the most learned of the monastic orders. Here, in the obscurity of Grenoble, St. Hugh spent his early manhood, until he was suddenly translated to England, became the favorite of the sagacious Henry the Second, and ended his days as Bishop of Lincoln.

The immediate cause for Hugh's transfer was the foundation of a new abbey in Somersetshire. The Norman Conquest had given a vast impulse to this particular form of piety, so that the next century witnessed the rise of many of our most stately buildings, and in ten years which followed 1128 nearly twenty large Cistercian monasteries were erected, including such stately foundations as Riveaux and Fountains. In accordance with the prevailing fashion, Henry made a vow to found three abbeys; and after several other priors had failed, Hugh was invited to take the government of the new foundation at Witham, in Somersetshire. In his character of religious patron, Henry seems to have fallen into the error so amusingly put into rhyme by Mr. Canning:

"In matters of commerce, the fault of the Dutch

Is giving too little, and asking too much."

Accordingly Hugh found that almost every thing was needed, and only after much ingenious diplomacy and some bold speaking, prevailed on the king to give full effect to his vow. At this period of his life he laid the foundation of a close intimacy with his sovereign, and it is pleasant to believe that Henry found one churchman who asked nothing for himself. The manner in which the pious monarch sought to defraud the heavenly powers may be judged from the singular history of a Bible. Henry gave ten marks to St. Hugh for the purchase of parchment, on which the monks might copy the word of God; but shortly afterward he determined to enrich his new foundation with a complete illuminated copy of the whole Bible. Accordingly, having heard that there was a fine copy in the monastery at Winchester, he coolly ordered the prior to make him a present of it. The latter, of course, did as he was commanded, hoping, but apparently in vain, for some rich reward in return. The king then sent the splendid manuscript as a royal present to Hugh and his brethren. Much to the credit of the brethren at Witham, it is added that when the pious fraud was discovered, Hugh insisted on returning the costly treasure to its first owners at Winchester.

In 1186 St. Hugh was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. One of his first acts was to take a firm stand against the iniquitous forest laws. These laws were so oppressive that we can hardly understand how the country contrived to exist under the burden. The old annalist exclaims that "violence was instead of law, rapine a matter of praise, equity a thing to be hated, and innocence the greatest guilt." Hugh ventured to excommunicate the king's own forester, and did not consent to remove the excommu

nication till the forester had submitted to be flogged. Mr. Perry rightly remarks, a little later in the narrative, that "a still greater proof of true courage, because it shows a moral courage very rare in the men of his generation, was the way in which Hugh behaved when invited to inspect an alleged miracle. A priest once called upon him to inspect a miraculous appearance in the chalice, where it was said that the actual conversion into flesh and blood of part of the host could be seen with the bodily eyes. Hugh indignantly refused to look at it. 'In the name of God,' he said, let them keep to themselves the signs of their want of faith.'"-Page 235. In his communication with his own diocese, Hugh appears to have been the very ideal of a Roman Catholic bishop. He performed with due solemnity all the official duties of his post; endeavored to familiarize himself with his flock; was especially successful in winning the affections of the young; and on the wildest nights, after the hardest toils, was ever at the call of the afflicted or bereaved. Mr. Perry says only little of this bishop's work as an architect; but the pious historian of the English cathedrals narrates that "the whole of the front choir, east transept, with its chapels, chapter house, and eastern side of the great transept, were all erected during his life, and such was his earnest zeal in this great work, that, when seized with mortal sickness in London, he occupied himself a considerable time in giving parting instructions to the master of the fabric. In him the bishop, the architect, and the saint were united." Mr. Perry dates the commencement of his work in 1190, or two years later. It is easy to believe that it was carried on with the greatest energy, when we find that the bishop himself worked with his own hands, carrying cut stones in a basket, or sometimes a hod of mortar on his head. It may be added here, that when the main body of the cathedral was completed, in 1280, the body of St. Hugh was translated to the magnificent presbytery at the east end of the choir, and inclosed in a shrine said to have been of solid gold. The historian already quoted appears to marvel that not even the sanctity of the good bishop could protect his remains from the sacrilegious hand of Henry the Eighth's Commissioners. Our wonder would rather be first, how so great a mass of gold was gathered together, and then how it escaped so long! One would fancy that when Cardinal Beaufort was Bishop of Lincoln such a mountain of gold would hardly be likely to escape annexation.

St. Hugh's intercourse with that strange hero of English_romance, Richard I., was marked by the same intrepidity and dexterity which he had manifested in the previous reign. Not only did he venture to resist the king's demand for money, but he even openly remonstrated with him for his immorality. "If you serve God," said the bishop, "he will make your enemies peaceably disposed toward you, or he will overthrow them. But beware lest you commit some sin, either against God or your neighbor. It is currently reported of you that you are unfaithful to your FOURTH SERIES, VOL. XXXII.—24

marriage bed, and that you receive bribes for appointments to spiritual offices. If this be true you cannot have peace from the Lord." This is in the true spirit of Nathan; and when we read these bold strong words, we can forgive the good bishop for appropriating a few relics of departed saints. Would that all monarchs had such bold advisers, and that all monarchs would heed their warnings! Equally bold was his treatment of the crafty, if cowardly, John. He preached before this monarch on the duties of the kings; but, much too serious for a man who made as port of all things, sacred and profane, he preached too long. Three times John sent messengers to the pulpit to tell the preacher to conclude; he, however, proceeded with his discourse till all his hearers, except John, who appears to have been as nearly a professed atheist as the times would allow, were deeply affected. Unfortunately, as has happened so frequently in later days, the bishop's eloquence failed to affect the one man whom it was mainly intended to reach.

