The present edition is printed from a transcript of Thynne (1532), made by myself; the proof-sheets being carefully read with the original. In making the transcript, I have altered the symbol _u_ to _v_, when used as a consonant; and (in the few places where it occurs) the consonantal _i_ to _j_. I have also substituted _i_ for _y_ when the vowel is short, chiefly in the case of the suffix _-yng_ or _-ynge_, here printed _-ing_ or _-inge_. In nearly all other cases, the original spellings are given in the footnotes. Thynne's chief errors of printing occur in places where he has persistently altered the spelling of the MS. to suit the spelling in fashion in the days of Henry VIII. His chief alterations are as follows. He prints _ea_ for open _ee_, written _ee_ or _e_ at the beginning of the fifteenth century; thus, he has _ease_ for _ese_, and _please_ for _plese_. He most perversely adds a useless final _e_ to the words _howe_, _nowe_, and some others; and he commits the anachronism of printing _father_, _mother_, _together_, _wether_, _gather_, in place of _fader_, _moder_, _togeder_, _weder_, _gader_; whereas the termination in these words invariably appears as _-der_ till shortly before 1500. Further, he prints _catche_ for _cacche_, _perfection_ for _perfeccion_, and the like; and in several other ways has much impaired the spelling of his original. Many of these things I have attempted to set right; and the scholar who compares the text with the footnotes will easily see why each alteration has been made, if he happens to be at all conversant with MSS. written in the fourteenth century. I believe that this piece is almost unparalleled as regards the shameful corruption of its text. It cannot be supposed that Thynne or any one else ever read it over with the view of seeing whether the result presented any sense. Originally written in an obscure style, every form of carelessness seems to have been employed in order to render it more obscure than before. In a great number of places, it is easy to restore the sense by the insertion of such necessary words as _of_, or _but_, or _by_. In other places, non-existent words can be replaced by real ones; or some correction can be made that is more or less obvious. I have marked all inserted words by placing them within square brackets, as, e.g., _am_ in l. 46 on p. 6. Corrections of readings are marked by the use of a dagger (+); thus 'I +wot wel' in l. 78 on p. 7 is my emendation of Thynne's phrase 'I wol wel,' which is duly recorded in the footnote. But some sentences remain in which the sense is not obvious; and one is almost tempted to think that the author did not clearly know what he intended to say. That he was remarkable for a high degree of inaccuracy will appear presently.