Early Modern Kent, 1540-1640. Michael Zell
the community of Blandford in central Dorset, the importance of a portrait of the mayor and mayoress of Gloucester, the philanthropy of a London merchant named Thomas White, the writing of a local history of Great Yarmouth by Henry Manship, and the career of Henry Hardware, a Puritan reformer in Chester. He concludes with examinations of the lives of some criminals and a spinster. All of the stories are interesting and well told, but three call for particular attention. In the essay on the mayor and mayoress of Gloucester, Tittler demonstrates how a Puritan community could commission a painting of a long dead, Catholic mayor and his wife in order to help create a sense of civic memory. In*the essay on Thomas White, Tittler explores the charity of a Catholic who gave like a Puritan: to stimulate economic development without requiring prayers in return or for salvation for himself. Finally, Tittler, through his examination of the career of the three-time mayor of Chester, Henry Hardware, explains the attraction of Puritanism as a force for social order in the 1590s. In conclusion Robert Tittler has written a short, but fascinating book on English urban life from about 1540 to 1640. Everyone interested in early modern England will profit from reading it. WILLIAM PALMER Marshall University