ik.": '
:G
I 7
[ 296 ]
In our manufcript differed from Refe-
nius’s edition, whence the book had
obtained the name o f Edda, &c.
bnt its diplomatical defcriptions would
have afforded no information in any
o f thefe articles. This letter was be-
iides not addreffed to any foreign man
of learning, but to one o f my learned
countrymen, well verfed in antient
literature, who had frequently this
manufcript in his own hands, and
examined it, and was perhaps better
acquainted with it than myfelf. It
would have been very fuperfluous to
tell him it was written in antient cha-
raders, in the Icelandic language,
and on parchment.
But to oblige Mr. Schlozer, and
perhaps many others, I will inform
them that this codex, as I faid before,
is wrote upon parchment, the colour
o f which is dark brown, that may
proceed partly from its antiquity, and
partly perhaps from its having been
long kept and made ufe of in the
Icelandic fmokey rooms. It is in
very good prefervation, and in ge-
lieral legible, It is true, there are
fome
E 297 ]
fome round holes in the parchment,
but thefe feem to have been there at
firft, as no part of the text is loft by
them. The fize is a fmall quarto, one
finger in thicknefs, containing fifty-
four leaves and a half, or one hundred
and nine pages, befides a white leaf
before and one behind, on which
there are, however, fome bad figures ;
thefe figures on the firft reprefent
Gangleri, who propofes, with Harja-
fuhar and Thridi, to refoive other
queilions. The charaders are old,
and, when compared with many others,
feem to prove that the copy ift lived
about the beginning o f the fourteenth
century* But all this is o f very little
importance. Mr. Schlozer believes
his fubfequent queilions may give
more light in fettling the principal
point, as they tend to difcover who
was the author o f the Edda, and
what really belongs to it.
He is therefore more curious to know
what is contained in this codex. Mr.
Schlozer believes he has fo much
more reafon for putting this queftion,
as I myfelf have hinted, that befides
Damifagor, Kaningar, and Eiodfgreimir.
''"'A! ^
I