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THE EPISTOLAE SELECTAE PER BARLANDVM 629
page of sheet a, the final sheet of the book. The earliest of the cor¬
rections, too, in which the text of F is followed rather than the text
of E, is found on fo. i vo. in Ep. 165, which is Barland’s No. 86.
It remains to enumerate a few cases, clearly fortuitous, in which
Barland’s text differs from E and all the subsequent editions. In
Ep. 89. trv. for sacris Barland (fo. b* vo.) reads secreTIS: in Ep. 151.
13 for vt, (f°. it vo.) oti: in Ep. 165.16 he has Courtenbournensi (f.
iv®.): in Ep. 225. 13 for retwwenescam, (f°. k® v°.) rewiwiscam : in Ep.
264. 22 for perscripsero, (f°. 1) scripsero: in Hp. 416. 16 he omits est
(f. h?): in Ep. 491. 10 he omits vt (f°. f°): in Ep. 516. 10 for immi¬
grabo, (f°. f°) migrabo: in Ep. 584. 47 for tabellam, (f°. e vo.) tabellarium :
in Ep. 830. 7 for Octobre, (f°. f) Octobri: in Ep. 867. 100 he omits aut
(f. a vo): in 1 117 he has Vicepropositi (f°. a° v°.): in 1. 160 for
vento, (fo. a*) ventis: in Ep. 968. 16 for faciat, (f°. d) fiat. These are
examples of textual depravation arising through aberration, which in
most cases would pass quite unsuspected by a subsequent editor.
There is also one place (Ep. 869. 2) where Barland (f°. b) anticipates
the necessary correction rewectam, which is not introduced until H.
Other trifling divergences might be revealed by a collation of the
whole book ; but these are all that we have observed in examining
the various readings.
From these details the story of Barland’s Epistolae selectae may be
deduced. He began to work with E, as Martens had suggested. But
when two-thirds of the book was already complete, Erasmus allowed
him to make use of the text he had just revised for F, also contribut¬
ing a few of the new letters which he had selected for publication.
Barland’s book appeared eight months and more before F ; and as it
had Erasmus’ concurrence, it is evident that for such new matter as
it contains, it is the archetype.