Abstract

John Chartres and David Hey take seri- ley family of Brampton Bryan in Hereford- of variations in male stature as related to nu- trition in Great Britain during the past sev- ously Tudor and Stuart “projects.” Char- shire. She describes perceptively the close eral centuries. The principal sources of docu- tres’s examination of a narrow question- relationship between Sir Robert Harley and his third wife, Brilliana Conway, whose pie- why didn’t England have a large cider-dis- mented material come from the various ty and concomitant deference to her hus- branches of the military establishment and tilling industry?-widens to illuminate the band shaped her understanding of the tur- private schools, where records of height are interaction of private schemes, excise, and faithfully maintained. harvest variations. Hey’s examination of bulent 1640s. Eales illustrates through their correspondence the inner workings of Here- According to the authors, it is not heredity the reasons why the Hallamshire cutlery in- fordshire gentry society and its crucial di- alone (as was formerly thought) that ac- dustry excelled is equally wide-ranging. visions and loyalties at the beginning of the counts for the marked differences in height Barbara Todd and Mary Prior examine is- first Civil War. among