A HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Hilaire Belloc. Vol. HE (Methuen.
15s.)-The third volume of Mr. Belloc's English History covers the later Middle Ages from the Black Death to the eve of the Reformation. It is so interesting and suggestive in part that we cannot but regret the author's determination to write with a definite bias against Protestant- ism and against " the official text-books." What is the use of belabouring Henry the Eighth and Anne Boleyn ? Could the Tudor King have despoiled the Church if the nation as a whole had not been at least indifferent if not hostile to the clergy ? Mr. Belloc is at his best in describing the Black Death and emphasizing the tremendous effects of that visitation upon England as on Europe. He enters heartily into the quarrel of the Two Roses. He can say nothing too hard about Henry IV., and repudiates the old and rather foolish theory that Parliament somehow gained new power under the usurping Lancastrian. His summary of the Civil War is clear ; he puts the case for the Yorkists very cogently. Whether.the nation attached such great importance to " the blood royal " as Mr. Belloc supposes is at least doubtful, but the point is too often neglected. Those who want historical controversy will thus find it in abundance. Personally, we prefer plain history.
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