Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/562

 552 Reviczi^'s of Books heated clamor with which denominational polemics have so often filled the grave and studious apartments of history. The eulogistic tone how- ever occasionally betrays the author into a pleonastic use of adjectives, which does not increase the effectiveness of his strong and dignified style. A conspicuous instance is found on page 141, where the adjective "great" is applied four times in ten lines. Occasionally also he seems to be betrayed into a slight exaggeration of emphasis by the defensive tone which is natural to one who is so fa- miliar with what most of his readers have no knowledge of, the mass of contemporary calumny showered upon Beza and other heroes of the Reformation. At page 254-262 it might have been pointed out that the abuses of plurality, non-residence, etc., of which Beza complained had existed also under Edward before the " retrograde movement tending to the introduction of theories and practices long since discarded," had be- gun under Elizabeth. (See Peter Martyr to BuUinger; Bucer to Calvin, both 1550. Original Letters, Parker Society. ) On page 279 Dr. Baird tells us : " The Swiss reformers, Bullinger, Beza, and all the others, were shocked, amazed, indignant" atOchino's view that bigamy was not prohibited by divine law. Unless Dr. Baird uses the word " reformers " in the technical sense rather than in the pop- ular sense of the title of the series, this accumulation of adjectives seems superfluous, because a scholastic admission of the possibility of bigamy was not an absolutely unheard-of opinion. Luther and Melancthon did not consider bigamy a sin per se, and in company with several other prominent divines they expressly sanctioned the recent bigamous mar- riage of Philip of Hesse with the written agreement that he was not to abandon his first wife. In general the realism of this strong and clear piece of historical por- trait painting might perhaps be increased if the high lights were thrown out by a little more shadow. It is now accepted as a principle that the controversial blackguarding which even admirable men in the sixteenth century showered upon their opponents is not to be taken seriously. The latest biographers of Pietro Aretino show good reasons for believing that even that typical blackmailer has, by a sort of poetic justice, suffered be- cause the calumnies of his adversaries have been too unquestioningly ac- cepted. Is it not also probable that students of the sixteenth century ought to discount, at least to some slight extent, the stately and exagger- ated compliments of its reigning epistolary and obituary style ? Not only general readers of history but all who are engaged in the task of teaching elementary sixteenth-century history to students who can use fluently no language but English, are indebted to Dr. Baird for ac- complishing his task with the success that was to be anticipated from the author of the Rise of the Huguenots and its succeeding volumes. Paul van Dyke.