Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/116

108 time, and the remainder of which arc republished, consisting of Nos. 8, 9, 12, 15, and 26.

IV. Stories wrought up for literary purposes, consisting of Nos. 3 and 13.

To these four classes must be added a fifth, in which stories are included among general collections of folk-lore, comprising Nos. 17, 18, and 19.

Of the collections containing stories direct from oral traditions, it must be confessed that not more than two or three of them reach the high standard of Campbell, Pitre, Luzel, and Sébillot, in the precision with which their authorities are recorded. Mr. Maclnnes' Folk and Hero Tales is one of these. It is in the hands of every member of the Society, and has doubtless by this time received the study it so well deserves. From the mode of presentation, as well as the substance of the stories, this book is probably the most valuable contribution of the year 1890 to folk-tale research, and its worth has been greatly enhanced by the notes contributed by Mr. Alfred Nutt. These notes deal with the separate story incidents, and with details of manner, like the "runs", which are a little apt to be overlooked in our preoccupation with the incidents, but which are important elements to be taken into account in estimating the authenticity and age of a document offered as a folk-tale. Mr. Nutt's timely note, or rather essay, on the "Development of the Fenian or Ossianic Saga", will repay careful study as a piece of scientific reasoning and a keen, though moderate, criticism of Dr. Skene's position with regard to the Irish texts, and Mr. MacRitchie's crude and unscientific, but ably advocated, theory on the Fairy Mythology.

So complete an account of Mr. Curtin's Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland has recently been given by Mr. Nutt in these pages that it is unnecessary for me to do more than express the hope that a second edition will soon be called for, and that Mr. Curtin will then give the information