The Two Lost Centuries of Britain. By William H. Babcock.
(Lippincott, Philadelphia.)—Mr. Babcock is one of those American writers for whom the very early history of what they regard as their mother-country has a fascination, and he has set himself to make, if possible, discoveries in that dark yet enchanted period which intervenes between the first coming and the final conquests of the Saxon, the era to which "be- longed Hengist and Vortigern ; the saint of the Hallelujah field, the beguiling Rowena ; Vortimer, redoubtable in life and death ; Ambrose, Prince of the Sanctuary ; Geraint, the hero of Enid and of Llongborth ; Arthur triumphing on Mount Baden ; Kyndylan of the Powys purple, defending in vain the shining city Uricon,—' the white town, the wasted town, the town of flame ! ' " Mr. Babcock has carefully examined the authentic— or comparatively authentic—records of this period, and gives the results of his inquiries in a curiously colloquial, yet not un- interesting style. If these do not amount to a very great deal, the fault cannot be said to be Mr. Babcock's, although a feeling of helplessness is caused by such a conclusion :—" We do not certainly know that there was more than one Guinevere. A single personality differently seen and reported may well have been broken into three. Gildas and Merlin underwent a similar division, with no just cause, to the great distress of inquirers. We are learning to piece them together again." Mr. Babcock's book is a piece of 'very ingenious and conscientious "piecing together." But it is none the less enjoyable on that account,— but rather all the more fascinating. The realisation of the "empire" of Arthur is especially delightful.
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