20 MARCH 1880, Page 24

The Hidory of the Church of England: Pre-Reformation Period. By

the Rev. T. P. Boultbee. (Hodder and Stonghton.)—Mr. Boult- bee has not yet had occasion to deal with the burning questions of the day, but he gives the best promise of candour and discretion. Though it would not be easy to define the place which his work is- designed to fill, being, as it is, too long for a summary and too short for a history, yet it will not be otherwise than welcome to students of this subject. It gives a fair and discriminating account of the main currents of thought in the Church since its first founda- tion in England, and of the chief events of its annals. Authorities,- too, seem to have been carefully studied. Probably the book owes - its origin to lectures which the writer has had occasion to deliver. We may, anyhow, congratulate the students of the college over which Mr. Boultbee presides on the character of the instruction which they derive from it. Especially noteworthy and valuable is the account of the character and labours of Wickliff, with its vindication of this great man's motives of action and of his conduct.