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THE high expectations which were formed by all those who learned that Mr. Bryce was preparing a book on the United States of America are justified by the book itself. Mr. Bryce has established a right to be accepted as an authority in all matters with which he deals. Few display his industry in investigating and his capacity for coordinating facts. He has the root of the matter in him. He takes nothing for granted, and he takes little at second hand, his conclusions being deduced from incontestable premises. If Mr. Bryce's new work had been planned on a less comprehensive scale, and if he had subordinated the scaffolding to the matter, the result would have been still more satisfactory. His canvas is too large for his public without being large enough for his subject in all its bearings. To describe the American Commonwealth does not necessitate writing the social history of the American people, yet Mr. Bryce has attempted to set before the eyes of his readers a picture both of the government of America and of the way in which Americans think and act and have their being. Indeed, as he says in the introduction, the aim of his book is to present "a general view of the United States both as a Government and as a Nation." It must be admitted that he has spared no pains to qualify himself for his task. He has read and seen more than most visitors to the continent of North America. He has visited the United States with the following result : "When I first visited America eighteen years ago I brought home a swarm of bold generaliza tions. Half of them were thrown overboard after a second visit in 1881. Of the half that remained, some were dropped into the Atlantic when I returned across it after a third visit in 1883-4: and although the two later journeys gave birth to some new views, these views are fewer and more discreetly cautious than their departed sisters of 1870." Throughout his book Mr. Bryce writes about "a European" thinking this or that, but he neither addresses nor does he represent Europeans. He writes as an Englishman addressing the public in Greater Britain, and it was as an Englishman that he in the United States; for if Americans are sensitive to the criticism of any foreigner it is the Motherland, which looms before their minds as the country from which they like to receive praise. One sentence written in an English journal about America has more weight than all the writing in the journals of other European countries. And no small measure of the eulogy which critics in America have poured upon Mr. Bryce is due to the fact of his being not a European in general, but an Englishman in particular. De Tocqueville's Democracy in America' is the work of a great writer and an acute thinker -it is one which ought to flatter the self-love of Americans; yet its popularity has always been greater in this country than in the United States. From the American point of view De Tocqueville is a European, and Mr. Bryce is not. Regarded as an historical production, the earlier chapters of this work are more valuable than the later. No English book contains a more lucid and accurate account of the several Federal authorities, the President, Congress, and courts of law; while the constitution and working of the State governments are set forth in a manner equally masterly. We doubt, however, whether Mr. Bryce has given full weight Constitution and the Constitutions of the to the hereditary element in the Federal older States. It cannot be too strenuously asserted that the Americans invented nothing when they became independent and formed their government. The first written constitution in the world was drawn up and signed by Englishmen on board the Mayflower. The charter which Winthrop and his associates removed to New England, and which served as the first Constitution of Massachusetts, was another example of how government might be prescribed and limited by a written document. Indeed, each of the thirteen colonies had gained experience in constitution making as well as in selfgovernment. What marks the Constitution of the United States is the careful attempt made to limit the power of the executive and the legislature. Still, without their preliminary training in constitutional government, the American people might have failed, as the people of other countries have done, when setting themselves to framing paper constitutions. Mr. Bryce, though not bringing out so clearly as he might have done the purely English origin and inspiration of the existing Constitution of the United States, distinctly states that it owes much to growth and natural development, writing in a fcot-note at p. 406 of vol. i.: "The Constitution of the United States is almost as truly the matured result of long and gradual historical development as the English Constitution itself." witness. The impressions made upon Mr. Bryce's mind by studying the institutions of America on the spot are of a nature which cannot be reproduced in words. He felt more than he can make others feel. He saw much that was unpleasant, and, as he states, if he were to place the unpleasant facts before a reader, he might mislead him, inasmuch