9 MARCH 1974, page 18

Skilful Satyr

Geoffrey Elton The Rump Parliament 1648-1653 Blair Worden (Cambridge University Press £8.40) The wave of precise historical scholarship, devoted to an exhaustive use of the......

Shifting Sands

Llew Gardner The Rise and Fall of the League of Natiora George Scott (Hutchinson £4.80) The United Nations ideal, for all the rhetoric , Design Council flags and trendy postage......