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flourished about the end of the reign of Elizabeth and beginning of that of James (1563-1618), the author of "Tobacco Battered and the Pipes Shattered (about their Ears that idely Idolize so base and barbarous a Weed; or at least-wise overlove so loathsome a Vanitie: By a Volley of Holy Shot Thundered from Mount Helicon," makes use of the word in his poem of 'Henrie the Great':This Prince unpeerd for Clemency and Courage

Justly surnam'd the Great, the Good, the Wise,
Mirour of Future, Miracle of Fore-Age,
One short Mishap for ever Happifies.

See the 'Complete Works of Joshuah Sylvester,' by Rev. Alex. B. Grosart, LL.D., 1880, 11. 639-42.

71, Brecknock Road.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

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"I Daniel Scott now living in the Parish of Saint Lukes in the County of Middlesex...... It is my desire that my funeral be private and frugal and that I may be buried in the place where I die. If I die a lodger Boarder or Visiter I desire my Executor to make a present to the people of the House where I die proportionable to the trouble my Illness and death shall occasion not exceed

ing Ten pounds besides paying necessary Charges."

The testator refers to his houses at Bishopstortford, in Hertfordshire, and in Ratcliff Highway, in Middlesex, and mentions his nephews Dr. Joseph Nicol Scott and Mr. Samuel Scott, ironmonger. DANIEL HIPWELL.

34, Myddelton Square, Clerkenwell.

FRENCH OF "STRATFORD ATTE BOWE" (7th S. ix. 305,414,497). - Although I observe that in 1883 Dr. Morris himself, in his Clarendon Press edition of the 'Prologue,' &c., distinctly adopts the view that there is a satiric touch in Chaucer's words, I heartily endorse MR. BAYNE's commendation of the sweet reasonableness of PROF. SKEAT's opinion, which doubtless Dr. Morris now shares. Still there are so many proverbial phrases, each with a sting in them, that one must hesitate before ad mitting that the question is closed. In view of the French of Mariborough and the French of the furthest end of Norfolk, it is not easy to reckon the French of Stratford quite free from satire. It may, however, be relevant to point out a curious passage in the 'De Laudibus Legum Angliæ,' edition of 1682, chap. xlviii. pp. 110, 111. In that work, full of out-of-the-way suggestiveness, Sir John Fortescue, Lord Chief Justice and Chancellor of Henry VI., touches incidentally on the relative places occupied by English, French, and Latin in the study and practice of the law. After giving some account of the introduction of French and

the scope of its use by the legal profession, and mentioning the fact that it was formerly used in pleading, that the reports are generally in that tongue, and that many of the statutes are in French, he goes on to say (I quote from the old translation, which is very faithful) :

"Whereof it hapneth that the common speech now used in France agreeth not nor is not like the French used among the Lawyers of England, but it is by a certain rudeness of the common people corrupt. Which corruption of speech chanceth not in the French that is used in England, forsomuch as the speech is there oftner written than spoken."

A bold criticism! By the way, has any one dealt with the grammar and history of English-French? GEO. NEILSON.

Glasgow.

In sporting parlance this is "hedging," and unsatisfactory at the best. If French of Norfolk is English, why not French of Stratford atte Bow

also? If French of Stratford atte Bowe is real French with insular pronunciation, why not class French of Norfolk in the same category.

Chaucer's remark is certainly a sneer or an apology. Then look at the name Jurnepin, arising out of the alleged assault of the Norwich Jews on a youthful male Christian; the name is certainly of French extraction. May we not assume as final that Chaucer's era marks the epoch when conversational French was dying out and the language we now call English becoming popular? A. H.

GREAT ORMES HEAD (7th S. ix. 507). — If O. B. K. follows the Welsh coast-line southward he will find this name repeated in another form in Glamorganshire. Ormes Head is the same as Worm's Head, the one being the Norse, the other the Anglo-Saxon form. This word is not uncommon in place-names. We have two Ormsbys in Lincolnshire, there are others in Yorkshire and Norfolk, and an Ormskirk in Lancashire. Further south the Anglo-Saxon form is common enough, and there is a Wormhill in the extreme north of Derbyshire. The city of Worms is another instance. Attached to many of these places there are legends like that of the Lambton worm or the dragon of Wantley, and they all testify to the place held by the serpent in the minds of our forefathers. Even at this day it does not require much imagination to see the serpent's head rising above the waves as one approaches the Great Orme from Beaumaris.

С. С. В.

