Reviews: The First Englishman in Japan

REVIEWS The First Englishman in Japan. By P. G. Rogers. 8|x5. Pp. xvi+144 with map and 8 plates. The Harvill Press, 1956. 12s. U. The first Englishman in Japan was a Kentishman/Man of Kent, and Gillingham is rightly proud of her famous son. It is a little remarkable that until Mr. Rogers put forth this excellent account no biography of Adams has been available; for Adams was not the least outstanding of that group of navigators and seamen whose exploits enriched the reign of the first Elizabeth and laid the foundations of the first British Empire. Adams had not the advantages of bhth and education held by his compeers, yet he voyaged to the Far East and carried the English name and English skills into as strange a civilization as could have been imagined by Swift. He must have possessed a strong and impressive personality, for he became the friend and adviser to two Japanese rulers, whUe he taught their subjects the art of European shipbuilding and something of navigation, and handled with diplomacy the rivahies of Enghsh, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish traders and missionaries. When he died in 1620, after a residence in Japan of twenty years, he held a unique position in Japanese affahs and had been raised to the status of a nobleman. Mr. Rogers has obviously made an intensive study of all the sources and has produced an admhable little biography which should appeal to aU our members. Edmund Blunden has written the Foreword. J.H.E. Kent Inns: A Distillation. By Anne Roper and H. R. Pratt Boorman. 10^X8. Pp. 173, Ulustrated on each page. Maidstone: Kent Messenger, 1955. This book would seem to be the fifth of a series of which Kent: Our Glorious Heritage, 1950, was the first, and Kent Churches, 1954, the fourth. Although, like them, the present volume is primarhy a picture book it has been enriched with many chapters dealing with individual histories of some Inns, and various aspects of the subject and its associations with the life of the County. This text matter is written in an easy and informative style and reveals a great knowledge of special, general and County history as they bear on the subject matter. I t is perhaps unnecessary to note that the Ulustrations are of first-class quahty, and they cover a good selection of Kentish Inns of aU types, 281 REVIEWS sizes and periods, as weU as general scenes and some Inn Signs. Our members will appreciate the " Jolly Fisherman " of the frontispiece. I t is unfortunate that no Table of Contents is provided, and the Index might have been improved. The book deserves three indices: one for the hlustrations of Inns, another for the Inn Signs, and a comprehensive thhd to the text matter. Nevertheless, the authors are to be congratulated on the production of a valuable record handsomely garbed, which should greatly appeal to our members. The " Puckish Unicorn " sign of The Unicorn, Canterbury, is, of course, a copy of Tenniel's drawing of the Unicorn in Through the Looking Glass. J.H.E. Bones for the Archaeologist. By I. W. Cornwall. 9|x6. Pp. 256, 60 text figures. London: Phoenix House Ltd., 1956. 50s. The highest praise which we can give to this book is that it is worthy of the dedication to the memory of the late Sh Arthur Keith, master anatomist, who lived for so many years at Downe, and who many of us remember with gratitude. The work of the field archaeologist is much concerned with human and animal -bones which are so often found in excavations, and this present work seeks to help him to identify such bone materials and to instruct him in the measurements and treatment of them. This instruction is conveyed by the method of comparative anatomy and is assisted by numerous line drawings. After the Introductory chapter another follows dealing with the classification and nomenclature of the animal kingdom, and related matter of much interest. The vertebrate and mammalian skeleton as a whole is considered in a thhd chapter, and the bulk of the work then follows in eight chapters in which various divisions of the mammalian skeleton are compared in different species. There then follow four chapters which discuss the determination of species from bones, fragmentary bones, how to measure, treat, transport and mend bones in field and laboratory, and the determination of age, sex and stature from bones. A final chapter deals with study and interpretation, and two appendices close the book. In the Foreword Professor Zeuner tells us that no book of this sort has been published for eighty years, doubtless having in mind Flower's Osteology of the Mammalia which appeared in 1876. This long and barren period has now been brUhantly closed by Dr. Cornwall's work. Obviously in a book of this kind the illustrations are of paramount importance, and the author has been well served in this respect, for Miss M. Maitland Howard's drawings are of the finest quahty, and, we are delighted to see, all scaled. I t would be a disservice to this book if its interest was supposed to be, as its title suggests, confined to archaeologists, either professional or 282 REVIEWS ghted amateur. Anyone interested, or who wishes to become interested, in archseology, biology or zoology wUl learn a very great deal from it, and learn it without tears. We hope to have more from Dr. CornwaU. J.H.E. Cranbrook, a Wealden Town. By C. C. R. Pile. Foreword by V. Sackville-West. 8x5. Pp. 102, 9 plates. Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Local History Society, 1955. 8s. Mr. PUe is rapidly ousting the late WUliam Tarbutt for the title of " the Historian of Cranbrook." In this present book he has produced an easUy-readable history which expels boredom through interesting subject matter conveyed in very short chapters. His terse style of writing (no " padding " here!) perhaps could be further improved by replacing certain commas and semi-colons by full-stops. This " mass of detaU, factual and chronological, lovingly drawn from the old records " (Miss SackvUle-West loquitur) deals faithfully with the Dens, the seven Hundreds of the Weald, the rise of the cloth industry and its decline through the ban on the exportation of unfinished cloths, the parish church, pump and chest, Cranbrook School, and the depressed matelots at Sissinghurst Castle. Mr. Pile well knows the value of historical tit-bits such as the story of the 1437 killing of the Cranbrook sexton who was so unlucky as to be on hand when thieves broke into the church. For good measure is the first serious notification of the exciting find of " Classis Britannia " tiles at a site in a field on Little Farningham Farm, Cranbrook, where a Roman building is now being excavated by volunteers from the Local History Society. The choice of plates is good. Mr. Pile has not, as is so usual with local antiquaries, reproduced a solid phalanx of hackneyed views but has, for instance, gone to Jesus College, Oxford, for a portrait of Dr. Hugh Price, its founder and Vicar of Cranbrook from 1533 to 1554, and to the National Portrait Gallery for a picture of the redoubtable Sh John Baker. These surely enhance a worthwhile piece of work. L.R.A.G. A History of All Saints' Church, Whitstable. By I. W. Green. 7Jx5. Pp. 73, 13 hlustrations. Elvy Bros., Whitstable, 1956. 8s. 6d. In 1913 Dr. Grayling (The Churches of Kent) dismissed Whitstable All Saints' in some half-dozen lines and inserted a characteristic tail sting to the effect that " the additions show how little medieval architecture is reaUy understood in the present day." Bearing in mind this stricture upon the church, the reader whl expect to find no Livettian dehghts in the present work, no plans of phases of development, no architectural detection, because there is little scope for the same. 283 REVIEWS Mr. Green's pleasure is obviously in the contents of the parish chest and so, with the sixteenth century, his text becomes stimulating and enjoyable because of his enthusiastic use of local documents. Before 1500 there is uncertainty of treatment. For instance, the College of Priests at Pleshey in Essex becomes " a community of monks " (page 13) and the stated results of its ownership of AU Saints' Church (page 19) are one-sided. AU profits from this book are to go to the church funds, so it would be churlish to carp at small matters such as misprints. But if a second edition is needed (which I hope may be so), then some more serious details must demand the author's attention. Fhst, the hatchment shown on the plate opposite page 28 is of some importance because of its early date and inscription. The present block is useless for those studying detaU, and I would suggest that a full page might be given to the hatchment alone, without bothering with the tower arch. Secondly, in order to give historical flavour several transcriptions (pages 42 and 46, for instance) include the long " s." This pedantic usage is aU very well if the printer has the necessary type, but it is futhe to substitute an itahc " f " and so perpetuate the old-fashioned delusion of " effs for esses." Thirdly, on page 48 the couplet which mentions " If you whl be so sUly to read Wm. LUly " surely refers to the LUly, Grocyn's godson and the Headmaster of St. Paul's School, London, who wrote the Latin Grammar which by statute was forced on grammar schools throughout the country. Lastly, page 17 is enthely devoted to extracts from local wills. There is no mention of the source of this information. It would be pleasant to see an acknowledgment of the fine work of Arthur Hussey in Testamenta Cantiana from which it is dheetly derived. L.R.A.G. 284