Page:The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of the British Empire Part 2.djvu/810

 THE PEERAGE, BARONETAGE, and KNIGHTAGE, by J. FOSTER. It might have heen thought that hooks of the Peerage were already suflSciently numerous, but Mr. Joseph Foster shows good cause to the contrary. He has approached his subject from the point of view of the scientific genealogist and student of heraldry — a circumstance which at once places his work in another category from any of the ordinary Peerages. — The Scotsman. The pedigrees have heen considerably amplified, and contain more biographical information than is usually to be found in other Peerages ; and this applies not only to the lineal but also to the collateral descents, more especially those of the Baronets. Much of the detail connected therewith is now published for the first time, and has been collected from private sources. Of the various Orders of Knighthood and the shields of the English Sovereigns, both have been well cared for ; and the good engraving of the one and the accurate treatment of the other leave nothing more to be desired. — Spectator. This is quite a notable book — the coats of arms are bravely and hand- somely drawn. The work is a laborious and con- scientious compilation, a valuable record, and a fine handsome volume. — Vanity Faii: This is the first issue of a new Peerage, which surpasses all others in the splendour of its get- up, and which joins issue with Lodge, Debrett, and Burke in a way which is likely to excite something more than mere curiosity, for everything which the Editor considers " sham," either title, arms, or pedigree, he unhesitatingly sets down as such. Each page of the work has evidently been made a study. The heraldic illustrations are all new in design, quaint, effective, and well executed, and Mr. Foster has followed a mode of printing the pedigrees by which their perplexing details can be easily understood and traced with less trouble, as it appears to us, than in any existing publications of a similar kind. . . . But the most important part of the work, genealogically, is the Baronetage, which has a special department, named " Chaos." We will merely remark on this head that the Editor is evidently a courageous man, as well as an honest one, and we hope that his labour of five years may be rewarded by all the success it merits. . . . The volume is altogether one of the most attractive we have ever seen, and on account of its many special features is certain to become a popular one. — DuMin Daily Express. Mr. Foster's method of separating the Peerages which have descended through heiresses or which have been revived in favour of coheirs from the paternal descent of the present holders of them is a great and manifest improvement. — Mr. Foster's is an ampler record of the Knights and their immediate families than is to be met with anywhere else ; and he adds a full and useful catalogue of the Companions of all the various Knightly Orders of the Empire. — Pall Mall Gazette. I