SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
WOW in This column does not neessrarily procesis subserseat revisit.) Life of John Edward Nassau Molesworth, D.D. By his Youngest Son, Sir Guilford Lindsey Molesworth, K.C.I.E. (Longman and Co. 4s. 6d. net.)—Dr. Molesworth was vicar of Rochdale from 1840 to 1877, and during that period he performed for Lancashire the same kind of service in promoting a revival of Churchmanship as his contemporary, Dr. Hook, the vicar of Leeds, performed for the neighbouring county. They were men of much the same type, and of a type that is peculiarly English. To strong character and a fund of common-sense and a determination to get things done they added a logical habit of mind which was apt to land them in controversy; at the same time, they never forgot that if they were Churchmen they were also English gentlemen. Dr. Molesworth is to-day the less known of the two, cares quia vale sacro. Now his youngest son, Sir Guilford Molesworth, has put together a brief memoir of his father, stirred to this act of filial piety by the appearance of Mr. G. M. Trevelyan's Life of John Bright, between whom and the vicar of Rochdale there were passages of arms about church rates and other local matters. John Bright lived to be so popular and venerable a figure that, as in the case of other great orators, we are ready to forget that he ever sowed any wild oats. But as his recent biographer, in whitewashing his own hero, has somewhat besmirched his opponent, that opponent's son was amply justified in restating the case, and in our judgment he is entitled to a verdict. But apart from these controversial episodes, the memoir is interesting as an example of how much ':an be accomplished by a single pioneer, who has the insight to see what is required and the energy to carry out his schemes.
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