A Key to English Antiquities. By Ella S. Armitaga. (William
Townsend, Sheffield.)—This is not an epoch-making work in archteology or history, but there is no doubt either as to the contagious enthusiasm of the writer, or as to the wisdom of the method that has been followed. No attempt is made to cover the whole field of English antiquities ; only such are referred to—at all events at length—as can be studied within the Sheffield and Rotherham districts. In the words of the preface, "This little book aims at putting into the hands of the people of Sheffield and Rotherham a key to the antiquities of their neighbourhood which will help them to understand and enjoy—for to understand is to enjoy—antiquities all over the Kingdom. Though written primarily for the use of the inhabi- tants of this district, I hope that the various types of ancient remains are described with sufficient fullness to make the book useful as a beginner's manual to the study of English antiquities." Yet, in spite of its largely local character, the book contrives to deal with such generally interesting subjects as "Camps and Earthworks," "Norman Castles," "Tombs and Crosses," " Moated Hillocks," and even "The History of Architecture" and "The Evolution of the Country House." At the same time, the author of this book is no mere credulous antiquarian of the Oldbuck or Pickwick type. On the contrary, the preface contains this warn- ing: "I would say with emphasis to the young antiquarian. Beware of Druids ; beware of Beltane fires, Baal worship, phallic rites, and all the other stock-in-trade of the antiquarians of fifty years ago; those things have led astray the most respectable old gentlemen." And so it comes about that we have a very informing, sensible, and here and there pleasantly chatty, book of Yorkshire antiquities. The churches and the tombs, and all the rest, are carefully described. Not too many or too sweeping deductions as to mediteval civilisation are drawn from appearances ; on the contrary, there are sprinkled over the book such warnings as, "Only the very greatest souls of the Middle Ages realised the elementary truth that Salvation is a matter of character," and "The mediaaval time was indeed an age of credulity ; but it was also in a marked degree an age of hypocrisy."
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