Art. 4.-THE ELIZABETHAN REFORMATION. 1. England und die katholische Kirche unter Elisabeth und den Stuarts. Von Arnold Oskar Meyer. Erster Band: England und die katholische Kirche unter Elisabeth. (Bibliothek des Kgl. Preuss. Histor. Instituts in Rom.) Rome: Loescher, 1911. 2. The Reconstruction of the English Church. By Roland G. Usher. Two vols. New York: Appleton, 1910. 3. The Political History of England. Edited by Rev. W. Hunt and Reginald L. Poole. Vol. VI: From the Accession of Edward VI to the death of Elizabeth. By Prof. A. F. Pollard. London: Longmans, 1910. 4. The Elizabethan Clergy and the Settlement of Religion, 1558-1564. By Henry Gee. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1898. 5. History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction. By R. W. Dixon. Vols v, VI. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902. 6. The Cambridge Modern History. Vol. II: The Reformation; Chap. xvi: The Anglican Settlement and the Scottish Reformation. By F. W. Maitland. Cambridge University Press, 1903. 7. A History of the English Church. Edited by the Very Rev. W. R. Stephens and the Rev. W. Hunt. Vol. v: The English Church in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I. By the Rev. W. H. Frere. London: Macmillan, 1904. 8. A History of England. Edited by C. W. Oman. Vol. IV: England under the Tudors. By Arthur D. Innes. London: Methuen, 1905. 9. The Elizabethan Religious Settlement; a study of contemporary Documents. By Henry Norbert Birt, O.S.B. London: Bell, 1907. 10. Lollardy and the Reformation in England. By James Gairdner. Three vols. London: Macmillan, 1908-1911. WHAT seemed at first sight the curious choice of Lord Acton in asking F. W. Maitland to write the chapter upon 'The Anglican Settlement and the Scottish Reformation' was fully justified, as indeed the choice of Maitland for any work needing learning and legal insight would certainly have been. The style, largely allusive and more intricately humorous than in his earlier writings, remains something of a drawback, and even the enlarged limits of the elastic thirty pages proved too compressed. But the insistence upon the entry of Scotland into the history of Europe'-even if it had been anticipated by Collier-was one of the simple strokes of genius we had learnt to expect from Maitland; and the emphasis laid upon the Scottish Reformation, with its special growth of Presbyterianism, makes the ecclesiastical politics of England clearer. France developed the Synod, Scotland the 'concentric system of courts'; it remained for Cartwright at Cambridge to raise the anti-episcopalian cry of 'parity of ministers.' The sketch of Elizabeth's character, and of the wayward tendencies that made her policy, the tracing-out of the ecclesiastical crises that so quickly succeeded each other-all this is done with the skill of a master who knows that something may be added by future writers, but that nothing should be left for them to correct. It would be difficult to find a better balanced or better proportioned account of the reign in its many aspects than that given by Mr Innes. His sketches of characters are excellent; for instance, Burleigh, ‘a master of compromise, of balance; a devotee of moderation, of the via media,' with an 'ideal for England' of 'prosperous respectability'; 'the most industrious of men, a supremely shrewd judge of character and motive'; 'a consistent opportunist, using without scruple all currently admissible tools, never missing the chance of the half loaf.' Or again, that of Elizabeth's great rival, Philip II-'a morbid influence, not a devouring pestilence. A perfectly sombre bigot; an example of what the Greeks would have called üßpis of a very exceptional kind, who believed devoutly in himself as the instrument chosen by the Saints for the overthrow of heretics.' The characters stand out in a narrative which is always clear, although matters political and social are more largely dealt with than religious and ecclesiastical. Later and even fuller, especially for ecclesiastical matters, is the excellent history of the reign by Prof. Pollard, who comes to the task with an ample control of the sources. In his clear and interesting chapter on 'Church and State' he reminds us that 'there was loss and gain in a union which necessarily partook of the nature of a compromise. . . . Elizabeth had to construct out of diverse materials a system which, while wonderfully lasting and serviceable, never corresponded fully with the ideal design. Her work is sometimes described in confusing terms, which seem to imply that she and her father established, started, or even founded the Church of England. But, in truth, the Tudors founded neither catholicism nor protestantism; and they only modified the outward fabric of ecclesiastical organisation by substituting the monarchy for the papacy. Nevertheless they exerted a predominant influence in determining how much catholicism and how much protestantism should be embodied in the Anglican church; ... and their peculiar merit in this respect consists in the skill with which they divined a public opinion half formed and unexpressed. It will, however, always be a matter of controversy whether the nation accepted Elizabeth's settlement because it embodied truth or because the government made it.' He When we come to writers more strictly ecclesiastical, the first to notice is the late Mr Dixon. He has not always had full justice done him by the general public, although critics like Dr Pocock and Dr Creighton praised his work. His style was ornate, and approached the epical; humour and epigram enlivened it but did not banish deep feeling and sympathetic tenderness. only lived to bring his narrative down to the critical year 1570, and the two volumes given to Elizabeth's reign appeared after his death. They have all the characteristics of the earlier volumes-knowledge, many-sided interests, fairness and a keen eye for character. His Anglican standpoint, sometimes urged against him, affects neither his accuracy nor his justice. Views which he reached by way of argument, or opinions which he knew to admit of argument, are stated so as to be easily distinguished from the results of historical research. Dr Frere's volume in the History of the English Church,' edited by the late Dr Stephens and Dr Hunt, includes the reign of James I with that of Elizabeth; and this is perhaps the most convenient arrangement for ecclesiastical matters. The reign of James saw the completion of a long series of labours, liturgical and biblical, which had been carried on but not ended under ElizaVol. 216.-No. 430. G |