XXVI INTRODUCTION 



titles. In the Liber Horn (5) these are prefixed as a table 

 of contents to the whole, and also occur at the commence- 

 ment of the separate chapters. The MS. (7) in Merton 

 College Library is very similar, as it has not only the 

 headings of the chapters, and the table of contents, 

 but it also agrees with the Liber Horn in giving some 

 additional matter. In the chapter on sheep farming 

 there is a lengthy insertion on some of the diseases of 

 sheep, which is still further amplified in the transla- 

 tions. This long insertion, together with the headings of 

 the chapters, are so characteristic, that there can be little 

 doubt about these MSS. forming one family, though there 

 are differences, not only in the spelling, but also in the 

 construction of the sentences. These would be perfectly 

 intelligible, however, if the copies were made by dictation. 

 The Paris MS. (4), from which Lacour printed his Traite 

 inedit d'economie rurale, also belongs to this family, and 

 several of the headings of the chapters have been incorpo- 

 rated with the text, while a new heading is added as well ; 

 as, for example, in Chapter ix. of Lacour. In this Paris 

 MS., however, the whole matter has been rearranged, and 

 the anonymous Husbandry has been incorporated with Walter 

 of Henley's work, so as to produce a curious confusion. 



As stated above, the scribe who wrote the Heralds' 

 College MS. (3) had access to some representative of this 

 group, and it appears to be the foundation of the transla- 

 tion into Latin, which occurs in a book (17), formerly 

 belonging to S. Mary's at Merton in Surrey, and now 

 among the Digby MSS. in the Bodleian. The scribe who 

 wrote the Merton College MS. had begun by translating 

 the first chapter of the anonymous Husbandry into Latin, 

 but he appears to have tired of the task. The translation 

 among the Digby MSS., though it is not exactly based on 

 any of the French MSS. I have seen, appears to be con- 

 nected with this form of the text, either directly or through 

 the Heralds' College MS. ; it contains Walter of Henley's 

 name in the title, the insertion on sheep farming is still 

 further expanded, and the whole treatise is divided in a 



