NOTABLE BOOKS
" THE political historian, following the path of the conqueror, observes everywhere signs of triumph, of subjection and of
change, but the student of economic conditions sees a folk still virile and strong, often taking the conqueror himself into slow captivity within its social folds. Institutions deeply rooted in native soil, though amenable to change, defy eradi- cation and provide the basis for the new society." After
reading these profound and admirable sentences any student of British history will look to Mr. Rees for illustration of the
process by which the outlying folks in these islands—Welsh first, but also Irish and Scots, to say nothing of other breeds in smaller islands, Orkneys, or the Channel Group—were
brought .under the general system of rule. It will be a rude shock for most of them to fini that.the book is practically
unreadable unless you know Welsh as well as the jargon of feudal law. Even with the aid of a glossary appended, containing five or six hundred words, the text is hard to follow.
As a mere matter of technique it would have been simple to make the whole readable by any willing student ; it is not so readable, and much matter of extraordinary interest is thereby withheld or wrapped up in mystery. But even if the method of explaining words as their use arises had been adopted, the work would remain arid to the point of pedantry. The Muse of History nowadays should be represented as a skeleton, neatly articulated, with index number attached, denoting
where the flesh may be found. With all respect to Mr. Rees and all other modern historians this is no way to write history.
One would like as a penance to impose on Mr. Rees the task, say, of writing a commentary, intelligible for the vulgar,
upon Scott's novel of the Welsh marches, explaining what rights of the lord were therein exemplified, what traces of the borough to be found, what developing influence of Welsh customs and Norman, or vice versa. And then, if he would go and read it to his class in the University of Wales, they might rise up and call his name blessed. Learn- ing should not mummify or disembowel either man or book ; and it is the very mischief when an author who has things to say worth hearing will not say them so as to be understood.
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