Welsh Journals

times actually lower than those charged in town, but also verify the accusation made by the Radical surgeon of Merthyr, Job James, that some 15,000 men in three of the town's works, including Dowlais, were served by only one doctor. The section on the masters, coupled with that on markets and sales, confirms the accepted chronology of rhythmic expansion and depression, but enormously strengthens its detail and documentation. The letters on the quality of the iron make tend to be repetitive and disappointing; so does the section on the business in general, though here there is some useful material on early banking activities. The political letters are diffuse, but throw new light on the election of 1852 and on the background to Merthyr's acquisition of a Member under the Reform Act of 1832. Earlier letters tend to confirm L. W. Dillwyn's suspicion that Josiah John Guest was not unconnected with the Bute interest in Glamorgan in the twenties. It was the Reform campaign and the opinions of his own electors which made Guest a liberal. In all categories, the quantity of solid information and statistical detail, even in the less coherent sectors, is a boon. Glamorgan County Council and the Guest Keen Company have earned gratitude and respect. They could have found no better way to com- memorate the bicentenary. To a social historian, it is the difficult early years, before Dowlais began to challenge and surpass Cyfarthfa in the thirties, which prove most interesting; to an economic historian, almost everything in the book will be of value, though he may have to work to to extract it. Read in conjunction with such works as those of Dr. A. H. John and Dr. J. P. Addis, it adds materially to our knowledge of one of the more significant periods in Welsh history. Miss Elsas has put all historians in her debt. Her book is a craftsman's model. There is a good index to correspondents, with genealogical tables and a list of railways which the company served. The introduction, challenging and informative, needs to be read in conjunction with the text. She has done more than produce a volume of source material, for the sympathy and humour which inform her selection have made this a readable and fascinating book, which will freshen many minds besides Dry-as-Dust's. The famous men are there, but our fathers have not been forgotten, and she has produced a worthy testimonial to a great company and a memorable people. GWYN A. WILLIAMS. Aberystwyth. MABON (WILLIAM ABRAHAM, 1842-1922: A STUDY IN TRADE UNION Leadership). By E. W. Evans. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1959. Pp. xii, 115. 10s. 6d. As Dr. Evans reminds us, this is a generation that knoweth not Mabon. This, perhaps, should not surprise us, for Dr. Evans shows how decisively