LIPSON, E. The Growth of English Society : A Short Economic History. Pp. ix, 467. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1950. $5.00

• DOI: 10.1177/000271625127400196
• Author: Paul Knaplund
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• Date: 01 March 1951
• Subject Matter: Articles

260

COMMONWEALTH

OF

NATIONS

WILLARD,

JAMES

F.,

WILLIAM

A.

MORRIS,

and

WILLIAM

H.

DUNHAM,

JR.

(Eds.).

The

English

Government

at

Work, 1327-

1336.

Vol.

III:

Local

Administration

and

Justice.

Pp.

xviii,

285.

Cambridge,

Mass.:

The

Mediaeval

Academy

of

America,

1950.

$5.00.

This

volume

is

the

third

and

last

in

a

series,

now

very

well-known,

which

was

begun

over

twenty

years

ago

by

Professor

Willard.

The

idea

of

the

series

was

to

illustrate

the

actual

working

of

the

Eng-

lish

government,

during

a

given

period,

by

an

extensive

use

of

original

records,

some-

thing

never

attempted

before.

The

plan,

which

Professor

Willard

successfully

im-

posed

on

the

whole

undertaking,

had

some

great

virtues

and

some

serious

defects,

which

are

discussed

in

this

third

volume,

in

a

brilliant

introduction,

by

Professor

Dunham

of

Yale.

He

discusses

not

only

the

purpose

of

the

series,

but

also

the

changing

&dquo;schools&dquo;

of

historical

writing

which

have

influenced

the

co-operative

ef-

fort

during

the

twenty

years

of

its

exist-

ence.

His

observations

are

amongst

the

best

writing

in

the

whole

three

volumes.

Some

of

the

contributors

will

certainly

have

difficulty

in

placing

themselves

in

his

categories,

and

some

of

his

categories

are

themselves

questionable;

but

in

no

other

nine

pages,

perhaps,

has

so

much

interest-

ing

material

been

compressed

on

the

sub-

ject

of

the

writing

of

English

medieval

history

in

the

last

twenty

years.

After

the

brief

introduction,

there

are

chapters

by

Professor

Ault

on

manors,

’,

Miss

Beardwood

on

royal

mints,

Mr.

Salz-

man

on

mines,

Professor

Meyer

on

bor-

oughs,

Professor

Cam

on

shire

officials,

Professor

Putnam

on

keepers

of

the

peace,

Miss

Taylor

on

justices

of

assize,

and

Pro-

fessor

Neilson

on

the

court

of

common

pleas.

It

is

obviously

impossible

to

com-

ment

on

each

chapter.

It

can

be

said

at

once,

however,

that

the

writers

keep

up

the

high

level

of

the

first

two

volumes

and

in

general

follow

the

same

lines

of

approach.

The

chapters

are

factual

and

based

closely

on

original

material,

much

of

it

unprinted.

Miss

Neilson

even

got

spe-

cial

permission

to

handle

bundles

of

writs

in

the

Public

Record

Office,

which

had

not

previously

been

made

available

to

schol-

ars.

Some

of

the

chapters,

particularly

Miss

Neilson’s,

are,

consequently,

not

easy

reading;

though

others,

like

those

on

mints

and

mines,

are

unexpectedly

interesting.

Others

again,

like

those

of

Miss

Cam

and

Miss

Putnam,

offer

material

distinguished

by

its

lucidity

and

its value

to

the

general

student.

All

the

contributors

deserve

our

gratitude,

not

only

for

their

labors,

but

also

for

their

patience

in

awaiting

the

publica-

tion

of

their

work.

It

is

not

surprising

that

Miss

Cam

had

difficulty

in

recognizing

her

fifteen-year-old

child!

As

in

previous

volumes,

the

general

pic-

ture

of

medieval

government

which

is

pro-

vided

suggests

the

latter

was

based

on

a

considerable

degree

of

efficiency

and

a

very

high

degree

of

common

sense.

Considering

the

poverty

of

England,

even

in

the

four-

teenth

century,

the

variety

and

extent

of

the

governmental

effort

are

remarkable.

One

closes

a

book

like

this

with

fewer

ro-

mantic

notions

about

our

predecessors

in

the

fourteenth

century,

but

with

a

much

greater respect

for

their

government

and

law.

Their

system

was

full

of

abuses

which

are

well

known

and

are

here

amply

illustrated.

But

it

had

one

supreme

virtue

which

is

sometimes

forgotten.

It

worked

B.

WILKINSON

University

of

Toronto

LIPSON,

E.

The

Growth

of

English

So-

ciety :

A

Short

Economic

History.

Pp.

ix,

467.

New

York:

Henry

Holt

and

Company,

1950.

$5.00.

This

book

is

most

accurately

described

by

its

subtitle.

It

offers

a

panoramic

view

of

English

economic

history

from

the

earli-

est

times

to

the

present.

Sections

of

the

study

have

been

presented

in

separate

lec-

ture

series.

For

instance,

Part

II,

&dquo;The

Age

of

Mercantilism,&dquo;

was

given

as

Lowell

lectures

at

Harvard

University.

This

doubt-

less

accounts

for

a

certain

unevenness

in

the

treatment

of

certain

periods

and

topics

of

his

vast

subject.

The

author

is

clearly

more

at

home

when

discussing

the

guilds,

mercantilism,

and

the

industrial

revolution

than

when

handling

agriculture,

shipping,

and

commerce.

By

a

deft

blending

of

the