Welsh Journals

March." Mr. T. P. Ellis's fine work on the "Welsh Laws," Mr. Thomas Richards' four volumes on the religious history of Wales in the early years of Puritanism, and Mr. R. T. Jen- kins' serial studies of centuries in Welsh history, which are appearing periodically from the Uni- versity Press. A mere layman can, at any rate, express the view that, to his mind, the publication of "Cymru'r Oesau Canol" is as important an event as that of any other piece of original histor- ical work during the last twenty years. One can only guess who "M" of the dedication of the volume may be. "She made the writing of the book possible," Mr. Richards says, and so, we say, placed Wales for ever in her debt. With his characteristic modesty the author lays great stress on the immense amount of first class work that is being done in these fields of inquiry and published in learned reviews and journals, among which, as he says, he has freely garnered. But his volume is something much greater than a kind of compendium of the work of the specialists. It is as significant and im- portant for Wales as Prof. G. C. Coultons' "Life in the Middle Ages" is for the student of the period generally in Europe, and the author's ac- quaintance" with Welsh sources and materials astounds the reader as much as does Mr.Coul- ton's general information. It deals with every phase of the medieval life of Wales, its govern- ment, its domestic life, its rural life, its town life, its military life, its religious life, its health, its education and culture, and its literature Lord, tenant-free or servile, steward, and villein; bishop, monk and priest; poet and pilgrim and troubadour; merchant and craftsman-all come to life again in these pages. Echoes of the medieval tyrannies and cruelties accumulate into a depressing roar in chapters like those on "The Forest" and the "Castle"; some of the gaiety, charity and culture of the period shines out of other chapters the poverty and beastliness of it among the peasantry, softened only by the in- timacy of the social relations of the humble and the comforts of religion, are brought home to one almost in every chapter. The whole story is ad- mirably told, and one would like to meet the person who will find a dull page in the book-it would be an interesting experience in psychology. We are told that Welsh people do not buy serious books nowadays if they cost more than half-a-crown. We do not believe it. The author expresses the hope that his book will prove of service, not only to the student in school and college, but also to the monoglot peasant who cares for some knowledge of his country's past. The writer of this note knew an agricultural lab- ourer, who, being presented after seven years' ser- vice on one farm with the customary heifer, immediately sold it to augment his meagre savings so as to enable him to purchase "Y Gwyddon- iadur." This volume will inevitably find its way, we hope, into every village institute and library in Wales many adult education classes will make it their textbook of studies for a period and we believe that there still exist a large number of Welshmen who will realize that an effort of this kind written in their own tongue is worthy of their support even at some sacrifice. Messrs Hughes & Son are to be congratulated on having had the honour of publishing it and on the manner in which they have carried out their trust. It is a book to possess and to read again and again. Although it is a scholarly work, the humblest reader will find it as interesting and as absorbing as a first-rate thriller. T.H.D. BOOKS RECEIVED DIET IN HEALTH AND SICKNESS. By J. D. Comrie, M.A., B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P.E. A. & C, Black. 5/ THE HEART OF THE BIBLE. By Jeannie B. Thomson Davies, M.A. Vol. III: "The Literature of the New Testament." Allen & Unwin. 5/ GREETING And so, we bid our readers good-bye and wish them God speed in the New Year and all their years which follow. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going; let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.