[§ 5]. Boethius. It is sufficiently explained in the Preface to vol. ii. that this piece is now printed, for the first time, with modern punctuation, and with Chaucer's glosses in italics. This is also the first edition with explanatory notes.
[§ 6]. Troilus. The text is much improved by the use of the Campsall and Corpus MSS., which have never been before
collated for any edition, though they are the two best. The third best MS. is that printed by Dr. Morris. It is a sad drawback to the use of his edition that Book IV begins in the wrong place, so that all his references to this book are wrong, and require the addition of 28. Thus Tyrwhitt's Glossary gives the reference to 'Nettle in, dock out,' as T. iv. 461. In Morris's edition, it is T. iv. 433.
A few notes to Troilus occur in Bell's edition. I have added to them largely, and supplied the schemes in vol. ii. pp. 461, 467, 474, 484, 494, which enable ready reference to be made to the corresponding passages in Boccaccio's Filostrato.
The valuable work on 'The Language of Troilus,' by Prof. Kittredge, is of great importance. I regret that I was unable to use it at the time when my own text was in course of preparation.
[§ 7]. The House of Fame. Previously edited by me in 1888 among the 'Minor Poems,' and again, separately, in 1893. Much help has been received from the (incomplete) edition by Hans Willert (Berlin, 1888). As some lexicographers number the lines of each book separately, this mode of numbering is duly given, as well as a continuous one.
[§ 8]. The Legend of Good Women. Previously edited by me in 1889, when I made the curious discovery that the MSS. can be divided into two sets of types, which may be called A and B; that type A is considerably the better; and yet, that no MS. of type A had ever before been made the basis of an edition! The natural result was the easy correction of many corrupt passages, the publication of the Prologue in its earlier as well as in its later form, and the addition of a few previously unknown lines. As regards the Notes, the most help was obtained from the edition by Prof. Corson. The admirable article by Bech deserves a special mention.
[§ 9]. A treatise on the Astrolabe. Previously edited by me for the Early English Text Society's Extra Series, in 1872; when I discovered that none but inferior MSS. had ever been previously printed, and that all other editions are, in various ways, incomplete. The only one of any worth is the modern edition by Mr. Brae, who was an excellent astronomer; but he unfortunately based his edition upon an 'edited' MS., written about 1555, which is not, after all, of a good type. The extraordinary errors in the early editions of the Astrolabe are well illustrated by
Mr. Brae. For example, the statement in Part II. § 6. l. 8 (vol. iii. p. 194) that 'the nadir of the sonne is thilke degree that is opposit to the degree of the sonne, in the seventhe signe,' appears in most early editions as 'in the 320 signe.' But 320 signs for the zodiac is much too liberal an allowance.
My edition for the E.E.T.S. also contains an edition of Messahala's Latin treatise, from which Chaucer derived about two-thirds of his work; see vol. iii. p. lxx.