The Tudor Dynasty, 1495 - 1603. By Arthur Hassall, M.A. (Rivingtons. 2s.)—This
is the first to appear, though the fifth in order of subject, of a series of "Text-Books of English History." Mr. Hassall has acquired the art of keeping due proportion where much has to be said and there is little space to say it in. This done, given a certain vigour and lucidity of style—and here also Mr. Hassall is well equipped—we are pretty sure to have a useful book. This The Tudor Dynasty will certainly be, though the reader must not take all the writer's statements without question. Surely it is not correct to say that the chantry priests "had directed elementary and secondary education." They were probably
the least satisfactory class among the clergy. Sir Thomas More appears to have thought meanly of them. We cannot agree, again, with the statement that the English nation was generally content with the doctrinal settlement of the later years of Henry VIII. This was practically the Law of the Six Articles, since Anne Askew suffered under it not more than seven months before Henry's death. As for the King, his theoretical adherence to the old opinions meant nothing; practically, he was without religion, and he did not scruple to adapt his declarations to the exigencies of foreign policy.
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