literary property of which the age of manuscript knew 
     little or nothing, and has modified the psychological 
     processes by which we use words for the communication 
     of thought. The breadth of the gulf which separates the 
     age of manuscript from the age of print is not always, nor 
     fully, realized by those who begin to read and criticize 
     medieval literature. When we take up a printed edition of 
     a medieval text, provided with an introduction, a critical 
     apparatus of variant readings, notes and glossary, we 
     bring unconsciously to its perusal those prejudices and 
     prepossessions which years of association with printed 
     matter have made habitual. We are liable to forget that 
     we are dealing with the literature of an age when 
     orthographical standards varied and grammatical 
     accuracy was not highly esteemed, when language was 
     fluid and was not necessarily regarded as a mark of