Social Life in England, 1750-1450. By F. J. Foakes Jackson.
(Macmillan and Co. 5s. net.)—This attractive little book, written for delivery as a course of lectures at Boston, illustrates our social history under the Georges and Victoria from various well-known works. Wesley's diary, Crabbe's tales, the story of the Suffolk heroine Margaret Catch- pole, Gunning's scandalous Cambridge reminiscences, the Creevey Papers, Dickens and Thackcray, Surtees and Trollope, supply the material for these fresh and amusing essays. The chapter on Crabbe is to be commended ; it ought to dispose of the current belief that Crabbe was a dull fellow because he wrote his tales in rhyming couplets, whereas his character-sketches are really very witty and entertaining. Surtees is another author whose merits as a portrayer of early Victorian manners are for once justly appraised. The creator of Mr. Jorrocks and Mr. Sponge is something more than a rollicking humorist.
Previous page
