King Alfred's Old English Version of St. Augustine's Soliloquies/Introduction/Part 1
I. Manuscript and Reprints.
1. Manuscript. — There exists but one manuscript of the Old English version of Augustine's Soliloquies. It is in the British Museum, and is known as Cotton Vitell. A. 15, being the Beowulf manuscript, and in the same hand as the Beowulf. A transcript of this unique manuscript, made in the 17th century by Francis Junius, is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, being known as Jun. 70. I. Since this latter is a mere copy, with only such slight changes as ð for þ, it is of no significance, and for our purpose can safely be disregarded. The Cottonian manuscript, therefore, is the sole basis of our text, and is always the one referred to, unless otherwise stated.
The manuscript is of parchment, and is in a good state of preservation, except for the lack of the beginning and the end, and the existence of a few torn places and blotches. Its dimensions are about 7 ¾ by 5 ¼ inches, and there are 18 lines to a page. The part we still possess begins on folio 4, and extends to folio 57a. The writing is in a large, clear hand, and, as the facsimiles show, may be read with ease.
Concerning the red strokes found, on the average, once or twice on each page of the manuscript up to folio 21b, Birch says: 'The red strokes are the work of a later scribe going over the manuscript, and appear to be for emphasis or to mark a capital. It occurs most frequently in the I, ic, ða, god, ac, ða cwæð heo, ða cwæð ic, ꝥ ic.' And further as regards the existence of two hands: 'Nor can I clearly determine if there is any change of hand. I rather think not.' Hulme, however, thinks there are two hands to be distinguished — one ending with folio 21b, where the red strokes leave off, the other clearer and slanted backward.[1]
Quantity marks in the shape of a circumflex, occurring without any apparent system, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, are noted in the phonological lists given by Hulme. No record of these is made in this edition, because no real scientific importance, so far as we can see, is to be attributed to them.
The occasional superior letters are apparently changes or corrections by a later hand. These and manuscript erasures are all noted as far as page 36 in the foot notes of this edition. The few remaining instances are repetitions, or of little import.
As to the date of the manuscript there is variety of opinion. Pauli places it in the twelfth century, while Birch 'is inclined to date the writing at 10th century — not far from Alfred's time, say 930-950';[2] Most scholars, however, including Wülker, Napier, Morley, Schröer, and Hulme, agree with Pauli in assigning it to the twelfth century.
Hulme, who has made the most careful study of the language of the manuscript, reaches the following conclusion:
1. The Old English version of the Soliloquies as we have it belongs to the first quarter of the twelfth century; for the language is clearly older than the older parts of the chronicle of Peterborough.
2. The dialect is Late West Saxon, impure in many respects.
3. The author was King Alfred the Great.[3] 2. Reprints. — The complete text of the manuscript has been printed but twice, neither edition being furnished with a glossary or other apparatus: first, by O. Cockayne, pp. 163—204, of The Shrine, a Collection of Occasional Papers on Dry Subjects, London, 1864—1869, which has long been out of print; and by W. H. Hulme, in Englische Studien, Vol. XVIII, 1893, pp. 331 ff., the latter having been a timely contribution to the working material of investigators. It must be added that there are several typographical errors in this reprint; these were, for the most part, corrected in Englische Studien, Vol. XIX, p. 470. Professor Hulme has since then made several careful collations of the manuscript, the last one in 1901, of which, by his extreme kindness, I have been able to avail myself in constructing my text.
There has been but one translation into modern English, and that is very faulty. This was made by E. Thompson in 1851 , and is found in The Jubilee Edition of Alfred's Works, Vol. II, p. 83 ff. Short extracts are also found translated by Hughes.[4] Wülker[5] has given a German rendering of various passages. It need hardly be added that there is a growing demand for a scholarly modern translation of this important work.