as he could not enable any reader who is unacquainted with America "to realize the existence in the American people of a reserve of force and patriotism more than sufficient to sweep away all the evils which are now tolerated, and to make the politics of the country worthy of its material grandeur and of the private virtues of its inhabitants. America excites an admiration which must be felt upon the spot to be understood. The hopefulness of her people communicates itself to one who moves among them, and makes him perceive that the graver faults of politics may be far less dangerous there than they would be in Europe. A hundred times in writing this book have I been disheartened by the facts I was stating: a hundred times has the recollection of the abounding strength and vitality of the nation chased away these tremors." and To go through these three volumes in detail and comment upon all the important points would require far more space than we can now spare. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves for the present to giving a general description of their contents, making some remarks upon particular parts. Before doing this, however, we may statethat Mr. Bryce's work as a whole is very different from that of De Tocqueville. If it be not so philosophical, it is more interesting, and will prove of greater service to readers desiring information about the American system of government as it now exists. Mr. Bryce knows America far more intimately than De Tocqueville did; he has the great advantage over him of being in thorough sympathy with the people and their aims. He makes full allowance, as is shown in the passage quoted above, for things of which he cannot approve, and if he have a failing it is to make the best of everything. He has refrained from giving prominence to the great weakness of the American people which Dickens noted and ridiculed, the liking for being "cracked up." Americans revel in praise; adverse criticism is as nauseous to them as medicine to a child. It may seem strange now that the popularity of De Tocqueville's book in the first instance was due to Sir Robert Peel having recommended its general perusal on the ground that every reader would learn from it a lesson as to the tyranny of the majority. Mr. Bryce shows how the acceptance of a decision imposed by the majority is the distinguishing trait and merit of American political parties. The side which has failed admits the hopelessness of fighting, yet it does not relax its efforts to convert the majority to its views. For a short time the majority may use its strength like a giant. When President Jackson was elected he put in practice the immoral doctrine of the spoils belonging to the victors. Other the feeling has gained ground that the party which grasps the reins of power must act circumspectly, if not fairly, in order to retain power. The supremacy of the majority received attention, and will receive honour, I described from the point of view of an eye-depends upon the conduct of its heads. Contemporary changes in the government of the United States are always owing to the majority having blundered; and the ethical problem which they have before their minds is how long the strength of a giant may be ruthlessly used. Should an illustration be desired it can be easily furnished. With a little more regard for the exigencies of the party opposing him, more than one President since General Grant might have been re-elected, an honour which has been coveted by every President since Washington. As Mr. Bryce points out at p. 550 of the second volume, "What a party wants is not a good President, but a good candidate"; and neither of the parties in the United States has uniformly succeeded in feeling the pulse of the public so as to be certain beforehand that a particular man will be the choice of the people. This is the problem which renders elections for the presidency both interesting and doubtful. The unknown quantity is the feeling of the majority for the moment. So long as all goes on smoothly, the majority folds its hands and feels satisfied with living in a world where everything is ordained for the best. The skill with which Americans can extricate themselves from a difficult position fascinated De Tocqueville as it has done Mr. Bryce, and it deserves all the admiration which it has received. But the old proverb of a stitch in time is one which, if Americans laid it to heart, would save them from squandering much vigour and from wasting much substance. The hundreds of millions which were added to the debt of the United States might, perhaps, have remained in the pockets the if the majority had decided a quarter of a century ago to amend the Constitution instead of entering upon a civil war. The amend ment was inevitable. The perpetuation of slavery was impossible, yet the mass of the American people shrank from admitting a fact of which no observer of the signs of the times could entertain any doubt. In general there is no novelty which the Americans refrain from trying; but when it is a question of amending their Constitution they are smitten with the fear of change. They are the most conservative people in the world, though, at the same