Ulster Folklife. Vol. 3, Part 1Review by: E. EttlingerFolklore, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Mar., 1958), pp. 60-61Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1259229 .

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REVIEWS AND NOTICES

so wide an area compressed within so small a space it may be that the ice is bound here and there to feel a trifle thin. The reasons for fixing Christmas Day to 25 December are more complex than they are made to seem. The connection of St Stephen with horses has nothing to do with a Swedish saint of the same name. The reputation of St Nicholas for generosity was a very posthumous one. The story of his restoring life to the three schoolboys is a consequence, and not a cause, of his patron- age of children, and the legend of his charity to the dowerless daughters may have stimulated, without originating, his medieval r6le of Gift- Bringer. Many readers will be inclined to ask Miss Hole for more, and we should like that 'more' to include a chapter on the Crib.

E. P. BAKER

A BOOK OF DOLLS. Written and illustrated by Gwen White. Adam & Charles Black, London. 43 illustrations and 6 full colour plates. 14s.

THIS internationally comprehensive book gives a short history of the origin and varied uses of dolls - in ceremonies, religions, and as play- things - from about zooo B.C. to the present day. It describes the manner and make of the materials used, and how these materials were those found close at hand. This gives the setting of the three categories of dolls.

It also describes how they evolved from primitive flat shapes to the elaborately dressed modern dolls which, besides having movable joints, can cry aloud when bent, and even have a tongue, and take a feeding bottle or dummy into their mouths.

The illustrations showing the fashions and styles of the times both in hair and clothes are drawings from many museums and libraries. They are interesting, but stylized, and this detracts from their value as records of the character of the originals which they portray. The attractive jacket is designed from samplers.

There is a good list of books for reference, and a useful index of materials used in making dolls, with two good illustrations of their various kinds of joints from primitive times up to those of 1938.

For the folklorist the customs, ceremonies, and folk-craft of the designs are of interest, but the book is primarily historical and a refer- ence book for collectors rather than for children.

ESTELLA CANZIANI

ULSTER FOLKLIFE. Vol. 3, Part I. Belfast, 1957. Pp. 80, 2 maps, I text fig. STUDIES of the Ulster farmhouse, stapple thatch and townland history are matched by a collection of unusually informative folk-songs and regional recordings fromvarious counties. R. S. Rogers's comparison be-

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REVIEWS AND NOTICES

tween aetiological myths, the legends of the Black Pig, the recent local supernatural phenomena as well as the existing traces of the Black Pig's Dyke, puts him in the first rank of modern and geographically-minded folklorists. The six buried horse-skulls, found recently, speak strongly in favour of Mr A. Sandklef's theory that they were meant to give reson- ance to the floor. M. J. Murphy must be complimented on the discov- ery of two fresh and intimate items of folklore, which unfortunately appear under an inaccurate heading (p. 71). The responses to the quest- ionnaire sent out by the Schools, are indeed promising. For English readers a short indication of the profession of every contributor would be of interest.

E. ETTLINGER

KING ARTHUR'S AVALON, The Story of Glastonbury. By GEOFFREY

ASHE, Collins, London, 1957- Pp. 384. I8s. net. IN this volume an attempt is made with varying degrees of success to throw light on much that is obscure in the Glastonbury story. After a brief survey of the geographical setting of the Avalon tradition reasons are given for this legendary cradle of British Christian civilization meriting the title Roma Secunda, assigned to it as the alleged second sacred city in Christendom. The Joseph of Arimathaea legend and that of the Holy Grail, the planting of the thorn that blossomed at Christmas, and the building of the little wattle church, are examined, together with the Arthurian romance, with a view to determining the truth underlying the traditions. Joseph of Arimathaea, it is suggested, was in fact a wealthy Levantine Christian who had settled at Glastonbury for busi- ness reasons, and having set up his household there he gave hospitality to wandering Christians until at length a church was founded on the isle. In the fourth century hermits or monks began to take up their abode there and restored the original church. Later a regular community came into being and was established under the direction of St Patrick as the Abbot of Glastonbury.

Arthur is interpreted as originally a Roman general who taught the smiths to forge armour and the soldiers to manage their horses so as to become a mobile squadron against the Anglo-Saxons. After his death in battle and burial at Glastonbury, around him and his knights a liter- ary tradition was assembled in a half-mythical Britain. The innumerable attempts to elucidate the mystery of the Grail are dismissed, from that proposed by Miss Weston in 1913 to the latest (by implication) interes- ting suggestion of Mr Barb connecting it with St David's circular stone- altar at Glastonbury confused with the chalice and paten and round table of the Last Supper brought, as it was supposed to Britain by

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