Welsh Journals

then have been dealt with in terms of the region as a whole. Overlapping of the different systems into two or more regions would also have been covered by this systematic geographical approach. The book would also have benefited by the insertion of two larger sketch maps-one of north and mid-Wales, and the second of south Wales-in place of the single sketch map of Wales at the end of the book, which tends to be overwhelming in the amount of detail it tries to present. The literary style of the text tends at times to be irritating. It displays a 'superfoetation' of adverbial and adjectival clauses strung together in vast unwieldy sentences. Attention to detail is sometimes lacking, especially where the accuracy of Welsh place names is concerned. The most blatant and inexcusable example occurs when a photograph of a Manchester and Milford 2-4-0 locomotive, clearly shown standing under a station name board reading 'Llanybyther', is described in the text as at 'Llanylythen'. Notwithstanding these criticisms of style and organiza- tion, the book deals comprehensively with Welsh railways. Reference might have been made to the fact that an example of the Severn Tunnel pumping engines is preserved at the Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea, and that there is also at the Institution an example of a tireless locomotive which operated on a daily charging of compressed steam in the National Oil Refineries at Llandarcy. But these are minor points. The book is attractively presented by David and Charles and the photographic reproductions are of a very high standard. The book is a valuable contribution to the history of the railway system of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Wales. R. V. BARNES Swansea POPULAR MOVEMENTS, c. 1830-1850. Edited by J. T. Ward. Macmillan, London, 1970. Pp. ix, 206. Price £ 2.50; paperback, £ 1.00. Some people may be deceived by the title of this book: the term 'popular movements' is used to cover such diverse subjects as the Irish Repeal question and Public Health. In an impressive introduction, Dr. Ward tries to show how the various reform movements of this period were related. He does not, perhaps, always succeed, but in spite of this, the collection of eight essays is important and useful. It is really a report on current historical opinion, and as such will be very welcome in school and college. The book has two main themes: the theme of change and the power of provincial agitation. The pace of economic and social change was so rapid in these twenty years that even conservatives found it impossible to stand still. In fact, in many of the popular movements-some of which lasted for only a few hectic years-the Tory emerges as a leading agitator, sharing the factory reform and anti-Poor Law platforms with the radical. When the two of them met, in men like J. R. Stephens and Richard Oastler, intolerance and violence were never far away. The radical