17 JUNE 1911, Page 27

We are glad to receive the new volume of the

Annual Register (Longmans and Co. 18s.), dealing with the year 1910. It main- tains the impartial attitude for which it has always been dis- tinguished, and which, in the present controversial state of politics, must be all the more difficult to achieve. The year contained in the present volume was an unusually eventful one, containing, as it did, two General Elections and a demise of the Crown. The very impartiality which we have praised makes the book a little unsatis- factory for continuous reading, but as a work of reference it is indispensable. Perhaps the least satisfactory feature is the retrospect of art and literature. In matters of taste, however, impartiality is unattainable and, indeed, undesirable.