As, in the preceding pages which contain the text, the lower portion of each page is occupied with a running commentary, such Critical Notes upon the text as seem to be most necessary are here subjoined.
Title. Tractatus, &c.; adopted from the colophon. MS. F has 'tractatus astrolabii.' A second title, 'Bred and mylk for childeren,' is in MSS. B. and E.
[The MSS. are as follows:—A. Cambridge Univ. Lib. Dd. 3. 53.—B. Bodley, E Museo 54.—C. Rawlinson 1370.—D. Ashmole 391.—E. Bodley 619.—F. Corpus 424.—G. Trin. Coll. Cam. R. 15. 18.—H. Sloane 314.—I. Sloane 261.—K. Rawlinson Misc. 3.—L. Addit. 23002. (B. M.)—M. St. John's Coll. Cam.—N. Digby 72.—O. Ashmole 360.—P. Camb. Univ. Lib. Dd. 12. 51.—Q. Ashmole 393.—R. Egerton 2622 (B. M.).—S. Addit. 29250 (B. M.) See the descriptions of them in the Introduction.]
Prologue. l. 26. thise B; þese C; miswritten this A; see above, ll. 21, 22.
32. curious BC; miswritten curios A.
Many similar very slight alterations of spelling have been silently made in the text, and are not worth specifying here. A complete list of them is given in my edition of this treatise for the Early English Text Society. I give, however, the real variations of reading. Thus, in l. 58, A. has som for sonne; and in l. 64 omits the second the.
Part I. § 1, l. 3. wol B; wolde AC.
§ 2, l. 2. Rowm is here an adjective, meaning large, ample. It is the right reading; we find Rowm AB rowme C; rvm M.
§ 3, l. 1. AB omit the.
§ 9, l. 3. nombre AB; noumbre C; but nombres in old editions.