Out Island Church. By Douglas Macleane, M.A. (G. Allen and
Sons. 2s. 6d. net.)—The "Sketches from the History of English Church and State" are full of life and spirit, but we find some of the scenes and figures not a little strange. Doubt- less our point of view is somewhat remote from Mr. Maeleane's. Whit he denounces as " Whiggery, Erastianism, and Rationalism" are not so odious to us. "A bourgeois parliamentary monarchy" seems preferable at its worst—and this worst we have not to look far to find—to kinship after the pattern of the First James and the First Charles. It is idle to go over the much-disputed questions again,' but as Mr. Macleane takes especial pains to emphasise King Charles's pure and unwavering devotion to the Church of England, we would direct his attention to the offer made by this devoted champion to establish Presbyterianism for at least a limited period. Possibly he did not intend to keep his promise—that was a way he had—but this defence creates an awkward dilemma.
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