13 JULY 1912, Page 24

THE PRAYER-BOOK DICTIONARY.* Tins is an age of encyclopaedic dictionaries.

It is not without reason, therefore, that the editors of the Prayer- Book Dictionary have been encouraged to supply in respect of the Book of Common Prayer, with the aid of nearly two hundred expert contributors, a much-needed treasury of information as full and convenient in its own sphere as students have within reach for the Bible and other departments of knowledge. They rightiy claim for their work that it "covers the whole ground of the history and contents of the Prayer-Book." We may particularly call attention to its articles on that history and to those on the Sacraments, the Creeds, Articles of Religion, and the Canons, but especially to Mr. Harford's own elaborate articles on the Ornaments Rubric (to which a reference should have been given under an added title of Vestments), and on Ritual and Ritual Law, with the Tables of the Law of Ornaments, ritual suits and ritual decisions. The work, the only one of its kind, will be an indispensable adjunct to the libraries of olergy and laity and of candidates for Holy Orders.