Romance of Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle. By Charles H. Poynton. (Cornish Brothers,
Birmingham. 6s.)—Mr. Poynton has an interesting story to tell. We could wish that he had told it in a more businesslike way. If he had only retrenched some of his adjectives Here is a specimen : "It behoved the ambitious and Royal Duke, in view of the rough pathway that lay before him, to bind his young retainer (with his chivalrous instincts and his courtly manners) fast to his personal interest." The "ambitious and Royal" personage is Richard Duke of York; the young "retainer" is William Hastings, the future Lord Huntingdon. Then we have a rhetorical description of the death of Prince Edward, who is described as a "Royal Martyr," surely not the right word to use. He was doubtless a brave young fellow, who played for a big stake and lost it; but hardly a "martyr," even if he had had a better right to the crown than he could claim. It is a curious thing that Mr. Poynton has an almost equally high opinion of Richard of Gloucester, who is commonly supposed to have had a hand in Prince Edward's death. The murder of Hastings was "probably the sole crime of his brief life." What about the death of the Princes in the Tower? There is no reasonable doubt that he brought it about. Mr. Poynton will only allow that the "Lancastrians charged him with the murder." We need not follow the story (any further; the subject has cer- tainly not been made the best of.
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