time, the most democratic. This save the Union. Extreme cases require to the United States, and were forthwith placed exceptional treatment, and it is better that a person should lose a limb than life. The high-handed conduct of Lincoln was fully justified by results, and was gladly condoned by the majority. But Lincolns are rarer than General Jacksons, and the temptation to strain a law is sometimes more active than the determination to observe it to the letter. Herein lies a danger which Mr. Bryce indicates-one which may become serious, though he does not think it is to be dreaded in the present state of American | politics: "The larger a community becomes the less does it seem to respect an assembly, the more is it attracted by an individual man. A bold President who knew himself to be supported by a majority in the country might be tempted to override the law, and deprive the minority of the protection which the law affords it. He might be a tyrant, not against the masses, but with the masses." Mr. Bryce's work is divided into six parts: 1. The National Government; 2. The State Governments; 3. The Party System; 4. Public Opinion; 5. Illustrations and Reflections; 6. Social Institutions. Of all these, the second part, which is devoted to the State Governments, is the most novel and in many respects the most useful. The State Constitutions have been little studied, yet they are quite as well worth attention as the Federal Constitution, compared with which, as Mr. Bryce remarks, they are more pictorial, and tell us more about the actual methods and conduct of the government. on the roll." Some States are stricter than others in the admission of citizens, a residence of one year in the State and six months in the town and capacity for reading the Federal Constitution being conditions which a foreigner has to fulfil in Connecticut, and writing as well as reading being necessary in Massachusetts; indeed, a complete list of these conditions in each of the thirty-eight States would have filled a useful page in Mr. Bryce's work. The power of the States in regulating the franchise is absolute. They can exact a property qualification, and some have done so; they can admit women to vote on all questions, but none has yet ventured upon this radical change. We may add to the illustrations given by Mr. Bryce as to the action of the States in this matter that, till recently, the State of Kentucky preserved the old English custom of the hustings. No better illustration of the sovereign power of a State can be given than the following: "The power of a State over all communities within its limits is absolute. It may grant or refuse local government as it pleases. The population of the city of Providence is more Island, the population of New York city more than one-fifth that of the State of New York. But the State might in either case extinguish the municipality, and govern the city by a single State commissioner appointed for the purpose, or leave it without any government whatever. The city would have no right of complaint to the Federal President or Congress against such than one-third of that of the State of Rhode measure. materials concerning the history of as many theatre Massachusetts has lately remodelled Greek republics during the ages of Themis- Many persons who have visited the United are treated as potential cheats and liars, being paradox is put in a clear light by Mr. Bryce, nothing liable to duty, and then, in and if he had done nothing more he would have rendered a great service to the student of the American Commonwealth. But the conservatism of the American people is accompanisti by many things which are less to be commended. Reluctance to move at all is as blameworthy as going too fast. The scheme and the effect of the Con stitution of the United States are calculated to paralyze action. To quote Mr. Bryce's words: "The whole scheme of the American Constitution tends to put stability above activity, to sacrifice the productive energies of the bodies it creates to their power of resisting changes in the general fabric of the Government." Yet, when an emergency arises, the hardand-fast lines of the Constitution do not restrain the action of a President who feels himself certain of popular support. Such an opportunity was seized by General Jackson to work mischief and to display the qualities of a vulgar demagogue, and their solemn declarations, having their lug- journey from New York to San Francisco by way of Philadelphia and Chicago, they London and Edinburgh. Yet it is the govern- "droves of squalid men, who looked as if they by Lincoln to exhibit his patriotism and I had captured them, declared their allegiance British Parliament might remodel that of Bir mingham. Let an Englishman imagine a county council for Warwickshire suppressing the muni cipality of Birmingham, or a Frenchman imagine the department of the Rhone extinguishing the municipality of Lyons, with no possibility of intervention by the central authority, and he will measure the difference between the Americam States and the local government of Western Europe." Moreover, a citizen of a State is liable to punishment for treason against it, just as a citizen of the