30 OCTOBER 1964, Page 25

Caught in Time

PUBLISHED in 1944, Trevelyan's English Social Iiistory had sold 392,000 copies by 1949. No history book had sold so many copies in so short a time: indeed, the public response can Only be likened to that which greeted his great- llncle Macaulay's History of England. The day that was published, traffic was brought to a standstill on Ludgate Hill by carriages striving to reach Longmans, the publisher, in Paternoster taw. Indeed, Trevelyan's Social History became a social phenomenon. Like many of his books, tr appeared at a most appropriate moment. In 1944 victory was in sight: and it seemed to be a triumph for historical forces, for those ancient Ways and tried institutions which Britain had 1.0 carefully built up over the centuries. As Churchill told us, these were to triumph over She evil, barbaric innovations of the Nazis. Or so h seemed. Certainly, nostalgia for the lost style of life pervaded the nation. In the November of 1944, even the Thirties possessed a golden glow: they belonged to a world of leisure, of ease, of the decencies of life.

Into this mood Trevelyan's Social History fitted remarkably well. Born into a great Whig family, Trevelyan cherished the liberal qualities of 'oldish life. And often it was his class that had made the England that he knew and lolled. Freedom to write and speak, the broadening franchise, the deepening education; the sheer Physical beauty of the English countryside and the urbanity of market town and village: such, he felt, were the work of his ancestors, or the best of them, for he was, of course, aware, too, of the worst, aware of their greed, cruelty, °OPression. Nevertheless, he could write about the Past with a persuasive lyricism, with a nostalgia which for him was true, not false. And so this beautifully told story of how ordinary o.len and women lived has .a sunset glow about u that makes for poetry, even if it blurs the

sharp edge of truth. Poverty is mentioned, so is disease, squalor, brutality, but their ferocity, their toll of human life, the way they brutalised generations of men and women is evaded. There are few really dark shadows in the rustic glory of Trevelyan's pre-industrial Britain; and no love, at all, for the industry that destroyed it.

A mood of nostalgia was not alone sufficient to launch this book on its meteoric success, It also touched deeper springs. Trevelyan was, at heart, a poet and a writer with a deep sense of the tragic nature of man's condition—alone, caught in Time, mortal. And, of course, the war years had brought this truth home to thousands who had never thought of themselves in relation to the flow of time. Although circumstances were appropriate for the book's success, it also possesses enduring qualities, extensive scholar- ship and exceptional literary skill, that will make it a classic of English historical writing. This superbly illustrated edition from Penguins is well worthy of the book. It is a magnificent bargain and should be on everyone's shelves.

J. H. PLUMB