ENGLISH EPISCOPAL PALACES.
English Episcopal Palaces. By Caroline C. Morewood and Others. Edited by R. S. Reit. (A. Constable and Co. 7s. 6d. net.)—We gather that this book is an outcome of that magnificent under- taking " The Victoria County History." Spacious as are the volumes of that series, it is impossible to find room for all the material which is available. " Ecclesiastical History" is an important section, but it is one of many, and even in this there are other persons and things to be treated of besides episcopal palaces and their inhabitants. So we have this supplementary volume, as we may call it. And even here there has had to be a selection. The Province of Canterbury only has at present been dealt with—York, we trust, will follow—and of Canterbury only seven palaces are described at length. The seven are Lambeth, Fulham, Farnham, Lincoln, Norwich, Hereford, and Wells. Some mention is made of others in the introductory chapter; but these suffice to make a handsome volume, and no one can quarrel with the choice. As may be supposed, the book gives us many details of history political and social as well as ecclesiastical. In this respect Lambeth is naturally the most interesting. The Archbishop of Canterbury has always been a great personage, and the occupant of the See has seldom been unequal to his position. In the latter half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth this might not have been said,—what an ignominy, for instance, that the Primate of All England should have been reproved by the Ring for his indecorous conduct ! The details are often curious and interesting. Thus we find that the present occupant of Fulham was not the first to publish his accounts. Bishop Bancroft did it in 1598, and showed that he was 4450 out of pocket. But then the income of the See was only £1,000. After- wards it increased vastly. A very large part of the income of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners comes from what used to be the epis- copal estates of London. Altogether, this is a most agreeable volume.
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