nearly impossible to properly reconstruct the original dialect. Recent scholarship also acknowledges that provenance could be anywhere in Wessex, the Home Counties or the south-west Midlands. Manuscripts There are two known manuscripts of The Owl and the Nightingale: ff. 156–68 of Jesus College, Oxford, MS.29 and ff. 233–46 of British Library, Cotton MS. Caligula A. ix. Both are bound together in collections of other works. They are both estimated to be written in the latter half of the 13th century and copied from one exemplar which is now lost Jesus College, Oxford, MS. 29: This manuscript, given to Jesus College between 1684 and 1697 by rector Thomas Wilkins, contains 33 texts in English, Anglo Norman, and Latin. All of the script is in one hand and written in a plain, amateurish style. The Owl and Nightingale is written in two columns with some capital letters in blue and red but no illumination. Cotton Caligula A.IX: This manuscript contains 13 texts in English and Anglo Norman, most of which were probably bound together from the beginning despite Cotton’s method of organizing disparate manuscripts into collections. The text, written by at least two different scribes, is in two columns with some capital letters in red and no illumination. The script is a professional, gothic bookhand. This manuscript has a 19th-century binding and shows no evidence of whom the previous owner(s) may have been. Summary The poem consists entirely of a fierce debate between the eponymous owl and nightingale, as overheard by an unidentified narrator. When he first happens upon them, the Nightingale is perched on a blossom-covered branch, and the Owl is sitting on a bough overgrown with ivy. The Nightingale begins the argument by noting the Owl's physique, calling her ugly and unclean. The Owl proposes that they proceed civilly and reasonably in their debate, and the Nightingale suggests consulting Nicholas of Guildford, who, although frivolous in his youth, is now a reasonable judge. However, the Nightingale immediately goes on to shame the Owl for the screeches and shrieks she produces, and equates her active time of night with vices and hatred. The Owl in turn posits that the Nightingale's continuous noise is excessive and boring. The Nightingale replies that the song of the Owl brings unwanted gloom, while her own is joyous and reflects the beauty of the world. The Owl is quick to reply that Nightingales only sing in