24 MARCH 1877, Page 22

Debretes House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1877, compiled and

edited by Robert H. Mair (Dean), is, we are told, "personally revised by Members of Parliament and the Judges." It is a complete and useful book of its kind, A brief sketch of the career of every Member of Par- liament is given, occupying, on an average, somewhat less than half a page. Birth, parentage, places of education, political opinions, and career are in each case succinctly described. Then comes a list of "counties, cities, and boroughs returning Members to Parliament," with the number of voters, and particulars of the last general election and any elections that have since occurred. Next we have a complete list of peers, peeresses, and their eldest sons. Then follows a descriptive list of the superior Judges of the Three Kingdoms, of the Judges of County Courts, and of the Recorders. An explanation of sonic "Technical Parliamentary Expressions and Practices," &a., is a useful item in the list of contents.—We have also to mention, as a useful volume, The Upper Ten Thousand, described as "A Handbook of the Titled and Official Classes" (Kelly). The new feature of this, " the third annual edition," is that it includes "the names of the deputy-lieutenants and magistrates for all the counties of England and Wales (with the exception of the county of Flint), and the commissioners of the lieutenancy of the City of London." It is clear that a vast amount of practically useful information which it would be difficult to obtain otherwise has thus been added. Messrs. Kelly, whose name is a pledge for the complete and accurate performance of what they under- take, promise to include in a future edition "several other important chases." We may all live in hope of a place in the sacred ron