CURRENT LITERATURE
THE PASSING OF THE STEWARTS By Agnes Mure Mackenzie
Dr. Mackenzie's able sketch of Scot- tish history from the Covenant to Culloden (Maclehose, I2S. 6d.) will have a novelty for English readers in that the author's freedom from the usual Presbyterian bias enables her to be fair to all parties. She rightly blames the tactless Charles for imposing the new prayer-book on the Scottish Church, but she also points out that the opposition to it was worked up by a fanatical minority, especially in Edin- burgh and the south-west. The bitter intolerance of this minority, far exceeding anything known in England; shocked Cromwell and his generals and accounted for the severity shown to them when they rebelled after the Restoration. The author's account of the Revolution settlement is equally sound. If the Bishops had not felt bound by their oaths of loyalty to James II they might well have gained William's favour and thus been spared the persecution that followed. Whether the Episcopalians numbered two-thirds of the nation is uncertain ; it would be safer to say that they were in the majority, except in Lanark, Ayrshire and Galloway. The Jacobite rebellions, however, sealed their fate.
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