Welsh Journals

words. In general organisation, the volume conforms to that of Pargellis and Medley, its immediate predecessor, which came out in 1951. There are separate sections on political, constitutional, legal and military history, and so on, followed by sections on Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and a concluding section on imperial and colonial history. In the twenty-six years since Pargellis and Medley, Wales has moved up the historical ladder from section 14 to section 12-at the expense of Ireland, whose demotion may represent an unconscious yet understandable wish on the part of the editors to hear less of the affairs of that country. Welsh history is accorded a mere nine pages-not, perhaps a very handsome ration, but it is clear that the editors have relied greatly on the bibliographies put out in the Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies and the present journal. One feature of the volume that enhances its value is the inclusion of references to certain articles and to some deposits of manuscripts. A section that must have been difficult to compile is that on local history, where there is a vast undergrowth of booklets and pamphlets, often of considerable value, put out by local societies and institutions; the gleaning of such a harvest can hardly be very systematic. The editorial comments are restrained and generous: indeed, upon occasions, they are perhaps too kindly, and a word of warning that W. R. Williams's work on the parliamentary history of Wales is not always reliable might not have been amiss. The only note of reservation is that the index is, in places, slightly idiosyncratic. The policy on subject and section headings eluded me. The reader interested in Railways will find an index reference, but Canals or Roads are not there. Smugglers and pirates are in the index, but the Police are excluded-not, one trusts, an intrusion of the modem tendency to discount law and order? But these are trifling points to set against an achievement for which the two editors deserve the admiration and gratitude of all historians of the period. JOHN CANNON Newcastle upon Tyne A HISTORY OF SAINT David's COLLEGE, LAMPETER. Volume One: to 1898. By D. T. W. Price. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1977. Pp. 222 Price £ 8.00. College histories, particularly when they are 'official' and commemora- tive, are notoriously difficult to write. This is because the author is expected to give not only an account of origins and subsequent internal relations but also to analyse the conditions of survival, to trace and explain, that is to say, relations with the changing world outside. The first demands powers of narrative, skill in delineating character, an eye for significant detail and infinite patience, while the other demands a wide knowledge of the social, the intellectual and the political character of the time in order to show how these and the institution reacted upon each other. Mr. Price fulfills these exacting demands and he has the additional qualification of writing a good, clear, sometimes witty, and always bright and readable prose.