An Epitome of Anglican Church History. By Ellen Webley-Parry. (Griffith
and Farran.)—Mrs. Parry has "endeavoured to compress into a small space the leading events of Anglican Church History, as a whole." However desirable the conception of having so much knowledge made so easily accessible, there is one probably fatal ob- jection. It is very difficult to read books of this kind. Just as compressed food, however convenient, is neither palatable nor nourishing, so epitomes disgust the mental palate, and are rejected by the mental digestion. Then, again, the adjuncts which the necessi- ties of space compel an epitomiser to strip off from the bare fact are often absolutely necessary for the due comprehension of it. We take an instance almost at random. "An English Bible was presented to her [Queen Elizabeth] during the procession [of her coronation]." That means very little. But the real story of what was said to her, and what she answered, is very significant. Mrs. Parry has moderate Anglican views, we should gather from her language, and is reason- able and fair in her comments on persons and events. We notice a curious error in her notice of the Plague of 1665. "Three thousand persons were carried off in London alone." No one who had read with any care the story of that awful year would have so strangely understated the number. The mortality in London was sixty-eight thousand.
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