The English Historical Review for January (Longmans, 75. 6d. net)
contains interesting articles on Erasmus by Dr. Whitney and on the late Professor Haverfield by Dr. Craster. Mr. Neale prints for the first time an official record of the Parliamentary debates on the trial and condemnation of Mary Queen of Scots ; both Houses unanimously pressed for Mary's execution, and the Queen expressed her " exceeding grief " at perceiving " that by their advices, prayers, and desires there did fall out this sorrowful accident that only her Injuror's bane must be her life's surety." Mr. Stewart-Brown contributes an important study of " The End of the Norman Earldom of Chester," which Henry III. took into his own hands at the death of John the Scot in 1237, and afterwards conferred first upon his Queen and then upon his eldest son in 1254. Mr. Stewart-Brown shows that Henry bought out the claims of the co-heirs after the Council had decided that the County Palatine must be divided among them. A legal decision and an amicable bargain, not an act of violence, united. Cheshire to the Crown, so that the King's eldest son has ever since, save for a brief interval under De Montfort, held the title of Earl of Chester.
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