Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/79

PREFACE. Ixxi " cupientes, similiterque semel comprehendi ; ideo mihi' visum " est pro ingeniosi mei capacitate quedam inde estrahere ; et in " unius corpus codicili quodam compendio, scripto veteri metrico, " et nouo^ ad propositum respondente, quasi sub quodam epilogo " summatim redigere, precipue que facere videntur ad noticiam " temporum inclitorum regum Scotorum ; de qua stirpe, quave " origine ad istas oras deuenerunt ; et quoto tempore et quanto " ante Pictos, cum eisdem, et post eos, vicissim regnauerunt ; et " qualiter nunc stirps Scotigena miscetur cum Saxonica, qualiter- " que Britannia stirpe multigena variatur, et quomodorex Scocie " modernus de jure delicto debet tarn Anglie quam Scocie " prefici regnis." It shows that the poem consisted partly of an older poem incorporated into one more recent. The Editor likewise concurs with Innes in his preference for the copy in the Scotch College MS. He considers that this was the original form of the poem, and that it was subsequently added to, proba- bly by the same author, after the completion of the " Scotichronicon," who inserted in it the lines quoted by Fordun, to whom the poem itself was apparently unknown, from another poem, and added several chapters to give it a more ambitious appearance. These additions are of no importance for the early history of Scotland, and the Editor has printed his text from the Scotch College MS., which is now in the Cathohc library in Edinburgh, and collated it with the Edinburgh College MS. 47. Metrical History by William, Arch- Metrical His. torv bv Wil- bishop of York. — This poem, written by William uam, Arch- 1 The Edin. College Ms. inserts 2 xhe Edin. CoUege MS. reads, ^i^l^opof York. here, " tameu subsequens croni- " partem ex metris veteribus et " carum magnum volumen per me " partim ex recentibus." " presens scriptum reuoluenti."