IV PREFACE. 



Unfortunately it is more imperfect than has 

 hitherto been noticed. True, it breaks off among 

 the baits for the trout, but four of the earlier 

 pages are also wanting. All these missing 

 passages are here supplied from the printed 

 " Treatyse " and are those on pp. 9-15, 23-37 

 enclosed within square brackets. 



The differences between the treatise as given 

 in this MS. and as printed in the " Book of St. 

 Albans," are more important than the above 

 statements would lead us to believe. They extend 

 not only to the orthography but equally to the 

 phrase, and in very many places to the sense also. 

 That it is an independent text cannot be doubted, 

 and in this opinion we are supported by the 

 high authority of the Rev. Professor Skeat, 

 who is inclined to assign it an earlier date than 

 1450. Though probably an older form of the 

 treatise printed at Westminster in 1496, it is 

 drawn from the same original, which, wherever it 

 first came from, was at that time written in our 

 language. The close correspondence in many pas- 

 sages forbids the idea that the two versions were 

 independent translations from another tongue. 

 Originally from the French it may have been. 



