Again, the approximate simultaneity of the
risings over a wide extent of territory makes it
impossible to preserve chronological sequence
in the general survey. Yet again, here, even
more than elsewhere, discrepancies are to be
found in different accounts of the same event,
and the historian, writing for the general reader,
must either reconcile them to the best of his
power or choose between them. He cannot well
give a wealth of variorum versions or enter into
elaborate disquisitions justifying the view he
takes. To do either would change the character
of such a work as this from a volume designed
for the average reader of history to a disser-
tation for the benefit of a specialist student of
Reformation history.

I mention these difficulties as there is always
a field in a work of this nature for the ingenuity
of a hostile reviewer qui cherche les puces dans
la paille to hunt out minutiæ on which two
opinions may be held. By enlarging upon
them, he attempts to disparage the work as a
whole. A former volume, dealing with German
Society in Reformation times, received favour-
able recognition, I believe, in every quarter save
one. The one hostile review appeared anony-

-vi-