THE BORDER AT THE UNION.
Condition of the Border at the Union. By John Graham. (George Routledge and Sons. 2s. 6d.)—We are glad to see a second edition of Mr. Graham's interesting book on the destruction of his own clan. It is based to some extent on the papers dealing with Border history which belong to Lord Muneaster, and the publication of which is ene of the many evidences which exist of the historical value that attaches to the labours of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. From the sentimental point of view, it is satisfactory rather than otherwise to have what Mr. Graham est 19 "almost sensational confirma- tion of much that had come to be considered as old wives' stories, or little more than historical cobwebs." Occasionally Mr. Graham errs on the side of diffuseness. Twenty chapters are rather too many for the telling of the old stories of Johnny Armstrong, Lord Maxwell, Bacclench, Kinmont Willie, and all the other inferior heroes that dashed across the stage during the agony which was associated with the pacification of the Border. It cannot be said that King James VI. is shown in a better light in this volume than he has been in other works dealing with the same subject; but it certainly demonstrates the fact, which of late has been rather disputed,
• that he had a quite intelligible theory of the divine right of Kings, and sought to give effect to it in a way calculated, though in a rude fashion, to promote civilisation. His measures for the settlement of the Border were rude, and even violent, but they were not devoid of "thoroughness," and on the whole they were necessary. The illustrations to this volume are numerous and illuminating, both from the historic and the artistic stand- point.
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