Welsh Journals

death first appeared in Concertatio Ecclesiae Catholicae, 1588, and the Spanish text of William Davies's trial and death in Historia de La Persecusion de Inglaterra in 1599. In this latest book these documents are edited, translated and well annotated. An account in English of the life of John Bennet, a Jesuit priest who died of the plague in London in 1625, is also printed here. The valuable introductory chapters outline the religious changes effected during the reign of Elizabeth and cautiously attempt to assess the incidence of Recusancy in the northern counties of Wales; the movement and activities of the Douai priests between 1568 and 1603 are meticulously traced. Undoubtedly the author is familiar with the available recusant sources and with the steady research work that has been done in this field in both Wales and England during the past twenty-five years or so. Welsh historians and research workers have for decades shown more interest in the development of nonconformist denominations than in the decline of Catholicism in Wales. It is, of course, accepted that there is a tendency amongst historians to shun lost causes, but in the case of Wales the neglect of Recusancy as a field of research can safely be attributed to past religious prejudice. By now, the Jong-felt need to fill a gap in our history seems to have overcome this prejudice. It is significant that some of the main contributors in this field of study have been Welshmen who are not themselves Catholics. What irritates researchers in this field is the paucity of documentary evidence. Such is the nature of a treasonable cause that even sympathisers, for obvious reasons, have been reluctant to comment and record. Owing to this paucity historians are tempted to resort to conjecture so as to complete some sort of a picture. The author of this book does not fall into this temptation. All students of Welsh Recusancy should be grateful to Mr. D. Aneurin Thomas for this sound contribution to Welsh Recusant history. I have not compared the translations with the originals, but they make good reading, and the acknowledgements to various scholars who assisted him are additional credentials that their renderings are accurate. GERAINT BOWEN Tal-y-llyn THE DROVERS: WHO THEY WERE AND HOW THEY WENT: AN EPIC OF THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE. By K. J. Bonser. Macmillan, 1970. Pp. 256. £ 3.25. Before the coming of the railways to Britain, livestock from outlying areas like Wales, Scotland and Ireland had necessarily to be driven on foot to the large centres of demand. The long distances involved, and often the poorness of grass, meant that livestock were driven in store condition and were fattened on the rich grazing lands of the midlands and south-east