The connexion between the Great Ormes Head and Governor Ormes, the great-grandfather of your correspondent, is extremely remote. The surname Ormes is a patronymic derived from Ormr, one of the commonest of Scandinavian names, which occurs more than twenty times in the Landnámabók. It means a snake or serpent,

and is cognate with the English worm. The Ormes
Head in North Wales and the Worm's Head in
South Wales were so called from a fancied resem-
blance of the rocks to a sea-serpent. Village names
like Ormesby and Ormsthwaite are from the per-
sonal name Ormr.
ISAAC TAYLOR.

The Great and Little Ormes Head take their

name from the Norse ormr, a serpent, the Scandinavian form of the Anglo-Saxon wyrm. As Vikings sailed round the coast of North Wales the

likeness of these promontories to the heads of huge serpents rising out of the sea stamped itself on their impressionable minds and gave rise to the designation. It appears as Worm's Head on the coast of South Wales. EDMUND VENABLES.

ALCATRAS (7th S. ix. 422). - MR. WARD is, of course, aware that this name has been given to other birds besides the albatross. Nares (who, by the way, misquotes Drayton's lines) says that Clusino and others give it to the Indian hornbill. Sir R. Hawkins ('Purchas, vol. iv. p. 1376, quoted by Miss Phipson) applies it to the tropic bird. He spells the name alcatrace, and his description of the bird is quite inapplicable to the albatross. Miss Phipson also quotes from Gonzalo de Oviedo's report of the Indies ('Purchas, vol. iii. p. 979) another account of "certaine fowles or birds, which the Indians call alcatraz," and applies it to the pelican, though possibly the albatross was intended. What is remarkable in this account is that the name should be spoken of as Indian. Halliwell defines alcatras as "a kind of sea gull," and quotes Drayton in support of his definition. This is particularly unfortunate if it be true, as one would suppose from the accounts of naturalists that there is a sort of natural antipathy between these birds and gulls.

С. С. В.

STATUE OF GEORGE IV. (7th S. ix. 508).

There was a very sufficient reason why the execrable statue of George IV. which surmounted the building-watchbox below and clock-tower above-which fifty years ago disgraced the junction of Gray's Inn Lane and the New Road could not be removed when the structure was taken down. The wretched thing was built up of brick, coated with cement, and moulded into the royal form. Naturally, when the removal was attempted, the whole of the mock statue fell to pieces. It is not a little remarkable, and certainly greatly to be deplored, that this contemptible erection, whose whole existence was comprised within fifteen years, should have wiped out so effectually the old historic appellation of the spot, and that "King's Cross" should have taken the place of the time-honoured "Battle Bridge," the reputed site of the engage ment between Suetonius and Boadicea (Tacit., 'Annal.,' xiv. 33, 37). The bridge crossed the "River of Wells," where, some centuries later,

was a mill, the miller of which, in the early days of Edward VI., was set in the pillory and had his ears cut off for uttering seditious words against the Duke of Somerset. It is hard to realize that only a century and a half ago a coach was stopped, by a highwayman at Battle Bridge, containing two ladies, a child, and a maid, who were "despoiled

by him, but not uncivilly." For this the high

wayman-J. Everitt by name was hanged at E. VENABLES.

Tyburn, February 20, 1731/2.

Samuel Palmer, in his 'History of St. Pancras Parish,' states that the statue was taken down in 1842, when the pedestal was turned into a police station; and the Morning Advertiser of Thursday, January 30, 1845, reported the commencement of the demolition of the building on Monday last by a large body of labourers.

71, Brecknock Road.

EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

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CHURCH OF ENGLAND SERVICES IN NORMAN

FRENCH (7th S. ix. 348, 413). There can be no doubt that Mass and the Hours were said in Latin; although in the parish churches what Hours, beside Vespers if even they were said-must, I presume, be a matter of conjecture. But as to preaching, Jocelin de Brakelond says, in his 'Chronicle,' that Abbot Samson "Anglice Sermocinari solebat populo, sed secundum linguam Norfolchie" (Camd. ed., p. 30). Denton, in his 'England in the Fifteenth Century,' refers to 'Pet. Blessensis Op., t. iv. p. 299 (edit. Giles) on the same matter, but does not give what Peter of Blois says.

