SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading vs notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Letters of Hugh Earl Percy. Edited by Charles Knowles Bolton. (C. C. Goodaped, Boston, 17.S.)—Earl Percy was the son of the first Duke of Northumberland, born while his father was still Sir Hugh Smithson. He succeeded to the title in 1786, and died thirty-one years later. In 1'774 he went out to America, and for a time commanded the British forces there. In 1776 he returned to England, having had a serious difference with General Howe. Meanwhile he had been returned to Parliament for Westminster, receiving along with Lord Pelham Clinton a large majority of votes as against Lords Mountmorres and Mahon. He was opposed to the policy that led to the American War, and stood in the Whig interest. His letters are not at all complimentary to the people that be found on the other side of the Atlantic. In fact, he uses the very harshest words about them. In course of time he seems to have become better disposed. As to the events of the war he was not always well informed, greatly under- estimating, for instance, the British loss at Bunker's Hill: "We had about a hundred killed in this action." Of course his prophecies as to the result were very much in the wrong. After the battle of Long Island he was quite certain that " they would never again stand against us in the field." The letters as a whole, though not adding much to our actual knowledge of events, were certainly worth publishing.
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