27 JANUARY 1900, Page 13

The Primacy of England. By Samuel F. Hulton. (Blackwell, Oxford.

6s.)—Mr. Hulton guides us through a somewhat intricate by-way of English ecclesiastical history,—the relations of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Archbishop of York. The first incident which he relates at length is the triumph of Lanfranc ov'er Thomas of Bayeux. This was Act 1 ; Act 2 was when the See of Canterbury was kept vacant for five years by William Rufus, giving the Northern Primate an opportunity of asserting himself, which he used to the uttermost. Thomas died in 1100, after a rule of thirty years, and under his successor things reverted to their former position. With the accession of Thurston (1114) began a struggle which lasted till the death of Thomas Becket. There was a side-issue in the relation of the

Archbishop to the Bishops of Durham, Prince Bishops who _ . resented subjection. There is an amusing story of Louis de Beaumont (consecrated to Durham in 1318), who, " though chaste, was unlearned." He was, or pretended to be, unable to read the word " metropolitical " in his profession of obedience, and passed it over :—" Diu anhelans, dixit in Gallic° Seyt pur dite.'" We cannot follow the story any farther. It will be found curious and interesting.