Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/137

 Reviews. 1 1 9

in the position of the stars serve only to mark the approach of the changes in the seasons of the year, and to regulate the agricultural side of life rather than its political and social sides. Higher cults are the outcome of later stages of development. They may react upon older rites and forms, but it is not easily conceivable how they could lie at the very root of primitive forms of worship. But a book like this one produced by the indefatigable industry and perseverance of Mrs. Nuttall is highly welcome. It starts by irritating the reader by the boldness of the new solution, and then slowly forces him to recognise though reluctantly that, agreeing or disagreeing with the views of the author, there is another explana- tion also possible beyond, or next to, the one we ourselves may favour for the time being. Mrs. Nuttall disarms criticism to a certain extent by the modesty with which she presents her case, and by announcing her effort not as the last word on the problem, on the contrary, inviting criticism and corrections.

In one point we must find fault, not with the author, but with those who are responsible for the technical production of the book. It is printed on paper so heavy that it makes it impossible to hold a volume of only 600 pages in one's hand for any length of time. But in order not to finish with a discordant note I must express the satisfaction which all are sure to feel with the elaborate and excellent index at the end of the book.

M. Gaster.

Guernsey Folk Lore. From MSS. by the late Sir Edgar MacCulloch, Bailiff of Guernsey. Edited by Edith F. Carey. London : Elliot Stock. Guernsey : F. Clarke, States Arcade. Large 8vo 616 pp., numerous illustrations. 1903. Price I2S. 6d.

The collections of Sir Edgar MacCulloch were made more than forty years since. His preface is dated 1864, yet at his death in 1896 he left them still in MS., bequeathing them to the Royal Court of Guernsey, of which he had been for many years member and president. They were contained, says the editor. Miss Carey, " in three manuscript books, closely written on both sides