20 NOVEMBER 1869, Page 22

The Vestments of the Church: an Illustrated Lecture. By the

Rev. W. B. Marriott., M.A. (Rivingtons.)—Mr. Marriott gives in this lecture some specimens of the copious knowledge which he has collected in his elaborate work on "Christian Vestments." That work we noticed some little time ago in these columns. It must have left, we should think, on the minds of its readers a most favourable impression both of the learning and of the candour of its author. Those who have not inclina- tion or leisure for the study of the larger work will find here some very interesting information, and get a good notion of the subject. There are many persons who will find a very reasonable satisfaction in being assured by Mr. Marriott that to go back to some of the earliest repre- sentations of ecclesiastical personages, "an English clergyman in his surplice or stole might have sat as the model from which the figure was to be drawn." In fact, the surplice is the toga, and the stole represents the stripe which, as it was broad or narrow, distinguished senatorial and equestrian rank.