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ANGLO-SAXON AND ANGLO-NORMAN CHRISTIANITY.*

IN these goodly volumes Dr. Hook has addressed himself to a task alike honorable to himself and the Church to which he belongs, and which he values so highly. Hitherto we have had no continuous history of Christianity in England, save in the venerable pages of Jeremy Collier. In fact, it is only lately that it has been possible to deal in an accurate historical manner with the early period of this history. Access to the original authorities was extremely difficult-in some cases impracticable; and the student was left to grope unassisted amid dim, and frequently inconsistent legends. It is now possible to trace the history of the Anglo-Saxon

Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. By WALTER FARQUHAR HOOK, D.D., Dean of Chichester. Vols. I. and II. Anglo-Saxon and AngloNorman Periods. London: Bentley. 1860-1862,

VOL. LVII.-NO. 3

Church and institutions with a clear and intelligent insight, such as was unattainable by the laborious non-juring historian, even if his vision had been more open and candid than it naturally was.

Of the two volumes before us, the first is devoted to the Anglo-Saxon period, beginning with St. Augustine's mission, and terminating with the Conquest. The second comprises the Anglo-Norman period, from the Conquest to the close of the primacy of Stephen Langton, in the reign of Henry III. Dr. Hook has wisely not attempted to penetrate the darkness that continues to overhang the ancient British Church, traditionally planted by one of the apostles, and distinguished beyond question from its Roman successor by greater simplicity both of government and worship. The subject is one that would

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well reward the application of some mod- | tension, although we might question the ern antiquarian of the critical school; but force of the analogy which our Church it presents too many difficulties and un- historian suggests betwixt his own work certainties for the general historian. One and the histories of Hume and Lingard. point, however, is clear; and Dr. Hook The plan of both these histories is obhas done well to set it forth, both for the viously of a more general and comprehensake of accuracy and of historical contrast. sive character than that suggested by the The primitive British Church was a branch title of the present volumes, or which of the great Celtic Church, which, planted they actually follow. The biographical in the first ages in the south of Gaul, ra- element is professedly much more conspipidly extended into Ireland, Wales, the cuous in Dr. Hook's plan. The successive Western Isles, and many parts of South- archbishops are not merely, like Hume's Britain-the Church of Columba, and of Kings of England, "central personages,' Columbanus, the no less famous mission- around which cluster the varied appropri ary to the Franks, with whom the former ate events and principles of the age to is sometimes confounded. "The few facts which they belong; but their "Lives" dewhich are historical," says our author, signedly form our author's subject. He "are satisfactory as to the learning, zeal, is, therefore, not exactly in the same posiand piety of this Church, comprising the tion for doing justice to the whole subject Irish or Scots, (for the latter was the dis- as either Hume or Lingard. We are far tinctive name of the inhabitants of Ireland however, from objecting to his plan. The at this early period,) the Caledonians, the very prominence of the biographic and Welsh, and the British. The Celtic personal element has its own advantages. Church in Ireland was, indeed, so re- It serves to concentrate attention, and nowned for the excellence of its institu- give life and character to the narrative. It tions, and the piety of its clergy and preserves the interest, which would be monks, that the island received the title apt to be broken down and dispersed of Insula Sanctorum, the Isle of Saints. amidst a multitude of details, and a less The piety of the Irish monasteries was as select arrangement. In these early vola refreshing stream overflowing for the umes, at least, a sufficiently wide survey fertilization of all the surrounding coun- is presented of the general history of the try." Church of England from the standing ground of the life of each successive primate; and if it be more difficult to comprehend such a survey as Dr. Hook's work advances, the author will yet, we have no doubt, do what he can to embrace all the complexities of his subject.

