Description of Blagrave's Astralabe, printed at London by William Stansby, is undated. Turning to his Proposition VI, p. 615, we find— 'As for example, I would know the Meridian Altitude of the Sun ye first of July, 1592.' The same date, 1592, is again mentioned at pp. 619, 620, 621, 636, and 639, which renders it probable that the book was printed in that year.

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more probable by the fact that sections 41a-42b merely repeat 41-43 in a more clumsy form, and by the consideration that, if genuine, they should have occupied their proper place immediately after sect. 43, instead of being separated from the former set. As to sect. 46, I pronounce no decided opinion; there is but little to be said either for or against it, and it is of little consequence.

§ 21. GAP BETWEEN §§ 40 AND 41. But admitting the genuineness of sections 40-45, it at once becomes evident that there are two distinct gaps or breaks in the continuity of the treatise; the first between 40 and 41; and the second between 43 and 44. A little consideration will account for these. Looking at the Canterbury Tales, we observe the very same peculiarity; at certain points there are distinct breaks, and no mending can link the various groups together in a satisfactory manner. This can be accounted for in part by our knowledge of the fact that the poet died before he had completed the proper linking-together of the tales which he had more or less finished; but I think it also shews him to have been a fragmentary worker. To suppose that, upon reaching Conclusion 40, he suddenly turned to the sections upon the 'umbrae,' which are at once more easy to explain, more suitable for a child, and illustrative of a different and more practical use of the Astrolabe, seems to me natural enough; and more probable than to suppose that anything is here lost. For, in fact, it is to the very MSS. that contain sections 41-43 that we are indebted for the last five words of sect. 40, so curiously omitted in the oldest and best MSS.; and this is a direct argument against the supposition of any matter having been here lost.

§ 22. GAP BETWEEN §§ 43 AND 44. The break between sections 43 and 44 may be explained in a totally different manner. In this case, the break indicates a real, not an accidental, gap. I suppose section 43 to have been really the last section of Part ii, and I refer sections 44 and 45 to the Fourth Part of the Treatise, and not to the Second at all'. For if we run through the contents of Parts Three and Four (p. 177), we observe that they chiefly involve tables, with reference to one of which we find the words 'upon which table ther folwith a canon,' &c. Now sections 44 and

1 Not wishing to enforce this view upon every reader, and in order to save trouble in reference, I have numbered these sections 44 and 45. But if they belong, as I suppose, to Part iv., they should have been named 'Part iv. Canon 1,' and 'Part iv. Canon 2' respectively.

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45 exactly answer the description; they are alternative canons, shewing how certain tables may be used. It happens that Conclusion 40 is particularly dependent upon tables. To supply these was partly the object of Part iv-'the whiche ferthe partie in special shal shewen a table of the verray moeving of the mone from houre to houre, every day and in every signe, after thyn almenak; upon which table ther folwith a canon, suffisant to teche as wel the maner of the wyrking of that same conclusioun, as to knowe in oure orizonte with which degree of the zodiac that the mone ariseth in any latitude; and the arising of any planete after his latitude fro the ecliptik lyne.' The opening words of the same Conclusion are-'Knowe by thyn almenak the degree of the ecliptik of any signe in which that the planete is rekned for to be:' (p. 221). This is easily said; but I suppose that it was not so easy in olden times to know off-hand the exact position of a planet. It must have been shewn by tables, and these tables chiefly considered the 'mene mote,' or average motion of the planets, and that only for periods of years. If you wanted the position of a planet at a given hour on a given day, you had to work it out by figures; the rule for which working was called a 'canon.' This very 'canon' is precisely given at length in sect. 44; and sect. 45 is only another way of doing the same thing, or, in other words, is an alternative canon. When all this is fairly and sufficiently considered, we shall find good grounds for supposing that these sections on the 'mene mote' are perfectly genuine, and that they really belong to Part iv. of the Treatise.

I will only add, that the fact of sections 41a-426 being thus placed after a portion of Part iv. is one more indication that they are spurious.

$23. CONCLUSION 40. But it may be objected, as Mr. Brae has fairly objected, that Conclusion 40 itself ought to belong to Part iv. So it ought perhaps, if Chaucer had followed out his own plan. But it is clear from its contents that the Prologue to the 'Astrolabie' was written before the commencement of the treatise itself, and not, as prefaces generally are, afterwards. He was pleased with his son's progress. Little Lewis had asked him if he might learn something about an astrolabe. The father at once sent him a small astrolabe' by way of reward, constructed

1 'A smal instrument portatif aboute'; Prol. 1. 52 (p. 177).

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