New-York tribune., 1906-10-24
Literary yNes0s and Crfffc;cn,

Nm mas also had another disadvantage to over
ae' strictly speaking. through the greater
70" u ehe BRITISH and Saxon eras there was no
si"id' ana consequently no history of Eng
8io- Inc story that DR.. Hodgkin had 10 pre-
sent in readable form is the story or half a
dozen tribes with their petty chieftains. who
were continually at war with each other and
"i'h Daroarian neighbors. Only during the last
Two centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule could the
slory OF the Predominant king be identified with
'he history of England. Yet throughout the
whole of the volume. from the shadow bopin
nfngs Of early stone man through Roman con-
quest ana abandonment of the country: during
lne Iong struggles Of Angles, Jutes and Saxons
with British, Welsh and Scots. and with each
other; to the uniication of the country under
Esoert' Ethelwulf and the great son of Ethel
wulf Alfred: then through the decay and dis
lnoesration Of the Anglo-Saxon nation; it's con-
quest by the Danes, and finally the coming of
William the Norman, Dr. Hodgkin not only
preserves the unity Of his narrative but sue
ceeds IN making live the dry bones of the
Anglo-Saxon chronicles. He presents to his
readers figures of flesh and blood in place 'of
the distorted manikins Of the monkish histo-
rlans and gives an atmosphere of reality and
credioihty TO much that savored of fable or
lesend 1t may, perhaps be due to the distance
which separates the period covered by DR..
Hodgkfn's volume from the present or perhaps
the influence Of the monkish chronicles had its
effect upon his mind. Whatever may be the
explanation. It must be recognized that he has
been peculiarly successful in bringing out the
morality Of history-the tremendous moral les
sons which the past can teach the present Nor
Is this done didactically. The moral lessons
rather suggested than preached; and it is Dr..
Hodgkin's manner Of presenting facts of his
tory which continually impresses the reader
with the iuevitableness of retribution and the
trnpossibility of building great nation with
out national virtue a foundation
4 great charm of this volume and one that
gives individuality to the perpIexing kings and
princelings that cross the scene, is the authors
faculty Of epigrammatic characterization. AL
fred. the Lover Of Truth. needed no epigraun to
raise him above the level of the kings who pre-
ceoed and followed him on the English throne
King Edgar, one Of the most eminent of his
successors, is the bright and couey little king"
but no saint" Ethelred the Redeless "the man
devoid Of counsel" had "an unrivalled genius for
failure" while Edward the Confessor is credited
with "a sort Of aneInic saintliness" but scarce
ly with a mind of his own" DR.. Hodgkin gives
complete and very useful account Of the au-
thorities available for the history OF Roman,
British and Anglo-Saxon England. and also of
the sources whence our knowledge of contem-
porary European history is derived. He adds
critical account of the modern works treating of
the whole or parts Of the period which he covers,
giving, as Is due, special prominence to Green's
Making OF England" and Conquest Of Eng
land" and TO Freeman's Norman Conquest
though he dissents from some of Freeman's es-
Inmates OF the chief actors in the closing years
Of Anglo Saxon supremacy. The two genealo-
gies Of Northumbrian and West Saxon kings
given as appendices. suggest the need of a third
as these carry the descent of the Saxon kings
only as far as Egbert, and the reader is left TO
struggle without assistance with the descend
ants Of Egbert and Alfred