late West Saxon dialect, but also incorporate several interesting departures from the form mandated by this dialect. To a certain extent, this may be attributable to the mechanical copying of the Vercelli scribe, but this seems to be an extremely limited possibility, given the breadth of differentiation. D.G. Scragg, the premier Vercelli scholar, follows unique instances of earlier or non-West Saxon spellings for words, and suggests that this may be due to the vast expanse of time from which the writings were pooled, and the fluid nature of Old English spellings (Scragg, The Vercelli homilies, 1992). Sources Scragg, D.G. “Homilies” from The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England (1992). Ed. M. Lapidge Scragg, D.G. “Vercelli Book” from Medieval England: An encyclopedia (1998). Ed. P. Szarmach, et al. Scragg, D.G. “Vercelli Homilies” from Medieval England: An encyclopedia (1998). Ed. P. Szarmach, et al. Scragg, D.G. (1992) The Vercelli homilies. Oxford University Press; New York. Prose Old English literature