Mr. Muddiman's book deals in general with the history of
the Press from 1659-1689, and in particular with the part played by Henry Muddiman, journalist to Monk, Charles H. and James II. He is naturally further compelled for elucida- tion to deal in politics. Like his ancestor, Mr. Muddiman is a Tory, and although the accusations that he makes against the other parties are true-and he leaves no stone unhurled- he omits much that is also true against his own. He declares it scandalous to write that the king could not be trusted, but he is not so ardent to remind his readers that Charles II. could not, in fact, be trusted. But in spite of the irritation of this bias, his work is interesting ; it is well written and scholarly. Mr. Muddiman is rather an effective retailer of facts than a vivid showman of dead humanity, and it is in the new material that he has brought to light, and in the organization of the old, that his value lies. He has no magic to dispel the years ; Henry Muddiman remains dead, and the Anabaptists are as little terrible as plotters in Atlantis. We commend this book to the history student, but the general reader must be ready with his own imagination to colour the business-like black and white of Mr. Muddiman.
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