Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/287

 9*s.v. APRIL 7, i9oo.] NOTES AND QUERIES

279

niight expect. A school of Assyriologists has arisen in America which occupies an honourable position in the vanguard of this field of research. We need only mention the names of Peters, Hayes Ward, F. Brown, Hilprecht, Haupt, Craig, and Jastrow. It is to the last of these scholars that we owe the important contribution to which we do tardy justice in this notice.

Hitherto the English reader who wished to master the intricacies of the Babylonian religion had to content himself with Prof. Sayce's Hibbert Lectures on the subject a pioneer volume of wonderful excellence, considering it was written thirteen years ago. But Assyriology, the youngest of the sciences, has made immense strides since then ; and the merit of the treatise before us is that, though the author modestly deprecates any claim to exhaus- tiveness, it takes account of all that has appeared in scattered monographs and periodicals, and gathers into a focus rays of light which have emanated from all quarters of the world of learning. The result is a perfect storehouse of facts, texts, commentaries, and elucidations, which puts the reader into full possession of the present state of Babylonian know- ledge. The gods of their pantheon, their demono- logy, witchcraft, and incantations, their liturgical hymns and prayers, their cosmology, myths, and legends, their temples and cult, are each submitted in turn to a careful review till the whole field is covered. Ashur, who stands at the head of the Assyrian deities, and is the eponymous god of the people and their chief city, is understood by Prof. Jastrow to be a later form of the ancient Arishar, " the heavenly totality," altered under the influence of the verb a'shar, to be good and gracious ; but he ought not to have yielded to the temptation of citing as a possible parallel our own word "god" as connected with "good," a proposal which no sound etymologist will readily give in to. It is now generally acknowledged that the religious ideas of the Babylonians lie at the base of most, if not all, of the ancient religions, and their importance for a right understanding of those early faiths is every day becoming better recognized. All the lines of primi- tive civilization and culture are found to converge towards the valley of the Euphrates. Babylonia supplies the master-key which alone can unlock many of the dark and labyrinthine chambers of mythology, ritual, and folk-lore, around which scholars hitherto have groped perplexed. Above all, these ancient documents are essential to the Bible student. " To understand the Hebrews, their religion, their customs, and even their manner of thought, we must turn to Babylonia." The tradi- tions of the two peoples are incpntestably derived from a common source, as is evident from a com- parison of the cosmogony of Genesis and the narra- tive of the Noachic Deluge with the accounts of the cuneiform tablets. Many, indeed, of the prayers and hymns addressed to Shamash (the Sun-god) manifest a fervent devotion coupled with a sense of sin, and are inspired by an elevation of thought and high ethical conceptions which are not un- worthy of being compared with the Hebrew psalms themselves. Prof. Jastrow's careful analysis of these liturgical remains, in his seventeenth and eighteenth chapters, is a fine piece of work, which will well repay the study of the comparative theo- logian. Altogether we can heartily recommend this masterly survey of a subject of enthralling interest. A very full index and an admirable bibliography add greatly to its value and completeness.

VERY little is there in the Fortnightly that is not occupied with South African affairs or matters bearing thereupon. Fortunately the matter is not all warlike, and there is an account from a feminine source of * Fifty-eight Years, as Child and Woman, in South Africa,' which may be read with equa- nimity by the most uncompromising advocate of peace. It is edited by Maynard Butler, and con- tains many beautiful' and some startling things. Major E. S. Valentine is at the trouble to indicate the many points of resemblance between the fight in which we are at present engaged and the struggle in America against the Confederate forces. Mr. W. E. Garrett Fisher writes on ' The House of Moliere,' as the recently destroyed Theatre Francais was frequently called. He gives a fairly vivacious and apparently accurate account of the difficulties attending the establishment of the Comedie Fran- caise, and quotes Racine's am using description, in a letter to Boileau, of the obstacles placed by the French cures in the way of the management when, after the ejection of the Comedie from the Rue Guenegaud, it sought a new home. The Church in Paris was, indeed, as hostile to the establishment of a theatre in 1687 as was, a century earlier, the Corporation of London. Mr. James Joyce speaks in high eulogy of Ibsen's new drama. The writer is an out-and-out worshipper, whose attitude is shown when he expresses his doubt whether any good purpose can be served by the attempt to criticize. " Ibsen," says he, " is one of the world's great men, before whom criticism can make but feeble show " surely a sufficiently astounding statement. Mr. Michael MacDonagh deals with ' A Royal Visit to Ireland ' undertaken by George IV. Dr. St. George Mivart's recent utterances have begotten a polemic to which Mr. Wilfrid Ward enters, and into which we shall not attempt to enter. A sufficiently pessimistic tone pervades the articles on the war with which the Nineteenth Century begins. By general consent it seems that the Government is slow to recognize what are pur real and full require- ments. With these questions, however, we may not deal. Even when we turn to subsequent portions of the magazine we are still faced with controversial matter. Four prose articles in all and one poem deal with literature. Carmen Sylva gives some meditations in Westminster Abbey, which are translated by Mr. Arthur Waugh. Mrs. Ayscough Fawkes supplies an interesting paper on ' Mr. Ruskin at Farnley,' containing some character- istic utterances, both spoken and written, of the great critic. Farnley Hill, situated on the Wharfe between Otley and Arthington, is, it should be stated, the home of the Fawkeses. It contained many priceless Turners, and was visited by Mr. and Mrs. Ruskin, who in 1851 stayed there for a month. Thirty years later Ruskin arrived at Farnley again, having travelled from Matlock by way of Skip ton, nearly doubling the distance rather than see the smoke and manufactures of Sheffield. Between Skipton and Farnley, however, his eyes would be grieved by the sight of abundance of gaunt mills with high chimneys. Among his eccen- tricities may be counted his asking not to be taken into the drawing-room where were the Turners, since " he should not be able to bear it." ' The Autocrat of the Dinner Table' is the name Mr. Herbert Paul applies to Seldeu. To his 'Table Talk ' it is due that this not specially appro- priate name is bestowed upon him. Recent 'Excavations in the Roman Forum' are described