2gfolia : its Geography, Topography, and Antiquities. By William J.
Woodhouse. (The Clarendon Press. 21s. net.)—This handsome volume does great credit at once to the devotion and industry of its author, and to the enterprise of the Clarendon Press. It is worth noting that it is the outcome of the judicious rearrange- ment of University endowments. Mr. Woodhouse found the occasion of this admirable piece of work in the tenure of a Craven Fellowship. What a change for the better when we contrast it with the inadequacy, to say the least, of some of the Craven beneficiaries in the old days, when the foundation had to be administered in the interest of Lord Craven's name and kindred. The subject of ZEtolia is one which does not commend itself to the general student of classical history or awl:neology. The
country and its inhabitants make but the very briefest appear- ance in the golden age of Greece. Its development came late, when the literary power which had made the earlier history famous for ever had passed away. Most of the names will sound absolutely strange to all but the few who have a special know- ledge of classical geography. Pleuron, Olenos and Pylene, with Chalcis and Calydon, appear in the Homeric Catalogue, and the last of the five is the scene of one of the most romantic of the early legends. Naupactos, in Eastern 2Etolia, has some historical import- ance. Add to these the tribal names which occur in Thucydides's account (iii. 94 seq.) of the Athenian invasion of the country, and we have about come to the end of the popular knowledge, for the his- tory of the /Etolian League falls outside the usual limits of even academical study. Mr. Woodhouse did not bring home a rich spoil in the way of inscriptions. There is little that is historical, and nothing, it may be said, that is literary. Nevertheless, his labours have not by any means been wasted. He has attacked several interesting problems of geography and topography with energy and success. It is quite impossible for us to attempt even the briefest epitome of the results which he has reached. We can but generally commend them to the student. It is only fair to say that details, necessarily somewhat tedious, are often re- lieved by the human interests of travel and by some descriptions of picturesque scenery. The volume is well illustrated by photo- graphs of landscapes, reproductions of inscriptions, maps, Ste.
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