1 SEPTEMBER 1888, Page 25

Social History of England. By Louise Creighton. (Rivingtons.) —This valuable

addition to our school histories forms one of the series "The Highways of History," and supplies a want which must have been often felt by teachers of history ; the subject- matter differs materially from the chapters usually appended to the periods in our ordinary text-books, which give a summary of social progress at the various epochs. The amount of information contained in this little work, and conveyed in simple and pleasing language, could only be otherwise obtained by the study of such treatises as the works of Stubbs, Digby, Green, and other writers of constitutional, legal, and industrial history. It includes in its purview the condition of the inhabitants of England from the very earliest times to the end of the first half of the present century, and treats of the changes undergone in the tenure of land and the habits and customs of the people; of the changing relations between the various sections of society; of the rise of commerce and manufactures; and of the progress of law and order, education, and individual liberty. The first three chapters are an admirably condensed and reliable summary of a most thorny period of history. The book deserves a cordial reception at the hands of schoolmasters.