Page:The Legal Code of Ælfred the Great.djvu/29

Rh a reading from another Ms. New accents are also recognisable and are to be rejected always. — As to the chapter headings just mentioned, although they are cited as belonging to B, it must be borne in mind that the original set of headings that undoubtedly preceded B were like those of older Mss. and very different from these later additions.

This Ms., later additions aside, belongs probably to the second quarter of the twelfth century.

Lambarde's Archaionomia, 1568: To the information already given may be added the following from Lamb's preface:

Obtulit mihi superiori anno Laurentius Noelus diligentissimus inuestigator antiquitatis, mihique multa et iiicunda consuetudine coniunctus, ac qui me (quieunque in hoc genere sim) effecit, priscas Anglorum leges, antiquissima Saxonum lingua et lieris conscriptas, atque a me (quoniam ei tum erat trans mare eundum) ut latinas facerem ac peruulgarem vehementer flagitauit Jam vero ne quis domi nostrse has natas esse leges arbitretur, plane suscipio atque profiteer magna fide et religione ex vetustissimis (ut quae ante quingentos annos, uti coniectura autumo, saxonicis depicta sunt literis) exemplaribus fuisse desumptas, quorum pleraque in Reuerend. in Christo patris, atque optime de Antiquitate meriti, D. Matthei Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Bibliotheca, alia aliorum in librarijs visenda supersunt.

This is all the direct information at hand towards settling the interesting question as to the sources of Lamb's text, which Whelock, Wilkins and Schmid I practically reprinted. L. was born in Kent in 1536, admitted to the Society of Lincoln's Inn in 1556. He studied under L. Nowell and for professional purposes took up the study of Saxon customs and jurisprudence. The Arch. was the first fruit of both legal and Saxon studies. Considering the tremendous difficulties attendant upon the study of A.-S. at that time, it is not likely that at his age L.'s knowledge of the language was very great, and we are led to suppose that his edition was prepared in the absence of his teacher Nowell. Turk, Ælfred the Great.