United States is liable to punishment for treason against the Constitution. One cannot think, as Mr. Bryce truly says, of treason against Warwickshire or the department of the Rhone. It may be added that most of the great questions about which England has been agitated during the last six years would have been the subject of State and not of Congressional legislation if they had arisen in America. Yet it must not be supposed that the legislation of any State is much better in quality than that which proceeds from Washington. The State legislators, especially in the West, are more disposed to pass new laws than capable of framing just laws. Their capacity is not on a par with their activity, and they enjoy an almost entire immunity from knowledge of their own ignorance. Hence it is that great pains are taken to put obstacles in the way of bills becoming law. Thus two chambers maintained in the hope that they may often disagree, and the governor in thirty-four out of the thirty-eight States has the power of veto. Mr. Bryce once asked the governor of a Western commonwealth how he got on with his legislature. His reply was, "I are won't say they are bad men, but the pleasantest sight of the year to me is when at the end of the session I see their coat-tails go round the street corner." It must be borne in mind that the citizens of each State have a check upon their representatives which they are not slow in exercising. This consists in calling a State convention and amending the Constitution; the process corresponds in some measure to the Swiss referendum. By frequent amendments the hands of the representatives are tied, and it is thus that government by the people and for the people is maintained in America. The most recent change is to substitute biennial for yearly sittings of the State legislatures, and nothing is more apparent from the study of the State Constitutions than the skill shown in making them subservient to the wants and will of the people. With regard to them, as to the Federal Constitution, it is perfectly true, as Mr. Bryce says, that the American people are so practical, and so capable of adjusting means to ends, that they keep the machinery of government in operation under conditions which might appear hopeless. Having enlarged upon the part of Mr. Bryce's work which is at once the most original and instructive, we must limit our remarks as to the other parts. What distinguishes it from other works of the kind, with the exception of De Tocqueville's, is not only the breadth of view and thorough grasp of the subject, the wide field from which analogies are gleaned, and the masterly way in which all topics are discussed, but also the many passages from actual observation which light up the text, and give, so to speak, a readableness to the chapters which even De Tocqueville failed to impart. Out of those which might be cited in confirmation of this, the following, showing the House of Representatives at work in Washington, may serve as a fair sample : "The room in which the House meets is in the south wing of the Capitol, the Senate and the Supreme Court being lodged in the north wing. It is more than thrice as large as the English House of Commons, with a floor about equal in area to that of Westminster Hall, 139 ft. long by 93 ft. wide and 36 ft. high. Light is admitted through the ceiling. There are on all sides deep galleries running backwards over the lobbies, and capable of holding two thousand five hundred persons. The proportions are so good that it is not till you observe how small a man looks at the farther end, and how faint ordinary voices sound, that you realize its vast size. The seats are arranged in curved concentric rows looking towards the Speaker, whose handsome marble chair is placed on a raised marble platform projecting slightly forward into the room, the clerks and the mace below in front of him, in front of the clerks the official stenographers, to the right the seat of the serjeant-at-arms. Each member has a revolving arm-chair, with a roomy desk in front of it, where he writes and keeps his papers. Behind these chairs runs a railing, and behind the railing is an open space into which strangers may be brought, where sofas stand against the wall, and where smoking is practised, even by strangers, though the rules forbid it. When you enter, your first impression is of noise and turmoil, a noise like that of short sharp waves in a Highland loch, fretting under a squall against a rocky shore. The raising and dropping of desk lids, the scratching of pens, the clapping of hands to call the pages, keen little boys who race along the gangways, the pattering of many feet, the hum of talking on the floor and in the galleries, make up a din over which the Speaker with the sharp taps of his hammer, or the orators straining shrill throats, find it hard to make themselves audible. I never heard American voices sound so sharp or disagreeable as they do here. Nor is it only the noise that gives the impression of disorder. Often three or four members are on their feet at once, each shouting to catch the Speaker's attention. Others, tired of sitting still, rise to stretch them selves, while the Western