SIR CHARLES FIRTH'S well-known book, first published in 1900, is
a welcome addition to the World's Classics series. Cromwell's greatness has emerged, secure from two centuries of bitter controversy. Mr. G. M. Young remarks in his introduction to this volume that Carlyle's edition of Cromwell's speeches and letters (1845) conclusively reversed the conventional picture of Crom- well as a hypocritical fanatic; but the dwindling of controversy has not weakened the force of Cromwell's career, and Firth's account conveys admirably the sense of a soldier and statesman almost continuously at work in one of the great formative periods of modern British history. We are used to plans for defending Britain against invasion. We are aware of Scottish, Irish and Welsh nationalism, but we are perhaps less aware of English nationalism. Cromwell never forgot that: to Gardiner (as Mr. Young reminds us) Cromwell was
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