selves, so far as they have been done into English. Mr. Arbuthnot's account (with copious extracts) of the story-book Shamsa-ú-Kuhkuha is particularly valuable, that work not having yet been translated in full, and being, we may say, quite unknown in this country. Some notion of its importance to story-comparers may be formed when we mention that one of the tales cited is a hitherto undiscovered parallel to the fabliau "Des Trois Dames qui trouverent un Anel," which is also the subject of an early Spanish tale. The book, we may add, is well printed in a bold type and most daintily bound.
Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will shortly publish a work on Spanish and Italian Folk-Songs, translated by Alma G. V. Strettell. It will be illustrated by photo-gravures, after sketches by John Sargent, Edwin A. Abbey, and W. Padgett. We understand that the majority of the Spanish songs will not consist of the ordinary "coplas" and "seguidillas" sung all over the country, but be examples of a kind of song which may be described as a cross between the Spanish and the Gypsy folk-song. These songs have hitherto received little attention, and we therefore look forward with much interest to the publication of Miss Strettell's book.
A Collection of Indian Folk-Tales, by the Rev. Charles Swynnerton, is announced by Mr. Elliot Stock. The volume will contain a large number of Stories gleaned from oral recitation by natives, and will be illustrated by native artists.
We are glad to learn from The Athenœum that "Steps are being taken to form a Folk-lore Society in Boston, U.S. Professor Child, Mr. Wentworth Higginson, Mr. William Newell, Mr. Justin Winsor (Librarian of Harvard University), Professor John Fiske, and other literary men of Cambridge, are interested in the enterprise. The work of the Society will consist in studying the survivals of European folk-lore among the white races in America, and collecting the distinctive folk-lore of the negroes and the aborigines. The immediate purpose of the gentlemen interested is to publish a journal, which will probably be issued quarterly."