St. Hugh died in London in the year 1200, in the episcopal residence, which stood on the present site of Lincoln's Inn. Twenty years later he was canonized according to the rites of the Church of Rome, and his shrine soon rivaled the popularity of that of Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury. Such a life, while scarcely conceivable in England to-day, must have been of incalculable benefit to his own generation, and the records of human virtue would have been incomplete without a suitable memorial of St. Hugh. His abiding monument on earth is the grand cathedral of Lincoln; and who can doubt that in the heavenly world he is already surrounded by many whom, according to his light, he allured to virtue? While we have felt it necessary to complain of some features of this work, we yet have to thank Mr. Perry for his instructive and learned volume. A little more care in the composition would have smoothed away a few blots, and made this biography as interesting as it is able. It is with history as with geography. The careful study of an atlas is necessary for all who wish to possess an accurate knowledge of any foreign country; but a far more vivid idea will be gained from a good painting of some characteristic village. In the same way, the historical student must make himself familiar with the long roll of kings, battles, and revolutions; but to make the life of our ancestors real, we need a careful photograph of some typical individual; and such a photograph of the days of the Plantagenets Mr. Perry has presented us in the life of St. Hugh.

German Reviews.

ZETSCHRIFT FUR KIRCHENGESCHICHTE. Edited by Dr. Brieger. Essays: LINDNER, Pope Urban VI. Critical Reviews: STAHELIN, A Review of all New Works Published from 1876 to 1877 on the History of the Swiss Reformation. Analecta: 1. BRIEGER, Remarks on Book VIII. of the Church History of Eusebius. 2. HARNACK, The Muratorian Fragment. 3. KOLDE, The Fifth Lateran Council. 4. SCHULTZE, Documents Relating to the History of the German Reformation. 5. MAURENBRECHER, Morone's Report on the Tridentine Council. 6. SCHULTZE, The Newly-Discovered Tomb of a Christian Gladiator.

Among the most valuable features of this periodical are the comprehensive reviews which it occasionally gives of the entire new literature on some particular period of Church history. The article in the present number, by Prof. Stähelin, himself a distinguished historian, on the recent literature relating to the history of the Swiss Reformation, is a worthy sequel of a number of articles to which attention has been called in former numbers of the Methodist Quarterly Review. The value of this article is all the greater because, as its author says, there is hardly any section in the entire province of the literature of Church history which has been so much neglected as the history of the Swiss Reformation. The last special work in German on the Swiss Reformation was published in 1708, (Hottinger, Helvestiche Kirchengeschichte, 3 vols.,) the last work in French in 1728, (Histoire de la Réformation de la Suisse, 1727-1728, 6 vols.) The new editions of both these works give comparatively but few and insignificant additions, and make no use of the ample material which has since been brought to light. The years 1877 and 1878 have largely added to this material, as Prof. Stähelin shows. A brief reference to a few works will give some idea of the strenuous efforts which are made in Switzerland, as well as elsewhere, to obtain from the old archives new light on the age and the history of the Reformation. A Roman Catholic society, publishes at Solothurn "Archives for the History of the Swiss Reformation," (Archiv für die Schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte,) the third volume of which appeared in 1876. Though the editors of these archives are, of course, led in their selection of documents by sectarian considerations, some documents of general interest are found in their publications, as the negotiations concerning an alliance between the Catholic Cantons with Austria and Rome.

The archivist of the Canton of Zurich, Strickler, has begun the publication of the official acts of the Federal Diets from 1521 to 1532. The first volume appeared in 1878, and will be followed by three others, which will publish an aggregate of more than eight thousand documents. A work of general interest is a history of the Protestant fugitives from England, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, and Hungary, who found a refuge in Switzerland, (Geschichte der evangelischen Flüchtlinge in der Schweiz, 1876,) by Mörikofer. The subject of this work, which has been translated into French by Roux, (1878,) is of general interest for Protestants of all countries, as it is well known how many distinguished men were among those fugitives. Its author, Mörikofer, who died in 1877, is favorably known as the writer of several other excellent works on the same period, as the best biography of Zwingle, (18671869, 2 vols.) As might be expected, the literature on Calvin, his life and his teachings, continues to be numerous. Of the excellent work of Hermingard, entitled, Correspondance des reformateurs dans le pays de langue française, the fifth volume, containing the years 1538 and 1539, was published in 1878. Most of the documents given in this volume refer to the life of Calvin and his companions during the first year of their exile. They are not all printed in this work for the first time, but the copious notes of the editor shed new light on many points. A considerable amount of entirely new material is found in the complete works of Calvin, published by three professors of the University of Strasburg, Baum, Reuss, and Cunitz, (Joannis Calvini Opera,) of which four new volumes (the fifteenth to the eighteenth) appeared from 1876 to 1878. They refer to the times from the beginning of 1554 to September, 1561. A new life of Calvin has been published by Hoff, (Vie de Jean Calvin, Paris, 1877,) but it is said not to be of great value; on the other hand, the two articles on Calvin which are found in the new edition of the "German Theological Cyclopedia" of Herzog, and in the "French Theological Cyclopedia" of Lichtenberger, are said to be thorough and exhaustive. An essay on Calvin, by Kattenbusch, (Jahrbücher für deutsche Theologie,) is especially recommended for its lucid exposition of the inner development of Calvin's doctrine, and of the relation existing between his theology and the theocracy