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Journal of Transport History new ser. vol. 3, no. 3 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1976. Pp. 107. 22.75)

This issue of the Journal of Transport History is a special number for Professor Jack Sim- mons. In an introductory appreciation, H. J. Dyos outlines Simmons’s contributions to transport history and other historical studies; he perhaps puts his finger on the essential character of these writings when he comments, on one of them, that it “contains much truth that is not of fact but of feeling”. Of the four papers which follow, those by G. H. Martin and A. Everitt will be of especial interest to readers of the Journal of Historical Geography. The former reminds us that the English economy and state in the Middle Ages depended upon an effective system of communications, but that documentary sources seldom allow us to grasp the realities of medieval travel. He approaches these realities by discussing some accounts of officials of Merton College during journeys made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; it is a fascinating picture of the routes which were followed, the towns visited, the uncertainties of weather and the expenses of horses. Everitt’s contribution, likewise, deals with a topic which has received relatively little atten- tion-the carriers’ routes which provided, among other things, arteries for retail trade after the demise of medieval marketing arrangements and before the rise of modern shopping habits. It adds to his work on Leicestershire carriers by giving details of routes and their functions in many other parts of the country and by drawing upon evidence other than that contained in trade directories, particularly the oral evidence of those who remember the last days of the country carrier.

SIR JAMES MARSHALL-CORNWALL, History of the Geographical Club (London: Royal Geographical Society, 1976. Pp. 49. E1.65)

In this brief yet informative history, Sir James Marshall-Cornwall charts the long history of the Geographical Club. Its longevity has been due, without much doubt, to its ability to adapt to changing circumstances without loosing its essential character as a coterie of those fascinated by the face of the earth. Thus in 1827 a select body of gentleman- geographers-including Holman, “the blind traveller” whose disability did not prevent him from journeying to Siberia, and Rennie, traveller and civil engineer-sat down to dine for just over f 1 per head on, among other things, a haunch of venison from Spitz- bergen, while 150 years later one of the Club’s dinners (at f4.50 per head) preceded a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on the topic of nature conservation; initially “composed solely of travellers”, the Club later extended its membership to any Fellow of the R.G.S. who might be elected to it; lady-geographers were first admitted in 1974 after deliberations which occupy a not inconsiderable amount of space in this history. Im- portant contacts fostered by the Club and details of the information exchanged at its dinners have, in the nature of things, gone largely unrecorded. Yet Sir James must be correct in concluding that it has completed many years “of useful activity . . . [as] a con- genial social centre for . . . those interested in the advancement of geographical know- ledge”.

G. E. MINGAY (Ed.), Arthur Young and his Times (London: Macmillan, 1975. Pp. 264. f lO*OO)

Arthur Young (1741-1820) was one of the most enthusiastic farmers of his age, whether cultivating the “hungry vitriolic gravel” of his first farm in Hertfordshire or carrying out experiments-often guaranteed to make a handsome loss-at his family’s holding in Suffolk, whether editing his Annals of Agriculture or touring Britain and the Continent. Yet during this century his reputation has suffered, largely as a result of a critical passage on his farming practice in Lord Ernle’s influential English Farming Past and Present but also of Eric Kerridge’s claim that Young was “a mountebank, a charlatan and a scribbler”.

428 REVIEWS

In the reasonably argued introduction to Arthur Young and his Times, Professor Mingay restores Young’s credibility by pointing out that his failures at farming were largely due to external circumstances and that his writings, which earned him international esteem, were more than hack journalism; these findings find general agreement in Gazley’s recent biography. The remainder of the volume consists of extracts from Young’s scattered writings arranged by topic and set in context by the editor. It is a useful collection and will perhaps serve as a starting point for research into the crucial question of the extent of Young’s influence outside a small circle of enlightened agriculturalists.

University of Leicester H. S. A. Fox