The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1882-08-26
Green's Making Of England.
CONDENSED from tho saturday Rerie,c


CONDENSED from the Saturday Rerie,e.l
The present work has sprung out OF an old pro-
ieet Of Mr.. Green's for writing a history Of Eng
land down to the Norman conquest. The state Of
Mr.. Green's health now forbids the fun carrying
out OF his design. He has to content himself with
completing the history Of what he calls .'ths period
Of the making of England, the age during which
our fathers conquered and settled over the soil Of
Britain and in which their political and social life
took the form which il still retains"--in short tho
period from the English Conquest Of Britain to
the union Of England under Ecgborhf.
In carrying out his idea, Mr.. Green has svailsd
himself largely Of resources which have hitherto,
as he thinks, been unduly neglected. Archmolo-
gieal researches ON the sites Of villas and towns, or
along the line Of roads and dykes. viii often, he
remarks, supply evidence as good A. that OF nit
ten chronicles. or better; and physical geography,
a tavorite study Of his, may be made TO do much
IN illustrating human history. And when we turn
TO books, there is, he thinks, an almost unworksd
mine even in the well-read pages of Bada. Freely
as he has been used for the ecclesiastical and DO.
litical history Of his time, tho social Information
which lies scattered up and down his work has
been left comparatively untouched"
Slight as is the sketch Of Roman Britain. a Ia
full Of interest. There is a happy touch in the
description Of Britain as a +" Roman Algeria - and
Mr.. Green's method Of utilising the evidences OF
archaeology may be illustrated by citing his own
remarks The care with which every villa IL
furnished with it's elaborate system OF hot-air
hues shows that the climate Of Britain was as in
tollerable to the Roman provincial as that Of India.
in spite Of ~punkahs and verandahs. is to the Eng
lish civilian or the English planter" On the
same principle he makes use OF the evidence-nega-
tive as we'll as positivc-of inscriptions :--" II IL
a significant fact that the bulk Of the monuments
which are found in Britain relate TO military life.
It's inscriptions and tombs are mostly those ~
soldiers Large and important as were somp on
its towns hardly any inscriptions have boon found
to tell of the presence Of a vigorous municipal
life" Nor does he allow much more vitality, AZ
least during the Roman age, to the British church,
ON which so much has been written, and OF which
we in truth know so little. A yet no Christian
inscription or ornament has been found in any re-
mains Of earlier date than the close Of the Roman
rule and the undoubted existence Of churches at
places such as Canterbury or London or st. Adams
only gives greater weight to the fact that no trace
of such buildings have been found in the sites OF
other cities which have been laid open by archmo.
logical research. The physical condition Of Britain,
with its moors and fens and vast forests. is wildly
described and there is another good touch in the
following sentence ITO realise the Britain
of the Roman age we must set before ms ths
Poland or Northern Russia Of our own-a country
into whose tracts Of forestland man is still hewine
his way, and whore the clearings around town or
village hardly break the reaches Of silent moor.
lands or as silent fens."
From the Britons we pass to the Saxons in their
early days Of sea rowing and slave hunting. Mr..
Green, when he deals with these far on times, t.
of a tolerant and widely appreciative spirit, and
describes his saxons with as much calm a. q
describes a tiger. Their especial cruelty,
however-the staying OF one captive out OF ten
per @quales ct cruciarias ppnas," which Mr..
Green conjectures to be akin to that form OF
p~ractised, under tho playful name OF
the spread eagle" by the later Northmen-was
a religious rite. and must be classed
With other painful Developments OF the universal
dea Of sacrifice. The author repeats his former
to combat the common notion that the
Britons were given like sheep for the slaughter into
the hands Of these and other adversaries. Few
'tatements are more false than those which pic
the British provincials as towards, or their
struggle against the barbarian AZ a weak and un-
worthy one. Nowhere, in fact, through the whole
of the Roman world, was so long aud so
a resistenance offered TO the assailants of
he Empire" or these assailants the Saxons and
heir congeners probably seemed the least formid-
lble, a. Mr.. Green infers from the Britons turn
ng to them for mercenary aid.
That picturesque descriptions and charming bits
4 narrative abound in Mr.. Green's pages Is only
What he has taught us TO expect; most charming OF
III are the stories gathered from the lives and
egands Of saints, Irish and Teutonic. OF the
pecial merit of the book-the skill with which the
uthor has carried out his plan Of making physical
supplement history-it is not possible
o give any adequate idea by means Of brief
xtracts.