15 JANUARY 1921, Page 21

A Letter to a Noble Lord, and other Writings. By

Edmund Burke. Edited by W. Murison. (Cambridge University Press. 75. net.)—This book contains the " Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol," 1777, the " Speech at Bristol on his Parliamentary Conduct," 1780, and the " Letter to a Noble Lord," 1796, all excellently edited, with introductions, analyses, and intelligent notes. Wo do not remember to have seen a similar edition of the masterly " Lotter to a Noble Lord," in which Burke administered to the fifth Duke of Bedford a scathing rebuke for what the Americans would call his " parlour-Bolshevism," and for the egotism which led him, whose family had been loaded with bounties by the State, to object to Burke's pension. The editor petty observes that the study of Burke's writings " would immensely benefit many who are no longer of school age," bud; that the speeches and pamphlets need a commentary for the historical allusions and unfamiliar words. Nothing could be better than his own notes.