THE KING'S MIRROR 69 



century, perhaps not long after 1275.* As the manu- 

 script was incomplete in part, the editors also made use 

 of the copies which had been made the basis of the ear- 

 lier edition. Inasmuch as the materials to be used had 

 been copied at different times and consequently reflected 

 various stages of linguistic development, it was thought 

 desirable to normalize the orthography: and in this part 

 of their task the editors made use of a fragment which 

 was thought to belong to a somewhat earlier date than 

 the main manuscript. f If this belief is correct, the Chris- 

 tiania edition must, in respect to orthography, be a com- 

 paratively close approximation of the original manu- 

 script. 



In 1881 a third edition prepared by the German phi- 

 lologist Otto Brenner was published under the title 

 Speculum Regale, ein altnorwegischer Dialog. Brenner 

 based his text on the Norwegian manuscript 243 B, 

 but he also made use of the Icelandic copy (243 A) and 

 of some of the older fragments. His edition consequently 

 includes all the materials that had been used in the ear- 

 lier editions. It was Brenner's purpose to prepare a text 

 which should give the Norwegian version in its original 

 form, so far as such a restoration is possible. Though 

 scholars are not agreed that Brenner achieved his pur- 

 pose, all have acknowledged the value of his work, and 

 since its publication his version has been regarded as 

 the standard edition. 



Two years ago (1915) the University of Illinois pub- 

 lished, under the editorial direction of Professor George 



* See Flom's edition of Konungs Skuggsjd, introduction, 

 t See the Christiania edition, pp. xiii-xvi. 



