The English Liturgies of 1549 and 1661. By J. E.
Field. (S.P.C.K. 12s. 6d.)—In this scholarly and interesting work Mr. Field has compared the Communion Services in the First Prayer Book of 1549 and in the Restoration Prayer Book of 1661 with each other and with the ancient liturgies. He discusses the subject in great detail, and concludes that "it may reasonably be questioned whether either one of the two is distinctly to be preferred to the other" by those who would revert to primitive Catholic usage. The substance of the two English liturgies, he thinks, remains essentially the same. The First Prayer Book, translated and adapted from the Use of Sarum, "contains nothing in which those who used it would find any violent break with the general eucharistic teaching of the Latin rite which they had used previously, though they would find some novelties and several omissions." This is, of course, a highly contro- versial question, but Mr. Field's careful examination of the texts will be of value to all liturgical students.
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