The readers of "N. & Q." who are lovers of Folk Lore are, we well know,
very numerous; those who take an interest in that subject, and are at
the same time acquainted with the great philological acquirements of the
learned editor of the _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_, we have
no doubt shared our satisfaction at the announcement that Mr. Thorpe had
undertaken a work, comprehensive yet not too voluminous, in which he
would exhibit the ancient mythology and principal mythologic traditions
of Scandinavia and the North of Germany. The book is now before us; and
in three small volumes, entitled _Northern Mythology, comprising the
principal popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North
Germany, and the Netherlands_, Mr. Thorpe has presented us with such an
amount of information illustrative of the intimate connexion subsisting
between the heathenism of the Germanic nations of the Continent and that
of our Saxon forefathers, gathered from the writings of the best
scholars of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Low Countries, as was
never before within the reach of the mere English student, and, in so
doing, has produced a book which the general reader will devour for the
sake of the amusement to be found in it, the philosopher for the view of
the human mind which it presents, and the antiquary for the abundance of
new light which it throws upon many of the most obscure points in the
Folk Lore of Merry England. We shall probably often have occasion to
refer to it, in illustration of communications upon a subject which is
yet far from exhausted.
We were reminded, by the excellent explanation of the word _Bigot_,
quoted by a correspondent in our last Number (p. 331.) from the Rev. R.
Chevenix Trench's Lectures _On the Study of Words_, of a duty we owed to
our readers, namely, that of calling their attention more directly to
this admirable little volume. The Lectures, which are "On the Morality
in Words," "On the History in Words," "On the Rise of New Words," "On
the Distinction of Words," and "The Schoolmaster's Use of Words," may be
said to be a continuous and well-digested series of proofs of the truth
of the remark, that "there are cases in which more knowledge of more
value may be conveyed by the history of a word, than by the history of
a campaign." The book is, indeed, altogether a delightful one,
calculated not only to delight the understanding, but do so in such a
spirit as shall leave the reader a better as well as a wiser man.
_Fraser's Magazine_ for the present month opens with an article on a
subject which will doubtless interest many of our readers. It is
entitled _The Colleges of Oxford_, and exhibits, with much clearness, a
sketch of their origin and history, and is obviously introductory to the
consideration of their future policy.
_The Afghans, the Ten Tribes, and the Kings of the East. The Druses, the
Moabites_, by the Right Hon. Sir G. H. Rose, is, as the ample title
shows, an endeavour to establish the identity of the Afghans with the
Ten Tribes, and of the Druses with the Moabites; and the argument is
carried on in a manner which reflects the highest credit upon the
learning and reverent spirit of the writer.
_The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero literally translated_, by C. D.
Yonge, vol. iii., is the new volume of Bohn's _Classical Library_, and
contains the orations for his house, Plancius, Sextius, Cælius, Milo,
Ligarius, &c.
_A few Remarks on the Emendation "Who Smothers her with Painting," in
the Play of Cymbeline, discovered by Mr. Collier in a corrected Copy of
the Second Edition of Shakspeare_, by J. O. Halliwell. A pamphlet in
which Mr. Halliwell defends the old reading,
"Whose mother was her painting,"
against the ingenious suggestion of the anonymous emendator of Mr.
Collier's second folio.