SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading are notice such Books of the week as have not bus reserved for review in other forms.] The Preces Privatae of Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester. Translated, with an Introduction and Notes, by F. E. Brightman, M.A. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Brightman gives an account of the MSS. of the Preces (one of them was discovered in a bookseller's shop twenty years ago) and of the editions ; he then analyses very carefully and minutely the devotions themselves. Bishop Andrewes had a mind so saturated with learning, theological, in the first place, but also secular, that its activities resulted in compilation and composition rather than in origina- tion. Everything that he says can be traced to its source. This, of course, is a commendation to devotions; those who use them do not want to be surprised. At the same time, he left nothing, we may say, untouched. No one who follows his schemes should miss any detail of self-examination. There is an element of what is personal to the writer in the Preces—they are, as Mr. Brightman says, autobiographical—but it should not be difficult to adapt these to individual circumstances. So, when Andrewes recalls his past work, speaks of his own shortcomings, and prays for a blessing on those to whom he has ministered, the application is obvious. It is a remarkable fact that the preces applicable to Holy Communion are very brief,—they occupy four pages only out of between two and three hundred. The present editor comments on the fact, and seeks to account for it. With perhaps some reservation as to his refer- ence to "interpolated prayers from other rites," we have no quarrel with what he says on this subject. It does, no doubt' suggest a question as to the frequency of the Bishop's Com- munion. If he had been used to a daily Celebration, would not the whole book have been cast in a different form ? Is there any evidence on this subject ? Mr. Brightman has, we see, carefully preserved the formal arrangement of the Devotions,—the inden- tation, for instance, brackets, &c.
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