PREFACE.

bearing mainly on the mystery of the Incarnation; it is particularly directed against Nestorius. This letter is orthodox, although we will note that the author, by saying (p. 608, line 17 and p. 610, line 2) that there is no number in Our Lord, intends to maintain that there is only one nature in Jesus Christ, judging by his other letters addressed to the religious of the convent of Mar Bassus.

We copied the homily on the Holy Virgin, p. 614–639, from Monsignor Abbeloos, De vita et scriptis Sancti Jacobi On the life and writings of Saint Jacob, and we collated it with manuscript add. 14516, f. 143b in London, while leaving aside the majority of the overly numerous variants.

The homily, p. 639–661, on the Holy Virgin, copied from manuscript 196 of the National Library of Paris, was collated by Mr. R. Duval with manuscript 195 of the same collection; we followed the latter, which is better preserved.

The homily on the Visitation of the Holy Virgin, p. 661–685, was copied by us in London from ms. add. 14515 f. 154b.

The homily on the perpetual virginity of the Holy Virgin was reproduced after Monsignor Abbeloos (loco citato in the place cited); we did not find another manuscript that would allow us to verify the text.

We copied in London, in ms. add. 12165 f. 333b, the homily, p. 709–719, on the death and funeral of the Holy Virgin.

Starting from page 720, the homilies deal with the Nativity and the Ascension of Our Lord. The first two on the Nativity and the one on the Ascension were copied in Paris from ms. 196. We collated them in London with ms. add. 12165, and it is the latter that