Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/730

420 charms have lost their epic character. They are no longer a narrative but merely episodes from a longer formula. In addition, the strings of mystical names, by which they are, as a rule, accompanied in the Anglo-Saxon formulas, show that they are of a purely literary and foreign origin; and just as one can trace the home of the plant by its exotic name, so it is easy to trace the literary and foreign origin by the peculiar names of angels, saints, and powers. Some are Latin and some Greek, but most of them are hopelessly corrupt, since they must have already passed through a long series of corruptions, due to ignorant scribes. This fate has befallen many older conjurations, even those found in the ancient Greek magical papyri of Egypt in which are not a few parallels to these mystical names. But the Anglo-Saxon have also suffered a further deterioration by having been thoroughly Christianised: they have been subjected to peculiar modification and assimilation to the Church service. Because of these very facts they deserve of special study which cannot fail to be very fruitful in its results.

I felt bound to make these strictures in the interest of folk-lore and even in that of Miss Rohde's book. They do not affect its high value and its winning charm. They refer only to some opinions which Miss Rohde can easily abandon or modify without impairing the character of her book and, if I venture to say so, might enhance it. Perchance, Miss Rohde might be induced to follow up the one or the other of the suggestions made and give us another book based on the comparative study of the Herbals and their sources. With her unequalled competence she might bring within the compass of her investigations also the oral literature of folk medicine and plants.

To Miss Rohde all students of folk lore and folk medicine owe a deep debt of gratitude. She has transferred some of the virtues of the herbs to the pages of her beautiful book, and instead of using the Countess of Kent's still-room book for a "comfortable cordial to cheer the heart," one can conscientiously recommend the perusal of this book. The effect will be the same.