The Letters of the Late Father George Porter, S..T., Archbishop
of Bombay. (Burns and Oates.)-The editors of this volume are right in saying that letters may be " a more satisfactory record than a biography." Still, a few lines telling in what employments Father Porter was engaged before his brief episcopate-he died in the third year-would have been useful. But these letters are re- markably interesting. The greater part are occupied with the counsels which he gave as director. These, though they are well worth reading, are not fit subjects for criticism. The interest of the letters, for our present purpose, lies in the picture which they give of the intellectual attitude of a Roman Catholic of what may be called the latest development. Father Porter was a well-read man ; he was very far from shutting himself up within a very narrow circle, as some of his co-religionists do. He studied the works of many schools of thought. It is curious to see the result. He was devoted to the cult of the Virgin. He uses very hard language about Dr. Pusey for what he says on the subject, pre- sumably in the Eirenicon. He commends the title of " Co- Redemptrix " bestowed upon her by a modern writer. The cult of St. Joseph also meets with his fervent approval. He remarks with some naivete that " invocation has grown immensely in the Church." Anglicans meet with scant favour. The Ritualists are one of the " sects of perdition." A well-known Life of Christ by an Anglican divine is pronounced to be " blasphemous." ("Blas- phemy," of course, means wilful impiety.) On this side of his mind Dr. Porter certainly did not show the wisdom and kindli- ness that seem to have been generally characteristic of him.
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