L.8.64KD.8.64 Blisse of þoL.8.64: LHmR alone read þo; other B manuscripts have þe. briddes · brouȝte me aslepe
Cr1.8.64KD.8.64 Blisse of the birdes brought me on slepe ,
W.8.64KD.8.64 Blisse of þe briddes . brouȝte me aslepe W.8.64:nota
C.8.64KD.8.64 Blisse of þe briddes · brouȝte me a slepe
R.8.60KD.8.64 Blisse of þoR.8.60: R's þo is supported by Hm and L, but F
and most beta copies agree on þe. The A version has
an identical a-verse (attesting the same variant as F and the beta majority), but of more
consequence is the agreement of Cx with F since the C version witnesses the same complete line. briddes abyde me made .R.8.60: In place of alpha's abyde me made, beta's b-verse reads brouȝte me aslepe. At first glance, this phrasal difference appears to
be one of the many simple instances where beta agrees with Ax against a
reading shared by alpha and Cx, both readings being viable. In reality,
what seems to have occurred is somewhat less common: the copy of A that
Langland was using as the basis of the B revision contained a reversed
half-line (made me abide
A9.55b) and an ensuing dittography (Blisse of þe
briddis
A9.58a). In fact, both errors, unrelated to each other, were the fault
of the archetypal A scribe — or of the author. Having noticed them
while composing B, Langland presumably marked the A9.55b phrase for reversal and then created a correction for the dittography of A9.58a (in the form of a marginal or interlinear): he varied this second
occurrence of the repeated phrase to Murþe of hire mouþes and then had to
revise the b-verse of the same line (perhaps in the opposite margin) to fit the new
alliterative pattern, so we get made me þer to slepe instead of the A-version's brouȝte me a slepe.Confronted with
Bx's devotedly passive reproduction of this patchwork revision, the
beta scribe seems to have garbled matters in his own unique way, assuming that he was to
replace the b-verse of 55 — as it appeared in the underlying A-version text — with the unrevised A-version b-verse of
58, when all that was asked of him was to flip the staves of extant 55b and heed all of the
marginal information at line 58. What beta has created, then, is not likely to reflect any
authorial state of the text.
F.6.60KD.8.64Þanne blysse of þe bryddis / a-byȝde me made.F.6.60: Beta attests a different b-verse for this line: "brouȝte me aslepe." Alpha's reading corresponds to Cx.