Our Forefathers in the Dark Ages. By K. G. Blunt.
(Elliot Stock.)—" The sources of some of our noblest rivers, which spread fertility over continents and bear richly-laden fleets to the sea, are to be sought in wild and barren mountain-tracts, incorrectly laid down in maps, and rarely explored by travellers. To such a tract the his- tory of our country during the thirteenth century may not inaptly be compared. Sterile and obscure as is that portion of our annals, it is to those that we most look for the origin of our freedom, our prosperity, and our glory." Taking this passage from Lord Macaulay as his text, Mr. Blunt enters a strong protest against the discredit which attaches to the period preceding the Norman Conquest. He aims at proving that the foundations of many of our noblest institutions were laid, and that the germs of our national character had begun to develop themselves, under the Anglo-Saxons. In a few interesting pages, he gives a graphic sketch of the social condition of the English people in the eleventh century, and traces the origin of many of our most cherished liberties. The results at which he arrives will be in most oases familiar to students of Professors Freeman and Stubbs, who have done so much to elucidate this period of our history ; but even professed students of history cannot fail to derive some benefit from the perusal of this little volume.
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