H. A. W.

BARWELL AND WARREN HASTINGS (7th S. ix. 328, 414). - The title of the little book referred to by your correspondent M. is 'Echoes from Old Calcutta: being Reminiscences of the Days of Warren Hastings, Francis, and Impey,' by H. E. Busteed (Thacker & Co., Calcutta and London, 1882). It is a very interesting history of the times of Philip Francis (he was not Sir Philip until 1806) and his connexion with Madame Grand, a creole, afterwards the wife of Prince de Bénévent (C. M. de Talleyrand), the first diplomatist of his time. As regards the Christian name of Mr. Barwell, I may remark that in the work by Mr. Busteed "Richard Barwell" is quoted at p. 134; but in my copy of the 'Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis,' by Joseph Parkes and Herman Merivale, M.A. (Longmans & Co., London, 1867), "W. Barwell" appears in the index! Sir Philip Francis appears to have entertained a deep hatred for Mr. Barwell, and gave expression to his opinion of his character in the following words, viz. :

" Mr. Barwell, I think, has all the bad qualities common to this climate and country, of which he is in every sense a native. He is rapacious without industry, and ambitious without an exertion of his faculties or steady application to affairs. He will do whatever can be done by bribery and intrigue. He has no other resource. Though he does not appear to want capacity, he is more ignorant than might be expected from the common education of Westminster School." - Vide Life of Sir Philip,' vol. ii. p. 62, 1867.

Freegrove Road, N.

HENRY GERALD HOPE.

Probably some information might be found concerning Richard Barwell, who could have been no ordinary man, in 'Memoirs of the Life of Warren Hastings, by the Rev. G. R. Gleig, a book on which Macaulay based his famous essay; and in 'Memoirs of the Life of Sir Elijah Impey,' by his son, Elijah Barwell Impey.

JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.

Newbourne Rectory, Woodbridge.

I have in my possession a volume entitled :The History of the Trial of Warren Hastings, Esq., Late Governor of Bengal, before the High Court of Parliament in Westminster Hall on an Impeachment by the Commons of Great Britain for High Crimes and

Misdemeanours. Containing the Whole of the Proceed ings and Debates in both Houses of Parliament, relating to that celebrated prosecution, from Feb. 7, 1786, until his Acquital, April 23, 1795. To which is added, An Account of the Proceedings of Various General Courts of the Honourable United East India Company held in consequence of his Acquital. London: Printed for J. Debrett [?], opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly; and Vernon & Hood, Birchin Lane, Cornhill. 1796.

Can any of your readers tell me who was the editor of this publication ?

HENRY R. PLOMER.

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, &0.

The English Novel of the Time of Shakespeare.
Jusserand. Translated by Elizabeth Lee.
Unwin.)

By J. J.
(Fisher

IT was a fortunate day for England when Dr. Jusserand accepted a diplomatic post in this country. During his residence here Dr. Jusserand has explored our early literature with a patient fidelity which few Englishmen can rival. To this we owe English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages,' in praise of which we have already spoken, and the present volume. Both are translations. Both have, however, been executed under the supervision of the author, who has revised and considerably augmented the works. In the handsome and finely illustrated volume now issued by Mr. Fisher Unwin it is, indeed, difficult to recognize the modest yellow-covered volume sent to us a couple of years ago. A diligent and conscientious student, Dr. Jusserand has waded through not only such works as the 'Morte Darthur,' the 'Utopia, and the 'Arcadia,' but the very numerous works of Tudor times which followed the appearance of Euphues and his England.' It is only within recent years, and owing

to the private enterprise of Dr. Grosart and Mr. Arber, that the works of Greene, Lodge, Nash, and other early novelists have been accessible to the scholar. Now even they have been studied by few except the philologist, undaunted and unwearying in his chase after words. Dr. Jusserand, however, who is to some extent a follower of Taine, has perused them with a purely literary purpose, and is responsible for a system of classification. He begins at an early date with Beowulf, and writes in thoughtful and admirable style concerning Chaucer and Caxton. With his third chapter, however, in which he tackles 'Euphues,' the most stimulating portion of the volume begins. As legatees of Lyly he classes Greene, Lodge, Warner, Nicholas Breton, Munday, and other less-known writers. Another school, that of pastoral romance, finds its head in Sir Philip Sidney, whose reputation Dr. Jusserand traces in the eighteenth century. Concerning the influence of Sidney in France he has much that is very curious and deeply interesting to say. The Picaresque and realistic novel, mean time, finds its chief in Thomas Nash, of whose 'Jack Wilton' a capital analysis is given. Successors of Nash are Chettle and Decker, and distant heirs are traced in Defoe and Swift. The study of the novel is continued until the times are reached of Mrs. Behn, and the whole closes with a chapter descriptive of the connexion between "the master novelists of the eighteenth century and the prentice novelist of the sixteenth.

