Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/413

 Obituary. 359

and Tidings of Doomsday reveal the ancient Christian fancy- reflecting upon the same problems, and show how insensibly the pagan conception passed over into the Christian scheme of things. He also made additions to our knowledge of the mediaeval Irish student's acquaintance with classical and con- temporary literature by his editions of the Irish Tale of Troy, the Gaelic Maundeville, and the Gaelic Marco Polo, etc.

We may truly say that by means of this one scholar's editions alone there might be constructed a very ample and correct picture of social life in ancient Ireland ; while by his works alone, and especially, perhaps, by means of those most unpromising to the general student, such as the various topographical poems and prose pieces known as Dindshenchus, the old collection of proper names with their explanations known as Coir Aimiatin, the ancient glossary ascribed to Cormac, the Abbot-King of Cashel, who died in go8, or the metrical eulogy of St. Columba or Antra Coluimcille^ and the poem-book called Saltair na Rann, and the Dialogue of the Sages, there is to be found a mass of material relating to the folklore traditions of Ireland such as cannot be equalled elsewhere.

The folklore side of his subject was one that had a special attraction for Dr. Stokes. He was a member of the Folk- Lore Society from 1882 until his death. His own editions are uniformly accompanied by the most voluminous notes illustrating the ancient customs and beliefs, and the mythology and folklore of Ireland by comparison with that of other countries.

Among the ancient Irish traditions and customs to which he drew attention may be mentioned, (a) the existence of heathen baptism, {b) compulsory fasting of cattle, {c) the belief that human souls assume the form of birds in paradise, {d) the tradition that Our Lord was born through the head of the Virgin, and {e) the appeal of Adam and Eve to the River Jordan to call upon its beasts and fishes to "fast" with them upon God, in order to procure from Him forgiveness for their transgression.

To his Irish studies Dr. Stokes added a knowledge of Breton and of the now extinct Cornish tongue, and in early life he pub- lished a middle-Cornish poem on The Passion, a Cornish Mystery