The Reades of Blackwood Hill, Staffs., and Dr. Johnson's Ancestry,
By Aleyn Lyell Reade. With 29 Tabular Pedigrees. (Privately printed.)—Much labour and much original research have been given to the making of this important volume. The author has spared no pains in securing completeness and accuracy. The first part of the work, concerning the very numerous members of the Rondo family, is by no means devoid of interest, witness the life of Sir Thomas Reade, C.B. (pp. 57763), and the story of the photo- graphic work of the Rev. Joseph Bancroft Reade, F.R.S. (pp. 90-99). But most readers will be drawn to that part of the book which records the ancestry and connexions of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Here Mr. Reade gives us abundance of fresh information gathered from many unexpected quarters. Such information is not merely- genealogical, but is rich in personal and intimate details of life and character, while it concerns friends as well as kinsfolk of the Doctor. It is impossible to condense the tale into a brief notice ; recourse must be had to Mr. Rondo's remarkable volume, which' ought to be accessible to students in every important public library in the kingdom. It must not be supposed that the families discussed in this work are limited to those already named. The twenty-nine largo tabular pedigrees, lithographed in the author's own hand, deal with a number of families more or less intimately allied to the Reades and the Johnsons. There are also comprised within the covers of this volume notices of many individuals to whom allusions occur in the various proofs and documents cited ; a glance at the Index of Persons with its thirteen thousand references will suffice to illustrate this statement.
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