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350 Revieivs of Books the literary relations between Wales and Ireland in the earliest periods. They take issue with the opinion expressed by Dr. Kuno Meyer (in the Transactions of the Society of Cymmrodorion, 1895-1896, pp. 71 ff.) that everything Goidelic in Britain is to be traced to invasions from Ire- land, and they maintain on their side that much is to be attributed to the Goidelic settlers who preceded the Brythonic tribes in Britain and who, in their opinion, were never expelled or exterminated. It is obvious that this is a problem of literary history as well as of ethnology. There is very little mention of Druidism in the book. In a brief reference to it (on page 83) the authors indicate their opinion that this system be- longed particularly to the Goidelic rather than the Brythonic Celts, a theory from which bold inferences have been drawn by Mr. J. W. Willis Bund in his history of the Celtic Cliurch of Wales. The third chapter begins the more definitely historical portion of the book and recounts briefly the chief events during the Roman occupation of Britain. It gives some description of the colonial government and discusses the distribution of the different tribes on the island. Chapters IV., V. and VII. furnish a compact summary of Welsh history from the time of Cunedda till the conquest of the Principality by Edward I. There is very little detailed narrative and the authors announce at the outset that they "do not affect to write a history of Wales, " a task which appears to them impossible with the materials at command. What they give is rather a scientific survey of the field with a sober criticism of the sources. Just this indication of the present state of knowledge is of great value at this time. Chapter VI. gives a rather full account of the customs and institu- tions of the ancient Welsh. It is based on the collection of laws ascribed to Howel Dda, which the authors accept as being in substance an " authentic evidence of the condition of the Cymry in the tenth cen- tury." Chapter VIII. (on the legal and constitutional history) traces with some detail the successive steps in the organization of Wales under English rule. Chapter IX. deals with the history of land-tenure in Wales and is the work of Mr. Frederic Seebohm, who was associated with Messrs. Rhys and Jones in the Royal Commission. The later chapters of the book are principally a description of mod- ern Wales, its language, religions and educational systems, and the con- ditions of life that prevail among its people. A good deal of informa- tion not easily found elsewhere is here brought together. Of especial interest to the comparative philologist is the appendix contributed by Professor J. Morris Jones of Bangor on " Pre -Aryan Syntax in Insular Celtic." It is a pity that a number of bad misprints (on pages 25, no, for example) should have been allowed to stand in a book of which the press-work is on the whole so attractive. In Table A (facing page 174) Llewelyn ab Gruffydd is twice printed for Gruffydd ab Llewelyn. An oversight of a different sort appears on page 53 where two lines are tiuoted from the Irish Fled BricrenJ, though they really come from