The Monks of the West. By the Count de Montalembert.
With Introduction by the Rev. F. A. Gasquet. 6 vols. (John C. Nimmo.)—This is one of the new editions, which we are some- what surprised to see, as indicating an unexpected demand for books of a very serious character, which must also be somewhat costly. It is strange that if it is worth while to bring out a new edition, it is not also worth while to take a little more pains about it. It is true that Father Gasquet has contributed an in- troduction, dealing with the subject described by himself as "Monastic Constitutional History." We have no desire to de- preciate the value of this contribution to the development of the great subject of the work. It is to a certain extent an encomium -of St. Benedict, of Roman, as distinguished from Celtic, Monasti- cism in the first place, and of the earlier, as distinguished from the later, conception of the Rule in the second. But it is im- possible for a reader not to feel that if the choice had been given he would have exchanged Father Gasquet's essay for an index. These six volumes, with a total of pages not far short of three thousand, contain hundreds, we might say thousands, of -names connected with a great subject which has many branches. It is scarcely a book to be read through, but is emphatically a work of reference. But the ordinary facilities for reference are not given. Surely, too, a few words about the history of the English version might have been added. Even a brief account a the author and of the original publication of his work would have been not too much to expect.
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