for doing so. It will not be particularly interesting to posterity to know what Bishop Oxenden thought of the Gorham question, or the Colenso question, or the Ritual question; for, to tell the truth, his sentiments on such subjects would probably be rather vague and vapid; but the story of his life in his own parish and in his own diocese will throw many a side-light upon the by-paths of history. What may seem to us mere matters of course will in many cases be interesting pieces of information, not easily attainable, to our posterity. In this way Pepys' Diary is infinitely more important to the historian of the seventeenth century than Evelyn's, and Bishop Newton's autobiography worth a hundred of the journals in which good men were wont to chronicle their spiritual experiences, to the historian of the eighteenth. But we must think of ourselves rather than of our posterity; and regarded in this light, too, the little volume before us is interesting. Bishop Oxenden belongs to a class which, we hope, will never cease to send recruits to the Christian Ministry. He is the younger son of a baronet and country gentleman in Kent, and was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He gives the same account that everybody else does of the unsatisfactory state of the religious training, both at public schools and at the universities, in the early days of the present century; and it would be well if the laudator temporis acti, se puero, who loves to find fault with the educational system of the present day would meditate on the experiences of Bishop Oxenden and others of the past. His first curacy was that of his native parish, Barham, and the study of this part of his story, too, would be useful to the pessimists who make light of the improvements in Church matters which the present generation has witnessed. Bishop Oxenden has evidently a sense of humour, which appears in two capital stories which he tells of his Oxford life. He was in those early days (tell it not in Gath!) fond of hunting, and at the end of one winter term the Dean of University College-the Bishop mentions no name, but surely we recognize in his description the excellent Dr. Plumtree, alias 'Old Plum '?-called him to account, and begged him 'at any rate to promise that he would not hunt during the next term.' The promise could be, and was, safely given, for the next term was the May term, when hunting was not exactly in season! He became a candidate for a Fellowship at All Souls, where social qualifications counted for at least as much as intellectual ones. He was invited to dine with the Fellows, and, being a gentleman born and bred, of course passed through that ordeal satisfactorily; but, unfortunately, after dinner he was asked to take a hand at whist, and being naturally in a state of nervous trepidation, he made a terrible revoke! Whether this had anything to do with his rejection he does not commit himself so far as to say. Into the details of his work at Barham, at Pluckley, and in Canada as Bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan, though his account of each, and especially of the last, contains interesting matter, space forbids us to enter. But there is one topic on which much more might have been told than the Bishop has told us, with great advantage. He has been perhaps the most successful author in the present age of religious works which appeal alike to the lettered and the unlettered reader, but especially to the latter. We have a brief-far too brief-and modest account of the composition of the Pathway of Safety, and one or two other works. But we should like to have known more about the production of his literary work than we can learn from this volume, and would venture to suggest that in the next edition the Bishop might give us a whole chapter about the composition of his extremely popular religious works, which, though rather too colourless for our taste, are at any rate important on the principle that ' nothing succeeds like success'; for it would teach future religious writers how the ear of the public was gained by one who, like themselves, desired to impress the first of all duties upon his readers. Dr. Liddon's Tour in Egypt and Palestine in 1886. Being Letters descriptive of the Tour, written by his Sister, Mrs. KING. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1891.) THE main interest of this little book lies in the fact that it is Dr. Liddon's tour that is described. But anything we can learn about Dr. Liddon has an interest of its own; and we only wish that Mrs. King could have told us more about her distinguished brother. We learn that he took, as might have been expected, a deep and intelligent interest in all the associations, especially the religious associations, of the places which he visited; that he was fond of taking sketches; that he was not at all nervous about running the risks to which adventurous travellers in the East are necessarily exposed; that he wanted to see everything that could be seen; that he found no relaxation in mere rest; and that his sister was frequently apprehensive lest he should over-task his delicate frame. We learn also that he had to pay the usual penalty of greatness, and fled, whenever he could, from Cairo, because he was constantly besieged with friends and visitors