Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 11.djvu/28

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

. XL JAN. 3, UK.

disappointment, in spite of constant successes and brilliant achievements, as remind us of the conduct and luck of those unhappy spirits who, throughout the Middle Ages, were continually spending super- human strength in building in a night inaccessible bridges and uninhabitable castles, or purchasing with untold treasures souls that might have been had for nothing." Little in Clarendon or Gibbon is better than the account of Henry II. It is un- fortunately forbidden us to quote further, but our readers will be wise to turn again to these passages, pp. 92-3. The controversion, p. 168, of the views of Sir F. Palgrave should be restudied, as should the expression, p. 181, concerningthe effect of the Norman Conquest in introducing England into the family of European nations. Very striking is the picture, p. 316, of the first Richard, and the comparison which follows between Richard and Saladin is admirable. In the account of the historical collec- tions of Walter of Coventry the character supplied of King John cannot fail to arrest attention. It is the best account we possess of that vilest of Angevin kings, and disposes summarily and finally of the heresies that have been heard concerning that monarch's reputed statesmanship. Few contri- butions to historical knowledge are more important or more welcome than this volume, which fills up what is virtually a gap in our knowledge.

A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage, and Gompanionage. By Sir Bernard Burke, C.B. Edited by Ashworth P. Burke. (Harrison & Sons.)

AMONG the works of reference for the year 1903 the place of honour is once more assigned to Burke's 'Peerage,' a book the authority of which is some- times challenged without being much disparaged, and the popularity and utility of which remain virtually unassailed. The present is announced as the sixty-fifth edition. As will readily be believed, the bestowal of honours in a year so crowded with events of historic dignity and importance as that just past involves numerous changes in the annals of titled families. Rewards for distinguished service in connexion with the victories both of war %nd peace have been liberally accorded, and the volume which chronicles these will have signal and enduring interest. We mark personally in the list of those who have died during the year many close and constant friends, including one or two such as Sir George F. Duckett, whose title is extinct. Such consolation as can be reaped is found in the fact that the list of new-created honours is almost equally full. "Burke" complains that the succession to baronetcies is often a matter of much difficulty to determine, and suggests, in order to purge the order of the usurpers of styles and titles for which there is no warrant, an official roll of baronets, to contain the names of those who have proved their right to the satisfaction of the law officers of the Crown and, in complex cases, before a judge of the High Court. The foundation of two new orders the Order of Merit and the Imperial Service Order, the latter open to both sexes is reported. In the lists that are given almost every phase of public life and every kind of success which the country delights to honour are, as the editor asserts, represented. Once more Mr. Ashworth Burke counts among those who have assisted him Garter, Ulster, Lyon, and all the officers of the Heralds' College, London. In addition to other

claims, then, which genealogists and antiquaries are used to recognize, the work has all the sanction which authority can confer. As to the changes which have been wrought in cases such as that of the earldom of Perth and Melfort the former of which passes to Viscount Strathallan, while the latter becomes extinct or dormant the reader must be referred to the book itself. So far as we are aware, no other country possesses a guide at once so full, so picturesque, and so trustworthy as this to its aristocracy and ennobled classes. The miscellaneous information for which we have been accustomed to look at the close of the volume is to be found in its place. For over two generations the conduct of "Burke" has been in admirably competent hands.

The Englishwoman's Year-Book and Directory, 1903.

Edited by Emily Janes. (A. C. Black.) THE editor of ' The Englishwoman's Year-Book ' claims that the work, which now appears for the twenty-third year and the fifth year of the new issue, covers ground occupied by no other book. She has been assisted in different sections by many recognized female authorities, and the compilation gives the best idea obtainable of women's work and interests. It supplies much curious information which may be looked for in vain elsewhere.

THE Library Journal, which is issued by the American Library Association, contains information of practical utility to every one occupied in pro- viding England with public book-rooms ; and the Publishers' Weekly, which is the American book- trade journal, may be consulted for information relating to the literature now appearing in the United States.

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H. ("Poem by Swinburne"). 'The Triumph of Time,' ' Poems and Ballads,' stanzas xli.-xliii. pp. 52-3.

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