The History of the Baronetage. By Francis W. Pixley. (Duck-
worth and Co. 10s. ad. net.)—Mr. Pixley has, we suppose, found a new subject, and has various things to tell his readers which will probably be new to most of them. How many, for instance, will know that there are five classes or creations of Baronets ; how many will be learned enough to name the five on the spur of the moment ? King James I. founded the Order—there had been certain anticipations of it before—as a kind of tontine. There were to be two hundred creations and no renewals, so that in course of time the survivors would have increase of dignity. But the promise was not kept. The price seems to have been £1 a diem (" Sd. for 30 foote ") for three years, the special object being to keep an army in Ireland. But the purchase was not for every one,—the Baronet must have had a grandfather on the father's side who had borne arms and possessed £1,000 a year in land. The subject never touches on matters of real importance. But it is one of the byways of history, and is worth exploring. The Baronets seem somewhat sensitive about their dignity.—The History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, edited by Ashworth P. Burke (Harrison and Sons, 42s.), appears in a tenth edition. It continues, we see, to grow,reaching this year to 1,777 pages. What with those who have ancestors, and those —certainly a more interesting class—who are ancestors, there will be always an increasing number of candidates for admission to this roll of honour. But " Burke" is not indiscriminate in its admission.-0fficial Year-Book of the Scientific and Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland. Seventeenth annual issue. (C. Griffin and Co. 7s. Q.) In the series of "Victoria and Albert Science Handbooks" we have Ancient and Modern Ships (Part I.—Wooden Sailing Ships), by George C. V. Holmes (Chapman and Hall, 4e.) The volume covers a sufficiently wide period, for it begins with Egyptian ships which probably belonged to the sixth mil- Ienium B.C., and it carries us down as far as clippers of this century. The subject is too vast to be crowded together in this volume, but as far as it goes the manual is decidedly satisfactory.
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