50 ERRATA RECEPTA. 



then, the human liability to- err would inevitably lead a copyist intp 

 occasional mistakes. Homoioteleuta, as they were called, were par- 

 ticularly fatal to him ; that is, words of like ending catching the eye 

 and leading to the- omission of intervening matter ; and then there 

 were in all alphabets letters that were exceedingly alike, and charac- 

 ters used as numerical signs differenced in many minute ways, par- 

 ticularly likely to be misread ; not to speak of intricate ligatures, 

 obscure abbreviations, signs of contraction, sigla and symbols in 

 general. In one or other oLfchese points, every scribe in every place' 

 would be more or less liable to make a mistake. In a library of 

 manuscripts gathered together from many, quarters, the chances of 

 detecting a large number of errors and a;'<5onsiderable variety of 

 readings would consequently be very considerable. One other source • 

 of inexactness, too, should, be rememberfe^d — the memoranda and"" 

 glosses which casual readers took the liberty to make on the margin 

 &f manuscripts. These the next copier sometimes inserted in the 

 body of the work as though they had been omissions on the part of 

 preceding scribes. And then again, it is said that a professional 

 scrivener would occasionally not correct his own known blunders in 

 order that his pages might appear without erasures. With sheep - 

 like simplicity the next copier would then make a transcript with 

 these faults blindly continued... 



There is no doubt, however, that in the mediaeval monasteries, as 

 among the Jewish copyists of an earlier date, great precautions were 

 taken to prevent errors in manuscripts. For one thing, the scripto- 

 rium was directed to be as far as possible, isolated, and kept in a 

 state of quietude. In the Liber Ordinis S. Victoris Parisiejisis, we 

 have the regulation : " Loca etiam determinata ad ejusmodi (sc. libros 

 scribendi) opus seorsum a Conventu, tamen intra Ciaustrum praepar- 

 anda sunt, ubi sine perturbatione et strepitu scriptores operi suo 

 quietius inteadere possint. Ubi autem sedentes et operautes, silen- 

 tium diligenter servare debent, nee extra quonam otiose vagari. 

 Nemo ad eos intrare debet, excepto Abbate et Priore et sub-priore 

 et armario." Continuous accuracy, age after age, was also sought 

 to be obtained by very strict injunctions on the point of correct 

 transcription, inserted by scribes for the benefit of their successors. 

 In the preface to .^Elfric's Homilies, there is not only an " adjuration" 

 to the copier to transcribe correctly, but a direction to copy the 

 "adjuration" itself into the new transcript for. the admonition of 



