Cylchgronau Cymru

all, the grounds were adorned with imitations of the Stations of the Cross and inhabited by kangaroos. His buildings in south Wales were aesthetic curiosities rather than residences, outside the main stream of the Gothic movement which inspired them. They were, too, almost grotesquely irrelevant to the mining communities amongst which they were built. By contrast, the other two contributions to this booklet are concerned with aspects of the new society forged in the course of industrialization. D. Morgan Rees gives a concise account of the industrial archaeology of the Taff valley, a subject which he has made his own. And, in a masterly analysis, Ieuan Gwynedd Jones outlines the social milieu of the Welsh collier in the mid-nineteenth century. In a treatment which combines impeccable scholarship with a disciplined compassion, Professor Jones examines the subtle changes and contrasts within the mining communities -their occupational, demographic and linguistic structure; conditions of work and patterns of leisure; the rival influences of the chapel and the pub (or were they really so antagonistic, after all?); the provision of education and the rise of popular radicalism. Professor Jones's survey comprehensively traces all these developments down to the 1880s, a time when the ideological climate in south Wales was still not seriously under challenge. The democratic culture of the Welsh collier and the Gothic fantasies of the marquess of Bute seemed worlds and centuries apart: yet neither basically questioned the existing social hierarchy. But in 1900, the year of the marquess's death (his heart, appropriately, finding its last resting-place on the Mount of Olives), Keir Hardie was returned to Westminster as junior member for Merthyr Tydfil. His partner was D. A. Thomas, later Lord Rhondda, the very prototype of the aggressive industrial tycoon. These two men symbolized a new phase of class warfare and of secular creeds in conflict. The Age of Faith, whose pieties this booklet so affectionately chronicles, had received its nunc dimittis, with the Victorian Society left to tend the candles. KENNETH 0. MORGAN The Queen's College, Oxford LLOYD GEORGE: TWELVE ESSAYS. Edited by A. J. P. Taylor. Hamish Hamilton, 1971. Pp. 393. £ 3.75. The professional historian might well feel justified in expressing only tepid enthusiasm for yet another book claiming to reveal the inmost intricacies of the mind and politics of David Lloyd George. Fortunately, study of 'the Welsh magician' has now advanced from the days of unbalanced eulogy, hysterical criticism and journalistic licence. This collection of twelve essays does indeed provide a greater understanding of Lloyd George and illumines particular aspects of his career. The re-appraisal provided by such detailed studies is to be welcomed. The strength of this format also is that it avoids the problems of lack of cohesion and imbalance that characterise the 'life and times' biography.