PSALMS IX. AND X. 291
another alphabetic poem of precisely the same
structure which exactly dovetailed into the end
of the poem. The last lines of the lost leaf
should have contained the four lines of a q strophe,
followed by four lines of a r strophe, followed by
two lines of a m strophe : the leaf which on the
hypothesis was accidentally substituted for it
actually contained four lines of a q strophe,
followed by four lines of a w strophe, followed
by two lines of a to strophe. Moreover the
accidentally substituted leaf so well dovetails
into the leaf that preceded that it commences
with l at the exact and correct interval of eight
lines from the initial y.
The case is scarcely better if we accept Baeth-
gen's alternative suggestion that x. 1-15 were
intentionally substituted for a section of the
original alphabetic poem. For are we to suppose
that the editor selected these verses in particular
because he noticed that they contained the
suitable sequence w, r, q? Are we to suppose
that in the passage thus chosen (x. 1-15) this
sequence of these three letters at the same fixed
interval was mere accident? The latter sup-
position becomes even more improbable, impos-
sible indeed, when account is taken of the further
sequence p, f, which connects, as shown above,
with the sequence w, r, q.
The only modification of Baethgen's theory
which seems to me tenable is that x. 1-15 was