The Period of the Reformation, 1517-1648. By Ludwig Musser. Edited
by W. Oncken, and translated by Mrs. G. Sturge. 2 vols. (Strahan.)—Dr. Musser was Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Heidelberg, and these two volumes contain a portion of his lectures as they were taken down in shorthand by the editor, then one of his pupils, and now himself Professor of History in the University of Giessen. It was fortunate for the world that they found so attentive and intelligent an auditor. Curiously enough, when Dr. thicken wished to compare his notes with the impressions that the lectures might have made on other listeners, not a single manuscript was forthcoming. The lectures, as may be seen from the large space of time which they cover, pass rapidly and briefly over their subject ; but they are vigorous and generally admirable sketches, having not their least valuable character- istic in the connection which they enable the reader to perceive in periods which are commonly studied by themselves. These are histories of the Reformation which commonly take us dawn to the Peace of Augsburg in 1552; histories of the War of Independence in the Nether- lands, of the struggles of the Huguenots in France, and of the Thirty Years' War; it is Dr. Musser's method to treat them all as acts of one great drama. It would be difficult to find a book better suited to give a just and comprehensive view of the subject.
Previous page
