The character of the intrepid, patient Hildebrand is drawn with a skilful hand, and reminds us that persecution has ever been the lot of the faithful Vicar of Christ.
The pleasing title of the book brings to our remembrance the fact that the church of God in those days sanctified to peace a portion of every week, beginning at sunset on Wednesday and continuing till Monday morning. All private warfare was forbidden during these days, under pain of excommunication.
This precept mingles with the thread of the story, which is both attractive and instructive, leaving upon the mind and heart a most agreeable impression.
The mechanical portion of the book is beautifully executed, and we are delighted to see that all the books got out this season by Mr. Murphy are in the same elegant style.
The History of Greece. By Professor Dr. Ernst Curtius. Translated by A. W. Ward, M.A., Fellow of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Professor of History in Owens College, Manchester. Vol. I. New York: Scribner. 1871.
Every scholar knows how learned Germans write history. Dr. Curtius ranks with Mommsen as a historian, and his History of Greece, of which this volume is the first instalment, is to be classed with the History of Rome by the latter author. We believe that it has the advantage over it of being complete, and, moreover, its subject is even more interesting to students and men of letters. It is brought out in a style of excellence similar to that of Mommsen's History, leaving nothing in that respect to be desired. We hope that the demand for works of this kind may be sufficient to induce some one of our great publishing-houses to favor the public with a translation of Leo's Universal History, which is the masterpiece of German historical works.
Martyrs Omitted by Foxe: Being Records of Religious Persecutions in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Compiled by a Member of the English Church. With a Preface by the Rev. Frederick G. Lee, D.C.L., F.S.A., Vicar of All Saints', Lambeth. London: John Hodges. 1870.
This is a singular and a singularly interesting little volume. It is Anglican, as the title shows; yet, strange to say, it is made up of brief but well-written and affectionate memorials of More, Campion, Arundel, Plunket, and a number of other illustrious martyrs of the Catholic faith and the supremacy of the Roman Church in England and Ireland. It is a book which we can unhesitatingly recommend to Catholics as well as Protestants, and which we should rejoice to see extensively circulated. We cherish the most unbounded veneration for these heroic martyrs, and ardently long for the time when they may be solemnly canonized by the authority of that Holy See for whose rights they suffered torments and death. The author has our thanks for his pious tribute to the sacred and holy memory of these blessed victims of Protestant English cruelty. May it help to bring England to a penitent recognition of their merits, and bring a blessing from God to himself.
The American Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1870. Vol. X. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1871.