27 NOVEMBER 1886, Page 24

A Short History of Parliament. By B. C. Skottowe, M.A.

(Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—Mr. Skottowe's book may be recommended as dealing very carefully and completely with one important side of Constitutional history. We are inclined to wish that the last chapter had been omitted, or, perhaps we should say, curtailed. The "Stock- dale Case" is a legitimate subject for the historian (by the way, Mr. Skottowe's account of it is incomplete, for he does not tell his readers how it ended) ; but the suspension of the Irish Members and the Braillangh difficulty are yet too recent. The style so manifestly depreciates under the inflaence of these topics that no further proof of our contention is needed. But, taken as a whole, Mr. Skottowe's treatise is one that may safely be recommended.