3 FEBRUARY 1917, Page 21

The Monks of Westminster, By Archdeacon E. H. Pearce. (Cam-

bridge University Press. 10s. net.)—This scholarly book is a register of the monks from Edward the Confessor's day to the Dissolution. It has been compiled from the wonderfully rich archives of the Abbey, and will be of the greatest value to historians in dating documents as well as in illustrating the life of the monks at different periods. The register, though incomplete, contains seven hundred and six names in five cen- turies. Two new monks, on the average, were admitted each year. Nearly all the monks, even from the first, were probably Englishmen. The infirmarer's rolls give curious details as to sick monks and the time that they spent in the monastic infirmary.