SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.]
The Lordship of Paisley, being the Accompt of Charge and Dis- charge for the Years 1757, 1758, 1759, and 1769. Edited with an Introduction by W. M. Metcalfe, D.D. (Alexander Gardner, Paisley. 6s. net.)—The Lordship of Paisley was originally given by James VL of Scotland to Lord Claud Hamilton in 1587. In 1652 it passed out of the hands of the Hamiltons and was pur- chased a year later by Lord Cochrane of Dundonald. After rather more than a century, in 1764, what remained of the Lordship was repurchased by the eighth Earl of Abercorn, and so came back to the Hamiltons. The accounts reprinted in this volume belong to the last period of the Dundonald ownership, and are presented by Mr. James Kibble to the eighth Earl of Dundonald. The pages of the book give an interesting idea of the budget of an eighteenth- century estate in Scotland. Many amusing items will be found. For example : " By allowance to the men Employed by the multurer at Supporting the Maltmiln and goofing thereof, she being much Racked by reason of the great Storms and floods, St which was used by them in Spaits, as the men could not stand king by reason of the water :—.£0 . 2 . 6." To give some indication of the value of the estate (though allowance must, of course, be made for the alteration in the purchasing power of money), it may be said the accounts of the four years taken together balance at rather more than £3,700.—We may notice at the same time. Notes on the Mineralogy of Itenfrewshire, by Robert S. Houston (same publishers, 2s. 6d. net). This forms the first volume of the Transactions of the Paisley Naturalists' Society.
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