History of the Christian Church. By James Craigie Robertson, M.A.
Vol. M. A.D. 1122-1303. (Murray.)—It seems unfair to dispose of these 630 solid pages of learning in as many letters, but what are we to say of such a volume ? The absence of striking merit, such as that
which stamps a book at once for a classic, and which led the friends of a former historian to describe him in their letters as The Gibbon, can hardly be made a complaint against a writer. Canon Robertson's object, no doubt, is to make his work useful. It is evident that he has expended great labour on the task. His notes swarm with authorities which seem to have been read as well as cited. And he enters thoroughly, if not warmly, into a great many questions of the highest historical value, and describes, if he does not depict, scenes of enduring interest. Yet the whole effect of the book is rather ponderous. It is not to be read through lightly or unadvisedly. It ought to be chewed and digested, but this ia only to be done by patient appetites and good digestions.
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