CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. (B.) List of Mss. collated, or consulted, with the Ab- breviations by which they are cited Page An Account of the Works of Chaucer to which the Glossary is adapted; and of those other Pieces which have been improperly intermixed with his in the Editions An Essay on the Language and Versification of Chaucer... lxi An Introductory Discourse to the Canterbury Tales......... clv THE first object of this publication was to give the text of THE CANTERBURY TALES as correct as the Mss. within the reach of the Editor would enable him to make it. The account of former Editions, in the Appendix to this Preface (A), will shew, that this object had hitherto been either entirely neglected, or at least very imperfectly pursued. The Editor therefore has proceeded as if his author had never been published before. He has formed the text throughout from the Mss. and has paid little regard to the readings of any edition, except the two by Caxton, each of which may now be considered as a Manuscript. A List of the Mss. collated, or consulted, upon this occasion is subjoined (B). In order to make the proper use of these Mss. to unravel the confusions of their orthography, and to judge between a great number of various readings, it was necessary to enquire into the state of our language and versification at the time when Chaucer wrote, and also, as much as was possible, into the VOL. I. *To the Edition of 1775-8. b peculiarities of his style and manner of composition. Nor was it less necessary to examine with some attention the work now intended to be republished; to draw a line between the imperfections, which may be supposed to have been left in it by the author, and those which have crept into it since; to distinguish the parts where the author appears as an inventor, from those where he is merely a translator, or imitator; and throughout the whole to trace his allusions to a variety of forgotten books and obsólete customs. As a certain degree of information upon all these points will be found to be necessary even for the reading of the Canterbury Tales with intelligence and satisfaction, the Editor hopes he shall be excused for supposing, that the majority of his readers will not be displeased with his attempt to shorten at least the labour of their enquiries, by laying before them such parts of the result of his own researches, as he judges will be most conducive to that purpose. He has therefore added to the text, 1. AN ESSAY ON THE LANGUAGE AND VER * * In this ESSAY, p. xcix—cxxii, is contained a short view of English Poetry to the time of Chaucer, the trouble of compiling which the Editor might perhaps have saved himself, if he had foreseen, that Mr. Warton's HISTORY OF ENGLISH POETRY would have appeared so soon. Both the Essay and the Introductory Discourse were printed before Mr. Warton's book was |