The National Movement of the Reign of Henry III. By
Oliver H. Richardson. (Macmillan and Co.)—Mr. Richardson, who is Pro- fessor of History in Drury College (Springfield, Mo.), has given us here a useful volume. In his first chapter he traces the causes in Church and State which developed the national feeling of Henry's reign, and goes on thence to describe what we may call the extraneous influence of the friars, with whose work we may associate the important personality of the patriot Bishop Grosseteste. The second chapter discusses various personal and other influences which were at work : the alienation of London from the King, the changed attitude of Simon de Montfort, the denationalisation of the State and the Church, the latter falling more and more under the Papal power. The third chapter gives a sketch of the conditions under which the actual conflict took place. "The Barons' War was essentially a war of principles, and its permanent results lay along the line of constitutional progress. The Revisions of Oxford were in advance of those of Runnymede in so far as they were a legitimate elaboration of the latter's fundamental principles and laid a stress un- known before upon the inalienable rights of native Englishmen, and upon the unity of England."
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