The subject is treated in masterly fashion, and the volume, which will be a delight to the scholar, will also interest the general reader. It is, moreover, illustrated in brilliant style with woodcuts and other illustrations of highest interest, extracted from old books, MSS., &c., both French and English. So numerous are these designs, a mere list of them occupies ten pages. In all respects, indeed, the volume is one to be coveted, and there are few students of past times that will not assign it a place on their shelves.

The Autobiography of a Seaman. By Thomas, Tenth
Earl of Dundonald. With a Sequel edited by his
Grandson, Douglas, Twelfth Earl of Dundonald.
(Bentley & Son.)

AMONG the few really welcome new editions we have
notice of one that more than justifies republication. 'The
Autobiography of a Seaman' (Admiral Dundonald) is
being reissued by Messrs. Bentley with an additional
sequel that embodies the admiral's services under foreign
flags, his successes in liberating the Spanish and Portu-
guese colonies of South America, and his share in the
war of Greek independence. Coupled with his naval
achievements is an interesting account of his subsequent
home life and his pursuits as an inventor and scientific
investigator. The book is likely to interest a wide circle

of readers. In it are adventures that will hold the atten-
tion of a schoolboy, political intrigues that give an in-
sight into party politics of the past and throw light on
later developments, suggestions of naval reforms since
carried out by both Liberal and Conservative govern-
ments, but for the advocacy of which at that time Capt.
Lord Cochrane suffered long and severely. The work is
well got up, and the illustrations, which are good, include
an excellent portrait.

Palestine under the Moslems. By Guy Le Strange.
(Watt.)
Northern 'Ajlûn. By Gottlieb Schumacher. (Same
publisher.)

THESE two volumes are published under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund. In the first Mr. Le Strange has set himself the task of translating and digesting into something like order the large mass of information about Syria and the Holy Land which has

hitherto lain buried in the Arabic texts of the Moslem geographers and travellers of the Middle Ages. The material available seems to be of vast amount, Mr. Le Strange citing twenty-four writers as his chief authorities, which range from Ibn Khurdadbih (about A.D. 864) to Mujir ad Dîn (A.D. 1496). From these littleknown travellers he quotes at first hand, and his book impresses the reader as giving the results of much close and conscientious labour. It might profitably be read in connexion with the Jerusalem' of Mr. Besant (to whom the volume is appropriately dedicated) and Prof. Palmer, and in continuation of the Early Travellers in Palestine,' edited by Mr. Wright. The chapter on the seven sleepers of Ephesus, and other legends and marvels, will be of interest to folk-lorists. By a momentary lapse Mr. Le Strange, reversing the true order of things, makes

the Persian farsang a derivative of the Greek παρασάγγας (p. 50).

'Northern 'Ajlûn' is the outcome of a somewhat hurried exploration made by Mr. Schumacher in the little-visited region of Decapolis, a reminiscence of which name still survives in the modern El-Kefarât, "The Villages." But few ancient monuments are found in this district, on account of the friable nature of the stone used in their structure; the remains, however, of a fine Roman theatre and basilica at Umm Keis, the ancient Gadara, are important and striking. The caves of Jedâr, near his town, still preserve its original name, just as Beit Râs, "House of the Head" (or "Chief"), calls up the ancient Capitolias. These and other similar identifications are interesting, and Mr. Schumacher gives a liberal supply of plans and sketches made on the spot.

The Collected Writings of Thomas de Quincey. Edited by David Masson. (Edinburgh, A. & C. Black.) VOL. IX. of the new edition of De Quincey is occupied with political economy, and supplies on the title-page a portrait of David Ricardo, who occupied a place in De Quincey's select list of eminent thinkers. It opens with the essay on Malthus on Population,' gives the slightly tetchy letter of Hazlitt concerning it, and the author's satisfactory and temperate, if not wholly conciliatory, reply. Dialogues of Three Templars on Political Economy' follow, and are themselves succeeded by the 'Logic of Political Economy.' Later come some political essays, the tone of which the editor regrets. He holds, however, that they are among the best of De Quincey's essays, and says that "a more subtle, and in some respects more instructive, insight into the history and philosophy of British party politics may be obtained from them than from anything in Hallam or Macaulay."

A Layman's Prayer Book in English. Edited by H. Littlehales. (Rivingtons.)

