[831] A. Wiedemann, “Ein altägyptischer Weltschöpfungsmythus,” Am Urquell, N.F. ii. (1898) pp. 95 sq.

[832] J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883–1887), ii, 78. In Beauce and Perche it was especially conflagrations caused by lightning which the priest was supposed to extinguish by the recitation of certain secret formulas. There was a regular expression for this procedure, namely, “barring the fire.” See F. Chapiseau, Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche, i. 216.

[833] Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie romanesque et merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 308.

[834] See above, p. [225].

[835] L. J. B. Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions et survivances (Paris, 1896), i. 455 sq., iii. 217 sq., 222 sqq. Compare id., Reminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), pp. 288 sqq.; D. Monnier, Traditions populaires comparées (Paris, 1854), pp. 31 sqq.

[836] J. F. Bladé, Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne (Agen, 1883), pp. 16 sq.

[837] For the evidence see my Totemism and Exogamy, vol. i. pp. 141 sqq.

[838] The suggestion has been made by Prof. H. Oldenberg (Die Religion des Veda, p. 59), who seems, however, to regard a belief in spirits as part of the raw material of magic. If the view which I have put forward tentatively is correct, faith in magic is probably older than a belief in spirits. The same view as to the priority of magic to religion, and apparently also as to the absence of spirits from primitive magic, was held by Hegel. It was not until long after the discussion in the text had been written that I became aware that my conclusions had been to a large extent anticipated by the German philosopher. See Appendix at the end of this volume.

[839] After a visit to the ruined Greek temples of Paestum, whose beauty and splendour impressed him all the more by contrast with the savagery of the surrounding peasantry, Renan wrote: “J’ai tremblé pour la civilisation, en la voyant si limitée, assise sur une faible assiette, reposant sur si peu d’individus dans le pays même où elle est regnante.” See E. Renan et M. Berthelot, Correspondance (Paris, 1898), pp. 75 sq.

[840] See above, pp. [68] sq.; “The Witch-burning at Clonmel,” Folklore, vi. (1895) pp. 373–384; F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven, pp. 144 sqq.