Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/424

 386 And I regret especially that I have been able to say so little about early local history; for I hold the belief that this study is particularly necessary to folklorists. Theories grounded on folklore alone seem to me very one-legged affairs, sure to topple over unless they can be supported by the results of kindred studies; and I should be sorry if any of the theories I have advanced were to be taken as proven results, not as suggestions thrown out for further examination. All students of newly-discovered branches of human knowledge must, I suppose, knock their heads against the ends of many blind alleys before they find the clear road to the desired goal; but even mistakes and unsuccessful attempts are not without their uses if they put others on the right scent; and so long as we are content to go slowly and are careful not to be "cocksure," but to keep before our minds the possibility that even we may make mistakes, I have no fear but that we shall discover our North-west Passage at last.