THERE is a tendency to rem,ember Cardinal Gasquet only as
the complement to Coulton, and this book's merit is to recall that Gas- quet's life was important in many different ways. From his letters and diaries, and from his unfinished biography, we can learn much of the ecclesiastical excitements of his time ; in certain matters, such as the growth of Downside, the reorganisation of the English Benedictine Congregation, .and the establishment of the British Legation to the Holy See, Gasquet's achievements were considerable; his ability to correct Papal misunderstanding of English affairs, already apparent during the curious discussions on the Anglican Orders, was most important during the 1914 war, when German propa- ganda had misled the Vatican in many ways.
Sir Shane Leslie has provided an account of certain periods in this busy career, relying to a great extent on quotations. Thera are certain passages in the letters quoted which are puzzling and which should have been explained. It is always annoying to read only extracts from an interesting correspon- dence and tantalising not to find the replies to letters sent, but the author tells us that he has used only a tithe of the Cardinal's papers and we must hope for a more complete treatment of this subject. D. J.
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