Elementary History of England. By Cyril Ransom°. (Percival and Co.)—Professor
Ransom° has shown by several of his works, such as his "Short History of England," how very well qualified he is to write a little work of this kind, which is expressly intended for the use of the lower forms in schools. He has, of course, like all writers of such books, to deal to some extent in maps, genealogies, and dates ; but he never forgets his own doctrine that "tho real way to make history interesting is to keep before the eyes of one's pupils that what they are dealing with is essentially the history of political growth, and to appeal more to their intelligence than to their memory." Although Professor Ransom° has opinions of his own on political questions, he shows no bias of any kind in his writing. Some of his characterisations are not sufficiently graphic ; thus "the fiery Knox" hardly does justice to the great loader of Scotch Protestantism. Condensa- tion, too, may be overdone, as is shown by this reference to Mr. Gladstone's second administration : "He remained in office from 1880 to 1885, during which time he passed another Land Act, sent am army to occupy Egypt," &c. Surely some reason for the occupation of Egypt ought to have been given. Mr. Gladstone's act, as given in Professor Ransome's words, looks like unprovoked annexation. But few faults, however, can be found with a book which has almost innumerable excellences, and which, in spite of the numerous works of a scholestico-historical kind that are printed nowadays, is distinctly original.
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