Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/300

 292 SHORT NOTICES April Saxons and The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth, Anglo- Saxon Period, with its massive supplement of ' Proofs and Illustrations '. These books were originally published in 1831 and 1832, and, as is well known, differ widely in their scope. The History of the Anglo-Saxons was planned on the model of Scott's Tales of a Grandfather and was issued in the 'Family Library' : it was to be a book ' that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand '. Palgrave would no doubt have been surprised to see his slim little volume reappear in large octavo, with a collection of most valuable historical and philological notes, and a series of pedigrees contributed by that learned and exact scholar, Professor H. M. Chadwick. The English Commonwealth stands on a very different footing. It represents an important stage in the interpretation of the materials for the history of our institutions, and it will be read at the present time with a larger amount of agreement than it would have received fifty years ago. The republication of the two books together enables the reader to under- stand something of the extraordinary breadth of the author's accomplish- ments. We have here a History of the Anglo-Saxons in 233 pages. The concluding chapters of the English Commonwealth contain a survey of the same period in 179 pages ; and in the volume of ' Proofs and Illustrations * it is once more dealt with in ' summaries ' arranged under the different ' heptarchic ' kingdoms, which extend to 335 pages. And yet in going over the ground three times Palgrave has succeeded in producing three almost entirely independent presentments of the course of events. In the English Commonwealth he introduced a great deal of illustrative matter relating to Wales and Scotland, and in the volume of ' Proofs ' he checked the succession of rulers by means of full excerpts from charters. That many of the charters are now rejected as forgeries need not be concealed ; but Palgrave wrote some years before Kemble began publishing his Codex. In like manner he is not to be reproached for his treatment of the Anglo-Saxon laws, for the critical editing of them belongs to a later time : he had not even Thorpe to refer to, far less Schmid or Liebermann. His work will nevertheless be consulted by scholars for its originality, its wealth of suggestion, and its prodigal use of comparison (not always indeed relevant) with the legal customs of Scandinavia and other lands ; but ifc must never be forgotten that it is a work published in 1832. The present edition is a faithful reprint in which none but manifest slips have been corrected, and these changes are carefully marked by square brackets. We have noticed a single instance in the History of the Anglo-Saxons in which ' brother ' has been erroneously altered into ' son ' (v. 67). The writers of the notes, on which several hands seem to have been engaged, have wisely limited themselves to details and their references are extremely useful. Now and then a spurious authority is allowed to pass, but such instances are exceptional and need not be here noticed. We must, however, deplore that it was thought necessary to furnish translations of all the easy Latin of the texts quoted, and even of modern French, so that the volume of ' Proofs and Illustrations ' is swollen to the ponderous bulk of 942 pages. Although a large part of the materials which Palgrave printed from manuscripts has been published since his time, still these ' Proofs and Illustrations ' remain a quarry in which the student will continue to dig,.