240
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. MAR. 19, '98.
position of the opening volume is unassailable. It
is an unfailing guide to the discovery and culture of
ferns, and its illustrations the coloured illustra-
tions especially, which are seen at their best in the
latest edition are beyond praise.
Birds of the British Empire. By Dr. W. T. Greene,
F. Z. S. (Imperial Press. )
A SECOND volume of the same series contains an account of the birds of the British Empire, of which about five thousand species, or half the number known to exist on the globe, are within Her Majesty's dominions. Dr. Greene is well known as an authority upon birds, English and foreign, and his works on the 'Song Birds of Great Britain' and 'Favourite Foreign Birds' have obtained a wide popularity. In the present case he has been to some extent handicapped by the difficulty of the task of com- prising within the space at his disposal so many species. If his epitome, he cheerfully holds, secure popular favour, it will be easy to supply further contingents. The work is in five parts, dealing respectively with British birds, the birds of. India, Africa, America, and Australia. Numerous illus- trations are supplied, and though no attempt has been made to furnish them to exact scale, the dimensions in many cases are fairly realized, and are in all cases in the letterpress fully supplied. In the case of the British birds tolerably ample in- formation is given, and the pictures supplied are numerous. Passing thence to African and Australian birds, what is said is not exhaustive does not, indeed, aim at so being. What is given is a mere glance at a subject calculated to fill an ency- clopaedia. The work is, however, well written and attractive. It includes many protests, which we gladly echo, against the remorseless and ignorant destruction of birds, which, in spite of recent legis- lation, is still carried on.
Glass Blowing and Working. By Thomas Bolas,
F.C.S. (Dawbarn & Ward.)
THIS work, based on lecture-demonstrations given in connexion with the Technical Education Com- mittee of the Middlesex County Council, aims at supplying practical information for amateurs, ex- perimentalists, and technicists. It is agreeably illustrated, and seems calculated to be of service to those to wnom it is specially addressed.
THE Journal of the Ex-Libris Society for March (A. & C. Black) reproduces further ' Trophy Book- Plates,' of which a supplementary catalogue, by Mr. W. H. K. Wright, the editor, is supplied. It has also an essay, by Mr. F. J. Thairlwall, on ' The Book-Plates of Eminent Lawyers,' with the plates of John, Lord Somers, Baron of Evesham, and Philip, Lord Hardwicke.
AMONG the most instructive notes printed in the later numbers of the Intermediaire is that appearing under the title 'Enyoutement,'a word explained as signifying the magical operation through which a person is supposed to be injured by the maltreat- ment of a figure of wax representing him. Near Luxemburg a custom differing from envotitement, yet analogous with it, is, it would seem, yet in vogue. About a kilometre from that place is a rock in which there are two chapels, one above the other. The higher of these contains a figure of Christ on the cross, and the lower a dilapidated representa- tion of the Saviour in the tomb. This second figure
is usually designated by the name "Pierre sans
repos" or "Peter Melen" (Pierre de Milan), and
before it curious, not to say heathenish, neuvaines
are made, a candle stuck with pins being lighted on
each visit after a robbery or a case of wife-desertion,
with a view of punishing the sinner, the prayer
being uttered that he may have neither peace nor
rest until he makes reparation. Similar caudle
superstitions are, it is needless to remark, common
enough, but its connexion with an image of the
Redeemer renders this instance of special import-
ance. The number of the Intermediaire for 30 Jan-
uary contains a reply concerning the source or
sources of the celebrated chanson de Marlbrongh,
which song is said to have owed its first popularity
to Marie Antoinette, who learnt it from hearing the
Dauphin's nurse use it as a lullaby. In the issue for
10 February is a carefully written paper relating to
the imprisonment of this same ill-fated Dauphin in
the Temple and to the mystery veiling the poor
child's end.
Melusine continues to provide its readers with elaborate articles on popular beliefs. These articles testify both to the powers of patient research and comparison possessed by the French folk-lorists, and to the vast range which apparently trifling supersti- tions may gain when once they have evolved them- selves in the imagination of non-scientific man, and have helped him to some sort of theory by which he can shape his conduct and secure what he con- ceives to be fortunate results in his enforced inter- course with the "nicht ich."
is
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To secure insertion of communications corre- spondents 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. Correspond- ents who repeat queries are requested to head the second communication " Duplicate."
C. L. S. ("Anodyne Necklace "). -See 'N. &Q.,' 6 th S. ix. 85, 132; x. 377; 7 th S. iv. 394.
A. C. J. ("Nine tailors make a man"). See Indexes to ' N. & Q.' passim.
W. ROBERTS ("Larrikin"). Has already appeared in'N.&Q.'
NOTICE.
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