Book Description

Excerpt from The Use of Ye, in the Function of Thou: In Middle English Literature From Ms. Auchinleck to Ms. Vernon, a Study of Grammar and Social Intercourse in Fourteenth-Century England The study of the pronoun which follows was completed in a more extensive form by the late Dr. Russell Osborne Stidston in the summer of 1914 and, like my own study of the pronoun for the thirteenth century, owed its inception largely to the interest felt in the subject by our former teacher and friend, the late Professor Ewald Flugel. And I am sure that I speak with a thoro knowledge of Dr. Stidston's feelings in the matter when I say that to Professor Flugel is due the credit not only for the undertaking of the work but also to a great extent for the painstaking research which Dr. Stidston has made of the extensive literature of the period and the carefulness and accuracy which I have found thruout the whole study. While it is to be regretted that the study could not be published in its original form, it has seemed best in view of present conditions of publishing to present the matter in slightly condensed form now rather than leave it to the uncertainties of the future. I trust that aside from sacrificing a more deliberate and pleasing style of presentation for a necessarily condensed and abrupt one I have not omitted much of value. Many of the quotations have been replaced by mere citations, but wherever there is any question in the reader's mind it is still possible to look up the passage in the text. Dr. Stidston's conclusions and opinions I have tried to preserve intact. Not a little saving in space has been effected by a change in the general plan of presentation. The original general arrangement according to the sixteen MSS. has been changed to an arrangement according to the relations of the speakers, so that numerous introductory and concluding passages have been eliminated. Some interesting sidelights on the MSS. have been lost by this new arrangement, but at the same time attention has been focused somewhat more strongly upon the relations of the speakers and their use of the pronoun. The material utilized for the study comprises practically all the contents of the most important MSS. copied between approximately 1325 and 1375. The most conspicuous exception is the Vernon text of Piers Plowman, which, for several reasons, it has seemed best to omit. Of course some literature has been omitted which was undoubtedly written during this part of the fourteenth century, and, on the other hand, pieces have been included, such as those of the Auchinleck collection, which must have been composed quite a little earlier than the time of the writing of the MS. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."