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1920 SHORT NOTICES 151 and tenth centuries after Christ. The author is to be congratulated on his freedom from the literary and other prejudices which have often obscured the story of the origins of the caste institution. In his concluding pages he quotes interesting passages which prove that the Indians of the olden time knew how to combine for charitable and social purposes, includ- ing public amusements. Mr. Majumdar's book gives promise of further well-designed researches calculated to throw much light upon the history of ancient India. V. A. S. Bishop G. F. Browne's little book on The Venerable Bede, published in 1879, has now, after many reprints, reached a second and greatly enlarged edition {Studies in Church History. London : Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919). The original essay has been embodied in the present volume with little alteration, apart from additions. But these include five new chapters, and have almost doubled its size. At the end of the book there are twenty plates illustrative of early Anglo-Saxon Christianity. In the first chapter the very few known facts of the life of Bede are collected, and the list of his writings compiled by himself is given in full in an English translation. The next three chapters deal with the early history of Christianity in Northumbria ; and a fourth contains a summary account of the British Christians (among whom the Claudia of 2 Tim. iv. 21 is numbered) and the conversion of the English outside Northumbria. These chapters are of course based on Bede, though some information is culled from other authorities. They give us, therefore, a fair notion of the method and contents of his Ecclesiastical History. Bishop Browne next introduces his readers in more direct fashion to Bede's works. One after another the Ecclesiastical History, the Lives of Abbots, the Life of Cuthbert, the Epistle to Ecgbert, poetic and scientific writings, commentaries, and homilies receive attention. In this part of the volume there is placed, rather awkwardly, a chapter on Csedmon and Wilfrith, some of the statements in which must be received with reserve in the light of Mr. R. L. Poole's important paper on St. Wilfrid and Ripon,^ which unfortunately appeared too late to be used. The volume closes with chapters on the miracles recorded by Bede, the state of morals in his time, study, missions, and Anglo-Saxon art. The treatment may be not untruly described as somewhat discursive, the last chapter, in particular, being hardly covered by the title of the book ; but digressions so full of interest need no apology. Perhaps a little more credit might have been given to the Irish for their influence on the development of Northumbrian Christianity. The bishop allows, indeed, ' that the Northumbrians caught their mission fever from the Irish '. But it can scarcely be denied that their enthusiasm for learning, and their skill in art, had a similar origin. Benedict Biscop no doubt gave such culture a great impulse ; but it did not begin with him. The Codex Amiatinus, to the Northumbrian origin of which Bishop Browne calls attention, has traces of Irish influence, and the Lindisfarne Gospels may owe more to Ireland than he is prepared to admit. He con- trasts the ' order ' of the illuminations in the latter manuscript with the ' chaos ' of the Book of Kells. This is epigrammatic ; but some students • Ante, xxxiv. 1 ff.