Part 15 (1/2)
B: MS. thau{n}ges.
C: The _l_ is rubbed.
D: So in MS.]
After mentioning that the duke had considered the book of 'Boccasio, on the Fall of Princes,' he adds, 'and he gave me commandment, that I should, after my conning, this book translate him to do plesance.' MS.
18 D 4.--Sharon Turner's _History of England_, vol. vi. pp. 55--7.
P.S. When printing the 1513 edition of Wynkyn de Worde's _Boke of Keruynge_, I was not aware of the existence of a copy of the earlier edition in the Cambridge University Library. Seeing this copy afterwards named in Mr Hazlitt's new catalogue, I asked a friend to compare the present reprint with the first edition, and the result follows.
NOTE ON THE 1508 EDITION OF
_The Boke of Keruynge_,
By The Rev. Walter Skeat, M.A.
The t.i.tle-page of the older edition, of 1508, merely contains the words, ”-- Here begynneth the boke of Keruynge;” and beneath them is--as in the second edition of 1513--a picture of two ladies and two gentlemen at dinner, with an attendant bringing a dish, two servants at a side table, and a jester. The colophon tells us that it was ”Enprynted by wynkyn de worde at London in Flete strete at the sygne of the sonne. The yere of our lorde M.CCCCC.VIII;” beneath which is Wynkyn de Worde's device, as in the second edition.
The two editions resemble each other very closely, running page for page throughout, and every folio in the one begins at the same place as in the other. Thus the word ”moche” is divided into mo-che in both editions, the ”-che” beginning Fol. A. ii. b. Neither is altogether free from misprints, but these are not very numerous nor of much importance. It may be observed that marks of contraction are hardly ever used in the older edition, the word ”y^e” being written ”the” at length, and instead of ”hged” we find ”hanged.” On the whole, the first edition would seem to be the more carefully printed, but the nature of the variations between them will be best understood by an exact collation of the first two folios (pp. 151-3 of the present edition), where the readings of the first edition are denoted by the letter A. The only variations are these:--
P. 151.
_lyft_ that swanne] _lyfte_ that swanne A (_a misprint_).
_frusshe_ that chekyn] _fruche_ that chekyn A.
thye all maner _of_ small byrdes] A _omits_ of.
_fynne_ that cheuen] _fyne_ that cheuen A.
_transsene_ that ele] _tra.s.sene_ that ele A.
Here _hendeth_, &c.] Here _endeth_, &c. A.
_Butler_] b.u.t.teler A.
P. 152, l. 5. _tre{n}choures_] trenchours A.
l. 12. _ha{n}ged_] hanged A.
l. 15. _cannelles_] canelles A.
l. 18, 19. _y^e_] the (_in both places_) A.
l. 20. _seasous_] seasons A.
l. 23. _after_] After A.
l. 27. _good_] goot A.
l. 30. _y^e_] the A.
l. 34. _modo{n}_] modon A.
l. 36. _sourayne_] souerayne A.
P. 153. _ye_] the A (_several times_).
l. 5. _wyll_] wyl A.
l. 9. _rede_] reed A. _reboyle_] reboyle not A.
l. 12. _the_ reboyle] _they_ reboyle A.
l. 17. _lessynge_] lesynge A.
l. 20. _ca{m}polet_] campolet A.
l. 21. _tyer_] tyerre A.
l. 22. _ypocras_] Ipocras A (_and in the next line, and l. 26_).
l. 24. _gy{n}ger_] gynger A.