Page:Thirty-five years of Luther research.djvu/51

scripts at hand. At three different times (1908, 1910, 1911) he dwelt upon the subject in the "Archiv fuer Reformationsgeschichte." In these essays he points out the relations existing between the collection of table-talks of George Roerer and those traceable back to Matthesius, the relation existing between Roerer and Schlaginhaufen, and finally that between Roerer and Veit Dietrich. All of this collected material, equipped with excellent introductions, is made easily accessible to every one in the edition of Weimar by Kroker since 1912. The first volume offers the notes of Veit Dietrich (pp. 1-308 with app., pp. 309-330), also the collection of Veit Dietrich und Nicolaus Medler (pp. 331-614), the second volume, the notes of Schlaginhaufen (pp. 1-252) the collection of L. Rabe (pp. 253-272), and the first part of Cordatus' collection (pp. 273-672). The coming volumes will include the last part of this collection, notes of Weller and Lauterbach of the years 1536 and 1537, Lauterbach's diary for 1538 and the one for 1539, finally the conversations for the year 1540 as written by Matthesius, and the other collections of the forties. The conclusion will consist in the publication of the undated table-talks. The last volume is to explain the origin of Lauterbach's and Aurifaber's large collections. An alphabetically arranged index of the individual conversations and a complete index of the names and events will facilitate the ready use of these volumes. A large series of volumes will be necessary to complete this gigantic task, but then a foundation will be laid upon which all further attempts in this direction can be built. Then also can it be ascertained how much of the offensive and vulgar, which Roman Catholic writers seem to find in the table-talks, is really to be attributed to Luther, and in what connection these