11 MAY 1929, Page 21

There is much to be said for " source books."

provided that the choice of the originals is intelligently made. A very good example of this kind of historical literature is Professor G. M. Trevelyan's Select Documents for Queen Anne's. Reign, 1702 -7 (Cambridge University Press, 7s. fid.). It -is.well planned, it does not cover too much ground, it is skilfully edited, and above all it is uncommonly interesting to read. Defoe's pamphlets and the later polemics of Swift and Addison are quoted at length to illustrate the religious and political con- troversies. Marlborough's difficulties are revealed in his correspondence. The course of the war is admirably indicated from -contemporary accounts ; Blenheim is described both from the English and from the French side, and the defeated Tallard's apology, printed in French, is well worth considering. Finally, there is a good section on the Union, with extracts from the memoirs of Sir John Clerk and of George Lockhart, who respectively supported and opposed that great measure which some perfervid Scots would now like to undo. It is to be hoped that Professor Trevelyan will produce another volume covering the rest of Queen Anne's reign.

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