Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. By S. Baring - Gould, M.A.
Second Series. (Riviugtons.)—Of the second series of the Mediwval Myths some are better known than others, but to all of them Mr. Baring-Gould brings the same patient investigation and perspicacity of interpretation. Some of the legends he traces through nearly all the known mythologies of the world, as, for instance, that of St. George, the signification of which, he says, is "The maiden which the dragon attempts to devour is the earth. The monster is the storm-cloud. The hero who fights it is the sun, with his glorious sword, the lightning flash. By his victory tho earth is relieved from her peril." Our author thoroughly investigates the monstrous legend of St. Ursula and her cloven thousand virgins, and many of our readers to whom the skull-bodocked Church at Cologne is familiar, will be surprised to hoar that the Virgin Martyr is no other than the Teutonic Isis—the Suahian Ursel or Hors d, a relic of whose worship is still to be found in some of tho agricultural parts of England, in the observance of Plough Monday. On the "Legend of the Cross" Mr. Baring-Gould has brought to boar an immense amount of research as to the employment of that holy ensign as a religious symbol, oven in the earliest ages of the world, long before Christianity had adopted it as its symbol. To many persona tho following extract will possess the charm of novelty, if it have no other recommendation, "I am satisfied that we make a mistake in considering the Dissent of England, especially as manifested in greatest intensity in the wilds of Cornwall, Wales, and the eastern moors of Yorkshire, where tho Keltic element is strong, as a form of Christianity. It is radically different, its framework and nerve is of ancient British origin, passing itself off as a spiritual Chris- tianity." Mr. Baring-Gould's book contains an immense deal of matter that will be interesting to many besides the more antiquary or student of folk-lore, and we can cordially recommend it to our readers.
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