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Reviews 187 (1956) and two supplements by K. V. Sinclair (1978 and 1987), nor with Sinclair's three-volume repertory French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages (1979-1988). In the section concerned with the technical description of the numerous Wdters manuscripts (pp. 171-225), reference is continually made to the fact that information has been gleaned from the forthcoming magnum opus of LiUian M . C. RandaU, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Having had occasion myself to consult this work in proof form, it is very obvious to m e how great a debt is owed her by the organisers of Time Santified. Admittedly, it is one they acknowledge fully. Perhaps a more equitable arrangement would have been for the Wdters technicd accounts to have appeared under her name. Peter Rolfe Monks Townsville Words and Wordsmiths: a Volume for H. L. Rogers, ed. G. Barnes, et al., Sydney, University of Sydney, Department of English, 1989; pp. vi, 173; R.R.P. A U S $10.00. Of the seventeen essays in this collection three ded with Old English. John Gray, in a lucid discussion of the much disputed lines 1080-96 of the Finn episode in Beowulf, offers a simple and persuasive solution to a notoriously complex problem. Alex Jones brings computer analysis to bear on the lexical structure Of The Battle of Maldon. Naomi Robinson demonstrates Aelfric's careful distinction among the various O E synonyms for 'living'. T w o pieces have a historical orientation. Sonya Jensen shows that the two Merlins of Giraldus Cambrensis - 'Abrosius' and 'Silvester' - are in fact 'one and the same' character (p. 48) and John Kennedy asks what can be discovered about the office of a go5i from a study of Egils saga. In the sole essay on Middle Scots, Philippa Bright defends Henryson's figurative technique in The Cock and the Jasp. Middle English is well represented. There are four fine essays on Chaucer: Geralidine Barnes on his manipulation of 'a variety of narrative modes (romance, epic, tragedy, philosophical discourse)' in the Knight's Tale (p. 10); Gary Simes on 'the unhistoricd application' of the notion of bawdy to his writings (p. 112); Margaret Singer on the words aventure and grace in the Franklin's Tale; and Diane Speed on the language and background of the Physician's tale. T w o pieces deal with mystery plays. Lee Jobling offers a detailed discussion of the character of Pilate in the York cycle and Margaret Rogerson shows, through an examination of the late medieval civic records at York, that the number of episodes presented in the cycle may have varied from year to year. Betsy Taylor, 188 Reviews in the remaining essay on Middle English, finds positive reasons for Malory's reluctance to show Launcelot and Guinevere abed togydirs. The four other contributions, all deding with the m o d e m period, are a mixed bag. Don Anderson's piece on usage, with which the collection unhappily opens, is a reprinted newspaper article riddled with infelicities grosser than those it pretends not to pillory. ('How can I deplore "quote" being used as a noun when that scourge of the tautology, Alex Buzo, does just that...?' But even those who accept this treatement of being as a participle rather than a verbd noun must wonder what it is that Buzo does. Does he use 'quote' as a noun or does he deplore such a usage? The context requires the former; the syntax the latter.) John Gunn discourses chattily on terms associated with beer-drinking in this thirstiest of continents. Robert Eagleson shows how linguistic evidence was used in a recent homicide trial to prove that the accused was himself the author of a typewritten 'farewell' letter which he cldmed had been written by his wife before her disappearance. This compelling topic cries out for the full supporting evidence -the complete texts of the letter in question and of the accompanying samples of the couple's writings (as opposed merely to the brief quotations we are given from them). Such evidence, amounting to some nine and a half thousand words (p. 22), could profitably have been included instead of Michael...

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