The Ancestor. (A. Constable and Co. 5s. net.)—This, the twelfth,
is to be the last number of The Ancestor in its present form. We are promised, however, a revival of the publication about a year hence, when it will take the form of an annual volume. It would be a great pity if so valuable a contribution to the study of history, especially on its genealogical side, were to be wholly intermitted. Possibly, if the remark may be allowed, the manifestations of the odium genealogicum, a passion as fierce as any of its kindred, will be mitigated when intervals of twelve instead of three months have to be passed. The most generally interesting article that we have found in the volume now before us is that entitled " Some Passive Resisters of 1612." Some foreign settlers in Norwich were permitted to use certain buildings for worship, " which conformed as much as possible to that of the Established Church." They paid rates for the support of their own ministers, and also for the Anglican clergy. After a while it occurred to some of them that the double burden might be avoided. Why should they not conform altogether ? The Bishop was actually invoked to hinder them from doing this. As the minister who would then have been "left in the cold" was certainly not episcopally ordained, the situation is a curious one. A Bishop does his best to preserve the status of a minister whom he ought logically to have disallowed. What would Laud have said and done ? The series of " Our Oldest Families" is continued by a paper on " The Fitzwilliams." There are some admirable illustrations from an ancient MS. of "Costume at the End of the Middle Ages."
Previous page
