We are glad to have the opportunity of welcoming a'
valuable commentary on the ghostlore of the sixteenth century. Lewes Lavater's Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght (Oxford University Press, 16s.) has been edited by Dr. J. Dover Wilson, and set up from a rotograph of the copy at the Bodleian Library. Lavater's-De Spectra was originally translated by one " R. H.," who says, in his charming apology to the reader, " I have not made hym speake with like grace' in Englyshe." Nevertheless, the present-day reader, whether casual or scholarly, will find no lack of grace in the book, and will delight in the catalogue of queer _spectres, among, whom are Penates, " domesticall gods," Lemures, " soules which tarry about the bodies," Maniac, " ugly shapes where- with nurses make children afrayd," and Onoseeli, " Diuels, having legges like unto asses." The book is divided into three parts, in the first of these the author sets out to shoW that there are spirits, in the second he describes their various natures, and in the third explains why they are allowed to appear and how they should be received. There is no space to enumerate the many other features of this entrancing. book, which contains a preliminary essay by the editor on " The Ghost Scenes in Hamlet in the light of Elizabethan' Spiritualism " and an appendix' by Miss May 'Yardley on " The Catholic Position in the Ghost Controversy of the Sixteenth Century." All those who who'd make. their. " walkes by nyght " more variously companioned are, recononended to this book.
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