There may be better occasional reading' than The Complete Peerage,
but I do not know where to find it. It would be an ideal bedside book if it were less formidable in size, for it is a mine of entertaining and scholarly gossip. The new -eighth volume is as delightful as the rest. The student will find its learning beyond criticism. In its pages, for example, he will read the full tale of the Mar Peerage case, one of the classic muddles in legal history owing to the complete ignorance of the House of Lords tribunal about Scots Peerage law. He will find the true story of the tragically fated family of Lovel, and much erudite lore about baronies by writ. The lighter sort of reader will discover in the notes many curious and dramatic things, which was only to be expected, for the history of Britain till the other day was largely the history of her great families. It is a matter for congratulation that in these difficult times this undertaking, planned on the most gencrote, scale, should march steadily towards completion.
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