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journals and newspapers; and when we look for traits of character and real information, we encounter details of public dinners-the weight of meat and pounds of pudding set forth. Titus Salt was a Nonconformist, and the writer of his Life is a Nonconformist minister, whose aim seems to be indiscriminate glorification of the man, and puffery of the cause-the result being a feeble, unreadable book, while the attempts at imaginary and 'appropriate' language are often ludicrous, sometimes profane. Titus Salt was born 1803, and his biographer seems to think it must be eminently satisfactory to those who have been taught to lay much stress on the rite of Baptism,' to know that he was twice baptized! Of his education in business we hear little his taking up alpaca wool and introducing it into the trade is told but tamely-and the history of Saltaire is, as we have said, chiefly quoted from local newspapers. One anecdote is worthy quotation :-- On entering his works one day, Salt discovered that some of the yarn had been spoilt in the spinning process. He inquired who had done the mischief.' A workman stepped forward and said, 'It is of no use, sir, accusing anybody else; I am the man who did it.' Of course he expected nothing but summary dismissal for his negligence, and anxiously waited the verdict. What do you mean to do!' asked Mr. Salt. Do better, sir,' was the reply. Then,' said his master with a smile, 'go and do it '-(p. 149).

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Titus Salt was not a man of literary tastes himself. Being asked one day what books he had been reading, his answer was Alpaca.' Nevertheless we should have liked a little more literary capacity to have been exercised in what might have been made a readable book of half the size, weeded of its newspaper extracts and conventionalities.

Sir Titus Salt died Christmas, 1876, surrounded by affection and respect well earned, and a lesson, not to be despised, of steadfast industry and upright honesty may assuredly be learned even from these clumsily ordered pages.

The Life of George Combe, Author of The Constitution of Man. By CHARLES GIBBON. Two volumes. (Macmillan and Co.) THE work before us is of composite authorship. Mr. Combe left behind him an unfinished autobiography, describing in a wonderfully vivid manner the painful yet instructive experiences of his childhood and youth, which has formed the germ of the present memoir; of the rest, his own innumerable and interminable letters form, we should think, quite one-half; and the remainder, though well executed as a piece of literary work, is of decidedly inferior interest. It will take, we fear, an enthusiastic phrenologist to read these vohimes, or, at all events, to find them interesting. Such people are still to be found, though not so frequently as formerly. The memoir takes us back to those early times when phrenology, if it had more violent opponents than any it finds now, had also far more earnest and strenuous defenders. Now it is only one among the ologies, and a somewhat antiquated one, about which there is little charm of novelty, and which interests no one to the extent of inducing him to give up his life to its propagation. Now, this is

exactly what Combe did. He devoted his time, his money, his labour, to diffuse it in England, America, and on the continent. For religion, in the usual sense, he never seems to have cared very much, and he preached phrenology as a religion. We do not think the record of his efforts in that direction very interesting. The real interest of the book lies in those painful trials of his early life which caused him to become an educational and sanitary reformer, and this interest is sufficiently great to cause the book to be worth reading and to be read.

The Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of Saint Katherine near the Tower in its Relation to the East of London. By FREDERICK SIMCOX LEA, M.A., Rector of Tedstone Delamere. With Preface by the Lord Bishop of LONDON, the Duke of WESTMINSTER, and others. (London: Longmans.)

