Post-Medieval Preachers. By S. Baring-Gould, M.A. (Rivingtons.) —Mr. Baring-Gould has
heard the sorrowful sighing of the Church's prisoners in sermon-time, and has compiled this volume with the view of remedying the state of things under which they suffer. He is of opinion that the dulness of modern discourses is owing to the fact that the preachers study the Scriptures too little and the commentators too much, and is particularly severe on the methodical divisions of Simeon and the lengthy platitudes of Scott. He thinks that a re- currence to the style of the old preachers, their free use, and fanciful interpretations of Scripture, copie us imagery, and abrupt declamation, would be attended with the happiest results. To enforce this theory he gives us a general sketch of early preaching, and follows it up with an account of the lives and works, and specimens of the oratory of ten ceffsbillefffireachers of the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth cen- turies. Without in the least committing ourselves to an agreement with his opinions, we may feel grateful for his intentions on behalf of a much enduring laity, and we can consci entiously say that he has pro- duced a most readable volume, fall of carious matter, and containing amongst much that-is merely quaint and odd some extracts of singular beauty.
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