20 MAY 1899, Page 25

Andrew Melville. By William Morison. (Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. ls.

6d.)—Andrew Melville certainly deserved the place that has been found for him in the "Famous Scots Series." No sturdier protester for liberty of conscience—his own liberty, it must be understood, for the general doctrine had not as yet been con- ceived of—ever lived. Faults doubtless he had, but he shows up well by the side of the miserable James. James was honest so far that he really believed in his own maxim, "No Bishop, no King" ; but so far as real religion means the strengthening of the sense of duty, he was an intolerable hypocrite. This volume makes some- what sad reading. It is painful to see such men as Andrew Melville and his nephew James, a less powerful but more amiable character, in the hands of such a graceless tyrant as James ; bdt the story is well told, and it takes one through a somewhat obscure period, with which it is well to be acquainted. No better guide could be found than Mr. Morison.