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individual names reveals clearly how patronymics, as such, had been discarded, especially among the middle layers of Gwynedd society, by the mid-seventeenth century. Similarly, the wide range of professions and occupations-urban and rural-indicate a varied and balanced economy in a region in which the yeoman-that solid backbone of the Welsh (and English) social scene-predominated. That frugal freeholder, Robert Gruffudd of Brynmoel, for example, was apparently quite prosperous and, as Gareth Haulfryn Williams has already shown, owned quite a substantial house in the uplands of Nanconwy. The names of other individuals also catch the eye, such as William Foxwist, William Hookes and William Spicer, all three being representatives of prosperous townsfolk who also boasted long associations with the boroughs of Caernaerfon and Conwy. The Boldes, Bulkeleys, Fletchers, Hollands and Salesburys, among others, are equally well represented among the advenae who had settled in urban and later (usually through marriage) in the rural areas of Gwynedd. Griffith Jones of Castellmarch, that hardy puritan magistrate, was kidnapped to Wexford from the Llyn coast in 1649 because of his political transgressions, but he miraculously survived the Restoration in public service. Another diligent Cromwellian collaborator of his on the Caernarfonshire bench of magistrates was Edmund Glynne, the youngest of three anti-royalist brothers of Glynllifon. Likewise, representatives of the Bodwrda family of Llyn, such as the brothers Hugh and John, together with their uncle Henry, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, are also listed, as are Richard Meyricke, the first of his family to be appointed sheriff of Anglesey, and Huw Owen of Bodeon, that vacillating Civil War colonel. The brothers Gruffudd and Richard Thomas of Aber, the sons of an unfortunate victim of political circumstances during the Civil Wars and Interregnum and grandsons of the well-known Sir William Thomas of Coed Alun, Caernarfon (on their father's side) and of Bishop Richard Parry of St. Asaph (on their mother's), made a name for themselves by attacking a puritan minister at Aber on his way home from a preaching engagement at Llanfairfechan on a spring Sabbath day in 1652! Many other examples of interesting individuals could be multiplied: it is nevertheless clear that historians now need to use the probate material itself in preparation for any serious study of the social structure and community life. Mr. Gareth Haulfryn Williams has already prepared the way in his important M.A. dissertation entitled The Caernarfonshire Probate Records, 1630 1690 (Bangor, 1972). The counties of Anglesey and Merioneth deserve equally competent treatment in order that new life can be breathed into dry bones and that a worthwhile study can be undertaken of the social structure of Gwynedd as a corporate region. The volume is well-produced and contains a short but very useful introduction of a technical nature. Mrs. Henson and the National Library of Wales are to be warmly congratulated on this most worthy publication. J. GWYNFOR JONES Cardiff