ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND. By P. H. Blair. (C.U.P., 30s.) IT has
been necessary for a long time that the work of the many Anglo-Saxon scholars in illuminating the history of England between the end of the Roman occupation and the Norman conquest should be collated and put into an intelligible form for the general reader. To give him Sir Frank Stenton's Anglo-Saxon England and tell him to get on with it has never seemed likely to arouse his interest in the period during which the English nation was created, its Church firmly established, and its language formed. Apparently it was the idea of the Syn° dies of the Cambridge University Press that Mr. Blair should undertake this valuable task. and they obviously knew their man, If I were to select the two qualities which distinguish it as a general introduction to its subject, I would point first to the clarity of its style• which surely reflects the clarity of Mr. Blair's own mind and his mastery of his subject. Secondly, Mr. Blair has succeeded, even in the course of his narrative, in making it clear on what particular (and conflicting) sources he is drawing. This is, of course, especially impor tant in discussing the Anglo.Saxon period, bat Mr. Blair has also performed the not in' considerable feat of conveying some of the fascination of history which is either not documented at all or only sparsely door mented. The detective work in which Anel°' Saxon historians, archaeologists, philologists; etc., have to participate is part of the joy e, their work. If only modern historians were all
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