The Champions of the Crown. By Lucy Sealy. (Methuen and
Co. 7s. 84. net.)—By this title Miss Sealy designates ten soldiers who fought on the side of King Charles against the Parliament, One might question the propriety of the phrase. They were champions, not of "the Crown," as we have agreed to understand it, but of an absolute rule which it was the ambition of the Stuarts to set up. Anyhow, it 'indicates sufficiently well the spirit in which the book is written. Miss Sealy is the most convinced of Royalists. She would have us believe that when the King first interfered in Scottish ecclesiastical affairs, it was with a single- minded desire to restore Church property to its lawful owners. Does she not know that he always regarded the restoration of episcopacy as the main thing to be desired ? She would have us believe that the outburst of popular feeling which followed when Land showed the King's real purpose was "engineered." Surely this is a strange misreading of history. But when allowance is made for this prepossession, we have a reasonable treatment of the subject. Perhaps "Prince Rupert" is the best of the eight chapters. His merits and demerits as a leader are well estimated. He learnt nothing, thinking that he could deal with tried-soldiers as he had done with raw levies.
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