A Country Parish. By A. W. Boyd: (Collins. 215.) THOSE
who talk to people in English villages know that there comes al moment when they say, " But then we are different from all other villages." Until this is recognised as a truth the visitor will not be in touch with local. feeling. There are no two villages alike and there is a place for an account of every one of them. A Country Parish is a volume in The New Naturalist Library ; therefore more than half the book is devoted to flora and fauna. But the author's contention that man is " the predominant and most interest- ing animal " causes him to give more atten- tion to human beings than might be expected from a Naturalist. Mr. Boyd explains that " The history of the parish, social conditions in the past, the system of farming (which governs to a great extent the status and character of all wild life), local trades, sports, customs and speech all therefore have their part in an account of this kind."
To those who put man first ' in their interest the proportions of the different sec- tions will be tantalising. Beyond a reference or two there is nothing about political history and the information about local families is confined to statements about • ownership of property. Though the exist- ence of salt in the area is dealt with, crafts are represented only by the village joiner. Farming, past and present, appears to be limited to the personal memories of people known to the author. But this is in accord with his object, which is to describe a parish from first-hand information. The excellence with which he does this can be judged from the chapter on " Local Government and Social Conditions in the Eighteenth Cen- ttity." The parish, he tells us, is divided into Townships and some of the " Town-books " and Account Books of both the Church- wardens and Overseers of the Poor are still in existence. The picture of the parish that he draws out of these books, giving the facts and figures in detail, is of absorbing interest, and the events, substantiated by figures, are visualised by the author. Funds were raised .on a " Mize " or valuation, and the sums and their purpose are important first-hand evidence of eighteenth-century conditions.
Field names and dialect give. Mr. Boyd pleasure and he succeeds in passing this pleasure over to the reader. Superstitions are recorded and there is a full length Mummers' Play with local variations. It sounds as if this play had been collected from the " Soulcakers " themselves, as they are called in that area. A faint doubt assails the reader in the description of " Barning the thorn." It would be a pity if such an antique custom degenerated into a falsely prettified affair like the modern maypole. People who dislike Muinmers and Morris dancers sometimes enjoy the tiny pole with children holding ribbons and doing pattern dances around it. Their pleasure is a further proof of its modern derivation. Mr. Boyd's_
Understanding of the " Soulcakers• " removes him from the category of those who dislike
the genuine antique. If anyone can prevent the dance round the thorn from falsification it will be Mr. Boyd. Thirty-four coloured photographs and forty-eight black and white ones add to the attraction of the book and nine maps and diagrams increase its value.
H. F.
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