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APPENDIX VIII Erasmus’ service at Basle in the summer of 1518 and remained with him for some years. The other hands I am not able to identify, but one is probably that of John Smith, who was in Erasmus’ service at intervals between 1512 and 1518”. The composition and arrangement of the manuscript also help to elucidate its history, The scribes used loose sheets of paper folded in two, and the first two hands, A and B, adopted the practice of grouping the sheets together in signatures, A, B, C, &e., like a printed book, each group containing 4 or 5 sheets, forming 8 or 10 leaves. Most of the leaves are now separate, but a few sheets still remain uncut, and originally they were doubtless all so; for not only do the groups consist invariably of an even number of leaves, half of which haye a watermark, generally the same throughout each group, and half not ; but also ff. 203-4 are out of place through some error of the scribe, Hand A, who haying gone straight from f. 202 to f. 204. was unable to rectify the mistake by rearrangement of the leaves, but was obliged to write on f. 202 a note directing the reader to f. 204. When the volume increased in size, Hand C or Hand D made a new numeration, numbering the leaves in the top right hand corner from 1 to 206°, now ff. 46 to 224, with the blank leaf at the end of the book. The first 53 of these leaves are in Hands C and D, containing the earlier letters written by them; but the remainder are by A and B. It is noticeable, however, that ff. 36-9 are numbered 54-7, and that f. 102 also in D’s hand forms a second 62, It appears, therefore, that Hand C or D originally carried its numeration at least as far as 62 with leaves written by itself, but subsequently mislaid or discarded its own leaves 54 and onwards and continued with the large blocks written by A and B. On the later written leaves, ff. 1-45, there are two numerations by Hand E, ff. 1-19 being lettered with the Roman alphabet, d—y, and ff. 30-45 with the Greek, 8-p, in addition to the numbers 54-7, which, as already stated, appear on ff. 36-9, whilst ff. 20-9, the work of Hovius, have no older numeration. These various considerations make it possible to determine with accuracy the date and composition of the Deventer letter-book. At some time in the summer of 1517, after the publication of Aliquot epistole sane quam elegantes, Louvain, Th. Martens, April 1517 (C°), Erasmus gave to two of his servants, A and B, a number of letters from his friends to be copied, including a few of comparatively early date from England. In the autumn these servants left him and two new ones, C and D, carried on the book, now mainly with Erasmus’ own letters, until he went to Basle for the summer months of 1 518. By them the book was arranged and the leaves numbered. At Basle Hovius, and perhaps another pupil before him, entered Erasmus’ service, and besides making a few additions added two systems of lettering to complete the arrangement. Finally, after Erasmus’ return to Louvain and recovery from the plague, the budget of letters in which he narrated his adventures and misfortunes to his friends ci See p. 534. 89-94, 184, 205—twenty-seven in all— * Of these 5, 6, 12, 13, 28, 29, 64-76, are now missing.
