Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/132

 THE HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND: ITS CAUSKS AND ITS RESULTS. 13y E. A. Fkeemax, M.A., D.C.L., etc. Vol. iv. 1S7L OnJKCTioN has been taken to Mr. Freeman' .s fourth volume — the reign of the Uunqueror, — on the ground that it eontains too much local detail ; is too toj)Ogi-a]»hical iy its character for a general history. In this criti- cism we do not at all concur, though even did we think it well-founded from the historic jtoint of view, we should still feel gi-ateful for a work which does so much to raise and ennoble the study of English toi)Ograjihy. The fact really is, that what has been unadvisedly called a blemisii may, with much gi-eater justice, be regarded as the great merit and charm of Mr. Freeman's history. Ho has, in liis three ])recetling volumes, and far more remarkably in the present one, of which the subject better bears it, worked up into the general narrative the leading, and oftentimes the minute features of its ] principal events, and has thus availed himself of the hund)le, and but little recognised labour of those whose studies have been coiitiiied to accurate and technical local descrip- tions. .Such student.s — antirpiarians rather than arclueologists — have collected a vast mass of material, which Mr. Freeman, a great master builder in his art, well acquainted with the.se stores, employs largely in his structure, gives them by this means a place and value in historical composition to which they have not before attained, and thus elevates the mere topographer into the rank of a fellow-labourer in a great and complete work. A closer accuracy of description, a wider field of com- parison, and a good deal more common sense in liis conclusions, have in the i)a.st few ycai-s raised tiic virtuoso into the scientific antitpiary. It is now for the hi.storiiin to elevate the ajiti(|iiary into the arciueologist, by the conclusions which he draws fmui, and the charm and colouring wiiich he shows to be tlo.sely c<innectcd with labours, which, regarded in themselves, arc commoidy dry, and of but little general interest. Nor is the advantage thus obtained confined to one party : it ftpplicH, at least ccpiaily, to the histurian. Historians, until recently, seemed to treat the more nunuto details of the country of wliieh they wrote ns beneath their notice, or worthy only of being handleil in a very general way. Arnold wn.s the first really great writer wlio paid minute attention to the tcjpography of the scenes of such events as his liistory led him to l)on. Freeman is, liowever, not oidy a toj)0- graiiher, but what these were not, a sound technical anti<piary, able to read in the material features of a building or an earthwork, no less