A Benedictine of the Sixteenth Century (Blosius). By Georges de
Blois. Translated by Lady Levet. (Burns and Oates.)—This is the history of one of those saintly men, earnest and devout, yet humble and self-sacrificing, to whom the Church of Rome may point with justifiable pride and affection, as illustrating the results of her monastic system, when developed under the direction of truly sincere and judicious minds. The times in which Louis de Blois lived were dark and troublous ; great abuses had, as his biographer candidly admits, crept into the Church ; and the Reformers were active and successful, drawing away multitudes from the Roman obedience. The Abbot of Liessies was as fervent in his denunciations of " heresy " as other ecclesiastics of that day, and as earnest in warning the faithful against the errors of the time. But lie was no bigot, and in his dealings with Protestants he frequently exhibited a spirit of forbearance and charity too rarely found in the leaders of either party in the great controversy. Ile sought to win back deserters rather by good example than by hard words. His good-sense was as conspicuous 1113 his piety, and his well-timed concessions to the weaker brethren of his order, while they might subject him to the reproach of fanatics, could not fail to command respect and admiration from men of sounder judgment. His prayers and exhortations are conceived in the spirit of simple piety which is common to good men in every Christian communion, and may be read with profit even by those who have no sympathy with the good Abbot's distinctive opinions. The translator occasionally fails in respect of facility of expression, and has some- times adhered too closely to the idiom of the original ; but this defect is less apparent as the work advances, and good judgment has been shown in leaving much of the French or Latin as it stands. A certain amount of quaintness in both gives a piquancy to the language which would be lost in an ordinary translation. We can recommend the history of Louis de Blois as a valuable addition to the very small stock which we possess of really profitable religious biography.
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