31 January

Tuesday 31^st. At Mus^m. cont^d. Claud. D. 6. Compared Mr Douce‘s MS

copy _^^{of his MS.} with the Harl. MS. ^No.# 527. which Ritson ascribes to the 12th

centy _^^but which certainly is not older than the end of Hen. 3^ds. reign,

or beginning of Edw. 1^st. To my great joy, I found that altho’ imperfect

both at the commencement & conclusion, yet the Harl. MS. begins at

the 1455 line of Douce‘s copy & supplies the chasm at v. 2393.

of above 2000 lines, but then ends without completely joining

on to where Mr Douce‘s MS. again takes up the story, so that

a small part of the Romance is still wantg unless I can dis-

cover a third copy in the Bodln. which I think not unlikely.

I am also satisfied, that the Geste of Kyng Horn is ### a continuation

of Havelok, & that the “vers del parchemin”, quoted in the

French, is actually the story of the Danish _^^hero*. They will therefore

very properly be published together, & will make a most curious

volume. Finished in the Ev^~g. the Variorum Notes, & thus at last have

###### freed myself from this labor, – for which I shall get ab-

solutely nothing – as the book, when ^printedcomplete, will hardly make

2 parts.

* I think I must have been mistaken. FM