16 SEPTEMBER 1938, Page 36

From the resources of an immense experience, Sir John Marriott

has compiled this informal history of the British Constitution (Blackie, 15s.), which embraces the whole field of events from the advent of Julius Caesar to the abdication of King Edward VIII. It is a book which may well prove itself of great usefulness for school purposes, for the story is interest- ingly told. The author has steered clear of theories and systems ; and he has the special merit of writing upon the assumption that the people of the Middle Ages were, after all, "grown-ups." For the general reader the book might have more appeal as a refresher course in British history if the author had not clothed his narrative in a coating of somewhat sugary patriotism. An account of the development of a constitutional system is scarcely the appropriate place for panegyrics upon kings and 'nations. As a people, we do not lack opportunities of acknowledging either our own merits or those of our monarchy ; but even those readers who are least bashful upon these Matters may find that Sir John Marriott's side comments, particularly upon the subject of Edward VII and George V, become a little cloying. It is not that the writer deviates a moment from perfect sin- cerity ; but in the midst of such instructive-matters as the Irish Treaty or the Statute of Westminster, the indulgence of sentiment is bound to appear trite.