History of Peehlesshire. By W. Chambers. (W. and R. Chambers.)
—Mr. Chambers is, we believe, a native of Peebles, and presides some- times at the dinner of the "gutter-bloods," and he has executed his self- imposed task as a labour of love, with a patient, never-tiring clearness which is possible only to a man who is at once antiquarian, litterrateur, and native of the county. His narrative is as complete as if he were writing that of Scotland or of the Empire, while he neglects none of that infor- mation for which one generally opens a county history. For example, there is a curiously minute sketch, which we wish other county histo- rians would imitate of rents, leases, cultivations, and diversities of population, intelligible statements of the way in which property is divided, and elaborate descriptions of all buildings, residences, and sights of any importance. The volume is illustrated with careful maps and drawings, and might to be in the library not only of every man in Peeblesshire, but of every man belonging to the iuOnitely more im- portant and wealthy class which was born there, aUcl has wandered "forth" in search of the pelf which Peeblesshire men so seldom fail to win.
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