44 
NATURE NOTES. 
In Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages of Ireland, Contributions to Irish 
lore (Ward and Downey), Lady Wilde has made a valuable addition to our 
knowledge of the folk-lore of the sister island. Charms and cures, fairies, 
banshees, witches, spectres, games and festivals, with dissertations on the early 
races of Ireland, Irish minstrelsy, Irish gold, and similar subjects — all find a place 
in this interesting and readable volume. It is much to be regretted, however, 
that no arrangement or method of any kind has been observed in its compilation ; 
while, to make matters worse, there is no index — a serious defect which we trust 
will be supplied in any future edition. Incidentally we find names of plants 
which are unfamiliar to us, and are not recordedjin our books of reference, such as 
the “Dog-fern ”fp. 37), and the “ Crov-Darrig, or Red Hand ” (p. 12), which latter 
must be draw n from the ground in the same manner as the Mandrakes of old. We 
suspect the Palmate or Hand Orchis is intended in the latter instance. If Nature 
Notes numbers any Irishmen or Irishwomen among its readers, they may be able 
to supply information on the subject, and at the same time to tell us what is the 
English or scientific equivalent of the “ lizard called the ‘ Mankeeper’ ” (p. 16). 
Sylvanus Redivivus (Sampson Low, Marston, &c. ) is from the pen of Mrs. M. 
Houstoun, the prolific authoress of “ Recommended to Mercy” and many other 
novels. In it she deals to some extent with the life of the Rev. John Mitford, 
much more fully with the biography of “ his friend and fellow naturalist,” 
Edward Jesse, and in still greater detail with the principal events in the life of 
Mrs. M. Houstoun. The book contains a number of amusing anecdotes, many of 
them on subjects connected with natural history and rural sports ; but the naivete of 
the writer and her strange want of reticence on many subjects of a private nature 
often produce considerable amusement when the evident intention is to be most 
solemn and edifying. Perhaps at the present moment the most interesting of the 
narratives is that describing the grievance of Mrs. Houstoun against the Times 
newspaper, which throws some very interesting light upon the methods and value 
of literary criticism in that journal. Many incidents occur in the pages of the 
work which show the kind-hearted nature of Mr. Jesse and his daughter, and 
their great love cf animals. One very touching story tells how J esse gave up entirely 
the “ sport ” of hare hunting, in which he had previously delighted, on hearing 
his daughter’s description of the scene where the “ most timid of God’s creatures 
sent up to heaven its death-cry, dreadfully human, for it closely resembled that 
-of a tortured child.” We have noticed several misprints in the volume, including 
the very common blunder of spelling that much-mispronounced as well as mis- 
spelt word “fuchsia” as “fuschia.” 
Dr. Emerson’s English Idyls (Sampson Low & Co.) is a series of short 
sketches of East Anglian life, by no means wanting in interest, and containing 
much information about “ all sorts and conditions of men” (and women). The 
book is somewhat marred, however, by sundry affectations, both in style and typo- 
graphy, which makes it less pleasant to read than would have been the case had 
these been omitted. 
Mr. J. Cuming Walters has given us a pretty as well as an interesting 
book in In Tennyson Land (Redway). Everything connected with our President is 
of interest not only to Selbornians, but to the world at large ; and this “ attempt 
to identify the scenes and to trace the influences of Lincolnshire in his works ” has 
already met with a favourable reception. So far as the first-mentioned “ attempt ” 
is concerned, the best possible authority does not admit that Mr. Walters has been 
successful. He certainly, however, shows the influence of Lincolnshire where we 
should expect to find it — in the dietion of the poet, and if we demur to the state- 
ment that “ a breath of Lincolnshire lingers about the pictures of Camelot,” we 
may admit that “the repetition of words like ridge, grange, slope, shard, moor, 
mere, copse, trench, dyke, wattled, beck, flats, gorge, quarry, thicket, dune, fen, 
reed, creek, cove, holm, barrows (mounds), wold,” show, taken together, a Lincoln- 
shire phraseology, although, taken separately, many of them are familiar elsewhere. 
The illustrations, notably that of Somersby Rectory, the poet’s birthplace, add 
much to the value of this attractive book. 
The Field Club (Elliot Stock) is a magazine of general natural history 
which we would recommend to readers of Nature Notes who wish to supplement 
the information contained in our pages by more technical and specialised study 
■of natural history. The Editor of the Field Club is the Rev. Theodore Wood, 