visitor, long, lank, and imperturbable, leans his arms on the railing, chewing his cigar, and surveys the scene with little reverence. Less favourable conditions for oratory cannot be imagined, and one is not surprised to be told that debate was more animated and practical in the smaller room which the House formerly occupied. Not only is the present room so big that only a powerful and well-trained voice can fill it, but the desks and chairs make a speaker feel as if he were addressing furniture rather than men, while of the members few seem to listen to the speeches." In reading the foregoing account of the House of Representatives we feel that the drawback to that house is one which applies to Mr. Bryce's book, both being rather larger than they need be. The greater part of the third volume would have formed an excellent work by itself; the last five chapters are than the rest. There is much in the one enout of place, as well as far more sketchy titled "The Pleasantness of American Life" which we regard as misleading, despite the qualifications inserted in the succeeding one on "The Uniformity of American Life." If Mr. Bryce had ever kept house in the United States he would understand why so many Americans prefer to live in Europe; and the tenement houses in which thousands of the poorer classes live in New York are as miserable places of abode as any wherein the working classes are housed in London. Philadelphia is an exception, the rule there being for the working man to dwell in his own small house. To those who read the following two sentences the reality will seem to be in direct contrast with the picture :"The fog and soot-flakes of an English town, as well as its squalor, are wanting; you are in a new world, and a world which knows the sun. not to feel warmed, cheered, inof such material well It is impossible sense vigorated by the being all around one, impossible not to be infected by the buoyancy and hopefulness of the people." Equally impossible is it to escape an attack of malaria or a genuine American catarrh, either malady being one which renders life a burden, and from which the dwellers amidst English fog and soot-flakes are free. In the Pacific States earthquakes vary the monotony of existence and shorten it; in the Southern States the same result is produced at intervals by yellow fever; in the Western and Eastern States the frail tenure of life is exemplified when a fills the cemeteries. The average length of human life is not greater in America than in England, and though America, is a better field than England for producing millionaires, it is not a healthier or pleasanter land to live in. blizzard or a tornado Mr. Bryce can write excellent English, and this renders it the more strange that he should have disfigured many of his pages with Americanisms. The following are a few out of the many words and phrases which, when Mr. Bryce corrects his work for another edition, will doubtless be changed by him for the better: "the party going solid"; "went "newspaper men"; "anyhow "; back on their previous action"; "run and runs," when standing for office is intended; "squarethe assailant," this being vulgar English; "gubernatorial nomination"; "former affiliations"; "made a poor show"; "they are not the class most inclined anyhow to come to the front"; "nominated to be run"; "a resolution generally sustained in the shape it was received "; "take the floor together." It is neither American nor English to write : "Addington, Perceval, Lord Goderich are no bigger than Tyler or Filmore, which is saying little enough." At p. 65 of the first volume Mr. Bryce says that it has been enacted by the Act of 1886 "that on the death of a President the Secretary of State shall succeed "- when he ought to have written, "On the death of a President who has been Vice-President, or in the event of the Vice-President's death as well as that of the President, the Secretary of State shall succeed," the Act being intended to provide for the deaths, firstly of the President and secondly of his constitutional successor the Vice-President. At p. 483 of the same volume the phrase "an indestructible union of indestructible States" should run "an indissoluble union of indestructible States." Mr. Bryce's work is so good as a whole that we hope he will not begrudge the pains which, if duly taken, will raise it to the rank of an English classic. The History of Standon: Parish, Manour, and Church, with Two Hundred Years of Registers. By Edward Salt, Rector of Standon. (Birmingham, Cornish Brothers.) IT is impossible to praise this history of Standon. The compiler has obviously had much pleasure in his work, and has tried to do his best; but it is clear that his acquaintance with topographical literature is small, and that he has not made himself familiar with what is now required of a local historian. Fifty or even five-and-twenty years ago the volume would have been hailed as an important contribution to Staffordshire history; but in this as in other things there has been an advance of late years. The habit of needless quotation may be a sign of vanity or a note of humility. We believe that in Mr. Salt's case it is the latter; but although the two or three