The Monaste7y and Cathedral of Worcester. By John Noakes. (Long-
mans.)--The minntast details of conventual existence have a fascina- tion for Mr. Noakes, and although he comes to the conclusion that the system was uprooted because Providence had had enough of it, thereby clearing himself from all suspicion of complicity with Brother Ignatius, yet his heart is evidently with the monks of old, and his book will be fully appreciated only by those- who do not care how long they linger in such• society. It is scarcely serviceable as a guide for modern uses, the features of the cathedral and such monastic buildings as are still permitted to exist being treated very cursorily and without much architectural research, but as a repertory of facts connected with the history of the foundation and the lives of the ecclesiastical functionaries at different periods it will be found exceedingly interesting. The biography of Pridr Moore is especially attractive, rich in details of sixtedirthLeentury life, and would have given Mr. Carlyle a companion picture to the famous Abbot Samson. Our author has done his best with it, and has effected in this and other instances all that can be done- by diligent and affectionate study of the old records. He evidently prefers priors and monks to deans and chapters, and in the concluding portion of his elaborate work, which treats of the doings of the latter, contrives ingeniously, without committing himself, to leave on the mind of the reader the impression that "there bath past away a glory from the earth."
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