CORRESPONDENCE.
The Nibelung Treasure in English.
(Vol. ix. p. 372.)
Mr. Ker is in error regarding the reference to the Rhine in his
quotation from Sir Degrevant. " In the reyne " means simply
" in the kingdom."
Lewis F. Mott. College of the City of New York.
Professor Ker comments as follows :
"The rhymes in Sir Degreva?it are correct enough, though the spelling is not, and Reyne here rhymes to 7)iine. For the spelling compare hne 141 3 (p. 236 in Halliwell's text) : ' And evere sche drow horn the wyn Bothe the Roche and the Reyn And the good Malvesyn ffelde sche horn jare.' And line 1704 :
' Sche broujthe hem Vernage and Crete And wyne of the Reyne.'
Rehie in the sense of realm cannot be made to fit the rhyme. To read the passage as ' All the gold in the realm,' instead of ' All the gold in the Rhine,' is an emendation, not an interpretation, of the text, and one that appears to be disallowed by the usages and language of the poem."
Burial Customs. (Vol. X. pp. 253-4.) In i860 I went with my father to the house of a friend who had just died. He lay in his coffin, and my father placed his hand on the forehead of the corpse, and told me to do the same. As we left the house my father said to me: "This is the first time you've ever seen a dead body, and I wanted you to notice what a pecu- liar coldness there was in it. And," he added, in a somewhat apologetic fashion, " they say that you should always touch any dead body that you see, for it prevents you dreaming of him — at least, that's what they say."
My father, his father, myself, and the dead friend, were all Londoners by birth and residence.
J. P. Emslie.
