Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/194

 160

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. AUG. 24, 1907.

whole 'The Scots Peerage ' continues to be a very handy compendium of Northern genealogy. More- over, it is a delightful book to look at and to handle.

The Age of Justinian and Theodora. By William

Gordon Holmes. Vol. II. (Bell & Sons.) THIS is the second half of a learned history of a little-known period. The first volume we noticed at 10 S v. 317, with praise alike of its animated style and thoroughness. That before us maintains to the full the merit of the work. Justinian is the leading figure, and the various aspects of his activity are ably considered. Histories such as this are too rare in this country, and we hope Mr. Holmes will take up another period of the later Roman emperors, affording us the means of eorrect- in- the occasional prejudices and deficient sources of "Gibbon. He writes without pedantry, yet with ample scholarship, and classical students will know how to value such an equipment both on its positive and negative side.

The Ablaye of the Holy Ghost. The Frere and the

Boye. (Cambridge, University Press.) THESE beautiful reproductions of rare books are remarkable instances of the enterprise of the Cam- bridge Press. The printing in each case extends to 250 copies only, and "the impressions have been rubbed off the plates and the negatives destroyed," .as M. P. Dujardin certifies. His admirable work in the way of facsimiles needs no commendation from us; all the details of the pages are repro- duced with faithfulness, and the beautiful black letter stands before us as clear as in the original. The result of photography, indeed, is slightly to intensify the blackness of the letters where they are at all faint, as experts know. Thus the posses- sor of these tastefully bound volumes has to all intents and purposes two examples of Wynkyn de Worde's press before him of 1496 and circa 1512. Of 'The Abbaye of the Holy Ghost' of the earlier date but three copies are known. The one here re- produced is from the books George I. gave to the University Library. From the same benefaction comes the copy of the ballad of ' The Frere and the Boye,' which has had a long career in print.

The gain to students of a chance to see these fine specimens of typography without the restrictions naturally placed upon the view or use of the originals is obviously great. No such chances would have been expected, or even hoped for, twenty years ago. The present generation is fortunate in the ready access it has to many forms of scholar- ship, and we only hope that such opportunities will not be wasted.

THE first article in the current number of Folk- lore describes 'The Development of the Idea of Hades in Celtic Literature.' To judge by the most ancient Irish and Welsh legends, it would appear that the conception of a doleful country of shades was unfamiliar to the heathen Celts. Their Other- World embraced no gloomy lurking-place for spirits of dead men, and no withering hell. It was a realm of perpetual youth and unfailing brightness, a land of best delights, in which the ever-living tasted inexhaustible joys. After Celtic belief comes Aus- tralian custom, for the second paper is by Mr. A. W. Howitt, and deals with the intricate question of marriage relations. The third gives a description of the remarkable practices connected with the

Serpent-Procession at Cocullo, inthe Abruzzi, where the statue of St. Domenico of Foligno, hung with snakes, great and small, is the chief image borne through the streets at the Feast of Serpents. Following the account of this strange, heathenish festival comes a batch of Cinderella and Catskin stories, forming an appendix to Miss M. Roalfe Cox's book on the same subject.

L 1 Intermediaire continues to furnish its readers with notes which are at times edifying and at times amusing. Every archaeologist or sociologist must be able to find something of interest to him in its pages. One querist asks for information about that "Hotel de la Providence" at which Charlotte Corday put up when she arrived in Paris. Another correspondent, writing of the Terrorists, quotes the eloquent words of M. Henry Houssaye : " Sans etre activement mele a la politique, comme 1'etait alors Ernest Hamel, on pent combattre le bon combat, le combat pour la Revolution f rancaise ; on peut rendre justice a ces hommes de fer et de flamme, qui, les frontieres envahies, 1'Ouest et le Midi souleves, les conspirations et les trahisons partout, firent la terreur et la victoire, et qui, vivant au milieu d'un volcan frapperent avec la foudre." In a reply on the subject of the German Fangeisen (the same thing as the English catch-pole) the catch-pole in the Tower of London is described as " un tres-bel exemplaire " of a weapon which was once used for capturing knights whose armour prevented any other mode of attack.

to

We must call special attention to the following notices :

ON all communications must be written the name and address of the sender, not necessarily for pub- lication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents must observe the following rules. Let each note, query, or reply be written on a separate slip of paper, with the signature of the writer and such address as he wishes to appear. When answer- ing queries, or making notes with regard to previous entries in the paper, contributors are requested to put in parentheses, immediately after the exact heading, the series, volume, and page or pages to which they refer. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second com- munication " Duplicate."

WE cannot undertake to answer queries privately, nor can we advise correspondents as to the value of old books and other objects or as to the means of disposing of them.

H. T. W. ("Sheep counting: Yan, Tan," &c.). See 6 S. xi. 206, XJ6, 472 ; 8 S. iv. 45.

NOTICE.

Editorial communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' " Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- lishers" at the Office, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.G.

We beg leave to state that we decline to return communications which, for any reason, we do not print, and to this rule we can make no exception.