The triple labour involved in editing three independent works in one
volume will, it is hoped, serve as an excuse for some of the
shortcomings of the present publication. Under the circumstances it has
been impossible to make the work as definitive as might have been the
case with a single text. For example, while I have been able to print
the three existing manuscript texts of King Horn, of the other two
poems, the textual material is not nearly so complete.
The texts, it is hoped, are accurately printed. The credit for this is
due, in large measure, to Dr. Furnivall,--who has read with the MSS. the
proofs of all the British Museum texts,--and to the proof-readers at
Oxford and Cambridge. The notes to King Horn represent a good deal of
labour, and may, I trust, prove useful. The glossary, though not so
complete as that in Wissmann’s excellent critical edition of King Horn,
is intended to fit the volume, and to supply explanation of words and
uses of words not intelligible to ordinary readers of Early English
Texts.
It is my pleasant duty to acknowledge assistance from various quarters.
I am indebted to the libraries of the British Museum and Cambridge
University, and the Bodleian library at Oxford for the use of
manuscripts; also to the Duke of Sutherland for permission to copy the
text of Floris and Blauncheflur from the manuscript in his private
library; also to the Cornell University library for conveniences placed
at my disposal in the preparation of this volume. I must also
acknowledge timely words of advice from Prof. J. M. Hart, notes on
Layamon from Dr. B. S. Monroe, and assistance in proof-reading by Prof.
W. Strunk, jr. But above all I must acknowledge the less apparent work
of Dr. Furnivall in preparing the texts for press, a work the amount of
which one who has not edited for the E.E.T.S. is not likely to realize.