Due Praise
THE reviewer of a Festschrift too often finds it necessary to concentrate on the merits of the recipient, in order to be able to pass over in decent silence the pious mediocrity of the con- tributions. But to do honour to Sir John Neale a remarkable team of historians have combined, and have produced a volume which is a con- tribution to Tudor studies in its own right. Professor MacCaffrey has a skilful and percep- tive survey of 'Place and Patronage in Elizabe- than Politics,' which suggests many new lines of thought and inquiry. Professor Bindoff's 'The Making of the Statute of Artificers' throws quite new light on that familiar statute, and on the relation of Parliament and executive in the for- mation of economic policy. (Whatever the statute 'had which was new and forward-looking it owed to the House of Commons.') Dr. Collin- son's striking essay on 'John Field and Eliza- bethan Puritanism' does belated justice to an important figure in English history. His new material, skilfully put together, helps us to under- stand the relation of doctrinal Presbyterianism —the creed of internationally-minded revolu- tionary intellectuals—to the wider and looser Puritanism which preceded and survived it. Professor Dodd contributes an interesting essay on Sir Thomas Myddelton, a merchant who bought lands in his native Wales from the profits of privateering, and extended his estates there by foreclosing on those of his less provident neighbours who borrowed money from him. These and the other essays make a satisfactory tribute to our leading historian of Tudor England. I
CHRISTOPHER HILL
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