The title of Dr. Hook's volumes suggests, it may be observed, something more limited than a history of the Church of England. He is careful, however, to vindicate the claim of his undertaking to be regarded as such a history. "The history of the Archbishops of Canter- His special qualifications for the task of bury," he maintains, "must be in point of historian of the Church of England are fact a history of the Church of England. considerable. To those who merely knew The validity of this assertion is not im- Dr. Hook as a laborious parish minister peached when it is alleged that it does not and social philanthropist, or even as the include the history of the northern prov-author or editor of the Church Dictionary, ince, and of each particular diocese. On that ground, it might be contended that Hume and Lingard, in writing their history of the kings of England, are not historians of the British Empire, because a history of England does not include the history of Scotland or Ireland. In the history of the Primates of all England, the general history of the northern metropolitans is included. Any special notice of the Archbishops of York and of the suffragans of either province is seldom required; and when required, will be found either in the notes or in the appendix." We do not mean to quarrel with this pre

we fancy that some of the characteristics of the present volumes must have been a surprise. If there is one more marked than another, it is the open-minded candor with which he deals with the events, institutions, and characters that pass under his review. His own opinions are never concealed; the "principles," which give such an air of unreasoning and unhistorical dogmatism to many of the articles of the Church Dictionary, may be even here and there apparent; but there is every where much more apparent in these pages the traces of a questioning, critical, and somewhat skeptical mind. There is al

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most a judicial discrimination in weighing | tion of the historian, we must believe that facts and estimating character. Neither if historical biography has any special sentimental nor ecclesiastical predilections function at all, it is to enable us to underseduce our author. Whatever may be stand and appreciate, as far as we can, the thought of his judgments, they are clearly great characters of former ages. the result of his own investigation or his own reflection, and no halo of sanctity nor pretense of right deters him from looking every thing straight in the face, and closely scrutinizing its lineaments. This rigorous spirit of inquest-keen, severe, occasionally hard, but, so far as we are able to see, perfectly impartialpervades the volumes. Impartiality, combined with an evident industry of research, and a clear, calm, and masterly power of stating a case and arranging a narrative, constitute the chief excellences of these volumes.

Connected with this view of Dr. Hook's general qualifications as a historian, there is one point deserving special remark and condemnation: we mean his frequent allusions to recent and present events and controversies. Some of his critics, if we mistake not, pointed out how these allusions marred the historical character of the introductory chapter of his first volume; but he has introduced them with scarcely less frequency in his second volume. It is unfair to the reader and unfair to the subject, that, in considering the events and features of the Church History of England, we should be continually reminded that Dr. Hook himself has been an active and keen observer of the history of his own times, and a zealous participator in many of its discussions. The dark persecutions of the early ages recall the " same malignant passion in modern controversialists, who dip their pens in gall, or sharpen the arrows of a poisoned tongue to wound another's feelings;" the holy days of the Church suggest the "Ten Hours Act;" the schemes of Hildebrand, the idea of Mr. Cobden-"one of the most consistent and philanthropic of our statesmen"-that war might be avoided, and order maintained, " by the establishment of a universal referee." The Crusades open up the whole question of the Crimean War, and its consequences, in the excitement of the decaying spirit of chivalry, and the opening the fountain of benevolence in the rich, so that "the once fashionable word economy, a very good word in general, was buried in the grave of Joseph Hume!"

In the higher qualities of either philosophical or artistic power they are wanting. With a mind sharp, clear, logical, and, above all, sensible, Dr. Hook lacks the comprehension which vividly seizes and sets forth principles, or the imagination which apprehends and powerfully reproduces character. His narrative seldom rises above an ordinary level. His introductory chapters in both volumes are full of knowledge, and show how diligently and earnestly he has labored at his subject, and how well he comprehends it from his own point of view; but they also, in the very attempts at generalization which they present, show strikingly the limits of his powers-his inability to forget the present, and to realize in broad and powerful vision the course of the past. Without some strength of historical imagination, it is impossible to do this; and while it is quite true, as he himself hints, that the exercise of this imagination may sometimes verge upon romance rather than history, it is also true that it often sheds upon the latter a rich and gleaming light; while the want of it may leave many facts, if not unexplored, yet uninterpreted. They may be set forth in an orderly manner, but they fail to rise into a living image. And so it is with Dr. Hook's Lives. They are descriptive analyses, rather that life-like portraits. Actions are clearly recorded, and opinions are faithfully reported; but the "Lives" are not presented. In many cases, we are aware, there were not materials for doing more than he has done; but in other cases the materials are abundant; and, notwithstanding that he seems to As a whole, however, these two volspeak rather contemptuously of this func-umes are highly creditable to the author's

