CURRENT LITERATURE.
THE MYSTIC ROSE: A. STUDY OF PRIMITIVE MARRIAGE.
The Mystic Bose v a Study of Primitive Marriage. By Errest Crawley, MA. (Macmillan and Co. 12s. net.)—This is not a book which can be profitably reviewed atlength in these columns. It is a learned disquisition on the marriage customs of savages, and though the subject is handled with discretion, it is more suited to the expert and the student than the general reader. It contains, however, a quotation from a Sanskrit text dealing with the creation of woman so striking and delightful that we cannot forbear to quote it at length. Where could be found a more enchanting example of that natural magic which Matthew Arnold found to be the special character of Celtic poetry ?— "' In the beginning, when Twashtri came to the creation of woman, he found that he had exhausted his materials in the making of man, and that no solid elements were left. In this dilemma, after profound meditation, he did as follows. He took the rotundity of the moon, and the curves of creepers, and the clinging of tendrils, and the trembling of grass, and the slender- ness of the reed, and the bloom of flowers, and the lightness of leaves, and the tapering of the elephant's trunk, and the glances of deer, and the clustering of rows of bees, and the joyous gaiety of sunbeams, and the weeping of clouds, and the fickleness of the winds, and the timidity of the hare, and the vanity of the peacock, and the softness of the parrot's bosom, and the hardness of adamant, and the sweetness of honey, and the cruelty of the tiger, and the warm glow of fire, and the coldness of snow, and the chattering of jays, and the cooing of the laki/a, and the hypocrisy of the crane, and the fidelity of the chakrawdka, and compounding all these together, he made woman and gave her to man. But after one week, man came to him and said : Lord, this creature that you have given me makes my life miserable. She chatters incessantly and teases me beyond endurance, never leaving me alone; and she requires incessant attention, and takes all my time up, and cries about nothing, and is always idle ; and so I have come to give her back again, as I cannot live with her. So Twashtri said : Very well ; and he took her back. Then after another week, man came again to him and said : Lord, I find that my life is very lonely, since I gave you back that creature. I re- member how she used to dance and sing to me, and look at me out of the corner of her eye, and play with me, and cling to me; and her laughter was music, and she was beautiful to look at, and soft to touch ; so give her back to me again. So Twashtri said : Very well; and gave her back again. Then after only three days, man came back to him again and said : Lord, I know not how it is ; but after all I have come to the conclusion that she is more of a trouble than a pleasure to me ; so please take her back again. But Twashtri said : Out on you! Be off! I will have no more of this. You must manage how you can. Then man said : But I cannot live with her. Aud Twashtri replied: Neither could you live without her. And he turned his back on man, and went on with his work. Then man said : What is to be done ? for I cannot live either with her or without her.' " The passage, we are told in a footnote, is taken from "A Digit of the Moon," translated by F. W. Bain.
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