The October number of Histoiy, the very readable quarterly journal
of the Historical Association (Macmillan and Co., Is. net), contains an examination by Professor Firth of the accepted dory of the expulsion of the Long Parliament by Cromwell, and two "historical revisions" which deserve a note. Professor Pollard dispels some old illusions in regard to Magna Carta, the popular view of which was largely invented by Coke in his contest with James I. Mr. Callender is even more drastic in his refutation of the belief that the defeat of the Armada was a miracle. Not only were the English fighting ships more numerous than the Spaniards ; they were also, for the most part, far more powerful than the armed Spanish transports which " creaked with the obsolescence of mediaevalism." Tennyson's " little Revenge "• was as far superior to the Armada vessels as the Queen Elizabeth • would be to the early irenclads, and in her fight off the Azores with fifty-three Spaniards she was, according to Mr. Callender, by no means unevenly matched.
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