§ 3. Summary and Effect of our Ten Years' Work. 11 2nd edition; vol. 2 now in its 3rd); in 1869 his Globe edition of Spenser's Works'; in 1872 his Historical Accidence of the English Language'; in 1870 Mr Skeat's 'Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman' (for the Clarendon Press); in 1871 his Specimens of English Literature A.d. 1394-1597'; in 1872.his 4-Text edition of St Mark (two texts Anglo-Saxon, two Early English, for the Cambridge Press); in 1871 Mr Earle's Philology of the English Language'; in 1873 Mr Kington Oliphant's 'Sources of Standard English'; in 1871-3 Dr Stratmann's 'Old English Dictionary of the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries'; in 1871 his edition of 'The Owl and Nightingale'; in 1871 Dr Mätzner's 'Altenglische Sprachproben'; and in 1873 his 'Wörterbuch,' Part 1; in 1873 Dr Mall's edition of The Harrowing of Hell'; Dr Zupitza's 'Altenglisches Uebungsbuch,' &c. Truly the effect of the Society's work is a thing for every Englishman to rejoice over. As a 'Leader' in the Daily News, of Nov. 20, 1873, on the Director's appeal for money-help to the Early English Text Society, says, our Society has wiped away, as Mr FURNIVALL proudly boasts, the old well-deserved reproach of indifference to the sources of our own language; it has stirred up the study of English historically; it makes possible a knowledge of the language; it makes accessible the most valuable documents of that history; and it shows how, in the teeth of ignorance, civil war, and obstacles of all kinds, literature, that is, the power of expression, went on growing, now slowly, now quickly, putting forth in this direction and that, tiny tendrils which were destined to grow in time into great branches, laden with the fruits of labour and genius. No single form of literature springs suddenly into existence, and the old. familiar phrases, such as that which used to describe CHAUCER as the Father of English Poetry, have to be abandoned altogether, or used in a modified sense. 66 ( "But the Society has yet other claims upon us, in addition to those which appeal chiefly to students of literature. It is to such works as are issued under its auspices that we must look, far more than to the State records, for the social history of the country. In the Babees Boke,' the 'Boke of Norture,' the Boke of Carving,' the statutes of the English Guilds, and the Supplycacyon of the Beggars,' we may read the very mind of our forefathers, the way in which they regarded the common duties and responsibilities which make up every-day life, their methods of making existence comfortable, gentle, easy, and cultured, their way of dress, their pro . 12 § 4. The Duke of Manchester's Commemoration Fund. tection and advancement of the arts; how they ate, drank, talked, and slept. And if there linger among us any relics of that most ancient religion, the worship of ancestors, Mr FURNIVALL'S appeal for help should touch us there. But, indeed, his Society is doing so great a work for all the Englishspeaking race on both sides of the Atlantic, that its claims reach higher than mere pride or patriotism." § 4. Why then has our Society, which has done so much, need to ask urgently for more money, for a continuous supply of fresh Members and Funds? Simply because it has done so much, and wants to do much more. The material it has supplied to scholars has been quickly condensed and arranged for the use of all readers, by Dr Richard Morris, Mr Skeat, Mr Murray, Mr A. J. Ellis, Mr Earle, and Mr Kington Oliphant, here; by Dr Stratmann, Dr Stürzen Becker, Drs Mätzner and Goldbeck, Dr Mall, Dr Horstmann, Dr Zupitza, on the Continent; by the late lamented Prof. Hadley, Prof. March, Prof. Whitney, Prof. Child, and others, in America. The Committee have always been eager to put in print the utmost amount of MS. every year. Sharing that eagerness, and relying on the payment of arrears which ought to have come in, but did not, the Director authorized the issue of more Texts to the subscribers to the Original Series than those subscribers had paid for. He was therefore obliged to strive to make up the deficiency by an Extra Fund, which the Duke of Manchester was kind enough, with his unfailing good-will towards the Society, to head, and which was meant to raise £200, but had only brought-in the sum of £90, 178. by the 31st of December, 1873. Still the balance is needed. We want all the money that can possibly be got. And the Committee trust that every Member will try to give or get a donation to the Duke of Manchester's Commemoration Fund,' in aid of the Society. Many people who are not Members of the Society might be induced to subscribe to the Fund, if Members would but explain to their friends and acquaintances the purpose, nature, and extent of the Society's work. The following donations and promises have been received : : SUBSCRIBERS TO THE DUKE OF MANCHESTER'S COMMEMORATION FUND, TO 31ST DECEMBER, 1873. £ s. d. 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 O 10 0 0 10 0 0 550 § 4. Commemoration Fund. § 5. Second 10-years' Work. 13 § 5. Sketch of the Society's Second Ten-Years' Work. We have, may be, done from a fourth to a third of our work. At any rate we give a sketch of that which lies at once before us, just to show what our Editors can and will produce if our Members will find them money enough, and what will, if printed, probably leave only a Third like Ten-Years' Work to finish the task the Society has set itself, the printing of the whole of the unprinted MSS. of Early English:1 'It would be difficult to estimate the value of the work in which the Early English Text Society has been engaged for several years past. We rejoice to see that they have resolved not to rest satisfied till Englishmen will be able to say of their early literature what the Germans can now say of theirs Every work of it's printed, and every word of it's glossed.' It is a noble resolve, and one which it is the duty of every student of the language, and every one deriving pleasure from its literature, to lend a helping hand to encourage.-W. W. Tulloch in Belgravia, March, 1871, p. 118. : § 5. Sketch of our Second Ten-Years' Work. 15 lich's 'Merlin,' the unprinted Alexander Romances (in MS. in Scotland), Lord Bath's Early English unprinted MSS. (if he will give us leave). Then we have two or four texts of the Ancren Riwle to print, Wyclif's Testaments and unprinted works, so as to complete a uniform 8vo edition of the whole of Early English Literature to Caxton's time. Lonelich's History of the Holy Early English Pronunciation, V. · Grail, III. Arthour and Merlin (from the Le Morte Arthur, &c. Alexander Romances, II. 1877. Alexander Romances, III. Early Holy-Land tracts. 1878. The Duke of Orleans's Poems. Partenope of Blois; with 'Perti- Bokenam's Lyvys of Seyntys. Northumberland Household Book. nope." Ritson's Romances. 1882. Early Education and Grammar tracts. 1883. Romances from the Lincoln's Inn Caxton's Curial, and Book of Good § 6. Difficulty of meeting Subscribers' opposing Wishes. Complaints of two opposite kinds as to our Texts have reacht the Committee's ears. One comes from the workers, the students, who echo Mr Kington-Oliphant's words in his Sources |