Forty-eight lines are coincident: 468, 470, 474, 479, 480, 486, 487, 495, 499, 501, 504, 505, 520, 823, 832, 842, 844, 846, 917, 918, 921, 922, 927, 928, 936, 938, 953, 957, 962, 1809, 1813-17, 1819-21, 1823, 1830, 1832, 1838, 1847, 1850, 1851-52, 1863, 1865.
In ninety-one lines it is doubtful which reading is to be considered as the original one:
| Fragments. | Manuscript. |
|---|---|
| As they walkyd by the ryvers syde. 469 | Ase the went be the watyres syd. |
| Howe he myght hym shent. 473 | How he schuld be schent. |
| The kyng sayde ‘what may this be? Lorde, it is sent to me For a faucon shene. 483-85 | Syr, he seyd, what may thys be? Loo, lord, come ner and see Abowght a facon schene. |
| Than sayde the kyng vntrue, ‘And ye fynde hawes of great value, Brynge me one with the! 492-94 | And than seyd the kyng ontrew, ‘Yf thow get hawkys of great valew, Bryng on of them to me! |
| Of thy dowghter hende. 836 | Of yowr dowghttyr hend. |
Cf. 467, 475, 476, 478, 481, 482, 488, 496, 497, 500, 506, 511, 516-20, 821, 824, 826, 827, 829, 830, 835, 838-41, 843, 847, 850, 919, 920, 923, 925-26, 930-31, 934, 937, 939, 940-43, 945, 946, 949, 950, 954, 955, 959, 960-61, 963, 964, 966, 967, 1811, 1812, 1818, 1822, 1825, 1826, 1829, 1837, 1840, 1842, 1843, 1845-46, 1848-49, 1853, 1855-62, 1864.
In eleven lines the text of the MS. is superior to that of the fragment:
| Fragments. | Manuscript. |
|---|---|
| ‘Ye, by my trouthe!’ sayd Torente. 828 | ‘Ye, be trouthe!’ seyd Torrent than. |
| Delycyous notes on hyghe. 944 | Delycyous nottis on hyght. |
| Frowarde the se. 956 | Froward the sytte. |
Cf. 488, 503, 820, 849, 924, 1824, 1833, 1839.
As to the sixth fragment, 1014-36, and the beginning of the first (in Halliwell’s edition the third), 462-64, in which, as above mentioned, not much more than the rhyming words are preserved, they have nearly the same relation to the MS. as the other ones.
In the following passages they correct the rhymes of the MS.: 1017, 1018, 1028, 1033. Coincident rhymes: 1014, 1015, 1019, 1026, 1027, 1032, 1034-36. Undecided: 1020, 1021, 1023-24, 1029-30, 462-64. The rhymes of the MS. are preferable in ll. 1016, 1022, 1025, 1031.
I need only add, that all the discrepancies between the MS. and the fragments, however numerous they may be, concern, for the most part, things of little importance; they are caused especially by the frequent change of synonymous terms, by the difference of expletive words and phrases, the transposition of words, the change of tenses, and so on. But as there is nowhere any essential difference to be traced, we may conjecture with great probability that the early printed edition of the romance was taken from a manuscript which was pretty nearly related to the Manchester MS., though somewhat more correctly written.