The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Protestants, and the martyrdom of their
bishops, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, &e., under
" bloody " Mary, Sze.; documents connected
more or less with those several events may be
found scattered throughout the volume.
The very interesting documents relating to
the intrigues, imprisonment, and execution of
Mary Queen of Scotts, though occurring within
the period above named, will appear in subse-
quent volumes, which are in preparation by in-
dividuals of literary celebrity, to whom the
task of editing them has been intrusted.
Without wishing to appear invidious, it seems
to us that there can be no occasion for the
Master of the Rolls—under whose directions
the volumes are to be published—to seek any
such extraneous assistance. Surely there
must be many able and well-qualified gentle-
men in the Public Record Department per-
fectly competent in every way to edit and pass
such works through the press! Indeed, in the
Deputy Keeper's early reports, annually pre-
sented to Parliament, it was the practice to
append to them " Calendars " of several
classes of records, which were compiled by the
officers of the establishment, and which, in
our opinion, would bear no unfavourable com-
parison with any of the " Calendars" now in
course of publication. These appendices to
the Deputy Keeper's reports were prohibited
by the Treasury some few years since in con-
sequence of the cost of printing, &c. It is too
often the misfortune of members of the Civil
Service to find their services ignored or for-
gotten in order either to promote private
patronage or to provide for personal friends.
We would recommend Sir John Romilly to
reflect whether it is altogether just towards
the gentlemen in the department of which he
is the custos to keep them in the " cold
shade " of official retirement, when he has so
favourable an opportunity of promoting their
interests and of rewarding their diligence.
Grant them, at least, whatever merits justly
belong to them. If they sow the seed, let
them, at all events, participate in the harvest.

These "Calendars " will facilitate historical
and literary researches, and prove valuable
books ,d reference to the compiler of history.
Greater discrimination in the selection of
documents should, however, be exercised
and it is a question, the solution of which
rests with the authorities, whether some of
those documents, to which for various reasons
peculiar historical or political character is
attached, should not be printed in extenso?

The People's Call for a Revision of the Liturgy, in a
Letter to Lord Palmerston. By the Rev. James
Hildyard, B.A. London: Groombrige and Sons.
MR. HILDYARD assumes, at the commencement of
his pamphlet, that a revision of the Church Service,
with a view to shortening them, and the avoiding of
needless repetitions, is earnestly desired by a large
majority of the people ; and he then proceeds to
show why on such a question nothing like popular
agitation is likely to take place. It. is not a party
question to enlist active sympathies ; those who have
thought on it most deeply are serious, meditative
men, averse to public strife; the strong attachment
felt to the Book of Comm,n Prayer tends to keep
men silent on what they cannot but regard as its
defects, while the less earnest poi tion of the com-
munity take the remedy into their own hands, and
habitually neglect the Church Services. As for the
Church itself, the time of the bishops is fully occupied,
though several of them have expressed opinions
favourable to liturgical revision, and the clergy
dispersed over the kingdom, have no opportunity of
meeting collectively to make their ivslies known.
To show, however, the strength of feeling pre-
vailing on this subject, the author mentions
one striking fact—he has himself received with-
in the last twelve months upwards of MO com-
munications on the subject of revision of the Liturgy.
A hundred opinions, generally favourable to revision
with a view to abridgment, are given in an appendix
to the pamphlet. The author evidently writes from
a singlehearted desire to advance religion and
extend the influence of the Church. He is practical
as well as zealous. His proposal of a Royal Com-
mission seems to meet the requirements of the case;
and we a.tree in a suggestion thrown out by one of
Mr. Hildyard's correspondents, that in such a com-
mission the lay element of the Church ought not to
be me.looked. It would appear that any revision
which, without impairing the vital spirituality and
comp' ehensive aspiration of the Church Services,
should render them more acceptable to the bulk of
the community and less fatiguing to the clergy, would