400
NOTES AND QUERIES.
ix. MAY 17, 1002.
of the most important contributions to ihff expla-
nation of Oriental thought to the Western mind
with which we have become acquainted. The
writer evidently knows thoroughly the whole
series of translations edited by the late Prof.
Max Miiller, and has turned his knowledge to good
account. We have but one depreciatory remark to
make. The Koran has received scant measure, and
has been dealt with in a way far less enlightening
than the more mystical literature of the Further
East. This is to be regretted, as, in the words of
the reviewer, "the late Prof. Palmer's translation
is one which more than any other reveals to us the
spirit and power of the original." We may add,
too, that Mohammed's utterances, though deeply
impregnated with the higher mysticism, are far
more in line with Western thought than the older
imaginings of the great prophets of the Further
East. In treating of this vast mass of Oriental
teaching the writer points out that to those who
can enter into its spirit it disposes as we may hope,
for ever of the dream-and-ghost theories of the
origin of religion. As to what we must provision-
ally accept as its true source, so very much depends
on what is meant by the word "religion" and on
the point of view of those who endeavour to form a
coherent picture, that we can give no answer except
by saying that whatever awakened the latent
faculty in man, it was mainly, though perhaps not
entirely, reduced into form by the contemplation
of " the great objects of nature, especially the sun ;
that its root is in the feeling after, and of, the
Infinite." 'The Gaelic Revival in Literature ' has
interested us very much, because it establishes
incidentally the fact, so often denied by incom-
petent folk, that Celtic literature contains a great
mass of poetry, legend, and history which we can
on no account consent to lose. The influence of
Celtic ideals on those who have written in French
and English has frequently been exaggerated by
those who have been not unnaturally revolted by
people who have advocated for social and political
objects the stamping out of a group of noble lan-
guages, but we believe that modern discoveries or
theories only, if you will have all but demon-
strated that the Celt has impressed his dream-
world on many of us who have, so far as we know,
no strain of Celtic blood, who do not know a word
of any one of his languages, and have read little or
nothing of his literature, even in a translated form.
'The Oxford Historians' deals justly, and there-
fore appreciatively, with John Richard Green and
Samuel Rawson Gardiner. Green was the more
brilliant personality, and for those who read mainly
for the purpose of storing their minds with historic
pictures was no doubt the more serviceable writer.
His books have had an immense influence for good,
as he was almost always accurate as well as highly
picturesque; but we are compelled to say if a
comparison must be made which we regard as
useless, if not positively harmful that Gardiner
ranks the higher of the two, for though not so
impressive, he brings before the reader the times
to which he gave his special attention in a manner
no other historian has done hitherto, and he has
the great advantage of being almost entirely free
from the baneful tendency to speculate as to
motives. This is a gain which we may hope future
ages will appreciate more highly than many do
at present. To tell how people acted and what
they did is a comparatively easy task if we have
the raw material before us, but to fathom the
motives of their actions is in most cases impossible.
Even personal friendship is a very slight help. We
all of us make childish blunders when we comment
on the conduct of our most intimate friends.
' Mediaeval Libraries ' is the work of one who has
evidently a true appreciation of the learning of the
Middle Ages. Books were far more common before
I the art of printing was discovered than people
formerly thought. Some of the monasteries had
considerable collections of volumes. The books
which remain now are but a very small portion of
those which have perished. One of the evils of the
Renaissance was that it caused almost everything
written in mediaeval Latin or the vernacular to be
treated with contempt ; then followed the religious
turmoils of the sixteenth century, when many of
those who were in opposition to the old order of
things thought it an act of virtue to destroy the
literature of the past. When these things are
remembered, coupled with the carelessness of cus-
todians in more recent days, it is not wonderful
that so little remains ; the surprising thing is that
time has spared so much. The papers on 'Zionism
and Anti-Semitism ' and on ' Turkey and Armenia*
contain valuable information, but make too near
an approach to modern political life for us to do
more than mention them.
THE King has graciously accepted the dedication
of the Coronation Prayer Book which is now being
prepared at the Oxford University Press.
Jtotirw to
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