Thynne's. In the very material points abovementioned, in which those editions vary from Caxton's second, he has followed them. Nor have I observed any such verbal varieties, as would induce one to believe that he had consulted any good Ms. They who have read his Preface, will probably not regret, that he did not do more towards correcting the text of Chaucer. In this state the Canterbury Tales remained (m) till the edition undertaken by Mr. Urry, which was published, some years after his death, in 1721. I shall say but little of that edition, as a very fair and (m) It may be proper just to take notice, that Mr. Speght's Edition was reprinted in 1687, with an Advertisement at the end, in which the Editor pretended to publish from a Ms. the Conclusion of the Coke's Tale and also of the Squires Tale, which in the printed books are said to be lost or never finished by the author.These Conclusions may be seen in the Preface to Ed. Urr. Whoever the Editor was, I must do him the justice to say, that they are both really to be found in Ms. The first is in Ms. B. a. and the other in Ms. B. d. from which Hearne has also printed it, as a choice discovery, in his letter to Bagford. App. to R. G. p. 601. If I thought the reader had any relish for such supplements to Chaucer, I could treat him from Ms. B. a. with at least thirty more lines, which have been inserted in different parts of the Cook's Tale, by the same hand that wrote this Conclusion. It seems to have been an early, though very unsuccessful, attempt to supply the deficiencies of that Tale, before any one had thought of tacking Gamelyn to it. full account of it is to be seen in the modest and sensible Preface prefixed to it by Mr. Timothy Thomas (n), upon whom the charge of publishing Chaucer devolved, or rather was imposed, after Mr. Urry's death. The strange licence, in which Mr. Urry appears to have indulged himself, of lengthening and shortening Chaucer's, words according to his own fancy, and of even adding words of his own, without giving his readers the least notice, has made the text of Chaucer in his Edition by far the worst that was ever published. Since this there has been no complete Edition of the Canterbury Tales. A volume in 8vo. containing the Prologue and the Knightes Tale, with large ex (n) I learn this from a Ms. note in an interleaved copy of Urry's Chaucer, presented to the British Museum by Mr. William Thomas, a brother, as I apprehend, of Mr. T. Thomas. T. Thomas was of Christ-Church, Oxford, and died in 1751, aged lix. In another note Mr. W. Thomas informs us, that the Life of Chaucer, in that edition, was very incorrectly drawn up by Mr. Dart, and corrected and enlarged by W. T. (i.e. himself.) The same Mr. W. Thomas has taken a great deal of unnecessary pains in collating that copy of Urry's Edit, with several Mss. The best part of the various readings serves only to correct the arbitrary innovations, which Mr. Urry had introduced into the text. He has employed himself to better purpose upon the Glossary, where he has made many emendations and additions, which have been of considerable use in the new Glossary. planatory notes, &c. was published in 1737, by a Gentleman, (as I am informed,) who has since distinguished himself by many other learned and useful publications. He appears to have set out upon the only rational plan of publishing Chaucer, by collating the best Mss. and selecting from them the genuine readings; and accordingly his edition, as far as it goes, is infinitely preferable to any of those which preceded it. (B) A LIST OF MSS. COLLATED, OR CONSULTED, WITH THE ABBREVIATIONS BY WHICH THEY ARE CITED. IN THE MUSEUM. A. Ms. Harl. 7335. B. Ms. Reg. 18 C. ii. In Urry's List, vii. D. Ms. Reg. 17 D. xv. In Urry's List, viii. E. Ms. Harl. 7333. F. Ms. Harl. 1758. In Urry's List, i. G. Ms. Sloane. A. 1685. xxii. D. In Urry's List, iii. Ms. Sloane. A. 1686. xxii. D. In Urry's List, iv. Ms. Harl. 1239. In Urry's List, ii. H. I. At Oxford. In the Bodleian Library. B. α. N° 2527. in the printed Catalogue. B. β. N° 1234. Ibid. B. γ. N° 1476. Ibid. B. δ. N° 3360. Ibid. B. ε. N° 4138. Ibid. B. ζ. N° 6420. Ibid. N C. A. Ms. in the Library of New College. AT CAMBRIDGE. C. 1. In the Public Library. N° D. d. 4. 24. C. 2. Ibid. N° I. i. 3. 26. T. Ms. in the Library of Trinity College, N° R. 3. 3. Tt. Ibid. N° R. 3. 15. Ask. 1. 2. Two Mss. lent to me by the late Dr. As- Webb. Ch. N. Two Mss. described in the Pref. to Ed. Urr. the one as belonging to Charles Cholmondeley, Esq. of Vale Royal, in Cheshire, and the other to Mr. Norton, of Southwick, in Hampshire. The Editor quotes them from the Collations of Mr. W. Thomas, mentioned above in this Apr. A. note (n). Of these Mss. the most credit is certainly due to the five following, viz. A. C. 1. Ask. 1. 2. and H A. The four last exhibit the Tales in exactly the same order in which they are printed in this edition; and so does A. except that it wants the Cokes Tale [See the Discourse, &c. § xiii.], and has the Nonnes Tale |