Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 3.djvu/285

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ArKiL8,'99.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

279

c -respondence between Capt. Jekyl and the pseudo ji rd Etherington, which would have had more r memblance if the latter had not signed his full .a ne to his sinister avowals. Men of Etherington ir Bulmer's stamp would not readily affix their ii 1 signatures to utterances so outspoken and o shameless. This is a minor matter. The book f< uld have been better, as well as more com- iri hensible, had James Ballantyne not interfered a Puritanical fashion with the progress of the story. It re, however, in new guise, ' St. Ronan's Well ' is, fi ;h all the illustrations, the notes of author and d)tor, the glossary, and other attractions, and it is ure of a welcome.

WITH much pleasure we welcome in the Fort- nightly Review a contribution from the author of The Golden Bough,' the most masterly book yet written on the origin and development of primitive >elief. Mr. J. G. Frazer's latest communication, of vhich an instalment only appears, is on the subject if 'Totemism.' It is with totemism in Australia hat the writer is principally concerned. It seems, ndeed, as if the study of what are known a,s the intichiuma ceremonies might lead to a reconsidera- ion of the aspect of the totemic system which may )erhaps best be described as magical rather than eligious. In arriving at his present doubts they )een greatly influenced by the ' Native Tribes of Central Australia' of Messrs. Spencer and Gillen, a york published within the present year, with vhich we have not as yet formed acquaintance. Some marvellous things are told us concerning a 3ortion we suppose it to be only a portion of the Central Australian tribes. Not only have certain tborigines no idea of using as garments the skins >f the animals they slay, they steadfastly reject the dea that mankind is propagated by the union of ihe sexes. What are the views they substitute we lave not space to tell ; it suffices to say that every luman being is the product of an immaculate con- lejation. The one new point concerning totemism <-ith which Mr. Frazer deals, and to which we can efer, is the extent to which an Australian savage /ill eat his own totem sparingly indeed, but un- esitatingly ; and-the fact that he has even, in case f need, the first right to eat it. Baron Pierre de loubertin continues his study of ' France since 314.' His present chapter, if such it may be called, j'arisian Journalist writes of ' Bonapartism,' and lr. Samuel Howe on ' The Spoiling of St. Paul's.' . large portion of the contents is controversial. (he same may be said of an equal portion of the pntents of the Nineteenth Century. Mr. Alexander jutherland holds sanguine and easily defensible ews on 'The Natural Decline of Warfare,' and ints out the enormous and accelerating advance at has been made. We are still far from the age at which war will no longer be tolerated, but e are progressing in that direction. In spite of e ingenuity of our present weapons of destruction, t one per annum in ten thousand of our European pulation has died in war during the present cen- ry. One in a hundred would be a very low krcentage of similar deaths a thousand years to. Warfare accordingly, it is now shown, is pot less than one-hundredth part as destructive it was in the early Middle Ages." Other views krd. It is to be wished that Mr. R. B.
 * annot yet be called conclusions Mr. Frazer has
 * i headed ' The Great Juggling of 1830.' An Anglo-
 * t less encouraging and optimistic are put for-

Vlarston, the editor of the Fishing Gazette^ iould draw equally satisfactory conclusions as
 * egards ' The Thames as a Salmon River,' a

subject on which he writes. Great improvement las been effected during recent years by the action of the County Council in the condition of the water n the Thames tideway. It still holds true, however,
 * ,hat there are fifteen miles of river between London

Bridge and Erith in which salmon cannot live. The entire paper has singular interest. It is satisfactory jO find that the Thames Salmon Association still prosecutes its labours, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Marston will be able before long to hold put more encouragement. Much, however, that is diffi- cult remains to be done. Mrs. Anstruther gives a vivacious account of k Ladies' Clubs.' Would it not be preferable to call them "Women's Clubs, "leaving the term lady, or preferably "lydy," to those who now monopolize it ? We had no idea these clubs were so numerous or important, though our experiences of them have been pleasant and satisfactory. Dr. Arabella Kenealy seems of opinion that we may lose more than we gain from the progress women make as athletes. Her paper is very sensible. Mr. H. W. Hoare has an article of much interest and importance upon 'The English Bible from Henry VIII. to James I.' 'Winged Carriers of Disease,' by Lady Priestley, gives particulars of curious experiments in keeping houses, so to speak, fly and mosquito proof. A second part of Mr. C. Dana Gibson s ' Sketches in Egypt ' appears in the Pall Mall. The pictures of Egyptian life and of Christmas on the Nile seem tempting enough to those whose memories of spring fogs and blizzards are still fresh. A good and brightly illustrated account of 'The Queen's Furniture at Windsor' follows. Mr. Joseph Anderson reproduces some admirably characteristic pictures of Franz Len- bach, a famous portrait painter. ' Kensington Palace ' is described by Mary Howard. Mr. Clark Russell gives the sixth instalment of ' The Ship : her Story,' and Sir Hugh Gough the fifth part of his ' Old Memories : Afghanistan.' A reproduction, ably executed, of Mr. Orchardson's 'Farmer's Daughter' constitutes a good frontispiece. The illustrations generally are excellent. Mr. Sidney Lee prints in the Cornhill ' The Shakespeare First Folio : some Notes and a Discovery,' being part of a lecture he delivered lately at the London Institu- tion. It is not only the first folio with which he is concerned, a brief account being given of the four folios. About twenty perfect first folios Mr. Lee holds are in existence, and over one hundred and sixty which have sustained serious damage. Mr. Lee has examined some of the finest copies in existence, and points to differences in the text. Among the copies he has examined are one in the 'possession of the Duke of Leeds, with autographs of Charles Killigrew and Congreve ; the copy of Garrick, and that of John Philip Kemble. Mr. Lee then describes an exceptional copy belonging to William Jaggard, the printer of the book, which is the tallest and finest in existence. It was presented by Jaggard to Augustine Vincent, the herald. In connexion with it some facts of extreme interest are for the first time brought to light. Mr. Calde- ron's ' Academy of Humour ' is quaint and amusing. 'Service Militaire' gives a grim account of the treatment accorded the educated Frenchman under- going a year of obligatory service. ' Conferences on Books and Men' is readable. An account of Hartley Coleridge appears in Temple Bar. Nothing