The Origin and Growth of the English Parish. By 0.
J. Reichel. (Society of St. Peter and St. Paul. ls. 6d.)—This is a very lucid summary of a complex subject, illustrated from the Exeter episcopal registers. Mr. Reichel shows how the parish, a private institution under the Saxons, was transformed under the Normans into a canonical institution, the parson succeeding the lord of the manor as administrator of pious gifts, and the chaplain becoming dependent on the bishop and not on the landowner. Henry IL's legislation gave the parson his free- hold ; but as the property remained in the manorial lord, the right of presentation to a vacant benefice persisted. Lay patron- age is thus a survival from the days when a landowner built and endowed a church and appointed a mass-priest whom he might dismiss at any time.
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