Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/328

 320 SHORT NOTICES April 1920 of record '. Hence documents of every kind, ' in a progression from the lowest councils to the highest presidency, are ordered to be transmitted, duplicate and triplicate, by every ship that sails to Europe '. Mr. Foster in his introduction quotes the saying of Grant Duff that * the records of the East India Company's governments in India are probably the best historical materials in the world '. This is no doubt true, but they are also, it may be added, voluminous enough to break the heart of any historical inquirer — unless he should be fortunate enough to secure such guidance as this handbook and the wide knowledge of its author afford. Mr. Foster mentions that the volumes dealt with amount to about forty-eight thousand, and this fact alone testifies to the difficulties that must have been encountered in compiling such an admirable summary. He has, further, prefaced the book by an interesting account of the development of the Registry and Record Department of the East India Company and the India Office, from the appointment of Samuel Wilks in 1769 as ' Examiner of the Indian Correspondence and Records down to 1907 '. P. CORRECTIONS IN THE JANUARY NUMBER P. 6, line 3. For Hunt read Blount. P. 132, line 26. The statement that neither Beck's nor Professor Powicke's account of Fumess Abbey has made direct use of the second part of the Fumess Coucher-book requires correction. A number of references to it, under the title ' Couchcr B ', are made in the latter part of Mr. Powicke's article.