the subject, and throws not a little light on it. His remarks on the line, assume (ad sumo) a virtue if you have it not,' are ingenious, and morally throw a new light upon it. If on one or two points we do not fully agree with him, he always demands deference and consideration. Incidentally, of course, we have some very good textual criticism of Shakespeare. What we find most to admire in Mr. Spalding is his good arrangement and compactness of style. One of his best sections is that on the fairies in the Midsummer's Night's Dream.' Incidental general remarks are often good and illuminating, as in this case—

'Perhaps one of the most distinctive marks of literary genius is a certain receptivity of mind; a capability of receiving impressions from all surrounding circumstances-of extracting from all sources, whether from nature or man, consciously or unconsciously, the material upon which it shall work. For this purpose to be perfectly accomplished, an entire and enthusiastic sympathy with the ideas of the time is absolutely essential; and in proportion as this sympathy is contracted and partial, so will the work be stunted and untrue; and on the other hand, the more universal and entire it is, the more perfect and vital will be the art.’ The Life, Times, and Correspondence of the Right Reverend Dr. Doyle, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. By W. J. FITZPATRICK, LL.D. New Edition. Greatly enlarged and enriched. Two Vols. M. H. Gill and Son.

Some twenty years have elapsed since the first edition of Mr. Fitzpatrick's book appeared. At that time many of the incidents recorded in it were recent, and many of Dr. Doyle's correspondents were living. There were reasons, therefore, for withholding much that is now made public. Dr. Fitzpatrick, moreover, by unwearied assiduity has discovered many letters and much material of other kinds then inaccessible or unknown to him. The present edition is, therefore, both greatly enlarged and greatly enriched. Were it not that Dr. Doyle was in every respect so remarkable a man, we should be disposed to say that the memoir as it now stands is somewhat overlaid; but many will value both the additional letters and the additional anecdotes-for almost everything that came from Dr. Doyle's pen is vigorous aud suggestive. In many respects he is the most remarkable Irishman of the last hundred years. Of great eloquence, remarkable in the vigour of his thought, widely read, of great statesmanlike qualities, of incorruptible integrity, noble catholicity, and uncompromising fearlessness, his influence over his countrymen and over English statesmen was greater than that of any man of his time. He probably did more to obtain the redress of iniquitous and oppressive legislation for Ireland than all his contemporaries put together. His letters and pamphlets, and especially his evidence before Parliamentary Committees, produced not only a public sensation but practical legislation, which some now living very vividly remember. His patriotism was as wise and conscientious as it was fervid. He never

shrank from the condemnation of revolutionary and riotous measures. He withstood to the full not only O'Connell, but the secret societies and the lawless violence of his own countrymen. It is not too much to say that more than once he alone, by his great influence with the Irish people, and by his fearless episcopal action, saved Ireland from civil war. We could wish nothing better than that the Irish priesthood should study his example and warning, and learn to contend earnestly and passionately for every measure that true patriotism demands, in the spirit of religion and constitutional right. Probably the Irish Church has never possessed, at least in recent times, so great and good a prelate. His piety was of the loftiest kind; his unselfish consecration to the religious interests of his flock, his fearless fidelity in dealing with disorderly priests, and his tender sympathy with the suffering and deserving, are beyond all praise. Religiously, it is the record of one of the noblest and most Christlike of God's servants. He was a Roman Catholic, although of a very liberal type; and even his salutary use of some of his powers gives one a terrible impression of what the tyranny of the Romish priesthood and the abjectness of their flocks might be. More than once he excommunicated from the altar members of secret societies, and men who had been guilty of outrages, terrifying by his spiritual anathemas even the most hardened. On one occasion (vol. ii. p. 407), denouncing some of the 'Blackfeet' at Mountinellick, he commanded them to leave the house of God. 'While the men were moving towards the door, Dr. Doyle repeated the word "Depart" three times; exclaiming, "And if I might venture to anticipate the judgment of the Almighty, I would add-into eternal fire." This is none the less horrible that it was for a righteous end. But this is only a speck on a noble character and influence.

