Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/313

Rh Jourdain nor any other writer (previous to Dr. von Prantl) who had mastered the facts, with reference either to the Περὶ Διδάξεων or to the De Philosophia Mundi, had any doubt that their, or rather its, authorship belonged to William of Conches. Nor is manuscript authority wanting: it is found with his name, to take a single example, in a manuscript of r University college, Oxford, nr vi p. 389, under the title Philosophiae Compendium. The fact, however, that the contrary hypothesis is supported by a scholar so distinguished as Dr. von Prantl, even though he has failed to observe the identity to which I draw attention, seems to justify a renewed examination of the question, in order to ascertain whether the book already thrice obscured under the names of William of Hirschau, Bede, and Honorius of Autun, could by any possibility be by the first of the three. I shall cite the three recensions as 'Hirschau,' 'Bede,' and 'Honorius,' premising that when I speak of identity I do not exclude divergences, often wide divergences, extending not only to the interchange of unimportant words, inflexions, &c., but also to the order of words in a sentence, and even further; such, in fact, as one is prepared to find in works so carelessly reproduced as those of a medieval writer, not of the first rank, would naturally be.

4. In each edition the work bears a different title, and in 'Hirschau' it is divided into three books, while the others have four. The manner in which quotations are introduced throws a curious light on the processes by which writings were adapted to different authors. The writer of the manuscript from which 'Bede' is printed, intentionally effaced what occurred to him as incompatible with the age of the presumed author. He