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Reviews and Notices of Books.

LECTURES ON THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF RELIGION AS ILLUSTRATED BY CELTIC HEATHENDOM. By JOHN RHYS, M.A. The Hibbert Lectures for 1886. London: Williams and Norgate.

AFTER Considerable though unavoidable delay the lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, delivered in the spring of 1886 by our esteemed fellow-member, Professor Rhys, have appeared in print; yet not in their entirety, for the two lectures on the Arthurian legends, having the most direct interest for the generality of people, are reserved to form a volume which the Professor hopes to publish during the forthcoming winter.

In the number and variety of illustrations from the mythology and folk-lore of Celtic peoples; in the parallelisms drawn from the beliefs and literature of India and Greece on the one hand, and of Germany and Scandinavia on the other; in its suggestive though not dogmatic explanations of the phases of early religious belief; and in its valuable philological speculations,-the present volume is not equalled by anything hitherto published.

M. Gaidoz and writers in the Revue Celtique have done much to elucidate the religion of Gaul, while M. d'Arbois de Jubainville has written several works on the mythic periods of Irish history. To these writers and to many others Professor Rhys acknowledges his indebtedness when traversing ground already surveyed; but when he deals with the incidents and personages of Welsh mythology he displays most fully the stores of his own knowledge, and opens up the literature and traditions of a people hitherto practically unknown.

What may be termed the philological method of myth interpretation has been considerably discredited of late. Mr. Andrew Lang has humorously bantered philologists upon their differences,"Kuhn sees fire everywhere, and fire-myths; Mr. Max Müller sees dawn and dawn-myths; Schwartz sees storm and storm-myths, and so on." (Culture and Myth, p. 70.) Professor Rhys recognises that the opposite or anthropological method is in principle both simple and sound; but being a philologist par excellence, he naturally follows the philological method, so that we do not get any of the Celtic myths compared with those of non- -Aryan races.

The romantic tales of the Welsh known under the modern term of "Mabinogion", divide themselves into an earlier and a later cycle; and these divisions have hitherto been taken as corresponding, the first to a purely mythic period, the second to an age that

is at least semi-historic. The personages figuring in the earlier cycle, such as Gwydion, Pwyll, Llew (correctly Lleu), are treated by the Professor as manifestations in human form of pagan deification of natural objects, whilst the incidents related of them are regarded as primitive attempts to explain the action of natural forces. According to this manner of treating mythology, Gwydion becomes the culture god; Pwyll the head of Hades; and Lleu the sun-god. The stories told of these anthropomorphic deities are dissected with marvellous patience, and their correspondence with the myths of other Aryan peoples brought out with great skill, especially in the case of Irish mythology. The theories-many of them avowedly tentative-based on results obtained from the philological examination of the names borne by these deities, must be left for settlement to philologists; but this being a method of inquiry in which the identification of localities is of considerable importance, we wish to draw the author's attention to one debatable point.

A place associated with some of the actions of Gwydion was called "Caer Seon", and is identified by Professor Rhys with Segontium; his excellent note on the philology of the word making the suggestion plausible. But the ancient fortress crowning the hill above the town of Conwy is known to this day as Caer Seion (Williams' History of Aberconway, p. 112), and a plan of the place under the same name will be found in vol. ii of the Archæologia Cambrensis (1st Series), though at an earlier page it is alluded to as Caer Lleion. This part of the Menai Straits would suit the story just as well as the Carnarvon end, while the region along the lower reaches of the Conwy river is a favourite spot in Welsh legendary lore.

One of the points least satisfactorily made out is the identification of the god Nodens (whose temple stood at Lydney on the Severn) with the Celtic Mars as well as Neptune, which latter he undoubtedly was, while by his parallelism with the Irish Nuada he has also to be regarded as Zeus.

