John Howe. By R. F. Horton, M.A., (Methuen.)—This volume belongs
to the series of "Leaders of Religion," appearing under the editorship of the Rev. H. C. Beeching. Howe well deserves the title of "leader." He was an admirable specimen of Noncon- formity, more typical than Richard Baxter, and of an attractive personality, which is well presented to us by the sympathetic pen of Mr. Horton. The great event of his life was his tenure for some time (1656-1659) of the office of chaplain to the Lord Pro- tector. It seems not to have been altogether to his liking. The world was too prominent in the Protector's Court to please the man's devout spirit. If we may judge from the fact that he was not called to be present at Cromwell's death-bed he was not alto- gether a persona grata. He was among the two thousand ejected on St. Bart. olomew's Day, 1662. We may join with his biographer in deploring it, without being able to see how it could have been avoided. To recognise Presbyterian orders would have been to change eventually the constitution of the Church of England, and to incur, it is quite conceivable, a loss greater than the gain to be made by retaining the two thousand. Howe was of a spirit more widely tolerant than was often to be found in those days, but his tolerance stopped short of Romanism. Mr. Horton makes the curious mistake of saying that the Duke of Buckingham was a natural son of Charles II.
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