NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-LORE. 71
of foresight on my part. At meetings of the Club called for inspection of
the Forest (e.g., on April 27th, 1889, E.N., vol. iii., p. 164) I have repeatedly,
strongly objected to the exaggerated statements inserted from time to time in the
newspapers, and demonstrated to scores of people the want of knowledge in the
writers of the condition of the woods, and I say emphatically that these state-
ments did not, nor do not, represent my views, nor, as far as I know, those of any
of the "founders of the Club." I do not often obtrude my own opinions upon
my readers, but this question of forest management is a matter of importance, and
I will not permit members or non-members of the Club to misrepresent my own
or my colleagues' views with regard to a district which has possessed the deepest
interest for me during the greater part of my life.—W. Cole.]
NOTES ON ESSEX DIALECT AND FOLK-
LORE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
DIVINING-ROD.
By GEORGE DAY, F.R.M.S.
[Read February 24th, 1894.]
ALTHOUGH traces of folk-lore may be found in almost every
subject connected with the history and development of man-
kind, it may be well to commence with a definition of the phrase.
Dr. Johnson tells us that "folk" is properly a collective noun,
and has no plural, except by modern corruption: yet he wrote,
"Folks want me to go to Italy." Walker says that "folks" is the
proper orthography. The expressive phrase "folk-lore," is said by
French, in his "English Past and Present," to be borrowed from the
German ; but in this he appears to be wrong. Mr. W. T. Thoms in
"Notes and Queries" for October 6th, 1872, distinctly claims to
have coined it. The word was first used in "The Athenaeum" for
August 22nd, 1846, in an article written by Mr. Thoms, and signed
"Ambrose Melton." But the general idea of the words is some-
thing like that given by Webster in his "Dictionary," viz., "rural
tales, legends, or superstitions" ; and, to my mind, the words explain
themselves, if we take "folk" to mean the general community or
people, and lore to signify learning in general, as opposed to science
—that is ascertained knowledge. We get, then, "folk-lore"—the
common knowledge of the people—popular learning and ideas on all
matters connected with man and his surroundings ; or the popular
explanation of observed facts.
Folk-lore is becoming more and more studied, and year by year
it is receiving greater attention. Its object is to collect, classify, and
preserve survivals of popular beliefs, and to trace them as far as
possible to their original sources. This is no easy matter. School-