A Challenge to Historians. By P. T. Godsal. (Eton :
Spottis- woode, Ballantyne, and Co. 2s. net..)--Ten years ago Major Godsal published a book, The Storming of London and the Thames Valley Campaign, in which he propounded a new theory of the conquest of Britain by the Angles. He has written this pamphlet to express his disappointment at the cool reception given to his theory by the learned world. He is good enough to say that the Spectator alone gave a " reasoned review in its favour " ; we must add, however, that our review was no more than an exposition of his interesting argument. The period between the withdrawal of the Roman garri- sons and the Heptarchy is so obscure, for lack of trustworthy evi- dence, that every one is free to theorize on it to his heart's content. The late Professor York Powell, who knew the Welsh sources, openly confessed that they threw no light en this period. The academic historians have merely made guesses at truth, and Mr. J. R. Green's guesses have long since been rejected as improbable. Major Godsal is on firm ground in approaching the problem from a military standpoint, since the principles of strategy are immutable. But whether the Angles came and acted in large bodies, or gradually " infiltrated " the British territories, is a question to which there is no definite answer.
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