ALEX. FRASER.

(_To be Continued._)

* * * * *

MR H. L. ROLFE, the celebrated Irish painter, has just finished a large
natural history picture, entitled "A Border Feud." The scene is laid on
a Scotch loch. An otter has succeeded in taking a salmon, which it has
just commenced to devour; an eagle is flying away, having been
disappointed of its prey. This last effort of Mr Rolfe's is the most
successful which has yet appeared from his studio.

THE Christian Knowledge Society is bringing out a revised edition of
their Gaelic translation of the Book of Common Prayer.

ON THE DRUIDICAL CHANTS PRESERVED IN THE CHORUSES OF POPULAR SONGS IN
ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND, AND FRANCE.

By CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D., F.S.A., _Author of the Gaelic Etymology of the
English and Lowland Scotch, and the Languages of Western Europe_.

THE learned Godfrey Higgins informs us in his Anacalypsis that "every
word in every language has originally had a meaning, whether a nation
has it by inheritance, by importation, or by composition." He adds that
it is evident if we can find out the original meaning of the words which
stand for the names of objects, great discoveries may be expected. The
Duke of Somerset, in our day, expresses the same truth more tersely when
he says that "every word in every language has its pedigree."

All who are acquainted with the early lyrical literature of England and
Scotland, preserved in the songs and ballads of the days immediately
before and after Shakspere, must sometimes have asked themselves the
meaning of such old choruses as "_Down, down, derry down_," "_With a
fal, lal, la_" "_Tooral, looral_," "_Hey, nonnie, nonnie_," and many
others. These choruses are by no means obsolete, though not so
frequently heard in our day as they used to be a hundred years ago.
"_Down, down, derry down_," still flourishes in immortal youth in every
village alehouse and beershop where the farm labourers and mechanics are
accustomed to assemble. One of the greatest living authorities on the
subject of English song and music--Mr William Chappell--the editor of
the Popular Music of the Olden Time, is of opinion that these choruses,
or burdens, were "mere nonsense words that went glibly off the tongue."
He adds (vol. i., page 223), "I am aware that '_Hey down, down, derry
down_,' has been said to be a modern version of '_Ha, down, ir, de