Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/260

 2 24 Reviews.

the Mediterranean race. So far as it goes, the linguistic evi- dence tends more and more to prove that the Hittites were an ofifshoot of the Aryan race ; and it would be quite legitimate, on Dr. Frazer's authority, to cite as Aryan their worship of

the bull (p. 47).

A. Berriedale Keith.

Royal Irish Academy : Todd Lecture Series : Vol. ix. E. GwYNN : The Metrical Dindschenchas, part ii, — Vol. xiii. K. Meyer : The Triads of Ireland. — Vol. xiv. K. Meyer : The Death Tales of the Ulster Heroes. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1906.

The foregoing volumes are all valuable contributions to our know- ledge of early Irish literature, the interest of which, as I need scarcely remind readers of this journal, lies in the fact that it is the oldest post-classic European literature, and that it has preserved for us a considerable mass of themes and incidents very slightly, if at all affected by the Christian classic culture which has so profoundly influenced all the great modern literatures. To the student who wishes to get away from and behind that culture, Irish literature is one of the chief sources of information. It follows, however, that in regard to any freshly published Irish text one of the first questions that arises is to what extent it is independent of, and older than, the Christian classic tradition. For some time to come critical analysis must hold the first place in the discussion of new Irish material.

Professor Meyer's Triads of h-eland will be a revelation to many familiar, by repute, with the Welsh Triadic literature. Here again dependence of Wales upon Ireland, probable in other branches of literature, seems most probable. Professor Meyer has omitted all comparison between his texts and the better known Welsh collections. I would suggest to some member of this Society, Miss Faraday for instance, that a comparative study of these two bodies of gnomic wisdom together with such Northern examples as Hava-Mal, would be equally interesting and valuable.