Historic Houses of the United Kingdom. (Cassell and Co.)— Here
we have descriptions, the work of skilful pencils and pens of four-and-twenty famous houses, beginning with Welbeck Abbey, and ending with Chillingham Castle, the interest of this last being, one might say, prehistoric rather than historic ; for while it has not made much figure in English story, it is famous for the last relics of the wild cattle which once roamed over the whole island. It may be noted that, out of the total of twenty-four, two only are Scotch (Floors Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Roxburghe, on the Tweed, and Cawdor, near the Moray Frith), and three Irish,—Malahide, Kilkenny, the seat of the Ormondes, and Lis- more, the Irish abode of the Dukes of Devonshire. The most famous, historically, of the English houses are Warwick Castle, which may, perhaps, be placed at the very head of the list, as in- habited still by the descendants of Siward de Arden, son of the Turchil whose heirs were deprived of the Earldom by the Con- queror.) Hatfield, Berkeley Castle (which is, indeed, a formidable rival to Warwick), Longleat (though its associations are more recent), and Naworth (the abode of " Belted Will").
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