Cr1.13.139KD.13.132 He wil not gaine saie holi writ , I dare wel vndertake
C.13.140KD.13.132 He wol nouȝt ayein haly writ · speken I vndertake
R.13.136KD.13.132 He wil nauȝt aȝeynes holy writ speke I dar wel
vndertaken .R.13.136: Between fols. 60 and 61 there was a leaf removed (the original cognate of
fol. 60) in the course of producing R. Its stub, which measures an average width of 1.4 cm.,
was pasted down to the current fol. 61, causing this quire (the ninth) to be an irregular one
of 7 leaves (8-1). No evidence of text loss or irregularity is apparent in the immediate
vicinity of this intervention, but something must have been awry, either with the scribe's
initial "casting off" of text, or with his first try at copying fol. 61, to cause such a
radical intervention as cancelling a leaf. It may be significant that the text on current
fol. 61v begins precisely at a point where the beta manuscripts omit nine lines of authorial
material. If this material existed as a marginal addition or an attached slip in R's
exemplar, it may have been initially overlooked (as in beta) but then noticed in time to
remedy by means of excising a singleton and recopying. Whatever occurred may also relate to a
gradual change in lineation noticeable from early in the seventh quire (41r-48v): while the
earlier fascicles of R are ruled exclusively for 36 lines, beginning at 42v most sides are
ruled for 37, and at the crucial fol. 60, both sides are ruled for 38 lines.