In the opening chapter of James Gairdner’s “Henry the Seventh” (Macmillan), the author gives a brief and interesting account of the early life of Henry VII which brings out both the uses of adversity which moulded his character, and the pedigree which, if heredity means anything, must have been one of the causes of the Tudor personality. The facts that Henry’s grandmother, Katharine, widow of Henry V, was a French princess, that his grandfather was a Welsh knight, and that his mother was lineally descended through John of Gaunt from Edward III are both interesting in themselves and of importance in connection with his claims to the throne. Finally his marriage with Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, was of vast importance in helping to end the long feud and to establish beyond all question the royal supremacy of subsequent kings. The structure of the Tudor absolutism, then, so carefully reared by Henry VII, had two very substantial foundations, first in the king’s own position by heredity, marriage and character; second, in the demoralization of the barons. On those foundations the new king began building after 1485 according to methods of his own, or by means already invented. By shrewd economy and rather unregal thrift; by the heavy fines for which the Court of the Star Chamber was so useful; by following Edward IV’s illustrious example in levying benevolences, with the expert help of Cardinal Morton; by politic relations at home and abroad, Henry built financial power and made himself master of the barons. General Notes. The pathetic figure of Henry VI, such a contrast to his immediate successors, is portrayed with simplicity and charm, pp. 296-297 of Cheyney’s “Readings.” Speaking of Henry VI naturally suggests the close of the Hundred Years’ War, and tempts me to refer again to Joan of Arc. There is a particularly sympathetic and charming account of her in the November (1909) “St. Nicholas”--an account which more than one “grown up” must have read with delight. It is well to make clearer than most text-books do just what “benevolences” were. This may be done by making them concrete rather than by definition. The extract from Fabyan’s “Chronicle” in the “Readings,” pp. 300-301, does this excellently. For concreteness, too, Henry VII’s diary quoted at some length in the “Readings” gives an intimate view of Henry, one would hardly expect of a mere account book. It contains a quaint mingling of expenditures of state and the smallest items, from £12,000 “for the king’s wars,” to 2s. “to a woman for a rede rosae.” The beginnings of printing, and especially the pioneer work of Caxton, are not only of immense interest as an invention, but of immense importance as one of the great mediums of spreading abroad the new ideas which were about to flood Europe. Green, as usual, is very full of interesting information, the gist of which is useful for notes on this subject, pp. 295-299. History in the Grades