To the historian and politician the book is a picture of Ireland as it was for twenty years prior to Catholic emancipation-rich in anecdote, description, and polemic. It is a record at which every Englishman should blush. It must take generations of just government to obliterate the traditions and resentments of such wrongs. Thank God our statesmen have done much, and are resolutely trying to do more.

Our space will not permit us to go into details, else we might remark on Dr. Doyle's remarkable letters to women-relatives, nuns, and others, full of wise liberal counsel, remarkable insight, and spiritual sympathy. Save Fenelon's letters to women, we know nothing to compare with them.

We strongly commend this very remarkable revelation of a very noble character, and of a momentous time in Irish history.

A Life's Decision. By T. W. ALLIES, M.A. C. Kegan Paul and Co.

Mr. Allies narrates in this volume the course of the thirteen years' struggle of thought and feeling which ended in his secession to Rome. We presume that he expects the reasons that prevailed with him to have

influence with others. No other valid reason for such an apologia from him is conceivable.

Of course the narrative touches almost all the questions which are at issue between the Church of Rome and the Episcopal Church of England. We cannot, therefore, even touch them. We will only say that Mr. Allies has abundant grounds for his discontent with the principles and position of the Anglican Church; at any rate, with its sacramentarian school. It concedes too much to Rome for successful defence. It is like trying to stand on a very inclined plane. But Mr. Allies might have refrained from bad language, in which, as we remarked in noticing his recent work, Per Crucem et Lucem,'he is a great proficient. It is a little too bad to call Protestants offspring of the devil,' as on p. 324 he does. We can only say, looking at matters from so different a standpoint, that we are utterly at a loss to understand the mental processes that he describes -the weak credulity, the transparent sophistry, the spurious authority, and his unquestionable sincerity, notwithstanding his very equivocal morality both of argument and protracted position. How arguments that weighed with him can have influence with any man of common sense; how things which he manifestly believes can be believed by any man capable of exercising a rational judgment, is to us utterly inconceivable. We should like to hear Cardinal Newman's opinion concerning the Tyrolese Addolorata and Estatica. The only remark upon this astounding self-revelation that we will make is, that if the discovery of the truth as it lies between the Anglican and the Romish Churches involves such recondite inquiries and strenuous agonies for thirteen years, ordinary men and women can scarcely be expected to find it.

Mr. Allies is one of those weak, fanatical men, who fancy that they are reasoning when they are only playing at hide and seek with notions, and who make up in one-sided violence their utter lack of judicial faculty. His judgment of himself in 1838, that it seemed then a matter of mere chance into what school of theological opinion I should fall,' was much more true to the last than he ever surmised. No folly is impossible to weak, hysterical religionists, who think that it is the excellency of faith to abjure reason. A man who for thirteen years could so flounder in the marshes of ecclesiastical tradition, led by only an ignis fatuus, naturally finds the rest of which he is capable in submission to a spurious infallibility.

The Christian Policy of Life. A Book for Young Men of Business. By JAMES BALDWIN BROWN, B.A. Second Edition. C. Kegan Paul and Co.

A new edition of a practical and cogent book which we strongly commended on its first appearance eleven years ago. It is a series of addresses to young men on the purposes, basis, and methods of a religious life. We need not say that Mr. Brown conceives loftily of life, and that he discusses very wisely the questions which more especially concern

young men.

The artistic, perhaps the practical, defect of Mr. Brown's treatment is a too feverish intensity, a want of light and shade, but he will be wise among young men who makes this book a vade mecum, and who tries to realize the life that it urges.

The Religious Condition of Christendom.

Described in a

series of Papers presented to the Seventh General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance held in Basle, 1879. Edited by the Rev. J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A., LL.D. Hodder and Stoughton.

