THE VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY.
Tun greatest historical work ever undertaken by private enterprise in England—or, for that matter, in any country— is once more under way. The Victoria History of the Counties of England, planned on a most comprehensive scale and executed with patient scholarship, was begun in 1898, and progressed steadily till the War scattered its staff and raised the cost of production to a fantastically high level. Seventy- one large quarto volumes and• three index volumes had then appeared, and the reviewer, who may claim to have read most of them, can testify to their unfailing interest and their minute- accuracy. Five county histories had been completed —Bedford in three volumes, Hampshire in five, Hertford in four, Lancashire in eight, Surrey in four ; the general history of Yorkshire was finished in three' volumes, and good progress had been made with twenty-eight other counties. The excel7 lenee of the volumes published has made us lament all the more the delay in the publication of the remainder, and the possibility, at one time very real, ihat the work might remain, like some of the best of the old county histories, such al Suckling's Suffolk, a magnificent torso.
We are thus particularly glad to learn that the great enterprise is being resumed, and that the volumes which were finished or nearly finished in 1914 are to be published soon; in editions of five hundred copies. The first of these is the second volume devoted to the North Riding of Yorkshire; -the parish history of which is now complete. This firie volume; printed and fully illustrated in the now familiar style, deals with the wapentakes of Birdforth, Bulmer, East. and West Langbaurgh and Pickering Lythe, with th'e' liberty of Whitby Strand, and with the borough of Scarborough. , Anyone who knows North-east Yorkshire will realize what a wealth _of imposing and characteristic architecture is -to be found - 'fully described in these pages—notably, St Hildris 'Abbey at Whitby, Byland Abbey and Guisborhugh Priory, Scar- borough Castle and other strong places, and many admirable parish churches such as Sterne's Coxwold and manor houses. The account of Whitby Abbey, by Mr. A. W. Clapham, is specially commendable ; the German bombardment damaged the great ruin somewhat, but not irreparably. The parish histories, including descents of manors, are extremely good, because they have been worked up afresh from the documents in the national, archives by trained historians. The truly romantic history of Middlesbrough, for example, is well told: In 1828 it had a population of forty and was mostly swami when the Peases bought the ground, built coal wharves tci serve the new railway, and laid out a site for a town. BY 1841 Middlesbrough had 5,000 people. Bolckow and Vaughan then started ironworks and soon began to work the Cleveland ironstone, thus creating—by private enterprise—a vast new, industry. It is a pity that the town-grew like a weed rather: than a flower, but. the mediaeval art of- town-planning -had been forgotten when Middlesbrough was fouhded. Alniost every page of the book contains something equally curious and instructive. Mr. Page and his many collaborators 'deserve" hearty praise for their good work. All that the Victoria History needs is more subscribers. There must be in every county, evert in these hard times, several hundred people who are, interested in their county history and who would -gladly buy the volumes devoted to it. EDwARD G. HAwKE
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