400
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. NOV. r , 1902.
average collector, since the mere expense of housing
them and taking adequate pains for their preserva-
tion is beyond his reach. Most of the libraries
now accumulated and then dispersed are what are
known as miscellaneous, and the time is not distant
when the sale of a library that is other than mis-
cellaneous will be exceptional. In this the editor
sees no cause for anxiety or regret. It was in the
sale of a miscellaneous library, the property of an
anonymous collector, which occupied four days in
last June, that 1,334 lots produced 11.82&. 13s. 6d.
The average of the lots chronicled in the present
volume is 31. 3s. 4cZ., or 4s. 6d. per lot less than in
last year's record. In 1893 the average was but
II. 6s. Id., and thence by gradual but certain pro-
gress it reached last year 31. 7s. I0d., which estab-
lished a record. In 1897 was the great advance,
when a spring was made of a pound per lot. It is
needless to say that ' Book-Prices Current ' gives
a record of all books of value sold by auction in
London and the country. Equally needless is it
to tell our readers that it is indispensable to the
bibliophile and the dealer.
Popular Literature in Ancient Egypt. By A. Wiede-
mann, Ph.D. (Nutt.)
ONE fascinating feature in the monuments of the ancient Egyptians is that they admit us to an inti- mate knowledge of the domestic life of that extra- ordinary people, who, with all their religious pre- occupation and other-worldliness so ubiquitously displayed, had evidently a keen enjoyment of this present life. Hitherto, however, we have had but meagre information as to the folk-tales, legends, and popular songs with which they entertained themselves in their lighter hours. In this recent issue of the admirable " Ancient East " series Prof. Wiedemann has collected such scraps and frag- ments of this nature (all too few, alas !) as have come down to us, or at least have so far been dis- covered. The strange adventures of that Egyptian Sindbad named Saneha are fairly well known, having been printed in the ' Records of the Past ' and else- where ; but a fable of about B.C. 1000, much resembling that of Menenius Agrippa, which tells of a " Dispute between the Stomach and the Head," will probably be new to most readers. We welcome also early prototypes of our old friends ' AH Baba and the Forty Thieves ' and the ' Story ol the Trojan Horse.' We feel drawn closer to those grim ancients when we find that with all their pyramids and mummies and sepulchral parapher nalia they were able to enjoy a good story with as much zest as we do our Lang and Kipling. We notice also that the marvels performed by Jannes and Jambres in the presence of Moses have their counterpart in the somewhat similar miracles wrought by the magicians of King Kheops as recounted in the Westcar papyrus.
IT is scarcely necessary to assert in the pages o ' N. & Q.' that The Lay of Havelok the Dan (Oxford, University Press), re-edited by Prof Skeat, will prove of great value to students of earlj English literature. The introduction, a model o highly condensed learning, seems to leave nothing unsaid which should be said. To commence with there is a short account of the English version o the Lay, and of the different annotated edition printed since the text happily came to light. Thei follows a dissertation on the spelling of the manu script, demonstrating how its apparently lawles
rthography is only to be rightly understood when
ve bear m mind that the scribe who penned it was
f Norman birth, and more accustomed to Anglo-
Drench than to English. Nearly all irregularities
re explicable when due regard is paid to the
modifications necessarily produced by the clashing
f the two languages, and to the difficulties which
i man who spoke the invaders' tongue would have
n pronouncing and writing that of the defeated
ace. After this interesting subject has been dealt
with at some length Prof. Skeat turns to the dialect
of the poem, and then proceeds to dissect the metre,
le also gives an account of the romantic story
which forms the backbone of the Lay, and describes
he relationship existing between the French and
English versions, showing in what manner the
egend is linked with characters known in history,
iloom is also found for an account of the local
,raditions which speak of Havelok, his foster-
ather Grim, and the founding of the town of
jreat Grimsby by the latter. It may be interest-
ing in this connexion to observe that the punish-
ment of flaying alive, inflicted on the traitor
jodard, is still traditional among the people of
tforth Lincolnshire, for irate mothers not infre-
quently threaten to skin their disobedient (and
ncredulous) offspring. It is noteworthy, too, that
though "a ladde with a knif" no longer rits the
iiide of a malefactor, a Lindsey gardener will
remark, "I mun rit th' gress," when he intends
to cut away the rough edge of a lawn. Blaw also
is still the local pronunciation of the verb to blow,
and lig yet means to lie, or to lie down. In fact,
several of the dialectic words used in the poem are
still to be heard from Lincolnshire people old
enough to have escaped School Board education.
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