To

In this seasonable volume Mr. F. S. Lea has given a sketch of great, and to the inhabitants of the metropolis, at all events, of general, interest. We say seasonable, for it has no doubt been issued advisedly at this time, when it is understood that a new scheme for the application of the (greatly increased) funds of this Foundation is being prepared, and in order at once to enlighten and to direct public opinion. The whole precinct or parish of S. Katherine, we need hardly remind our readers, was purchased in 1825 in order to construct the S. Katherine's Docks, and now lies under water. The remainder of the East End of London, however, not unnaturally conceives that it has a claim to participate in the benefits of the Foundation, of which it has been, during the last half century, wholly deprived; and this view has found eloquent expression in the Preface to the present work, which is signed by persons of such importance as the Duke of Westminster, Earl Nelson, and the Bishop of London and other influential clergymen and laymen. the expression of this opinion these gentlemen, however, confine themselves. They do not attempt to prescribe the mode in which this 'share in benefits' should be conferred, nor the shape which it should assume. It appeared to be thought some time ago that the mastership of S. Katherine's might furnish East London with a suffragan bishop. But it was probably surmised that the East Enders might look the gift horse in the mouth,' and that there were some things they needed even more than a bishop. Yet, when it is pointed out that to spend it in schools, as some have proposed, is simply to come to the aid of the rates, and that some weighty objection lies against every conceivable way of disposing of the funds, the observer will find it hard to say which would be preferable. fact is, all this perplexity arises from the demolition wholesale of the church and the entire home and machinery of the hospital. The destruction of churches seldom brings a blessing, nor has this particular demolition done so. Had it been yet standing in its old place the question of its reform would have been a simple one. sphere of its beneficent influence would, or might, have been widened with its increasing wealth; and the thing would have been done.

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We do not know that the old Collegiate Church of S. Katherine which was pulled down, as we have said, in 1825, was at all worth keeping on archæological or architectural grounds; but really the authorities in the matter might do a worse thing than rebuild it in all its stateliness, and give the 'Brothers' 30,000 or 40,000 of the uncared for masses to look after, and gather their 'Bedesmen' and 'Bedeswomen' out of. Not that we suppose that this is likely to be done.

We must not omit to say that Mr. Lea has traced with great clearness and sufficient minuteness the eventful history of the Foundation. It may be divided into three periods. 1st. From 1148 to 1545, when it was a dignified Collegiate and Ecclesiastical Foundation of priests and choirmen, bound to worship daily in their own stately church, and supporting pensioners of both sexes, who were under a similar obligation. Then (2nd) came the period of storm and spoliation which swept over S. Katherine's as it did over other pious foundations in this land, involving them all in a common wreck; and (3rd) the secular period. The institution emerged from the spoliation it underwent with the whole of its distinctive character shorn away, and became in practice a secular sinecure, retaining the marks of what it was, yet wholly without tangible purpose or raison d'être, further than to provide a piece of Court patronage. To what a degree it had withered and dwarfed under the disastrous influences of idleness and uselessness may be seen from the ease with which it was uprooted in 1825. Had it been a living and vigorous tree it would not have been torn up so easily; but since it was barren and useless it was as well in Regent's Park as anywhere else. Now, by Her Majesty's appointment of a clergyman as Head of the Chapter, there is hope of its becoming a reality, and making for itself an appreciable sphere of influence once more. We are sure Mr. Lea's volume will be welcome to all who wish well to the Foundation.

Samuel Johnson. By LESLIE STEPHEN. (Macmillan and Co.) Walter Scott. By R. H. HUTTON. (Macmillan and Co.) Gibbon. By J. C. MORISON. (Macmillan and Co.)

THESE are all that we have seen of a series (projected by Messrs. Macmillan) of short books of English men of letters, and if the rest be equally well executed with those before us, the series will be a great success. We heartily commend these vivid and interesting sketches to all our readers. For fulness and accuracy of information and for soundness of criticism they are equally commendable. Our Church and Our Country. By the Rev. G. VENABLES. (Wells Gardner, London.)

THIS is a sketch of the history of the Church of England down to the current year, intended for and dedicated to the working men of England. We only wish that every layman, working man or other, could be compelled to make himself acquainted with its admirable summary of the facts which every churchman ought to know. The fact that it is now in its fifth edition shows that it has been appreciated, and will no doubt encourage the Clergy to introduce it largely into their parochial libraries, especially in towns.

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The Fathers for English Readers. (S.P.C.K.)

FOUR volumes of this series are now before us. They deal with (1) The Apostolic Fathers; (2) The Apologists; (3) S. Jerome ; (4) S. Augustine. They are all by different but very competent hands, and give full and readable accounts of the writers with whom they deal, their works, and likewise of the circumstances of the times in which they lived. For the vast majority of persons the best introduction to history is through biography; and we can heartily commend this attempt to popularise a real and living acquaintance with the history of the early Church.

An Elder Sister: A Short Sketch of Anne Mackenzie and Her Brother, the Missionary Bishop. By FRANCES AWDRY. (Bemrose, London.)

