In Mrs Gomme's
_Traditional Games_, several versions of each game, together with a
short account of the suggested origin and of the custom or belief
indicated, are given for each game. In vol. ii. (pp. 458-531) a memoir
of the history of games is given, and the customs and beliefs which
originated them, reviewing the whole subject from the anthropological
point of view, and showing the place which games occupy among the
evidences of early man. In Miss Eckenstein's comparative study of
nursery rhymes suggested origins are given for many of these, and an
attempt made to localize certain of the customs and events. In several
of the publications of the Folk-lore Society local collections of
games are given, all of which may be studied with advantage. Stubbes
and other early writers give many instances of boys' games in their
days, many of which still exist. Tylor and other writers on
anthropology, in dealing with savage custom, confirm the views here
expressed. For nursery rhymes see Halliwell, _Nursery Rhymes_ (1845),
and Chambers's _Popular Rhymes_ (first printed 1841, reprinted in
1870). The recently collected _Morris Dances_ by Mr Cecil Sharp should
also be consulted. One of the morris dances, bean-setting, evidently
dealing with planting or harvest, is danced in circle form, while
others indicating fighting or rivalry are danced in line form, each
line dancing in circle before crossing over to the opposite, side, and
thus conforming to the laws already shown to exist in the more
ordinary game. (A. B. G.*)

CHILDS, GEORGE WILLIAM (1829-1894), American publisher, was born in
Baltimore, Maryland, on the 12th of May 1829. He was educated in the
public schools, and after a brief term of service in the navy, he became
in 1843 a clerk in a book-shop at Philadelphia. There, in 1847, he
established an independent book-shop, and two years later organized the
publishing house of Childs & Peterson. In 1864, with Anthony J. Drexel,
he purchased the _Public Ledger_, at that time a little known newspaper;
he completely changed its policy and methods, and made it one of the
most influential journals in the country. He died at Philadelphia on the
3rd of February 1894. Childs was widely known for his public spirit and
philanthropy. In addition to numerous private benefactions in
educational and charitable fields, he erected memorial windows to
William Cowper and George Herbert in W