Page:The Library, volume 5, series 3.djvu/367

 ROBERT WYER. 353 discrepancy is corre<5ted, but without giving co- herent meaning to the sentence which bridges the gap. The text will make the matter clear. All three editions end the verso of fol. b iv with the same fragment of a sentence : < Therfore as ofte as any dayntye or gorgyous fare is sette before vs, it is a great prayse to abstayne, than to taste thereof : remembrynge the sayenge of Symonydes, sayinge that he dyd neuer repent to kepe scylence, but ofte he was sorye that/ The British Museum and Cambridge copies have the catchword c thou ' and proceed : ' Socrates dyd saye that a daunser had nede of a wyde howse.' The Bodleian copy has the catchword c thus/ and goes on with : ' thus ordereth hymselfe shall neuer fele grefe of super- fluyte. And after that yf thou have no space to walke, yet there shalbe no daunger, for nature herein hath ouercome all other, as it is not con- uenyent in a shyp or cOmon tauerne to comaunde scylence, oneles you shuld be mocked, euen so it is no shame at the table to moue disputacion, but it is shame to be afrayde of Maryners, to mocke the Tapsters or Hostelers, to be a gamester or maker of frayes. But to teache or dispute, to be exer- cysed in disputacion, to call to remebraunce, by honest thynges. Therfore Socrates dyd saye that a daunser had nede of a wyde howse.' In other words, the sentence preceding the break is dealing with temperance in eating ; that following the break with singing and argument as healthful exer- cise ; and the later editor has tried to smooth over the interruption by starting the second passage a