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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61385#0030
xxiv Chapter II.—Literary History of the MSS.
looking-glass of Thomas Lodge and Robert Green: A Looting
Glasse for London and England. Here could be numbered from
every age all those Specula, in whose “ immortal flowers of poesy,”—-
. , . “ As in a mirror, we perceive
The highest reaches of a human wit.” — Tamburlaine.
§ 2. Literary History of the Manuscripts.
Specific mention of the Speculum is to be found in a brief and
inexact description of its Auchinleck text,1 published by Sir Walter
Scott2 in 1804 through the “Introduction”3 to Sir Tristrem?
Appendix IV., p. cxii., and reprinted in various subsequent editions,5
in 1811 and 1819 under the same numbering of the page, in 1806,6
p. cviii., in 1833, p. 113. After 1811 Sir Tristrem was included
with its Introduction in the collective editions of Scott’s Poetical
Works, notice of the Speculum being printed often with the pagin-
ation 112. Compare the edition of 1868, mentioned by Kolbing,
Engl. Stud, vii., p. 178.
In 1857 David Laing, in his “preface” to A Penni worth of
Witte, Florice and Blauncheflourf etc., incorporated Scott’s Intro-
1 This description plays a minor part as a single detail in a general sketch
of the various texts comprising the Auchinleck folio. Scott’s summary is
still offered in the MSS. Catalogue of the Advocates’ Library, classifying the
Auch. MS.
3 Reference to the life of Sir Walter Scott, as employed in this edition, is
afforded by Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., by John Gibson
Lockhart, The Riverside Press, 1881, and by Richard H. Hutton’s Sir Walter
Scott in Morley’s English Men of Letters, 1878.
3 Material for this “Introduction” seems to have been collected by John
Leyden (d. 1811 in India), the eminent Oriental scholar (cf. Hutton, pp. 65, 66),
and the faithful ally of Scott in the transcription of Sir Tristrem ; cf. Lockhart,
vol. ii., p. 54. Leyden aided Scott in the preparation of the Border Minstrelsy
(see Lockhart, vol. ii., p. 46), and it was Leyden who prepared the bulky
transcript of King Arthour, a fragment of seven thousand lines (Life of Scott,
vol. ii., pp. 60, 61), used by Ellis in his Specimens of Early English Metrical
Romances. Leyden published, on his own responsibility, The Complaynt of
Scotland (written 1648) in 1802.
4 Sir Tristrem; a Metrical Romance of the Thirteenth Century; by Thomas
of Erceldoune, called the Rhymer. Edited from the Auchinleck MS. by Walter
Scott, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. This work was published the second of
May, 1804.
s The edition of 1804 comprised but one hundred and fifty copies, to be sold
at two guineas a volume. These are now broadly scattered and are difficult of
access. Indebtedness is due to the British Museum for the copy used in the
preparation of this edition.
6 Seven hundred and fifty copies of the subsequent edition in 1806 were
necessary to satisfy the public demand. These editions heralded that ill-fated
connection with Ballantyne, the Aldiborontiphoscophornio of Scott.
7 A Penni worth of Witte: Florice and Blauncheflour: and other Pieces of
Ancient English Poetry, “Selected from The Auchinleck Manuscript. Printed
at Edinburgh, For the Abbotsford Club.” 1857. Laing’s edition is also with
looking-glass of Thomas Lodge and Robert Green: A Looting
Glasse for London and England. Here could be numbered from
every age all those Specula, in whose “ immortal flowers of poesy,”—-
. , . “ As in a mirror, we perceive
The highest reaches of a human wit.” — Tamburlaine.
§ 2. Literary History of the Manuscripts.
Specific mention of the Speculum is to be found in a brief and
inexact description of its Auchinleck text,1 published by Sir Walter
Scott2 in 1804 through the “Introduction”3 to Sir Tristrem?
Appendix IV., p. cxii., and reprinted in various subsequent editions,5
in 1811 and 1819 under the same numbering of the page, in 1806,6
p. cviii., in 1833, p. 113. After 1811 Sir Tristrem was included
with its Introduction in the collective editions of Scott’s Poetical
Works, notice of the Speculum being printed often with the pagin-
ation 112. Compare the edition of 1868, mentioned by Kolbing,
Engl. Stud, vii., p. 178.
In 1857 David Laing, in his “preface” to A Penni worth of
Witte, Florice and Blauncheflourf etc., incorporated Scott’s Intro-
1 This description plays a minor part as a single detail in a general sketch
of the various texts comprising the Auchinleck folio. Scott’s summary is
still offered in the MSS. Catalogue of the Advocates’ Library, classifying the
Auch. MS.
3 Reference to the life of Sir Walter Scott, as employed in this edition, is
afforded by Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., by John Gibson
Lockhart, The Riverside Press, 1881, and by Richard H. Hutton’s Sir Walter
Scott in Morley’s English Men of Letters, 1878.
3 Material for this “Introduction” seems to have been collected by John
Leyden (d. 1811 in India), the eminent Oriental scholar (cf. Hutton, pp. 65, 66),
and the faithful ally of Scott in the transcription of Sir Tristrem ; cf. Lockhart,
vol. ii., p. 54. Leyden aided Scott in the preparation of the Border Minstrelsy
(see Lockhart, vol. ii., p. 46), and it was Leyden who prepared the bulky
transcript of King Arthour, a fragment of seven thousand lines (Life of Scott,
vol. ii., pp. 60, 61), used by Ellis in his Specimens of Early English Metrical
Romances. Leyden published, on his own responsibility, The Complaynt of
Scotland (written 1648) in 1802.
4 Sir Tristrem; a Metrical Romance of the Thirteenth Century; by Thomas
of Erceldoune, called the Rhymer. Edited from the Auchinleck MS. by Walter
Scott, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh. This work was published the second of
May, 1804.
s The edition of 1804 comprised but one hundred and fifty copies, to be sold
at two guineas a volume. These are now broadly scattered and are difficult of
access. Indebtedness is due to the British Museum for the copy used in the
preparation of this edition.
6 Seven hundred and fifty copies of the subsequent edition in 1806 were
necessary to satisfy the public demand. These editions heralded that ill-fated
connection with Ballantyne, the Aldiborontiphoscophornio of Scott.
7 A Penni worth of Witte: Florice and Blauncheflour: and other Pieces of
Ancient English Poetry, “Selected from The Auchinleck Manuscript. Printed
at Edinburgh, For the Abbotsford Club.” 1857. Laing’s edition is also with