Welsh Journals

It was an unfortunate decision of Dr. Jeremy Black, the general editor of the series, to write himself on the British political system in the age of Sir Robert Walpole, in Robert Walpole and the Nature of Politics in early Eighteenth-Century Britain (London, Macmillan, British History in Perspective, 1990. Pp. viii, 151.) He conveys little understanding of how it operated. An ignorant reader would assume that a parliamentary majority then was produced by 'pocket boroughs' (p. 35) and bribery, for great emphasis is laid on patronage, and barely any attention given to persuasion. Walpole's parliamentary skills are hardly mentioned (pp. 52-53), and the importance of his decision to stay in the House of Commons apparently escapes Dr. Black. For, in one of his sillier contentions, he challenges the conventional view of Walpole as the first Prime Minister. If (as on pp. 63-64) he cannot perceive the difference between the role of men like Harley and Godolphin and that of Walpole, he should not have opted to write this book. Black, moreover, allows his prejudices to overrule his knowledge. He is well aware that virtually throughout the period from 1717 to 1742 malcontent and opposition Whigs combined to vote with Tories against Whig ministries; yet he contends that the parliamentary division between administration and opposition makes 'little sense', since Tories were different from opposition Whigs (p. 93). Of course they were, but the dividing line at Westminister was between them and their common foe, 'the Minister'. With respect to the old distinction between Whig and Tory, Black does not appreciate the significance of what he himself quotes, as when he cites opposition Whig Dodington as writing in 1742 of 'those that were called Tories (for I thank God we are losing all party distinctions)' (p. 44, my italic). The two brief references to Wales reflect the poor quality of a hastily-written and badly- planned book: there is a garbled version of Flintshire politics (p. 90), and an assumption that the anglicized Glamorgan gentry were typical of those elsewhere in the Principality (p. 119). Aberystwyth The third volume of John R. Kenyon's Castles, Town Defences and Artillery Fortifications in Britain and Ireland: A Bibliography (CBA Research Report No. 72, 1990; 88p; £ 12.00; available from the Council for British Archaeology, 112 Kennington Road, London SE11 6RE), is a thorough compilation for 1983-89 (see ANTE, XII, No. 2 [1984], 250-51, for a review of Vol. 2). Part I lists general books and articles by author (collective works could easily be absorbed in the latter rather than consigned to 'Miscellaneous'), and Part II is a gazetteer arranged by country within the British Isles, modern county (and islands!), and site. Dr. Kenyon refines his method of presentation with each volume, and this time offers a consolidated SHORT NOTICES PETER D. G. THOMAS