Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/87

Reviews. 63 influence would be likely to make itself felt in the oldest, the mythological section of the national tradition, whilst in the second case, as the alien matter would clash with the tribal heroic sagas which had by that time assumed definite form, it would naturally gravitate towards the more plastic mythological legends. I thus by no means put Mr. Borlase's theory out of court absolutely, I simply hold that his evidence is altogether insufficient to support it. In the main, Irish legend is the outcome of Irish mythic fancy and Irish heroic reality.

Be this as it may, the section of Mr. Borlase's work to which I have devoted the most attention is the least in extent; and whatever opinions may be held concerning its value, there can be but one regarding the magnificent industry, the loving and skilful care, with which he has brought together every scrap of information about the dolmens of Ireland.

London: Grant Richards. 1897.

Mr. Grant Allen's object was to call down theological thunders, he will have been thoroughly satisfied with the result. The pages of Folklore, however, are not fenced about with ecclesiastical sanctions. In the theological or anti-theological consequences of the author's doctrines, therefore, we have no concern; nor have we space to discuss the doctrines themselves as they deserve. Indeed, in the absence of the detailed proofs, which are yet to come, it would hardly be fair to attempt this if we had space. We shall therefore limit ourselves to a short, and necessarily imperfect, account of the contents of the book.

It is a preliminary and popular statement of a theory Mr. Allen proposes to work out at length in a series of volumes, each of them devoted to one aspect or stage of the history of religion. There is a sense in which Professor Jevons' Introduction to the History of Religion, reviewed by us last year, and The Evolution of the Idea of God are complementary. In both the same sub-