Some Books of the Week
Edinburgh, 1329-1929 (Oliver and Boyd, 21s.) is a simple title, but it covers much : it covers from every point of view the story of a burgh which, up to the middle of the fifteenth century, occupied a prominent and finally a predominant position in the history of Scotland. The immediate occasion which prompted the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council to order the publication of this sumptuous and comprehensive volume was the commemoration of the Sexcent,enary of the Charter granted in 1329 by King Robert the Bruce to Edin- burgh, in return for which the town paid the surprisingly small annual rent of "fifty-two merks of sterlings "—that is, 1'34 13s. 4d. The first part of the book describes the sex- centenary celebrations, and the second is devoted to an account of the growth of the town and of its institutions. In this latter regard the present work has been to a large extent anticipated by Mr. D. Robertson's and Miss Marguerite Wood's excellent Castle and Town (which was noticed in the Spectator last January), but as both of these authors are contributors also to Edinburgh, the value of its historical chapters is assured and, owing to Mr. Robertson's and Miss Wood's official connection with the Council, authoritative.
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