Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/481

 1922 SHORT NOTICES 473 bishops in England, and very briefly but skilfully reviews the ' history which lies behind it ', from the time when Leo I expressed the ideal in his famous dictum ' he who is to preside over all must be chosen by all '. The dean's conclusion is : We have come back in effect to the position of our Saxon Kings. Then the king with his Witan made the real choice. Now the king prompted by his prime minister makes it ; and the prime minister is the chosen representative of the English people. We are as near to St. Leo's dictum as any system which has been tried can bring a national Church. And we have preserved the safeguard of a canonical election. The little pamphlet is worthy of notice for the obiter dicta of one who is at once a learned student of the middle ages and an experienced dignitary of the English church. Lord Melbourne would certainly have read it with interest. W. D. G. Books of the type represented in A Short History of the Papacy, by Mrs. Mary I. M. Bell (London : Methuen, 1921), are despised in some quarters as unworthy of the pens of serious scholars. From this view we strongly dissent. The communication to the educated public, in a concise and readable form, of the teachings of modern criticism and research is a necessary and important task. It is a mistake, moreover, to regard it as an easy one. There can indeed be few enterprises more difficult than the writing of a short history of the papacy. It calls for an author with wide, deep, and well-adjusted knowledge, with a terse, clear, and emphatic style, and (we think) with a ripe teaching experience. Such qualifications are united in few people ; and it is but a mild reproach to say that Mrs. Bell is not one of them. She deserves credit for having recognized the need for a popular and scholarly summary of papal history and for having courageously attempted to supply the want. We wish that we could congratulate her on having succeeded. W. T. W. The Rev. George Edmundson, well known to readers of this Keview by his contributions on Dutch history, has published in the Cambridge Historical Series, edited by Sir George Prothero, a volume on the History of Holland (Cambridge : University Press, 1922). He devotes to the early age of the county of Holland only a very short ' general preface ', and treats in thirty -five chapters without any other divisions the periods from the Burgundian monarchy to the reign of Queen Wilhelmina, halting at- the outbreak of the late war without touching the vexed question of Holland's policy of neutrality. His account is generally a fair one and naturally at its best for the seventeenth century, with which his special research has been concerned. There is perhaps a certain lack of attention, apparent also in the bibliography, to recent Dutch and German literature. The works of Professor Rachfahl (misspelt Rachfeld) on Margaret of Parma and William of Orange are hardly used to advantage, and the latter book is not even mentioned. Nor does the author seem to be familiar with standard works of Dutch learning such as the Handboek tot de Staat- Jcundige Geschiedenis van Nederland, by J. H. Gosses and N. Japikse, or the series of ' Rijks Geschiedkundige Publication ' as a whole. It is indeed hard to say anything new and at the same time trustworthy on the