MR. LITTLEHALES has here reproduced in excellent facsimile fourteen pages of an imperfect manuscript Prymer in the British Museum. These are the earliest English versions known of the canticles and prayers of the Church in England, dating from the year 1400, and should be compared with those given in Canon Simmons's edition of the 'Lay Folk's Mass Book.' Very few of these old service books survive, owing, as Mr. Littlehales points out, to the very stringent Acts of Parliament which were issued from time to time for their destruction, in order to secure a monopoly for newly authorized editions. We notice in the version of the Te Deum' an interesting use of a word familiar to us now as "squeamish": "Thou were nat skoymes to take be maidenes wombe." In the same document the rendering "Make him to be rewarded wip pi seintes in endeles blisse" shows that the writer had before him a Latin text with the reading "munerari" instead of numerari, for which, indeed, there is very respectable authority.

Stratford-on-Avon from the Earliest Times to the Death

of Shakespeare. By Sidney Lee. (Seeley & Co.) MR. LEE's admirable account of Stratford-on-Avon has been issued in a new and an attractive edition. With its forty-five illustrations by Mr. Edward Hull, and its interesting and valuable letterpress, it constitutes a tempting companion to the tourist as well as a book of painstaking research. Some changes are perceptible in the present edition. From recently published collections of archives Mr. Lee has enlarged his account of the Guilds, and he has supplied much new and important information concerning the troubles in Warwickshire in Shakspeare's days as to enclosures. With these additions and some few other alteratione the volume puts forward fresh claims upon attention.

No. 2 of Bibliographical Miscellanies, by Wm. Blades (Blades, East & Blades), contains a valuable account, illustrated, of 'Books in Chains.' This subject will be continued in the three forthcoming numbers. A view of the chained library in Wimborne Minster constitutes the frontispiece. This is accompanied by a catalogue of the books in the library, representing "very fairly the literary taste and religious bias of the seventeenth century." Like all works of Mr. Blades, the present book, when completed, will be a great boon to antiquaries.

An excellent Catalogue of the Reference Department of the Free Public Library of Wigan is being issued by Mr. H. T. Folkard, the librarian. The part before us contains the letter D only. The entire work will have uses extending beyond local service.

THE second volume of Le Livre Moderne opens with an article entitled 'Un Érudit Oublié,' This deals with F. G. S. Trébutien, a bibliophile and éditeur littéraire, concerning whom nothing is known in this country. The memoir, which is accompanied by a portrait, casts more light upon Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly than upon its subject. Amuselles Bibliographiques' gives a list of parodies théâtrales. M. B. H. Gausseron has some admirable Notes d'un Liseur,' dealing with the new books of the last month.

Notices to Correspondents.

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 publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

We cannot undertake to answer queries privately. To secure insertion of communications correspondents must observe the following rule. 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. Correspondents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication "Duplicate."

JOHN HUGHES ("Mena tschim"). -Two words, pronounced menasz-chim, signifying overseer.

MRS. LEVY. -The death of Madame de Broc took place in 1813. The date of the Queen's visit to Grésy, the scene of the accident, some correspondent may be able to supply. *CORRIGENDUM. - P. 32, col. 2, 1. 26 from bottom, for "Neota" read Nesta.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 26, 1890.

CONTENTS. - N° 239.

NOTES:-"Uncle Remus," 61-The Dukedom of Clarence, 62 -Edouart's Silhouettes, 65-Epitaph-'Essex Papers'-Unfastening a Door at Death-Register, Registrar-Memorials of Cowper's Family Tobacco unnoticed by shakespeare of

-Anlas-Scotch and American Secretaries-Chained Books

Names of 66-Marriages of the Fifth Earl Argyle, 67.

QUERIES: - Churchmen in Battle-"Truckle Cheese": "Merlin Chair," 67-The Church of SS. Anne and AgnesForest Gate-Jorum-Victorian Coins - Ainsty-HercyGeorge Hickes-Genealogical - Ugborough Church-Monteagle-Pleshey Castle-Thos. Messingham-Portrait, 68St. Bernard's Hymn-Treasure Trove-Gallego-Eating of Fish Prohibited-Copley Family-Lord Stafford's Interlude Players-First Earl of Durham-Census of Ancient RomeChurch of Scotland-Henshaw Quarterings, 69. REPLIES:-Singular Custom, 70-Thomas de Holand-Enid, 71-Tomb of Hearne-Jews in England-"One law for the rich," &c., 72-Roman Catholic Registers - Garrulity "Man-traps and spring-guns," &c. 73-Sir A. Hamilton of Redhall-King James I-Volunteer Colours-Order of St. John of Jerusalem, 74-Emma Tatham-" Psychological Pædagogies"-Spurs-Arrow Throwing-Bible cords, 75-Bibliography-"King of Arms"-The Game of Polo-Swad-New Castle Ruin, Bridgend, 76 - BanianClayton: Medhop-" Don't"-Writers of the Life of St. Agnes-Peter Stuyvesant-National Flowers, 77-Leprosy in the Middle Ages-Gin Palaces, 78-Suicide, 79.

