Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 1.djvu/507

 9 th S. I. JUNE 18, '98.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

499

known are these things to students of folk-speech and custom, and though it is impossible not to regret that we have but gleanings where we might have gathered harvests, there is cause for thank- fulness that the task of collection was not longer deferred. In the numerous cases in which dialect overlaps literary speech each word has been sepa- rately studied, and the editor claims, if he has erred at all, to have erred on the side of inclusion.

In the cases in which no etymology is given it must not be assumed that no effort has been made to find such. It has frequently happened that dozens of dictionaries, glossaries, &c., have been studied without leading to any satisfactory result. The rule adopted in such cases cannot be too highly commended. It is that where precise information cannot be obtained silence is observed. There is no employment of conjecture. "Ghost" words, in- stances of which are found in printed glossaries, are omitted, a collection of them being promised for the last volume. Another matter which is temporarily, at least, postponed consists of a classification of dialects. Ample materials exist for the supply of a sketch-map showing the districts in which certain influences such as, say, the Norse are specially strong. This subject will be discussed at a later period. Some things mentioned preliminarily, so to speak, have historic significance, such as the fact that the dialect of South Pembrokeshire con- tains a strong infusion of words of Flemish origin. The phonological introduction is also postponed until the dictionary is finished, and a "plain and simple phonetic alphabet" has been devised "to represent the approximate pronunciation." A brief resume is, moreover, given at the beginning of each letter of the alphabet for the vowel sounds. In stating these things we are but constituting our- selves the mouthpiece of the editor, holding such a proceeding the most serviceable when the object is to commend the work to the careful consideration of our readers. The services which ' N. & Q.' through its contributors has rendered to the undertaking are acknowledged in the preface. None but a close student 01 philology is in a position to appre- ciate the extent of the obligation so far incurred, and few, indeed, among these can be wise in all things discussed. The words to be studied by those anxious to gauge the importance and the erudition of the whole are very numerous. A feature of special interest to our readers will be found in the description of children's games and similar matters of folk-lore. See what, for instance, is said con- cerning " Cockelty-bread," a game we recollect seeing in childhood. For the familiar use in the West Riding of cott>=coke=cinders we could ad- vance the authority, in a comic story, of the Rev. R. Winter Hamilton (see ' D. N. B.'). A child com- plained that his father, on his calling him " Yow- lace," "banged him ower intow t' cowks." Our space, whether for trifling or for praising, is occu- pied, and we can but congratulate our readers anc their descendants on the work that is being done for them.

Creation Records discovered in Egypt. By George

St. Clair. (Nutt.)

MB. ST. CLAIR rides cleverly and hard a capable hobby. An advanced student of Biblical archaeo- logy, and possessor of much knowledge of com- parative mythology and kindred subjects, he aims at supplying, so far as is yet possible, an explanation of Egyptian symbolism from studies in ' The Book o:

he Dead.' The result of his labours is a volume of deep and very varied erudition, fruitful as it can )e in suggestion, and challenging discussion at almost every point. Research and inquiry have established that the facts and the ideas of the Egyptian astro-religious system are conveyed in symbols, and that the " mythology of Egypt is chiefly an allegory of the heavens and the calendar." Nothing is more natural than that the first religious impressions should be derived or coloured from the contemplation of astral bodies and the movement witnessed in the sidereal heavens. The study of astronomy made great progress in Egypt, and at an early date the astronomer and the priest were the same. Earth and sky, the sun and moon, the chief constellations, individual stars, and even the hours were regarded as gods. Schools of astronomy were founded and maintained by the priests, and at the opening of the historic period every temple pos- sessed its official astronomers, or "watchers of the night." These things are conceded by Egyptologists, and the evidence concerning their truth is abundant. Mr. St. Clair does not claim to have discovered them, but supplies numerous references to writers such as Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Sir Norman Lockyer, Maspero, Gerald Massey, O'Neill, Wilkin- son, Renouf, Bunsen, and others. As he owns in his preface, the stones of the structure are not of his own hewing and chiselling; it is only for the reconstruction a work not previously accom- plished, and supposed to be hardly possible that he claims credit. In common with Sir Le P. Renouf and Sir Norman Lockyer, Mr. St. Clair holds that the precession of the equinoxes and the length of the great year were known to the Egyptians at a date very much earlier than had been supposed probably 3,000 years B.C. Knowing it, however, from observation, the Egyptian astronomers were ignorant of its cause and perplexed to find it dis- locate their catalogues. So mischievous were its effects that they could only attribute them to powers inimical to Divine Order. To this is attri- buted the origin of many symbols. That which Mr. St. Clair is mainly bent on showing is that the phenomenon, known, but not understood, of the sun during the night traversing the "nether" heavens, as though some power had altered his track in a way that could be exactly traced, was the precession of the equinoxes, which the Egyp- tians, regarding as abnormal, attributed to an evil serpent and called Apepi. We cannot attempt to follow further or to elucidate the matters with which our author deals. In supplying these few illustrations we have mainly adhered to the words used by Mr. St. Clair or his authorities. His researches open out endless vistas. Now he deals with the question of orientation and the disturbing influence that must have been exercised when, with the years of 360, 364, and 365 days, the position of the sun at the summer solstice was continually changing ; when, indeed, as is shown, in the case of the year of 360 days, New Year's Day would be advanced in 36J years from winter to summer. From this point of view the writer proceeds to treat of the various Egyptian deities, showing the reign and conflicts of Ra, the Sun God ; the myth of Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury; the Brood of Seb ; Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys ; Anubis, Horus, Typhon, or Set ; and the Gods of Thebes. If the theories he has framed are right, the study of mythology will, our author holds, be henceforth " no uncertain inquiry, with more or less plausible