PRESS NOTICES
‘An interesting study in comparative mythology. The old school of interpreters explained the presence of irrational and repulsive elements in classic legend as due to loss of the primitive purer meaning of the names of the high-dwelling gods. But that has given place to a more rational method. This explains the presence of the gross and barbaric as actual survivals of beliefs and customs from the rude myth-making stage out of which the higher races slowly emerged. Truly, a more excellent way.’—Daily Chronicle.
‘A most scholarly and fascinating book. Those who have not followed the progress of similar investigations will be startled by its suggestiveness.’—The Nation.
‘Folklore, treated as it is in the scientific method employed in the present work, is raised at once to a high level of importance, and is full of possibilities in the near future. It is a new science, but it is one which is already being elevated to a high standard of scholarly excellence by the publication of such works as the one before us. We shall await the appearance of the second volume of Mr. Hartland’s work with much interest, when we shall hope to deal with the subject thoroughly as a whole.’—Antiquary.
‘There will be agreement as to the skill with which he has disentangled a mass of valuable material and produced it in lively form.’—The Academy.
‘His book is one that no one interested in the early history of religion, in folklore, or in anthropology can safely neglect.’—Manchester Guardian.
‘The latter half of the book, which deals with the subject of parthenogenesis and miraculous births generally throughout all literature, is especially interesting, and makes one look forward to the second volume.’—Pall Mall Gazette.
‘Mr. E. S. Hartland has placed himself on the trail of this venerable and widespread tradition, and he follows it up with the scent of a sleuth-hound, or of a born folklorist.’—Scotsman.
‘Mr. Frazer’s great book, “The Golden Bough,” began a new epoch in the modern treatment of mythology. It showed us how to apply the comparative method to the folklore and religious tales of all countries and ages, with surprising results. Mr. Hartland is one of our most learned and competent workers in this novel field, and he ably follows Mr. Frazer’s footsteps.… Our author shows, with a marvellous array of instances, that supernatural birth is almost invariably claimed as a necessary attribute of the central figure in early myths: and he examines minutely the various methods in which the marvel takes place, the miraculous conception in a virgin being diversely caused by numberless more or less tangible antecedents, from something half-magical eaten or drunk to a shower of gold or a ray of sunlight.’—Westminster Gazette.
‘Crammed with good reading that is eminently thought-producing.’—Speaker.