NOTES ON BOOKS:-Baines's Records of Hampstead''Journal of the Derbyshire Archæological Society'-'Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'-' Gentleman's Magazine Library.'

Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

"UNCLE REMUS" AND SOME EUROPEAN POPULAR TALES, &c.

I.

It has been justly remarked that the man who pretends to be "good all round" at anything is in reality good for nothing; and this seems to me especially the case of folk-lore students who profess to be thoroughly well acquainted with the popular fictions of all countries. There is no such man in existence, and in all likelihood there never will be.* In no department of literature is "division of labour" more necessary than in the comparative study of folk-lore and folk-tales. Life is so short, men's ordinary avocations take up so much of that brief span, that all that can be expected of a single labourer in such a vast field is merely to dig a little or, to vary the metaphor, contribute a few bricks towards the slowly rising pile. In an able and interesting paper on 'Gipsy Folk-tales' in the National Review for July, 1888, my friend Mr. F. Hindes Groome remarked that I seemed "strangely ignorant of the existence of gipsy folk-tales, of the fact, too, that not a few gipsies are professional story-tellers" (p. 660). As an ignorant sinner, however, I had good company to keep me in countenance, since Mr. Groome brings the same charge against "Dasent, Cox,

* We shall, however, know a good deal about folk-tales "all round" when the Folk-lore's Society's "tabulation" is completed and published.

Ralston, Lang." But, thanks to Mr. Groome himself (the only specialist in gipsy tales in this country), I have mended my ways very considerably in this respect, and the charge is no longer applicable to me. complained that in my 'Popular Tales and Fictions' Some French critics, again, (1887) I had overlooked French folk-tales, which I deny, but one, with the exaggerated courtesy which characterizes our Gallic neighbours, was good enough to declare: "Ce que Clouston a lu en fait de contes orientaux est inoui."

And again, several friendly American critics complained of the absence of negro parallels to some European popular tales, as found in "Uncle Remus" and elsewhere. The reason why the entertaining tales of "Uncle Remus" found no place in my book was the belief, which I then held, tha had been derived from Europeans or persons of they European descent, and I therefore considered them not worth reproduction in such a work, as the only interest they could possess to others than the "general" reader lay in the fact that they had undergone changes in passing through the negro mind. But I have since examined these curious recitals more carefully, and have come to the conclusion that in many cases they owe little to "de white folks," and should not be overlooked or omitted in the comparative study of folk-tales generally. I now purpose, therefore, to store in N. & Q.,' mean time, some analogues and variants from "Uncle Remus" of familiar European popular fictions; and as my preamble has taken up so much space, I shall confine myself in the present paper to one of the shorter examples.

In European fables and tales the fox usually outwits all the other animals; but in these negro tales he is constantly the victim of the rabbit's clever tricks; indeed "Brother Rabbit," with the exception of his celebrated encounter with the "Tar-Baby," and perhaps one or two others, comes out of all his difficulties and dangers with flying colours.

BRER RABBIT BAGS BRER FOX'S GAME.

On one occasion the rabbit spies the fox on his way home with a large bag of game slung over his back, and determines to get it for himself. To this end he runs through the wood and lies down on the road as if he were dead, some distance ahead of his destined victim, and the venerable story-teller thus proceeds:

Brer Fox he come 'long, he did, en see Brer Rabbit layin' dar. Hetu'n 'im over, he did, en 'zamine 'im, en say, sezee: "Dish yer rabbit dead. He look like he bin dead long time. He dead, but he mighty fat. He de fattes'

rabbit w'at I ever see, but he bin dead too long. I feard ter take 'im home," sezee. nuthin'. Brer Fox, he sorter lick his chops, but he Brer Rabbit ain't sayin' went on, en lef Brer Rabbit layin' in de road. Dreckly he wuz outer sight, Brer Rabbit he jump up, he did, en run roun' thoo de woods en git befo' Brer Fox agin. Brer Fox he come up, en dar lay Brer Rabbit, 'periently

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