Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/631

 1920 SHORT NOTICES 623 give, as might have been expected, some amusing incidental stories. So also does the diary of Sir Justinian Pagitt, the friend of Pepys and cousin of Elias Ashmole, who tells how Richard Hooker suffered from blackmailers (p. 202), and gives, a short time before the Civil War, a list of j;he gentlemen in the Middle Temple who might be useful in procuring him an office, namely Selden, Spelman, Harrington, Ireton, and Whitelocke (p. 204). The remaining papers in the volume are less worthy of attention. Nicholas Harpsfield's biography of Sir Thomas More and the pocket-book taken from the duke of Monmouth after Sedgemoor are well-known manu- scripts in the British Museum of which Mr. Hine has transcripts ; the diary of a London merchant travelling in France and the Netherlands in 1731 has little, if anything, that is notable, and the others are merely materials for the essayist in search of the picturesque. Since Mr. Hine claims for himself no other character, it would be unfair to quarrel with his editing, though once or twice his comments are not well-grounded (for instance on page 229, where he derides the duke of Monmouth for referring to Gouda by the perfectly accurate name of ' Tergou '), and often he neglects to indicate when he is following his manuscripts and when he is using printed authorities. G. N. C. The fourth volume of Professor Jadunath Sarkar's monumental History of Aurangzib (Calcutta : Sarkar, 1919) deals mainly with the events in southern India from 1645 to 1689, including the campaigns against the Marathas and the conquest of Bijapur and Golconda, As in the previous mstalments, the writer exhibits a complete mastery of his materials (which cover a wide range and include many hitherto unutilized manuscripts) and writes with scrupulous impartiality. His work will at once take rank as the best authority for the period with which it deals ; and it is a good augury for the future of historical research in India that so valuable a contribution should have been written by an Indian scholar and produced by an Indian firm. From the same publishers come three other works by Professor Sarkar, bearing the same date and all in a sense by-products of his labours on his larger theme. The first, entitled Studies in Mughal India, reprints a number of articles on various points in the history of the period and contains much that is of interest and value. The second, Mughal Administration, gives a detailed account of the system of govern- ment under Akbar and his successors. The third is a longer and more ambitious work, dealing with Shivaji and his Times. This is a critical bio- graphy of the great Maratha chieftain, based upon an exhaustive study of all available sources, as shown by the bibliography appended. The contemporary Dutch and English records, mostly still unpublished, have been searched for the purpose, and the Persian and Marathi chronicles have also been laid under contribution. Whilst refraining from the almost hysterical adulation that marks some recent works upon the same subject, the author's views of Shivaji's character and policy are favourable ; and on the much-debated point of the murder of Afzal Khan, he agrees in the view that the Mogul general had treacherous intentions, and was merely fore- stalled by his wily opponent. The concluding chapter, summing up Shivaji's achievements and giving reasons why the Maratha state did not and could