LES LOISIRS D'UN ETRANG ER AU rA - is BISQUE. Les Loisirs
d'un Stranger an Pays Basque. Par le Rev. Went- worth Webster. (Chillon-sur-Sa6ne ; non mie dane le com- merce.)—Mr. Webster has employed his leisure to good purpose: the bibliography of works cited would be proof enough if he had not described some very curious features of Basque government and customs. He gives us the impression of having stored his mind with a vast quantity of knowledge bound up in and ex- ternal to Basque life, and having been unable to bring it all to bear on the subject. The book is unequal. The description of the Pastorales, the performers, and the general conduct of these modern survivals of the heroic d ramas is most interesting and really very vivid, and so is his appreciation of the people them- selves. No less interesting is his acco unt of the peculiar provincial and municipal government of the Basques, and some very curious laws which are mentioned in his " Archaeological Notes." These and the inscriptions he has collected will appeal to others than Basque enthusiasts, as will perhaps the political economy em- bodied in "Les Assurances Mutuelles du Betail." A pleasant chapter in a lighter vein is that on the stone wall enclosures, as they might well be cal led, in which the people were wont to harvest the chestnut crop. There is so much material of really. unusual interest that Mr. Webster might very well give us—one might almost say owes us—a. work of a more popular nature) and this without losing any seism tific reputation.
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