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THE DEVENTER LETTER-BOOK 605
occurring in bundles of leaves which can be distinguished from
one another with apparent ease. Ff. 183-7 for instance seem
plainly to be by a different hand from ff. 188-204. But at
f. 121 the two writings mingle and become undistinguishable,
the characteristic upstrokes of the one appearing in the same
line, and even in the same word, with those of the other. The
limits of the letters copied by this hand are from 27 May 1509
(Ep. 215) to 11 Nov. 1517° (LB. App. 205).
Among the Erasmiana in the Basle University Library is the
manuscript copy of Erasmus’ translation of Book 11 of Gaza’s
Grammar, which was sent to Basle in August 1517, and printed
by Froben °; the compositors’ marks on the manuscript to show
the ends of the pages corresponding exactly with the pages of
Froben’s first edition. It is written by this hand, almost
entirely in the straight form, with corrections in the margin
by Hand C; which are included, however, in Froben’s text.
2. Hand B, covering ff. 206-224, 205 being blank, the letters
ranging from 22 Apr. 1517 (LB. App. 130) to 7 Oct. 1517
(LB. App. 193).
3, 4. Hands C and D, covering ff. 1-16 and 30-92, with isolated
letters by D on f. 03 v° and f. 102. The differences between
them are strongly marked, but they are plainly contemporary
with one another, since several letters are begun by one hand
and finished by the other. The range is from 8 July 1517
(LB. App. 146) by D, and 13 July 1517 (LB. 258) by ©, to
24 Apr. 1518 (LB. App. 135) by D, and 26 Apr. 1518 (LB. 314, 5)
by C. These two scribes evidently did not accompany Erasmus
to Basle in the summer of 1518.
5. Of Hand E there are only two letters (LB. App. 284, 5) on f. 17.
They are dated 31 May 1518 and are plainly written by some
servant acquired at Basle. In spite of obvious differences, it
may possibly be identified with the next hand, Hovius’, for
there are points of resemblance, and the two are hardly farther
apart than the two forms of Hand A. It is noticeable also that
two leaves (ff. 18-9) are lettered !° by Hand E but are written by
Hovius.
6. The next and last hand has some very distinctive marks,
notably the letter d. It covers ff. 18-20, and the letters range
from 13 Aug. to 25 Oct. 1518, consisting almost entirely of
letters written after Erasmus’ return to Louvain. In some
scribblings by this hand in the margin of f. 58 the words ‘ Houus
tuus’ occur, which are evidently the scribe’s own signature ; and
he may thus be identified with John Hovius, who entered
8 LB. App. 118 and 129 from their
contents seem to require the dates
20 Mar. and 22 Apr. 1518, although the
manuscript gives 1517 unmistakably for
each. But it is possible to place them
in 1517, and there is a strong presump¬
tion in favour of 1517 from their posi¬
tion on ff, 105, 6, which are signed A»,
A,, and are therefore some of the earliest
leaves written by this hand, if we may
assume the signatures to have been
affixed when the leaves were written ;
and also from the fact that there are
only two letters in this hand (LB.
App. 197 and 205) certainly later than
16 Sept. 1517.
9 LB. App. 286, 7.
10 See below.