1884.] BE VIEWS OF BOOKS. 307 



The Conquest of Enyland. liy John IIichard Gkeen ; with portrait 



uiid maps. London : Macmillan and Co. 

 ,0 modern historian ever achieved the rapid reputation acquired 

 bj\ the late Mr. Green. Departing from the dry-as-dust phin 

 adopted by the majority of history writers, Mr. Green designed 

 a narrative that, wliilst avoiding the departure from fact of one school 

 of his toriaus and the repulsiveness of style of the other, should tell its- 

 story with absolute precision, with strict regard to actual events, and 

 iu a manner that would charm its readers and carry them almost 

 insensibly on from period to period. But more than this, the author 

 of the * Short History of the English People ' determined to write, 

 not the ordinary re^wtoire of court intrigue, regal ambition, and 

 military achievements, but the life of the people. Here, especially, 

 was the merit of ^h\ Green's plan, and his eminent success could not 

 have been chronicled more effectively than by the Jieviewer who 

 not too eloquently said of this first' Short History ' : — ' Tt stands alone 

 as the one general hist(jry of the country, for the sake of which all 

 others, if young or old, are wise, will be speedily and surely set 

 aside.' 



To the merits of ^Ir. Green's historical works, published since his 

 first great success was secured, the Press has given abundant 

 testimony, and we need scarcely say that the book before us fully 

 maintains the great reputation which th;it first book obtained and 

 established for the author, it is greatly to be regretted that ]\lr. 

 Green did not live to complete the present work ; but what remained 

 to be done to prepare it for the press and make it as complete as any 

 hands but that of the originator could make it, ]\frs. Green has done. 

 How bravely the author struggled with the fatality that was killing 

 him, in order to finish the story he had begun, is touchingly told in his 

 widow's preface, and the result, painful as were the trials endured to 



