Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/276

254 among the pagan nations of antiquity. Although M. Saintyves does not hesitate to charge conscious forgery in many cases of such relics, he shows that that is only what the most orthodox ecclesiastics have done before him. The spirit in which he writes is that of regret that the cultural recognition of these objects should be tolerated by the Church. He indulges the hope "that this somewhat scandalous exposure may serve to hasten the day when Catholicism, once one of the hearths and homesteads of the ideal in the world, shall abandon all these false relics. A fair woman who has been covered with false jewels will deign to wear them no longer the day she learns that they are nothing but poor glass beads."

The subject is one on which a large book might well be written. M. Saintyves has made a small one, not for want of erudition, but in order to put his argument concisely. In this form it will appeal to many besides avowed students of tradition, who would not have time, nor perhaps patience, to read a longer work. The authorities on which he relies are duly cited at the foot of the page. The author's attention, however, should be called to an apparent confusion of dates on pp. 174-5. A certain relic is said to have been found thirty years after the sack of Rome (1527), that is to say, in 1557. "Some thirty years after its discovery,"—that is to say, about 1587,—ladies of quality having demanded to see it, a miracle took place, which is said to have drawn attention to the relic, and "cette même année 1559" a further miracle took place. Ought the words "quelque trente ans" to be read quelque deux ans, or should the date when the further miracle took place be 1589?

fairies exist? and if so, can we see them?" are the questions which Dr. Evans Wentz sets forth to answer in The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. In order to collect material for the book which contains his reply. Dr. Wentz tells us that he first, on coming to