ADDRESSES ON HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SUBJECTS.* THE translator of the

Studies in European History is to be congratulated on this second attempt, for she has to a very remarkable degree preserved the dignified simplicity of style which is so characteristic of their author. The eight addresses here translated have already been published in Germany,—only one, however, in the author's lifetime (that on Universities). Taken as a whole, they illustrate some of Dollinger's highest qualities, the great range of his mind, and the freedom which the certainty and insight he possessed brought with them ; to some extent also, as has often been noticed, the power of entering into the views not only of men of other countries, which is not uncommon, but also of appreciating foreign ideas of times long past.

The first address, that on Universities past and present, was delivered when Dollinger was in his fullest vigour. The revolution which the few years previous had seen in his opinions and studies finds, to some extent, an echo in what he said in 1866 :-

" We professors, who have devoted our lives to the pursuit of learning, readily admit that all life is a struggle, not only against the errors of others, but against our own, which have often become dear to us."

And, again, to the theological students :—

" The science you have chosen for your study claims, not only to be that up to which all others lead, but to be at once the indispensable foundation and keystone of them all. Yet theology herself can prove her right to such sovereignty only by knowing how to avail herself of the services of her sister sciences, and by being wide and unprejudiced and self-reliant enough to assimilate and make her own all the genuine refined metal that issues from

our different faculties Woe to theology and woe to her disciples, if, like a nervous woman, she shun the keen air of criticism, and if she—or rather not she but her theologians— reject every unpalatable fact in history as though it were a food too coarse for her delicate constitution."

—words which remind us of one English School of Theology, and that not the least celebrated, whose birthplace perhaps was the University of Cambridge, but whose light now shines from Durham. On the Universities themselves, Mlinger

does not make exhaustive comment. He uses the term University rather strictly ; Paris for his purpose-is the Paris of somewhat late times ; the German University system

naturally provokes his most detailed attention. But in speaking of Oxford and Cambridge, he shows how clearly he had grasped the English ideas on the subject, and how fully he appreciated them. But they do not fit in with theories,

• Addresses ou Historical and Literary Subjects. By John Ignatius von D.:anger. Translated by Margaret Warre. London : John Murray, and it is hardly true of them to imply that the main dif- ference between the two has been one of subjects taught,—a view which leaves out of account the differences in method and habit of mind which have been quite as important. The criticism which might be made upon the English University system in 1866 may still be made, but the meaning of what is said has changed somewhat. We still, in the main, do not

look to our Universities as a training-place for any particular line of life, but as providing a basis for technical instruction.

In this sense, D011inger's remark that the English Uni- versities may be described as " continuations of the public schools, combined with clerical Colleges and the study of theology," is, it is to be hoped, still true.

"The Founders of Religions" is more open to criticism perhaps, but a note would have met two of the corrections which might be supplied. The religion of the Bab was far from being crushed, and Positivism hardly deserves the position assigned to it. But the estimate of Henry VIII.'s work as the founder of a religion, we cannot agree with. We think that, far from collapsing at his death, his part has been the foundation of the scheme of the Church of England, and that the idea of a national Church, even in all essentials unchanged by the Reformation, may be traced from his time to ours. The builders whose work mostly passed away were not Henry and his friends, but the ministers of Edward VI. Still Dollinger's strength as an ecclesiastical historian is marked in this address in no uncertain way. His treatment of the doctrine of liberty of conscience, slight though it is, is masterly ; whilst the forecast with which he concludes is a fine example of the insight which characterises him who knows " the wisdom of looking backward."

In the earlier portions especially, and, in a measure, in the whole of "The History of Religions Freedom," we have matter which made up a very important part of Dollinger intellectual life. His conclusions must in their fullness be sought for elsewhere ; they represent the years from 1861 onwards, and to some extent the influence of Montalembert, but this in- teresting or rather tragic intellectual episode in Dollinger's mental career is in no way mirrowed here; he had long reached the certainty into which be could only hope that others would enter. It is worth being told in 1888 :—

" Thus the question still confronts us which for eighteen hundred years has remained unsolved ; the great dispute is still far from being at an end. In America, it is true, scarcely any one would think seriously of the possibility of a retrogade movement ; but it is otherwise in Europe. The tenacity of pur- pose in those master spirits who set before them the endeavour to bring practice once more into conformity with their theory must not be underrated. The final result cannot be doubtful to any one capable of understanding the unchanging laws of history."

The Bishop of Peterborough has recently shown in his Hulsean Lectures the sword of persecution was invoked against the real beliefs of the Church, contrary to the will of her most enlightened members, and with, in general, dis-

astrous results. But this is the history of one divine, not that of all. Some utterances on the subject make one turn to another passage in this book :- " It is usual, both in books and pictures, to represent the Church as a ship tossed upon stormy waves. Retaining the metaphor, I should say that the ship which will glide peacefully and safely over the billows of ocean is that which is not too deeply laden with the burdens of the past, nor depressed by the recollection of guilt. Amongst the reefs and rocks upon which even a three-masted vessel may make shipwreck is the rock of history."