16 JUNE 1923, Page 21

History of the People of England. By Alice Drayton Greenwood.

Vol. II., 1485-1688. (S.P.C.K. 7s. 6d. net )

This is a readable and well-planned book by a competent scholar, who is at pains to give the modem views of the famous controversies of the Tudor and Stuart periods. Her treatment of the conflict between Charles I. and his Parlia- ments, for example, is commendably honest ; the favourite Whig theory that Parliament was trying to defend the old Constitution against a lawless king has long since been aban- doned by serious historians. The author does not always handle details-as the Star Chamber and the Petition of Right-with such precision as we could wish, but her general sketch of two great periods in our history is attractive and stimulating.