Medieval lore : an epitome of the science, geography, animal and plant folk-lore and myth of the middle age: being classified gleanings from the encyclopaedia of Bartholomew Anglicus on the properties of things [in J.Trevisa's translation] / edited by Robert Steele ; with a preface by William Morris.

  • Bartholomaeus, Anglicus, active 13th century.
Date:
1893
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medieval lore : an epitome of the science, geography, animal and plant folk-lore and myth of the middle age: being classified gleanings from the encyclopaedia of Bartholomew Anglicus on the properties of things [in J.Trevisa's translation] / edited by Robert Steele ; with a preface by William Morris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    What Changes have been MADE. forced on one, that in a work like this, meant for popular use, every copyist and every editor assumed the privilege of fitting it for his own circle of readers, altering or omitting any part not in harmony with his tastes or requirements. Thus in the original, and in Trevisa, the first book contains over twenty chapters, and d long prologue. Wynkin de Worde omits more than half of these, and Berthelet further omits two-thirds of the remainder. While far from claiming the privilege of his predecessors, the editor believes himself justified, when making a selection of passages from the work for modern readers, in altering his text to this extent—and this only : he has modernised the spelling, and in the case of entirely obsolete grammatical forms he has substituted modern ones (e.g., 1 its 'for1 his'). In the case of an utterly dead word he has followed the course of substituting a word from the same root, when one exists; and when none could be found, he has left it unchanged in the text. Accordingly a short glossary has been added, which includes, too, many words which we may hope are not dead, but sleeping. In very few cases has a word bee?i inserted, and in those it is marked by italics. Perhaps we may be allowed to say a word in defence of the principle of modernising our earliest literature. Early English poetry is, in general, incapable of being written in the spelling of our days without losing all of that which makes it verse ; but there can be no reason when dealing zuith the masterpieces of our Early English prose, for maintaining the obsolete forms of spelling and grammar which hamper the passage of thought fro7n mind to mind across the centuries. Editors of Shakespeare for general use have long assumed the privilege of altering the spelling, and except on the principle that earlier works are more important, or are only to be read by people who have had the leisure and inclination to familiarise their eyes with the peculiarities of Middle English, there can be no reason for stopping there, or a century earlier. Of course, at some point the number of obsolete words becomes so great that the text cannot be read without a dictionary : then the limit has been reached. But Caxton, Trevisa, and many others are well within it, and it is good to remove all obstacles which prevent the ordinary reader from feel- ing the continuity of his mother tongue.