The later cycle of Welsh mythology, centering as it does in King Arthur and his court, has usually been considered as founded upon a purely historic basis, though the small modicum of fact may have been almost buried beneath an immense accretion of fable. Professor Rhys, however, treats it as being but a later phase of the pagan beliefs that gave birth to the personages of the earlier cycle. Arthur becomes the culture hero, Merlin a Zeus of Brythonic paganism, the Knights of the Round Table solar luminaries of different magnitudes, and the personality of Taliesin "is as mythic as that of Gwydion and Merlin." Such evidence as goes for their corporeal existence, for instance the reference of Aneurin, in the Gododin, to his brother poet Taliesin, is never even alluded to. The British King, Caswallon, vanishes into thin air; and Merlin having become a Brythonic Zeus, Vortigern has to settle down into a Brythonic Cronus. The historical evidence in favour of Maelgwn appears to have been a little too strong to allow of his admittance into the Professor's Pantheon, though there are

incidents in his career that give him strong claims to inclusion. On the other hand, the great Irish hero, Cuchulainn, is a subject capable of sustaining any role; but it must be borne in mind that euhemeristically considered he is separated by at least four centuries from Maelgwn and Arthur. Into the Professor's treatment of this branch of his subject it will, however, be more convenient to enter at some length when his promised work on Arthur has appeared.

The author treats his subject in the widest possible manner, and one of the little digressions he makes is the following on the date of Stonehenge. After giving the subject all the attention possible he has come to the conclusion that "we cannot do better than follow the story of Geoffrey, which makes Stonehenge the work of Merlin Emrys, commanded by another Emrys, which I interpret to mean that the temple belonged to the Celtic Zeus, whose later legendary self we have in Merlin. It would be in vain to look for any direct argument for or against such a hypothesis. One can only say that it suits the facts of the case, and helps us to understand others of a somewhat similar nature. What sort of a temple could have been more appropriate for the primary god of light and of the luminous heavens than a spacious, open-air enclosure, of a circular form, like Stonehenge? Nor do I see any objection to the old idea that Stonehenge was the original of the famous Temple of Apollo in the island of the Hyperboreans, the stories about which were based, in the first instance, most likely on the journal of Pytheas' travels."

This is enough to make that school of Welsh historians whom the Professor scornfully terms " charlatans" forgive the epithet, and forget his heresy on other matters. For our own part we consider that the greatest historical scholar of modern days, the late Dr. Guest, practically settled the date and uses of Stonehenge. But we observe that Dr. Guest himself would come under the title of "charlatan", as being one who considered that the historical tribe of the Coritani might have been the Coraniaid of the Triads. What will also go very far to mollify our present day "charlatans" is the author's opinion that the modern Eisteddfodic Gorsedd is lineally descended from a court of which the Celtic Zeus was originally regarded as the spiritual president, and that the antiquity of what is known as the Gorsedd Prayer is favoured because it contains nothing distinctly Christian.

Professor Rhys speaks approvingly of the new philological theory which traces the early home of the Aryans to North Europe rather than to Central Asia, and it certainly enables him to compare Celtic and Teutonic myths with results of considerable importance; but formidable objections have yet to be overcome, and by no means the last word has been said upon this subject. The book contains so complete a collection of myths and folk-lore that, apart altogether from its theories, it is a work that no member of our Association should be without.

LLANELLY PARISH CHURCH, ITS HISTORY AND RECORDS, WITH NOTES RELATING TO THE TOWN. BY ARTHUR MEE. Llanelly: printed at the South Wales Press Offices, 1888. 8vo. ; pp. 109. Illustrated with two Photographs and five Plates.

We have to commend the author of this little work for the spirit that has prompted his undertaking rather than for the manner in which it has been executed. There is not a parish in Wales the history of whose church is not worth the telling; the difficulty is to find a man both willing and competent to undertake the task of recording the annals of his neighbourhood.

