The Conversations of Dr. DOlinger. Recorded by Louis von Kobel'.
Translated by Katharine Gould. (Bentley and Son.)— These "Conversations " are certainly not so good as some of the books of table-talk which could be mentioned. Still we see proofs in plenty of Dr. Dhllinger's curious learning and his liber- ality, while the details of his habits of work are very interesting. A more indefatigable student never was. He began the day with a stretch of seven hours' work, sitting at his writing-table from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. He worked again, after returning from his evening or afternoon walk, till bedtime. " His supper con- sisted of a glass of water." It is easy to see how Dellinger became a persona ingrate at the Papal Court. This was the case before the Vatican Council. When in 1867 it was proposed to canonise Don Pedro Arbues, " acerrimus persecutor lueresium," as a contemporary called him, Dellinger wrote two articles on the Inquisition in dissuasion. Of course, they had no effect. Those were the days of the Temporal Power, and the Temporal Power meant persecution—at least, within its own borders—but the writer's hand was recognised in the articles. This book, though scarcely what one might have expected, certainly increases our appreciation of the learning, courage, and honesty of Ignatius von Dellinger.
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