Bell the Cat ; or, Who Destroyed the Scotch Abbeys?
By John Jamieson. (.ZEneas Mackay, Stirling. 3s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Jamieson's contention, put briefly, is that the Reformers were not responsible for the destruction or ruin of the great ecclesiastical buildings of Scotland, that they were often in a ruinous condition before the sixteenth century, and that a very large proportion of the spoils went to those who professed to belong to the Old Faith. Then the English in Henry VIII.'s time and in the Commonwealth days, again, did much damage. There is much truth in this, but that Knox and his friends are altogether acquitted is another matter. The testimony of Knox himself seems to be treated somewhat strangely. He says that Kilwinning Abbey was "cast down." Mr. Jamieson knows better. "This would appear to have been a mistake." He says again that "the Protestants of the west burned Paisley." He "intended to convey the burning of the figures, not of the building." Knox had a way of saying what he meant, and the gloss is quite inadmissible. Like other advocates of a cause, Mr. Jamieson goes too far.
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