A single manuscript is chosen as the basis of each text, and
neither its readings nor its spellings are altered if they can
reasonably be defended. Where correction involves substitution,
the substituted letters are printed in italics, and the actual
reading of the manuscript will be found in the Foot-notes (or
occasionally in the Notes). Words or letters added to complete the
manuscript are enclosed in caret brackets < >. Corrupt readings
retained in the text are indicated by daggers ††.
Paragraphing, punctuation, capitals, and the details of word
division are modern, and contractions are expanded without notice,
so that the reader shall not be distracted by difficulties that
are purely palaeographical. A final _e_ derived from OFr. _é(e)_
or _ie_, OE. _-ig_, is printed _é_, to distinguish it from
unaccented final _e_ which is regularly lost in Modern English.
The extracts have been collated with the manuscripts, or with complete
photographs, except Nos. IV (Thornton MS.), VII, VIII _b_, XI _a_, XVII,
the manuscripts of which I have not been able to consult. The foot-notes
as a rule take no account of conjectural emendations, variants from
other manuscripts, or minutiae like erasures and corrections
contemporary with the copy.