there; and finally, we have a most interesting account of his reception of the offer of the bishopric of Edinburgh, which, as anyone who knew the man might have expected, he evidently regarded as a great honour to himself, instead of its being, as it would have been, a great honour to Edinburgh if he could have seen his way to accepting it. There is, perhaps, nothing very novel in the incidents of travel which Mrs. King records; but there will, no doubt, be many who will be glad to have 'a fair daily report of how' so great and good a man as Dr. Liddon 'passed his time in the one long holiday which he allowed himself' -or, rather, which was forced upon him by 'his medical advisers 'in his life of serious work' (Preface). The Golden Censer. Being a selection from the Prayers of the Saints, A.D. 69-1890. With Notes and Indices by Mrs. EDWARD LIDDELL. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1891.) THIS is an interesting little collection of short prayers and ejaculations, 120 in number, from St. Polycarp down to the present day. They are well selected, and the proportion taken from each writer seems to us on the whole judicious. We have five pages given to St. Augustine, seven to Thomas à Kempis, eight to Lancelot Andrewes, five to John Cosin, eight to Jeremy Taylor, five to Thomas Ken; while the remaining thirty-seven writers have each a smaller space allotted to them. This may not represent the relative greatness of the names taken generally, but it does fairly represent them in connexion with the prayers they wrote, except that, perhaps, a little more space might have been given to St. Augustine. A few names connected with the composition of prayers are conspicuous by their absence-notably those of St. Chrysostom, Archbishop Laud, John Kettlewell, and Robert Nelson; and a few are included which we should have hardly expected to find among prayer-writers-such as Thomas Hood and Robert Browning. In her notes Mrs. Liddell gives us brief and, on the whole, satisfactory biographies of the writers; but surely the notice of Thomas Sherlock, in connexion with the life of his father, William Sherlock, is misleading. He is described as 'Dean of Chichester and Bishop of Bangor and Salisbury, who died in 1761, and who was likewise an author.' Thomas Sherlock died Bishop of London, having been a very prominent bishop of that important see for thirteen years; he was also, like his father, Master of the Temple. The expression' who was likewise an author' hardly does justice to the very able writer of 'The Tryal of the Witnesses' and other important works. He was, in fact, an abler and more consistent man than his father had been. Again, probably the greatest poetess of all time' is a strong expression even about that very beautiful writer Elizabeth Barrett Browning. But this is a matter of taste. Happiness in the Spiritual Life: or, the Secret of the Lord. A Series of Practical Considerations. By the Rev. W. C. INGRAM. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1891.) WE will frankly own that we took up this volume somewhat doubtfully. The title seemed a very general one; the name of the author was not known to us; the circumstances of the publication did not reassure us. A set of addresses delivered at special services might be very good for the purpose for which they were intended, but it frequently happens that what is most effective when delivered orally. will not bear the test of being read in cold blood; the desire of friends to see in print what they have listened to with pleasure and profit has often led a good preacher to transmute himself into a bad writer. We feared that we were going to be placed in that most embarrassing situation of having to criticize a book which the obviously good intention of the author would prevent us from abusing, but which a stern sense of duty would prevent us from praising. But as soon as we began to read, our doubts were speedily dispelled. Strong, vigorous thoughts expressed in a pure, terse style, and with studied simplicity, a thorough working-out of the subject in hand without any digressions, great spiritual earnestness, a sound Church tone, and, what is by no means universal in this species of composition, a strong tincture of plain, common sense-such are the chief merits of these very striking addresses. The spiritual life' is defined as 'the ordinary daily life lived in union with our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ;' and the writer shows in turn what is the nature of the happiness of such a life, how it is lost and how it is regained, its helps and hindrances, its resolutions and its responsibilities, concluding with the Scriptural example of King David. There is such a general level of excellence throughout the work, and the thread of the argument is so closely followed, that an extract cannot be selected without doing the writer injustice. We must, therefore, be content with recommending the book generally, but most strongly, to all thoughtful readers. Life inside the Church of Rome. By M. FRANCIS CLARE CUSACK, 'the Nun of Kenmare.' (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1889.) It cannot be said that this book makes pleasant reading. It ought not to be pleasant to anyone to read an unmeasured invective against a great branch of the Church