Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/429

Rh of a MS. in the Bodleian and of two Aramaic conjurations found on the inside of bowls from Assyria and Babylon. These are of the same general character as the principal MS., and their addition enhances the value of the present publication, which will be found of importance in more than one department of the study of traditions and of the history of thought.

has a twofold interest for folklorists. It is the oldest recorded document we possess of the speculations of mankind concerning a future life; and as what is early recorded is always presumably primitive in character, we must turn to it first in any attempt to trace the growth of these speculations. It may also possibly have influenced the Hellenic conception of the future life, and thus be the ultimate source of beliefs held to the present day by the most advanced races of mankind. A translation which may be relied upon as accurate, a commentary which puts the non-Egyptologist in possession of means to criticise the document and use it for historical purposes, are thus to be cordially welcomed. As regards the first point, Dr. Budge's standing as an Egyptologist is a guarantee for as much accuracy as is likely to be attained for some time to come, though it must not be forgotten that his version has been fiercely assailed by no less an authority than Sir Le Page Renouf. But this is what may be expected in a science still so largely tentative as Egyptology. As regards the second point, the layman is able to form an opinion. The facts relating to the history of the text are brought together fully and methodically, and a serious attempt has been made to elucidate its significance and to trace its development.

The title, given above, states the contents of the book with sufficient fullness. The transliterated text provided with an interlinear translation occupies 242 pages; the freer translation, which