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Horace Round was regarded as a pioneer in historical and scientific genealogy, and his works, two of which are described below, are characterized by tremendous erudition, thoroughness, caustic wit, and sharp criticism. His Peerage and Pedigree, issued in 1910, is a brilliant exposition on family history and peerage law, and it illustrates the need for historical, genealogical and legal research in the original records. The first volume of Peerage and Pedigree concentrates on peerage law. In this respect, persons with Virginia ancestry will enjoy the chapter on "The Barony of Delaware" inasmuch as a branch of that English family settled in Virginia at the inception of the colony. Still other chapters contest various legends or traditions made by a number of British families claiming ancestors present at the Norman Conquest. The second volume is taken up, in part, with some "Saxon" houses, many of whose alleged lineages Round finds to be disreputable.