Abbeys, Castles, and Ancient Halls of England and Wales. By
John Timbs and Alexander Gunn. 3 vole. (Frederick Warne and Co.) —This is a reissue in three volumes of a very good book of its kind. Some of the articles have been rewritten, and some added to. With doubtful wisdom, certain photogravures have been inserted ; they are nothing extraordinary in themselves, and suggest the absence of numerous illustrations which might have been a feature of the work. Otherwise, this collection of articles is very well selected. Individually, the accounts are interesting, and they show a very considerable amount of labour, and even of original research. The accounts of Bigod of Bungay, for example,, we have compared with Mr. Round's "Geoffrey de Mandeville," and find practically the same results reached by an independent route. This will show that in these volumes the authors often rise a good. deal higher than the making of a guide- book. Many of the articles would benefit by being carefully compared with the "Dictionary of National Biography; " for instance, those dealing with the Arundele of Wardour, James Annesley the Claimant, and Robin Hood. The porch at Wilton seems hardly likely to have been designed by Holbein, as stated in the chapter upon the house, as Holbein died the year before the grant of the Abbey was made to Sir William Herbert. It is surely a grave mistake to issue a book like this without a date upon the title-page.
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