Welsh Journals

later modern historian, and perhaps because of this it is more uneven if yet more ambitious in its aims. There is succinct and masterly treatment of some subjects, where commentary and documents are in easy equilibrium, the one not overstating any point and the other not too bitty or vague. This happy balance occurs very well in Tudor Wales where the accounts by Penry Williams of governmental change and political patronage and by Glanmor Williams of religious experience and not merely the formal features of Reformation or Counter-Reformation, are excellent. This is true, too, of Kenneth O. Morgan's summary of Lloyd George's career, which is a brief but wonderfully comprehensive definition not only of the man but of his times also. Both volumes are served very fairly by their contributors on social history. Brian Howells and J. Gwynfor Jones are judicious in their assessments of the theory and reality of Tudor hierarchy, while Matthew Griffiths offers a fresh and thoughtful essay on structural change, especially in the Tudor Welsh towns. In the later volume structural change is expertly and cogently addressed by L. J. Williams in his analysis of population patterns, while David Egan and David Smith provide some important detail on industrial life while at the same time raising questions about the approach to social history at the grass roots. Ideas about the Welsh language, culture and Welshness are bound to stimulate debate. In Tudor Wales these themes are treated obliquely, in glances at the meaning of anglicization or the significance of the language clause in the Act of Union of 1536. Wales, 1880-1914 grasps the nettle more fully. The ideas of Brinley Thomas about economic growth and native culture are not uncritically related by L. J. Williams and are more overtly examined by Timothy Williams in his discussion of religion and popular culture. It is not hard to see some merit in his arguments about anglicization and bilingualism but there does seem to be a lack of perspective to be fully convincing, just as the editors' comments about lay literacy in Tudor Wales need some rethinking in the judgement of this reviewer. In sum, both books will be useful and valuable for all who have an interest in the pursuit of history and they will undoubtedly nurture inquiry and investigation, as they were intended to do. It is slightly unfortunate that the editing bears some sign of haste. For example, here and there the glossaries are vague in the extreme, the Welsh language material in the later volume is spattered with spelling errors and an important note on p. 28 is left unfinished. Tudor Wales mentions a mysterious document C20 (p. 80), while document All almost certainly dates from the mid-1630s, thus reducing its relevance to the period under review. These blemishes notwithstanding, both books have much merit. W. P. GRIFFITH Bangor