In the sentences above we use the words ‘tended’ and ‘endeavoured’ because what is quite clear throughout the whole gamut of textual variants in the NT is that prejudices and preferences did not succeed in imposing in a thoroughgoing way a uniform set of corrections. Not all correctors were similarly motivated. Many changes were erratic and piecemeal. The art of copying is essentially highly conservative. The aim is not a formal editorial rewriting. If changes were introduced deliberately they were