2 JUNE 1877, Page 22

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Border Memories; or, Sketches of Prominent Men and Women of the Border. By the late Walter Riddell Carre. Edited by James Tait. (James Thin, Edinburgh ; Simpkin and Marshall, London.)—The sub- stance of this volume was given in the form of lectures by the late Mr. Riddell Carro, himself a member of one of the great Border families whose history he relates, though it appears to owe much in the way of finish and completeness to -the hand of the editor. The plan of the work is to treat in the first five chapters the celebrated families which bear the names of Douglas, Scott, Ker, Elliott, and Riddell, and then to gather up a number of " memories" not connected with these in con- nection with the Border counties of Selkirkshire and Roxburgh, adding a final chapter on miscellaneous celebrities. The " prominence " of many of the personages here mentioned was, of course, relative, nor does it argue an inexcusable ignorance not to have heard even of the greater number of them. But there are many really great names among them, and the less important have, for the most part, a certain local or genealogical importance. The volume is a treasury of a certain kind of learning, which would have been made more useful by an index.