11 JANUARY 1975, page 14

Mare's Nest

A.L. Rowse Astraea. The Imperial Theme in the Sixteenth Century Frances A. Yates (Routledge and Kegan Paul £6.95) Miss Yates is a scholar about whom it is difficult to make up......

Maids In A Row

Gillian Freeman Rise Up Women! Andrew Rosen (Routledge and Kegan Paul £6.95) The Fiction Of Sex Rosalind Miles (Vision £3.40) Never again must young women enter into marriage......