Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/429

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

Minor Notices 4 1 9 print the despatches of the papal nuncios in France, from the time of Clement VII. to that of Gregory XIII. Thus it will do for France a work parallel to that which is being done for Germany by the joint efforts of the Prussian and Austrian Historical Institutes in Rome and the Gorres-Gesellschaft, and to that which was begun for Spain by Hino- josa. Pieper's articles of a dozen years ago, together with those, more specifically relating to France, which Abbe Pierre Richard has within the last two years published in the Revue des Questions Historiques and the Revue d'Histoire Ecclesiastiqtie, have made clear the earlier history of the institution of nuncios. The correspondence of those of Paris is not complete till we reach the year 1570 and the establishment of the office of the papal secretary of state ; but in Clement VII. 's time the insti- tution is well established though not potent. The French committee intends to print the letters and despatches of the nuncios, but not, as a rule, the enclosures. The present volume contains 225 letters and des- patches, and also a certain number of papal bulls and royal letters-patent. While it embraces some portions of the correspondence of Capino da Capo and of the cardinal-legate Giovanni Salviati, it is mainly made up of that of Roberto Acciaiuoli, derived mostly from volume I. of the " Nunziatura di Francia " in the Vatican archives and from a volume in those of Florence. Thorough search elsewhere has brought some addi- tional gleanings. Of the letters printed, a good number are already printed in Desjardins's Relations cntrc la France ct la Toscanc, because Acciaiuoli was also a Florentine ambassador; and much of the informa- tion is in Marino Sanuto. Yet there are additional facts relating to the French court and to the changing relations between France and Eng- land. The editing seems to answer the highest requirements of scholar- ship. An excellent introduction traces clearly the papal diplomacy from the battle of Pavia to the check of the league of Cognac. The True Story of Robert Browne, (1550^-1633). Father of Congre- gationalism; Including various Points hitherto unknoivn or misunder- stood, •with some Account of the Development of his Religious Views, and an extended and improved List of his IVritings. By Champlin Burrage, M.A., Research Fellow of Newton Theological Institution. (Oxford, University Press; London, H. Frowde, 1906, pp. viii, 75.) Mr. Champlin Burrage, son of Rev. Dr. Henry S. Burrage, the well-known Baptist historian, has devoted himself for a number of years to investi- gation in England of the sources of Congregationalism, and especially to the life and writings of Robert Browne. His efforts have been crowned with marked success. Three unpublished manuscripts of Browne of decided importance are the trophies of his search, one of which was printed, in 1904, as A Nezv Years Guift (London). By rea- son of the new light which these discoveries throw upon Browne's his- tory and views, and by further investigation of the tangled story, he has been able to correct and supplement not merely the work of older biographers, of whom the late Rev. Dr. Henry M. Dexter was the