The conference at Basle was a very successful one. About 1600 persons were present as representatives of various Protestant Churches of Christendom. The papers and discussions were vigorous, and the spirit of the meeting was devout and brotherly. How far the Evangelical Alliance accomplishes the formal purpose of its existence in lessening the asperities and the sectarianism of Church differences will be variously judged. It is, alas, much easier to profess and feel Christian brotherhood on a public platform than in private and daily life. There must, however, be gain in the fellowship of its gatherings, and in the interchange of ideas such as this volume contains. It is, of course, beyond our criticism. We can simply report that it contains reports on the state of religion in various countries by their respective representatives-that on Great Britain by the Hon. and Rev. Edward V. Bligh, to which, its optimist character notwithstanding, certain classes might, we think, justly take strong exception, not to speak of the manifest error of representing Ritualism as limited to young ladies and young clergymen. Is it really true that the men who advocated secular education in day-schools are irreligious men 'guided by a cold philosophy rather than by any particular concern for the spiritual good of the people'? Concerning some of the most prominent advocates of this policy, Mr. Bligh must have known that they were deeply religious men. Dr. Schaff's Report on North American Christianity is singularly full and instructive.

Some very able papers on Christian union and Christian liberty, by Dr. Rigg, the Rev. Eustace Conder, and others, are, perhaps, the most valuable part of the volume, which contains a great variety of important information on the present state of Protestant Christianity throughout the world.

Adam, Noah, and Abraham. Expository Readings on the

Book of Genesis. By JOSEPHI PARKER, D.D. Edinburgh:
Macniven and Wallace.

The second volume of the Household Library is a reprint from the 'Fountain' of sermons on the Book of Genesis. They are popular, acute, and racy. They do not deal with any of the vexata questiones of either science or criticism. As sermons should do, they touch things in their religious aspects, and with much religious insight and graphic power.

They are fragmentary, and are sometimes marred by incongruities of taste and an exaggerated humour, sometimes grotesque and mostly sarcastic, but they claim very high merit as popular dramatic pulpit speech.

The Patriarchs. By the Rev. WILLIAM HANNA, D.D., and Rev. Canon NORRIS, B.D. With Coloured Map. Cassell, Petter, Galpin, and Co.

A reprint of articles contributed to the 'Bible Educator.' Those on Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by Dr. Hanna, and those on Joseph and Moses, by Canon Norris. We need not say that both are careful, scholarly, and able. Dr. Hanna's papers are marked by fine insight, but they are popular rather than critical. The light thrown upon Abraham's early history and upon the ideas of his time from the Babylonian tablets has been very great. Dr. Hanna might with advantage, at any rate in notes, have touched some of the questions upon which so much light has been thrown in works like Professor Sayce's 'Babylonian Literature,' Mr. Tomkins' Studies of the Time of Abraham,' and the translations contained in the volumes of 'Records of the Past.' The papers are very interesting and well deserving of republication.

The Age of the Great Patriarchs, from Adam to Jacob. With Notes Critical and Illustrative. By ROBERT TUCK, B.A. Vol. I. From the Creation to the Offering of Isaac. Sunday School Union.

Notes for Lessons on the Gospel History for Sunday-school Teachers. By SAMUEL S. GREEN, D.D. Part I. From the Birth of Christ to the Close of His Ministry in Galilee. Sunday School Union.

Two very useful and able little books, which Sunday-school teachers will find greatly to assist them in their work. Mr. Tuck's is the more ambitious; his subject is the more difficult. Questions of difficulty start up at every step. He could not have adopted the simple exegetical method of Dr. Green. His textual notes therefore are mere appendices to his chapters. Each chapter is a theme; e.g., 'Moses, Editor and Author,'' Book Inspiration,' The Attitude of Christians towards Science,' • Other Cosmogonies and Philosophies.' After these preliminary discussions we come to 'The Book of Beginnings,' as Genesis is called; and the various beginnings which it records are treated in as many chapters, the topics of each chapter being indicated in the margin, and illustrated by notes, textual or otherwise, at the end.

Mr. Tuck discusses with a considerable amount of knowledge, and with broad sympathies, the current difficulties which the Mosaic cosmogony starts. Sometimes we could desire a little more of balanced judgment, as, for example, where he states that the Book of Genesis does not teach