NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.
Our worthy publisher has just issued a volume which will be welcome, for the excellence of its matter and the beauty of its various illustrations, to all archæologists. These Memoirs illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Bristol and the Western Counties of Great Britain, and other Communications made to the Annual Meeting of the Archæological Institute held at Bristol in 1851, certainly equal in interest and variety any of their predecessors, and whether as a memorial of their visit to Bristol to those who attended the meeting, or as a pleasant substitute to those who did not, will doubtless find a resting-place on the shelf of every member of the Society whose proceedings they record.
We cannot better recommend to our readers Dr. Madden's newly published Life and Martyrdom of Savonarola, illustrative of the History of Church and State Connexion, than by stating that this remarkable man, whom some Protestants have claimed as of their own creed, while as many Romanists have rejected him as a heretic, is viewed by Dr. Madden as a monk of Florence at the close of the fifteenth century, who was of opinion that the mortal enemy of Christ's gospel in all ages of the world had been mammon; that simony was the sin against the Holy Ghost; that the interests of religion were naturally allied with those of liberty; that the Arts were the handmaids of both, of a Divine origin, and were given to earth for purposes that tended to spiritualise humanity; and who directed all his teachings, preachings, and writings to one great object, namely, the separation of religion from all worldly influences. On this theme Dr. Madden discourses with great learning, and, some few passages excepted, with great moderation; and the result is a Life of Savonarola, which gives a far more complete view of his character and his writings than has heretofore been attempted.
Books Received.—History of England from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Versailles, by Lord Mahon, Vol. V. This volume embraces the period between the early years of George III. and 1774, when Franklin was dismissed from his office of Deputy Postmaster-General; and, as it includes the Junius period, gives occasion to Lord Mahon to avow his adherence to "the Franciscan theory;" while the Appendix contains two letters in support of the same view,—one from Sir James Macintosh, and one from Mr. Macaulay.—Confessions of a Working Man, from the French of Emile Souvestre. This interesting narrative, well deserving the attention both of masters and working men, forms Part XLVIII. of Longman's Traveller's Library.—Remains of Pagan Saxondom, principally from Tumuli in England, drawn from the Originals: described and illustrated by J. Y. Akerman, Part VI. containing coloured engravings of the size of the originals of Fibulæ and Bullæ, from cemeteries in Kent; and Fibulæ, Beads, &c. from a grave near Stamford.