This course of allusion bespeaks the habit of mind of the pamphleteer and practical philanthropist rather than of the historian. It must be admitted to be beneath, not only the gravity-for this has long since departed-but even the natural dignity, of the historic muse. It intrudes upon the associations of the time, without imparting liveliness to the narrative, or even pointing any moral of compensatory utility. It is a fault, therefore, which Dr Hook would do well to avoid in the remaining volumes of his work.

industry and mental accomplishments, | ive countenances of the youths, struck the while they supply, so far, what has been monk of St. Andrew as he passed on his hitherto a desideratum, a readable, if not way. They presented a striking contrast exactly popular, History of the Church of England. Every chapter presents evidence of accuracy and extent of research, and of painstaking earnestness to exhibit the truth. There are the marks of an acute, and vigorous, and comprehensive mind every where; and if the style be deficient in picturesqueness, subtlety, or glow, it is at the same time free from all affectation. Dr. Hook does not seize the aspects of Christian history with the vivid imaginativeness of Dr. Stanley, nor reproduce them with the same graphic and poetic touches; nor does he display any of the width and grandeur of comprehension, philosophic richness of idea, or elaborate if somewhat rugged power of scenic description, which place Dr. Milman in the highest rank of our Church historians; but he has excellent qualities of his own, in which neither of his cotemporaries can be said to rival him. He is pointed, accurate, and practical; never deficient in the requisite knowlege of his subject; and shedding into every corner of it, if not the light of a highly imaginative or reflective mind, that dry light of common-sense, which, though it may sometimes disenchant the past, renders it for the most part intelligible, and brings it near, in not unfamiliar guise, before the reader.

Dr. Hook's first volume, we have said, opens with the mission of St. Augustine. The history of this mission-the character and plans of Gregory the Great, who conceived it, and of Augustine himself, and his companions, Laurentius, Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius, who carried it out are set before us in a very clear, honest, and interesting manner. Dr. Hook's practical sense and plain insight are no where more conspicuous than in his treatment of this great epoch in the Christian history of England; and the reader will find something to learn in his pages, and a fresh meaning shed here and there over the obscurities of the Italian mission, even after Dr. Stanley's interesting lecture in his Historical Memorials of Canterbury.

Both writers are freely inclined to credit the good old story of the three English youths, seen by Gregory exposed for sale in the slave-market at Rome. The fair complexion, light flaxen hair, and express

to the swarthy visage and dark hair of the slaves from the coast of Africa or of Syria, to which he was more accustomed. Gregory seems to have had all his life great love for children, and a peculiar tenderness of heart. He stopped and inquired who they were. He was told that they were Pagans, and he sighed that "faces so full of light and brightness should be in the power of the Prince of Darkness." He was further informed that they belonged to the nation called " Angles" or English; and he joyfully responded, with that love for a pun which seems to have been an inveterate characteristic of the worthy ecclesiastic, "Well are they called Angles, for they have the faces of angels, and they ought to be fellow-heirs of the angels in heaven." His further inquiries only increased his interest in them, as they fed his love for verbal pleasantry. He was told they were Deirans-natives of the district between the Humber and the Tyne, then known as Deira. "Rightly are they so called," he said, "plucked as they are from the anger of God, (de ira Dei,) and invited to the mercy of Christ." The name of their king, "Ella," suggested that they would yet sing "Alleluia."

Whatever truth there may be in the details of this story-and these details, strange as they may seem, are not inconsistent with the character of Gregorythere can be no doubt that the attention of the Roman monk, long before he had advanced to the chair of St. Peter, had been excited toward the Saxons in England, and the means of converting them to the faith of Christ. He had even himself set out, with a few of his monkish brethren, to undertake the work of their conversion. The populace of Rome, however, by whom he was greatly beloved, raised a wild commotion at his departure, and the Pope was forced to send messengers to recall him. Many years* elapsed before he was able to do any thing to carry out his wishes. In the mean time, he had been himself elected Pope; his cares had become enlarged; but he did not forget his early desire. He employed an agent to procure him English slaves, whom he intended to emancipate, and

fixes the date of the story before 588. The mission * The mention of "Ella," Dr. Stanley remarks, of Augustine took place in 597.

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