of Christ; and such this volume is. At the same time it is hard for anyone who has not special knowledge on the subject to contravene the statements of one who has had practical and intimate acquaintance with it. The Nun of Kenmare' attacks the Roman Church alike for the vicious lives of its priests and leaders and for the false and pernicious teaching which it propagates. No doubt there is foundation for the former, but it is startling to find the affirmation, repeated more than once, that 'he is a bold man who would deny that priests are intemperate as a class ;' and intemperance is not the only sin that is laid to their charge, and supported by concrete instances within the experience of the writer. There may be -nay, there unquestionably isanother side to the matter; but it cannot be denied that this volume makes out a strong indictment against the priesthood of the Church of Rome, at any rate in the country from which the authoress's experience is drawn. As to the second charge, the false teaching on matters of history and doctrine, one need feel less hesitation, though some of the quotations from Roman books of instruction are certainly astounding. It has always been known that Rome withholds from its members that intimate acquaintance with the Bible in their native tongue which is the great stronghold of the English Church, and that it emphatically discourages historical inquiry into the facts relative to the establishment and constitution of its system, especially the supremacy of the Papacy. These charges have been often made with greater profundity and ability, though hardly with more bitterness, than they are in the present volume. Those persons who are inclined to look on the Roman system as having great advantages which are denied to ourselves may do well to turn to this book to see what there is to be said on the other side-not for a reasoned examination of the differences between the Churches, but for a vigorous, though diffuse and ill-arranged, exposure of certain great evils which are evident upon the surface. As a warning against false ideas of what Roman supremacy would mean such a volume may do good; but, as we said at first, it is not pleasant reading. Mirabilia Urbis Roma: the Marvels of Rome, or a Picture of the Golden City. An English Version of the Medieval Guide-book, with a Supplement of Illustrative Matter and Notes. By FRANCIS MORGAN NICHOLS. (London: Ellis and Elvey. Rome: Spithoever. 1889.) THE Mirabilia Urbis Roma is by far the best known and most useful of the medieval descriptions of Rome. It was written, as Mr. Nichols's clear and compact preface shows, in the second half of the twelfth century. It circulated largely in manuscript; it was revised and enlarged under the title of Graphia Aurea Urbis Romæ, and after the invention of printing it ran through many editions before its popularity was exhausted. It was the standard guide-book of the end of the Middle Age, the Murray and Baedeker of the pilgrims and travellers who made their way to the ancient and holy city. Nor did it confine itself to a mere enumeration of the buildings and antiquities to be found within the walls of Rome; for it enlivens the journey of the sightseer, and sustains his interest in the objects described to him, by narrating, in the simplest and most unsuspecting manner, the legends which had accumulated round the various antiquities. Here is a specimen-one of the shortest, but not the best : 'In Cannapara is the temple of Ceres and Tellus, with two courts or houses, adorned all round with porches resting upon pillars, so that whosoever sat therein to give judgment was seen from every side. Fast by that house was the palace of Catiline, where was a church of St. Antony; nigh whereunto is a place that is called Hell, because of old time it burst forth there, and brought great mischief upon Rome; where a certain noble knight, to the intent that the city should be delivered after the responses of their gods, did on his harness and cast himself into the pit, and the earth closed; so the city was delivered. There is the temple of Vesta, where it is said that a dragon coucheth below, as we read in the life of St. Silvester.' Such a volume not merely has an interest as a quaint relic of the thoughts of our forefathers, but also is of value to the antiquary and historian for the information which it contains as to the position of buildings or of works of art which have since been lost. In this direction it has long been recognized as a useful authority on Roman topography; and for this reason, as well as for its quaint legends and distortions of history, it deserves to be offered to English readers in an English dress. Mr. Nichols has, so far as we have seen, done his work well. His translation preserves well the tone and colour of the original, his notes are clear and instructive, and he has added much interesting additional matter, such as the Marvels of Roman Churches, a collection of a similar description to the Mirabilia, and found with it in an early manuscript of the latter. good reproduction is given of a plan of Rome about the year 1475. Finally, the book is well printed on good paper, and prettily bound. Altogether it is a volume which no lover of medieval thoughts and stories need regret either reading or buying. A |