ON STONE FOLK-LORE. 



218 



Was there aright of symbohsm underlying it ? Or is its 

 presence to be traced to the pleasure which the survivors 

 have iu decorating the graves of the beloved dead?" At 

 the close of his paper, Sir Arthur refers to Revelation II., 17. 

 The reference sets the subject in the heart of symbohsm. 

 Here I have no doubt, as in many other instances, Chris- 

 tianity appropriates a heathen usage, and makes it a 

 channel through which a great Christian truth finds expres- 

 sion. Ovid traces the usage back to times long anterior 

 to his own : — 



Mos erat antiquis neveis atrisque lapillis 

 His damnare reos, illis absolvere culpa. 



The following (16th century) rendering of these lines is truer 

 than elegant : — 



" Sentence was given in ancient times 

 By stones, or black or white, 

 The first convicted men of crimes, 



The second absolved them quite." 



" I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name 

 written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it," 

 (Rev. II., 17). 'The ancients gave a white stone as a token 

 of victory and freedom ; so will I give myself to him that 

 overcometh, I in him and he in me ; I will give him to know 

 what can be known with absolute certainty by himself alone.' 

 And still deeper and grander truths come to the front as we 

 dwell on the promise, but to do more than hint at them, and 

 that only with reserve, would be to leave the subject proper 

 of this paper. 



To the student of stone folk-lore the foregoing pages can 

 be little more than is an imperfect plotting of a small portion 

 of a very wide area to the surveying engineer. Were we to 

 take in the whole field we would find corners of superstition 

 and lines of credulity suggestive of almost numberless illus- 

 trative instances. The history of chemistry, ethnology, 

 archasology proper, and even biblical interpretation and ex- 

 position is crowded with them. Moreover, the historical 

 aspect raises one of the most important and interesting ques- 

 tions connected with the whole folk-lore subject, namely, the 

 question of the value of the recent " theory and method of 

 survivals." 



