Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/440

 420 Reviews.

effect, in which we never lose sight of the human Ufe which underhes and animates the recorded lore, in which every fragment bears its witness to a definite system of culture whose charm, felt by the author, is communicated to the reader.

From among the mass of lore which he has collected, Mr. Car- michael has here selected the invocations, charms, spells, prayers, and soothsayings of daily life and occupation in the house, the field, the byre, and the fishing-boat. The illustrative notes appended to each section picture in a most vivid and charming way the conditions of existence among a peasantry which has preserved the appropriate formula, the fitting rite, the hallowed ceremonial, for every act of its simple and laborious life. Much of the recorded matter is of course familiar, being merely the Gaelic expression of what is common to the peasant class throughout Europe, and what may be defined as the result of compromise between Christian teaching and pre-Christian conceptions. A very distinct flavour is, however, given to this pan- European popular Christian oral literature by the passionate intensity of affection displayed towards the two chief patron saints of the Western Isles, Columba and Bridget (Bride). On the whole Mr. Carmichael's collection exemplifies much more the popular Christianity than the pre-Christian conceptions of Gaeldom. Whilst we can detect throughout an underlying stratum of far older belief and custom, yet the expression is nearly always that of orthodox Christianity, orthodox of course in the mediaeval sense. Much of what Mr. Carmichael has noted may rank with the most exquisite expressions of popular Christian feeling in any language.

Mr. Carmichael earnestly disclaims having rendered his originals in their full beauty. I can only say that his English has a charm, a grace, and a noble dignity it would be difficult to overpraise. I quote one passage, both on account of its intrinsic merit and because it enables me to illustrate afresh that unity of tone and spirit throughout Gaelic literature upon which I have so often insisted. The piece entitled Ora nam Biiadh, Invocation of the Graces, probably composed, thinks Mr. Carmichael, to a maiden on her marriage, opens thus : —

I bathe thy palms In showers of wine,