Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/121

 Reviews. loi

We heartily wish Mr. Sharp success in the ethnological research to which he alludes, of endeavouring to detect the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic elements in British folk-music. He has earned the gratitude of every student of folklore and every lover of comparative music by having written the book now under review.

C. S. Myers.

Folk-Memory ; or, The Continuity of British Archeology. By W. Johnson. Frowde, igo8. 8vo, pp. 416. Illus.

This fascinating volume forms a manual of the archaeology and traditions of these islands based on many years' field work and a wide survey of the literature of the subject. The author's theme is the continuity of British archaeology, — the application of the scientific view that cataclysm has been replaced by gradual evolution. Several chapters are devoted to the linking up of the archaeological periods, — the prehistoric with the proto- historic, the survivals of the ages of stone and bronze in that of iron. He thus deals with many complex problems, such as that of the eoliths, which he believes to be the work of an early low-type race ; the explanation of the gap between the palaeolithic and neolithic periods ; the change in the fauna ; the loss by neolithic man of the artistic capacity acquired in the palgeolithic age ; and the overlapping of stone and bronze, of bronze and iron. It is possible that on all these thorny questions his views may not meet with general acceptance. But he is careful to consider opposing theories, and the large collection of material contained in his notes will be of the greatest value to all students of these subjects. He is perhaps most successful in those chapters of his book which are based upon his field work. Such are his study of the flint industry in connection with dene-holes ; the origin of Linchet or terrace cultivation; the problem of the construction of dew-ponds; the incised figures on chalk-downs ; and the ancient roads and trackways. Throughout the book the transmission of folk-tales, traditions, and superstitions is discussed in connection with the