The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester, which has
developed into a learned periodical of great interest and value, contains in its July issue (Longmans, 2s. net) the hitherto unpublished text of eleven letters written by the Earl of Lauder- dale, while a captive under the Commonwealth, to Richard Baxter. Those who think of Lauderdale as the peculiarly unscrupulous Minister of Charles IL in Scotland will be surprised to find that these letters are mainly disquisitions on theological controversies ; Baxter was kind to the dejected prisoner, and Lauderdale was evidently grateful. Professor Conway's " Por- trait of a Roman Gentleman "—the character of Scipio Africanus as sketched by Livy and by Polybius—is an admirable essay. The Library recently offered to house the family archives of landowners who had parted with their estates or had other reasons for desiring to put their deeds in safe keeping. Two such collec- tions of old charters and rolls have already been received and will be available for purposes of study, instead of lying forgotten in lawyers' offices.
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