140 NOTES AND QUERIES. i[i2s. vm.FEB.i2, 1921. " The pessimism of the ' Luziim,' says Dr. ^Nicholson, " wears the form of an intense per- vading darkness, stamping itself on the mind and deeply affecting the imagination." This expresses very happily the special quality of Ma'arri. The whole work looks towards death : and meanwhile, the chafing captive of life, like all those whose thoughts are chiefly expectant, whose attitude is that of waiting, has a strange and vivid consciousness of time. In poetry so resolutely abstract as these ' Meditations ' one is not surprised that figures should be few : and therefore the instances of a figurative present- ment of time are the more striking. Like many Eastern writers Ma'arri has a special consciousness or apprehension of the passage and alternation of night and day the two strong youths that drag him deathwards. Our perversity in lighting up the darkness of night, and living in it so largely, has no doubt blunted us to the simple majesty of the "endless file." (It is interesting, by the way, to note that Emerson, in his fine lines on the "hypocritic Days" turns, as if by some instinct, to the East for "his imagery they come, he says, -" muffled and dumb like barefoot Dervishes.") Dr Nicholson's account of Ma'arri's philosophy leaves nothing to be desired. The writer of these lines would suggest that the full quality of that philosophy might best be savoured by means of a contrast by reading, in companionship with the
- Luziim,' some western work of about equal value
and authority on kindred subjects. 'The Tus- culan Disputations,' perhaps, would serve as well as an y the more instructively because the political disturbances of the close of the Roman Republic may well compare with the disturbances of Ma'arri's day and people in so far as concerns their probable effect on a cultivated man's esti- mate of the value of life. If the East cherishes a joie de mourir in place of the much-vaunted joie de vivre, there remains the curious fact that pessimism of this " intense pervading darkness " has a stimulating quality which is absent from the petulant or half-hearted pessimism more usual in the West. The Oxfordshire Record Series. Vol II., Parochial Collections of Anthony a Wood and Richard Rawlinson (first part). Edited by the Rev. F. N. Davis, B.A., B.Litt. (Oxford, issued for the Society, 1920.) THIS is the second volume issued by the Oxford- shire Record Society, founded in 1919 for printing documents relating to the history of the county. 'The first volume, issued last year, was the Chantry Certificates and Edwardian Inventories of Church goods. The present volume adds another in- teresting collection of documents relating to Oxfordshire churches and parishes. The tran- scription has been made by the learned general editor of the series from several manuscript volumes preserved in the Bodleian Library and in the British Museum. The earlier collections are the work of Anthony a Wood (1632-95), the latter of Richard Rawlinson (1690-1755), the well-known antiquaries. In the present issue the notes have been arranged under the parishes in alphabetical order, and when complete they will probably extend to three volumes. This volume covers the parishes- Adderbury to Cuxham. Besides many details ae to the ownership of the principal estates and various other information, the notes are very valuable as forming a con- temporary account of monuments and inscriptions in the parish churches, not a few of which have since perished. Oxfordshire antiquaries will be grateful to the Societ^" for making these notes so easily accessible. Those who wish to join the Oxfordshire Record Society should communicate with the Hon. Secretary, 10 New Road, Oxford, or Rowner Rectory, Gosport. Fleetwood Family Records. Collected and edited byR. W. Buss. Parts V., VI., VII. (Privately printed, 12s.) THIS new instalment of an interesting work winds up the whole, we regret to say, more quickly than the compiler had intended owing to diffi- culties and expense arising out of the war. We have in Part V. the conclusion of George Fle-t- wood's letter on the battle of Lutzen, a pedigree of Fleetwood of Little Plumpton ; notes on the two sieges of Preston, and a list of the Fleetwoods who have served in the Army or Navy, with a biography of the Parliamentarian General Charles Fleetwood. Part VI. contains among other things, two pedigrees (descendants of General Charles Fleet- wood and descendants of Sir Edmund Denny of Cheshunt), and a list of vessels entering Madras in 1700 as well as the Preface and the Indexes. The Preface sets out an array of miscellaneous items, each one of interest in itself, but a rather disjointed collection. The range of the Fleetwoods in occupation and social status seems somewhat unusually wide. Part VII. consists of illustrations principally portraits including a reproduction of that of Milton at the age of 20. Folk- Lore. December, 1920. (London, Glaisher, 6s. Qd.) THE contents of this number are both various and important. Dr. Bartlett, in his paper ' Psy- chology in Relation, to the Popular Story ' suggests a combination of psychological, socio- logical and historical lines of research as the S roper method of the study of the popular tale, r. Rivers's ' Statues of Easter Island ' a deeply interesting article turns largely on the signifi- cance of the crowns and wigs and other head- dresses with which the statues are adorned. Under Collectanea we noticed discussions of Glastonbury and the Grail Legend (Mary A. Berkeley) ; and ' Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves ' (W. R. Halliday), and the number includes three or four good reviews. EDITORIAL communications should be addressed to " The Editor of ' Notes and Queries ' "Adver- tisements and Business Letters to " The Pub- ! lishers" at the Office, Printing House Square, , London, E.C.4. ; corrected proofs to the Athenaeum Press, 11 and 13 Bream's Buildings, E.C.4. ALL communications intended for insertion ir i our columns should bear the name and address o the sender not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.
