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[Gh], [gh] (yogh) [&] (Tironian ampersand) [þ/] (thorn with stroke) [e,] (e with tail, "e caudata") [.y] (y with over-dot) [´æ] (accented æ) [-a], [-e]... (vowel with macron or "long" mark) [)a], [)e]... (vowel with breve or "short" mark) [a.], [b.]... (expunctuated letter, "under-dot")
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Italicized letters or parts of words, indicating expanded abbreviations, are shown in { braces}. Spaced-out text, used mainly for Latin quotations, is marked with _lines_. Boldface is shown with +marks+, while large initial capitals are shown with double ++marks before the letter. Superscript letters are shown with ^.
The Notes were published in a separate volume, in preparation at the time this e-text was produced (August 2008). For each selection, the bracketed paragraph describing the MSS. has been summarized from these Notes; additions or omissions shown by ellipses or brackets according to the usual rules for academic quotation.
Further details about the format of this e-text are at the end of the text. All notes in [[double brackets]] were added by the transcriber.]
JOSEPH HALL M.A., Hon. D.Litt., Durham University
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York Toronto Melbourne Cape Town Bombay
_HUMPHREY MILFORD_ Publisher to the University
Some of the texts in this book have already appeared in the Specimens of Early English edited by the Rev. Richard Morris. But Nos. i, ii, iv, vii, xiii and xv are new, the important shorter pieces, Nos. vi, viii, xvi, xviii, xxi and xxiii, are printed in full, and some, as Nos. viii and ix, are taken from additional or better manuscripts. The pieces are arranged tentatively in what appears to be the chronological order of their composition, but Nos. xix and xvii should have come before the Ancrene Wisse, and No. vii has been placed next to the Proverbs of Alfred, from which it appears to be derived. It is hoped that those who study the older book will find in the present one a useful supplement.