80
NOTES AND QUERIES. or* s. vn. JAN. 20, iwi.
ledge We have not read afresh the first edition,
and cannot precisely say where the additions are
to be found. They seem to be spread over the
entire book. Some of the new matter is more con-
troversial than the old, and much of it also more
conjectural where all is necessarily conjecture.
Still, when conviction does not necessarily and
inevitably follow perusal, the disposition to read
and study afresh is never wanting. One of the
subjects which strike us as entirely new, and which
on reference we fail to trace in the first issue, is
what is said concerning the Jewish festival of the
Purim and the attempt to connect it with the
great Babylonian festival of the new year called
Zakmuk and the Sacean festival and its mock king
Zoganes, held at Babylon during five days of the
mouth Lous. This leads on to the question whether
by the destruction of an effigy of Hainan the modern
Jews have kept up a reminiscence of the ancient
custom of crucifying or hanging a man at this
festival; whether they may at an earlier epoch
have regularly compelled a condemned criminal to
play the tragic part, and whether accordingly Christ
perished in the character of Hainan. We see no
confirmation of this idea, but are in no sense
entitled to speak upon it. Other suppositions or
views connected with this subject do not invariably
commend themselves to us, but they are propounded
so tentatively, and with such an avoidance of speak-
ing ex cathedra, that they beget a minimum of op-
position. Almost all that is said with regard to
Jewish observances or rites seems to be new. What
is advanced upon the legends of Sesostris and
Semiramis and concerning Phoenician and Baby-
lonian deities appears first in the present work,
much of it being derived from Francis Charles
Movers, who remains an authority on things
Phoenician. An interesting appendix on seclusion
from sun and earth comes as a valuable supplement
to what is said earlier in the book on the treatment
of girls on arriving at puberty. As the book is
practically double its original size, it is natural that
there should be much new matter inviting com-
ment. With small portions of this, taken almost at
random, we have incidentally dealt. With no
thought of participating in harvest labours, we
have gleaned a few sheaves, and we can but advise
our readers to enter into the same fields. We
have neither intention nor disposition to carry
Dr. Frazer's argument further than he himself
takes it, and there are points at which we feel
inclined to break away from him. We still regard
the book as one of the most important and repre-
sentative of modern times, the most sincere, earnest,
and competent effort yet made to reconcile together
the various forms of worship of productive force, to
explain the significance of blood rites, and to show
with what shuddering fancies humanity has filled
the void around it. The index is quite inadequate.
THE Record of the Winter Meetings and Summer Excursions, 1899-1900, of the Upper Norwood Athe- nseum contains an account of good work well done. Many fresh places were visited. These included Christ's Hospital, where Mr. Stalley took the members through the buildings; also Lincoln's Inn and the. two churches of St. Pancras. Among summer excursions were visits to Oxford, Favers- ham, Lough ton, Cobham, and Enfield. There is a slight diminution in the number of members, and we are sorry to miss the name of that veteran
- ' rambler" Mr. Daniel Stock. Thanks are tendered
to the proprietors of the Illustrated London JVetM,
the Graphic, and others, for their help in illustrating
the Record. The illustrations include the long-
threatened old gateway of Lincoln's Inn, to which
we wish a long life. We congratulate Mr. J.
Stanley and Mr. W. F. Harradence on the careful
way in which they continue to edit this interesting
Record.
THE fourth volume of ' Musgrave's Obituary ' (L Pa), edited by Sir George J. Armytage, Bart., F.S.A., is now being issued to the members of the Harleian Society. The fifth volume of this ex- haustive work is in the press, and the sixth and final volume in the transcriber's hands. The Society is also issuing to the members of the Register Section Vol. I. of ' The Registers of Bath Abbey,' containing the christenings and marriages recorded there from 1569 to 1800, edited by Arthur J. Jewers. The second volume, which is in the press, will give the burials for the same period, with an index to the whole.
THE twenty-fourth volume of ' Archaeologia Can- tiana,' being the transactions of the Kent Archaeo- logical Society, just sent to the members, has been edited by the Rev. Canon C. F. Routledge, F.S.A. It contains the second and concluding part of the valuable monograph by Mr. W. H. St. John Hope on ' The Architectural History of the Cathedral Church and Monastery of St. Andrew at Rochester,' illustrated with several large plans, beautifully drawn and coloured. Other learned papers are contributed by Mr. George Payne, F.L.S., F.S.A., the Rev. G. M. Livett, Lord Northbourne, the late Mr. George Dowker, F.G.S., Mr. A. A. Arnold, F.S.A., &c. The volume is well illustrated, and a copious index is given.
s txr
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