reminiscences of the mockery of Christ by the Roman soldiery. I should like to know also what reason there is for believing that the practice of lifting the hat when meeting a funeral was "originally intended to propitiate the evil spirits which may be in attendance."
These, however, are after all minor blemishes. Mr. Bladen's important collection of Counting-out Rhymes, his collection of Singing-games, and his diagrams of Hopscotch as played at Stone (which should be compared with the Danish collection of Dr. Feilberg and the Sicilian collection of Dr. Pitré) give him a substantial claim on our gratitude. It is a pleasure, too, to congratulate him on recording the words of the Guisers' Play as performed at Stone, which differs materially from the version performed at Eccleshall, only six miles away, and recorded by Miss Burne (Folk-Lore Journal, iv., 350). This again differs noticeably from that of Newport, nine miles distant. Were a collection made of these plays from all parts of the country we might by collation and careful comparison be able to form some opinion as to their origin and the influences which have modified them at various times and places.
The speedy growth of tradition is illustrated by Mr. Bladen's note on the circumstances attending the death of Mr. Stanier of Peplow; and the transference of custom from place to place by his statement that notice of Mothering Sunday is given out on the previous Sunday in Eccleshall Church, which Miss Burne informs me is a recent innovation, dating only from the incumbency of the present vicar, who comes from South Staffordshire, where great store is set by Mothering Sunday. These may seem small points, but they touch great questions.
In fact, Mr. Bladen's success in collecting folklore in a very limited area should act as a stimulus to those members of our Society who, living in places as yet little touched by the spirit of the age, nevertheless tell us they would fain help us, but they never hear of anything likely to be of use! E. Sidney Hartland.