quotations from the Bishop of Chester (now of Oxford) may possibly not be out of place, most of the excerpts from printed books might be omitted with advantage. The account of the origin of villages and what is said about the feudal system is all matter out of place. We need not call in question Mr. Salt's accuracy; but whether his remarks on these matters be good or bad, they should not be intruded into the annals of a rural parish. The history of feudalism and the rise of our towns and villages is one thing and the history of Standon another. If feudalism, the village community, manors in their general relations to national growth, &c., ought to be discussed in the case of Standon, the same thing should be repeated in every town and village history that appears. If this were done we should have a mass of repetition forced on us that it is painful to contemplate. The title-page has misled us. It may be our own fault, but when we read there that the book contained "two hundred years of registers," we concluded that for that period the Standon parish registers were given in full. We regret to say that this was a mistake. What is given is a long series of extracts, not the whole register. These pickings occupy nearly a hundred pages, and will be, we do not doubt, of some use to the genealogist; but it can never be too often or too strongly insisted on that what students require is the whole, not a part. The most skilled person alive cannot tell, when he has one of our old registers before him, what entries are chaff and what good grain. They serve for other purposes besides making pedigrees. Extracts are of no use to the statistician who wishes to calculate the growth of population. They are of little service to those who from the fluctuations of spelling would ascertain how pronunciation has altered and what were the powers of consonants and vowels at this or that time. Still less can these selected samples be utilized for any of the various inquiries which suggest themselves as to the origin and variations of surnames, and the ever-changing fashions regarding the names given to children in baptism. To the genealogist they are only in a small measure helpful. He knows of what he sees, but can never tell what there is behind among the mass of facts not thought worthy of printer's ink. The English race is spreading all over the world, and it is an instinct with all of them, peasants as well as those of what Anthony Wood called "gentilitial" families, to long to know what became of their forefathers. In selections it is commonly the peasants who are left out; yet from them sprang the men to whom the world owes the present progress in America, Australia, New Zealand, and every other point on the globe where the British flag flutters. Mr. Salt has supplied a series of extracts from the court rolls of the manor which are not without interest. The originals of the older ones are, of course, in Latin; he presents them in a translated form. As far as we can judge without seeing the originals his rendering is accurate. In 1444-1445 a number of presentments are recorded against persons who neglected to keep their buildings in proper repair. Thus, "William Bysshopp allows his grange to be badly roofed, and the said grange to be without a door, and the east end thereof to be almost fallen down." It would be most interesting to know what was the standing in the manor of this person and his companions who were presented at the same time. They were not tenants at will, for had they been so the that in a certain sense these courts were what we should now call political bodiesauthorities that acted not in the interest of the lord and his tenants only, but also for the general good of society. In 1620 the plague of wandering beggars, which had been such a trouble and a terror in the reign of Elizabeth, had not abated. The entry is in English. The jury lay it in pain on all persons inhabiting within the manor "that they nor any of them, from after the publishinge of this paine, do harbour or lodge any comon begger, rogue, or other wanderinge person in his or their howses or barnes above the space of one night, under the paine to forfeite for everie tyme soe harboringe vjd." The cruel legislation of the Tudor period with regard to outcasts had, it is generally understood, fallen into disuse in the reign of James. As far as we remember, the beggar, except in a few large towns, ceased to be a grave cause of alarm after the passing of the poor law. There were two causes for this, and we must not permit that piece of legislation to carry off all the merit when only a certain portion is its due. We hear little or nothing of the plague of pauperism until after the change in our religious institutions and convictions had taken place. The events tallied in point of time; but had the religious houses continued to flourish, the change that was taking place in methods of culture, which legislation could not hinder, must have thrown many men out of work. That the fall of the monasteriesincreased the evil must, of course, be admitted; but it was by no means so cruel a blow to the poor as was the confiscation of the guild property which followed in due course. Monasteries