Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome. By H. M• and
M. A. R. T. (A. and C. Black.)—This is the first of an
intended series in four parts. It treats of "The Christian Monuments of Rome," the second will be devoted to " The Liturgy in Rome," the third and fourth (in one volume) to " Monasticism in Rome " and " Ecclesiastical Rome." The authors do not appear to be aware of Professor Baldwin Brown's learned study entitled " From Schein to Cathedral."
Professor Brown contends, it will be remembered, with much
force, that the earliest locality for Christian worship, after, of course, the purely domestic gathering, was in the club-houses,
so to speak, of various crafts. The first three chapters are
given to the archmology of the subject. Then the churches of Rome are described, St. Peter's taking the first place, and being followed, first by an account of the other basilicas, and
next by the parish churches and chapels. The twenty-five years of St. Peter's episcopate is left as a " pious opinion ; " his
martyrdom in Rome is accepted, as it probably should be, as a
fact. (It is curious that Lanciani is not cited as an authority. Is he not considered to be orthodox ? Yet on the question of
St. Peter's presence in Rome he goes much beyond our authors.) The second part of the volume is devoted to the Catacombs. It will be found a most useful practical guide by the visitor to Rome, though as a book of reference it leaves something to be desired.
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