The Appendix contains a vivid picture of the clothing and manner of life of the monks of Ely in the year 1334, giving the impression that the "religious" of the fourteenth century were refined and studious country gentlemen.

There is a complete Chronological Table, a copious Index, and altogether we have to thank Mr. Conybeare for having produced a book which is without doubt just what a "Popular County History" should be interesting to the general reader, and not without value to the archaeologist.

Life in Early Britain: being an Account of the Early Inhabitants of this Island, and the Memorials which they have left behind them. With Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. By BERTRAM C. A. Windle, D.Sc., M.D., etc. (London: David Nutt).-The object of this handbook, the subject-matter of which formed originally a course of Lectures at Mason's College, Birmingham, is well set forth by Dr. Windle in his Preface. It is to act as an "Introduction to the study of Prehistoric Archæology, and to the larger works of Sir John Evans and others". It is thus as the writer of a book for the general reader, who wishes to know something of Britain in prehistoric and early historic days, rather than for the professed archæologist, that Dr. Windle would be judged, and from this point of view we have nothing but praise to accord him. He lays no claim to independent research, but as a populariser of the researches of others he has achieved success. After a brief introductory chapter, in which the whole range of his subject, from man's earliest appearance down to the incursions of the Danes, is unfolded in rapid outline, the author devotes one chapter each to Palæolithic and Neolithic man, two to the Bronze Period, three to the Roman occupation, and one to the Saxon. A very interesting chapter follows on early tribal and village communities, which is worth the serious consideration of those who are hoping great things from their recent resucitation in the shape of Parish Councils; and a concluding chapter deals with the traces of the past races of Britain, in language, physical characteristics, and names of places.

We note that Dr. Windle preserves an open mind on the question of the existence of pre-Glacial man, and we think that he is right in saying that the general tendency of scientific opinion in the present day is to deny that existence, though undoubtedly strong indications, not amounting to proof, have been found in certain caves, which seem to point in that direction. On the other hand, Paleolithic man has left abundant and undoubted traces of his presence in Britain, then a part of the continent of Europe, not only in Kent's Cavern and other

natural caves, where his implements have been found, along with the cave-bear and other animals, but also in the river-drift implements

Fig. 1.--River-drift Stone Implement found at Reculver (Sir John Evans).
It is made from a flint pebble, and the rounded end is well
adapted for being held in the hand.

(Fig. 1), which have been found in close proximity with the bones of the mammoth, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, elephant, wild horse and rein

deer. He was a hunter and not an agriculturist, capturing his prey with rough spears and arrows, and his fish with barbed harpoons. His artistic abilities are well known, and two specimens, that of a naked man between two horses' heads, and the sketch of a mammoth on a piece of its own tusk, from the cave of La Madeleine in France, are depicted. In England, a portion of a rib, with the figure of a horse incised upon it, has been found in Derbyshire. The art of this period perished with its possessors, and is not found in any subsequent race, though from certain resemblances between it and that of the Eskimos, Professor Boyd Dawkins has inferred identity of race in which theory, however, other ethnologists do not follow him. Remains of Neolithic man abound in Britain, and a very graphic account of his life and habits, with illustrations of his weapons (showing the wonderful advance he had made upon his predecessor in skill

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Fig. 2.-Flint Arrow-heads, English. (Sir John Evans.)

and the intelligent adaptation of means to ends), is given by Dr. Windle. Moreover, he no longer (or very seldom, and then probably for the purpose of concealment from foes) lived in caves, but in pit dwellings or hut circles. His well-shaped and polished arrow-heads (Fig. 2) have long been known to archæologists, but it is only within recent years that their true object has been discovered. Under the name of "fairy-darts" and "elf-shots", and used as amulets or charms, they have been known all over Europe for centuries, and even, apparently, in the same way to the ancient Etruscans. The mode in which he buried his dead in the long barrows characteristic of the race is well known, and has been ably described by Mr. Andrew Lang:

"He buried his dead with his toes

Tucked up, an original plan,

Till their knees came right under their nose,

'Twas the manner of Primitive Man."

He seems to have had some idea of religion; he understood the surgical operation of "trephining"; he manufactured garments with bone needles, and he was an agriculturist as well as a hunter-another great advance in civilisation. Dr. Windle notes the probable consanguinity of the Neolithic race with the Ivernian or Iberian peoples of the Peninsula, represented to-day by the Basques on both sides of the Pyrenees; but we think the "probability" is more of a certainty, perhaps, than he would be inclined to allow. He also notes that the "Silures" of Tacitus, with their short stature, high complexion, and

dark curly hair, probably represent the Neolithic strain, through whom it has descended to many a so-called Welshman to-day.

Coming to the Bronze Period, which marks the immigration to our shores of the first Aryans, viz., the Celtic races, in two great streams at some centuries apart: 1st, the Gadhelic or Goidhel race, represented to-day by the Highland Gaels of Scotland, the Manxmen and the Irish; and, 2nd, the Brythons or Britons, now the Welsh, we note the still further advance in civilisation, consequent on the introduction of new materials for weapons and house utensils, first bronze (Fig. 3) and then iron, by means of which the earlier race

were easily subdued, and the arts and comforts of life increased. Dr. Windle gives a full description of the Crannoges or Lakedwellings (Fig. 4), and the round barrows and dolmens which mark this period, and also of the great stone circles of Avebury and Stonehenge: though we note that he still leaves these mighty monuments of prehistoric times wrapt in the darkness which has so long enshrouded them. When will the magician arise, who, with his Ariel's wand, shall dispel the darkness, and tell us what they really were, and what purpose they served? With regard to the great Menhir (= standing stone) at Rollright in War

wickshire, known as the "Kingstone," Kingstone," we think Dr. Windle is wrong in attributing its position to human agency. It bears evident marks of glacial action, and is, we think, undoubtedly one of those huge boulders borne from afar on the bosom of the ice, and left, as so many others have been in Yorkshire and elsewhere, when the glacial period gave place to a warmer age. Still, the great stones at Stonehenge and Avebury (Fig. 5), and many a smaller circle in Cornwall and other parts, placed where they stand by human hands, are a perennial puzzle to the archeologist as to how it was done, and Dr. Windle's

1 From Rollandrice = Roland's Realm, a curious illustration of the widespread range of the legends of Roland, Charlemagne's great Paladin,