The chief defect in Mr. Mee's work is the almost total neglect of what we may term the architectural portion of his scheme. The very stones of an edifice such as the parish church of Llanelly should go far towards supplying many points of its history; and at the very least we ought to have been vouchsafed a ground-plan with accurate measurements; but of all such particulars the book is almost entirely wanting. However, the reverence for what is old, because it conjures up thoughts of the past, dwells in Mr. Mee, and we earnestly hope that he will continue his investigations and at the same time enlarge the scope of his method. To this end we wish to draw his attention, and that of others who would emulate his good example, to the chapter on "How to Write the History of a Parish", contained in Mr. Walter Rye's excellent book called Records and Record Searching, from which we cannot refrain quoting, pro bono publico, this paragraph: "As you are strong be merciful. If you can restrain yourself, don't discover that your church is of rather earlier date than St. Martin's at Canterbury, or is founded on the site of a Roman temple. You may be right; but to declare yourself will in all probability destroy your credit as a trustworthy topographer." To which might be added, for the especial benefit of writers on Welsh churches, "Don't see Druids everywhere", though few are proof against the temptation.

The Registers, of which Mr. Mee gives a full transcription, contain no notices of much value, and in another edition may be curtailed without loss. The place-names contained therein are more interesting than those of individuals; and one, Y Rhandir, we note for the special benefit of Mr. Palmer, Mr. Edward Owen, and others interested in the survivals of old Welsh institutions. We hope Mr. Mee will widen his bounds so as to take in the whole of his parish, and will make this little work the pioneer of a larger and more important volume.

Archaeological Notes and Queries.

INVENTORY.—“ Inventory made 7 March, 27 Hen. VIII [1536], by Jas. Leiche, Esq., Morgan Lewes, general receiver to the late bishop of St. David's (Richard Rawlins, who died 18 February 1536), Sir Thos. Yonge, steward of Household, and Sir Griffith Lloide, chaplain to the said Bishop, Thos. Busshope and John Phelpe, husbandmen dwelling in the lordship of Lantefey (Lamphey), Thos. Persivalle, Thos. Haward, chamberlain, and Matthew Tiele, clerk of the kitchen, of all the goods, moveable and immoveable, that the late Bishop had at his death, at his manor place of Lantefey or elsewhere, with all debts or rents owing to him.

"In the Bishop's own chamber, where he was accustomed to take his rest, and where he died.-A bedstead of boards after the old fashion, 12d.; a mattress, 3s.; a feather bed and bolster, 26s. 8d.; a covering of verdure work with birds and lions, and lined with canvas, 20s.; hangings of old tapestry work with images, 26s. 8d.; a table board with 2 trestles, 2s.; an old carpet belonging thereto, 2s.; a buff chair, 6s. 8d.; a trussing coffer bound with iron, with lock and key, 5s.: in it in gold and silver, £149: 9: 6; an oyster table, 4d.; 2 stools of easement, and a stool wherein the Bishop was accustomed to be carried, 12d.; a short carpet of Dornyx lying upon the oyster table; a 'beedes' with 6 stones of glass, with a signet of copper gilted, 12d.; 2 overworn rochets, 13s. 4d.; 2 coarse rochets, overworn and somewhat broken, 6s. 8d.; other items=£157: 7:10. "In the Chamberlain's Chamber.-An old bedstead, bedding, and a coffer, 13s. 2d.

"In the Wardrobe.-An old crimson kirtle furred with old marturnes, 33s. 4d.; 4 other kirtles, black, scarlet, and crimson; a chimere of scarlet single, perished with moths, 30s.; a hood of scarlet lined with changeable silk, 6s. 8d.; a parliament robe of scarlet, eaten with a rat in the back, and perished with moths, 40s.; a covering of a horse litter of coarse scarlet, 26s. 8d.; a coat of mails covered with satin of Bruges, 6s. 8d.=£10 10s.

"The Checkurd Chamber.-A trussing bed, bedding, a sparver of yellow and red say, an old pressboard, a range of 4 bars of iron, &c., 13s. 4d.

"The Great Chamber.-An old trussing bed, sparver, and curtains, green say hanging eaten with moths, &c., 29s. 10d.

"The Gardine Chamber.-Bed and bedding, an old carpet of Turkey work, hangings of red and yellow say, &c., 71s. 10d.

"Gloucester Chamber.-Bedstead, &c., an old sparver, and cur

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