22 JUNE 1912, Page 27

Bucks Biographies : a School Book. By Margaret M. Verney.

(Oxford University Press. 2s. 6d. net.)—Children are more Bucks Biographies : a School Book. By Margaret M. Verney. (Oxford University Press. 2s. 6d. net.)—Children are more

likely to be interested in their history lesson if it deals with places with which they are familiar in every-day life. For this reason the multiplication of local histories is a welcome step forward in educational progress. The obvious danger is that local history may degenerate into a mere recitation of parochialities. In Miss Verney's case, however, there was little risk of this happening, and the history of Buckinghamshire in her hands becomes a inicrocosmography of the history of England, The story, as she tells it, broken up into some twenty-five short incidents, is interesting and easy to follow, and Miss Verney thoroughly deserves to be imitated by other historians in other counties.