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 I Lanipreclit : Dejitsche Gescliichte 633 so-called " vestry " were often performed by the clergyman and a few land-owning farmers, without formal procedure, " rigid adherence to law ", or " outside supervision ". In the more " compact and peaceful parishes ", government by consent was more pronounced. The oligarchy grew into an " open vestry ". By the close of the eighteenth century, the " uncontrolled " offices of many parishes near London and in the " unincorporated mining and manufacturing districts of the northern and midland counties " were often corrupt and grossly inefficient. " Graft " prevailed ; and in at least one parish, Bethnal Green, there was a striking example of " boss rule " anticipating the most pronounced American type. In the remaining chapters of book i., the " Extra-Legal Democracy ", the " Strangling of the Parish ", the " Legality of the Close Vestry ", the " Close Vestry Administration ", and the " Reform of the Close Vestry " are considered. Here, as throughout the remarkable chapters devoted to the county in book 11., there is a minuteness of exact detail, a wealth of documentary illustration, a constant disclosure of truth, a conscientious refutation of popular error, a rich flavor of originality, which only a patient delving in the almost inexhaustible mine of source- materials could produce. This volume can only be the fruit of a zealous devotion to science for its own sake; and the sympathetic student will eagerly await the successful completion of the great task which the courageous authors have set themselves. George Elliott Howard. Deutsche Geschichtc. Von K.xrl Lamprecht. Der gan^en Reihe achter Band. Dritte Abteilung. Neueste Zeit. Zeitalter des subjektiven Seelenlebens. Erster Band. Ersteund zweite Halfte. (Freiburg im Breisgau : H. Heyfelder. 1906. Pp. viii, 729.) Lamprecht's Deutsche Gescliichte aims to give an analysis on a psychological basis of the various periods of the cultural life of Germany. This, the first volume of the third section, which is to treat of " Neueste Zeit ", covers the period from about 1750 to about the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the exclusion of the Romantic Movement. The distinguished feature of Lamprecht's work lies in his belief in a national psyche (" Volksseele ") which develops according to immanent, transcendental laws, and — however affected by outside influences — in all essentials remains true to itself. We have here a conception of history akin to that of Herder. In the "Einleitung" (pp. 3-90) Lamprecht reviews the tempera- ment of the periods preceding the one now under treatment. After the restrictions of the Middle Ages, the " Individualistische Zeitalter " (about 1 500-1750) freed the personality of man, but made of him an isolated individual, not conceived as acting upon, or influenced by his environment, " ein aus sich selbst nur lebender Mikrokosmos " (p. 5.). In the " subjektivistische Zeitalter" the individual, though becoming