23 OCTOBER 1897, Page 26

England in the Days of Old. By William Andrews. (Andrews

and Co.)—Mr. Andrews has made a readable book, but he might haps made a better. We take it that his reading is not quite so wide as it should be in one who undertakes a really ambitious theme. He tells us that hair-powder was discontinued in the Army in 1799 on account of the high price of flour; but he might have mentioned in this connection the Siege of Gibraltar, when it was discontinued. Under the head of " Bear-Baiting " he might have given us Macaulay's admirable witticism, that the Puritans disapproved of it, not because it gave pain to the bear but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. This last word suggests the remark that there could hardly have been a "Spectator of August 11th, 1731." Congleton and Clifton-upon- Dunsmore have the credit, or discredit, of being two parishes that sold their Church Bibles to buy a bear.