The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-01-28
Nonin HletOrIcRl Books.

Another collection Of British historical
documents for the use OF classes has been
made by Mr.. c. Grant Robertson in Select
Statutes. Cases and Documents TO Illus
trate English Cons titutional History 1890
1892" (Methuen 4 Co. O. p Putnam Sons.
II will no doubt be found useful by the
author and by other teachers who follow
his programme Of instruction, and ii fol-
lows chronolo gically the collections made
by StubLs and by DR.. Gardiner There
are important statutes and documents
here which il il convenient to have in handy
form. At the same time, it seems futile
task TO try to teach modern history from
selections Of documents. The field IL too
large unless the student is restricted TO
unduly narrow limits. The work may be
done fairly we'll for the Middle Ages. as in
Stubbss admirable "Charters'; II may be
done less satisfactorily for limited period
and field A. in $ r. Gardeners book But
unless following one special line. II can
hardly be done for the chaotic mass on
material that modern history must grapple
with. Sucn books tend 20 become mere
text books. and 10 keep the student from
consulting the real sources. One glimpse
at the Collection Of State Trials. we fancy.
would give more true historical informs-
ton than the careful study OF all the cases
repr,nted in this volume. II is another
instance Of the modern university tendency
10 subsutute teaching in herds for the
teaching Of the individual
There certainly seems TO be need OF
justification for infioting another long
history of England on people, and C.
". c. Oman. Chiohele professor OF history
M Oxford. who has written bright and
rather uneven books on many periods,
thinks that a relation in fix volumes Is
the happy rncan between the long his
tories and the ore volume books for which
the public is yearning. He has selected
for his coadjutors young scholars who
are up in recent authorities. The volume
before us. England Under the Stuarts.
by G. ~ Trevelyan, is assundly pop
ulsr in style. with occasional lapses into
niuDancy that recall Prof. Oman him
self. He begins with an imprv ssIonistio
nicture of England from an unduly long
sketch Of =, udent life in which we quote:
There was no organiDed athleticism among
the students But exercise was re oogni7cd
as necessary for health in the bcastly air
of Cambridge so the ordinary under
graduate VINO was nov hPOl Alhk Hihh
diverted himself in the afternoon with
walking in the fields, bathing in the river
bell pulling, jumping, running, bowls,
nit ching the bar and football, which last
was little better than an excuse for fight
between the general body Of two or more
colleges" This Ia the seventeenth century
seen through pretty youthful twentieth
century eyes. With DR.. 8. r. Gardeners
long history as a guide Mr. Trevelyan
cannot 90 far wrong. His book shows
us that the jaunty instructor il not purely
Harvard product
The third volume OF Lord Aotons Cam
bridge Modern History (MAGmillans) now
edit ed NV DR.. A v Ward. DR. G. \ Prothcro
and Mr. Stanley Leathes, deals with The
Wars Of Religion that followed the Refor-
nation. A comprehensive survey Of this
period il particularly welcome. for In all
European countries It wos time Of transit
ton, comparatively neglected by historians
of the years that precede and follow, The
Tudors have hardly come TO their own yet
in English historiography the Refoms-
tlon in Germany and Rich lieu and Louis
XIV. in France have engrossed attention.
while the decline Of greatness in Italy and
Spain have not proved so attractive to