Page:A history of booksellers, the old and the new.djvu/363

323 AND JAMES NISBET. 323 they were all thrown into a temporary shade by the cry that arose on the publication, in 1 860, of " Essays and Reviews," to which only the first named contri- buted. Shortly after the appearance of the volume a document was issued, bearing the signature of every bishop of the united Church, condemning many of the propositions of the book as inconsistent with an honest subscription to her formularies. This was succeeded by an address to the Archbishop of Can- terbury, signed by more than 10,000 clergymen, con- demning in the strongest terms the teaching of the essayists. As we all remember, the case was tried in the Court of Arches, and led to the temporary sus- pension of Dr. Williams and Mr. Wilson ; a sus- pension that was afterwards reversed by the Privy Council. But this case, interesting as it may be for the student in the future, though one of too many causes celebres of church persecution, is too well known to detain us longer at present. Mr. Parker, who took a deep interest in all religious questions, held weekly gatherings at his house, and was loved and respected by his clients, who regarded him as a friend rather than a business aid. He died in 1 86 1, and for the moment the knot of earnest men who were clustered round Eraser's Magazine were dispersed. But in the year 1863 the agency of the works published by the delegates of the Oxford University Press was transferred from the other Parkers to Messrs. Macmillan, and henceforth Macmil- lan's Magazine and its contributors may be con- sidered as an offshoot from 445, West Strand. After the death of his son, Mr. Parker, who had for some years taken little active part in the manage- ment of the business, took his old assistant; Mr. Wil-