Reconsidering Lincoln’s Inn MS 150

This essay is about the idiosyncrasies of London, Lincoln’s Inn, MS 150 (MS L of A). ‘The manuscript presents an early, self-conscious, and focused response to the A text of PPl and to the series of romances it contains. Furthermore, it is our particular contention that the nature of the revisions would have enhanced the impact of these texts for a listening audience. The theme and direction of the revisions — which highlight dialogues and turn-taking; introduce facial expressions, gestures, and movements; emphasize visual cues; elaborate comic episodes; and enhance the auditory effects of the language — suggest a consistent interest in the dramatic features of these texts. Added to this is the (previously unnoticed) sequence of marginal annotations by the scribe that appear directly to mark up the written text of Merlyn for use in performance. This combination of features strongly suggests the possibility that the scribe was preparing these texts for reading aloud and was interested in their potential for animated oral presentation’ (p. 30). This manuscript ‘also highlights literary connections between London and the north-west Midlands during this period’ (p. 49).