18 DECEMBER 1886, Page 25

Historical and Political Handbook. By George Fisher Russell Barker and

Milverton Godfrey Dauglish, of Lincoln's Inn, Barristers. (Chapman and Hall.)—This is a very valuable book of reference, though as regards the elections to the House of Commons, it goes back only to the first election under the last Household Suffrage Bill,

to the election of December, 1885. It gives, however, various most useful information as to the history of the House of Lords and Commons, with appendices of great value; for example, a list of all the Parliaments between 1688 and 1883 and their duration, a table showing the growth of the House of Lards and of the House of Commons, a short table showing the general party results of all the elections since the great Reform Act, a list of disfranchised boroughs, a list of Lord-Lieutenants and Irish Secretaries since the Union, with the various Acts passed to restore order in Ireland, and a list of the Cabinets from 1830 to 1886.