CITY OF THE SEVEN HILLS
By H. Grattan Guinness
Crimond House Publishers. 300 pages. £10.99
ISBN 978 0 954 992 224
This is a reprint of a book, first published in 1891, that was written by an evangelist who was the grandson of the brewer, Arthur Guinness, and a friend of D.L. Moody.
It is a curious book, with 193 pages of rhyming couplets with notes to explain the historical allusions followed by an index and a list of engravings. The book divides into two parts: Rome pagan with three chapters and Rome papal, sub-divided into Historic (five chapters), Contemporary (six chapters) and a Conclusion (three chapters). In the Historic section there is a poem on the Reformation. The Contemporary chapters include the evils of the Confessional and Convents — these chapters are sad reading. Some knowledge of ancient Rome and the Church of Rome is probably needed to understand this book. I found the rhyming, that sometimes borders on doggerel, irritating. The publishers’ aim is to introduce old classics to new readers, but I think that there are more useful books, from the past, to introduce to modern readers.
