The parlament of foules, by Geoffrey Chaucer. Ed., with introduction, notes, and glossary, by T. R. Lounsbury.

TEXT OF THIIS EDITION.

35

gis for stringis, ferbrond for firbrond, forbede for forbide, ferst
for fyrst, leue for iyue. Usage is not invariable, however, especially in the case of the last two. So, also, gres (206) appears
in place of gras (Anglo-Saxon grds).
TEXT OF THIS EDITION.
The text of the present edition is based throughout on MS.
Gg. 4.27 of the Cambridge University Library, designated here
as MS. A. With a few exceptions, which will hereafter be
noted, its spelling is followed throughout. Whatever variation
there is in other respects can be ascertained by consulting the
readings at the bottom of each page, where the word or words
of the manuscript are placed directly after the words which have
been substituted for them in the text.
The characters u and v are retained as they exist in the
manuscript. The former, in particular, is used so constantly in
our early literature where we should now use the latter, that it
is desirable that the student should become familiar with it in
such places, and especially in its position between two vowels;
as, for illustration, loue for love. The character v, which is of
much less frequent occurrence, is often found where we should
now employ u, particularly at the beginning of words. The
instances in which it is so used in this poem are in the prefix
un, which appears as vn in vnbynde, vncommyttid, vnkynde,
vnnethe, vnto, vntrewe, and in vndyr, vp, vpon (tfervfpon), vs,
vsage, and vsaunce.
The character g is sometimes found in this manuscript; but
as it is confined to a few words, and as even in them it is not
always employed, its existence is simply denoted by Italicizing
the letter or letters which have been substituted for it. These
arey or g at the beginning of a word, gh in the middle. Illustrations are "if " (119), "yere " (23), and ripght (98).
The character P occurs still more rarely in this manuscript.
Whenever it does, it is represented by an Italicized th, as in
" other " (46).
The characterjwas invariably represented in this manuscript
by a capital I. As it will not be indicated in the notes or text,