were, after all, but thinly scattered; guilds probably existed in every parish in the country. The rule against taking in lodgers seems to have been permanent. More than a century after this (1725) the manor court made an order that "any one that lodges any traviling people above one night and away" should pay half-a-crown. There is one ancient bell remaining at Standon. The inscription is a common one: "Sancta Maria ora pro nobis." Mr. Salt says nothing of its date-it is probably not earlier than the middle of the fifteenth century; before that time it was the more common practice to contract the latter words into "o.p.n." Mr. Salt says that there is preserved in the rectory a priest's bell, by which he means, we imagine, what our forefathers called a sanctus bell or sacring bell. He does not seem to be clear whether it is medieval or not. If a true sanctus bell, it must be earlier than the reign of Elizabeth, or else an importation from abroad, as the two uses for which these handbells were required-ringing at the elevation of the host during mass, and ringing when the machinery of the court would not have been | sacrament was carried to the sick-were not needed to correct their carelessness. Were they copyholders of the manor or free tenants? Copyholders we assume, and believe that they were corrected for fear that the lord's interest should suffer; but we are by no means certain of this. We have met with cases in which it is almost certain jurisdiction of this kind was exercised over freeholds. If it could be established that the manor courts compelled freeholders to keep their homesteads in order, it would show recognized by the reformed liturgy. It seems there is an inscription on it which has not as yet been made out. We trust it may be. There are few examples of English sanctus bells remaining. Students of field-names should not fail to consult the lists Mr. Salt has given. As is always the case, the greater number are uninteresting and seem modern; a few, however, are noteworthy. The Life and Times of Girolamo Savonarola. By Prof. Pasquale Villari. Translated by Linda Villari. 2 vols. (Fisher Unwin.) SIGNOR VILLARI's 'Life of Savonarola' was first published at Florence in 1859, and was translated into English in 1863. It is a remarkable testimony alike to the interest in the subject and to the excellence of the original work, that after so long an interval a new edition should be deemed worthy of a fresh translation, and should appear to the English reader in the form of two handsome volumes adorned with illustrations. This fact alone shows that the book has taken a firm hold of the popular mind in England, and that Signor Villari's presentation of the life and character of Savonarola has won its way to general acceptance. This is a great deal to say of a biography written thirty years ago, especially when we remember that during these thirty years there has been an incessant flow of books dealing with the same period, and that English literature has been almost unduly engrossed with the Italian Renaissance and its heroes. unre It was remarked some years ago by a German critic that Signor Villari's standard of judgment in moral and religious matters was too exclusively English. This is true of many Italian writers; in fact the ideen-kreis of a cultivated Italian very much resembles that of an Englishman. It is not without significance that Signor Villari's new edition is dedicated to Mr. Gladstone; for England has accepted Signor Villari's Savonarola as the true one more servedly than has Italy or Germany. German writers have expressed critical doubts; Italian writers have felt historical doubts; but Englishmen have recognized in Signor Villari's conception of Savonarola a man who corresponded to their idea of a highsouled moral and religious reformer. Signor Villari's Savonarola is practically the same as was embodied by George Eliot in 'Romola'; and many readers of the novel turned to the biography and found their impression confirmed. Moreover, Englishmen from their own traditions sympathized with the man who tried to breathe new life into an old system, who carried on religious and political reforms side by side, and who was inspired by a lofty moral aim which he had the force to make immediately influential. Further, Savonarola's downfall was made to emphasize a point which Englishmen always wish to emphasizethat a reformation of the Church was impossible without a revolt against the Papacy. When to these advantages in the mode of presentation are added the author's learning, research, unfailing enthusiasm restrained by scholarly feeling, and an easy style, we have the qualities of a book which is not likely to be forgotten. The question, however, raised by a new edition of a standard book is the amount of new matter which it contains. Signor Villari says in his preface that he recognizes the amount of new material which recent researches have brought to the light, and he adds: "Were I now studying Savonarola's life for the first time, my work would be undoubtedly different in kind, although my views as to the friar's character and historic value have remained unchanged." This statement accurately shows the amount of |