with the most glorious period of the Douglas history, for after Otterburn the Douglases lost a rose from their chaplet (that of loyalty), as after Arkinholm they may be said to have lost the chaplet itself. But Sir Herbert brings his history avowedly down to the Legislative Union, and actually down to the death of 'Old Q,' at the age of eighty-six, in the year 1810. That the author shows no lack of sympathy with his subject may be judged from his concluding paragraph, which we transcribe:—
'What's in a name? Much, it seems; for it has come to pass that we are inclined to expect more of one bearing that of Douglas than of people bearing less historic surnames. In these pages the virtues of individuals have not been inflated, neither have their foibles been screened nor their evil doings glozed. The record stands as the various actors have left it. They suffered, and they made to suffer; they served, and they made others to serve. Now they rose to the highest levels of patriotism and loyalty, and anon sank to the dark and crooked ways of treason and dishonour. A masterly purposeful ambitious breed, their influence cannot have been for ill on the destiny of their country, seeing what a large share of power lay ever in their hands; and no family has furnished more material towards the ideal of a Scottish gentleman.'
The illustrations are well chosen and excellently reproduced, the tinted drawing of the Regent Morton and the photogravure of 'Old Q'—a lean, nervous Black Douglas of the decadence—being especially noteworthy; but the gaily-coloured heraldic plates seem to hide a feebleness of design under their bold black outlines. A tabular genealogy, even if but a skeleton 'pee de grue' is a crying need in these volumes; without it one wanders without a clue down this gallery of Douglases. The points to which we have taken exception are small; whilst in conclusion we take pleasure in acknowledging that by his admirable, conscientious and sympathetic work Sir Herbert Maxwell has earned the gratitude of all bearers of the name which it illustrates.
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