ry of Lawrence, Massachusetts,
compiled by H.A. Wadsworth, in 1878. It contained seventy-five very poor
wood-engravings, called portraits by courtesy, which, with the
accompanying biographies, were inserted to represent the leading (?) men
of the city at an entrance fee of five or ten dollars apiece.

Next in number below the biographical histories, but far above them in
value, come what may be called the chronological histories, that is,
those which make little or no attempt to group the important facts of a
city's history in homogeneous chapters, but which, diary-like, give all
facts, important as well as insignificant, in the order of their
occurrence. Fortunately most local historians of this sect have made
more or less attempt at bringing like to like, although they have
generally preserved the purely chronological order within their groups,
whether these be of subjects or periods. Among the histories of the
larger cities, Scharf's Chronicles of Baltimore comes to mind as typical
of this class. This work, published in 1874, is an octavo of seven
hundred and fifty-six pages. The author tells the truth when he says in
his preface: "The only plan in the work that has been followed has been
to chronicle events through the years in their order; beginning with the
earliest in which any knowledge on the subject is embraced, and running
on down to the present." The book is printed "solid," with not a single
chapter-heading from one end to the other, so it is not strange that it
contains such an immense amount of material.

The great fault of this book, as of all books of this class, is the lack
of the proper classification, the scholarly reflection and comment, the
thoughtful contrast and comparison, the exercise of intelligent judgment
in forming conclusions,--all which are necessary to make history
palatable, not to say valuable. Nowhere is this lack shown more forcibly
than in this book in the treatment of the subject of riots and mob
violence. It may not be generally known, especially among the younger
portion of the community, that no American and but few European cities
have such an unenviable and disgraceful record on this head as
Baltimore. The accounts of its riots remind one too forcibly of the
worst days of the French Revolution, and all of them read more like the
incidents so plentiful in the sensational stories of the day, than like
the cold, dispassionate record of history. And this, mind you, is the
record