SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
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The current number of the English Historical Review (Long. mans, 7s. 6d. net)—the last number to appear under Dr. Reginald L. Poole's accomplished direction—contains a curious article by Miss Greir Evans on the " Emoluments of the Principal Secretaries of State in the Seventeenth Century," which will make modem Ministers somewhat envious. After the Restora- tion the two Secretaries received £1,850 each as salary, £5,000 between them for " intelligence " or secret service, fees on a liberal scale for services rendered, " presents " from persons who wished their business to be expedited, "board wages" at 16s. or 6s. 8d. a day, and the profits of the London Gazette and from the sale of official editions of treaties. It was customary for a retiring Secretary to receive a large sum from his successor. Thus in 1668 Trevor paid Mon-ice £8,000 for the office, and the King agreed to refund half the amount to Trevor. A careful Minister must have made a fortune quickly in those days, when a hundred pounds went as far as a thousand palm& now.
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