A MOST vivid account of Bishop Mackenzie's short but remarkable career, and of the part borne in it by the elder sister, who, in her way, deserves to be remembered to the full as much as her brother. It is a story of much trial and endurance, and makes one feel that, however largely luxury and indifference may abound, still the present age is not without its witnesses for better things. We hope that the book may be widely read, and that it may do its part in keeping up the tone of true self-devotion in the religion of our times.

St. Francis of Sales, of the Love of God. (Rivingtons, London.) WE lose no time in making known to our readers this very good translation of a very lovely and charming book. It forms one of Messrs. Rivingtons' Library of Scriptural Works for English Catholics, and is beautifully printed.

The Guide of Life. A Manual of Prayers for Women. By C. E. SKINNER. (Rivingtons.)

CLERGYMEN will be glad to know of this little manual as one which they may most safely put into the hands of intelligent women of the better class of those who have to work for their living. It is very complete in its scope, and it is not only a manual of devotions, but is really what it is entitled 'a guide of life,' and is evidently the work of one who thoroughly understands the needs and the trials of the important class for which it is intended.

Mr. F. Atkinson's Resurrection and other Poems. (Skeffington and Son.)

A VOLUME of graceful, devotional, and meditative poetry which in this prosaic and busy age demands a respectful and grateful acknowledgment.

Origen the Preacher; being Fifty Short Sermon Notes founded upon
Select Passages from his Writings. By JOHN
By JOHN M. ASHLEY,
B.C.L., Vicar of Fewston. London: J. F. Hayes.

VERSIONS of a version are these scraps of homiletic matter which

Mr. Ashley has here given to his readers; for most of Origen's Homilies exist only in the Latin versions of Ruffinus, Jerome, and other unknown translators; and the Greek originals have perished. If there remains any brilliancy in the thoughts, any elegance in the metaphors, here presented to us, after having thus been twice through the ordeal of translation, it is no small testimony to the splendour and insight of the writer's genius; and this they unquestionably do retain. For these fragments of sermons we can commend Mr. Ashley's book. The biographical notice prefixed seems to us too brief and general to call for serious criticism.

Pamphlets, &c. Of recent Pamphlets we would specially mention the BISHOP OF WINCHESTER'S valuable and well-considered Charge to his Cathedral Chapter and his Diocese; Archdeacon Hessey's Charge, which sums up all the arguments for a Diocesan Conference; the BISHOP OF LINCOLN'S Letter to Sir G. Prevost on Sisterhoods and Vows, in which the history of the subject is carefully considered; MR. T. T. CARTER'S Present Movement, a true Phase of Anglo-Catholic Church Principles, wherein, in the form of a letter to the Primate, the author certainly has issued a most powerful defence of his position; as also the same writer's Are Vows of Celibacy in Early Life inconsistent with the Word of God? written in reference to the abovenamed letter of the Bishop of Lincoln. In this pamphlet Mr. Carter shows that dedication to a life of celibacy was one thing and enrolment as a Church widow' quite another: that both were clearly recognized in Scripture and the primitive Church, and that such dedication was then held to be binding. MR. E. F. WILLIS' Sacrificial Aspect of the Eucharist-clear, well-arranged and to all candid minds convincing; a very interesting Sermon of DEAN SCOTT'S (of Rochester) on the occasion of the Eight Hundredth Anniversary of the Foundation of Bishop Gundulph's Hospital; and lastly, we name as a pamphlet to be kept among the records of the year, The Episcopal Letter and Reports of Committees, published (Cassell and Co.) under the authority of the members of the Pan-Anglican Conference.

ON THE ALTERATION OF A LINE IN THE
CHRISTIAN YEAR.

To the Editor of THE CHURCH QUARTERLY REVIEW.

SIR,-Absence from England, and other circumstances, prevented my seeing or hearing of the last number of the Church Quarterly till to-day, and I write at once, hoping to be yet in time for this month's issue, a word in reply to Dr. Pusey's remark (p. 542) to the effect that, 'after all I cannot understand to what end all this fuss made by Professor Burrows and Dean Burgon, if they hold at all by the early Church or the Council of Nice.' As far as I am concerned, I have nothing to do with the questions arising out of the

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