24 OCTOBER 1868, Page 2

The monotony of county contests is to have a great

exception. Mr. Freeman, the historian, has undertaken to contest Mid-Somerset, and the Liberals are to return him without cost to himself. The manly sagacity and thorough industry shown in Mr. Freeman's great histories are the literary excellencies most akin to practical ones. If Mid-Somerset choose Mr. Freeman, it will be the one English constituency represented by its moat learned resi- dent, and have for its member one of the few very learned men admirably fitted to be a representative.