THE ANCESTOR 279 The study of local history is likely to receive a great impe- tus from the publication of the Victoria History of the Counties of England. Up to the present time there has been, it is true, no lack of activity among local students in many of the coun- ties ; but unfortunately much of the energy shown has been misdirected owing to the want of organized effort. Individual workers have time after time traversed the same ground, and not infrequently has an enthusiastic but misguided student laboured for months or even years on documents which are already in print. Local archaeological and record societies rarely receive the support they are entitled to, and conse- quently anything like a serious attempt to deal with those classes of records which must be the foundation of local history has been made exceedingly difficult. It is all the more credi- table to some of the county societies, that in the face of popular indifference, they have published many of their local records in a manner rivalling in excellence the work of the Public Record Office. Organization, and especially well organized co-operation among local students and experts, must be made the founda- tion of topographical undertakings in the future. It will be interesting to note how far the organization of the Victoria History will meet the hopes and expectations of the editors. Judging by the reviews in the press the scheme of co-operation has been successful in the volumes issued up to the present. These only touch the fringe of history, and therefore barely come within our scope. But in the volumes yet to follow for each of the histories which have been begun — Hampshire^ Nor- folky Worcester^ Cumberland^ Hertford^ Surrey^ and Northampton — there will be much matter of interest to the readers of ^he Ancestor. The scheme for dealing with genealogy will be particularly worthy of attention, and we shall hope to give some details of it in a future number.
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We hope to deal at some length, as soon as it has been decided, with the Lord Great Chamberlain case which is now before the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords. We understand that in preparing the case for the Crown the Treasury has been greatly assisted by the very exceptional and extensive knowledge which Mr. J. Horace Round has placed at its disposal.
