The Life and Work of Bishop Thorold. By C. H.
Simpkinson, M.A. (Isbister.)—Anthony Thorold was one of the men, happily not seldom found on the bench of Bishops or elsewhere, who grow to their work. He had but small opportunities in the way of education, and when he left Oxford, with the moderate distinction of an Honorary Fourth, seemed, and probably was, a man of ordi- nary abilities. But he had really something in him that casual observers, and even those who knew him best, could not discern. He was pushed forward by influential friends, itself a dangerous thing for any man who has not a reserve of strength. Belonging to a good family and wealthy, he came to the front of the Evan- gelical party to which he belonged ; and was put into places which tried his capacity to the utmost. Yet he held them with success. And when he was raised to the Episcopate, his powers still expanded to the larger demands made upon them. The story of his Episcopate, as his biographer, whose prepossessions are certainly very different, tells it, is highly interesting. A Bishop who does his work on the non-committal principle may get through it without much difficulty. This was not Dr. Thorold's way. He had sincere convictions, and he did not conceal or suppress them. But he had, or rather he acquired—and to acquire is far more creditable than to have—a way of looking at a question all round. And he was not ashamed to retrace his steps when he found that he had made a mistake. Weaknesses he had and prejudices, but he was sincere. His personal dis- interestedness was remarkable. His biographer has done him justice, but not, we think, more than justice.
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