The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-02 00:00:00

purposes of reference. In order to give a
clear idea of the present state of India, we
should have thought it would have been the
obvious course to have arranged the book in four
or five parts, on the principle of a geographical
division, beginning with the Supreme Govern.
meat, the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and
Bombay; the North-Western Provinces; the
provinces of Oude, the Punjaub, &c. ; until we
come to the non-regulation districts. In each
separate Presidency, Ste., the progress of edu-
cation, religious worship, postal arrangements,
agriculture, railways, and telegraphs should
have been given, we think. 'Then the income
and revenue system, the judicial system,
finance, army, &c. &c., should have been traced
out. A marginal abridgment should also have
been added throughout, and a good alpha-
betical index should have concluded the
volume. We should then, assuming
that the details given were accurate in
point of fact, have had in our hands
just such a work as Lord Dalhousie
wished so much to see, a work that would
have been useful to the historian, the politi-
cian, and the journalist—more especially just
at the present moment, when everything of a
trustworthy character that bears upon our
present fortunes and future prospects in India
meets with such a ready and certain sale. We
venture to think that anyone who would take
the trouble just now to sit down and reduce
into a plain, short, readable compass the sub-
stance of these two large volumes on our table
would compile a book worth placing in the
hands of every member of the Upper and
Lower Houses of the Legislature, before Par-
liament meets in February.
The present Blue-book perhaps will bo one
of the most valuable of the future series on
one account, as giving the picture of the official
state of our Indian empire just at the very
moment that the mutiny was about to break
forth.

On a future occasion we may, perhaps,
enter more into the details hero recorded
We desire at present to call attention only to
the volumes.

The Peerage of the British Empire By
Edmund Lodge, Esq., Norroy King of
Arms. Twenty-seventh Edition. London :
Hurst and Blackett.
IT is generally understood that this is the
"peerage-book" which has the honour of
especial reference by the most illustrious per-
sonage in the empire. We can easily under-
stand how her Majesty must occasionally be
in doubt as to who is " Lady Mary This," or
"The Hon. Mrs. That," since the daughters
of dukes, marquises, and earls retain the title
of " Lady " after their marriage, even if they
are allied with the humblest commoners ;
while the prefix of " Hon." is also placed
before the daughters of viscounts or barons.
The Peerage before us is specially arranged
with reference to this difficulty. In it there is
an index to the " married daughters of dukes,
" marquises, and earls," and another to the
daughters of viscounts and barons who have
been married to commoners. It is obvious
that the names of male ;patricians can easily
be found by referring to the list of surnames
of the aristocracy. Another advantage of this
peerage-book is that one volume contains the
genealogy of the peers, and another volume
gives the references and states the immediate
relatives of the present holders of titles.
There is no necessity, therefore, to purchase
both volumes, and there are many who do not
care to possess the genealogical volume.
That the volume is particularly patronised
by the Queen and Court there can be no
doubt. Such being the case, we think that
even more care should be taken in fixing its
correctness. We chanced to open the volume
before us at the title "Listowel," and we see a
mistake. It is stated that "Lady Emily Hare"
married "John Richard fledges Wrixon
" Becher, eldest son of Sir Henry Wrixon
" Becher, Bart." now, reference to the Baro-
netage will show that Sir Henry Becher was
born in 1826. So that an eldest son, born of
a father at that age, and marrying in 1857, is
scarcely within the bounds of possibility. For
" eldest son of Sir Henry Beoher " it should