But it would appear that the line just quoted, which Tyrwhitt pronounces to
be a substitution, is really the original reading, and we must not hastily
reject it. It is found in E. Cm. and Hl., whilst in Hn. the line has been
erased or omitted, and then filled in (in a spurious form) by a later hand.
Wright and Bell have followed Tyrwhitt's lead, and altered the passage
accordingly. Morris silently changes the _preserpine_ of the Harl. MS. to
_Preserpina_, and gives the next line in the objectionable form--'Whiche
that he ravysched out of _Cecilia_' (Sicily).
It seems very much better to restore the original reading, especially when
we notice that _Próserpýne_ (not Prosérpiná) is the undoubted reading in
the House of Fame, 1511, and that _quen-e_ is constantly dissyllabic (see
B. 161, 1671, G. 1089), In l. 2264, we again have _Próserpýne _. The old
black-letter editions are not of much value; still they give line 2230 as
in my text, except that they wrongly change _any_ into a.
2232. _Claudian_; Claudius Claudianus, at the close of the fourth century,
wrote an epic poem in three books _De raptu Proserpinae_, which he left
unfinished, besides several other works. He is mentioned again in the Ho.
of Fame, 449, 1509. The story of Proserpine is also in Ovid, Fasti, iv.
427; and in Gower, C. A., ii. 170.
2240. The line is plainly imperfect, both in sense and rhythm, yet is the
same in all seven MSS. and in ed. 1550. They agree in reading:--
Ten hundred thousand telle(n) I can.