A not inconsiderable amount of space has been devoted to the collation of the selected passages of text. This was not only justified but made necessary by the importance of the collation, which, because of the vast amount of evidence that it furnishes, represents in some respects the most Vital part of this volume. No pains have been spared to make it correct to the least detail. Though much of the work has had to be done at a distance from the original manuscripts, this fact can hardly have affected the results arrived at in the collation, inasmuch as a two years' acquaintance with the manuscripts them selves at the beginning has been supplemented by a very free use of photographs. For all but two or three of the more inaccessible manuscripts each passage has been collated four times, twice in the original and twice from photographs. In one way or another many people have had a share in the making of this book. The encouragement of friends in a lengthy and laborious under taking has proved just as real a help as the assistance which has had a more direct bearing upon the work itself.