Strongholds of the Barons. By J. Ibo Ball, M.A. (Arnold
Fairbairns. 3s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Ball gives a brief introduction on castle building, and then furnishes us with between fifty and sixty photographs of actual buildings, whether ruinous or inhabited, each picture being accompanied by a page or so of description. An opportunity, it seems to us, has been lost by the adoption of an alphabetical order. By this plan Hurstmonceaux comes between Hever and Kenilworth, and the juxtaposition does not tend to instruct. It would have been better if Mr. Ball, who has taken considerable pains with his subject, had arranged his "strongholds" in some kind of historical order. The term is somewhat incongruous when it is applied to buildings which owed their origin to considerations of amenity. A Baron's stronghold carries us back to the evil days of Stephen. The photographs are excellent.
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